Air America screws its talent (once again)
 

Fair use: New York Newsday

Comic files suit against 'Air America Radio' over pay

BY KAREN FREIFELD
STAFF WRITER

May 23, 2005, 7:14 PM EDT

Comic Lizz Winstead doesn't think Air America Radio was very liberal with
her severance and other pay.

Winstead, who helped create Comedy Central's "Daily Show" and went on to
develop Air America Radio, filed suit in State Supreme Court in Manhattan
Monday against owners of the liberal network, which is a counteroffensive to
conservative talk radio.

She claimed that Air America and Piquant LCLC, the latest owner of the
year-old network, did not pay her for work as an on-air announcer. She said
she also was not given the severance due her as an executive after she was
fired in March.

"It's the sad old story of someone devoting 16 hour days to build an
exciting, new venture -- and she's out the door without ... what she's
promised," said Winstead's attorney, Edward Hernstadt.

Air America did not return calls for comment.

Winstead, who had a base salary of $250,000, claimed in her lawsuit that she
didn't receive four months' severance pay of $83,333, unused vacation time
of $14,423 and $200,000 for her on-air work.

Winstead hosted a show called "Unfiltered," with Chuck D. It was part of a
network line-up that includes Al Franken created to combat the likes of
conservative talk show hosts Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.

In addition, Winstead claimed she never received money due for her on-air
promotional work for the Vermont Teddy Bear Co.

*********************

I would think Air America would be a really poor employment choice.

73,

Steve

Steve Lawrence
Burnsville, Minnesota

Every moment of a human life is an act of worship.

Coincidence is God's way of being anonymous.

"Stephen M.H. Lawrence" wrote in message
...
Fair use: New York Newsday

Comic files suit against 'Air America Radio' over pay

BY KAREN FREIFELD
STAFF WRITER

May 23, 2005, 7:14 PM EDT

Comic Lizz Winstead doesn't think Air America Radio was very liberal with
her severance and other pay.

Winstead, who helped create Comedy Central's "Daily Show" and went on to
develop Air America Radio, filed suit in State Supreme Court in Manhattan
Monday against owners of the liberal network, which is a counteroffensive
to
conservative talk radio.

She claimed that Air America and Piquant LCLC, the latest owner of the
year-old network, did not pay her for work as an on-air announcer. She
said
she also was not given the severance due her as an executive after she was
fired in March.

"It's the sad old story of someone devoting 16 hour days to build an
exciting, new venture -- and she's out the door without ... what she's
promised," said Winstead's attorney, Edward Hernstadt.

Air America did not return calls for comment.

Winstead, who had a base salary of $250,000, claimed in her lawsuit that
she
didn't receive four months' severance pay of $83,333, unused vacation time
of $14,423 and $200,000 for her on-air work.

Winstead hosted a show called "Unfiltered," with Chuck D. It was part of a
network line-up that includes Al Franken created to combat the likes of
conservative talk show hosts Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.

In addition, Winstead claimed she never received money due for her on-air
promotional work for the Vermont Teddy Bear Co.

*********************

I would think Air America would be a really poor employment choice.

A base salary of $250K? No wonder they're going down the toilet.

Don't know too much about Air America...are they having problems
attracting listeners? If that is the case, then I'm not surprised to
see them jettisoning the high-paid help. Let's remember the news
article presents one side - hers. She may have something due to her
under a contract or this may be her demands to right a perceived wrong.
Who knows. I've seen enough termination fights to know articles like
this would be incredibly boring if they presented both sides equally.

Stephen M.H. Lawrence wrote:

Fair use: New York Newsday

Comic files suit against 'Air America Radio' over pay

I would think Air America would be a really poor employment choice.

Hey, it's all that those old washed up hippies can find. Not too many
companies are willing to hire whiny leftist "activists".


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running dogg wrote:

Stephen M.H. Lawrence wrote:

Fair use: New York Newsday

Comic files suit against 'Air America Radio' over pay

I would think Air America would be a really poor employment choice.

Hey, it's all that those old washed up hippies can find. Not too many
companies are willing to hire whiny leftist "activists".

Seems as though a great number of them gravitated to academia. I was certainly taught
by a few, but most of them seemed to be pretty good folks overall, though I certainly
disagreed with them on various issues.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

http://www.iserv.net/~n8kdv/dxpage.htm

On Wed, 25 May 2005 10:10:25 -0500, "MnMikew"
wrote:



A base salary of $250K? No wonder they're going down the toilet.

