Industry worries aired at 'Fixing Radio' forum

By Mark Rahner
Seattle Times staff reporter

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"I think it's the most cataclysmic week in radio since the deregulation act in the '90s," said Phil Manning, program director of KNDD 107.7 FM The End.

Last week, Texas-based Clear Channel, the nation's largest radio owner, suspended syndicated shock jock Stern's show on six of its 1,200 stations — and fired Florida's "Bubba the Love Sponge" — amid the Federal Communication Commission's (FCC) efforts to drastically increase fines for on-air indecency. Clear Channel's president apologized in a congressional hearing on the issue, triggered by Jackson's Super Bowl halftime stunt.

For the largely radio-industry audience at the Experience Music Project, concerns boiled down to two things: decency and free speech, and the perils to local communities of media ownership by an increasingly small number of huge companies.

Manning admitted he was ambivalent because he was happy that "fifth-generation base humorists won't get a job again," but said he fell "51 percent on the free-speech side."

"Red flags go up when Rush Limbaugh is defending Howard Stern," moderator Mike Tierney noted.

Clear Channel representatives had been scheduled to take part in the forum but canceled. David Meinert, board president of the Pacific Northwest Chapter Recording Academy, sponsoring the forum, said in a statement: "Clear Channel pulled out because there was a scheduling conflict, and on second thought they didn't feel a frank and open discussion about localism in radio could be fair to Clear Channel."

The conglomerate, whose empire also includes concert promotions, concert venues, billboards and television stations, definitely took its lumps.

Panelist Bruce Wirth of KBCS 91.3 FM said, "What I think is really indecent is that we're focusing on this and Janet Jackson's (breast) ... We're obsessed about sex when the same stations like Clear Channel were out there rah-rahing a war that has wound up killing hundreds of American soldiers, not to mention Iraqi civilians. Now that's indecent. We're so obsessed about sex in this country, and the typical strategy of the right is to divert our attention to sex issues."

U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., a member of the Subcommittee on Communications, sent an aide to read a statement voicing her opposition to FCC changes to the amounts and types of media outlets a single company can own.

"These rule changes drastically increase the ability of a few companies to control access to information in this country. Consolidation is a genuine threat."
 
Panelists appeared uniformly in favor of re-regulation of the radio industry, noting that the consolidation has left local stations with fewer jobs for local DJs, less public-service content, less local and new music, and shorter music playlists.

In short, less diversity and less reflection of their communities.

Organizers will send policy recommendations from the event to the FCC and Congress.

XM Radio's Billy Zero drew loud applause when he remarked, "Music needs to be given back to the people."

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company