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Don't Do Us Any Favors |
Clear Channel, the U.S.'s largest owner of radio stations, has decided to scale back the number of commercials aired by its stations. According to CEO John Hogan—
"This is the right thing to do for the long term that will revitalize and rejuvenate the radio industry."
Hold onto your hat… did he say "rejuvenate the radio industry"? The same industry that is suffering withering irrelevance by accepting payments from the labels which determine the medium's playlists?Who knew that corruption could be rejuvenated without addressing the corruption?
No, the less-advertising mandate is just more of what Clear Channel does best: impose top-down consolidation of what we hear on the air. As commercials become more sparse they will also become more expensive. Eventually, just as with the music content, only the biggest and richest advertisers will be heard.
