Air America in bankruptcy court

Air America's Al Franken

The left-leaning talk network Air America Radio has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The network had denied a report one month ago that it would file for bankruptcy protection. But Air America spokeswoman Jaime Horn told the Associated Press today the filing is now necessary because negotiations with a creditor broke down.

Horn said that in the meantime, the company will operate with funding from its current investor group.

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The AP, citing documents filed with U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, said Air America owes its lead talk host Al Franken $360,750. The company owes $9.8 million to RealNetworks Inc., whose CEO, Robert Glaser, owns 36.7 percent of the company and previously served as its chairman. Glaser resigned as a director today.

Air America also announced today it has named a new CEO, Scott Elberg, a former general manager of WLIB radio in New York who has been with the network since May 2005.

"Nobody likes filing for bankruptcy," Elberg said in a statement. "However, this move will enable us to concentrate on informing and entertaining our audience during the coming months."

Talk-radio blogger Brian Maloney, who has closely followed the network, says Air America came close to agreeing on a buyout plan by Democratic Party fundraiser and Huffington Post blogger Sheldon Drobny, but the "talks mysteriously ceased."

Maloney said investors "seemed to be counting on the deal as a way to escape with a few bucks and finally put this loser behind them for good."

A "binding letter of intent" with the Drobny Acquisition Group LLC has expired, Maloney said, "leaving Air America with few options, other than to find another buyer, file for bankruptcy protection or to simply shut down."

As WorldNetDaily reported last fall, Air America had no measurable audience in the nation's capital according to the Arbitron rating service.

After WWRC-AM in Washington, D.C., recorded a mere fraction of a rating point in the spring with syndicated shows from the likes of lefty talkers Franken, Janeane Garofalo and Stephanie Miller, Arbitron couldn't detect a measurable listenership for the station in the summer quarter, the Washington Post said.

The news came on the heels of the network asking its listeners to send in money, a financial scandal involving money siphoned from a Boys & Girls Club in New York City, a California radio station pleading for advertisers to sponsor the programming claiming it could not get a single ad, and a host apologizing for what some thought were threats against President Bush's life.

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