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Inside Air Americaâs Troubles:Optimism and Shaky Finances (Heh)
On March 30, the night before Air America went on the air, the liberal radio network threw itself a $70,000 party at Manhattanâs hip Maritime Hotel. More than 1,000 guests, including Yoko Ono and Tim Robbins, drank red, white and blue vodka cocktails as they toasted the networkâs bid to challenge the dominance of conservative talk radio. But behind the scenes, Air America was running out of money. Today several employees say they still havenât been reimbursed for the costs of attending the New York launch. "It was a fun party, until I knew I was paying for it," says Bob Visotcky, Air Americaâs former Los Angeles market manager, who hasnât been reimbursed for his hotel room and flight.Mr. Visotcky wasnât the only insider in the dark about the companyâs problems. Many of Air Americaâs investors and executives say they thought the network had raised more than $30 million, based on assurances from its owners, Guam-based entrepreneurs Evan M. Cohen and Rex Sorensen. In fact, Air America had raised only $6 million, Mr. Cohen concedes. Within six weeks of the launch, those funds had been spent and the company owed creditors more than $2 million. When the problems came to light, "we realized that we had all been duped," says David Goodfriend, the companyâs acting chief operating officer. Messrs. Cohen and Sorensen say they didnât mislead anyone about the companyâs finances. They say they planned to invest more over time but didnât because of cultural differences with other managers. Both resigned in early May... Air Americaâs left-leaning orientation gave the fledging network a public profile and helped lure donors, including RealNetworks Inc.âs Chief Executive Rob Glaser and New Yorkâs Durst family of real-estate developers. It also helped attract big-name talent, including As they say: read the whole thing. (schadenfreude is nothing to be ashamed of) Posted by: Evert V. in NL 2004-06-21 |
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