Air America Radio Update

On the surface, this looks bad. But when you dig a little, you see it's just another radio biz shakeup which happens all the time, especially with a startup. If something is handled poorly, you make changes. That's what Jon Sinton did. From the ChiTrib:

Chairman, partner leave Air America

In yet another sign of trouble for Air America Radio, the liberal talk network's co-founder and chairman, Evan Cohen, resigned Thursday along with his investment partner and vice chairman, Rex Sorensen.

The company also failed to make its scheduled payroll Wednesday, leaving its staff of roughly 100 writers and producers unpaid until Thursday.

The radio network has been on the air for only five weeks. On April 30, it was pulled off Chicago's airwaves because of a payment dispute.

"We're on a wild ride," said Jon Sinton, the network's president, acknowledging that Air America has suffered "the typical bumps and bruises faced by any start-up."

"But the bottom line," he said, "is that we are on the air to stay."

Sinton said Cohen was forced to resign by investors unhappy with the way he handled a clash with Multicultural Radio Broadcasting Inc., owner of Air America's Chicago and Los Angeles stations.

After an acrimonious and public dispute, the two companies severed their relationship, leaving the network off the air in two of the nation's top three markets. (Air America remains on the air in 16 markets, including New York City.)