Clear Channel Communications, owner of 1,200 stations across the United States, has been undermining the values of diversity, localism, and market completion within the music industry since the media policy wars in the early 2000s. Since then, the radio industry arguably has lost a significant amount of the authenticity it once had. The only exception is college radio: the last safe haven for musical integrity. The only facet of radio not owned and controlled by a major monopoly. Recently, however, Clear Channel has gone to bed with college radio stations across the country. Although the corporate monopoly has shut out authenticity and artistic integrity from the mainstream, they still want more in order to completely wipe out independent music.
The 1996 Telecommunications Act was the first major overhaul of telecom policy since the Communications Act of 1934; it covered everything from radio, television to cable TV (Garofalo, 440). The act removed the restrictions on the number of radio stations any one company could own, which accelerated the trend of a small number of companies owning the vast majority of stations. Clear Channel was a primary beneficiary. In 1995, Clear Channel owned 43 stations. By the early 2000s, it owned over 1,200 stations, which took in 20 percent of the industry revenues in 2001. In addition, Clear Channel owned over 700,000 billboards; it controlled 65 percent of the U.S. concert business; and it posted total revenues exceeding $8 billion (Garafalo, 440).
Four companies controlled 90 percent of radio and revenue in the early 2000s. Serious implications for programming occurred due to the level of ownership concentration. According to Garafolo, “In one week, the forty top modern-rock stations ad...
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...trick to profit. Clear Channel has taken major college stations to bed, and it’s not a gentle lover. Thus, local stations must not be lured by Clear Chanel’s diabolical plan. Instead, the stations must look the corporate villain into their deceiving eyes, and inform them that their conglomerating ways will not be tolerated; we must preserve the last refuge of music programming and expression on the radio airwaves.
Works Cited (MLA)
Garofalo, Reebee. Rockin Out: Popular Music in America. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, 2010. 439-40. Print.
Kirkpatrick, Bill. "On Radio: Strange Bedfellows." Antenna. 25 Mar. 2012. Web. 16 Apr. 2012.
Waits, Jennifer C. "Does ‘indie’ Mean Independence? Freedom and Restraint in a Late 1990s US College Radio Community." The Radio Journal: International Studies in Broadcast and Audio Media 5.2&3 (2008): 83-96. Print.
Rock n’ roll gave people the voice they did not have in the early years. As the genre of music became more wide spread, people actually began to speak out. Altschuler touches on the exploration of how the rock n' roll culture roughly integrated with replaced and conflicted with preceding cultural values. Many of these values were very touch topics. Besides black civil rights, sexuality were one of the most sensitive t...
Banks, Jack. Monopoly Television: MTV's Quest to Control the Music. (Colorado: Westview, 1996), p. 34.
Yamaski, Mitch. “Using Rock ‘N’ Roll to Teach the History of Post World War II America.” The History Teacher 29.2 (Feb., 1996): 179-193.
Such accusations are nothing new for MTV; people have been blaming the station for the decline of human existence for as long as I can remember. Yet, the anti-MTV finger-pointers only wag their pointy fingers because MTV is such a prevalent cultural force. MTV has become so pervasive in our culture that contemporary teenagers are sometimes referred to as the MTV generation. Many argue that MTV merely reflects the amorality of our modern society and do not see that it could have a positive impact on society. But, since I rather enjoy music television and believe it can have a valid role in modern culture, I argue that MTV certainly is a powerful cultural force, but it could, and should, be a positive force (rather than the negative one it so often is) in creating positive gender roles an...
Ryan, John. “The Seventh Stream: The emergency of rock n roll in American popular music,” (Book reviews) Social Forces (1994): March, p. 927. Star, Alexander. “Hole in Our Soul: The Loss of Beauty and Meaning in American Popular Music” (book reviews)
Satellite radio is a technology that provides a radically new way to listen to radio. XM’s service makes use of advanced satellite capabilities and elaborates terrestrial receiver architecture to deliver a wide array of high quality radio programming nationwide. In early 1998, Robert Acker, director of strategic planning at XM, needs to develop a marketing strategy for this new radio service. There are several decisions that need to be made by the company in order to finalize the business plan. At fist XM needs to decide which of two business models to pursue, whether emphasis should be placed on charging customers a monthly subscription fee, or whether to rely more on earning revenue through advertising. In addressing this problem, management must consider the value that XM radio could propose for different consumer segments as compared with existing modes of radio (AM, FM) and in relation to its sole competitor in satellite radio – SIRIUS. Besides choosing a business model there is also a need to explore how best to approach and leverage manufacturer and channel partners, considering high unknown and high-risk technology. The purpose of this report is to analyze possibilities and outline possible recommendation on strategies for XM Radio. The following areas will be examined:
In closing, the undoubtable influence of music, more specifically of Rock ‘n’ Roll on American society is responsible for a number of changes to the status quo. These range from sexual liberation and racial desegregation all culminating with other influences to create an intergenerational identity. Despite the desperate attempts of older generations to smother these influences, these changes ultimately shaped the years that followed, molding the country into what it is today. Along the way these changes as well as individual involvement in them has also eased the lives of many through empowerment and a feeling of community and purpose. Despite a lull and renewal Rock ‘n’ Roll continues to serve as an agent of influence and change in today’s youth culture and continues to burn in the heart of past generations of loyal fans.
The rise of rock and roll into the limelight is to a large extent attributed to the teenagers of the 1950’s. Early rock music listened to by teenagers during the 1950’s was formed by blending together Rhythm and blues with country music. This kind of ...
Spotify’s Time. (n.d.). Music Business Journal Berklee College of Music RSS. Retrieved May 21, 2014, from http://www.thembj.org/2014/05/spotifys-time/
"Rock and Roll's Influence." The Impacts of Rock and Roll Music on American Society. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Mar. 2014.
In conclusion this report has helped us understand the significance of Music in America. Also, the impact it has on music we listen too. Music is very much like a big chain reaction. Rock ‘N’ Roll, much like music today, stood out and was in a way rebellious. Parents now hate Rap and we love it. People in the 70’s loved Rock ‘N’ Roll and parents hated it. This shows that maybe no matter how much older people deny it, the time gap and generation gap is not too far apart. Without Rock ‘N’ Roll the World would without a doubt be changed. Any guess to that of which way would be a good one.
Giving the people what they want is a smart approach to radio and television programming. This may be an obvious concept, but it was not always practiced. In the 1950s radio began to realize the influence that rock ‘n’ roll had on radio. Teens fell in love with the new rhythm-and-blues sound and became devoted to it once their parents did all they could to keep teens away from it. One of the most historical documented examples of this was The Doors’ appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1967.
Head, Tom . "Radio Censorship." About.com Civil Liberties. About.com, n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. .
While the transition of television to a digital technology with its improved picture and sound quality has been a much publicized and controversial process, television's venerable ancestor, radio, has stayed in the background. But this year, in the United States, radio broadcasting is making its own digital leap. Two start-ups are introducing a new type of radio broadcast--subscription-based digital audio sent from satellites. With satellite digital audio radio services (SDARS), as they're called, listeners will be able to tune in to the same radio stations anywhere in the United States.