Re: Clear Channel Bought Viacom?

[Jeremy Mixer <mixer@zoso.net>]

On Tue, 29 Apr 2003, Dan Billings wrote:

> The station is putting commercial concerns ahead of covering the news.  A
> prominent radio personality has died.  Where he worked is part of the story.
>
> When Bob Anderson died, Saga did not worry about mentioning other call
> letters on the air and even featured interviews with competing personalities
> talking about Bob on the station.  This was a credit to Saga and the
> companies where that the competing personalities work for.

Nor should they have, that's just ludicrous. You didn't see ABC, CNN, Fox,
and CNN saying simply that "Reporter David Bloom died" and not talk about
his career at NBC. Hell a lot of the networks carried his service with Tom
Brokaw speaking, and several NBC reporters were interviewed by various
news agencies about Bloom. That's how it should be.

You  don't see WCSH blocking out the microphone of WGGME at a press
conference? Why?

Because WE, THE PUBLIC, ARE NOT STUPID. (I say this as a member of the
public, not as someone who works in the industry)

We all know that there are at least 3 channels to choose from in most
areas, and we know what they are. We know that there are a mulktitude of
radio stations, and we usually listen to the ones that interest us.

If there was a news report on WPOR that mentioned, say, WBLM..... I don't
think that it would make people want to change the station. For the most
part, they are two stations with very different audiences.

I have to say, I did find it interesting, listening to one of the local
Clear Channel radio shows, two radio personalities were on and one of them
made a brief mention of his early radio career where he worked at an AM
rock station owned by Stephen King. I wondered if that was crossing the
line qand if the wrong people heard it, if he would get spoken to about
it.

It makes me wonder if it is OK to discuss news about Stephen King on a
Clear Channel station when he owns competing radio stations.....

Competition is a healthy thing, but there is a line to be drawn.

Jeremy