BY DAN
KENNEDY
Serving the reality-based community since 2002.
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Friday, May 07, 2004
REAL TROUBLE AT AIR AMERICA.
Turmoil is one thing, not meeting payroll is quite another. The
Chicago Tribune reports
that two more top-level executives are leaving Air America Radio,
adding, "The company also failed to make its scheduled payroll
Wednesday, leaving its staff of roughly 100 radio personalities,
writers, and producers unpaid until Thursday."
Question: how could the
Air
America people be in this
much trouble after only five weeks? This was always a long shot, but
they did seem to have money and brains. Well, it sounds like the
money's hard to find, and the brains are leaving. The story
concludes:
Last week, according to
two sources familiar with the matter, paychecks to some of the
network's talent - a group that includes Al Franken, Janeane
Garofalo, and Randi Rhodes - bounced, and Rhodes joked on the air
about not being paid.
A scheduled payday for the staff
on Wednesday came and went without checks, though the staff was
paid on Thursday. [President-of-the-week Jon] Sinton
chalked up both cases to "technical issues."
Technical issues? It's possible. I
suppose.
CHANDLER TO CARR: SHUT UP.
Boston Globe Steve Bailey weighs
in on the battle between
Boston Herald columnists Howie Carr and Mike Barnicle, which I
wrote
about yesterday. Herald editorial director Ken Chandler tells
Bailey: "I am not going to tolerate people on the Herald
payroll sniping at each other in print."
Chandler says nothing about
Barnicle's writing a valentine to House Speaker Tom Finneran without
disclosing that his wife, FleetBoston executive vice-president Anne
Finucane, had made a $500 campaign contribution to Mister Speaker
(Carr's allegation, unverified by Media Log).
posted at 2:12 PM |
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MEDIA LOG ARCHIVES
Dan Kennedy is senior writer and media critic for the Boston Phoenix.
