It's 2009 and I'm Still Bitching About Clear Channel Part Two

Continued from yesterday's post.

One day everything changed over at WGRD. They had been owned by Clear Channel for several weeks, but it happened all at once. In the interim Clear Channel had systematically taken control of virtually the entire market. The sole exception was KLQ, a local hard rock station that had been operating with a strong “profit first” mentality. They resisted being bought out because the owner thought he could make more money than Clear Channel had offered him. It was now time for Clear Channel to set its plans in motion. (Isn’t it a bit odd that the actions of Clear Channel sound like the machinations of some Saturday morning cartoon villain? The more I write this the more I feel I’m describing the actions of Lex Luthor and The Joker on an episode of Super Friends. If only Batman were here to save us from shitty radio.) The change was abrupt and immediate. They issued an approved list of artists and songs to be played. People lost there jobs and an entire local scene lost its support system.

It’s truly disheartening to watch all this happen. It just illustrates what a precarious position are national airwaves are in. When a single corporate entity can come in a seize control of an entire industry such as Clear Channel has it hearkens back to the days of the robber barons and oil tycoons. Are we really so nearsighted? Didn’t we learn these lessons? We’re only about thirty years out of the break up AT&T’s monopoly over the telephone industry. (Although if one looks at the way AT&T has expanded over the past several years we’re edging closer to a repeat. Maybe were in the middle of a Timequake. [For those unfamiliar with Timequakes, check out Kilgore Trout’s excellent memoir, “My Ten Years on Auto Pilot”]*). As our current economic crisis illustrates allowing corporations free reign does nothing but doom us all. Maybe Marx had it right. (That counts both Karl and Groucho.)

Grand Rapids lacked a strong college radio presence, WGRD had been so supportive of local music there hadn’t really been any need for one. In Clear Channel’s wake local venues often had to move locations, some flat out shut down. The entire scene was in disarray. Those who remained at WGRD did what they could to try and fight back in whatever meager way they could. Since they were limited to what music they could play (it had to come off the afore-mentioned list) they played Beach Boys songs and other artists who you wouldn’t hear on an alternative rock station. “The goal was if we run this into the ground, what are they going to do? They’re not going to want to own us anymore. That wasn’t the case at all. They could give a fuck; they had all kinds of money coming in from left and right.”

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So all this has been going on for over a decade at this point. All across the nation entire broadcast markets are controlled by a single corporate entity. This mass now dictates what the majority of the country listens to. It’s 2009 and an exec at Clear Channel is claiming to care about music. It sounds like a lot of doublespeak to me. If all of the actions of your company are devoted to a Napoleonic take over of America’s radio industry, when you employ tactics that would make Machiavelli cringe, how can you really claim to “care about the music”?

So what do we do? The reality of the David and Goliath face-off is that 9 times out 10 Goliath is going to win. Clear Channel controls the industry and there’s little that can be done, that is unless someone out there has the money to buy up stations before Clear Channel, if there are even any stations left. For a little bit of background it was during the Clinton administration that the FCC first lifted their restrictions on the number of stations one entity could own in a given market. The Bush administration further loosened these restrictions at the beginning of the millennia. Now as far as I’m concerned Clear Channel has clearly become a monopoly at this point. It goes further than merely the radio stations though. The same corporate entity owns venues, billboards, and various other outlets. This means that only certain artists are able to play at Clear Channel controlled venues. Some artists, such as Bright Eyes, have made their feelings on the matter very public, refusing to play at any venue that is owned by Clear Channel. That’s a start. Look, we sit at a very interesting point in history in regards to the entire music industry. We have a corporate monopoly going unchecked over our airwaves, major record labels are unable to turn a profit, and the entire thing is in shambles. But all this really means is that it’s up to us. We, musicians, fans, independent promoters and venues really need to come together and carve out our piece. We are looking at, no, we have seen, the last days of business as usual for the music industry. If we are able to come together now, while majors are scrambling to restructure, we can create a vibrant, diverse and challenging musical landscape. You know what else? Maybe we can even figure out a way of making this sustain itself. Maybe if people were offered music that they could connect with, that was real and immediate, maybe than they might be more likely to part with some cash.

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*Actually, you need to read Timequake by the great Kurt Vonnegut