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(EW)(NJ-FRIDAY-MORNING-QUARTERBACK) Clear Channel's Top Radio Programming Executive Discusses Radio's Future In Exclusive FMQB Cover Story Interview

Business Editors/Entertainment Writers

Clear Channel Communications, a leader in the radio, outdoor, and live entertainment industries, plans to create customizable, self-targeted online variations of its over the-air radio stations to unlock the Internet company imbedded in its vast media empire.

Clear Channel Radio Senior VP Tom Owens candidly discusses this and other subjects in an exclusive cover story interview with Executive Editor Paul Heine in the current issue of radio industry trade Friday Morning Quarterback (www.fmqb.com).

"Whether they prefer one air personality to another, dislike certain music selections, or have more interest in entertainment news than traffic information, our goal is to provide a product designed to service such highly individualized needs," Owens said about re-purposing, online, the content of the company's 1,200 U.S. radio stations.

Employing digital interconnectivity, CCU now has 90 of its station air personalities recording localized shows that air on sister stations in other markets. "Voicetracking" shows to distant cities will grow, Owens says, as the company gets its entire group wired. "One of the most important new skills for (radio) programmers to master is the ability to properly direct talent long distance," he says.

Addressing critics who say this and other post-consolidation practices have homogenized the medium, Owens says CCU is simply exploiting new technologies to continue the age-old radio tradition of adopting winning practices from other markets.

Clear Channel also has aggressive plans to exploit its recent acquisition of SFX, the largest producer of live entertainment in the U.S. Beyond basic cross-marketing strategies, Clear Channel-owned stations now benefit from exclusive access to artists, such as the Backstreet Boys, when they book their tours at SFX-owned venues.

National radio promotions allow SFX to offer a cumulative audience reach to top acts that rivals that of Viacom's MTV. Additionally, CCU monetizes the 47% of SFX's annual ticket inventory that goes unsold, by packaging them in advertising deals for its radio clients.

"We've just begun to realize the positive financial implications of consolidation," Owens says. To read the entire interview, visit http://www.fmqb.com/fmqb/upfront/coverf.html. FMQB reports on programming trends, industry and music news, and provides music airplay data to thousands of radio stations, via format-specific weekly publications and a free online edition (www.fmqb.com).

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KEYWORD: NEW JERSEY

INDUSTRY KEYWORD: ENTERTAINMENT MUSIC TELEVISION/RADIO

Radio station gets warning over crude remarks
WebPosted Thu Aug 31 15:02:04 2000
OTTAWA - The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council ruled on Thursday that the term "retard" is discriminatory when it refers to handicapped people, but not when it's used in the same way as "jerk" or "creep."

The Council was looking into two complaints against the Howard Stern Show. The morning radio program airs daily on a Toronto radio station, Q107.

LINKS: Read the Council's reports

The self-regulatory body said Q107 should have edited out remarks Stern made saying that a "retarded home" will lower nearby property values and that "retarded " people hurt animals and are more likely to commit rape.
The Council said it has "no hesitation in concluding that Stern and his cohorts has made fun of the protected group." In this case, mentally handicapped people.

According to the report, Q107 has, for the most part, done a good job editing content from Stern's show that would breach Canadian broadcast standards. But in this case it failed in its duty.

The second complaint was about a remark Stern made where he said he was "King of Retards" and that most "retards" listen to his show.

On this one the council ruled that comments were not abusive or discriminatory. It said the usage of the word 'retard' in this case is even further removed from a breach of the Code because it is not even conveying the meaning of mental deficiency .

The word is sometimes used interchangeably with such other insults as jerk, idiot or creep.

While the Council deplores the crude, offensive, infantile and irresponsible terminology... the Council must conclude that the only issue raised in this case is one of taste, something the Council has always held should be left for listeners to decide via the on/off switch."

The Broadcast Standards Council was created by private Canadian broadcasters and as such self-regulates the industry. It does not have the power to punish broadcasters who disobey its orders. Its only recourse is to kick the station out of the Council.