Hello, Nurds:
Yeah, I didn't even want to go there today but Amy is right. (BTW, Amy, your blog is off-kilter and I can never read it and I am sad!)
So yeah, Clear Channel has organized pro-war rallies. The goofiness of this is really multifaceted.
Clear Channel was one of the largest lobbiers, shapers and beneficiaries of the Telecom Act of 1996, which deregulated the broadcast industry and enabled them to become the world's largest radio chain (which also owns the nation's biggest concert venue/promotoions company, SFX, and is also very involved in sports and sports stadiums).
Clear Channel are the same people who brought you that list of 150 "lyrically inappropriate" songs after 9/11, including "Imagine," "What A Wonderful World," "New York, New York," "Stairway to Heaven," "Walk Like An Egyptian," and "Mack the Knife."
It wasn't so much that these songs were necessarily too political; it's that hearing these songs might have evoked actual feelings in people (as ridiculous as some of them are). The point with radio these days is to make people feel as little as possible. Oh, and to avoid revolutionary concepts such as no religion, no countries, the dark sacred night, and a bustle in your hedgerow.
Anyway, so Clear Channel, which is also known as a uniquely cynical and mean-spirited company, is, like all the big chains, currently courting the FCC and Congress for further deregulation--as if we didn't have enough non-competitive corporate control of the airwaves. Anyway, yeah, the deregulation is being planned right now in D.C.
My problem with deregulation has always been the musical suckitude it engenders. Nelly and Eminem notwithstanding, deregulation makes for terrible bad radio. It's that simple. But there is another serious problem: the control of information by corporations in bed--or at least totally making out on the couch--with the Pentagon. Radio Fun Fact: The head of the FCC, who is pro-deregulation, happens to be Colin Powell's son. I'm sure it warms his cockles to see his buddies at Clear Channel sucking his father's cockadoodle doo with their pro-war demonstrations.
Just imagine what Clear Channel will be able to do for the Powells once they own all the stations in America. I mean, if they thought selling this war was a piece of cake, the next one'll be a pepperoni pizza with a supersize Coke and free cinnastix.
Love,
me
PS: Wanna send a big shoutout of love and rock 'n' roll spirit to Amy and everyone in NYC. Kick ass like you always do and don't let shit get you down. They'll probably bomb the Hollywood sign anyway.
Yeah, I didn't even want to go there today but Amy is right. (BTW, Amy, your blog is off-kilter and I can never read it and I am sad!)
So yeah, Clear Channel has organized pro-war rallies. The goofiness of this is really multifaceted.
Clear Channel was one of the largest lobbiers, shapers and beneficiaries of the Telecom Act of 1996, which deregulated the broadcast industry and enabled them to become the world's largest radio chain (which also owns the nation's biggest concert venue/promotoions company, SFX, and is also very involved in sports and sports stadiums).
Clear Channel are the same people who brought you that list of 150 "lyrically inappropriate" songs after 9/11, including "Imagine," "What A Wonderful World," "New York, New York," "Stairway to Heaven," "Walk Like An Egyptian," and "Mack the Knife."
It wasn't so much that these songs were necessarily too political; it's that hearing these songs might have evoked actual feelings in people (as ridiculous as some of them are). The point with radio these days is to make people feel as little as possible. Oh, and to avoid revolutionary concepts such as no religion, no countries, the dark sacred night, and a bustle in your hedgerow.
Anyway, so Clear Channel, which is also known as a uniquely cynical and mean-spirited company, is, like all the big chains, currently courting the FCC and Congress for further deregulation--as if we didn't have enough non-competitive corporate control of the airwaves. Anyway, yeah, the deregulation is being planned right now in D.C.
My problem with deregulation has always been the musical suckitude it engenders. Nelly and Eminem notwithstanding, deregulation makes for terrible bad radio. It's that simple. But there is another serious problem: the control of information by corporations in bed--or at least totally making out on the couch--with the Pentagon. Radio Fun Fact: The head of the FCC, who is pro-deregulation, happens to be Colin Powell's son. I'm sure it warms his cockles to see his buddies at Clear Channel sucking his father's cockadoodle doo with their pro-war demonstrations.
Just imagine what Clear Channel will be able to do for the Powells once they own all the stations in America. I mean, if they thought selling this war was a piece of cake, the next one'll be a pepperoni pizza with a supersize Coke and free cinnastix.
Love,
me
PS: Wanna send a big shoutout of love and rock 'n' roll spirit to Amy and everyone in NYC. Kick ass like you always do and don't let shit get you down. They'll probably bomb the Hollywood sign anyway.
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