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BREAK UP I-HEART!

Using what basis? They're following the law, and they're playing by the rules.

This is America. If you play by the rules, the government is supposed to leave you alone. It's the land of the free.

The other problem is who would buy the other stations? EMF, Moody Bible, VCY, and Sacred Heart. Is that what you want?
 
I get that iHeart is a fierce competitor and likely does things other stations do like trying to get the air talent at your biggest competitor off to a bigger station or selling a bit lower per commercial than a direct competitor. I saw this at owner/operator stations To make a statement like blackgold and provide no reasoning for it is pretty lame. You have to have reasons you feel this way. Share them. And for the record, I never worked for iHeart or it's earlier name, Clear Channel.
 
I'm just curious who the "we" is who would do this "investigation."

There have been a lot of books and articles written on the subject. Most of the books and articles I've read were filled with lots of factual mistakes. And even with all of the negative publicity, nothing has really changed.
 
CTListener said:
Why, we the people, of course. Peasants with pitchforks, as Pat Buchanan called them, set loose upon the wealthy elites and their institutions and tight playlists and voicetracking.
Click to expand...
I heard an interesting financial statistic the other day. The media industry; including Radio, TV, Cable, Cable Networks, News Networks, Newspapers, Social Media, etc. all those businesses which we frequently demonize or scrutinize on this very site, make up less than 1% of the total U.S. economy. By comparison, the hospitality industry which includes; all Restaurants (fast food and sit down) Hotels, Resorts, Cruise Lines, Theme Parks, Casino's etc., make up a little less than 10% of the total U.S. economy.
So all this bashing and demonizing of individual media companies, or calling for breaking them up because they're 'too big' or whatever legally lame and invalid reason, are calling for something that is essentially worthless in the grand scheme of things.
 
What about markets in which iHeart controls the vast majority of the revenue? Perhaps some anti-trust action?

In all seriousness, many of us dislike iHeart for several reasons:
1. They have eliminated thousands of jobs in radio.
2. According to some of our tastes, their product is not very good.
3. Again, according to some of our tastes, they have made radio less interesting and less fun.
 
ScottBurns said:
What about markets in which iHeart controls the vast majority of the revenue? Perhaps some anti-trust action?
Click to expand...

It's not going to happen. There are much bigger fish in the anti-trust pool, starting with Apple and Amazon.

People have been harping on the monopoly thing with iHeart for 20 years and nothing has gotten anywhere.

With the economy, lots of companies are eliminating jobs, including Twitter, Amazon, and Facebook.
 
ScottBurns said:
What about markets in which iHeart controls the vast majority of the revenue? Perhaps some anti-trust action?

In all seriousness, many of us dislike iHeart for several reasons:
1. They have eliminated thousands of jobs in radio.
2. According to some of our tastes, their product is not very good.
3. Again, according to some of our tastes, they have made radio less interesting and less fun.
Click to expand...
They eliminated my job almost three years ago.

Still, investigate what, and break them up why?

And, got a list of the markets where IHeart controls the vast majority of revenue? They have the same ownership caps as everyone else and are not, to my knowledge, operating on any waivers.
 
ScottBurns said:
What about markets in which iHeart controls the vast majority of the revenue?
Click to expand...
None of the markets iHeart is in would put them over the federal ownership cap. If iHeart is just doing a better job than other stations/groups as a business, that's hardly worthy of anti-trust scrutiny.
As has been said prior; just because you had a personal bad experience with the company, doesn't mean they're doing anything illegal, immoral, or unethical.
 
michael hagerty said:
They eliminated my job almost three years ago.

Still, investigate what, and break them up why?

And, got a list of the markets where IHeart controls the vast majority of revenue? They have the same ownership caps as everyone else and are not, to my knowledge, operating on any waivers.
Click to expand...
I don't have a list; I am merely speculating. And I understand the rules. I am just presenting reasons why many of us do not think highly of iHeart.
 
ScottBurns said:
I don't have a list; I am merely speculating. And I understand the rules. I am just presenting reasons why many of us do not think highly of iHeart.
Click to expand...
Most on this forum understand the reasons you've outlined so it's not unheard of. The critique is squarely on the OP's claim of "investigating the doings" of iHeart, which is absurd. Regardless what any of us think of the company, they are operating within the rules of the FCC etc, and there is no legitimate reason to call for it being broken up.
 
I'm in a small market doing sales. If I wanted a job as a jock it would be voice-tracking because times are different. That's a short answer but back when we were all live and local 24/7 we had 1/3rd the number of radio stations and things like shoppers and cable TV, not to mention online advertising were not in the mix. A station at the top of their game might have billed 4 times what the same top of their game station can do today adjusted to inflation.

40 years ago the only station in town I was working for made about $6,000 a month in today's dollars off two news blocks (30 minutes at 7:30 and an hour at Noon) and had a short waiting list (same for weather sponsor). In today's dollars we likely billed about another $28,000 to $30,000 in just commercials in today's dollars. That station struggles to eclipse $17,000 a month today.

Simply put, you can't do what you could do 40 years ago because the dollars aren't there. And it wasn't go to the computer and cash in. It was retain the jocks and after it was evident you'd not see black ink, perhaps you let the overnight jock go and so forth until the dollars demanded you get by with fewer and fewer people.
 
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