Multicultural Radio Broadcasting Inc

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.

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.

Listeners in Los Angeles and Chicago who tuned in to Air America on Wednesday to hear comedian Al Franken dissect President Bush's news conference got entertainment gossip instead -- in Spanish. In a dispute over payment for airtime, the liberal talk-radio network was abruptly yanked off the air in the morning by MultiCultural Radio Broadcasting Inc., the New York company that owns Santa Monica-based KBLA-AM (1580)and WNTD-AM (950) in Chicago.

Listeners in Los Angeles and Chicago who tuned in to Air America on Wednesday to hear comedian Al Franken dissect President Bush's news conference got entertainment gossip instead -- in Spanish. In a dispute over payment for airtime, the liberal talk-radio network was abruptly yanked off the air in the morning by MultiCultural Radio Broadcasting Inc., the New York company that owns Santa Monica-based KBLA-AM (1580)and WNTD-AM (950) in Chicago.

An AM radio station has become the first to begin targeting San Diego's Asian community, introducing a format of music in Mandarin Chinese and Vietnamese. New York-based MultiCultural Radio Broadcasting Inc. last week reached an agreement with Jefferson-Pilot Broadcasting, owner of the AM 1240 station. The channel previously broadcast the youth-oriented Radio Disney.

With Air America filing for bankruptcy protection last week, and its local affiliate dropping in the most recent ratings, right-wing critics are gleefully writing the epitaph for liberal talk radio -- dead at 2 1/2 . But other observers say that regardless of whether Air America survives, an audience exists and will remain for left-leaning hosts. "There's a market for good talk radio, no matter what the political label is," said Perry Michael Simon, news-talk-sports editor of AllAccess.