Air America Shuts Down

The liberal talk radio network Air America abruptly announced Chapter 7 bankruptcy today and ceased operations.

It is with the greatest regret, on behalf of our Board, that we must announce that Air America Media is ceasing its live programming operations as of this afternoon, and that the Company will file soon under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code to carry out an orderly winding-down of the business. The very difficult economic environment has had a significant impact on Air America's business. This past year has seen a "perfect storm" in the media industry generally. National and local advertising revenues have fallen drastically, causing many media companies nationwide to fold or seek bankruptcy protection.

Mike Lux Wins Air America Contest

Well, it was a fun distraction for a couple of weeks, but Open Left's Mike Lux has won Air America's "Favorite Progressive Blogger" contest. I came in second, which is pretty damn good considering I didn't know about the contest until I was a semi-finalist! Congratulations, Mike!

After five weeks of competition, dozens of tweets, emails, and blog posts -- the time has come to announce the winner of the Air America Cruise Contest. While only one contestant could win the claim to fame as Air America's favorite progressive blogger, it has been an amazing experience to see all the support that every nominee for this contest received from their friends, fans and family as well as Air America readers. But after weeks of voting and commentary, the final winner has been chosen to go on the seven-day Air America Cruise through the Mexican Riviera. The winner is...Mike Lux from Open Left!

Thanks very much to all of you for your supportive Tweets, Facebook entries, and blog posts. I feel the love.

RELATED: Read Mike's Ten Reasons post arguing his case.

Blogger Beauty Pageant Update

Air America has posted what I think will be the final rankings update before their "America's Favorite Progressive Blogger" contest ends at 5pm on Thursday. Somehow I'm still clinging onto the lead, but Mike Lux has screamed into second place. I am Monica Geller, dammit.

Deviant Homosexual Bloggers Lead Air America Cruise Contest

Today Air America released an updated ranking in their rebooted contest and its two homofascist/hellbound/pinko contestants are in the lead!

Does the "Go me" dance.* Does the "Go Pam" dance.*

Don't worry, all this is over in a week, so you'll only have to hear about it...say...seven more times.
*Something like the cabbage patch. I think.

Blogger Beauty Pageant 2.0

Air America has rebooted their contest to choose your favorite progressive blogger, discarding all the votes submitted in the first two days and instituting a new system requiring the submission of an email address. Only the votes made from yesterday and onward will be counted. Shortly before the earlier system was ditched, I was behind Media Matters' Karl Frisch by about six percentage points. Thanks very much for your earlier votes. I believe the new system tracks both your email address and your IP, meaning if you are a two-JMG reader household, you may get only one vote. Anyway, it goes on for ten more days and Air America says they'll issue a new standings report shortly. Voting link here. Please don't attempt to defeat the new system. Your email will not be added to any mailing list.

Air America: New Voting Link

Air America has updated their voting system to require an email address in order to prevent folks from voting more than once. I had thought an IP tracker would prevent that, but I guess they don't want people voting from both from their work and home computers. Last time I looked, I was a few points behind Media Matters' Karl Frisch. If you haven't voted yet, here's the link.

Blogger Beauty Pageant: Top Five!

Squee! Pam Spaulding and I made the Top Five in the Air America thingy. Thanks y'all! Final voting is now open via their insta-results widget. The contest ends Dec. 17th. I can't tell if you get to vote every day, like in some of these things. Anyone?

1. Digby, Hullabaloo

2. Mike Lux, Open Left

3. Karl Frisch, Media Matters

4. Joe Jervis, Joe.My.God

5. Pam Spaulding, Pam's House Blend

UPDATE: I was waaay ahead, but the Media Matters guy is zooming!

Blogger Beauty Pageant Update

Air America has posted on their Twitter feed that I'm "neck and neck" in the semi-finals for their "vote for your favorite blogger" thingamajiggy. Thanks for yanking me out of 11th place, y'all! Voting form here. This round ends today. And this comes to mind for some reason: "I personally believe that U.S. Americans....."

Blogger Beauty Pageant

Apparently I am a semi-finalist in a contest I didn't know existed. Air America Media is running a promotion asking you to vote for your favorite progressive blogger. The winner gets a week-long cruise to the Mexican Riviera with Air America hosts, including our heroine, Rachel Maddow. I'm way down at #11 in the semi-finals voting, which ends tomorrow. But Pam Spaulding is tied for first place! Woohoo! Go Pam! A top five will be announced at the end of the week for a final round of voting. I think this is the voting link. Below are today's rankings. Asterisks indicate a tie.

1. Karl Frisch, Media Matters *
2. Pam Spaulding, Pam's House Blend *
3. Mike Lux, Open Left
4. Jill Miller Zimon, Writes Like She Talks
5. Susie Madrak, Suburban Guerilla
6. Curtis Price, The Robbinsdale Radical
7. Sarah Burris, Everyday Citizen
8. Joanne Bamberger, Pundit Mom
9. Katie Gustafson, Change.org
10. Perry MacNeil, Momma Politico
11. Joe Jervis, Joe.My.God
12. Cenk Uygur, The Young Turks
13. Betsy "Aunt B." Phillips, Tiny Cat Pants *
14. Jamie Sanderson, The Politics of Jamie Sanderson *
15. Markos Moulitsas, Daily Kos *
16. Matthew Filipowicz, Huffington Post, Headzup *
17. John Amato, Crooks and Liars *
18. Jane Hamsher, FireDogLake *
19. Shoq, Shoq Value
20. Digby, Hullabaloo