They're not exactly going down the "toilet." They're broadcasting 19
hours of original material every weekday, with repeats and more
material for Sat/Sunday. With new stations being added weekly.

Their live broadcast over the Internet has a bigger audience than Fox
News -- not a bad toilet to be in, eh?

Tune 'em in anytime, http://www.airamericaradio.com

bob
k5qwg

Bob Miller wrote:
Their live broadcast over the Internet has a bigger audience than Fox
News -- not a bad toilet to be in, eh?

Cite.

--
I miss my .signature.

In article ,
clifto wrote:
Bob Miller wrote:
Their live broadcast over the Internet has a bigger audience than Fox
News -- not a bad toilet to be in, eh?

Cite.

--
I miss my .signature.


For starters, the've always claimed a million listeners streaming on
the internet. Since this number is reported by the stream servers it's
credible.

One million puts them in the same league as FOX. They have 50+
stations and XM to put them over the top.

--
a d y k e s @ p a n i x . c o m

Don't blame me. I voted for Gore.

In article ,
"David Eduardo" wrote:

"MnMikew" wrote in message
...


A base salary of $250K? No wonder they're going down the toilet.


A. That is low pay for a national talk show on 60+ stations. B. with
increasing numbers of affiliates and a growing revenue stream, AA is
not going down the toilet. They are growing faster than Limbaugh did
in his first few years.

Looks like they are growing their revenue stream by not paying their
employees.

--
Telamon
Ventura, California

"Telamon" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"David Eduardo" wrote:

"MnMikew" wrote in message
...


A base salary of $250K? No wonder they're going down the toilet.


A. That is low pay for a national talk show on 60+ stations. B. with
increasing numbers of affiliates and a growing revenue stream, AA is
not going down the toilet. They are growing faster than Limbaugh did
in his first few years.

Looks like they are growing their revenue stream by not paying their
employees.

Actually, they replaced that no-name person with Jerry Springer, for a bout
6 times the money plus stock options.

In article ,
"David Eduardo" wrote:

"Telamon" wrote in message
..
.
In article ,
"David Eduardo" wrote:

"MnMikew" wrote in message
...


A base salary of $250K? No wonder they're going down the toilet.


A. That is low pay for a national talk show on 60+ stations. B. with
increasing numbers of affiliates and a growing revenue stream, AA is
not going down the toilet. They are growing faster than Limbaugh did
in his first few years.

Looks like they are growing their revenue stream by not paying their
employees.

Actually, they replaced that no-name person with Jerry Springer, for a bout
6 times the money plus stock options.

Yeah, but will they pay him or stiff him?

--
Telamon
Ventura, California

"Telamon" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"David Eduardo" wrote:

"Telamon" wrote in message
..
.
In article ,
"David Eduardo" wrote:

"MnMikew" wrote in message
...


A base salary of $250K? No wonder they're going down the toilet.


A. That is low pay for a national talk show on 60+ stations. B. with
increasing numbers of affiliates and a growing revenue stream, AA is
not going down the toilet. They are growing faster than Limbaugh did
in his first few years.

Looks like they are growing their revenue stream by not paying their
employees.

Actually, they replaced that no-name person with Jerry Springer, for a
bout
6 times the money plus stock options.

Yeah, but will they pay him or stiff him?

With over 60 affiliates, they are probably well on the way to making money
already.

DE - Then why Cheat the little people who
helped them along the way to get there ? ~ RHF
. . . . .

"RHF" wrote in message
oups.com...
DE - Then why Cheat the little people who
helped them along the way to get there ? ~ RHF

Because the show was not getting clearances from the affiliates, so they
replaced it. Same reason why TV shows are cancelled... bad ratings or lack
of affiliate clearance.

DE - Then why not pay her for the work
that in fact she did perform ? ~ RHF
. . . . .

On Thu, 26 May 2005 02:15:07 GMT, "David Eduardo"
wrote:


"John S." wrote in message
roups.com...
Don't know too much about Air America...are they having problems
attracting listeners? If that is the case, then I'm not surprised to
see them jettisoning the high-paid help.

$250 k for a national talk show already on over 60 stations is very low pay.
Local talk hosts in larger markets make more.


Basically, she was getting about $1000 for each 2-hour national
broadcast she did -- not a lot of money in the entertainment world.

