Feeding The Kitty
I've been doing a little digging here; I'm on the trail of some of the money that ostensibly keeps the local Air America affiliate afloat.
A commenter noted earlier today:
"I heard a union worker call in to a local talk show earlier this month complaining about his union's request for member donations to Air America. At his union meeting, they were asking for $35,000 to help compete with "conservative media."
Now, if you look at the local Air America affiliate's
, you'll notice that they have some, er, non-traditional sponsors and, by the looks of it, fundraising schemes:
- One of their sponsors is Chrysalis, a local non-profit womens' advocacy group that gets money from the state as well as from some of the traditional non-profit funding sources well-known to Minnesotans.
- The Mdewakanton Sioux tribe - heavily invested in Native casinos
- Various trade, labor and government unions.
- They're soliciting"memberships" - basically trying to cop MPR's subscription model. The benefits for this "membership" are unclear from the website, but they seem to include actually being told about Air America personalities' appearances - the sort of thing that most stations file under "promotions", on the silly capitalistic theory that getting the word out is a good thing.
I'm doing some digging of my own - but I'm going to ask you, my readers, a favor.
If you know of any other such appeals for financial support, whether through unions, non-profits or other non-commercial entities, please let me know. Drop me a line at "comments" at the address "northernallianceradio", then a dot and "com". Naturally, I'll need to corroborate any tips I get - but I'll appreciate anything you can clue me into.
I have no problem with Air America being on the air in the Twin Cities; I'd just like to make sure that after a year of bellyaching about oxycontin and gay hookers, they are as ethically simon-pure as they demand we be. Seem fair to you?
Thanks.
Posted by Mitch at
February 21, 2005 07:32 PM
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I believe whatever audience AA draws must largely be at the expense of public broadcasting. It therefore makes sense that their fundraising would follow the same model.
Posted by: R-Five at February 21, 2005 08:58 PMThis is actually great news on two different counts: First, we must remember that Air America accomplishes nothing at all simply by existing. It needs listeners to be meaningful. Advertizers know where the listeners are and spend their money accordingly. No ad revenues means no ones listening. This is good.
Posted by: Mary Louise Pivec at February 22, 2005 01:09 PMSecond, if the unions are pouring money down the black hole that is Air America, that means less money in other more persuasive arenas. Much as I feel for the union membership, who are forced to support this nonsense against their will, union money wasted is a good thing politically. In short, if Air America needs union support, then they've already lost the game, they just don't know it's over.