Clear Channel's CEO is REALLY clueless!!!!!

[Marv]

You folks are absolutely positively NOT going to believe this, but CC's CEO Roland Mays wants the FCC to RAISE the limits on the number of stations that any company can own in any given market.

Not only does he want to raise the limit from 8 to 10, but he also wants authorization to raise that same limit to TWELVE stations in major markets such as NYC, LA & Chicago.

His reasoning, according to a recent story the the Torrance (Calif.) Daily Breeze (http://www.dailybreeze.com) is 'to be able to compete' against satellite radio!!!!

Would somebody PLEASE tell Mr. Mays that HE is the #1 reason for the success of satellite radio? Between cookie-cutter formats, voice-tracking, SOARING numbers of commercials on FAR too many station to count, and too many other things to mention, the current sad state of radio in the USA is HIS own fault!!!!!

Is he out to lunch, or what???????

[EvanJ]

As of a couple of years ago when I gathered data about the 130 out of the top 141 radio markets whose ratings weren't embargoed at the time, Clear Channel owned 9 or more stations that appeared in the ratings in over 20 percent of those markets. Clear Channel owns stations from different markets that appear in the same market's ratings.
In the Spring 2005 ratings for Sarasota-Bradenton, FL, 16 of the 35 stations in the ratings are owned by Clear Channel including stations from Tampa. The total rating of those 16 Clear Channel stations is 45.9 and the total rating of all 35 station in the market is 80.2.

[Marv]

Thanks for all of that information; I know there's been quite a bit of shuffling of ownership of stations here in LA to comply with the FCC all year long.

[Libra]

There was a Rolling Stone article that I posted a link to some time ago - the subject title in posting was "Clear Channel: 'We're Not in the Music Business.' "

In otherwords, he's not "out to lunch," because he couldn't have been "in" to begin with.

And he's obviously very greedy. But very bad things happen to very greedy people, just wait... ;)[/font]

[Marv]

The fact that was was unquestionably THE #1 radio staion in North America twenty years ago (KIIS-FM here in LA) can be #1 today with a 4.4 rating, almost certainly the WORST rating EVER for a #1 station in the nation's most competitive and closely-watched radio market is yet ANOTHER example of how perpetually clueless Mr. Mays & staff remain, even to this day.

Nationally syndicated AC personality 'Delilah' was quoted in an interview with R&R Editor-In-Chief Erica Farber that radio has lost a quarter of its total listening audience in the past five years.

If that statement is even REMOTELY close to being accurate ,how would the VERY befuddled Mr. Mays explain THAT?????????