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<\/a>Melinda Henneberg at HuffPo reports<\/a> Air America Radio, currently under bankruptcy protection, will be bailed out by a new investor. As well, she reports that Al Franken is officially leaving to explore a bid for the U.S. Senate up in Minnesota. (But who is funnier? Franken or his expected Republican opponent, Sen. Norm Coleman? Tough call.0 UPDATE: Since asking the aforementioned question, as if the gods wished to underscore it, see this just-in hilarious Coleman-related story<\/a>.<\/i>)<\/p>\nPerhaps without the need to cover Franken’s large salary — his noon-3pm ET show slot is expected to be filled by our friend, the good Thom Hartmann<\/a> — AAR’s top-down business model, which has crippled them from the beginning, may be eased a bit and bring a chance for profitability to the only large non-Rightwing media outlet of note.<\/p>\n Of course, with media monster Clear Channel putting AAR onto stations with some of the weakest signals in many of the major markets — in our estimation, in order to limit their feasibility in such markets and keep other stations with stronger signals from carrying AAR programming — it could still be an uphill climb.<\/p>\n On a related note: We’re currently in Phoenix where we’ll be Guest Hosting The Peter B. Collins Show<\/a> later this week. The indie-owned Air America affiliate station out here, 1480 KPHX<\/a> (flagship station for the new Nova M Radio<\/a> network), is very difficult to pick up cleanly after sundown, even just on the outskirts of the city.<\/p>\n