Stern And The FCC

[Froderik]

Antbody been paying attention to this? It's coming down to Howard vs. the Christian Right. They're lobbying the FCC to try to get him canceled. A bunch of old ladies and idiots stuffing envelopes. Same old moral majority kind of crap.  :evil:

[Cayo Hueso]

yeah, even Rush is coming to Howard's defense on this one.  I don't think Howard's even all that funny anymore, but COME ON....if you don't like what he's saying CHANGE THE FUCKING CHANNEL!!  When will people get that free speech means free for EVERYONE, not just the people who promote the religious right agenda?  STOP TELLING ME HOW TO LIVE MY LIFE, WHAT TO LISTEN TO, WHAT I CAN OR CANNOT PUT INTO MY BODY, WHAT TO WATCH, WHAT TO READ..ETC. ETC. ETC.

You can lead a camel to water but you can't make it stink (any more than it already does)
-- Job

[Cayo Hueso]

I was driving out to pick up my daughter tonight, listening to the radio.  It was a beautiful night.  I was headed out to the beach, watched the moonrise, music was great...all was right with the world for a few short moments.  Pink Floyd's "Money" was playing on 107.3 (Tampa Bay).  I was singing along with it, then when it gets to: 'Money, it's a hit.  Don't give me that do good good bullshit'....they bleeped out shit.  :eek:  I couldn't believe it.  12:30 in the morning on a Friday night (yes, I see the contradiction in terms), they've NEVER bleeped out anything until now that I know of and all of a sudden shit is taken out of the song.  Have we really come to this point???  I just think it's stupid beyond belief.  What the hell is happening to the world?

--quote

[Antigen]

CC has long been showing signs of dementia. They're the ones who pulled the Dixie Chix and a long list of songs off their playlists when Dübya decided to start promoting war.

So now, we've got Tommy Chong in a cage and radio ppl all over the country shaking in thier boots while Kenny Boy, John Poindexter and Henry Kissenger dine out on their fame. I can only hope that maybe this will wake some people up to the nature and character of the people we've got running the show.

Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its
best state is but a necessary evil ---in its worst state an
intolerable one; for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same
miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without
government, our calamities is heightened by reflecting that we
furnish the means by which we suffer!


http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0679433147/circlofmiamithem' target='_new'>Thomas Paine, Common Sense

[RTP2003]

Clear Channel has sucked for a long time now. They not only are kissing the asses of the religious right, etc. with their current round of censorship, but for years now have been manipulating artists to play at venues they have a major stake in, and if the artists refuse and play another venue, Clear Channel will punish them with reduced or no airplay.  Combine these practices with the fact that they are the main perps behind the nationwide homogenization and generification of radio stations nationwide, and you will see why I am so disgusted with Clear Channel.  Radio used to have a local or regional flavor, independent programming directors, and DJs who were knowledgeable about music.  No more.
Deregulation in the 80s started the trend, and Clear Channel carried it out to its logical conclusion.  Corporate radio sucks.  You have essentially the same stations in every market in the country. I remember Rock and Roll radio, before playlists became so rigid and bland, repetitive and boring.  Clear Channel and their ilk have destroyed what was once a fine American institution.  RIP Rock and Roll radio.

[Antigen]

On 2004-03-13 13:00:00, RTP2003 wrote:

Deregulation in the 80s started the trend, and Clear Channel carried it out to its logical conclusion.

I think selective deregulation is a more accurate term for what has happened. First, we gave over control of our airwaves to the Federal government. Then we grew a broadcast industry in that socialized environment. Then the biggest, baddest players--those who have risen up through the ranks because they're most adept at operating in that kind of environment (think Sr. Staff here)--hired a bunch of lobbyists to eliminate just those regulations that they don't like.

At roughly the same time as this was really heating up in the late `80's, the FCC went on a smash and burn rampage against unlicensed micro stations. If you can't support a $10k/yr licensing dependency while starting up in competition with the people who essentially write the licensing policies, then you can't run your $200 transmitter.

I think the time is coming pretty soon here when people will just quit taking the Federal government so seriously. You can only bust so many microstations in a day. And you can build a transmitter for under $200.

In all life one should comfort the afflicted, but verily, also, one should afflict the comfortable, and especially when they are comfortably, contentedly, even happily wrong

--John Kenneth Galbraith

[RTP2003]

I live in a college town so I've heard a lot of pirate stations over the years. Uncle Charlie (FCC) actually came in with guns drawn when they raided one house that was broadcasting pirate signals.  What was funny was another group of people who were also doing pirate radio started having "raid drills" and planning what they were going to do in the event one happened.  They were so jealous of the other station and I would hear them pine away for hours about how they wanted to get raided too. They were more left-wing politically oriented than the station that did get shut down (who just wanted to play stupid rock and roll) and they thought that they would "help the cause" by getting raided.  Eventually, I think they lost interest, as did most of their audience.  We just wanted to hear stupid rock and roll, not political diatribes.

