Air America Signing Off With Chapter 7

The would-be counter-punch to Rush Limbaugh and conservative radio is filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy and going off the air.

Air America Media aired its final broadcast last week, and, following a week of re-runs, will sign off permanently, reports Variety and a host of other news outlets.

Air America was launched in 2004 in response to the domination of national airwaves by conservative talk radio. The line-up of hosts featured some big names including Al Franken, who would go on to be elected to the US Senate, rapper Chuck D, Ron Reagan, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., actress Janeane Garofalo, Montell Williams, musician Steve Earle and Rachel Maddow.

But, Variety reports that the company, had difficulties from the start. The magazine reports that the radio network changed directors only a month after the launch and  struggled to keep affiliate stations in large markets.

In 2006, the station entered bankruptcy protection and decided to reorganize. That wasn’t enough, and the programming will stop airing on approximately 100 stations across the country.

The Air America chairman cited industry-wide economic struggles in a statement on the Chapter 7 filing. From Variety:

“With radio industry ad revenues down for 10 consecutive quarters, and reportedly off 21% in 2009, signs of improvement have consisted of hoping things will be less bad,” Kireker said. “And though Internet/new-media revenues are projected to grow, our expanding online efforts face the same monetization and profitability challenges in the short term confronting the Web operations of most media companies.”

There is no word yet on whether another company will purchase Air America’s assets and or if another left-leaning national radio network will emerge.