NOT....Re: [BC] Clear Channel Wants More?

[Mike Gideon]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rich Wood" <richwood at pobox.com>
To: "Broadcast Radio Mailing List" <broadcast at radiolists.net>
Sent: Wednesday, October 05, 2005 2:34 PM
Subject: Re: NOT....Re: [BC] Clear Channel Wants More?


> ------ At 11:56 AM 10/5/2005, Mike Gideon wrote: -------
>
>>It's always a big conspiracy.
>
> How is a truly level playing field a conspiracy? If new services have to 
> pay for spectrum why shouldn't we? We still have the vast majority of 
> listeners and viewers, yet we're not confident enough that we can out 
> program the new kids on the block without big daddy slapping them down and 
> holding us by the hand..

The way I read it, CC was simply aking to raise the cap, not slap anybody 
else down
>
> I was astounded to hear the largest radio company in the industry attempt 
> to grab for more because of a cyclical downturn in revenue which may not 
> even be related to broadcasting. I don't recall Infinity begging for more. 
> ABC was silent. Not a peep from Entercom. Gargantua International needs 
> more. Why? To better serve the community?

You don't think the other group owners are behind raising the cap? Did Mark 
say to better serve the community?

 You mentioned  being "real" broadcasters during the
> hurricanes. How many fully staffed news departments do you have on the 
> Gulf Coast, or, did you take WWL's feed and offer them a studio under the 
> condition you get credit under "United Stations of New Orleans?"

We don't have any N/T stations in New Orleans. Our people were on the air 
WITH the WWL people
>
> Frankly, WWL is the area's crisis station. It's my understanding WWL 
> didn't go off the air, just reduced power to save fuel. Yours did.

NO OURS didn't. Like Barry said, people just make stuff up as fast as they 
can type. Our studios, and most of the transmitter sites remained online. 
That's all I'm saying about that

> You could have stayed off the air and the result would have been the same.

No it wouldn't. People needed life saving information. They didn't need 
"professional commentary" full of spin.

A voicetracked music station with a minute or two of FOX news
> at the top of the hour isn't my idea of a community asset. It's cheap, 
> which leads me to wonder why the company is in financial trouble. 9/11 was 
> similar. WINS, WCBS and WOR all did local wall-to-wall. Music stations 
> took TV network audio. Are your Gulf Coast stations back up and running 
> with their music formats or are you providing continuing coverage with 
> real journalists?

Real journalists like you? One thing you didn't see from your soapbox... 
Hiphop disk jockeys doing real radio, interacting with the public, telling 
them where to get ice and water, medical help, etc? Last I heard, stations 
were just starting to go back to regular programming. The crisis is over, 
and now the real journalists can spend their time giving their opinion of 
how things are. When the crisis was going on, music disk jockeys were 
getting their first taste of all talk radio. You may be surprised at how 
well they did, but wait... YOU weren't there. YOU are the one that gets to 
critique how someone else handled the situation.

Lots of
> people still need lots of help. I'm sure a gaggle of voicetracked disk 
> jockeys hundreds of miles away are truly qualified to do that, especially 
> the shock jocks. Perhaps they're all running Rush Limbaugh blaming Bill 
> Clinton.

Perhaps United Radio is still on the air. I'm sure you can answer that 
question without any outside information
>
> If Gargantua International can't make it, how are all the small groups 
> surviving? Why don't I hear Ed Christian at Saga begging for more? Also, 
> no one has answered my question about what constitutes a market of 60 
> stations. Is it 60 receivable signals from anywhere or is it 60 stations 
> licensed to the metro? What if the MSA and TSA are the same?

I don't do multiple ownership studies, but a Market is comprised of stations 
that are home to the market. I think it's an Arbitron thing.

>
> It's going to take a lot more than a cell phone with video to make me 
> believe the nation needs hundreds more Clear Channel stations. The folks 
> in Minot might feel the same.

They are only talking about a small number of markets. Instead of making 
stuff up as you go, read the transcript.

http://www.clearchannel.com/Corporate/PressReleases/2005/MMaysSpeech.pdf