perfidy

Persuant to our conversation of earlier this week, may I direct your eyeballs to this article in Wired on the state of commercial radio today. There's lots more to say on this subject, but this piece hits the really important radio-industry points.

(excerpted below the link that says....)

SAN DIEGO -- If you want to hear Aretha Franklin or Lauryn Hill or Metallica on the radio in San Diego, you have no choice but to tune to a Clear Channel station. The same goes for sports talk, local news and Rush Limbaugh.

In the radio world, this pattern is about as unusual as a "first-time caller, longtime-listener."

From Honolulu (seven stations) to Des Moines, Iowa (six), and Ft. Myers, Florida (eight), Clear Channel Communications dominates the dial across the country.

But nowhere is its domination more prevalent than in San Diego. The world's largest radio company controls 14 stations there -- a half-dozen more than anywhere else in the United States -- and it still has room to grow by looking to the south.

Over the past three years, Clear Channel programmers sacked San Diego disc jockeys and replaced them with voices from out of town, hoodwinked listeners by airing national contests as if they were local, and rolled out cookie-cutter radio formats designed elsewhere. Meanwhile, the company sweet-talked Mexican station owners across the border and tore through legal loopholes in order to build its mini-empire.

. . . .

Since the company entered the San Diego market three years ago, a few successful stations retained their management and most of their staffs. But others have lost their local flavor and their local disc jockeys. Some of the stations are little more than clones of sister operations elsewhere.

For instance, a new Clear Channel country station called "Bob 99.3" -- "Turn your knob to Bob" -- ripped off the name and motto of a defunct Minneapolis station. Dimick said it appears to be a twin of a country station in Phoenix.

And when a San Diego rock station called "Mix" debuted in 1999, it was one of more than a dozen Clear Channel stations nationwide with identical nicknames, identical logos and similar playlists. While the San Diego station folded, the number of "Mix" stations nationwide has grown to 25.

Meanwhile, local contests have largely vanished from the San Diego airwaves.

In 1999, Clear Channel began running national contests without making it clear that local callers competed against listeners from dozens of other stations. The public didn't blink, and the media barely noticed. (After it was fined in Florida, the company now runs explicit disclaimers about the contests.)

. . . .

Even some competitors admit that Clear Channel isn't always the Radio Company of Doom. By consolidating stations into one group, Clear Channel contributes to making San Diego a more stable radio market, said Bob Hughes, co-owner of KPRI-FM, the only locally owned commercial station left in the region.

"You've gone from 20-25 owners with wildly different needs and pressures to just a handful," Hughes said. "In a lot of ways, it has made radio a better business."

Indeed, Clear Channel's growth may actually help adventurous stations like KPRI, which broadcasts an eclectic mix of classic and alternative rock, blues and reggae. By contrast, Clear Channel deploys its San Diego stations to reach specific demographics -- men 18-34, for example, or women 25-54 -- and never blends different genres of music.

But listeners don’t necessarily want distinctive radio. KPRI placed 21st in the latest San Diego ratings, lagging behind 12 stations run by -- you guessed it -- Clear Channel.