100000watts, Clear Channel and Me...

[Scott Fybush <scott@fybush.com>]

Once more into the fray, I guess...

100000watts.com, for which I work on a consulting basis, is owned by 
Critical Mass Media, dba M Street Corp. And yes, a majority interest in 
Critical Mass Media - as in so much these days - is held by Clear Channel. 
(I was amazed to learn, during the WTFDA convention in Oklahoma City last 
month, that CCU quietly bought up most of the ag networks in the midwest 
during the nineties and is running them, along with several college sports 
networks, from a single suite of offices in OKC. Who knew?)

That's the legalese. Here's how it plays out in real life: M Street 
jealously maintains its editorial independence from Clear Channel. Tom
Taylor, M Street's news editor, is one of the most respected journalists in 
the industry, and he wouldn't sell his credibility. The extent to which I 
hear from Clear Channel in my M Street duties is about as much as I hear 
from other big groups - e-mails offering corrections to information that's 
appeared on the site. There is NEVER any advance notice from them about 
upcoming changes, and NEVER any instructions to spin anything one way or 
another. There is, on occasion, a spreadsheet listing the company's Web 
sites; I'm guessing it would be available to any other directory that 
wanted the information as well.

Such contacts as exist with Clear Channel are with the folks in Covington, 
Kentucky at what has been the radio division headquarters. With the 
transfer of power from Randy Michaels to John Hogan, the division will move 
down to CCU headquarters in San Antonio, and I
don't know what will happen to the people I deal with in Kentucky yet.

CCU knows that it would be shooting itself in the foot if it turned M 
Street into a propaganda rag; there are too many other players in the field 
(B&C Daily Fax, R&R Fax, etc.) for non-CCU stations to turn to if M Street 
doesn't deliver on its promises.

And in any event, fybush.com and NERW are still all mine and completely 
unconnected to M Street or CCU. I value my independence!

Inaccuracies in 100000watts, Dan? PLEASE drop me a line and let me know! 
Chip did a phenomenal amount of work creating the database, but his 
expertise is clearly stronger in Texas and the southwest than it is up our 
way, and I've been fixing goofs as I spot them. It's a never-ending 
process, of course.

Oh - and to go full-circle on this thread, I'm still looking for anyone who 
has tape of the 1:30-3:00 portion of the LeVeille show last Monday morning...

Thanks, l'Shana Tova, and see you all in 5763...

-s