Why has Air America vanished from the scene in Columbus, Boston and other cities throughout the nation?  The reason is quite simple and has nothing to do with ratings.  Let me repeat that: The disappearance of Air America has nothing to do with ratings which is the common excuse given, especially by rightists, conservatives, and crypto-fascist talk show hosts who ardently strive to project the impression that the American people do not want to hear liberal media.  In truth, the removal of Air America is directly related to financial power, rightist propaganda, censorship and control of the airways in the United States.
         Rush Limbaugh is on over 600 stations in the United States which fosters the belief that he is widely popular and a money maker when in fact he is a money loser in many markets.  If he is losing money in many regions why, then, is he being broadcast in those areas.  He is on the air because many wealthy individuals fully agree with the ideology he projects and are willing to endure a financial cost to see that it is broadcast.  It may cost  $10,000,000 to keep him on the air in a particular market while only $6,000,000 are realized in the process.  His rich backers are willing to cover the $4,000,000 loss as well as submit a hefty additional amount to realize a profit for the station�s owners to keep him speaking.  This strategy is the standard procedure carried out in many regions of the nation by those with major economic clout.
 With Air America, on the other hand, the policy followed by the wealthy is one of taking a loss to keep people off the air rather than taking a hit to keep them on the air.  It�s the reverse.  A typical situation is one in which a local station finds its ratings and profits steadily rising after switching to Air America.  One would think that a station making their highest profits ever of $10,000,000 per year after switching to Air America would be firmly committed to its new found profit maker.  Instead, the same fat cats who finance Limbaugh, Hannity, O�Reilly, Ingraham, Savage and other mouthpieces of the right, make an offer to the station�s owners they can�t refuse.  They will increase the income of the station from $10,000,000 to $25,000,000 if the station will not only remove Air America and all of its spokespersons but replace them with rightist talk show hosts, new sponsors, and various trivial programs.
         For the station�s ownership and management the choice is easy to visualize:  Do they switch and start broadcasting to a smaller number of listeners while realizing an additional $15,000,000 or do they continue broadcasting to their largest audience ever while receiving $15,000,000 less than that being offered by those who are, by the way, their ideological allies.  Simply stated: Do they make $10,000,000 per year broadcasting to a large audience or do they make $25,000,000 per year broadcasting to a smaller audience.  The choice is clear and accounts for the flipping of station formats that has recently occurred in many markets.  The rich really became alarmed and decided to put on a full court press as a result of the November election in which their favorites took significant losses.
         Now ladies and gentlemen you can see why it is not ratings that count because that merely entails numbers of people; it�s money that matters because that entails power and profits.
         For those who question the scenario I have outlined I would direct their attention to the numerous religious stations and channels on the media that are not commercially oriented or earning profits but are broadcasting at great expense, nevertheless.  Groups of wealthy benefactors are paying their bills because they want the religious message spread far and wide and are willing to take major financial losses in the process.  Again, we see that spreading desired propaganda at great expense trumps ratings.
         The bottom line in all this is that there are tens of thousands of extremely wealthy people who are willing to lose sizable sums of money to ideological causes they support, even when they realize no immediate financial gain will emerge and ratings will be significantly substandard due to little interest by most Americans in their proselytism.  To say all of this amounts to nothing more than blatant class warfare is to utter the obvious.  Whether we like it or not we are all in a ruthless struggle for the minds of millions.