25th
Clear Channel Could Not be Reached for Further Comment
(This is an article I wrote 2 years back for a Journalism class, revived for you today. Please dismiss some syntax.)
Radio and The Telecommunications Act of 1996
(Did the Telecom Act kill the radio star?)
When Enzo Adimari became a DJ for 106.5 “The Buzz” in 1994, things were different.
“At one point we actually got to choose what went on the radio,” said Adimari with a fixed gaze. His long dark wavy hair pulled back in a ponytail as he spoke between sips of coffee.
With an 8-year background in commercial radio, Adimari became a DJ two years before President Clinton signed the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
The legislation brought about a major shift in all media, affecting commercial radio by removing the cap on ownership limits.
Before the Act, a single company could own no more than forty radio stations nationwide. With the limitations lifted, a handful of corporations now own the vast majority of stations.
Multimedia conglomerate Clear Channel Communications accounts for approximately 45 % of the industry’s revenues apart from other ventures, according to a report compiled by the Common Cause Education Organization in 2005.
The Clear Channel website boasts an ownership of over 1,200 radio stations in the United States. Richmond currently has six Clear Channel stations.
“The Act has been a success. Our resources and depth of availability help the people have variety. We have the least commercial minutes per hour on our stations than any other,” said a local representative for Clear Channel Radio.
While commercials for radio shrank, so did the part-time and full-time newsroom staff for radio by upwards of a 50% average since the Telecommunications Act of ’96 went into effect.
“Everything in radio is consolidated and consolidation takes away consumer choice,” said Juan Conde, local TV news anchor for Channel 8.
“It has been atrocious for local news, the people, and their communities.”
Conde has 10 years experience as a radio personality for Richmond’s WCDX. Radio One, classified as the seventh largest proprietor of radio in 2006 with 60 stations nationwide, bought out the station in 1999.
Regardless of a decade strong career history at Power 92, Conde moved on to television when he caught wind of a reduction in news staff.
Radio One is an example of a smaller scale consolidated media corporation when weighed against Clear Channel, whose leading competitor, Cumulus Broadcasting Inc, owns almost five times fewer stations.
“No corporation should own 1,200 radio stations in the United States,” said Scott Gurstein, a DJ for North Carolina commercial station 107.5 WKZL.
“It’s an issue of cheapness in product versus the proposed intention of the Telecom Act in providing an economical choice for consumers.”
No congressional hearings or debate took place when the Telecom Act lifted the ownership limits, leading many to speculate that special interest campaign donors were in mind.
“I remember just how overnight and silent it was,” said Robert A. Blake, a Project Manager who worked for telephone company MCI during the signing of the Telecom Act.
According to figures beginning two years after the Act, Republican special interest groups made more soft money campaign donations than Democrats, but certainly not by a landslide.
However, since the Act has been a tool for deregulation, some unfairly pin the negative effects of consolidation, which was signed and enacted by a Democratic president, solely on the Republican Party.
“We [Clear Channel Radio] have been accused of being largely right wing and Republican, but we have two national liberal talk radio shows that are Democrat and no political agenda is pushed onto consumers by the company,” said the local Clear Channel representative.
“Clear Channel is fair and open to new avenues.”
In response to a growing local consensus of a need for collective diversity in news and music and in addition to an emergency radio outlet, WRIR, Richmond’s independent radio sprang up three years ago.
On a busy Thursday night at the station, volunteer coordinator Ceci Hull clasped her hands around a stack of volunteer applications for WRIR.
“I grew up in the ‘70s and ‘80s with radio being a big splash. Driving across country with relatives you would hear all kinds of different music. Each station played whatever was popular in their town,” said Hull.
“Now, a country station plays the same country artists that I heard 100 miles back. And the DJ’s have that professional tone to their voice that sounds so generic.”
Required by Federal Communications Commission law to be non-profit, WRIR is classified as a Low Power FM station whose outreach of communication is set at 100 watts, or a 3.5-mile radius. The average commercial radio station is 50,000 to 100,000 watts.
Local non-profit radio stations are required to air a number of Public Service Announcements per week. WRIR runs a weekly estimate of 200 PSAs.
WRIR also has two shows that air local music and sometimes have the local bands perform live on air.
Prometheus Radio Project, a lobbyist group that defends LPFM’s from corporate and commercial interests, met with the FCC on November 27th.
“Runaway consolidation since the 1996 Act has left us with homogenized content, national playlists, outsourced news, a dumbed-down civic dialogue, and shameful levels of minority and female ownership. That’s why low power radio is such a breath of fresh air. It is a positive response to what ails us. These are truly local stations run by local organizations,” said commissioner Michael Copps in a statement released by the FCC.
The accusation of a national playslist, as well as Payola scandals has rocked the boat of many commercial stations. Defined as the paying of cash or gifts in exchange for airplay, Payola has existed for many years and likely exists in other forms today.
“DJ’s haven’t chosen music for radio since the early ‘60s. The songs are based on record sales and general public opinion,” said a local Clear Channel representative.
“We ask people what they want to hear. There’s no national playlist. We call local people in Richmond at random and ask them what they would like to hear more of. We also do auditorium tests where people come out and tell us what they think should be popular.”
Licensing issues among others has plagued LPFM stations. But a major problem for many of these outfits has been interference from other commercial stations.
“If a high power commercial radio station moved in next door and decided to invade our airspace, they easily could,” said WRIR Board Operations Director Julia McCauley.
Last year, WRIR invested in a new antenna.
“Before that, you would hear stuff like Garth Brooks creep in the signal from this country station based out of Norfolk,” said Adimari, who joined the WRIR team after leaving commercial radio.
Adimari became disillusioned with commercial radio when he realized that repetition was a mainstay in commercial radio and limitations were in place on letting the DJ’s choose music. He believed that commercial interests outweighed those of the general public.
“[Clear Channel] thinks it’s more important to cater to what the people want rather than what the DJ wants to listen to at any given moment,” said a local Clear Channel representative.
“We use a company to survey the local community to cater to average people who listen to nice music.”
When Adimari was walking down the street two years ago, he walked past the WRIR station with the words ‘local’ and ‘independent’ pasted across the door.
“I thought I had witnessed the holy grail of radio,” said Adimari, who now hosts “The Breakfast Blend” once a week on WRIR.
“Let them [the radio corporations] do what they want. We just want to give the people a vital option. All we ask is to let the public choose.”
Brittany Blake
MASC 203
Final News Report
2/13/2007
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