The best radio stations in my town, (San Diego,) are mostly Clear Channel, except for the one (91X) that claims it no longer belongs to Clear Channel, (Even though it really does.)
Clear Channel runs radio stations from remote distances pretending to be local, abuses municipalities by hiding concert tax revenue, won't run political ads contrary to their management's politics, does payola, lobbies hard for media conglomeration limiting market diversity, lies about their actions with a big P.R. budget, and is trying to enforce an absurd patent they bought on prodcing recordings of live concerts for sale immediately after. There's a lot more.
My main problem, which was not mentioned by strspn, is that their radio playlists suck. It's all homogenous, watered-down crap. And, possibly more importantly, the same homogenous crap everywhere. You no longer get different DJs promoting different music. You just get one mothership promoting the same music everywhere, which makes it that much harder for up-and-coming musicians to get a break. Well, except for the select few corporate-sponsored ones. Not that that violates ClearChannel's stated responsibility, which is that the radio stations are not there to entertain, they're there to sell advertising space.
I barely listen to the radio anymore, but when I do, the best commercial station in my area (which has, admittedly, always sucked as far as radio goes) is the only non-ClearChannel one, and even it's annoying. The college station is the only one that plays stuff that I haven't already heard dozens of times before.
Of course, none of that has anything to do with billboards, of which my area is mercifully virtually free.
XM does have 3 channels that are programmed (or supplemented by) ClearChannel, but that is out of almost 200 channels. I expect Sirius can claim similar, but their technology and business prospects suck. Formerly "Unsigned", ch.52, "The Verge" is made for up-and-coming artists, aside from the normally programmed stations, which play a lot of unknowns mixed in with the big names.
Of course, I said that I would never pay for radio, at one point - you may be in the same boat. But once I started a job that involved a lot of driving, satellite was a must. And now, I can't listen to terrestrial radio. Commercials suck!
I understand that, and I am in the "pay for radio?!?" arena, although I am planning to pay for Pandora. However, given that I am largely only interested in music while in the car, as opposed to news or talk radio, I have an mp3 player in the car. And one that was designed for in-car use, rather than an iPod, which is somewhat awkward to use even when you can put all your attention towards using it. (I feel like I'm prodding you to ask me what it is. I'm not, but I'll tell you anyway just to avoid the back-and-forth: the late, lamented empeg/RioCar.)
I originally went with a 10-disc MP3 changer, which amounts to almost 7GB. I had tons of music with me, but it was all stuff I had heard before, being from my own collection. When I got my new truck, I just went with XM. I figure it costs less than the price of 1 CD/month, and I don't have to 'refill' it ever. The negative being if I am in a rural area, and the weather is terrible, my reception gets 'wonky'.
I was interested in an in-car MP3 headunit, but the price generally makes it more worthwhile to build myself a car-puter, which is more versatile. There are a couple nice ones on the market, though.
What others said, but also: to a first approximation "big = bad" is a perfectly reasonable rule of thumb. The more power a corporation has, the more it will fuck over mere humans. All centralization of power should be mistrusted.
I don't think that's necessarily true. People who work for big companies are more likely to have health care benefits. When they were the controlling monopolies, IBM and AT&T had reputation for treating their employees relatively well. The petite bourgeois are typically the ones running right-wing reactionary organizations fighting against abortion rights and rights for homosexuals.
"Buy DAWN dishwashing detergent!"
I like the fact that its on a ClearChannel board.
But ClearChannel doesn't fight.. they just sort of.. melt people's brains and slowly steal their souls.
sounds like they're using chemical weapons to me...
Why does everybody hate Clear Channel so much?
The best radio stations in my town, (San Diego,) are mostly Clear Channel, except for the one (91X) that claims it no longer belongs to Clear Channel, (Even though it really does.)
I don't understand the hate.
Is it just a big=bad thing?
