FrankenNet Circles the Drain
Tacitus' Thorley Winston has this piece analyzing the questionable business practices at FrankenNet.
Among many money quotes:
Of this $12 million was supposed to come from a partnership between Cohen and several others (which actually invested $1 million but has held off on the remainder when the station began to have problems) and another $18 million from other investors presumably including $10 million from Norman Lear and Laurie David who each maintain (through their spokespeople) that they were approached but chose not to invest. The investors claim that they were told that this money was in the bank but Cohen denies telling investors about Lear and David (in which case where would that $10 million figure have come from) or misleading investors about the fundraising efforts. Which begs the question how did these investors get the idea that there were $18 million in funds pledged to the Station ($13 million more than the $5 that were invested)?
In the meantime, while the network was crowing about its preliminary "trend' ratings last month, it's
eating that crow now that the actual book is out:
An unofficial "extrapolation" of Arbitron data released last Friday which Air America's hosts crowed about last month but virtually ignored yesterday showed WLIB's ratings dropping back to their lowly levels before the net's April launch.
Arbitron cautions stations and advertisers not to read too much into this interim monthly data but that didn't stop Air America star Al Franken from boasting last month that he'd beaten WABC's Rush Limbaugh among the 25- to 54-year-old listeners chased by radio advertisers.
Franken is spinning like mad:
Franken took issue with Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly for interviewing a reporter last week who said Air America investors have been throwing money "down a rat hole."
"Fox News Channel lost $150 million in its first two years," Franken said. "That was a much bigger rathole than our rathole."
Yep. Businesses lose money when they start. However, Fox is profitable today - far from a "rat hole".
As Winston notes, it's probably early to call it fraud - but if I were a FrankenNet investor, I'd be really upset right about now.
Note: Last month, FrankenNet (really only the Franken show) was dropped from WMNN 1330 in Minneapolis. The show moved to KSMM in Shakopee - a tiny little pot-warmer station.
I can't get the signal in Saint Paul. Not at all.
Posted by Mitch at
June 25, 2004 08:17 AM
So, do you suppose the dropping ratings reflect a lack of recent free publicity from the press, or a John Kerry-like effect (i.e. the more you listen, the less you want to hear from him/them)?
Posted by: Steve Gigl at June 25, 2004 09:37 AMI don't think it was a drop at all. Trends - the monthly, non-binding "rush" ratings that Arbitron puts out - are not especially accurate (nor are they expected to be), and Franken was an idiot to trumpet them the way he did. He was setting himself up for a huge fall - people with any background in real radio would have known that.
I think the trends showed whatever little bump FrankenNet got while it was brand-new, extrapolated that into a trend that the programming couldn't sustain - and now they're getting real numbers, and it's not good.
Posted by: mitch at June 25, 2004 09:44 AMI can get 1530 pretty clear in Eagan. I listen to Franken every chance I get, if only to find out if he's learning.
By and By, the show is dull and predictable. There will be a guest Dave Serrota(sic) or so that will spoon feed anti bush lines for Franken to comment on, and then a smattering of suck up callers. I have only heard one disagreeing caller since I first tuned in, and that during his first week.
Its pretty clear he doesn't want a debate.
As long as Franken stays on the air, its wasting Democrat money. And thats a good thing
Posted by: Rick at June 25, 2004 04:58 PMI was in the Chaska area on 6/30 and found that I could only get FrankenNet. My car's antenna is a coat hanger because my neighborhood's ruffians find it amuzing to break stuff on other people's property.
The alleged "straight-talk radio" broadcasts on the aptly named pot-warmer 1530 from Shakopee, but luckily for you mitch they also have 740 from Hudson. Get spun at lunch time!
Posted by: Jason at July 3, 2004 04:28 PM