Customer Reviews

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

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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.

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.

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.

I found the author most interested in how Clear Channel, according to him, made life more difficult for musicians, and musical acts. I was more interested in their radio efforts and results. We learned what has been surmised..........just because you can glean huge dollars from Wall Street doesn't make you an instant success in radio. And many of the Clear Channel ideas just didn't work in Burlington, IA....Mankato, MN and Minot, ND. The author seemed quite thorough in gathering his historical facts, and interviews with early players in the Clear Channel company. If you enjoy books about businesses, and particuarly the media, this is a good read.

Having been in the Radio economy since 1984, this book brings back some memories of the medium. I was impressed with the interviews Foege was able to secure for the book, but there was so much to the story left untold.

What bothered me the most was the author's commentary. It was disjointed and not supported by the story he told. So many of the evil things that Clear Channel did in the mid to late 90's were driven by Randy Michaels, the book didn't spend nearly the time it should have on him or that part of CC's history. Instead the reader gets 3-5 chapters of slams at the Mays brothers, and nothing to really support the perspective, except that he does like programming on terrestrial radio these days.

I was also hoping to learn more about the last few years and the push into privatization, and I found very little substance in that chapter either.

This will likely be the only non "company sanctioned" book on Clear Channel. As much as I was expecting the author to clean Cheap Channel's clock, I walked away from this read mostly disappointed. Skip the first chapter and perhaps the last, and radio geeks should enjoy it.

This book is full of bad grammar, redundant adjectives, sentences that contradict one another, trivial detail that add nothing to the points being made; in other words, a conscientious editor's nightmare. At least it would have been, had a conscientious editor actually been assigned to this mess. And of course this juvenile tome just happens to concern a subject matter that needs to be exposed to the public.
Where do these new "authors" go to learn the ways of their craft? The local comic book store?