Clear Channel runs radio stations from remote distances pretending to be local, abuses municipalities by hiding concert tax revenue, won't run political ads contrary to their management's politics, does payola, lobbies hard for media conglomeration limiting market diversity, lies about their actions with a big P.R. budget, and is trying to enforce an absurd patent they bought on prodcing recordings of live concerts for sale immediately after. There's a lot more.
"won't run political ads contrary to their management's politics"
I hear ads for Air America and both sides of campaigns all the time 'round here.
As for the rest, that souds shitty, but are the others any different?
Thanks for the link.
My main problem, which was not mentioned by strspn, is that their radio playlists suck. It's all homogenous, watered-down crap. And, possibly more importantly, the same homogenous crap everywhere. You no longer get different DJs promoting different music. You just get one mothership promoting the same music everywhere, which makes it that much harder for up-and-coming musicians to get a break. Well, except for the select few corporate-sponsored ones. Not that that violates ClearChannel's stated responsibility, which is that the radio stations are not there to entertain, they're there to sell advertising space.
I barely listen to the radio anymore, but when I do, the best commercial station in my area (which has, admittedly, always sucked as far as radio goes) is the only non-ClearChannel one, and even it's annoying. The college station is the only one that plays stuff that I haven't already heard dozens of times before.
Of course, none of that has anything to do with billboards, of which my area is mercifully virtually free.
XM does have 3 channels that are programmed (or supplemented by) ClearChannel, but that is out of almost 200 channels. I expect Sirius can claim similar, but their technology and business prospects suck. Formerly "Unsigned", ch.52, "The Verge" is made for up-and-coming artists, aside from the normally programmed stations, which play a lot of unknowns mixed in with the big names.
Of course, I said that I would never pay for radio, at one point - you may be in the same boat. But once I started a job that involved a lot of driving, satellite was a must. And now, I can't listen to terrestrial radio. Commercials suck!
-bZj
I understand that, and I am in the "pay for radio?!?" arena, although I am planning to pay for Pandora. However, given that I am largely only interested in music while in the car, as opposed to news or talk radio, I have an mp3 player in the car. And one that was designed for in-car use, rather than an iPod, which is somewhat awkward to use even when you can put all your attention towards using it. (I feel like I'm prodding you to ask me what it is. I'm not, but I'll tell you anyway just to avoid the back-and-forth: the late, lamented empeg/RioCar.)
I originally went with a 10-disc MP3 changer, which amounts to almost 7GB. I had tons of music with me, but it was all stuff I had heard before, being from my own collection. When I got my new truck, I just went with XM. I figure it costs less than the price of 1 CD/month, and I don't have to 'refill' it ever. The negative being if I am in a rural area, and the weather is terrible, my reception gets 'wonky'.
I was interested in an in-car MP3 headunit, but the price generally makes it more worthwhile to build myself a car-puter, which is more versatile. There are a couple nice ones on the market, though.
-bZj
What others said, but also: to a first approximation "big = bad" is a perfectly reasonable rule of thumb. The more power a corporation has, the more it will fuck over mere humans. All centralization of power should be mistrusted.
I don't think that's necessarily true. People who work for big companies are more likely to have health care benefits. When they were the controlling monopolies, IBM and AT&T had reputation for treating their employees relatively well.
The petite bourgeois are typically the ones running right-wing reactionary organizations fighting against abortion rights and rights for homosexuals.
Yeah so you have a better camera than me :P
Damn Polacks!
Is that Jesus?
no no no! not a jew, an arab!
Are you sure it's BLF?
It's on their site, but it looks like they attribute it to "Department of Corrections".
Ya, I thought it looked more like the CDC's style .
Lol. Ko0l picture. You have some interesting stories/posts so I added you as a friend.
AC -x0x-
Uh, yeah. That was, like, "ko0l", dud3.
What, the musical selection wasn't coincidental enough?
I sure hope so =P
Yes.
Change "We" to "I" and you have a killer t-shirt design there.
I am driving by today to get pictures of this sign before it is deemed unpatriotic or something.