There’s no question that it’s hard to find good news in the radio trades these days, as well as in the general media about our business. Declining revenues, competitive challenges, and the exodus of great talent have conspired to create a drumbeat of negative news that drowns out some of the good things happening in our business.
That’s why the incessant trade coverage about the mud wrestling between Clear Channel and its bankers has become fatiguing. While this may be an important issue for CCU employees, it’s not about them. It’s about who is going to walk away with billions of dollars from the sale. And frankly, enough already.
Like the old Saturday Night Live bit – "Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead" – the fact that this deal has not closed is beyond old news. It’s tired, redundant, and threatens to continue for months. When you’re in the Texas courts, there may be no end in sight.
Clear Channel has been at the epicenter of the perceptual problems our industry has suffered from since the onset of consolidation. Voice tracking, collective contesting, Less Is More, and the litany of dirty tricks has sullied radio’s image in the media world and with consumers. The list goes on, and while CCU isn’t responsible for every problem radio faces in 2008, they’re the biggest dog in the game, so they bear the most responsibility.
The new book about Clear Channel (yes, the "unauthorized" one), Right of the Dial by Alec Foege, tells the story that many in radio have known about for years. According to Foege recently in the New York Times, "I was not out to do a hatchet job, but rather to get to the bottom of a company that I suspected had gotten a raw deal as its bad publicity had snowballed… Having spent a lot of time talking to some of the company’s most prominent critics, as well as some of its most devout supporters, I have concluded that Clear Channel is indeed to blame for much of what it has been accused of."
So R&R, RBR, FMQB, Inside Radio, AllAccess, Radio-Info, and the rest – stop with the coverage of something that’s destined to do two things – keep Clear Channel on the familiar road of further damaging radio’s image, and line the pockets of the lawyers and the people at the top. There has to be better news about radio that’s worthy of your coverage and column inches.
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
- Baby, Please Don’t Go - November 22, 2024
- Why Radio Needs To Stop Chasing The Puck - November 21, 2024
- Great Radio – In The Niche Of Time? - November 20, 2024
Leave a Reply