Behind the Curtain at Clear Channel

[Applebaum]

1996 thats when Spice Girls knocked the Fugees off the number one spot.....hmmm

[OBSysteme]

Mainstream music is like league sports... its designed to please the masses.... it never was made for those of the "intellectual" or "exploring" kind....

[OBSysteme]

Music industry-wise (money), I don't know. but for sure, music has never been in better shape!!! just don't listen to radio or TV... go on the internet... a good starting place is quite simply. MYSPACE! just steer clear of the pages of mainstream celebrities and whores on all fours, and the rest is just plain discovery of all kinds of music, some you would not have imagine existed.... Music has never been more democratic.... except for your grand-ma in her rocking chair stuck next to the radio.

[dmoates420]

MTV/vh1 will never show this documentary cause they are the same. Vh1 sold out for advertising a long time ago. They used to be a channel that showed like easy listening videos for old people and stuff and now they are showing Brett michaels bangin whores all day. It's hilarious. Although much more entertaining than it used to be I must admit. Lol

[youngdrodeau]

If we wanna save hip hop & music in general,we need to go directly to the source.THE ADVERTISERS.The radio stations,MTV,BET,etc don't care about quality as long as they're gettin their ad money.We need to send letters and/or emails to the advertisers and let them know that we're not satisfied with the radio & are turning off the radio & music TV.If enough of us do that,the advertisers will put pressure on the stations to make a better product if they wanna keep their business.

[thelazycomic]

Cheap Channel thinking helped to destroy my livelihood. I used to work in radio, until voice tracking and satellite feeds destroyed a person's chance of getting employment in the business. I worked VERY briefly for Cheap Channel in Mobile, Alabama back in the 90's. The pricks were paying me $6.00 an hour to be on the air, while they had the balls to post their huge quarterly profits in the snack room. What a slap in the face. That was when I said I quit, and went to work for a mom & pop station.

[Pintac87]

Clear Channel is the reason I stopped listening to radio. You used to get variety from all the different stations but now you can practically tell what time it is by what song is playing. You hear the same songs every single day, no variety and no attempt at playing something different. Screw Clear Channel, they've made my CD collection priceless because that's all I listen to in my car now.

[Jah044445]

Hmmm, this seems like a nice documentary to be on MTV and Vh1..I wonder why I don't see it on there?

[MacPete187]

@Jah044445

I just up'ed your comment.. People need to think the way your are thinking.. WHY ISN'T THIS ON MTV (Music Television).. shouldn't it be? since they care so much about 'the music'? Between their reality TV shows about being a self absorbed dumbass, you'd think they would support the music?

hahaha yah right.. maybe on another planet

[OneMixDJ]

@MacPete187 : Unfortunately MacPete187, like Clear Channel, MTV is also part of another corporate conglomerate known as Viacom. Like Clear Channel, they follow the same objective; to make the money. Think about it, how often does MTV really play music videos? Not often.

[triqqey]

The video is right in stating that "Clear Channel didn't make radio; radio made Clear Channel"

Car salesmen begin to run a radio station another guy couldn't make profit from (probably playing the "good music"). Obviously, as salesmen, they want profit and don't care so much for the art.

I don't know why people whine and complain about "real music" being trampled upon, when those same people don't listen to the radio enough for the station to sell enough advertisement space to make money.

[brianofbluemethod]

"What are they being offered to choose from? Who makes that decision? I could never find out." POWERFUL!!!!

[DuffRoto]

Screw clear channel

[trghNelkihue]

i needd subtitles!!!! aunque se entiende es necesario difundirlo!

alguien podria hacerlo??

[hiwaymanx]

Thank HillBilly Clinton for the deregulation bill. Way to preserve democracy buddy!

[papamalo]

Wrong. Colin Powell's son did it at the FCC. do your research.

