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The Official Clear Channel is the DEVIL thread

Well, I've believed for a long time that KTRH stands for Kome to Radio Hell. I've been there and I can testify it was true, at least under Laura Morris. I've been told it got worse under subsequent GMs, although I find it hard to believe that anybody could be worse than the Empress Laura.

Everything she did was based on management by intimidation. I've observed over many years in radio that when managers don't know squat and can't lead by example, they manage and lead by browbeating their employees and keeping them in constant fear of losing their jobs.
 
I've never worked for CC, so I don't think my opinion would be well-informed, but I was startled recently when I opened the AllAccess jobs page and saw this anonymous entry...this is on the job openings page, remember. More Citadel than CC specific, but you get the drift:

"It started with voice tracking. Let's save money by having jocks voice track their shows. We'll make the listeners think that they're live and we can cut our costs. Let's do this while we have more competition for listeners than we've ever had. Heck, those MP3 players and Ipods, they're just a fad. Those things will go away just like satellite radio.

"Now that we've cut all the truly talented people from the mix, let's do this, let's start cutting commissions for sales people and better yet, let's reduce our sales staff by 50% or more. We don't really need those people. Our customers just call up and place the order anyway. This is an easy business. You know, the more we cut, the more we get to put in our pockets right?

"Wait a minute! That competition isn't going away. Our talent pool has gone away. Sales are down and we're gonna have to blame the economy. We can't tell customers the truth about when times are hard it's the best time to advertise. If they start advertising, we won't have an excuse for missing our revenue goals anymore. Somebody might figure out that the management that's left in this business are the managers that should have been fired years ago. But darn it, we were cheaper than the good broadcasters.

"Maybe we should start building our programming staff again. Get those good sales people back. Maybe even stop trying to pay peanuts. Oh, you say it might be too late? You think we might have damaged our reputation? What do you mean all of those good people went and got other jobs? Well, ok then, we'll just file bankruptcy and maybe we can start over."
 
Actually, I am the devil. The purple devil as it is. ;D

Nowadays it seems all of the big boys have ruined radio as we knew it. Clear Channel just led the charge. One is as bad as the other.
 
When things changed in 1996 (wasn't that the year?), I told my boss this was the end for radio because the licensee cannot serve two masters (sounds Biblical, right?). I pointed out a license holder either must choose to serve their community or the stockholder and one of the two would have to take a backseat to the other. This is not to say serving the community can be done if your financial sheet has red ink, but it is the motivating factor that creates the issue. Those in the business have likely worked for a station or two where money was the only consideration.

I won't say the big boys are all bad. I've seen a couple of good things come from them but in reality it was the employees that made it happen each time. We all know those in radio love the business and are motivated to serve their respective communities with faith that their audience and fellow employees will make that bottom line look good, if not now, in time.
 
bturner said:
When things changed in 1996 (wasn't that the year?), I told my boss this was the end for radio because the licensee cannot serve two masters (sounds Biblical, right?). I pointed out a license holder either must choose to serve their community or the stockholder and one of the two would have to take a backseat to the other. This is not to say serving the community can be done if your financial sheet has red ink, but it is the motivating factor that creates the issue. Those in the business have likely worked for a station or two where money was the only consideration.
Click to expand...

You're not the first to say that the telecomm act gave permission for stations to quit serving the community... but really, did anyone really care about the community back when you could own 1 AM and 1 FM in a market? It's always been about the money. I'm not sure if the good old days were really that good. Yeah, if you got fired you had more places to apply in town, but there have always been greedy SOB's running radio stations. There's just more stations you want to avoid working for these days.
 
I concur, the big suits are Fun Vampires, but what is worse, the accountants have killed the goose that laid the golden eggs. If you really want a laugh though, take a look at Cumulus, those idiots are running around arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, talk about running off your best people, radio has become a joke that is no longer funny, hard for me to say, I invested 15 years of my life to an industry I loved with all my heart.
 
johndavis said:
did anyone really care about the community back when you could own 1 AM and 1 FM in a market? It's always been about the money. I'm not sure if the good old days were really that good.
Click to expand...

