Travel cross-country, and you'll hear a familiar blend of news, sports, music and talk up and down the radio dial.
"Traffic and weather together"... "The best variety, the new MIX" ..."Today's best music on KISS" ... "More than just the headlines" ... "Be the 25th caller, just listen and win" ...
Even the voices could be identical: DJs do shows simultaneously in Cincinnati, Des Moines, Rochester, Louisville, Toledo and Charleston. News reporters broadcast in multiple cities at the same time. The same contest prize offered here is up for grabs in dozens of other cities, too.
Radio has changed radically from a decade ago, when federal law limited companies to one AM-FM combination in each city, and each had a distinctive sound. Today, companies can own eight stations in any city, and corporate radio is gobbling up America's airwaves. While the total number of U.S. radio stations has grown, one of every five station owners has disappeared since the 1996 Telecommunications Act.
Now, Clear Channel Communications, the largest radio company in the world, is engineering the next step. Building on a radio empire it bought from Jacor Communications here last year, Clear Channel is using digital technology to create virtual clones of stations coast to coast.