w 0e W W -~ --w---. a e . jT. The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, November 29, 2006 Wednesday, November 29, 2006 - The Michigan Daily \ n dM n r \ Why the recent buyout of Clear Channel will have lasting effects on American culture TALKING POINTS Three things you can talk about this week: 1. Metro Detroit road scholars 2. String theory 3. Rapid growth QUOTES OF THE WEEK We believe it is a more accurate reflection of what is happening there, and there was a fair amount of reaction to the decision today ... even though a number of news organizations have already made a similar call. - NBC news anchor BRIAN WILLIAMS, on the network's decision Monday to the refer to the violence in Iraq as civil war. "It sounds to me like excessive force was used." - New York City Mayor MICHAEL BLOOMBERG in a press conference Monday, referring to the 50 shots the NYC police fired at a 23-year-old man outside of a Queens nightclub last weekend, as reported yesterday by the New York Times. "This is the first time we've rejected a program because we thought it was not tasteful." - A spokesperson for the owner of several Fox affiliates on their recent decision not to air a planned airing of a mock O.J. Simpson confession. I you've lived in or visited the Unit- At this point, Cle ed States in the past 30 years, you've chasing as many m' encountered it: Britney Spears has built It even began to buy her career with the help of it, your local and opened an ent television news broadcaster may be run by advertising (fromb it and even your wardrobe may have been ments ontaxis). As i influenced by it. While this may sound like Channel owns 9 per the riddle your parents e-mailed you that 98 in the United States percentof all Harvard graduates can't solve, tions in Ann Arbor the truth is much more compelling. in the state of Mich "It" is actually one ofthe largestconglom- 18 percent of radio 1 erates in the world: Clear Channel Commu- the United States. I nications. But after its recently-announced and digital billboar merger with the equity group Thomas H. prominent areas of Lee Partner, L.P. and Bain Capital Part- Times Square and t ners, LLC, Clear Channel's influence on and walk). dominance of American media might get a little weaker. Merging con- In a Nov. 16 announcement, Clear Chan- glomerates nel said it would accept the merger with the equity groups for a little more than $26 Clear Channel billion (including the payment of nearly $8 will certainly not billion of debt the communications giant lose any power had totaled). In addition, Clear Channel with this merger. announced its plans to sell 448 of its near In fact, there's 1,500 radio stations as well as its entire a strong chance television station group (totally more than it will become a 40 separate stations). But this enormous more prevalent clearance of networks will be unable to stop and dominating what many feel is a malignant monopoly on fixture in Ameri- American media and pop culture. can media. The ar Channel began pur- edia outlets as possible. out television networks tire branch of outdoor billboards to advertise- t currently stands, Clear cent of all radio stations s - with four radio sta- alone and a total of 17 igan. This accounts for broadcasting revenue in It also owns traditional ds in some of the most f the nation (including he Atlantic City Board- Clear Channelc cent of all radio the United Stat four radio stati Arbor alone an state of Michig And don't be fooled by the sale of 448 radio stations or Clear Channel's television broadcast group. Not only will those radio frequencies hardly make a dent in the com- pany's immensely thick shell of stations, but none of them are within the top 100 mar- kets in the nation. So while it may appear that the company is relinquishing some of their tremendous power with this merger, it's clear that Clear Channel is losing little influence. Cultural dictators The real reason that Clear Channel has drawn so much attention since its blanket cleanup of media net- works is because of its ability to dictate and control Ameri- can pop culture and thought. It's nearly owns 9 per- impossible to book a show ina major venue stations in (say, The Palace of es - with Auburn Hills) with- out going through ons in Ann Clear Channel. And as many believe, d 17 in the if Clear Channel doesn't agree with a an. group's attitude, per- ception or beliefs, it won't allow the group to play a venue. While Clear Chan- cry from many never ceased. Clear Channel denied these claims, saying, "Clear Channel Radio does not issue mandates with regard to individual artists or songs ... Clear Chan- nel radio stations play these songs or artists more times than any other radio company." A similar situation occurred after Dixie Chicks' front woman Natalie Maines made anti-Bush statements. But, in response, Clear Channel said, "some Clear Chan- nel radio stations increased airplay of the group's music in the weeks after Natalie Maines made her comments; other Clear Channel radio stations temporarily sus- pended airplay." In both cases, the corpora- tion does not accept responsibility for the lack of play, and whether or not the public outcry was warranted, the fear is that Clear Channel actually has the ability to limit