Susan here, the person who began this group, simply by posting my email address on the Green 960 blog that dealt with the very unpopular schedule changes, a blog that was filled with disaffected Hartmann fans, like me. I am delighted that we have our own blog now and can stay away from the 960 blog and the lunatic fringe that frequents it.
Now, I intend posting a partial report on very important commentary on corporate media power that I received from Rus,a founding group member:
"Regardless of how we feel about Clear Channel, which owns Green 960, or John Scott, the station’s program manager, we do not have the power to hire and fire. We don't even have a vote. So they will do whatever the hell they want to do and there's not a lot we have to say that will fall on sympathetic ears. Money (and political ideology) talks. There's more to this than meets the eye. Clear channel is run by some extreme right wingers: The Mays family who owns CC are close friends of and major fundraisers for both former Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.
According to Wikipedia, by the mid-90s, Clear Channel Communications owned 43 radio and 16 television stations. After the Telecommunications Act of 1996 significantly deregulated the broadcast industry, Mays and Clear Channel purchased 49 radio stations, and within eight years, with an influx of capital investment from the private sources, Clear Channel had accumulated ownership of over 1200 radio stations and 41 television stations in the United States.
Given the above, we may, eventually, want to take the effort to a higher level: Start a grass roots effort to repeal the Telecommunications Act and enforce antitrust laws. In my humble opinion, we should break up these huge monopolies and get back local control. It's really the only way; petitions, meetings and other expressions of grievance will get heard." Rus
