"Resistance is futile. Your biological distinctiveness will be added to our own."

Clear Channel buys Ackerley Group

-- Anonymous, October 08, 2001

Answers

For those of you not in da bidness, Clear Channel is lovingly referred to as "The Dark Force." :)

-- Anonymous, October 08, 2001

It has its upside and its downside.

The upside is that I can go anywhere in the country; turn on the radio and have the same voices and the same canned programming.

The downside is that the programming and the voices ain't that great. At home, I get 5 different NPR and PRI stations. Some of them aren't that professional and one is really odd [a whole day devoted to Bulgarian goat herder music [their term, not mine]]. But hey, I prefer them anymore.

Best Wishes,,,,,

Z

-- Anonymous, October 09, 2001

Z,

It's a small world.

Back before the merger that created the Dark Force, Capstar (actually, Gulfstar, one of the divisions) tried to hire me to help them link all of their stations into a nationwide network just so they could do what you're talking about now.

I liked the offer here in Birmingham better (especially my immediate boss, who's the best I've ever had), which is why I'm with this company instead of Clear Channel nee Capstar.

The software that they use to do this is what we're using at our stations right now, though we originate almost all of our programming locally at each station.

One thing that the radio business FINALLY learned (the hard way) was that they couldn't do without engineering staff. They were fine for the first few years after deregulation, but then the equipment started failing due to lack of maintenance. Now folks like me are very much in demand again. :)

They'll learn about the need for local programming, too. Our urban station in Chicago beat Clear Channel's in the last book (caused quite a stir, too[g]). We program it locally, with locally-hired announcers.

The only thing that frightens me is the sheer number of stations that Clear Channel has now. They can literally help make or break an artist by deciding whether to play them. There needs to be some limit.

-- Anonymous, October 09, 2001