Now this is truly amusing. Clear Channel Radio Chief Executive John Hogan, in an interview with Forbes, said that there "certainly isn't much variety" in satellite radio's music programming.
The strikingly ironic comments came about from a question about satellite radio's influence on Clear Channel's programming decisions.
"Satellite actually has not influenced us at all--consumers have," Hogan said. "What you're hearing on our radio stations and hearing and seeing on our Web sites is really a reflection of consumers, and not of a competitor."
But of course, this impartial attitude quickly disappeared when John Hogan started describing what it is that satellite radio - particularly XM - offers listeners:
"We currently program ... [10] radio stations on XM, that's one of our distribution platforms. I think that the stations we're programming on XM are far and away the best programmed and the best produced," said the Clear Channel Radio chief. "I'm sort of underwhelmed by satellite. I think what they have is a lot of really interesting channel titles. But when you listen to them, there's not much there."
"There certainly isn't much variety, and what I think is really the essence of radio--that is, what is between the records--is really pretty lame."
(and cue laughter... now)
[Forbes]
I thought they only had 5 channels on XM?
Clear Channel programs the following XM channels:
XM11 Nashville!, XM21 KISS, XM22 Mix, XM24 Sunny, XM142 Fox Sports Radio, XM152 Extreme XM, XM161 WSIX, XM165 Talk Radio, XM173 WLW and XM233 ReachMD.
if it sucks then why do they program channels on xm?
WHOA! His company has dealings with XM, somebody should see if this compromises the agreement. I'm pretty sure going to the press and bashing your boss can be considered grounds for some kind of action.
Also, I love that marketting ploy somebody has figured out... By saying XM promises a lot of stations, but dissappoints with what they actually provide, he's casting doubt into potential new customers who look down the list of specialized programming.
In all seriousness, Clearchannel only puts out watered down, repetitive radio.
sorry for the "racist" comment... But I think he just called the kettle black...
They have 5. This guy is a douche bag. Satellte Radio rocks!!!
Wow... so XM is so lame that 800,000 people decided to pay for XM last Q over listening to the free terestrial channels that are "Not Lame"?
Yea... I guess that it "pretty lame" NOT!
(yea .... I am a product of the 80's)
Wikipoopia says they have 10.
C.C.U = Commercials, Commercials and Unlimited Commercials.
AM/FM Radio is absolutely deplorable. The same play lists over and over and over. Turn the channel to the next C.C.U station and the same play lists over and over and over.
The constant and numerous commercials on terrestrial radion equates to electronic spam.
As a commuter, satrad rules. i actually get entertained versus annoyed now.
Whoa. CC actually has a piece of XM. This is just silly.
This from the Asshole who put Commercials on his Music Stations on XM...
He can't be serious! KISS is the most ridiculous excuse for a HITS station EVER! Even KIIS from LA was better. They play 25 year old songs on what's supposed to be a 'current' channel. And don't get me started on Mix either. They're even worse than our local 'Star' CC station, which can't go more than a half hour without playing Phil Collins. This guy is a genuine moron.
A new definition of DENIAL. Sometimes it is best to say nothing.
Has Hogan bothered to listen to CC's XM channels? What a tool...The best programmed channels on XM? I think not. If anything, those channels have gone to shit ever since CC decided to add commercials to them, and XM's replacements for them are far superior. I don't mind WSIX, and I enjoy Fox Sports Radio, but otherwise, the rest of CC's programmed channels pretty much suck. Who knows, maybe XM can use the slander Hogan has committed as a CC rep to get out of the contract.
They play Phil Collins?!?!?! Phil Collins!
Okay CC, let's see your channels:
Nashville! - Blah.
KISS 21 - Crap. A current hits channel with a ton of 90s songs.
Mix 22 - This one is actually good.
Sunny 24 - Blech. Why just SOFT oldies?
WSIX - What's this local station doing on?
WLW - Same here. No one outside Cincinnati cares.
Talk Radio 165 - This is a pretty good talk channel. Excellent shows (except Quinn and Rose).
Extreme 152 - This is a pretty bad talk channel filled with a bunch of syndication failures that needed to be appeased by the company to shut them up, and a brokered crap show at night. The only good shows are on the weekends.
