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Clear Channel Communications is a media company based in the United States of America. Clear Channel, founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays, wields considerable influence in radio broadcasting, concert promotion and hosting, and fixed advertising in the United States through is subsidiaries. The company owns over 1,200 radio stations and over 30 television stations in the United States, among other media outlets in other countries. The present head of the company is Lowry Mays and its headquarters is located in San Antonio, Texas. The company's NYSE stock ticker symbol is CCU.
The term "clear channel" is an old broadcasting term, signifying the few early AM stations that were permitted to broadcast 24 hours per day, and at higher power. WOAI in San Antonio was one of them. This allowed the "clear channel" stations to be heard throughout the country.
Clear Channel Communications purchased its first FM station in San Antonio, TX in 1972. They purchased the second "clear channel" AM station WOAI in 1975. In 1986, the company purchased its first stations outside of San Antonio. In 1992, the US Congress relaxed radio ownership rules slightly, allowing the company to acquire more than 2 stations per market. By 1995, they owned 43 radio stations and 16 television stations. In 1996, the Telecommunications Act of 1996 became law. This act de-regulated media ownership, allowing a company to own more stations than previously. Clear Channel went on a buying spree, purchasing more than 70 other media companies, plus individual stations.
In a few cases, following purchase of a competitor, Clear Channel was forced to divest some of their stations, as they were above the legal thresholds in some cities.
Clear Channel has purchased interest in, or outright acquired companies in a number of media or advertising related industries. This is not an exhaustive list.
Clear Channel has purchased stations from or acquired the following radio companies:
First TV station purchased was WPMI-TV in Mobile, Alabama in 1988. They now own over 30 additional stations.
As a large company operating in many different states, with numerous employees, Clear Channel has been involved in a number of highly visible controversies.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s the company became an object of persistent criticism. Critics claim that it is has abused its market position and operates in an unethical manner. FCC regulations were relaxed following the Telecommunications Act of 1996, allowing companies to own far more radio signals that before. After spending about $30 billion, Clear Channel owned over 1200 stations nationwide. In some markets, they owned as many as 7 stations. Competitors and listeners complained, but so far, the company has been able to hold on to all of the stations it had after divesting a few following the acquisition of AMFM.
Following the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., a list of songs apparently recommended to be removed from airplay as inappropriate during a time of national mourning was generated and circulated (See List of songs deemed inappropriate by Clear Channel following the September 11, 2001 attacks). A small list was initially generated by the Clear Channel office, though individual program directors added many of their own songs. A list containing about 150 songs was soon circulating on the Internet. The criteria for choosing the songs seemed to be unreasonable to many. A number of songs were apparently placed on the list just because they had specific words such as "plane", "fly", and "falling" in their titles. Many people found it particularly ludicrous that John Lennon's "Imagine" was one of the songs listed. Clear Channel denies that this was a list of "banned" songs, claiming it was a list of titles that should be played only after great thought. Many individual stations did play songs from the list.
After the country music band The Dixie Chicks criticized US President George W. Bush at a show in England, upsetting some music fans and politicians, country music stations owned by Clear Channel Communications banned their music. Clear Channel claims this was solely the work of local station managers, DJ?s, and angry fans. Some critics of Clear Channel, including the editors of Rock and Rap Confidential, claim otherwise. They claim that Clear Channel executives, in a bid to gain support for various policies they were pushing in Washington, instigated the boycott among its country music stations themselves to send a message to other musicians that criticizing President George Bush's administration could hurt your career, through reduced airplay, etc. Clear Channel denies these accusations. Clear Channel stations were not the only radio stations to ban their music; another large media company, Atlanta-based Cox Radio, also did the same. See Dixie Chicks.
