It Couldn’t Happen To A Better Company

As a radio personality for 15 years here and in my native Mississippi, it is sad to see what has happened to the industry.  We continue to see radio stations “going dark” (read: closing down) or make significant cuts in the amount of local programming and other services to it’s community.

Let me say here that there are still examples of broadcasters doing it right and, as a result, continuing to earn the loyalty of listeners and advertisers alike.  Locally, stations such as WPCV-FM (“97 Country) and Bartow’s WWBF are two such examples.

So why am I happy to hear that America’s largest radio station owner, Clear Channel Communications, appears to be in danger of having no choice but to file for bankruptcy as soon as later this year?  Simply because they are one of the main reasons that radio is suffering severely.

Back in the 1980s, mainly during the administration of former President Bill Clinton, the Federal Communications Commication loosened many of it’s rules regarding the number of stations a broadcaster can own in a market, and the general operation of radio outlets.  It was during this time that the San Antonio-based Clear Channel began buying stations near and far, spreading it’s style to areas as diverse as New York and Los Angeles to Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

During this buying spree, CC began taking advantage of the new regulations to make as much profit as quickly as possible to keep up with it’s growing debt, community service be damned.  Instead of local originated programming, listeners began to notice increased use of either satellite delivered programming and/or voice tracking by DJs from distant areas in an attempt to make it sound as though the host was in town…more often than not, failing miserably in such ways as mispronuncing local landmarks and locations as well as noting weather updates with temperatures significantly different from the actual condition.

The severe cuts in local air talent hurts many stations in other ways as well.  The on-air personnel serves as the station’s link to the community, supporting scores of chaities and other organizations, promoting local events, and being a calming voice when severe weather or other signficant events strike the area.  More than the current economic struggles many businesses are experiencing, one has to consider that the loss of such visible strengths within the community is one reason that listenership has dropped sharply in recent years and, as a result, advertising revenue has gone to hell in a handbasket…with Clear Channel leading the way.

So if Clear Channel finally crashes, so much the better.  I hope that in the end, we will begin to see local companies appear on the scene like Hall Communications and Thornburg Communications, who know the industry and sincerely care about the communities they serve…while providing quality local programming AND making a decent profit at the same time.