Here's a note I sent to the KHYI-Fans [yahoo.com] email list, a group of fans of independent alt-country station KHYI [khyi.com] (and others) in Dallas:
As Winston Churchill said, "This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." Clear Channel, the company that took advantage of greed and laziness in the radio biz and used it to buy over a thousand formerly independent radio stations, is in the process of being bought out itself.
Don't expect to hear good music on the radio again right away
You know, the LAST time I heard good music on commercial radio was probably 1984. I wouldn't necessarily blame all of the crappy music on Clear Channel. Blame it on the desire to "please most of the people most of the time".
Clear Channel + Major Labels were a kind of unholy feedback loop of genericizing music. The labels knew that they could hit one target and have their music played in every single market, so they had no reason to try to create music for minor tastes. In fact Clear Channel would rather try to play the same music in every market, and knew that the labels would test for what made the most generically popular music. That made the music even more generic, which made aggregating the radio stations even more profitable.
It didn't help that with the lack of really independent radio stations, there didn't seem to be anybody willing to call Clear Channel and the labels on payola, which is an open secret in the music industry. Everybody knows, and it's illegal, but since the only people involved are profiting, nobody sues. The ones who would sue are already out of business, or recognize that they don't have the kind of money it would take to call Clear Channel and the labels to task.
So it's not just the desire to please most of the people; it's the fact that pleasing most of the people most of the time is so very profitable, especially when you can take a community good like the airwaves (the single best way to advertise music) and deprive the community a chance to use it.
This isn't going to change anything any time soon. This is just them recognizing that smaller markets aren't profitable. Independent bands and labels still will have a hard time getting air play, because it'll still be a challenge to find the niches.
The broadcast model of communication is clearly dying as too few channels producing too little content and being too used to outrageous profit margins on costs based on too small a market. (notice the word consumer is absent from this little tirade.)
The blockbuster is dead. Long live pod (Portable On Demand) casting.
In fact Clear Channel would rather try to play the same music in every market,...
Maybe the corrected statement should reach In fact Clear Channel would rather try to play the same recording in every market
ClearChannel is not about music or "entertainment". It's about delivering advertising to your ears. You should be able to figure that out from its actions: just enough filler between the ads.
Back when the company was still prefering to keep a low profile, I stumbled across a rare interview with
Absolutely. The same thing happens in TV. You're not the network's customer. The advertiser is the customer. You're the product. The music/news/whatever they're broadcasting is a capital expense to ensure a supply of product, and like any company they want to maximize return on capital by minimizing expenses. I'm nearly 40 but I'm not old enough to remember a day when that wasn't true. They've gotten better at it, or perhaps just realized that they could farm up their product with less work (the 44 minutes
I recall that on the US network channel that won the bid for a monopoly on broadcasting the 1996 Olympics an hour of prime time TV contained about 7 minutes of actual sports. The few shows I see nowadays, I see without ads. On US commercial network tv these shows take an hour. Without the ads, they're about 35 minutes, less if you skip the intro music and closing credits.
The web does have the potential to take those guys out, but they key is to promote DRM-free technology and open standards. If we g
That's why radio is on the decline. I can't stand listening to radio anymore. They loop whatever 10 songs that are popular at the moment, every day, in the morning, in the evening, the same f-ing songs! Thank god my commute to work is only 10 minutes. I built myself an iPod hookup to my car, and I listen to my iPod in shuffle mode. It's much better than listening to song X for the millionth time. If my commute was longer than 30 minutes each way, I would definitely get Sirius satellite radio. I find it a big
I can't abide pop music. Top-40 radio is horrid. Blathering, inane DJs suck.
Thankfully, I'm lucky enough to live within the broadcast region of WRNR [wrnr.com], an independent station. There's no playlist -- the DJs are free to play whatever they want. Refreshing, that.
If only they did a streaming broadcast...
186,000 Miles per Second. It's not just a good idea. IT'S THE LAW.
The End of the Beginning? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:The End of the Beginning? (Score:5, Insightful)
You know, the LAST time I heard good music on commercial radio was probably 1984. I wouldn't necessarily blame all of the crappy music on Clear Channel. Blame it on the desire to "please most of the people most of the time".
Re:The End of the Beginning? (Score:5, Interesting)
It didn't help that with the lack of really independent radio stations, there didn't seem to be anybody willing to call Clear Channel and the labels on payola, which is an open secret in the music industry. Everybody knows, and it's illegal, but since the only people involved are profiting, nobody sues. The ones who would sue are already out of business, or recognize that they don't have the kind of money it would take to call Clear Channel and the labels to task.
So it's not just the desire to please most of the people; it's the fact that pleasing most of the people most of the time is so very profitable, especially when you can take a community good like the airwaves (the single best way to advertise music) and deprive the community a chance to use it.
This isn't going to change anything any time soon. This is just them recognizing that smaller markets aren't profitable. Independent bands and labels still will have a hard time getting air play, because it'll still be a challenge to find the niches.
Too little & too late (Score:3, Insightful)
ClearChannel is not about music (Score:1)
Maybe the corrected statement should reach In fact Clear Channel would rather try to play the same recording in every market
ClearChannel is not about music or "entertainment". It's about delivering advertising to your ears. You should be able to figure that out from its actions: just enough filler between the ads.
Back when the company was still prefering to keep a low profile, I stumbled across a rare interview with
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm nearly 40 but I'm not old enough to remember a day when that wasn't true. They've gotten better at it, or perhaps just realized that they could farm up their product with less work (the 44 minutes
The way forward is without DRM (Score:1)
I recall that on the US network channel that won the bid for a monopoly on broadcasting the 1996 Olympics an hour of prime time TV contained about 7 minutes of actual sports. The few shows I see nowadays, I see without ads. On US commercial network tv these shows take an hour. Without the ads, they're about 35 minutes, less if you skip the intro music and closing credits.
The web does have the potential to take those guys out, but they key is to promote DRM-free technology and open standards. If we g
Re: (Score:1)
By some miricle, they're not into the "payola" thing and they don't have advertistng. (I know my spelling sucks)
so sometimes they pay really crazy farout music, but most of the time, it's really, really good.
Cheers
Ben
Re: (Score:2)
If my commute was longer than 30 minutes each way, I would definitely get Sirius satellite radio. I find it a big
Re: (Score:-1, Flamebait)
Oh, what a lucky man he was (Score:3, Interesting)
Thankfully, I'm lucky enough to live within the broadcast region of WRNR [wrnr.com], an independent station. There's no playlist -- the DJs are free to play whatever they want. Refreshing, that.
If only they did a streaming broadcast...