Radio Free Clear Channel
It's official: even Clear Channel is sick of Clear Channel. The company has set up a fake pirate radio station [taken down, 5/26/05] in Akron, Ohio, which it's using to hurl insults at other Clear Channel stations. For about a week, Radio Free Ohio has feigned overthrowing Ohio's media monopoly by bleeding its broadcasts into other Clear Channel stations. Sayeth the website:
Radio in Ohio sucks. We know, We've listened.
Radio has changed. Gone are the days of big name personalities who weren’t afraid to play what they wanted. Gone are the days when we could hear a newsman deliver the news about what was happening in my town without follow-ups on runaway brides or stories about a Game Show host bedding a contestant.
Most importantly, gone are the days of multiple viewpoints and opinions. Instead we get corporate mandated opinions from talking heads. Corporate controlled music playlists, and so on.
Except for the line about "big name personalities" (I mean, who are they supposed to be pining for? Dick Clark? Alan Freed?) it's not bad, huh?
The station was outed by someone at WOXY, who looked up the Radio Free domain name and saw that it was owned by Clear Channel in San Antonio.
I supposed this isn't all that surprising coming from the company that pioneered the art of making generic, nationally produced newscasts sound as if they're local. Still, it's hard to believe that upper management would have their heads so far up their asses as to think this is a good idea. Chances are they plan on using this "guerilla" marketing to convert one of their stations to a new "alternative" or liberal talk format, but all it's really going to do is piss people off.
Anyway, I think of all this as good news: Clear Channel is so desperate to defend its turf that it'll even try joining the chorus of critics.
