Clear Channel going liberal

[truthpusher]

http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/business/10939577.htm

Posted on Sat, Feb. 19, 2005

(snip)

Webster said that even as recently as a year ago, no one thought Texas-based Clear Channel, a media conglomerate that owns 1,200 stations, would ever become partners with upstart liberal talkers.

"There has been a tectonic shift in the industry from all of the big brains and the head honchos saying, 'Nobody wants to listen to a bunch of whiny liberals on the radio,' " Webster said.

The partnership might seem surprising because of Texas-based Clear Channel's conservative reputation. Clear Channel CEO Lowry Mays and his wife gave $65,000 to the Republican National Committee in the last election cycle, and two-thirds of the company's federal donations went to Republicans, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

(snip)

In Portland, Ore., KPOJ-AM had less than 1 percent of the market share before it switched from oldies to progressive talk on March 31. By summer, that had jumped to 4 percent, according to Arbitron ratings. In Ann Arbor, Mich., WLBY-AM jumped from 0.7 percent of the market to 2.2 percent after liberal programming replaced oldies in August. Hobbs said the story is similar all over the country.

stoty:
http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/business/10939577.htm

[Selatius]

1. I call it "canned liberalism"

It's all the sound and feeling of liberalism but without the teeth. They're gonna set it up so that they'll corner the market on liberal stations and then use their market power to enforce "standards" on them.

[NashVegas]

5. I Think So Too

If you have one of these Clear Channel talkers in your market, take a close listen for what topics are covered.

Pay specific attention to see if they cover any topics that may affect the business of its advertisers.

[Aviation Pro]

22. Of course....

...this has nothing to do with Clear Channel's boneheaded decision to remove Howard Stern from six of their markets. Of course, after Stern came back to those markets Clear Channel got their asses handed to them in the ratings department.

Now that Stern is moving to Sirius (uh-eh in the Stern vernacular), terrestial radio's days are numbered and blowhards like Rush Limbaugh, Oliver North and G. Gordon Liddy will soon be a footnote in history.

[Eloriel]

24. Put another way

The best way to control the opposition is to lead it ourselves. -- Lenin

[CatholicEdHead]

2. Called Money

they can earn more with liberal talk than other old formats. They are just upgrading their previous failing stations to AA/Jones to try to increase the bottom line over their old formats. Many were former Big Band station formats.

[Thaddeus]

3. So they throw a little bone our way

and I think we should take it as far as we can...

BUT that doesn't change the fact that Clear channel is a force for evil and deserves to be broken up into little local entities.

[blm]

13. Only because the election is over and they can afford some truth come out.

.

[Zerex71]

4. I call it bait-and-switch.

Try to make it seem "respectable" by going "liberal" and yet secretly the idea is to completely take over anything and turn it all into one big morass of conservative claptrap. I wouldn't trust it/them for the world.

[stepnw1f]

6. Possible Infiltration (nt)

[rodeodance]

10. The market is the determining factor for Clear Channel--that is fine--

Hobbs said Clear Channel began programming offerings from Air America Radio, which produces comedian Al Franken's three-hour talk show, and Democracy Radio, which produces a popular show by liberal talker Ed Schultz, because listeners were demanding an alternative to conservative talkers like Rush Limbaugh during the 2004 election.

Local station managers have the final say about the switch in programming. At WDTW, General Manager Dave Pugh was eager to give Detroiters a format they couldn't find anywhere else. "We are a blue state and a blue region and it just made sense," Pugh said.....


Jim Goss, who analyzes the radio industry for Barrington Research, said Clear Channel is making a good decision by adopting a new format that listeners can't get elsewhere.

"I think it's an experiment they feel is worth taking, and what is the risk if it doesn't work out?" Goss said. "One might think that they'd like to be balanced, but their greatest interest is in being successful."

[BrklynLiberal]

7. So they will go where ever the money is...? No principles except $$.

But the one big CAVEAT..If they have no principles behind their decisions, what happens if they gain control of a lot of liberal shows, can't they be bought and paid to pull all the plugs on these shows????
It would be a lot better to have principled organization in charge of the liberal talk shows, and other progressive media so that we could be assured that they would be allowed to stay in place no matter what the political climate.
Not so sure this is something to be celebrated.

[cornermouse]

8. Maybe their advertisers are waking up to the fact that they

are missing sales to about half of the country and are making unhappy noises about that not so little fact?

[eleny]

9. And use our money against us?

I'm trying to buy blue as much as we can. Nuts to Clear Channel's red advertisers.

[rodeodance]

11. I think this is good news--more people exposed to liberal talk show.

DETROIT - The day before President Bush's inauguration, listeners tuning in to the Detroit sports station WXDX-AM were suddenly greeted by the sound of braying donkeys. By the time Bush was taking the oath of office, the radio station had new call letters and a full schedule of liberal talk shows.

WXDX-AM - now known as WDTW-AM - is one of 22 stations owned by Clear Channel Communications Inc. that have switched to a liberal talk format in the last year. This month, KTLK-AM in Los Angeles became the latest Clear Channel station to adopt the format......

"There is a tremendous appetite out there for progressive talk," he said.

