Needlenose

An example of the dangers of the looming Clear Channel monopoly.  It’s one thing to complain, like a wailing Cassandra, of the general danger of our broadcast and print media falling into the clutches of a single monopolist vendor like Clear Channel Communications.   It’s quite another to share an actual example of the speech-throttling and community stomping effect of the growing monopoly in a regional market like the aquisition of the San Francisco Bay Area’s KMEL by the Clear Channel octopus.

Of particular interest, note the firing of radio personality David “Davey D” Cook after his show “aired Rep. Barbara Lee’s and the Coup’s Boots Riley’s objections to the war in Afghanistan.” Better watch out, Jeff Chang (author of the piece) – maybe the San Francisco Bay Guardian will be the first print target of your paper and you’ll find yourself on the street! Preposterous? Well check out the shenanigans of New Times Media, Clear Channel’s “mini-me” in the local entertainment calendar-rag business. New Times Media would make a great first print acquisition for Clear Channel, who should then have little trouble in either gobbling up or shutting down the Bay Guardian.

Upcoming FCC rule changes will transform media giants like Clear Channel into monopolistsOn a recent drive through my city, I noticed a peculiar thing – more than half of the open-air billboards, once branded with a hodge-podge of mom & pop logos, were sporting the Clear Channel logo. This shouldn’t have been surprising, as I’ve watched their growth from a tiny Texas FM station in the ’70s to the market-dominating multimedia behemoth of today (its 1200 radio stations reach about half of the U.S. population, and its 36 television stations reach all major U.S. urban markets), But I have to wonder – how did Clear Channel get so big so fast, and why is this a problem?