I used to listen to her. She and her co-host were actually a lot more
entertaining than Springer, who replaced them. Oh, well...

bob
k5qwg

In article .com,
RHF wrote:
DE - Then why Cheat the little people who
helped them along the way to get there ? ~ RHF
. . . . .



Because there initial deep-pockets investor was a fraud and they ran
out of cash for a while. Staff defered their paychecks.

As for the Winstead lawsuit, it's related to early termination of her
contract and in Showbiz this this kind of suit happens all the time.
We just don't know what the merit of her claims is.

AA says they will have positive cash flow within the year. Not bad for
a startup.
--
a d y k e s @ p a n i x . c o m

Don't blame me. I voted for Gore.

In article . com,
RHF wrote:
DE - Then why not pay her for the work
that in fact she did perform ? ~ RHF
. . . . .



It's a lawsuit, which means there is a disagreement. We don't know if
AA or Winstead is in the right. This will be settled in (or out) of
court.

$300k isn't going to make or break AA.

--
a d y k e s @ p a n i x . c o m

Don't blame me. I voted for Gore.

David Eduardo wrote:

"John S." wrote in message
oups.com...
Don't know too much about Air America...are they having problems
attracting listeners? If that is the case, then I'm not surprised to
see them jettisoning the high-paid help.

$250 k for a national talk show already on over 60 stations is very low pay.
Local talk hosts in larger markets make more.

They sure do! I recall something about Garry Meier who was on WLS Chicago with
Roe Conn turning down what I think was 7 million for a 5 year contract and
walking. Perhaps you know what the figure was being more closely associated with
that kind of MW info.

I'm not sure what Roe got after renewing his contract. Roe does a good job, but
it's just not the same without Garry.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

"Bob Miller" wrote in message
...
Their live broadcast over the Internet has a bigger audience than Fox
News -- not a bad toilet to be in, eh?

No F'ing way.

In article , MnMikew wrote:

"Bob Miller" wrote in message
.. .
Their live broadcast over the Internet has a bigger audience than Fox
News -- not a bad toilet to be in, eh?

No F'ing way.





A million people stream AA. That's larger than most Fox News audience
most of the time.


--
a d y k e s @ p a n i x . c o m

Don't blame me. I voted for Gore.

"Al Dykes" wrote in message
...
In article , MnMikew
wrote:

"Bob Miller" wrote in message
.. .
Their live broadcast over the Internet has a bigger audience than Fox
News -- not a bad toilet to be in, eh?

No F'ing way.





A million people stream AA. That's larger than most Fox News audience
most of the time.

So lets see the numbers then!

"David Eduardo" wrote in message
m...

"Telamon" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"David Eduardo" wrote:

"Telamon" wrote in message
..
.
In article ,
"David Eduardo" wrote:

"MnMikew" wrote in message
...


A base salary of $250K? No wonder they're going down the toilet.


A. That is low pay for a national talk show on 60+ stations. B. with
increasing numbers of affiliates and a growing revenue stream, AA is
not going down the toilet. They are growing faster than Limbaugh did
in his first few years.

Looks like they are growing their revenue stream by not paying their
employees.

Actually, they replaced that no-name person with Jerry Springer, for a
bout
6 times the money plus stock options.

Yeah, but will they pay him or stiff him?

With over 60 affiliates, they are probably well on the way to making money
already.


Riiiight.

And Jerry Springer is going to do wonders for the credibility of Air
America.

Good grief, Eduardo -- give it up -- you have zero credibility. You get on
every forum you can and hype these losers.

Something tells me a lot of your paycheck depends on these yoyos.

-- Stinger

Al Dykes,

David Eduardo wrote:
"Telamon" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"David Eduardo" wrote:

"Telamon" wrote in message
..
.
In article ,
"David Eduardo" wrote:

"MnMikew" wrote in message
...


A base salary of $250K? No wonder they're going down the toilet.


A. That is low pay for a national talk show on 60+ stations. B. with
increasing numbers of affiliates and a growing revenue stream, AA is
not going down the toilet. They are growing faster than Limbaugh did
in his first few years.

Looks like they are growing their revenue stream by not paying their
employees.

Actually, they replaced that no-name person with Jerry Springer, for a
bout
6 times the money plus stock options.

Yeah, but will they pay him or stiff him?

With over 60 affiliates, they are probably well on the way to making money
already.

