top
US
US
Indybay
Indybay
Indybay
Regions
Indybay Regions North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area California United States International Americas Haiti Iraq Palestine Afghanistan
Topics
Newswire
Features
From the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature

FAIR/CounterSpin's Clear Channel/Air America Link

by mediamonopolywatch
A former FAIR/CounterSpin radio show producer/host is now working for the Clear Channel radio monopoly-backed Air America Radio network of former Microsoft VP Rob Glaser.
The Glaser Progress Foundation and Ford Foundation-sponsored gatekeepers on the Pacifica Radio-aired CounterSpin radio show of FAIR claim to be opposed to the media monopolization activity of the Clear Channel radio conglomerate. Yet, ironically, a former host and producer of FAIR's CounterSpin show, Bushwomen Author Laura Flanders, now produces and hosts a weekend show on the Clear Channel radio monopoly-linked Air America Radio network.

As the Wall Street Journal noted in a January 20, 2005 article, the Air America Radio network has:

"...garnered the support of radio-industry giant Clear Channel Communications Inc. It has raised an additional $19 million from private investors...

"`What happened on Nov. 2 may have been bad for America but it sure was good for Air America,' says Rob Glaser, chairman of Air America...

"...A definite plus for Air America is the support from Clear Channel, which syndicates conservative talkers such as Mr. Limbaugh...through its Premiere Radio Network. Clear Channel executives have made large donations to Republican causes...

"When Air America was launched last April 1, Clear Channel tested it in Portland, Oregon, on a poorly performing golden-oldies station, KPOJ...The company started slipping in Air America programming in place of low-rankers all around the country, including...WINZ in Miami,...KABL in San Francisco, and former Spanish-language station WKOX in Boston.

"This week, Clear Channel is flipping three more stations to an Air America-heavy format, bringing Air America programming...to 22 Clear Channel stations around the country..."
The Clear Channel Communications business partner of Air America Radio owns, operates, programs or sells airtime on nearly 1,200 U.S. radio stations and owns stock in 220 foreign radio stations, including 110 Mexican radio stations.

As the following March 26, 2003 International Herald Tribune article by Paul Krugman indicates, Air America Radio's business partner used its radio media monopoly power to encourage U.S. popular support for the Bush Administration's 2003 attack on Iraq:

"Who has been organizing those pro-war rallies? The answer, it turns out, is that they are being promoted by key players in the radio industry - with close links to the Bush administration.
"... Most of the pro-war demonstrations around the United States have...been organized by stations owned by Clear Channel Communications, a behemoth based in Texas that controls more than 1,200 stations and increasingly dominates the airwaves.

"The company says the demonstrations, which go under the name Rally for America, reflect the initiative of individual stations. But this is unlikely: According to Eric Boehlert, who has written revelatory articles about Clear Channel in the online magazine Salon, the company is notorious - and widely hated - for its iron-fisted centralized control.

"Until now, complaints about Clear Channel have focused on its business practices. Critics say it uses its power to squeeze recording companies and artists and contributes to the growing blandness of broadcast music. But now the company appears to be using its clout to help one side in a political dispute that deeply divides the United States.

"Why would a media company insert itself into politics this way? It could simply be a matter of personal conviction on the part of management. But there are also good reasons for Clear Channel - which became a giant only in the last few years, after the Telecommunications Act of 1996 removed many restrictions on media ownership - to curry favor with the governing party.

"On one side, Clear Channel is feeling some heat: It is being sued over allegations that it threatens to curtail the airplay of artists who don't tour with its concert division, and there are even some politicians who want to roll back the deregulation that made the company's growth possible. On the other side, the Federal Communications Commission is considering further deregulation that would allow Clear Channel to expand even further, particularly into television.

"Or perhaps the quid pro quo is more narrowly focused. Experienced Bushologists let out a collective "Aha!" when Clear Channel was revealed to be behind the pro-war rallies, because the company's top management has a history with George W. Bush. The vice chairman of Clear Channel is Tom Hicks. When Bush was governor of Texas, Hicks was chairman of the University of Texas Investment Management Co., called Utimco, and Clear Channel's chairman, Lowry Mays, was on its board. Under Hicks, Utimco placed much of the university's endowment under the management of companies with strong Republican Party or Bush family ties. In 1998 Hicks purchased the Texas Rangers in a deal that made Bush a multimillionaire.

"There's something happening here. What it is ain't exactly clear, but a good guess is that we're now seeing the next stage in the evolution of a new American oligarchy. As Jonathan Chait has written in The New Republic, in the Bush administration "government and business have melded into one big 'us.'" On almost every aspect of domestic policy, business interests rule: "Scores of midlevel appointees ... now oversee industries for which they once worked." We should have realized that this is a two-way street: If politicians are busy doing favors for businesses that support them, why shouldn't we expect businesses to reciprocate by doing favors for those politicians - by, for example, organizing "grass roots" rallies on their behalf?

"What makes it all possible, of course, is the absence of effective watchdogs. In the Clinton years the merest hint of impropriety quickly blew up into a huge scandal; these days, the scandalmongers are more likely to go after journalists who raise questions. Anyway, don't you know there's a war on?"

Predictably, however, the self-styled "media watchdogs" at FAIR who produce CounterSpin haven't aired many programs critical of Air America Radio's financial ties to Clear Channel since the radio monopoly began distributing the shows of a radio network headed by FAIR funder Glaser that also includes a weekend show of a former CounterSpin (and Pacifica Radio) producer/host.
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!

Donate

$110.00 donated
in the past month

Get Involved

If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.

Publish

Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.

IMC Network