Air America Fizzles

Al Franken is still waiting for his checks, but if rumor is true, he'll be waiting a very long time.

Won't be saying "I told you so", although it's a wicked temptation. A few comments from the uber left-wing former employee, Janeane Garofalo:

Janeane Garofalo, who quit her job as co-host of the network's evening show Majority Report in July, says her paychecks had been arriving on-time, and that her departure had nothing to do with the network's finances. But she didn't have kind words for the "radio suits"—guys like interim CEO Jim Wiggett, network president Gary Krantz, and president of programming Jon Sinton—who have been running the place into the ground.

"They've been making bad decisions since the day I got there," Garofalo says. The network's staff, Garofalo says, is tireless and committed to the cause of progressive radio. "And then you have a handful of business people with no politics whatsoever. I can't fathom the decisions they make."

Note to Janeane: having the right (which would be left) politics would not have saved the station. You need good business sense and integrity. Air America is still under investigation by the DOI for the "loan" taken from the Boys and Girls Club:

And then there's the matter of the $875,000 the network owes to the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club. As has been extensively covered on right-wing blogs, Cohen convinced the nonprofit club—he sat on the board—to OK a massive interest-free loan to keep the network afloat in its early days. When news of the arrangement broke—liberal radio net steals from poor kids!—Air America agreed to repay the loan in full, and the New York City Department of Investigation started looking into the propriety of the transaction.

Can't remember a time when Democrats were ever concerned with propriety. As far as seeing the light, Tom Embrescia has this to say:

As for why Air America can't seem to turn a profit, Embrescia says it may have been a mistake to launch an entire left-wing talk radio network in one shot. "Maybe it should have been one or two programs," he says.

Or just maybe the left has very little to offer the general public.