Air America Programs Still Off the Air in L.A.

A New York judge Thursday ordered liberal talk-radio network Air America Radio back on in Chicago, but Los Angeles listeners to the 2-week-old service have an indefinite wait before it returns to the airwaves here.

MultiCultural Radio Broadcasting Inc., which leases airtime to Air America on station WNTD-AM (950) in Chicago and KBLA-AM (1580) in Los Angeles, pulled the talk lineup featuring comedians Al Franken and Janeane Garofalo, rapper Chuck D and others off the air Wednesday. MultiCultural said Air America couldn’t pay for airtime it leased in February, March and April; Air America countered that it stopped payment on checks to MultiCultural after that company resold airtime the network had leased.

Air America won a temporary restraining order in State Supreme Court in New York, where both companies are based, that will put the service back on the air in Chicago today. Network executives said their yearlong contract with WNTD was “paid in full.”

Evan Cohen, chairman of Air America Radio, said the network would decide within the next day or two whether to seek legal action to get back on KBLA as well or to seek another outlet.

But the conflict appears to have poisoned the relationship with MultiCultural. In a posting on its website Thursday parodying conservative Internet reporter Matt Drudge, Air America said the head of MultiCultural, Arthur Liu, “ripped us off.” It also referred to him as “Liu-ser” and “Liu-cifer,” saying, “What we’re getting at is that we hate him.” The posting was removed from the Air America site later in the day.

“This is more than sophomoric. They are creating this incredible, vicious environment,” said Gene Heinemeyer, general manager of four MultiCultural stations in New York, which he said have gotten threatening calls from Air America fans. “This kind of ends any relationship we could have with them.”