Fox Sports Radio - Good, but not as good as Sporting News. Better than ESPN.
ReachMD - Apparently I'm not allowed to listen because I'm a consumer. Great way to alienate.
National Lampoon Radio - It doesn't come with a delorian to take me back to 1976 so it stinks.
He claims that the CC-programmed channels on XM are the best, but that XM has good channel titles. What an idiot -- sure, if you like FM-style radio, with commercials, limited play lists (talk about lack of variety), then he is right. Of course, the HD side of radio is trying to be the poor man's sat radio...he forgot about that.
of all the channels that they produce, i would say 152 on the weekends is good.
handle on the law
leo laporte
The rest could fall into the ocean for all i care.
(and cue laughter... now)
--------------------
And cue a crying baby picture ..... now
Just look at the picture of this tool and it explains everything. Does he really look like the kind of person that would "get" Fred, Deep Tracks, or Fine Tuning, just to name a few.
Is it me, or did the CEO of Clear Channel Radio just called satellite radio a "competitor"?
While I'm at it, let's go with his comment on "best programmed and the best produced." Moreso with "best produced," because the following issues with CC XM channels do not result in well produced channels:
1. Clear Channel's XM channels are home to more technical difficulties than any other channels on the service. I bet if you tune in to 152 tonight at midnight, it will be dead for an hour.
2. They can't label pad data properly for their commercials. It leaves a long string of text that looks like "Schering Plough/dr. scholls."
3. They don't even bother to label their promos. If a commercial for ReachMD is playing, the pad data will simply say "ReachMD - Promo" with no mention of the channel number or anything additional.
4. Extreme in particular has zero packaging. The best they've got going is a set of one-liners recorded by an announcer like "Extreme talk, on Extreme 152." There's no bumpers, no up-next spots, no mention of the other programs on the channel, no promotions for said programs. Talk 165 has this. Extreme, for some reason, doesn't.
5. They still haven't fixed the silence issue before the news hits. An up-next spot will be playing, but it will get blocked with a second of dead-air before finishing at the top of the hour.
6. Because of said technical difficulties, sometimes the channel will miss a commercial break. When this happens, the commercials backlog and will either play on top of the program when it returns, or will not allow the program to return in-progress until the commercials finish playing.
7. They still haven't adjusted the program clocks for the weekend afternoon shows on Extreme. They always play one commercial too many at the beginning of the show, and at the end of the hour. The end hour commercials get cut off before they're finished.
8. Music channels will occasionally freeze their pad data, giving you a 200 minute track of I Won't Back Down by Tom Petty.
9. There are still feed dropouts and clicks even after a year in Cincinnati. Some broadcasts will experience drop-out problems the whole show, while others will have this "thump-pop" problem.
10. There's still a pad data skip problem which dupes a character on the screen or deletes one. For example, during Mike McConnell today, the subtitle would go from 700WLW.com to 70WLW.com and back again. A few times.
11. There are still phone numbers displayed on replays and tape delayed shows. If you happen to call the number when Lex and Terry air, you get another show.
12. They don't hire any producers. These channels sit around with no one to monitor them as they continue to experience problems.
And now, onto programming:
1. Why is Extreme full of taped shows from Talk Radio? They couldn't at least replay a show from the channel. Rollye James is a 3 hour show Monday-Friday on 165, but for some reason they feel the need to replay her show on 152 from 1AM to 6AM Monday thru Saturday mornings, and 11PM to 6AM Saturday night thru Sunday morning. Ron Wilson and Gary Sullivan's shows are also taped and rebroadcast on Extreme on weekends. Ron only does one show a week on Talk Radio and has two Extreme replays.
2. They're so well programmed yet they're already resorting to selling time. The show at 11 PM nights on Extreme is buying time from Clear Channel to air the show on XM.
3. Their idea of shows on the music channel is a sponsor buying up all the spots for a certain amount of time. Like "The Geico Music Hour."
4. They won't pay for 3rd party content for their channels. They either use their own talk show hosts who they do not compensate for being on XM, play shows that cost nothing, or play shows that pay them to broadcast.
So the new alternative station in Philly is supposed to be great. I tried listening to it and the alternative songs are from many many years ago. How about some new stuff.