Clear Channel - A company that single-handedly controls over 1,250 radio stations, owning roughly 60% of all rock programming. Clear Channel owns more than 60% of the concert market as well. Clear Channel has about 1,000,000,000 listeners worldwide. Yes. That’s one-sixth of the world’s entire population. Did someone say ‘monopoly’?

In addition to owning hundreds of radio stations, Clear Channel completely owns tours of chart-topping bands such as Aerosmith, Madonna, U2, Janet Jackson and N’Sync. They also exclusively book 135 live entertainment venues, including the local Shoreline Amphitheater. But enough about what Clear Channel has. Let’s focus on what it doesn’t have: a soul.
Peculiarly, the bands Clear Channel doesn’t own rarely, if at all, show up on their airwaves. The ‘No Play list’ doesn’t end there, though. Songs deemed to have offensive material are also removed. This seems reasonable, but Clear Channel isn’t cracking down on profanity. Instead, Clear Channel banned over 150 songs that supposedly referenced, you guessed it, terrorism. Among these banned songs are, strangely enough, The Beatles “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” Bob Dylan’s “Knocking on Heaven’s Door” and the Bangles favorite, “Walk Like an Egyptian.” While a minute few of the banned songs were overtly violent, this one was banned because they said “Egyptian.” Egyptian, Afghani, Saudi, Iraqi, tomayto, tomahto.

While monopolies in of themselves are not evil incarnate, the aggressive abuse of power that often comes with them is. Clear Channel pressures artists into signing promotion deals, paying Clear Channel to advertise their concerts. When Blink 182 put on a concert in Cincinnati without first agreeing to let Clear Channel advertise it, the band was banned from the Clear Channel-owned concert hall. Nobody In Particular Presents, a small promotions firm that has defended Blink 182 in the past, filed suit against Clear Channel for monopolistic and predatory business practices. “Clear Channel repeatedly has used its size and clout to coerce artists to use Clear Channel to promote their concerts or else risk losing air play and other on-air promotional support.” says NIPP.

The Federal Communication Commission (FCC)- responsible for moderating corporate media- and therefore Clear Channel- is led by Michael Powell, son of now-former Secretary of State, Colin Powell (Nepotism? No!). According to law, no company is allowed to own more than five FM stations or five AM stations in any one area. This limit is an attempt by the government to ensure diversity of owners and programming. Under Powell’s leadership, this limit has had a recurring habit of being deregulated. Each time, this deregulation has led to a gain for Clear Channel. This makes many people believe that Clear Channel has strong ties to the Bush administration. This is only further evidenced by Clear Channel’s donations to the Bush campaign, contributing thousands of dollars to the platform. Clear Channel’s political action committee donates 77% of their federal contributions to the Republican party. According to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, that’s a far larger share than any other entertainment industry. On a side note, George W. Bush sold Clear Channel VP Tom Hicks the Texas Rangers for $15 mil.

 

Clear Channel’s puppetry of the music industry can be felt locally as well. The popular Bay Area radio station KSJO (92.3 FM) transformed overnight into a Classical Latin music station in an effort by Clear Channel to look ‘diverse’. KSJO was but one of 40 stations sold recently by Clear Channel to be run by minorities. This seems to be a thoughtful move, seeing as the Latino populace in California continues to grow. There’s just one catch, though. Clear Channel bought back the advertising revenues to six of the 40 stations, which gives them virtual control over the stations they apparently sold. Make that two catches. Latino oldies constitute the new stations’ entire playlist. Not all Latinos listen to Latino oldies, or Latino music altogether. That’s like saying all African-Americans listen to 50-Cent or all whites listen to...eh...Vanilla Ice.
Hey, generalization saves time, right?

[For those of us interested, there are several petitions circulating the local area for the return of KSJO, originated by Michael Martin, a most righteous dude. If you're interested in signing, then email Michael your name and phone number to be added to the list.]

One of Clear Channel’s strategies for homogenizing the music industry is the practice of voice tracking. Voice tracking is when computer-generated sound clips are broadcast to radio stations to give it that ‘local flavor’ (ie. “Hello, Mountain View!”), when actually the station is simulcasting a central transmission. In effect, this creates dozens of stations across the country that have the same songs, same DJ’s and same opinions. The only difference between them is the fake radio personality occasionally shouting “Where’s it at, MV?” So, when listening to Clear Channel stations, we’re not only listening to corporately-owned, irrationally censored music, but we’re also listening to the same channels. It’s all canned. The point of all of this is media control. If one company owns a majority of all radio stations, they are given the uncanny ability to filter vast amounts of information. They can choose to ignore any negative comment about themselves or their partners. From the sound of the accusations against Clear Channel, they’re doing just that. Free speech isn’t canned.

Perhaps the underlying flaw of Clear Channel is that it is, simply, a business. As with any business, their primary concern is money. Clear Channel is most interested in playing whatever music sells well. However, music is not a business. Music is an art. If only mainstream and commercialized bands are given airtime, the depth and diversity of the music world would be crippled. Rap and punk music would become the only listening options. I can only speak for myself, but I sure as hell don’t want to live in a world ruled by Good Charlotte.

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