This is rich. Clear Channel Communications, associated with such programming wonders as Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh, was taken over by Bain Capital in 2008 had apparently has been disintegrating ever since. Clear Channel is having to lay off staff wholesale to stay afloat. However, last year they were careful to lay people off in small numbers at a time so as not to make Bain Capital look bad.
Let’s hope Mitt at least sends them a cheap Christmas card.
Right Wing Talk Radio is about done.
That generation of people who turn to AM/FM for political ‘information’ is getting older, and dying off.
Of course, I’m getting old, too.
I go back to the days when AM radio was a unifying force. When you had Top 40 stations that played Paul Simon, Linda Rondstat, Stevie Wonder, Hall and Oates, Marvin Gaye, Jose Feliciano, Peaches and Herb, James Taylor, Al Green, Cat Stevens, Santana, The Who, The Rolling Stones, The Eagles, The Village People, Melanie, Three Dog Night, Tony Orlando and Dawn, Redbone, etc.
Quite an eclectic list, no?
With pretty much all colors, many different religions and countries of origin, and even sexual orientations, covered.
And that’s only AM.
Then, you had the long-play format on FM, with some of the same, but many, many, other, great musicians.
We’d meet at the watercooler, or take a break, and either talked about TV shows, movies, or the latest hit songs and albums.
Then, the Walkman and boombox were created, everyone started listening to their own sh*t, and unity went out the window. The younger people left radio, the music on radio became more niche oriented. And that all helped Right Wing Talk Radio to proliferate. Old people could finally turn the radio on in their car, and not have to listen to the kids “jungle music.”
I hope Clear Channel goes bankrupt.
Back home in the 1960s THE DJ everyone listened to was Johnny Rabbit of KXOK-AM, St. Louis, 7 pm to midnight. He introduced the big wide world to a lot of us small town kids. Brings back memories.
“Then, the Walkman and boombox were created” I like my Mac, but detest the whole MP3 thing. IMHO downloading low-quality audio files is less satisfactory than waiting a few days and getting a high-quality CD.
Hoisted on their own petard– the irony of Bain being the bane of talk radio! Oh, the humanity!
Now, now, Mitt was only harvesting Clear Channel.
I am savoring these words from the Balloon Juice article:
“Debt-ridden Clear Channel..”
“On-air talent and behind-the-scenes employees have been shown the door or programming has been eliminated in markets that include…”
“…they are trying to pay down their monster debt with Bain Capitalâ€
Every kid in my town grew up with WJET radio, and their Top-40 countdown show each and every weekend, as well as their promotion “Cash For Kids”.
One of my favorite DJs was a guy named “Sandy Beach”, who always closed his show with:
Blue Skies
Green Lights
Peace.
Decades later, that little haiku (if you will) still brings tears to my eyes, and chills up my spine.
I’ve always suspected that Clear Channel overfunded many programs for the content. Now, Bain takes over and, lo and behold, the danged corporation wants to MAKE MONEY off the operation…
Eating their own. Gotta love it! Hopefully, the damage to our nation can be stopped nad reversed before it collapses from the abuse of Clear CHannel and their ilk.
Dan,
Bain and their ilk. Congress or Sen Warren should outlaw LBOs.
Chief,
Sorry if I was unclear. I was referring to the damage Clear Channel has done to our democracy and American values. Bain may actually be doing the country a favor (irony meter pegged).
This cartoon captures the whole “all anger, all the time” phoney conspiracy schtick of right wing media. Have read elsewhere that MSNBC’s lineup pushed past Faux News, in terms of ratings, for at least a couple weeks following the election.
Oh how I miss the days of WLS and Johnny Records Landdecker in the windy city..sigh. I got in trouble everytime I got caught listening to it. Aretha Franklin had a way of making it worth it.
I personally can’t stand the right wing radio. I get stuck in the car with talk radio several times a month and I spend the entire time trying to silence my inner anger translator. I am convinced road rage occurs because someone is stuck in a car with a republican who won’t shut up. – but with that said I hope that the right NEVER lets it die.
Please right wing rich people throw mass amounts of money into saving clear channel.
The American people need to hear how the right really feels about a majority of us. Not some “repackaged” product equal to a smiling dog before it goes for your jugular.Lil bushie jr taught me people will buy into ANYTHING and they can be fooled into thinking it is safe to trust their vote to what was in reality, a very dangerous man.
Those like akin who made insane statements we just saying what their party really feels they are not sorry for the words, but the way they were spoken. Radicals like limpbo and beck scared the American vote.If those voices go away people won’t understand how extreme the party is. I believe it is always helpful to shine a light on cockroaches.I don’t like them or their message but I think they have become useful idiots that have proved helpful to promote a more progressive cause.
OT but I couldn’t resist:
http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc6/189609_472466592805874_327079375_n.jpg
I liken Rush and his talk radio ilk to the old time fire and brimstone radio preachers. Their sole purpose is to inflame and agitate their audience, and convert them to their way of thinking. Fear of God, Fear of Democrats, it’s the same type of riot-inducing rhetoric.
Our next door neighbor was blaring Rush from his front porch this summer, just loud enough for me to hear. I don’t listen to that crap, and what it seems to be is just amplified anger and hatred. Rush barely takes a breath during his rants; he’s screaming the entire time. No wonder people are so hateful.
If you take in garbage all day long, you become garbage.
Whether we like it or not, Rush is the voice of a lot of Republicans – and there’s the rub. We should listen to him (you can, I can’t stomach him) because he is in a sense Mr. Republican. Of course, many Republicans profess not a dislike of the guy but certainly not in lock step with all his rants. And, of course, Mitt, the other Mr. Republican has laid bare what Republicans really think and believe – much to the consternation of other Republicans who can’t forgive him for letting-the-Republican-cat-out-of-the-bag.
Listen to Rush: Listen to Mitt. They spell out the real Republican platform.
…what it seems to be is just amplified anger and hatred. Rush barely takes a breath during his rants; he’s screaming the entire time. No wonder people are so hateful….If you take in garbage all day long, you become garbage.
I see zombies walking around all the time, people who have been programmed with this stuff. Some are my neighbors, some are in my family, some are just the guy passing by on the street. They’re just the carriers of this hate-virus. The source, the stochastic terrorist is the Limbaughs, the Becks, the Hannitys. These domestic terrorists never know – unless something big results from their spewing – how many people they harm, both directly (the zombie), and all the people the zombie tries to harm or infect.
There are the thousands of minor ways this boatload of hate destroys. I read about gun and crime statistics going up in my old home town, as its economy is gutted out, modern Republican style. This country is shredding itself, all at the hands of these zombies and the people who control them.
Just ask to see the weather channel if you are in a place showing Faux. It is a neutral request, and surely you have a relative you’re concerned for in a place they’ll report on. Gets past Billo without political discussion.
I have told a friend that I have to leave because he sounds like he has been listening to talk radio again. He is not like that around me so much now.
As far as CC’s debt to Bain, that is an advisement/consulting fee they owe for all the help they have been giien at making themselves profitable. If CC blows up, so much the better. You know they won’t ask for a bailout, as that would be Socialist, which is just so wrong and un-Uhmurkun.
Yes, moonbat. I think the concept of stochastic terrorism deserves a lot more attention and it’s pretty clear who the drivers are.
I had thought along the line before. I probably got the idea from watching “The Fisher King”.