Liberal Talk Radio

Evan Montvel-Cohen, former Chairman of Air America Radio is one of the Managing Principals of C3 Tech Innovations funds.

[September 14, 2004]       

C3 Tech Innovations Launches $10 Million Private Equity Fund <a xhref="http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2004/sep/1073099.htm">http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2004/sep/1073099.htm</a>

NEW YORK --(Business Wire)-- Sept. 14, 2004 -- New York Real Estate Developer Charles Cara Leads Investor Group Targeting Overlooked or Under-Funded Technology Companies.  <span style="font-weight:bold;">Evan Montvel-Cohen</span>, former Chairman of Air America Radio is one of the Managing Principals of the fund.  C3 Tech Innovations, LLC, today announced that it has launched a $10 million private equity investment fund targeting technology companies that were overlooked or under-funded during the post-bubble retreat.

Charles Cara, New York City real estate developer and an early-stage investor in technology and media companies, is Senior Investor in the fund, called C3 Tech Fund 1. C3 Tech Innovations will provide equity, capital, debt and related financing in the $250,000 to $1 million range to technology and digital media start-ups.

"C3 Tech Fund 1 was created with the recognition that there were early-stage technology companies with compelling business propositions that fell off the radar in the rush to the exits during the tech bust," said Cara. "Our German investments and our business partnerships underscore the international scope of the fund and give us a valuable foothold in one of Europe's key technology and financial capitals."

Cara added, "We see exceptional opportunities for the efficient use of private equity in Germany, New York, and other technology centers." To date in Germany, according to Cara, C3 Tech Fund 1 has closed on one investment and expects to close on a second investment shortly.

Background

C3 Tech Innovations principals have a wealth of experience building successful companies from the ground up in the fields of technology, real estate, media, market research, quick service restaurants and construction. The fund works actively with portfolio companies on all facets of business including strategy, implementation and financing.

Mr. Cara is a Brooklyn-based developer. He has completed commercial and residential property deals valued at more than $150 million, including deals involving 81 Pearl St. and 31 Washington St. in Brooklyn's high-end real estate development area, Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass (DUMBO). An announcement on a DUMBO mixed-use condominium tower with 268 apartments, ground-floor retail, a 350-car parking garage, and easy access to Wall Street is expected soon.

C3 Tech Innovations invites senior officers of technology companies seeking early capital rounds to submit their business plan and a written proposal to info@c3techinnovations.com. For more information, please visit <a xhref="http://www.c3techinnovations.com.">www.c3techinnovations.com.</a>

2007-01-07 23:25:17

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Look Who's Talking; The Right's Radio Dominance Faces Challenge from the left

Spring 2004 finally gave Blue state liberals something to talk about - a talk radio contender to take on the right-wing ranters of the world. Evan Montvel Cohen, New York venture capitalist and media entrepreneur launched his entertaining, liberal, political talk radio network on March 31, 2004 and radio has never sounded sweeter for the liberal left. 

It has new owners, an uncertain launch date and only one station in Chicago, but officials of a much-publicized liberal talk-radio network say they hope to be on the air by April with an all-day lineup that includes comedian Al Franken.

"The cutesy phrase I've been using now [for the launch] is 'spring,"' Progress Media CEO Mark Walsh said recently by phone from the network's offices in New York City. "It's our goal, and I'm pretty confident we'll hit late March, early April."

Walsh, a former television anchor and Internet entrepreneur whose previous jobs include stints at HBO and America Online, plans to announce this month the network's full lineup as well as the acquisition of three more stations, in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York.

"The nation is more divided than anyone can remember, and in division is a media opportunity," Walsh, 49, said. "We want to have a full broadcast day -- not just one liberal show bobbing in the vile and spew of conservative talk."

The new network was conceived more than a year ago as a way to get liberal voices on radio airwaves dominated by conservative talk shows like Rush Limbaugh's syndicated program, heard on about 600 stations. It prompted a flurry of media attention but has encountered bumps in its development.

In December, the original owners, Chicagoans Sheldon and Anita Drobney, sold their venture to investors, including Walsh and Evan Cohen, a New York venture capitalist. The new team has announced the signing of several on-air talents, including Franken and Lizz Winstead, one of the creators of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," but has run into difficulty acquiring stations.

"It's the best of times and the worst of times for acquisitions and leasing," Walsh said. "There are not a lot of great AM or FM stations for sale that have a fantastic footprint or don't already have ongoing, cash-generating programming."

Chicago's WNTD-AM for months had been the network's only station; the company since early January has consistently said it is close to having deals in three other top markets. Progress Media, which also calls itself Air America, declined Thursday to comment on a New York Post report that the network had acquired a second New York station, WLIB-AM.

None of the stations the network is pursuing in Los Angeles and San Francisco, Walsh said, are part of radio conglomerates like Infinity Broadcasting or Clear Channel Communications.

Longtime observers of the radio industry say they are not surprised that the new network is struggling to get up and running in time to have an influence on political debate during this presidential election year.

"It's difficult to put any network together; it has nothing to do with the fact that it's liberal," said Michael Harrison of Talkers Magazine, the bible of talk radio. "They have to develop marketing, programming and talent.

"That takes time, and it seems they've been a little bit overly ambitious in terms of space and time; they're trying to do too many things," he said. "That still doesn't mean they can't succeed."

Once Progress Media, also known as Air America, gets on the air, it will have a good chance of influencing political discussion, even though its reach may be limited, said Tom Taylor, editor of Inside Radio, because the "reigning talkers won't be able to ignore them."

"Nobody's ever been there, day to day, to respond to the issues from a liberal view," he said.

But attracting an audience large enough to create revenue will be difficult, especially initially, Taylor said, and for an interesting reason: Politically moderate or liberal listeners will tune in to conservative shows if they are entertaining, he said, but conservatives tend not to listen to liberal shows.

"The question is, can you persuade conservative listeners to sit down and give some radio time to Al Franken?" he said. "Progress Media is inventing something that a lot of people say can't be invented."

Under the new network's plan, its broadcast day would offer live programming from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., and air repeats through the night. The plans have Winstead co-hosting a 9 a.m.-to-noon program, Franken and former Minnesota Public Radio host Katherine Lanpher co-hosting a noon-to-3 p.m. program, and Marty Kaplan, associate dean of the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication, hosting a one-hour media program at 7 p.m.

Lawyers Mike Papantonio and Robert Kennedy Jr. are to host a weekly talk show, and Walsh says the company plans to sign a well-known female liberal radio talk-show host for afternoon drive time. It is expected to be Randi Rhodes of Florida's WJNO-AM.

The network, which has also been pursuing actor and comedian Janeane Garofalo, also has yet to announce hosts for its morning and evening programs.

Walsh, who is currently taking no salary, said he sees the venture as an economic one, not as "regime-change radio."

"I'm going to be in business in 2005, in 2012. It's going to be a profitable media business," he said. "I'm a new-opportunity junkie."

2007-01-02 03:21:07

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