Conan Walks. Air America Radio Crashes

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Conan O'Brien Says Goodnight to "Tonight"

It's official, folks.  Conan O'Brien is leaving NBC's "The Tonight Show" after only seven months because he decided the network was no longer big enough for him and Jay Leno, who will now get his old job back after his prime time show famously tanked.  For this, O'Brien walks away with $45 million (12 million of which will go to his staffers), then will take a few months to cool his heels before his next big TV opportunity.

The reasons why have been well documented.  But it seems as if every comedian on late night TV has been taking a whack at the pinata that NBC has become, depicting Leno as the bad guy and O'Brien as the victim.  (Not that it wasn't deserved)  Don't forget that it was O'Brien who was promised the "Tonight Show" a few years ago because NBC thought Leno was going to hang it up.  Then Leno changed his mind, got offered the prime time show so he wouldn't jump to ABC, and O'Brien was left holding the bag.

Here's the thing:  O'Brien's ratings had been abysmal since he took over the "Tonight Show" with or without Leno as a lead-in, getting regularly beaten by David Letterman on CBS and "Nightline" on ABC.  Now that he's leaving, he's been winning the time period because he's been making these not-so-subtle potshots at the way he's been treated by NBC.  Anywhere else, he would have been shown the door immediately.

Now NBC has to pick up the pieces of this debacle.  Not only do they need to re-establish themselves as a late-night destination, but also to alter the public perception that the network is run by clueless boobs who don't know what they're doing.  Maybe that's why General Electric is selling NBC to Comcast.

Air America Radio Grounded

In recent months, radio behemoths Clear Channel and Citadel Broadcasting have filed for bankruptcy because the economy and changes in the way we listen to music have taken their toll.  After a few court-ordered instances of belt-tightening, both should be back in the pink in no time.

The same can't be said for the progressive radio network Air America, which says it is ceasing operations next week, leaving affiliates in the lurch as programs disappear.  They've been having problems paying their bills almost from the time they first went on the air.

Created as an alternative to the conservative talk shows dominating the airwaves, Air America gave platforms to the likes of Al Franken, Rachel Maddow and Janeane Garofalo with their own shows.  Then Franken became a U.S. Senator, Maddow got her own TV show, and Garofalo went back to acting.  More recently, the only Air America personality of note has been Thom Hartmann.  Most of its remaining affiliates have added shows form other sources hosted by Ed Schultz, Stephanie Miller and Bill Press.

Air America practically invented the progressive talk format, which with the network's demise has made it an endangered species in the face of conservative talkers, who can usually be found on big-watt stations on both sides of the dial.  But then, there's always NPR.