Homogenization of Radio: Let us all give thanks and pay grateful homage to Clear Channel
Posted on May 9.2008 by Jordan Page
Like a beast from the blackness it came, sending shivers down the spine of indie artists, DJs, and listeners everywhere. A force unparalleled in its hunger to consume, it cast a dark shadow across the nation. Forcing mediocre formulaic music and political censorship down the throats of the American people, it became obvious that we would all have to bow down and worship the new radio gods, Clear Channel. A conglomerate like any other, only this corporate money machine would attack our art by becoming the ultimate gatekeeper in the world of music.
How many times have we turned on the radio, only to change the channel, and then having exhausted all options, simply turned it off and thrown in a cd or plugged in an iPod? Why are we constantly bombarded by music devoid of any thoughtful intrinsic meaning, from bands that are neatly and categorically placed in a rotation that sounds like one continuous droning song with the same three chords and pop-punk harmonies? I’ll tell you why. It’s easy to sell to people who don’t think. It’s easy to market because it requires nothing of the listener, and we are a lazy, uneducated, complacent people. There, I said it. If it makes you angry, tough. If you don’t know what complacent means, then I’m talking about you.
When one company owns all the radio stations, then one company says who will be heard and who will not. The corporate trend is to divide and conquer, and Clear Channel is no exception. Nothing has been more detrimental to the music business than the homogenization of radio programming. After buying up radio stations like they were going out of style, and removing from most DJs the ability to play a variety of music, what we’re left with is the same 15 songs by 15 artists that are carbon copies of each other. I don’t know any artists who only have one specific musical influence, so how can so many bands sound exactly the same?
Standardized corporate-controlled radio encourages new bands to sound, write and look a certain way because it’s what sells, and why else are we in a band but to get famous, right? But consumers, to their credit, do get bored easily, and stop buying music product because it all sounds the same. And then we dive into the wonderful world of digital piracy. They wonder why people don’t buy cd’s anymore. You can’t stand amazed that a group of rich unaccountable tycoons want to get richer by dominating a market, no more than you can scratch your head at a dog’s vigorous interest in another dog’s backside. Neither can you fault consumers who, confronted by an onslaught of artistic mediocrity, opt to take matters into their own hands through the advent of technology. I am an indie artist, and I don’t mind if people burn copies of my cd’s for their friends. If it gets them out to my live concerts and spreads the message I’m sending, then its worth it.
There are many systems of control that shape our lives in this great nation we call America. They govern our daily lives on most fronts, our political and spiritual views, but it is undeniably more personal when they attack a people’s access to art by filtering and bottlenecking anything that does not fit perfectly into the mold. Is one person’s art not as good because they don’t have a major label spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to Clear Channel to put them in rotation? Is there something wrong with the countless unsigned bands that are making the real music and doing the real work in this industry? The truth is, it’s not about how talented you are, or how good you’re songs are. It’s about who you know. It’s about being lucky and making yourself fit into the construct of what is easy for the masses to understand and easy for the movers and shakers to sell. It’s about not rocking the boat, or the vote. Its about adhering to an image associated with an idea that will resonate with consumers, and when the vast array of demographics have a 30 second attention span. . . you get the idea.
By stonewalling artists without major representation, regardless of how amazing or even commercial their music may be, corporate controlled radio helps to keep the masses running in their hamster wheel, and places responsibility on the individual consumer to seek out new artists and new musical experiences. To boldly surf the net for new artistic inspiration. So lets keep the Internet neutral or we’ll all be royally screwed.
Jordan Page is a young poet, singer/songwriter, guitarist, political activist, and social commentator. His songs call attention to issues most people would choose to ignore because of their overwhelming nature. With western culture so bombarded and enveloped by mass media and entertainment, Page's solution is to use music to break through the apathy and isolation these influences cause. To learn more about Jordan Page please visit his myspace page at www.myspace.com/jordanpagemusic .
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An Open Letter To The FCC
Greetings to the FCC, et al ...!!!
Hello...
I'm a small time broadcaster, in the form of a DJ with many
decades of experience...
I'm not a radio or tv station owner, but always wanted to own my
own radio station...
When I was a kid, my father asked me what I wanted to be when
I grew up...my first response was to be a train engineer... and
my father said that when I grew up there won't be any train
engineers (and that I might want to follow a different career
path). As it turns out, there ARE still train engineers...
With my hopes dashed, at an early age I fell in love with
broadcasting...first radio, then tv... and I studied all that I could
find on the craft of broadcasting circa 1961 when I was 10 years
old...
Yes, I decided I wanted to own a radio station at a very early
age (I'm now over 5.7 decades old), and I felt confident that
THIS career path would still be a valid choice (unlike the advice
I got about being a train engineer)...
