Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "More Clear Channel":
It seems more and more to me that Clear Channel is a monopoly...didn't the courts bust up AT&T years ago, because it was a monopoly? Is it possible that Clear Channel is approaching that same state? Or, are there still enough on-air alternatives to keep them from being busted up, too?
I didn't agree with the F.C.C's decision to let Clear Channel buy up all these stations years ago...plus, give them so much power as to squeeze out smaller LPFM (low-power FM) and LPAM (low-power AM) stations with rules and license fees outside the normal person's budget. It's as if Clear Channel was telling the F.C.C what to do, instead of the other way around! But, as we all know, money talks and...you know the rest....
It's no wonder that, even before mega-corporate radio, pirate radio stations have been in existance. When Low-Power stations' licenses were budgeted out of reach, the howling really picked up! Needless to say, where some of these pirates used to operate is now the upper end of the AM broadcast band (formerly known as the "expanded AM band") and are operating in shortwave and some in the FM broadcast band as well. Many rail against mega-corporate radio and Clear Channel, in particular.
Will the mega-bubble of Clear Channel burst one day? In a way, I wish it would, making local radio come back to the communities it really serves, instead of listening to news from somewhere hundreds or even thousands of miles away. I STILL dial around the AM band, listening for local "mom-n-pop" stations outside the Clear Channel bubble. It's refreshing when I can hear one (if at all, any more) and NOT have to liten to "cookie cutter radio".
Bud Stacey, Mobile, AL
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2 comments:
This is why I listen to Larry Lujack and Big Ron O'Brien airchecks on my ipod in my car.
The days of sounding like stations care are long gone - the on-air production is not tight, the live jocks have nothing to say, you hear the same 300 songs over and over, etc.
I know these people still care, but it sure doesn't sound like it. Sorry, but John Tesh isn't the end-all-be-all. It's unfortunate that deregulation killed any development of local talent. It all ended years ago.
Oh well, back to Ol' Uncle Lar...
I live in Dallas but regularly tune in KJIM 1500 in Sherman, TX for the same reason. Out of all the powerhouses in Dallas-Fort Worth, I go to the 1,000 watt rimshot station 60 miles away, go figure. I just like the local community sound of it. Sherman is a small town near the Texas & Oklahoma state line.
The DFW dial is full of "in your face" overmodulated trash, but that station is a nice exception.
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