With all this talk about broadcast indecency, such as the news that Clear Channel dropped Howard Stern from six stations today while instituting on-air decency standards, it gets me thinking about what’s really indecent, and what actually would be decent.
You know what would represent real decency on the part of the big radio giants, like Clear Channel?
It would be truly decent of them to sell off, say, half of their radio holdings. I think it would be truly decent of Clear Channel to look at every market where they have a stranglehold, owning 4, 6 or 8 stations, and decided that it was too much, and then gave away even just a few of those stations to the local community.
Deciding that near-monopoly power to homogenize the airwaves isn’t such a great thing would be really decent of them.
Bare breasts, dick jokes, and discussion about Paris Hilton’s sex life are really minor indecencies in comparison to the wholesale gutting of any creativity or public service in the radio industry that has happened since 1996.
Oh, yeah… and it would be really decent of Clear Channel to syndicate the mediageek radio show, too. Morning drive time would be fine with me.