Clear Channel Radio - Why I Don't Trust Them or Like Them

I guess it's easy to hate on large media conglomerates like Clear Channel but after Tom Joyner's comments I really don't trust this radio group.

Joyner revealed that because he is still under contract with V103 (WVAZ) Chicago, he will continue to be paid by the Clear Channel station through the end of the year. So what was the point in dumping the TJMS from the Chicago airwaves? Why not continue to give the audience a choice between Joyner and Harvey on two Clear Channel owned stations?

So what this effectively does is keep other stations in the Chicago area from picking up the TJMS and prevents Joyner from serving the community through his "Take Someone You Love to the Doctor Day" and other community oriented events.

Now Chicago radio listeners hear Steve Harvey on two stations, V103 and WGCI every morning. No Tom, no Sybil, and no Roland Martin, all personalities that are part of the Chicago radio fabric.

Steve Harvey, as a comedian, is not focused on serving the community the way Joyner does. Now what happens when Harvey is let go somewhere down the road? Is there anyone else in radio really prepared to replace him? That's just too much power one radio company should have over the information that it provides to its listening audience.

Just one more thing I add to my list of reasons why I don't trust Clear Channel Radio, because they obviously could care less about serving the community over the public airwaves.

My list:


- In Philadelphia they have completely ruined the WDAS Unity Day community event on the parkway by making it into a two day concert at an entertainment venue.

- A small Texas based company that came out of nowhere and capitalized on the Tel Com Act of 1996, and purchased over 1,500 radio stations. (There's some sort of connection between Clinton, the Bush family and the lobbyist who pushed for hard for the change in media ownership rules.)

- They became a private company in 2008; started selling off some of their stations, and was bought out by Bain Capital, with ties to former presidential candidate Mitt Romney, near the end of the Bush Administration. They're not traded on Wall Street anymore. Sounds like they knew exactly when to cash in their chips...

- The Keith Sweat Hotel... (Uggh!)

- ...and the millions they pay Rush Limbaugh to spout his conservative and anti-Obama (anti-American) rhetoric daily to millions across America.