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Title: Right of the Dial: The Rise of Clear Channel and the Fall of Commercial Radio
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Manufacturer: Faber & Faber
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| Customer Reviews: |
| Right of the Dial: The Rise of Clear Channel and the Fall of Commercial Radio by Faber & Faber Just having Money is not the secret to Broadcasting Success | | I found the author most interested in how Clear Channel, according to him, made life more difficult for musicians, and musical acts. I was more interested in their radio efforts and results. We learned what has been surmised..........just because you can glean huge dollars from Wall Street doesn't make you an instant success in radio. And many of the Clear Channel ideas just didn't work in Burlington, IA....Mankato, MN and Minot, ND. The author seemed quite thorough in gathering his historical facts, and interviews with early players in the Clear Channel company. If you enjoy books about businesses, and particuarly the media, this is a good read. | | Right of the Dial: The Rise of Clear Channel and the Fall of Commercial Radio by Faber & Faber A Dangerous Look Inside The Beast | "Anyone who complains that there's nothing to listen to on the radio anymore could certainly lay most of the blame on Clear Channel", states Alec Foege, author of "Right of the Dial."
"With 1,250 radio stations coast-to-coast -- nearly 1000 more than its closest competitor -- as well as much of the North American concert- touring business, 770,000 billboards, 41 television stations, and the largest sports management business in the country", notes Mr. Foege, "Clear Channel at its height truly dominated the pop-cultural landscape."
Clear Channel Communications began with Lowry Mays's acquisition of radio station WOAI in San Antonio (1975), and ballooned into the "world's largest radio conglomerate." By hiring news/talk radio pioneer John Barger, master salesman Stan Webb, and super programmer, Randy Michaels, Clear Channel began to hammer out its acquisitions in cookie cutter fashion featuring programming and demanding sales plans.
Specializing in news/talk radio, Clear Channel's formula called for a reduction of local news resources and a heavy dose of Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Dr. Laura Schessinger, and Howard Stern.
Profits always came before entertainment excellence throughout the Clear Channel system. When it came to listener satisfaction, the company management made it clear "that it did not care, since it regarded advertisers -- not consumers -- as its customers."
Along the way, Clear Channel acquired less than successful outdoor billboard and concert management divisions -- which it jettisoned during economic downturns. Always seeking "synergy," Clear Channel maximized double digit profits from its business units -- unlike jealous radio rivals.
Clear Channel grew in infamy by "making loads of money while producing the dullest radio programming in the history of the medium, and doing so in quantities hard to ignore," notes Mr. Foege.
Later in 2004, Lowry Mays stepped down after posting earnings that were double the S+P500 rate of return. Sons, Mark and Randall Mays took over the leadership of the company but were never that successful.
The author reveals his purpose: "this book is an attempt to explain how two undeniably American traditions -- capitalism and creativity -- battled to coexist within the confines on one uniquely American media conglomerate."
Mr. Foege sums up Clear Channel's effect on the radio industry: "There is no question that consolidation improved the economic model of radio. Larger economies of scale such as the one Clear Channel built translated into the most prosperous period in radio's history."
About the author
Alec Foege is an author and magazine journalist. A former contributing editor to "Rolling Stone", he is author of three books: "Confusion Is Next: The Sonic Youth Story (St. Martin's 1994), "The Empire God Built: Inside Pat Robertson's Media Machine (Wiley, 1996), and "Right of the Dial: The Rise of Clear Channel and the Fall of Commercial Radio" (Faber and Faber 2008). His writing also has appeared in "The New York Times, People, Playboy, Mediaweek, Adweek, Fortune, Small Business, Spin, Variety, Vogue, Corporate Counsel, and Communications Industry Forecast." He lives in Connecticut with his wife and two children.
| | Right of the Dial: The Rise of Clear Channel and the Fall of Commercial Radio by Faber & Faber Good research, mediocre commentary | Having been in the Radio economy since 1984, this book brings back some memories of the medium. I was impressed with the interviews Foege was able to secure for the book, but there was so much to the story left untold.
What bothered me the most was the author's commentary. It was disjointed and not supported by the story he told. So many of the evil things that Clear Channel did in the mid to late 90's were driven by Randy Michaels, the book didn't spend nearly the time it should have on him or that part of CC's history. Instead the reader gets 3-5 chapters of slams at the Mays brothers, and nothing to really support the perspective, except that he does like programming on terrestrial radio these days.
I was also hoping to learn more about the last few years and the push into privatization, and I found very little substance in that chapter either.
This will likely be the only non "company sanctioned" book on Clear Channel. As much as I was expecting the author to clean Cheap Channel's clock, I walked away from this read mostly disappointed. Skip the first chapter and perhaps the last, and radio geeks should enjoy it. | | Right of the Dial: The Rise of Clear Channel and the Fall of Commercial Radio by Faber & Faber Product Description | In Right of the Dial, Alec Foege explores how the mammoth media conglomerate evolved from a local radio broadcasting operation, founded in 1972, into one of the biggest, most profitable, and most polarizing corporations in the country. During its heyday, critics accused Clear Channel, the fourth-largest media company in the United States and the nation’s largest owner of radio stations, of ruining American pop culture and cited it as a symbol of the evils of media monopolization, while fans hailed it as a business dynamo, a beacon of unfettered capitalism. What’s undeniable is that as the owner at one point of more than 1,200 radio stations, 130 major concert venues and promoters, 770,000 billboards, 41 television stations, and the largest sports management business in the country, Clear Channel dominated the entertainment world in ways that MTV and Disney could only dream of. But in the fall of 2006, after years of public criticism and flattening stock prices, Goliath finally tumbled—Clear Channel Inc. sold off one-third of its radio holdings and all of its television concerns while transferring ownership to a consortium of private equity firms. The move signaled the end of an era in media consolidation, and in Right of the Dial, Foege takes an insightful look at the company’s successes and abuses, showing the ways in which Clear Channel reshaped America’s cultural and corporate landscapes along the way. |
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