It's because while ClearChannel had the money, they earned the nickname "CheapChannel" fair and square. The Mays family, the previous owners of the company before it was sold out last year, figured that they could get rich(er) by buying up every station they could and then forcing everyone to put up with the crappy playlists they offered, all of which were based upon how much payola the music labels were offering. I remember one interview with a senior manager who crowed about how he didn't give a damn about how much listeners complained about lousy playlists and worse deejays, because he and the company had ascertained that the winner of the great radio wars was going to those who had a hammerlock on "drive time", when folks trying to get home had no choice but to listen to their offerings.
And then the iPod came along.
To be fair, CheapChannel was already digging itself a big hole due to its playlists, and that's why it invested in XM satellite radio the first chance it had. Car CD player sales jumped through the roof in every city where a significant number of stations advertised "A ClearChannel station!" during the station ID, but the killer was when listeners realized that they could just plug in their iPods and ignore the arrogant programming directors and their vomitous morning and afternoon deejays. This really started hitting the advertisers, too, when they started to make the connection that potential customers actively stayed away from just about any business that advertised through ClearChannel. These days, terrestrial radio is as much of a money suck for advertisers as weekly or daily newspapers: sure, you can buy radio advertising at about one-fifth the cost of a 30-second spot a decade ago, but the only people who will respond aren't going to be the customers you want.
Of course, I knew that CheapChannel was doomed when its stations were flooded with ads for the fake weight loss product BodySolutions in 2001. Every station was flooded with ads performed by their own deejays, promising extensive weight loss "even after eating pizza" if customers just took "one teaspoon before bedtime". The BodySolutions company was based in San Antonio, right next to ClearChannel's offices. The deejays identified themselves as being ClearChannel employees. Apparently BodySolutions was given a much lower advertising rate than other advertisers, allegedly because ClearChannel management was getting a cut from the sales in exchange for the lower rate. Yet, somehow, the Mayses claimed in court, when angry customers sued BodySolutions for selling quack medicine, that they had no idea who approved the ads and that they had absolutely no idea that it was all a scam. Uh huh. That's right: pull the other leg so I don't walk in circles.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2009-08-02 07:02 pm (UTC)And then the iPod came along.
To be fair, CheapChannel was already digging itself a big hole due to its playlists, and that's why it invested in XM satellite radio the first chance it had. Car CD player sales jumped through the roof in every city where a significant number of stations advertised "A ClearChannel station!" during the station ID, but the killer was when listeners realized that they could just plug in their iPods and ignore the arrogant programming directors and their vomitous morning and afternoon deejays. This really started hitting the advertisers, too, when they started to make the connection that potential customers actively stayed away from just about any business that advertised through ClearChannel. These days, terrestrial radio is as much of a money suck for advertisers as weekly or daily newspapers: sure, you can buy radio advertising at about one-fifth the cost of a 30-second spot a decade ago, but the only people who will respond aren't going to be the customers you want.
Of course, I knew that CheapChannel was doomed when its stations were flooded with ads for the fake weight loss product BodySolutions in 2001. Every station was flooded with ads performed by their own deejays, promising extensive weight loss "even after eating pizza" if customers just took "one teaspoon before bedtime". The BodySolutions company was based in San Antonio, right next to ClearChannel's offices. The deejays identified themselves as being ClearChannel employees. Apparently BodySolutions was given a much lower advertising rate than other advertisers, allegedly because ClearChannel management was getting a cut from the sales in exchange for the lower rate. Yet, somehow, the Mayses claimed in court, when angry customers sued BodySolutions for selling quack medicine, that they had no idea who approved the ads and that they had absolutely no idea that it was all a scam. Uh huh. That's right: pull the other leg so I don't walk in circles.