The fact is that underneath its quirky, bohemian image, NPR - which by its own estimation is the biggest producer of news, information and cultural programming in radio - subtly has evolved into something that in many ways resembles a well-run, aggressively entrepreneurial company. Granted, if NPR, which employs about 600 people in the Washington area, were a private company, it would be a fairly humble player in the media business. The network and its sister organization, the NPR Foundation, together are projected to generate about $144 million in revenue this fiscal year - spare change compared to the $4 billion garnered annually by Clear Channel, commercial radio's big Kahuna.

If you have never heard of a San Antonio company called Clear Channel Communications, it's because you aren't listening. From its unlikely nerve center in south-central Texas, this once modest, family-run owner of a handful of radio and television stations has exploded into a media giant, dominating radio like no single entity ever has before. Unleashed by government deregulation in 1996, founder Lowry Mays shelled out billions for properties like Jacor Communications and Tom Hicks's AMFM, formerly the biggest radio conglomerate in the country. Today one of every ten commercial radio stations in the United States belongs to Clear Channel-including six stations in Dallas-Fort Worth, eight stations in Houston, seven stations in San Antonio, six stations in Austin, six in El Paso-a total of more than 1,200 domestic channels in some 250 markets. Its closest rival, Cumulus Broadcasting, has 240 stations.....

All of this may sound like harmless, run-of-the-mill media giantism in the early twenty-first century. Unfortunately it's not, especially the way the Mays family-Lowry and his sons, Mark and Randall, the company's iron triangle-plays the game. In fact, they give new meaning to the phrase "control of the airwaves." Their size and aggressiveness have given them unprecedented say not only over what you hear on the radio all over the country but in how music is sold, promoted, and performed. As the big guys on the block-who dictate programming at 1,200 stations they are more responsible than anyone else for the cookie-cutter state of radio, where more and more stations sound the same, no matter where you go.

A controversial leader has left Pacifica Radio, a move that some see as a step toward bringing calm to the chaos surrounding the left-leaning radio network.

Bessie Wash resigned as executive director of Washington, D.C.'s Pacifica yesterday, said board chairman Robert Farrell. But an outside group, Savepacifica.net, said Farrell fired Wash. Wash was unavailable for comment yesterday.

Wash and other leaders of Pacifica, the parent of Berkeley's liberal KPFA-FM, have been at the center of conflicts with member stations, staff and outspoken listeners over programming, the firing of employees, and the network's future. (see story link for more)

"The basis and form of media regulation is in dire need of being reinitialized," the FCC Chairman said at a press conference this morning. In announcing that the commission is planning a "full and comprehensive" examination of the mass-media marketplace and the Telecom Act, it sounded as though Powell may be ready to redraw some of the FCC's mass-media rules. "Much of the regulatory structure and analytical foundations that exist today were built around TV and radio as it existed in the golden age," he said. "The current rules, standards and principles do not take any account of very dramatic changes in the media landscape." Powell also noted that the FCC needs to re-evaluate its diversity policies: "Diversity does remain a vital objective, but the instruments for preserving it have to be reconsidered."

October 19, 2001: Pacifica Foundation officers have told KPFA management that the organization is out of money, having spent over two million dollars over the past three years on corporate law firms, security services, and public relations agencies. KPFA now has over $100,000 in unpaid and overdue bills, including $9,400 to PG&E for electricity. The station may go off the air if the PG&E bill is not paid by Monday, Oct. 22. Pacifica has also ordered KPFA to undertake an immediate on-air fundraising drive, and has threatened to send in scab broadcasters to do on-air fundraising should KPFA staff refuse. AN EMERGENCY FUND RAISING CAMPAIGN HAS BEEN UNDERTAKEN BY FRIENDS OF FREE SPEECH RADIO TO KEEP KPFA ON THE AIR, AND PAY ITS MOST URGENT BILLS! (see story link for more)

The FCC's Office of Plans and Policy has announced a roundtable discussion for 10/29 on the Commission's ownership policies. The all-afternoon gab-fest will be introduced by Chairman Michael Powell. The panels on competition, diversity and localism will feature mostly economists and academic types.

National religious organization Calvary Chapel has been very busy filing applications for low power FMs. Now the National Lawyers Guild Center on Democratic Communications, the Microradio Implementation Project and the Prometheus Radio Project have been just as busy objecting to them. At least 32 proposed Calvary Chapel FMs drew informal objections.

