Iowa-based political website folds

A political website owned by the former chairman of the Iowa Republican Party has shut down. Steve Grubbs of Davenport operated “Policast.com”, which was billed as the nation’s first Internet radio website devoted strictly to politics. Grubbs says the site had 50-thousand listeners, but not enough advertisers. He says they had enough money to keep the site on the air for another year, but felt they couldn’t generate enough return for investors.Grubbs says “Policast.com” was a good idea that may eventually work. He says traditional advertisers aren’t yet used to buying time on Internet radio.Four people who worked for “Policast.com” have been let go. Grubbs was a state legislator, then ran for the U-S Senate in 1996, losing to Jim Lightfoot in the Republican primary. Grubbs now runs his own political consulting company called Victory Enterprises.