these songs if it so chooses. And this is why Clear Channel is so influ- ential in American culture. If it doesn't want the public listening to specific music, it has the ability to limit its airtime (even though they never have). Similarly, it can attempt to dictate fashion and commerce through their immense and strategically placed billboards and advertisements. Thousands of people commute through Times Square daily, and a good number of them are influ- enced by what they see on the billboards overhead. If Clear Channel wanted people to wear Abercrombie and Fitch, it could do their share. Maybe that's the bigger problem though - the disturbing influence the mass media has over the American public. But that's larger debate. The fact of the matter is, it does. And with Clear Channel's influence and constant appearance in American media, it has become one of the most impor- tant and powerful companies in the world. The sale of 448 small network radio stations won't change anything for Clear Channel. Neither will the sale of its television group. This merger will do nothing but strengthen Clear Channel and make it an even more prominent.fixture inAmerican society. And three things you can't: 1. The First daughters 2. Neandertal and homosapien procreation 3. Kingdom Come YOUTUBE VIDEO THE WEEK WEEK Watching how cocaine is made The stunningly candid video, set in Columbia, documents how cocaine is made step-by-step. From the addition of everything from acid to gasoline (helpfully annotat- ed with subtitles), each step in the process makes the video more and more unbearable to watch. The most revealing scene? A young man, after he shows off his product, is asked if he takes drugs. The kid laughs. "The guerillas don't allow it," he says. See thefull video at http://www. youtube.com/login?next url=/wat ch%3Feurl%3D%26v%3DlZHUmy rwOXI. PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY SHUBRA OH RI/Daily BY TH E NUMBERS The history of an empire Founded in 1972, Clear Channel bought its first radio station in San Antonio, Texas. At that point, it continued to buy a number of different stations but were restricted by the Communications Act of 1934. Under the Act, Clear Channel wasn't allowed to own more than two stations in any given market. But this ability to control the monopoliza- tion of American media was almost com- pletely diminished six decades later, when the Telecommunications Act of 1996 passed - removing nearly all restrictions placed on Clear Channel and other companies con- cerning the ownership of said stations. two firms it will merging with, Bain Capital Partner, LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners. L.P., own about 200 companies worldwide. Bain Capital has claims, there have b investments in companies like AMC Enter- es that point to thi tainment and Burger King. Clear Channel Clear Channel veh will most likely buy advertising space at after Sept. 11, it was movie theaters, and may implement their nel radio networks ads at the fast food chain as well. Needless by the group Rag to say, Clear Channel is not losing many and neglecting to p opportunities to build upon their influence. words like "plane Thomas H. Lee Partners owns a similar started to circulate amount of real estate and manages a num- banned these songs ber of worldwide corporations. effort to show their nel often denies these een a number of instanc- s situation (all of which ;emently denies). Shortly s noted that Clear Chan- weren't playing songs e Against the Machine lay songs that included " or "crash." Rumors that Clear Channel had from its networks in an patriotism. But the out- Percentage of worldwide fossil fuel emissions in the 1990s that were the result of the U.S. transportation sector, mostly passenger vehicles. Percentage of the fossil fuel emissions that the were the result of the United States in total. Percentage the United States makes up of the world's population. Figures taken fror ytie se m and the Natural esrese,,Defee eCo~uc ebsite. TREND OF THE WEEK Members of the Sheen/Estevez clan making historical biopics RANDOM WIKIPEDIA ARTICLE OF THE WEEK Death Death is the end of life, the full cessation of vital functions in a bio- logical organism. It is generally considered a permanent state in the field of biology, and all living things eventually die, whether through natural causes such as disease, or unnatural ones such as accident. Historically, attempts to define the exact moment of death have been problematic. Death was once defined as the cessation of heart- beat (cardiac arrest) and of breathing, but the development of CPR and prompt defibrillation posed a challenge, rendering the previous definition inadequate. This earlier definition of death is now called "clinical death", and even after it occurs, breathing and heartbeat may be restarted in some cases. Events which were causally linked to death in the past are now prevented from having an effect; even without a functioning heart and lungs, a person can be sustained with life support devices. In addition to such extremes, there are a growing number of people who would quickly die if their organ transplants or artificial pacemakers failed. See thefullarticle at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death.