My letter to Air America Radio
The below is a letter I sent to comments@airamericaradio.com, regarding Mike Malloy's recent firing:
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Dear Air America Radio,
I am in mourning over the inexcusably incompetent handling of the Mike Malloy situation. Malloy understood that things were tenuous a month ago. He was trying to prepare us, his faithful listeners, during the first week of August, by noting how he'd had a good two years on the network, and how radio was an uncertain business. If you'd have simply clued him in at that he was indeed not going to be renewed at that time, things would have gone much more smoothly, and you would have HAD HIS HELP.
Up until this debacle, Mike was VERY fast to defend Air America. If any caller or blogger would suppose that he was being told to pipe down, he was very quick to get right on the microphone and state unequivocally that Air America had never, ever even breathed a word of censorship at him. Mike may have spoken Truth to Power, but he was LOYAL to Air America. Was he annoyed with some portions of the lineup? Yeah, but you know, some of us are. No big deal, it's a big network, we'll make do, right? Mike was a realist about the world of radio and was grateful for the time Air America had given him.
Then, somehow, somewhere amongst your decision-makers, things went terribly wrong. The word was sent to Mike, in the second week of August, that he was getting signed on again for two more years, and that on September 1st, he was going to be heard again in New York City. Of COURSE Mike was jubilant. Of COURSE he shared the good news with those of us who have supported his show the entire time it was on Air America (and some from before that). We all cheered-- we knew something was coming, change-wise at Air America, and we were so glad that we would be able to continue listening to Malloy reliably where we'd always been able to.
As the end of the month loomed, we relaxed a little. Sure, we don't want to see Sam Seder go, or move to a different slot, and we'd recently lost Janeane. I won't go into the dreadful taste we long-timers had from watching the two morning shows you began with get ripped away. I won't speak for others, but I had hoped that the bad decision making that was demonstrated during that period was a thing of the past. And, from what news we had, it seemed reasonable to think that we weren't due for anything quite so disastrous. We were assured we would still have Malloy.
We were ASSURED we WOULD STILL HAVE MALLOY.
Now, I can't pretend to quite understand how many levels of ignorance went into the decision to not follow through on the word given Mike. Maybe I'm just not built to make these kind of decisions. If that's the case, then I am proud that I am not capable of the maneuver you all are now responsible for executing. Financial considerations are no excuse. Honestly, there are other ways to correct cash flow issues. Do you all not listen to any of your own shows? Every one of them that I have listened to in this past month, from Ring of Fire to Randi Rhodes, Majority Report to Al Franken, Radio Nation to Mike Malloy had said that while the easiest way to show a profit is to cut payroll, it is also the most dishonorable and LEAST Liberal thing to do.
And yet... you decided to cut Malloy for "Financial Reasons" which is to say, you felt that you should cut your payroll. You could not have stooped lower in managing the only national commercial network for Liberals and Progressives. The only way, and I am sorry to say, the ONLY WAY that you can make it up to those of us who are now sitting here in shock is to do whatever it takes... and I do mean WHATEVER it takes... to bring Malloy back. If that means officially buying his syndication deal from whoever will likely try to sign him, DO IT. If it costs you even more than you were going to offer him in that contract extension, consider it a harsh lesson, and find another way to cut your costs.
I suggest letting go of the person or people responsible for this mess to begin with. After all, unless you can fix what they have done, they have cost you.
Cost you dearly.
With nothing but sincerity,
Aldous Tyler
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Dear Air America Radio,
I am in mourning over the inexcusably incompetent handling of the Mike Malloy situation. Malloy understood that things were tenuous a month ago. He was trying to prepare us, his faithful listeners, during the first week of August, by noting how he'd had a good two years on the network, and how radio was an uncertain business. If you'd have simply clued him in at that he was indeed not going to be renewed at that time, things would have gone much more smoothly, and you would have HAD HIS HELP.
Up until this debacle, Mike was VERY fast to defend Air America. If any caller or blogger would suppose that he was being told to pipe down, he was very quick to get right on the microphone and state unequivocally that Air America had never, ever even breathed a word of censorship at him. Mike may have spoken Truth to Power, but he was LOYAL to Air America. Was he annoyed with some portions of the lineup? Yeah, but you know, some of us are. No big deal, it's a big network, we'll make do, right? Mike was a realist about the world of radio and was grateful for the time Air America had given him.
Then, somehow, somewhere amongst your decision-makers, things went terribly wrong. The word was sent to Mike, in the second week of August, that he was getting signed on again for two more years, and that on September 1st, he was going to be heard again in New York City. Of COURSE Mike was jubilant. Of COURSE he shared the good news with those of us who have supported his show the entire time it was on Air America (and some from before that). We all cheered-- we knew something was coming, change-wise at Air America, and we were so glad that we would be able to continue listening to Malloy reliably where we'd always been able to.
As the end of the month loomed, we relaxed a little. Sure, we don't want to see Sam Seder go, or move to a different slot, and we'd recently lost Janeane. I won't go into the dreadful taste we long-timers had from watching the two morning shows you began with get ripped away. I won't speak for others, but I had hoped that the bad decision making that was demonstrated during that period was a thing of the past. And, from what news we had, it seemed reasonable to think that we weren't due for anything quite so disastrous. We were assured we would still have Malloy.
We were ASSURED we WOULD STILL HAVE MALLOY.
Now, I can't pretend to quite understand how many levels of ignorance went into the decision to not follow through on the word given Mike. Maybe I'm just not built to make these kind of decisions. If that's the case, then I am proud that I am not capable of the maneuver you all are now responsible for executing. Financial considerations are no excuse. Honestly, there are other ways to correct cash flow issues. Do you all not listen to any of your own shows? Every one of them that I have listened to in this past month, from Ring of Fire to Randi Rhodes, Majority Report to Al Franken, Radio Nation to Mike Malloy had said that while the easiest way to show a profit is to cut payroll, it is also the most dishonorable and LEAST Liberal thing to do.
And yet... you decided to cut Malloy for "Financial Reasons" which is to say, you felt that you should cut your payroll. You could not have stooped lower in managing the only national commercial network for Liberals and Progressives. The only way, and I am sorry to say, the ONLY WAY that you can make it up to those of us who are now sitting here in shock is to do whatever it takes... and I do mean WHATEVER it takes... to bring Malloy back. If that means officially buying his syndication deal from whoever will likely try to sign him, DO IT. If it costs you even more than you were going to offer him in that contract extension, consider it a harsh lesson, and find another way to cut your costs.
I suggest letting go of the person or people responsible for this mess to begin with. After all, unless you can fix what they have done, they have cost you.
Cost you dearly.
With nothing but sincerity,
Aldous Tyler