Why Does Radio Suck So Much? Two Words: Clear Channel

I read a little blog entry written by Frank Pasquale at Concurring Opinions about the proposed XM-Sirius merger, and part of it gave me a chuckle:

"... [A] better industrial policy is to promote their consolidation (especially if it means undermining the Clear Channel leviathan!).

Source: Concurring Opinions: The XM-Sirius Merger

Anything that undermines Clear Channel is always good in my opinion.  Check out the link in the quote above.  It's a link to a great article at Rolling Stone that explains why music is bland, boring, and banal these days.  Some great blurbs from the Rolling Stone article:

"No other company in recent history has had so much power over what the world hears -- and so few top executives with a background in music. Several of the Mayses' friends and business associates say that popular culture has never come up in conversation; radio-division CEO John Hogan is a career ad salesman who says that he prefers talk to rock, rap or country stations. Brian Becker, the live-entertainment CEO, cut his teeth on motor sports and theater. One former Clear Channel executive told Rolling Stone that at annual corporate meetings, sales awards are given out for more than an hour -- and programming prizes take up only ten minutes. "You're controlling all this media, and what you're saying is, 'We don't care about what's on the air,'" he says. "All they care about is moving product."

As Dixie Chicks manager Simon Renshaw puts it, "They don't care about music. They care about ad rates."

Lowry Mays, who refused to be interviewed for this article, told Fortune in 2003, "We're not in the business of providing news and information. We're not in the business of providing well-researched music. We're simply in the business of selling our customers products."

Source: Rolling Stone : Inside Clear Channel

Damn.  No wonder I can never find anything good on the radio.  The last album I've enjoyed is by Angels & Airwaves.  I've listened to it at least 100 times, and considering it's founded by the former lead of Blink 182, I'm kind of embarrassed to admit I like it so much.  Since it's good, I won't expect to hear it on any Clear Channel stations.  Not as long as the Pussycat Dolls brand (not a band - bands don't replace their members every six months) keeps putting out "music."

Technorati tags: Concurring Opinions, Rolling Stone, Clear Channel, crappy music, Angels & Airwaves, rapacious corporate executives destroying creativity in the name of the almighty dollar