Yeah, but will they pay him or stiff him?

--
I miss my .signature.

In article ,
clifto wrote:
David Eduardo wrote:
"Telamon" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"David Eduardo" wrote:

"Telamon" wrote in message
..
.
In article ,
"David Eduardo" wrote:

"MnMikew" wrote in message
...


A base salary of $250K? No wonder they're going down the toilet.


A. That is low pay for a national talk show on 60+ stations. B. with
increasing numbers of affiliates and a growing revenue stream, AA is
not going down the toilet. They are growing faster than Limbaugh did
in his first few years.

Looks like they are growing their revenue stream by not paying their
employees.

Actually, they replaced that no-name person with Jerry Springer, for a
bout
6 times the money plus stock options.

Yeah, but will they pay him or stiff him?

With over 60 affiliates, they are probably well on the way to making money
already.

Yeah, but will they pay him or stiff him?


Given that Springer (and his agent) know the financial history of AA
and his agent, at least, wants to get paid, I assume that Franken is
telling the truth when he said, months ago, that the paychecks were
clearing the bank.



Here's what AA CEO published as a response to to Anderson's opinion
column:

L.A. Times April 23 2005

Re "Why the Liberals Can't Keep Air America From Spiraling In,"
Brian Anderson's attack on Air America Radio is petulant and
inaccurate, an indication that conservatives are having a hard
time dealing with a robust alternative to the monopoly they had
on talk radio since the 1980s. Regardless of how much Anderson
and his ilk whistle past the graveyard, there is a large and
growing audience for liberal talk. Every one of the original
stations that picked up Air America has experienced dramatic
increases in ratings. Our audience more than quadrupled what it
was just nine months ago. We are on in 53 markets, including 16
of the top 20. A recent study by the independent Paragon Media
showed that in markets where we are on the air, the names Al
Franken and Air America have a greater familiarity than any other
talk-radio names except Rush Limbaugh. Our Internet stream
reaches 1.3 million separate listeners a week, more than any
conservative show. Is Air America having an impact? Ask Tom
DeLay.

Danny Goldberg
CEO, Air America Radio
New York

If Goldberg is BS'ing us I'm sure someone with hard Arbitron data will
publish a comment on this. It's been a month and I have not seen any.

--
a d y k e s @ p a n i x . c o m

Don't blame me. I voted for Gore.

"Al Dykes" wrote in message
...

If Goldberg is BS'ing us I'm sure someone with hard Arbitron data will
publish a comment on this. It's been a month and I have not seen any.

Arbitron does not publish monthly data. It does 3-month surveys.

Based on the Winter survey, the data looks correct and parallels articles in
the trades.

Springer also has an AM show on WSAI in Cincinnati. Rumor in the Cinti
area is that he plans to run for office in Ohio. He was mayor some
years ago, until a highly entertaining sex scandal.

Hudley Pearse

I would like to introduce P. Ricket's cousin Hudley Pearse to the forum.
David could not be here today and his cousin was gracious enough to take his
place. He's a avid cross poster and left wing aficionado. So lets give him a
warm welcome. Ladies and gentleman I give you Mr. Hudley Pearse.

B.H.

Brian Hill wrote:

I would like to introduce P. Ricket's cousin Hudley Pearse to the forum.
David could not be here today and his cousin was gracious enough to take his
place. He's a avid cross poster and left wing aficionado. So lets give him a
warm welcome. Ladies and gentleman I give you Mr. Hudley Pearse.

My exact thoughts earlier this AM!

WOW!

I was going to ask him if they were related.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

My exact thoughts earlier this AM!

WOW!

I was going to ask him if they were related.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

It always strikes me as funny that when one disappears another one
takes their place and they never appear all at once. I'll bet my brass
buttons their all old disgruntled members returning to seek vengeance
for the left wing cause.

B.H.

BH,

wrote in message
oups.com...
Springer also has an AM show on WSAI in Cincinnati.

The Cincinnati show is just an affiliation with Air America.

Tom Betz wrote:

Quoth "David Eduardo" in news:Gkome.131$wy1.34
@newssvr13.news.prodigy.com:

wrote in message
oups.com...
Springer also has an AM show on WSAI in Cincinnati.

The Cincinnati show is just an affiliation with Air America.

Actually, the show aired there as a local program before AAR picked
it up.

And the station is now called WCKY.

"Wacky"? How appropriate for a liberal talk station.


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