Clear channel
The media has always had its share of fictional bullies on
radio, television and the silver screen. From the bad guys of
“Batman” to Nelson Muntz of “The Simpsons,” there has always been
someone there to pick on the little guy and top it off with a good
old “haw-haw.” And now, the media, and radio in particular, has
their own real-life bully- Clear Channel Communications.
Since the Federal Communications Commission loosened restraints
on media ownership on June 2 of this year, Clear Channel has become
the poster child to show what can happen when the ties that bind
together diversity are loosened and the deregulation of media
begins.
“If this homogenization of the industry continues, I am truly
concerned that the media could end up being controlled by one or
two conglomerates,” said Jaime Switzer of CSU, who teaches the
journalism department’s new communication technologies and society
class. “All of our news and information would come from one
company, one media perspective.”
This one perspective has already begun to come into focus in the
radio industry. In just the seven short years since it began to
gobble up radio stations across the board, Clear Channel has
managed to homogenize the content drastically and cut the number of
live DJs it employs, replacing them with a computer.
The birth of radio’s all consuming giant took place seven years
ago with the passing of the 1996 Telecommunications Act. Before the
Act was passed, one company could not own more than 40 radio
stations in the entire United States. However, with the act in
place, the cap on radio ownership was lifted. Clear Channel then
went from owning 40 radio stations in the mid-90s to owning around
1,225 in 2003, pulling in $3.27 billion of revenue in 2002,
according to an article on projectcensored.org magazine.
While this ownership makes up only 10 percent of the total
market, according to clearchannelsucks.org, it is concentrated in
248 of the top 250 radio markets, controlling 60 percent of all
rock programming.
In Colorado alone, Clear Channel owns 16 radio stations,
including five in Fort Collins. However, the long arm of
deregulation does not stop there.
According to the Clear Channel Web site, the company also owns
40 television stations nationwide, over half a million outdoor
advertising displays and over 100 entertainment venues across the
country. Also, according to NOW with Bill Moyers, in 2000 Clear
Channel purchased SFX, the nation’s largest concert promoter and
collected around $1.13 billion in concert revenues in 2002
according to Clear Channel.
“Clear Channel’s vision is to best serve the community we live
in for the reasons we have a license to the airwaves,” said Stew
Haskell, general manager of Clear Channel Northern Colorado.
“We want to inform and entertain our listener base while better
serving our clients and advertisers,” he said.
This is very true. Most people enjoy listening to the Broncos
games on 850 KOA every Sunday, a Clear Channel Station. Clear
Channel also made The Dead’s Terrapin Station 2002 reunion show in
Wisconsin a possibility, acquiring the permits that only a company
like Clear Channel could get.
The company also brings great shows like David Bowie, Sound
Tribe Sector 9 and Sting to the Fillmore in Denver, all of which
are coming through town in the next two months.
However, not everybody sees a plus side to the mammoth that is
Clear Channel.
“I see no benefit to Clear Channel from a consumer perspective,”
Switzer said. “Conglomerates like Clear Channel severely impact the
local flavor and local news flexibility of radio stations.”
According to Switzer, this loss of a local feel is a result of
Clear Channel’s use of a technique called voice tracking, which
involves pre-cording DJ programs that then broadcast on stations
across the nation. With this technique, the DJ banter between songs
on your local radio station may have actually been recorded in a
studio in Los Angeles, making careful reference to local clubs and
happenings.
This sleight-of-hand shortcut backfired, however, in 2002 in the
town of Minot, N.D., where Clear Channel owns the only six radio
stations in town.
In what Richard Simon of “Relix” magazine described as “the
Clear Channel horror story,” a train traveling through Minot in the
middle of the night carrying 10,000 gallons of anhydrous ammonia
derailed, spilling its contents and creating a toxic cloud over the
town.
After the city’s emergency contact system failed, officials
attempted to contact local radio stations to get the news out that
residents needed to stay in their homes. However, because the radio
stations were controlled by remote control, nobody was in the
studios to extend the warnings. This resulted in 300 Minot
residents in the hospital.
Haskell, however, argues that voice tracking adds to the
entertainment value.
“With the voice tracking, we input local information. It is an
economic issue and a quality issue. It makes the station better,”
Haskell said.
Haskell also commented that prior to 1996, when the
Telecommunications Act was passed, radio stations were losing
money. To economize and optimize the market, Clear Channel operates
in clusters as a way to improve the health of the industry. He also
said that while the voice tracking replaces some live shifts on
Clear Channel owned stations, the loss of jobs has not been a
problem.
“There are a lot of great jobs for a lot of good people who
really want to work,” Haskell said. “The only ingredient missing in
the studio is a live body talking impromptu over the air. And if
need be, we can break in and dissipate emergency information.”
Clear Channel, however, has not gone unscathed during its rise
to dominance in the radio and concert industries. Even the biggest
bully breaks a bone now and then.
According to an article on salon.com, in 2001 Denver based
promotion company Nobody In Particular Presents filed an antitrust
suit in Denver federal court, claiming that Clear Channel was an
illegal monopoly.
The suit followed rumors of heavy-handed tactics Clear Channel
was using to coerce musical artists to play at Clear Channel
venues.
“The allegations are that Clear Channel says ‘If you don’t play
our venues, we won’t play your songs,'” Jenney Toomey of the Future
of Music Coaltion said in an interview with “Relix” magazine. “I’ve
talked to a number of major artists who all say that’s exactly
what’s happening, but none of them will go on the record because
Clear Channel owns 60 percent of the concert market and when you
talk about major concert markets, it’s something like 90
percent.”
The censorship of artists that Clear Channel plays on its
stations does not stop there. After the incidents of Sept. 11,
2001, the mega-media conglomerate issued a list of songs to its
stations that could not be played on the air and were to be removed
from play lists in order to cater to the sensitivities of its
advertisers and listeners. Songs on the list ranged from “When the
World Ends” by the Dave Matthews Band to “Leaving on a Jet Plane”
by Peter, Paul & Mary to “Peace Train” by Cat Stevens.
While some artists, like Sting, have played it safe and gone as
far as having their entire tours sponsored by Clear Channel, others
have begun to speak out against the corporation and the problem of
media conglomeration in general.
Last month, the Dave Matthews Band put a post up on its Web
site, voicing its concern over the fact that a few large
corporations have entirely too much control, therefore “making it
difficult for musicians to get their music produced or played on
the radio. Inherently, it puts commercial pressure on our culture,
and can sometimes lead to a lousy grade of journalism.”
Switzer echoed the concerns of the band.
“It’s going to end up that you will have to be a part of the
media’s ‘mafia’ to get a break.”
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