During the George W Bush era, many of the Huffington Post types kept beating the drum that Clear Channel is an Evil White Conservative network because they were focused on the tip of the iceberg (Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck), or more likley – they just have no interest in genuine diversity.
The first version of the Clear Channel Company profile is essentially done, and available [here]. I’ve color coded the stations that probably could be called “Old White People” stations as Red and those that air Progressive Talk, music targeted at Black and Hispanic audiences, and heavy metal rock stations in Blue. Feel free to mentally put classic rock stations in whichever category you think they should be. But you can’t look at that list and come away thinking “Wow, Clear Channel is like so wanting to go back to the 1950s”.
Premiere, in addition to Rush and Beck (and recently added Hannity), also syndicates Steve Harvey, Jesse Jackson, Dr Dean Edell, and had syndicated Whoopi Goldberg (who failed miserably and left radio to join The View on TV), and recently added Randi Rhodes.
Clear Channel was also the main backer of the failed Air America Progressive Talk Network, providing most of its affiliate stations. Clear Channel also operates the Pride Channel (mostly on HD2) targeted to the “music needs of the gay community”.
When Don Imus got into trouble (over at CBS), the kneejerk reaction of the left was stunning. All of the people who never listed to his show *assumed* that because he is a white guy with a Southern drawl doing a talk show on radio and would talk from time to time with Bob Dole and John McCain, that he is a right wing Conservative and needed to be called out as a racist and silenced.
That was very ironic. Imus has a very harsh critic of the Bush administration and he brought on moderate Republicans like McCain to try to draw the Republican Party away from the Conservatives and undermine Goerge Bush. Most of his guests are the liberal New York and Washington liberal media establishment people. By putting Imus out of business, they destroyed one of their own.
Now the left wants the return of “localism” – breaking up companies like Clear Channel and returning to the days of carrot cake recipies. Be careful what you ask for – you might get it.
*** Addendum ***
Having now completed the Univision company description and seeing the ties between the Bush family, private equity firms and Mexican broadcasters – there is ample evidence tying the “Bush Family” to big corporate radio and pro-immigration forces – but the basic premise is still correct. “Conservative” is not a descriptive term that applies to George Bush or John McCain
Here is what bothers me about Clear Channel. I am an American living in Germany. When I first moved here I went to the web site of the radio station that I used to listen to Coast to Coast. To my dismay This Clear Channel station would not broadcast out of the borders of the United States. I then found that any internet radio station that was Clear Channel was the same. Do these people not know that there are Americans living in all locations of the globe? I then ran across Cumulus Internet Radio and all I can say is, Thank You for understanding that the many Americans living around the world do love to get their news from their home country. Thank You so much Cumulus Radio!!!