[hollowdweller]

12. They probably figured that as close as the last election was there's

probably a market there.

[napi21]

14. I think you are all beng too judgmental. How do you think conserv. talk

radio started out? Most of the talk radio I remember from a LONG time ago was consumer help shows, legal talk, etc. We need the foot in the door! We're getting that, and I don't care that Clear Channel or any other network wants to do it because they're improving their ratings. We spent years saying Limpballs etc. are idiots and who's going to believe them. Well, I guess that question has been answered, huh?

I think the plan should be for liberal talk to get on as many stations as possible. Just maybe enough people will accidentaly hear it as recognize that there really is another side to what they've been hearing.

[bluestateguy]

15. For now, we need Clear Channel

and in a way they need us: they want to show the American people, and of course the regulators in Congress and at the FCC, that they are not exclusively a Republican oriented company.

However, if AA becomes too dependent on Clear Channel they could pull the plug, with devastating effect.

My advice to AA is to set up as many non-Clear Channel affilliates as they can, so that if Clear Channel were to ever pull the plug AA would still survive.

[shadowknows69]

16. DON'T YOU BEEELIEVE IT!!! N/T

[msanthrope]

17. READ THIS RELATED STORY---

There are no coincidences---

Looky, an SEC investigation of their main competitor!!!

Hey, folks, Clear Channel will be all you need!! Look, we got liberals, too! Help us get a satellite monopoly!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1250667&mesg_id=1250667

[benny05]

18. I've Actually Met Lowry Mays

He's very conservative, and he fired Howard Stern. But as a person, he's interesting to talk to, as long as one stays away from the politics.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

19. Randi Rhodes is on Clear Channel in Florida. She has said on air

that they leave her along because they like the money she brings in. It seems that sometimes bottom line has more weight than ideology.

[benny05]

20. And that's not a problem

Those who have stockholders have to produce a return. Obviously, her show is helping towards a profit, and she makes one too. Nothing wrong with that if she's able to continue her talk-show platform.

Howard Stern was causing negative returns by fines, I suppose, but not certain. However, he will make more on Sirrus Radio.

We are able to do ok when profits exceeds expenditures. That's true in our own pocketbooks.

[Zomby Woof]

23. actually...

The bottome line ALWAYS has more weight than ideology. I have been expressing this ever since I joined this site years ago. Profit is the ultimate ideology in America.

No one listened to me of course, because many people have their own ideological axes to grind.

[ContraBass Black]

21. *Snicker* ...*Snort*...

...Bwa-ha ha ha haa!


Oh, wait, you're serious?

:shrug:

[ScreamingMeemie]

25. 1310, our station here in Detroit that carries AAR and other liberal

talk shows, is owned by Clear Channel. I keep waiting for them to pull the plug. The reception isn't "clear" by far. :hi:

[ckramer]

26. Ask all the libreral talking heads reject their invitation

Do not join them!

[Solar]

27. Let me guess

Their definition of liberal is Alan Colmes on faux news?

[schrodingers_cat]

28. Air America in the Bay Area (CA) is carried on Clear Channel.....

and I just can't seem to change the station, so they just stole my listenership away from the other local media giant...bet they don't mind that one bit....

[Cobalt Violet]

30. Same here in Easten Massachusetts. n/t

[Piperay]

29. "We prefer the Left"

billboards that say that here in the Los Angeles area for radio station am 1150 and underneath it even says Clear Channel.

[artemisia1]

31. The only way to retake America...

Listen folks, getting our message out is the only way to retake the country from the RW Fascisti. So what if the almighty dollar is the lever? The more channels that carry AA type programming, the better for us. This, in the long run, is more important than winning an election - even the Presidency - for without broad public support for the progressive agenda, even Democratic Presidents or Presidential Candidates have to play Republican to either win or retain their office. Sure we have to be careful that we don't become too dependent on a RW company, but people, these are Republicans! Money talks with them.

[ragin_acadian]

32. i think we need to look at the fact

that clear channel is right wing, and always will be. as long as they are interested in obliterating monopoly laws like murdoch, etc. are, they will always support "small government" candidates - small government meaning "we own everything, screw the little people"

as a corporation that owns multiple stations in multiple markets, it isn't a matter of getting the liberal listeners and their money, it's the fact that they fragment the conservative audience in an area where they own more than two stations - their monopoly on both market and ideology is watering their profits down, and they are faced with having to diversify their audience to rule whole sectors - kind of like marlboro offering regular, light, and menthol, now they can control all smokers.

just my two cents.

[DU GrovelBot]

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[jmowreader]

34. Clear Channel does what makes Clear Channel money

If progressive talk makes them more money than Frank Sinatra or sports scores, they'll do progressive talk.

[Logansquare]

35. Howard Stern made them a lot of money, too. And look what they did to him

I'd be cautious about letting CC take over too much of my airtime.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

36. I've said it before, and I'll say it again...

Fuck 'em. They're responsible for the current mess this country is in.
They deserve no audience from us, as they're guilty of disenfranchising Democrats in the first place!

Stick with the online radio stations. You'll get better programming anyway.