You're exactly right. There were several important changes that "killed radio as we knew it."

One had to do with the growing and expanding federal government. Used to be that neighbors took care of neighbors, and in some small towns, that's still the case. But the government sought to insert itself in the process, and slowly took over a lot of "community service" functions originally done by radio. The final nail came with the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security in 2001. Radio was left out of the mix. But it began in the 50s with the Civil Defense Act.

The next step came with the geometric explosion of the number of radio stations. There used to be a couple hundreds stations, then a couple thousand. Then ten thousand. More stations drove down market shares, lower shares meant less money, and less money meant the need to economize. The scarcity factor, once an issue in 1934, was no longer a problem. Just print more licenses. If there's interference, then cut back power.

The Reagan Revolution took its share. The Republicans wanted to divert domestic spending to foreign spending. Less money for the FCC, more for defense and state. Systematic cutbacks on M Street. Outsourcing of engineering oversight. Elimination of the 3rd Phone license. Elimination of news requirement. Elimination of community ascertainment. It all happened under Reagan's watch in the 80s.

At the same time, there already was consolidation going on among the big owners at the time. Broadcasting went to Wall Street in the late 70s. By 1988, Wall Street was running everything, with mergermainia in full bloom. Remember when Ted Turner wanted to buy CBS? Using junk bonds to but the Tiffany Network? That was in the 80s.

On and on. Those who blame CC or the 96 Act are ignoring the REAL killers that happened in the 25 years before. CC is convenient, and with Mays leaving, it's fun to pin the tail on the donkey. But he was never the real problem. The real problem was that radio became popular. When something becomes popular, everyone wants a piece. It's like the celebrities with the paparazzi following them around. That wouldn't happened if they were nobodies. Same with radio. You become a victim of your success.
 
Jerry's biased, of course. CC screwed him, so he hates them.

But he's right about one thing: The government messed up when they allowed the XM-Sirius merger. If it's OK for satellite radio to be a monopoly, then what?

We're at a point where the number of radio stations one can hear is not limited by spectrum space. That's why it's called "the infinite dial." Just as TV isn't defined by UHF & VHF. Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas recognizes this. So it's very possible that the old definitions of radio are done. Re-regulation isn't going to put the genie back in the bottle. The world is changed, so you need to learn to live with it.

But if the FCC wants to restrict radio in a 1930s view of the world, there are no regulations stopping companies like CC from merging with the biggest and most powerful internet sites.
 
johndavis said:
You're not the first to say that the telecomm act gave permission for stations to quit serving the community... but really, did anyone really care about the community back when you could own 1 AM and 1 FM in a market? It's always been about the money. I'm not sure if the good old days were really that good.
Click to expand...

The BigA has responded to your post with what I consider a very comprehensive look at the history of change in radio.

Did anyone really care about the community back when.....?

I worked for several operators who certainly did. It wasn't just doing things to be able to check all the right boxes on the next license renewal. There were operators who loved radio, and who felt some kind of "calling" to serve community.

I guess that was particularly true of what we used to call "single station markets" but I bumped into some large city operators who felt that same "calling".
 
Goat Rodeo Cowboy said:
Did anyone really care about the community back when.....?
Click to expand...

It's a fair question. How do you judge whether or not a station cares about the community? What are the criteria?
 
I don't know; I've largely thought the myth of the radio station owner who mortgaged his house just because he wanted to (sniff) do a darned good swap shop show for the local folks, was just that...a myth. It didn't ring through with the small markets I worked for. Everyone dreams that radio will be re-regulated, mom and pop owners will return with Washington keeping a tight leash on programming, and we'll all be sitting behind Gates Yard boards spinning 45s again. Not likely.
 
gr8oldies said:
...radio will be re-regulated, mom and pop owners will return with Washington keeping a tight leash on programming, and we'll all be sitting behind Gates Yard boards spinning 45s again. Not likely.
Click to expand...

ooh...ooh... will they be looking for a night guy on their 250-watt rock 'n' roll blowtorch?
 
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