Right of the Dial: The Rise of Clear Channel and the Fall of Commercial Radio [Paperback]

Alec Foege (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0865479968 | ISBN-13: 978-0865479968 | Publication Date: April 14, 2009 | Edition: First Edition

In Right of the Dial, Alec Foege explores how the mammoth media conglomerate Clear Channel Communications evolved from a local radio broadcasting operation, founded in 1972, into one of the biggest, most profitable, and most polarizing corporations in the country. During its heyday, critics accused Clear Channel, the fourth-largest media company in the United States and the nation’s largest owner of radio stations, of ruining American pop culture and cited it as a symbol of the evils of media monopolization, while fans hailed it as a business dynamo, a beacon of unfettered capitalism.

What’s undeniable is that as the owner at one point of more than 1,200 radio stations, 130 major concert venues and promoters, 770,000 billboards, and 41 television stations, Clear Channel dominated the entertainment world in ways that MTV and Disney could only dream of. But in the fall of 2006, after years of public criticism and flattening stock prices, Goliath finally tumbled—Clear Channel Communications, Inc., spun off its entertainment division and plotted to sell off one-third of its radio stations and all of its television concerns, and to transfer ownership of the rest of its holdings to a consortium of private equity firms. The move signaled the end of an era in media consolidation, and in Right of the Dial, Foege takes stock of the company’s successes and abuses, showing the manner in which Clear Channel reshaped America’s cultural and corporate landscape along the way.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Journalist Foege (Confusion Is Next) brings objectivity and insight to this exploration of Clear Channel, one of the most reviled media conglomerates in the U.S. The author aims for an unbiased understanding of the corporation and its practices, how it came to be and what it says about our culture. The reader follows the Clear Channel operation from its inception as a family business in the 1990s through commercial expansion, megamergers, vertical integration, antitrust lawsuits and the eventual sale of a third of its holdings. Foege cobbles together an oral history of the company, painting Clear Channel executives as businessmen first and foremost. To them, payola (accepting financial gifts in exchange for airplay) and voice tracking (phoning in local broadcasts from a centralized location) just made sense for the bottom line. The result has been the homogenization of radio—a phenomenon that has produced one, single, all-too-familiar classic rock station that Foege characterizes as a mild condition of being. Like a toothache or a strained knee. While many are quick to call this evil, media monopolies of this kind have been sanctioned by the government through deregulation. Foege's history is at its best while unpacking this confrontation of American values between art and commerce. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

For Ronald Reagan, the Soviet Union was “the evil empire,” but for music mavens, Clear Channel, the biggest radio-station owner in history, is the real deal. Its mastermind, Lyle Mays, made himself and his closest associates rich by gutting news, local content, and musical variety and laying off thousands at the stations it devoured. Mays’ golden-goose idea was that radio is essentially for advertising; programming is just, as another company higher-up put it, the “shit” between commercials. Besides 1,200 radio stations, the company sucked up billboards, TV outlets, and pop-concert venues and promoters (ticket prices soared). Nobody of consequence, certainly not the Clinton–Bush II FCC, seemed to object. Clear Channel’s glory days are gone because the Internet has made entertainment much more available and big advertising more avoidable, but its blighting effects on broadcasting continue. Mays and his two sons and successors wouldn’t talk to Foege, and this fascinating, appalling business history suffers accordingly, for the question of how the Mayses’ getting rich served the public interest—radio’s mandate, after all—goes begging. --Ray Olson --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Faber & Faber; First Edition edition (April 14, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0865479968
• ISBN-13: 978-0865479968
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,643,573 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Alec Foege has written business articles and investigative pieces for Fortune Small Business, The New York Times, Adweek, and Mediaweek. Over the years, his work has appeared in the pages of Rolling Stone, People, New York, Spin, Playboy, and Details, among other publications. He is the author of three books, including 2008's "Right of the Dial: The Rise of Clear Channel and the Fall of Commercial Radio" (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), which was a New York Times Book Review "Editors' Choice." Mr. Foege holds a B.A. in English from Columbia College of Columbia University.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Right of the dial and on the money, June 8, 2008

By 

Ken R. Copper "radio renegade" (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Right of the Dial: The Rise of Clear Channel and the Fall of Commercial Radio (Hardcover)

Alec Foege has written a well put together monograph on the closely related demise of commercial radio and the increasing influence of the giant Clear Channel organization. Though certainly not the only culprit in the destruction of our most intimate medium, the arrogant buffoons from San Antonio were not only at the wheel of the bus that ran over radio; they also backed it over most of the people who toil (or, toiled) in the audio trenches. What used to be a fun and romantic industry is now going the way of the Pony Express and Alec Foege points an accusing finger in the right direction. You can always tell when a business is taking the slide to oblivion. The bean counters are running the show.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Right of the dial: the rise of Clear Channel and the fall of commercial radio, January 10, 2010

By 

Fletch "knowledge seeker" (SAN DIEGO, CA, US) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Right of the Dial: The Rise of Clear Channel and the Fall of Commercial Radio (Paperback)

This is an excellent look into how the signing of the "Telecommunication Act" in 1998 allowed a few company's to control the public air waves, concerts, artist and billboards. I have a first hand view of what is written in the book having been effected career and job wise by one company's ability to control a major portion of the stations and formats in major markets. This book is right on target and should be read by everyone in congress. The people have lost their local radio and the medium will never be the same. Alec Foege's book presents the nasty details and put's names behind Jacor and Clear Channels disgrace.

4.0 out of 5 stars Found it in the library: was alright..., October 24, 2011

By 

Michael P. Adams (Orlando, FL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Right of the Dial: The Rise of Clear Channel and the Fall of Commercial Radio (Hardcover)

The writing could've used less meandering, but the content was appropriate. More or less explains how radio became a field of consolidated ownership; sound-tracking from other cities; and a bit on how Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck got their radio gigs.