»  A Deal With the Devil? | KoHoSo.us

From my long-form blog at KoHoSo.us, I discuss my deep worries about today’s announcement that college radio stations are going to start being added to Clear Channel’s IHeartRadio app.

Second and perhaps most importantly, it now gives Clear Channel “live or die” power over these stations. It is certainly solely up to Clear Channel as to whether or not a college station remains available on IHeartRadio. Let’s say that the quality of a college station dips for a semester (as will happen as its disk jockeys come and go). Perhaps even more threatening, what if a host takes issue on the air against something Clear Channel supports or even the company itself? The pressure Clear Channel could bring to change a format or individual host in the face of a threat to remove the station from IHeartRadio would be immense in this era of shrinking college budgets which shows no end in sight as conservative political pressure will continue well after the economy finally but inevitably improves. Being dropped from IHeartRadio could be the excuse any money-hungry college dean needs to sell off his school’s license to be another NPR drone or, worse yet, another frequency churning out the religious K-LOVE feed.
2012.01.23
11:12 AM
0 notes
# Clear Channel
# college radio
# IHeartRadio
# link
# long read
# radio
Things have not been good in the radio industry for many years but today, October 26, 2011, just might become known as Black Wednesday in the business. The largest of all radio conglomerates, Clear Channel Communications, has been handing out pink slips like Halloween candy in almost every market it infects. However, the biggest insult might have come from Cumulus Media which recently bought out Citadel Broadcasting and grabbed control of famed rock station KLOS in Los Angeles.Pictured is Jim Ladd who was perhaps the last disk jockey left on any commercial station of any format that was allowed to select his own music. Pink Floyd fans would recognize him as the DJ on the Roger Waters solo album, Radio K.A.O.S.. Tom Petty fans might know that Ladd was the inspiration for The Last DJ. He has been a staple of the Los Angeles rock radio scene since the 1970’s and was just as relevant and sharp today as he was when he started.Jim Ladd was unceremoniously fired today by Cumulus. He was not given a chance to say goodbye or do a farewell show.Yes, perhaps music radio has been the cruelest of all of the forms of show business even before the days of deregulation and broadcasting conglomerates. That being said, the firing of Ladd and many more all across the country today shows two things 1. The radio conglomerates are still completely clueless about how to save radio with programming and personalities that are connected to the market. 2. All that matters to Clear Channel, Cumulus, Entercom, and all the rest is what Wall Street has to say about their overall portfolios, not good ratings much less good radio. It’s the same problem that infects all other commercial endeavors in the United States right now where the end customer means nothing.While I have a good feeling that Jim Ladd might end up on anther station here in Los Angeles, I don’t feel that good about everybody else that got dumped today much less the industry as a whole. For those that only know me through Tumblr, I would like to offer the following link that is on my long form blog at KoHoSo.us. Covering stations of almost every type (mainly minus urban, hip-hop, top 40, and adult contemporary that I do not care for), it is a list of what I believe are the best over-the-air radio stations in the U.S.A. and Canada that also stream online. With only a very few exceptions, all of the listed stations are either independently-owned or non-commercial. I hope that my readers will take a look at this page, not because I want the attention, but because they will find some great music and see that over-the-air radio still has something good to offer.Radio | KoHoSo.us

Things have not been good in the radio industry for many years but today, October 26, 2011, just might become known as Black Wednesday in the business. The largest of all radio conglomerates, Clear Channel Communications, has been handing out pink slips like Halloween candy in almost every market it infects. However, the biggest insult might have come from Cumulus Media which recently bought out Citadel Broadcasting and grabbed control of famed rock station KLOS in Los Angeles.

Pictured is Jim Ladd who was perhaps the last disk jockey left on any commercial station of any format that was allowed to select his own music. Pink Floyd fans would recognize him as the DJ on the Roger Waters solo album, Radio K.A.O.S.. Tom Petty fans might know that Ladd was the inspiration for The Last DJ. He has been a staple of the Los Angeles rock radio scene since the 1970’s and was just as relevant and sharp today as he was when he started.

Jim Ladd was unceremoniously fired today by Cumulus. He was not given a chance to say goodbye or do a farewell show.

Yes, perhaps music radio has been the cruelest of all of the forms of show business even before the days of deregulation and broadcasting conglomerates. That being said, the firing of Ladd and many more all across the country today shows two things

1. The radio conglomerates are still completely clueless about how to save radio with programming and personalities that are connected to the market.

2. All that matters to Clear Channel, Cumulus, Entercom, and all the rest is what Wall Street has to say about their overall portfolios, not good ratings much less good radio. It’s the same problem that infects all other commercial endeavors in the United States right now where the end customer means nothing.

While I have a good feeling that Jim Ladd might end up on anther station here in Los Angeles, I don’t feel that good about everybody else that got dumped today much less the industry as a whole. For those that only know me through Tumblr, I would like to offer the following link that is on my long form blog at KoHoSo.us. Covering stations of almost every type (mainly minus urban, hip-hop, top 40, and adult contemporary that I do not care for), it is a list of what I believe are the best over-the-air radio stations in the U.S.A. and Canada that also stream online. With only a very few exceptions, all of the listed stations are either independently-owned or non-commercial. I hope that my readers will take a look at this page, not because I want the attention, but because they will find some great music and see that over-the-air radio still has something good to offer.

Radio | KoHoSo.us

2011.10.26
1:18 PM
64 notes
# Jim Ladd
# KLOS
# radio
# Clear Channel
# Cumulus
# Los Angeles
# Roger Waters
# Tom Petty
# music
# link