A new report documents the public harm of radio consolidation in the US. “The Telecom Act unleashed an unprecedented wave of radio mergers that left a highly consolidated national radio market and extremely consolidated local radio markets. Radio programming from the largest station groups remains focused on just a few formats–many of which overlap with each other, enhancing the homogenization of the airwaves.”
Tag: 12.15.06
Wired Up, Tuned Out
“Americans will spend nearly 10 hours a day watching television, surfing the Internet, reading books, newspapers and magazines and listening to music this year, the U.S. Census Bureau said on Friday.”
Major Donor Steps Up For Orlando PAC
The proposed new Orlando Performing Arts Center has taken a big step towards getting built. “The $25 million from the Orlando-based charitable group boosts the amount raised privately for the center to $45.5 million — almost halfway toward the stated goal of $100 million.”
TV, Where Religion Is In Decline In America
“A study released Thursday by the Parents Television Council, a frequent critic of the TV industry over such issues as broadcast indecency, found that prime-time shows in the last year dealt with religion half as much as the year before. When they did, the Los Angeles-based group said, religion was cast in negative light more than one-third of the time.” The study points to the Fox network as an egregious mocker of religion.
CBS Records Reborn For The Internet Age
“In contrast to the lavish excesses of the music business of the 1970s and 1980s, the new incarnation of CBS Records, to be unveiled today, will start out small. CBS plans to sign a handful of songwriters whose music will be incorporated into shows on the CBS broadcast network, the youth-oriented CW television network and the company’s fledgling digital platforms. … CBS is betting that it can exploit the weakness in the music industry by signing recording artists who are hungry for support and promotion.”
The Alagna Affair – An Eyewitness Account
Even before he got onstage at La Scala last weekend, Roberto Alagna had reason to be nervous about the evening’s pformance. “From comments he made in interviews, Alagna gave indications he was well aware about what was being said about him online as well as in the press. So when he made his entrance Sunday night, he looked wary and nervous, very much like someone who wished he were somewhere else…”
Rappers Welcome, Rebellion Strongly Discouraged
“In a country like Cuba, where the state has its hand in just about everything, it is perhaps not surprising that there is a governmental body that concerns itself with rap music. Alarmed by the number of young people in baggy clothing and ill-aligned baseball caps rapping around the island, the government created the Cuban Rap Agency four years ago to bring rebellious rhymers into the fold. … Not surprisingly, most rappers, who are by definition a rebellious lot, are averse to joining forces with the government, even as they struggle to spread their rhymes on their own.”
Copying As A Way Of Seeing Anew
“When a young Turkish artist named Serkan Ozkaya set out recently to practice his skills as a copyist — a scrivener, as he says — his goals were a little less ambitious than channeling Cervantes. He simply wanted to draw and see printed a faithful copy of all the type and pictures planned for a broadsheet page of this newspaper: this very page you are reading right now, which shows his version of the page you are reading right now, which shows his version of his version of the page you are reading right now, which. . . . Do not be alarmed: There has been no break in the space-time-newsprint continuum.”
Aussie Gov To Review Role In Theatre
The chairman of the Australia’s national arts council is backing a major review of the country’s struggling theatre industry. “Previous inquiries into the film industry, visual arts and, more recently, the nation’s orchestras [have] brought major changes.”
UK Critic To Alagna: A Real Man Would Have Stayed
Roberto Alagna should have known that you can’t win when you take on the La Scala loggionisti, says Neil Fisher. “If you venture into the lions’ den, prepare to get bitten. For all Alagna’s sad back-pedalling since the explosion — “my throat was closed off . . . I couldn’t even speak a sound” — the overriding impression is that he just couldn’t cope with the criticism. And so he did the unforgivable: he fled.”