FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is serving up a big cup of you-know-what for net neutrality, declaring his intent to decimate the 2 year-old Open Internet Order and the Title II protections it bestows on the internet. Prof. Christopher Terry from the University of Minnesota joins to help us understand what Chairman Pai intends to do, […]
Tag Archives | Clear Channel
Are we at the dawn of the post-iHeart radio era? (And will it be good?)
Medialife ponders the imminent collapse of iHeartMedia, a product of Clear Channel’s famous leveraged buyout, which, apparently, has not rescued the new company from its $21bn mountain of debt. Bankruptcy is what the author of the piece hopes for, which will unleash 850 radio licenses onto the market. Ditto for Cumulus Media, drowning in red […]
Why Rush Limbaugh Is Dragging Down AM Talk Radio
Talk radio veteran Darryl Parks is a harsh critic of how the format continues to lose touch with most of the radio audience who aren’t white male baby boomers. In a new post this week he takes aim at Rush Limbaugh, describing the leading conservative talk host’s “fall into oblivion.” Parks notes that Limbaugh’s program […]
The Death Spiral of AM Talk Radio
Darryl Parks is the former corporate brand manager for Clear Channel talk stations and was program director for Cincinnati news/talk WLW-AM. Now independent, Parks keeps a blog where he recently has trained his sights on his old business. A couple of weeks ago he dissected the plummeting ratings across the mostly-conservative AM talk radio format. […]
Classic Rock Radio Isn’t What You Think It Is
Just what is Classic Rock? It’s a question that has vexed many a radio listener tuned in to a set that includes Billy Joel, Led Zeppelin, the Clash and Motley Crue, artists that likely wouldn’t have been played together on any other format. What’s the connecting feature? What’s in the center of that Venn diagram? […]
Bloomberg upgrades radio to cockroach status
Cockroaches have been around for about 280 million years, a longevity record that has inspired Bloomberg to compare radio to the species. “Radio has survived everything,” this Bloomberg news video notes, “from eight tracks to iTunes, and so far, an onslaught of streaming music startups.” The piece cites industry claims that 92 percent of Americans […]
Clear Channel Says Radio Hosts are Vital, Too Bad It Fired Most of Them
“I think radio did a very poor job of marketing itself, and everybody started talking all about the shiny new things.” That’s Clear Channel CEO Bob Pittman explaining why radio lost much of its public mindshare at Adweek’s Power of Personality event. Sure, that claim is plausible to someone who hasn’t been listening to radio […]
Clear Channel: let AM stations go all digital on a voluntary basis
Clear Channel Communications has posted its response to the Federal Communications Commission’s proceeding on AM radio revitalization. The radio giant has many recommendations, among them the suggestion that the FCC should permit all digital AM operations “on a voluntary basis.” “As more HD receivers are installed in vehicles and more consumer digital receivers are purchased, […]
FCC withdraws media ownership proposal, for now
It appears that the Federal Communications Commission has tabled proposed rules changes that would make it easier for companies to own more media in big market areas. The nixed-for-now measures flow from the FCC’s December 2011 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking which would have allowed some acquisition of additional television or AM/FM radio outlets, especially by […]
Internet and satellite audience numbers indicate that people still love radio
The Radio and Internet Newsletter covers Triton Digital’s online radio listening metrics for May, noting that growth is flat, in keeping with an expected “summer slow-down.” Pandora continues to lead the market by a wide margin, with more than 1.4 million average active listening sessions, and 1.5 billion session starts from 6 AM to midnight. […]