[Antigen]

So why do you think they went after the one and not the other? My guess is that it had more to do with the power of influence over the audience than the power of the transmitter.

Anyway, have you heard the news that Stern is negotiating a contract w/ Serius? I wonder how that will all pan out. Sooner or later, some wise ass will probably start bootlegging the signal. Serius might not even object, either, as the signal would have to be crap compared to what the subscribers get, so it would amount to free advertising to those who can afford it and a vote of confidence from those who can't.

From the bottom of any large organization looking up through the ranks, human greed and stupidity look a lot like a conspiracy.
--S. Gilbert

[Froderik]

Eventually, I think they lost interest, as did most of their audience. We just wanted to hear stupid rock and roll, not political diatribes.

 ::bwahaha2::  ::drummer::  ::rainbow::

[Antigen]

See, I don't think it's all that stupid.

This fits a long term pattern going back as far as the "heathens to the north" have been able to mark down a record of it.

April Fools Day came about as a result of the Holy Roman Catholic Church punishing w/o mercy anyone foolish enough to celebrate the new year on the first day of Spring. These celebrations usually involved feasting, dancing, singing and general merrymaking, 2nd only to that seen on Midsummer Night.

Twice, at Wounded Knee, the US Federal Government violently put down "rebellions". The first one involved dancing and singing, the second was more about trying to evict the Feds from the reservation (so they could go back to dancing and singing).

Now we have the RAVE Act and strict enforcement against any kind of unauthorized ... dancing and singing or even unauthorized rebroadcast of same.

I don't know what it is about the tired old men who we've selected as kinds, but they sure as hell don't like dancing and singing!

So.....

Let's Have a SONG!!

EVERCLEAR ~ BLACKJACK LYRICS

Scary john gets his strong arm on
He can break me and make me
Happy with his blackjack

Scary john has the heavy hand on
He smiles without his eyes
Nice and easy with his blackjack

Don?t tell me that
You didn?t see this coming down

Please don?t say that this
Isn?t what you wanted now

Scary john gets his strong arm on
He can break me and make me
Happy with his blackjack

Scary john
Always knows what?s goin on
He is everywhere
Happy with his blackjack

Please don?t tell me that
You didn?t see this coming down
Please don?t say that this
Isn?t what you wanted now

This is your american dream
Everything is simple in the
White and the black
You will never need to see the grey anymore
You will never have to be afraid
When you are happy with the blackjack

I hope you are happy with the blackjack

Scary john
He wants to kill my song
He doesn?t like the fact
I?m not happy with the blackjack

I don?t want to hear the words
He has to say

Please don?t tell me that
You didn?t see this coming

Please don?t tell me
That this isn?t what you asked for

Be careful what you ask for

This is your american dream
Everthing is simple in the
White and the black
You will never need to see the grey anymore
You will never have to be afraid
When you are happy with the blackjack

I hope you are happy with the blackjack

This is your american dream

Wherever the standard of freedom and Independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will [America's] heart, her benedictions and her prayers be. But she goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own.

--John Quincy Adams, Speech to the U.S. House of Representatives [July 4, 1821]

[Froderik]

See, I don't think it's all that stupid.

Well that's cool. But there's nothing wrong with stupid...

Case in point? The Ramones:  :wstupid:

There's no stoppin' the cretins from hoppin'...gotta keep it beatin' for all the hoppin' cretins..

[Anonymous]

And one of Nirvana's best songs....'Dumb'

[Anonymous]

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0504044oprah4.html

[Deborah]

Here's a wonderful little tune you won't be hearing on Clear Channel

http://civilliberty.about.com/b/a/087284.htm
May 21, 2004
I Bet You Won't Hear THIS Song On The Radio!
Former Monty Python member Eric Idle has just produced a brand new song. In his own words:

"Here?s a little song I wrote the other day while I was out duck hunting with a judge? It?s a new song, it?s dedicated to the FCC and if they broadcast it, it will cost a quarter of a million dollars."

It's a hilarious commentary on the recent events by our puritanical congress, the FCC, and corporations like Clear Channel. Give it a listen by clicking here

(Note: If you are at work, be warned that some of the lyrics could offend the more narrow minded folks...)