So, in the hey day of top 40 radio I'd hang out in the KYA (San
Francisco) parking lot in all kinds of weather, hoping to meet a
DJ, and see what I could learn, and I started hanging out at
KMPX & KSAN to observe & learn, and in the following years I
spent lots of time at different radio stations, observing &
learning...
In 1977 I went on the air for the first time at a 10 watt Class D
college station, and I was getting some real hands on
experience as a broadcaster, not just an observer, and this was
at a time when I thought owning a radio station was still
possible...
I learned my craft from some of the best legends in radio, and
try to continue a tradition of high standards everytime I walk up
to a mic and the red light goes on...
But at some point I started to realize that my dream of having
my own radio station was slipping away due to the changing
attitudes of both the industry and the FCC, and this feeling
became more profound as th eyears have passed...
I still immersed myself into radio, and also started working in
TV, and I started out as an intern, and ended up as a live tv
broadcast Director, so I went from the bottom to the top in a
planned, predictable way, yet the media consolidation got even
worse, and then came the frequency auctions...
While frequency (channel) allocation auctions IS a nifty way to
raise money, the result is the airwaves (which belong to the
American People, held in trust by broadcasters), were sold to
the highest bidder, and this pimping of a national resource has
made it impossible for the "average Joe" to buy, or construct a
radio station...
The result is a dream moved so far out of reach to be
impossible without mega bucks...
And the religious broadcasters have been buying any & every
license then can...
While I very strongly support LPFM, and would like to see more
filing windows, more often...the dream of owning a radio station
have been dashed upon the rocks like a dead fish... (I've been a
Program Director at a commercial AM station, but it's not quite
the same as being an owner)
So I've found a niche in non commercial community radio for the
last 2 decades, because non comm community radio is the last
vestige of LOCAL radio...
LOCAL radio is so important in term of bonafide service to the
community of license...
The big time corporate (mostly commercial) radio stations that
originate hundreds of miles away, often out of state, are simply
NOT able to be of real service...
At one of the non comm community stations I'm now associated
with, the News Director was named Huimboldt County (CA.)
Citizen Of The Year for around the clock coverage of a series of
major, desatating wildland fires that had profound impact on the
local population that is scattered in the mountains here...
Big time radio conglomertaes cannot do this...thier mission is to
deliver paid commercials to as many ears as possible (as
measured by ARB) and contect is just an afterthought...
Folks, Local Content is EVERYTHING to the small communities
that used to be served by local broadcasters (who have been
shoved out of the business in a variety of ways)...
I thank the efforts by Mr Copps & Mr Adelstein to not only resist
the obvious takeover of the Americam airwaves by large,
faceless broadcast corporations, but to proactively return some
sanity to the broadcast landscape on behalf of the listeners...
And we DO have to remember that this is ALL about being of
service to the LISTENERS...
I urge the other FCC commissioners to please hear our plea to
not kill local broadcasting, which is the backbone of American
media... The FCC has the fudiciary responsibility to us, th
eAmerican Public, not to the giant corporate owners, not to the
syndicators of canned formats, and not to the advertisers, ¬
to the lobbyests who are there for the money, not for the
listeners..
Ask yourself THIS: if there was a major disaster in your
hometowm, like a large forest fire, earthquake, hurricane, etc,
do you honestly think you'll be able to turn on the radio in your
car, or home, and get REAL usable info from a LOCAL
braodcaster (EBS/EAS not withstanding)...???
I want the FCC to go back to facilitating local broadcasting, not
the current paradigm of making it next to impossible...
The last bastion of real local radio are the non commercial
community radio stations, and of ALL the non comm licensees,
the true community radio stations are a small fraction...
At this time I would like to ask the FCC to please reverse the
trend of rampant greed in the form of broadcasting
consolidation...it is uncompetitive, it is unfriendly to the
listeners, and it's just plain un American (Anti Trust lawsuits are
a possibility)
Also, I do not think it appropriate that religious entities be able
to get an LPFM license, and I'm sure that there are many who
would disagree with me on this point...
And lastly, I would hope that the FCC can facilitate more
broadband internet connections way out here in "the Boonies"
(at a reasonable price)...
I sincerely hope that ALL of the FCC commissioners to please
take my words to heart... Broadcasting is the only thing I know
how to do, and would like to think that someday, if a kid says he
wants to be a broadcaster & OWN a radio station, that it is still a
viable possibility for that person...
Thank you... John Morehouse, KE6VGA
(and I was inspired by my late uncle, Robert C Harriss, N6VY)...
-- Enjoy --
Long John
TUBBY TUNES Radio Show
KMUD-FM
".. I may go to hell when I die, but first they'll have to
pry the microphone from my hands.."