Re: Clear Channel expose coming to PBS this weekend...

[SteveOrdinetz <steveord@bit-net.com>]

Chris Beckwith wrote:
>Why Do So Many Radio Stations Play the Same Songs?
>
>NOW With Bill Moyers Takes A Look At What Radio Has Become in the Age of
>Media Consolidation
>Coverage includes interview with T Bone Burnett airing on Friday, April 26
>at 9:00 p.m. on PBS (check local listings)
>
>Stations on autopilot, air personalities churning out programs that
>listeners think are local, and cookie cutter play lists across the country
>are the new reality for radio. This week NOW with Bill Moyers reports on
>current radio industry business practices and why some critics suggest the
>variety of music available for listeners has sharply declined over the past
>decade.


Sigh.  This thread again.  People have been whining about the industry 
going to pot since the demise of old time radio and maybe before.  I guess 
if you repeat something often enough it becomes credible.



>T Bone Burnett, one of the hottest record producers in the
>world right now, explains the downside of media consolidation for the
>listening public. His soundtrack for O Brother, Where Art Thou, won five
>Grammy Awards this year, but it was rarely played on the radio.
>Burnett says, “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou, does not fit into Clear Channel’s
>notion of country music. They’re not up there saying, ‘we want to build a
>community.’ They’re not saying, ‘we want to help keep country music vital.’
>They’re not saying, ‘we want to champion great musicians.’ That’s not their
>business plan. Their business plan is to capture as much, as many,
>advertising dollars as they possibly can in that marketplace.”


Spare us.  Frank Zappa & the Grateful Dead and sold lots of albums without 
much airplay either 30 years ago.  Since when is T Bone Burnett one of 
today's hottest record producers?  Asking his opinion on whether an album 
he produced should have gotten radio play is like asking Yasser Arafat for 
his opinion on the Palestinian conflict.  He's not exactly an unbiased source.

Someone please tell me why it is in Clear Channel's interests to spike the 
career of a hot act?

Excuse me while I write my congressman about the proposed 5˘ surcharge on 
email.