\A no-smoking sign on your cigarette break. It's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife.""
You may be familiar with those lyrics, and that's because those are the words of Alanis Morissette in her song entitled ""Ironic."" I have to agree that those are ironic things. But there is another irony I would add, which Alanis left out in her song.
""A large, anti-capitalist company in America that doesn't operate in the public interest, or in line with the Constitution, but rather, solely for lining its pocketbook.""
The irony I am speaking of is that of Clear Channel Communications, which currently owns approximately 1,240 radio stations, 39 TV stations and 770,000 billboards in this country. It is the radio conglomerate that has restricted the freedom of speech in pulling the Dixie Chicks off many of its stations after Natalie Maines said she was ""ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas.""
This is the corporation that gave a list of 150 songs to its stations across the country after Sept. 11, requesting they remove songs like ""Jump,"" ""Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,"" ""Rocket Man,"" ""American Pie,"" ""New York, New York"" and ""In the Air Tonight"" from their stations. All these songs were deemed to be ""insensitive"" by the executives at Clear Channel Communications in light of the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Now, don't get me wrong. I, like all other Americans, was tragically struck by the horrific events of 9/11 and grieved along with everyone else in this country. But what Clear Channel did following this incident gets very interesting.
Around the time of the war in Iraq, Clear Channel Communications held numerous events across the country called ""Rally for America,"" which were supposed to be non-partisan rallies for the USA, but turned into pro-war rallies where attendees would bring anti-Dixie Chicks signs and pro-Bush slogans to tout at the events.
The executives at Clear Channel Communications, which owns the largest group of radio stations in the country (and is the biggest corporate-owned, out-of-state radio conglomerate in Madison) continually push for deregulations in the media industry even beyond those of the 1996 Telecommunications Act signed by former President Clinton. They do this for one reason: to make money.
Clear Channel is not concerned with operating in the public interest. It isn't concerned with diversity in radio content, or in having more choices than Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake. It isn't concerned with having a competitive media industry.
Clear Channel has cut prices and put thousands of hard-working people out of business who simply could not compete or were bought out by it. Our great Senator Russ Feingold, D-Wis., has introduced legislation called the ""Competition in Radio and Concert Industries Act,"" in an attempt to keep America's airwaves from having the same variety of music selection as prison inmates have for their meals.
Ever turn on the radio and feel like you're hearing the same songs over and over again? Well, that's because it's probably a Clear Channel station. Clear Channel Communications has found that playing the same eight songs over and over again is cheaper, more efficient and can be done primarily by machines instead of humans. In other words, take out the diversity in music, increase the amount of commercials, scrap the DJs for inexpensive, automated machines, play a sickening amount of Britney Spears songs and pander to the far right wing of the Republican Party and the Bush family, some of the biggest cheerleaders for Clear Channel Communications.
What's the Bush/Clear Channel link? Well, besides Bush's suspicious business connections, another ""irony"" exists. Clear Channel gave the Republican Party more than $200,000 in contributions between 2000 and 2002. During that same period, the Democrats received 1/8 of that amount, or about $25,000. Can anybody say ""conflict of interest?""
The most ironic thing, however, is that liberal Air America Radio has recently been launched in Madison on (you guessed it) a Clear Channel owned radio station. Al Franken and Janeane Garofalo, among other hosts, can be heard on one of the most regressive, anti-fair business, anti-free speech, anti-competition, anti-capitalist companies in America-Clear Channel Communications. I love capitalism, competition, the Constitution, and the public airwaves, but Clear Channel Communications doesn't seem to.
Isn't it ironic?