[REinstall1]

very wrong

[AgnesBojaxhiu2000]

the rushie neocons are sooo much like killers charlie manson and jefferie dahmer that i confuse the three ... it's sooo hard to relate to them ... one is making $400M ... such a guy would drive the largest hummer that you can imagine ... filling up its 100 gallon gasoline tanks twice a week then climbs into his personal 747 to get drugs ... scoffing at global warming ... insisting that burning 200 gigabarrels of oil every year does nothing to the environment ... and his minions eat it up

[1JenniferMM]

Wow I pass this clearchannel like almost everyday....intresting...thank­s

[hhaalleeyyx3]

great documentary... haha erykah's got that thick south dallas accent. in a good way of course :)

[coffeehigh420]

Please check out the Clear Channel Radio employee DJ morning show guy who completely looses it on the air.

I've posted the show on my channel. He bashes Clear Channel and reveals what the company is REALLY all about !!

Enjoy :)

[timsartsite]

if you go to bside and register they will let you download 1 movie for free!!! i did and it was well worth it. this is a great movie and its very informative.

[RollingRock24]

Bill Clinton is the reason why Clear Channel owns more than half the radio stations in America, he signed the bill in 1996 that created the monopoly.

[freespeeeech]

yea, and he said it was the biggest mistake of his administration.

[ClassicTVLover]

This is why Cheap Channel is scared about things like net radio, ipods, etc - once people decide they don't need their radio stations they will just die! People don't want to hear the same homoginized voicetracked crap they're doing

[stickbandit27]

Thx ClassicTVLover for making this connection.....Have you heard about Net-radio dying soon??? Yep, the Big Five are trying to now set mandatory Royalty fees (for playing even indie artists music who want their music played for free) for internet radio stations.....Simply for the reason to dominate the market and kill internet radio......If this is capitalism's goal....FUCK CAPITALISM........And this is why I vote democrat.......

[mtz313]

yup its capitalism by the pure definition of the word. but unfotunetly voting dem isnt exactaly gonna change capitalism. everyones greedy. this is our society as a whole. corporate fucking america right AND left.

[Ellerynum2]

very scary

[freespeeeech]

Check out my clear channel expose on youtube. keywords: mikey fcc kioz

[willi234]

Love my SIRIUS!

[timsartsite]

hell yeah

[ChristopherMarlowe]

It's amazing to me that some people can see the telecommunications act of 1996, and the subsequent rise of radio monopolies, and still have the audacity to dismiss facts as conspiracy theories. Perhaps it is because we have a whole generation that was taught how to "think" by Rush Limbaugh, brought to you via Clear Channel.

[knockout13]

A whole generation who were taught to think by Rush Limbaugh and who are listening to Green Day and The Dixie Chicks?

[ChristopherMarlowe]

Notice the quotation marks around "think", because Limbaugh doesn't think or use logic. He is a mouthpiece that sends out little talking points for zombies to repeat. Then the zombies can pretend they are thinking, but really they are repeating "spin".

[ChristopherMarlowe]

Obviously not everyone listens to Limbaugh and not everyone listens to the Dixie Chicks. You can spot the Limbaugh listeners at a Dixie Chicks concert because they are taking down names and gathering evidence.

[irisjune]

And the Dixie Chicks fans are listening to Rush and taking down names and gathering "evidence."

All is true.

[MrHamlet]

Whenever there is a large company, there will always be the conspiracy theorist to pull on their coattails. Conspiracies like this one have been around since the dawn of the radio. Boohoo! Your song doesn't get play time Dave Matthews...maybe because your record label wanted more money to play the song on the air or maybe YOU wanted too much money. Plenty of blame to go around. I think that the opportunity of the open internet would lay waste to these theories.

[cougfan07]

i don't know what's worse: straight-up payola from the record company to the d.j. or the "research"-driven corporatocracy that has taken over commercial radio and TV. who the f--- is in these focus groups, anyway? do they just grab sad/bored-looking people from some wal-mart, give 'em snacks and a 20-dollar bill, and make 'em listen to a bunch of music? i don't know anybody who likes the same 10 songs over and over again.

[jonnyvirgo]

that's some scary shit

[steel968]

what's funny is there is no REAl insight about how CC actual works...This didn't come from actual insiders, b/c they missed the real meat of what's behind this story.

[stejawat]

Darth Vader works at the Clear Channel Death Star! This is why mainstream radio pisses me off.

[ballpeenenvy]

Good overview.

[stinkyballs81]

the narrator sounds like Andre "the giant"!!

RIP Andre!