The Guild's (et al) two-part objection claims that Calvary's local licensees are not substantially different from the national organization, and have not demonstrated that in each case the broadcasts will have "a distinct local presence and mission." They note that in most of the Calvary applications, a boilerplate description of local broadcast intent is used. "Despite these generalities," they write, "there is no mention of anything 'distinctly local' in this statement of educational purpose. The applicant does nothing to distinguish its 'distinct local purpose' from that of the national Calvary Chapel, nor does it satisfactorily explain how it intends to distinguish its programming from that of the national Calvary Chapel or the Calvary Satellite Network."

Controversial Rev. Rick Strawcutter, nationally known for battling the federal government over the pirate radio station he runs from his church in Adrian, MI (between Toledo and Detroit) was pulled off the air yesterday (10/7) by Judge Gerald Rosen of the US District Court in Detroit. "Radio Free Lenawee" (Lenawee county) was broadcast on 99.3 mHz from a small room inside the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Marshals seized radio equipment including amplifiers and part of a satellite receiver. The judge would not allow marshals the church's 100-foot tower and antenna, but warned that it would be taken down if transmissions were attempted before the case is settled. Marshals served Strawcutter papers on 10/4 that ordered the station to stop operations. Strawcutter has operated the station without a license since '96.

visit the story link to read the complete commentary about the recent push to repeal FCC regulations written by mediachannel.org's Danny Schechter

Now that Operation "Infinite Justice" is underway, am I the only one wondering who coined that phrase? (Apparently the name of the U.S. military buildup has been changed to "Operation Enduring Freedom" to avoid offending Muslims.) It reminds me of the name change that a small radio company called Hemisphere Broadcasting underwent some years back when it renamed itself Infinity Broadcasting, a term emblematic of its ambition. Infinity was later bought by CBS, which was, in turn, acquired by Viacom. On September 7, four days before the hell we are now coping with erupted, Infinity's Mel Karmazin and company were deep into what might be called "Operation Infinite Just-Us." Their lawyers and counterparts in other media companies were battling in a Washington, D.C. appeals court to overturn rules limiting how many TV stations they can own. For 10 years now, regulations on broadcasters have been relaxed to their benefit. Now, the Viacomese and their allies want to scuttle the rest, demanding an end to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules that limit any one company from reaching more than 35 percent of the country or from owning a TV station in an area where they own a cable company.

In a cleverly worded brief, this preemptive strike for more media consolidation is wrapped in language defending diversity and free competition. According to experts cited by the Los Angeles Times, if the media moguls get what they want, only a dozen or so companies will own most U.S. stations, giving them even more control over the marketplace of ideas than they already have.

iraradio.com, the web site which archives all Radio Free Eireann broadcasts, has been taken down because the web service provider was threatened with seizure of their assets if they continued to host "terrorist" radio programs. Travis E. Towle, the Founder and CEO of Cosmic Entertainment Company, which put up IRARADIO.COM, was told by their internet service provider, Hypervine, that they had been "strongly advised" to take the web site down.

A Hypervine representative read Mr. Towle a statement that, under an Executive Order recently signed by President Bush, the newly created Office of Homeland Security can seize all assets "without any notice and/or any real un-reasonable evidence of any company or person that helps, supports, or does anything that can be called or labeled terrorism or is found to be connected to terrorism in any way or means possible." Hypervine is a subsidiary of the New York based Skynet.

These threats have also caused Cosmic Entertainment to close the web sites archiving two other WBAI radio programs, "Our Americas" and "Grandpa Al Lewis Live." "Our Americas," hosted by Mario Murillo, is an acclaimed news magazine covering Latin America. "Grandpa Al Lewis Live" features commentary by the actor and political activist who starred in "The Munsters" and "Car 54 Where Are You."

Radio Free Eireann, which broadcasts Saturday afternoons at 1:30 p.m.on WBAI 99.5 FM has covered the conflict in Northern Ireland for over twenty years. Guests have included Bernadette Sands, the sister of IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands; Rauri O'Bradaigh, the President of Republican Sinn Fein; Sinn Fein chief negotiator Martin McGuinness and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern.

update: it seems that this (mostly) is not a hoax. www.iraradio.org and www.allewislive.com have been taken down, although www.ouramericas.org is still running with no notice of this event.