Air America Schedules Presidential Candidates, Celebrities for Relaunch

Air America is scheduling a high-profile lineup of presidential candidates, political players and celebrities for next week as part of the liberal talk network's "relaunch" after suffering financial woes.

Democratic candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards, along with luminaries like Robert Redford, Paul Newman and Gloria Steinem, are among the more than 30 guests scheduled, the network announced Thursday.

New shows are also being added to the schedule, featuring famous correspondents and hosts, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Arianna Huffington and Bob Kerrey.

The network also redesigned its Web site, where hosts will regularly blog along with a newly-hired blogger, Nancy Scola.

Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the subject of persistent presidential speculation despite his denials of any interest, was to tape his interview Thursday, facing questions from a former political foe, Mark Green.Mr. Green, who lost to Mr. Bloomberg when the former CEO made his first run for City Hall in 2001, is now running Air America with his older brother, Stephen Green.

They took it over this year in an attempt to revive the network, which had been losing money.In a statement, the younger Mr. Green said the headliners kicking off the relaunch will deliver "the kind of news and views we'll be offering for years to come and that no other radio or TV network now provides."

When the Green brothers took over Air America earlier this year, they pledged to run it as business.Air America is broadcast on 64 stations nationwide and on XM satellite.