In 2004, Clear Channel acquired a key patent in the process of producing "instant live recordings", in which a live performance is recorded directly from the sound engineer's console during the show, and then rapidly burned on CD so that audience members can buy copies of the show as they are leaving the venue. This is intended to provide additional revenue to the artist, venue, and promoter, as well as stifle the demand for illegal (and inferior quality) bootleg concert recordings made by audience members for profit. However, some media critics, as well as smaller business rivals, believe that Clear Channel is using the patent law incorrectly to drive competitors out of business or force them to pay licensing fees for the process. 2004 Super Bowl, Clear Channel launched a "self-policing" effort, and declared that there would be no "indecent" material allowed on the air. This led to the company's dismissal of several of their own employees, including popular and high profile hosts in a number of cities. Free-speech advocates cried foul. During this same period, Howard Stern was dropped from six Clear Channel owned stations in Florida, California, Pennsylvania, New York and Kentucky. By mid-year, rival Viacom brought Stern's show back to those six markets. In June, 2004, Viacom/Infinity Broadcasting Inc./One Twelve Inc. filed a $10 million dollar lawsuit against Clear Channel for breaking of contracts and non-payment of licensing fees due to the dropping of Stern's show. Viacom is Howard Stern's employer. In the following July, Clear Channel filed a countersuit of $3 million dollars.
Clear Channel has settled a lawsuit with a Denver, Colorado concert promoter, Nobody In Particular Presents (NIPP). In the lawsuit, NIPP alleged that Clear Channel halted airplay on its local stations for NIPP clients, and that Clear Channel would not allow NIPP to publicize its concerts on the air. The lawsuit was settled in 2004 with no monetary consideration, but Clear Channel has new rules regarding local concert promotion in Denver.
In 2002, Clear Channel was sued by the US Justice Department for not allowing people with diabetes to bring medically necessary supplies, including syringes used for insulin, into concert venues. Clear Channel changed their policy shortly afterward.
In 2004, Clear Channel was sued by a San Francisco, California man for charging a mandatory parking fee on every ticket sold for a venue, whether the person purchasing the ticket was driving alone, car-pooling, or using public transportation. This is still unresolved.
Clear Channel has pioneered technology that allows a DJ from anywhere in the country to sound like he is anywhere else in the country, on any other station. It's called voice-tracking, and many smaller market stations are completely staffed by these cyber-jocks, who may have never visited the town they are broadcasting in.
An additional side-effect of this trend to automate radio stations is that no one is there to warn people when disaster strikes. Clear Channel was partially blamed for the death of a man in Minot, North Dakota who tried to flee his home when a Canadian Pacific Railway train filled with toxic anhydrous ammonia derailed on January 18, 2002. No personnel were at the station, and thus could not inform people of the proper course of action, to stay indoors and to boil water. Clear Channel maintains that the city was slow to respond to the disaster and accepts no fault.
It is a controversial subject that is still debated hotly among those in the radio business.
In 2004, Project Billboard, a non-profit liberal political advocacy group, filed a breach of contract suit against Clear Channel for the rejection by its outdoor advertising division of a billboard ad against the war in Iraq. The ad, intended for a 40-foot billboard Clear Channel manages in Times Square, was to have the slogan, "Democracy is best taught by example, not by war," along with a red, white and blue cartoon image of a bomb. Clear Channel's contract with Project Billboard only allowed the company to reject ads that were illegal or contrary to public morals; Clear Channel claimed that the image of the bomb was insensitive in New York City, the site of the most devastating of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Project Billboard claimed that Clear Channel's rejection was instead for purely political reasons. Clear Channel settled the suit by agreeing to an alternative featuring an image of a peace dove instead of a bomb.
Sports: David Beckham, Michael Jordan, Andre Agassi, Brandi Chastain, Pedro Martinez, Prince Naseem Hamed, Jason Giambi, Gary Lineker, Miguel Tejada, Roger Clemens, Greg Norman, Nomar Garciaparra, Jerry Rice, Kobe Bryant, Warrick Dunn, Al Michaels, Trent Green, Dick Vermeil, Gail Devers, Michael Owen, Nasser Hussein, Michael Atherton, and Alan Shearer.
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