how much do you hate clearchannel? i really really really really hate it. i also hate all pop music.

I hate clearchannel because they bought up a lot of radiostations and give them the same playlist, blah blah blah...

do yourself a favor, just turn off your radio.

Damn, I feel so out of it...I don't know anything anymore...what IS clearchannel?

Clear Channel is definitely the downfall of modern radio, for sure.

Therefore, the only radio I listen to is independent and/or college radio.

Oh well everybody has always own ideas about good radio channels.

Clear Channel though organises tours of many good artist. For example this >>

http://www.clearchannel.com/rad_premiere.php

Premiere Radio Networks
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Premiere Radio Networks, Inc., a subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications (NYSE: CCU), syndicates more than 100 radio programs and services to more than 7,800 radio affiliations and reaches over 180 million listeners weekly. Premiere Radio is the number one radio network in the country and features the following personalities: Rush Limbaugh, Dr. Laura Schlessinger, Jim Rome, Rick Dees, Casey Kasem, Dr. Dean Edell, Bob (Kevoian) & Tom (Griswold), Phil Hendrie, Leeza Gibbons, Michael Reagan, George Noory, Blair Garner, and others. Premiere is based in Sherman Oaks, California with eleven offices nationwide.
Founded in 1987, Premiere began in Los Angeles with a $30,000 investment. Within the first year, the company produced three shows with approximately 250 affiliates. Premiere now produces 60 programs, many that have been recognized as the top in the industry. Premiere also acts as the sales representative for several non-owned radio networks such as the WOR Talk Network and XM Satellite Radio.

Premiere purchased Mediabase 24/7 in 1991. This research component of Premiere monitors music on over 1,100 radio stations in 140 markets, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In addition to providing vital airplay information to the music industry, the company provides its research to 950 affiliate stations and 35 record labels on a subscription basis. Mediabase recently joined efforts with Radio & Records and the Network Publication Group to launch M.I.S. (Music Information Systems), delivering the most innovative airplay monitoring resource for the music industry.

Over the last six years, Premiere has made 13 acquisitions, aggregating the top syndication programs and services under one roof. Premiere’s growth strategy is to continue its commitment to internal development, to expand through acquisitions, and to lead network radio into the next millennium.

Clear Channel's promotion pacts irk record labels

Sunday, September 15, 2002

By CHUCK PHILIPS
Los Angeles Times


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Radio conglomerate Clear Channel Communications Inc. is pushing the envelope in the murky world of record promotion - and upsetting music executives in the process.

Clear Channel has notified record labels that it has signed new pacts with a trio of independent music promoters and granted them the exclusive right to pitch songs to Clear Channel program directors at its top black music, or "urban," radio stations. Those promoters, in turn, have dramatically raised the prices they charge record labels for new songs added to a station's weekly playlist.

At KHHT-FM in Los Angeles, promotional prices surged 50 percent, with Clear Channel's new gatekeepers charging $2,000 for each song added to its weekly playlist. By last week, rates had jumped 20 percent to 100 percent at 42 Clear Channel black music stations across the nation after the company signed exclusive deals with promoters Ted Astin, Wes Johnson and Rueben Rodriguez.

The sudden price hikes appear to contradict statements by Clear Channel Chief Executive Mark Mays, who has admonished music executives for wasting money on independent promotion. "I told them, 'Please, don't make the payments,' " Mays said in an interview this summer. "Why they continue the payments I have no idea."

Peter Hart, an analyst for the New York-based media watchdog group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, accused Mays of "talking out both sides of his mouth."

"One day he's boasting about cleaning up a corrupt system. The next day we learn that his company is getting more deeply involved in the practice that he condemns," Hart said. "The message is clear: Clear Channel is not serious about cracking down on independent (music) promotion but in fact looking to capitalize on it."

Clear Channel says it has no control over what prices the promoters charge - and receives no percentage of their per-song rates. The broadcast chain earns its money in the form of annual fees by charging Astin, Johnson and Rodriguez about $100,000 per year at each station and up for the exclusive right to pitch songs at its black music stations.

Astin and Johnson declined comment, and Rodriguez could not be reached.

The radio chain is paid even more at its pop and rock stations, as much as $250,000 annually per station, under a series of deals cut with Tri-State Promotions, Jeff McClusky, Bill McGathy and other promoters, sources say.

"We have decided to set up a system where there are contracts with a limited number of independent promoters because it makes it possible for us to establish controls and oversight to monitor the system," Mays said in a statement this week. "This also allows us to keep it separate from programming. Decisions on programming are based entirely on research and on data from local markets indicating what listeners want to hear."

Record executives declined comment, saying they feared Clear Channel might retaliate by withholding airplay of their artists' music.

Privately, however, music executives, independent promoters and radio employees contend that behind the scenes Clear Channel has doggedly pursued cutting lucrative promotion pacts at its radio stations as a way to tap more of the millions spent on promotions by record labels.

Clear Channel also recently renewed a handful of deals with music promoters covering about 200 stations in the pop and rock fields. As a result, this year Clear Channel could rake in $15 million to $20 million in fees from its pop, rock and black music station promotion agreements, industry sources say.

Mays defended his position, suggesting that Clear Channel has been "very consistent" regarding its position on independent promotion.

"Independent promoters are being paid significant amounts of money for our proprietary information - our playlists and our research," Mays said. "If record companies choose to continue spending money with independent promoters, we may not agree that it's the best business practice on their part, but we'll participate if we can work within our guidelines."

Federal law prohibits radio stations from accepting money for playing songs without disclosing that information to listeners. Legislation was proposed recently by Sen. Russell Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat, to ban independent promotion arrangements. Feingold alleges hat current pay-for-play practices violate payola laws.

Clear Channel, the nation's largest broadcast chain with more than 1,200 radio stations, insists that its recent foray into independent promotion is legal. Radio One Inc. and other competitors have implemented similar promotion contracts.

In the past, powerful music companies were accused of directly bribing deejays to play songs. To sidestep current payola laws, an independent contractor pays an annual fee to a radio station for the exclusive right to pitch songs to the station's program director.

The station is not required to play any song pitched by the promoter but agrees to give the independent promoter advance information about which songs the station will add to its weekly playlist. The promoter then sells that information to the labels, collecting a fee for each song added to the playlist.

Clear Channel's new gatekeepers immediately issued new rate cards to labels, charging $800 to $3,000 per song, depending on the market.

Under the new arrangement, promotion prices surged 100 percent in Detroit, 55 percent in Philadelphia, 45 percent in Milwaukee and at least 25 percent in most other cities, music executives said.

another article on the business practice of clear channel:

http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/2002/03/27/beltway/

O.J trial still lives on.

I loved my old station which was part of Clear Channel. But then they changed it