Browkow's comment on MTP

[ewagner]

After Gep's appearance, there was a round table discussion in which Browkow participated.

Gerhardt made a comment about appearing with Chuck Berry and made a joke about doing the "duck-walk" with Berry.

At the end of the round table, Russert asked Browkow "How much would you pay to see Gerhardt do the duck-walk?"

Browkow dodged that question but tried to say what a big fan of Berry's he was and said that he used to listen to Chuck Berry "...on a Clear Channel Station out of New Orleans...."

wtf?

Why the gratuitous mention of Clear Channel? Does NBC/Westinghouse have some financial interest in Clear Channel? Has Clear Channel actually been around since Browkow was 17 years old?

The Clear Channel comment came right out of the blue!

[Wickerman]

1. Good Catch

Pure pandering.
http://www.clearchannel.com/company_history.php

Unless Brokaw was 17 in 1972 and lived in San Antonio. I doubt KEEZ extended to New Orleans and I doubt that they played a lot of Chuck - I also doubt it was very ear-catching in '72 - as his act was over a decade old at that point.

My thinking is that in '72 Tommie was in 'Nam, covering the war for the network, but could be mistaken.

1972 Lowry Mays and Red McCombs form San Antonio Broadcasting Company to acquire KEEZ-FM (now KAJA-FM) in San Antonio, Texas for $125,000

1975 Acquired WOAI-AM. This was the Company's first "Clear Channel" radio station, which means it was designated with its own frequency nationwide.

[NWHarkness]

2. You are misinterpreting his comment

The term "clear channel station" used to be commonly used to describe those few radio stations that were the only ones broadcasting on a certain AM frequency. Because they had a "clear channel" they were allowed to broadcast a stronger signal, and could be heard at great distances.
Tom Browkaw grew up in North Dakota, so if he was listening to a New Orleans station it was obviously such a clear channel station.

[Devlzown]

3. Learn something new every day! n/t

[suegeo]

10. I thought Brokaw was from...

South Dakota, not North Dakota.

[BeachBuckeye]

12. You are correct!

All of the old 50,000 watt stations were known as "clear channels"

[buckeye1]

17. Thank you

You are correct. i just spent 20 min.on this. I won't spend too much more. The topic was locked.
In 1996 "clear channel" had 1 station.

There was a time when Tom might have heard:
WCCO
WSM
WLS
KMOX
WWL
and so many more. There was a time when most stations left the air at 12am.
When they were gone 50 killowatt stations ruled the night.

It is so funny to see how foolish some people can be.

[calimary]

21. KFI here in Los Angeles was one of those clear channel stations

50 thousand watts and you could hear it all over the western US at night when other AMs had to drop their power. It bombed in everywhere. Lovely. That's the adorable in-yer-face Limbaugh/Dr. Laura station here. And don't we just love seeing their message spread so far and wide with this kind of reach.

[pocoloco]

22. Tom said he was listening to WLS in Nor'leans.

[moondust]

26. WLS was in Chicago. n/t

[newyawker99]

23. Hi buckeye1!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[buckeye1]

18. Thank you

You are correct. i just spent 20 min.on this. I won't spend too much more. The topic was locked.
In 1996 "clear channel" had 1 station.

There was a time when Tom might have heard:
WCCO
WSM
WLS
KMOX
WWL
and so many more. There was a time when most stations left the air at 12am.
When they were gone 50 killowatt stations ruled the night.

It is so funny to see how foolish some people can be.

[LTR]

24. Ahhh!

And me being an ex-radio guy should have realized this!

Clear channel stations are AM facilities that broadcast at 50,000, thereby reaching a large region.

Clear Channel, in commercial terms, is a nasty, monopolistic monolith founded by Lowry Mays. It is the Pac-Man of radio, swallowing everything in it's path.

[UTUSN]

4. BROKAW's Tag Is Name-Dropping, Plus He's Jaded and Over

Since network news has been off my radar screen for years, on Election Night 2000 the first sinking feeling I had was the sight of BROKAW being SO bored, blase, jaded from the start of the coverage, like, he's done it all, seen it all, this is SO boring. It was always "Back when, when I did this or that, Berlin Wall, ..." He was not in the PRESENT. Like he went from young to old overnight. Nothing shook him out of himself, not even later in the evening, when it became apparent they were sitting on the story of the decade. Flipping, JENNINGS was better, but RATHER was JAZZED.

[monchie]

5. Brokaw was obviously referring to clear channel, not Clear Channel

A clear channel station is an AM station which can be heard over wide areas of the country at night because no other stations are allowed to broadcast on that frequency after sunset. When the FCC started regulating radio back in the 1930s, certain stations were granted this status. New York's WABC, for example, is owned by Disney but is a clear channel (lower case) station. IIRC, some other clear channel stations include Boston's WBZ, New York's WOR, 1210 out of Philadelphia (it used to be WCAU...it has different call letters now), WWL in Cincinnati, KDKA in Pittsburgh, WLS in Chicago, and KGO in San Francisco. And who can ever forget the country music powerhouse WWVA out of Wheeling, WV? I'm not sure of the one in New Orleans, though I've heard it; I think it may be WOL.

A few years ago, the owners of WLIB in New York bought a clear channel station in Fort Wayne, IN just so it could shut it down or reduce its power (I forget which). Once that was accomplished, WLIB no longer had to sign off at sunset and could broadcast 24/7.

AM signals can be heard over wide distances at night due to their ability to bounce off the ionosphere, as long as there is no interference from other stations on that frequency. FM signals, OTOH, are limited to line-of-sight diffusion, roughly about 60 miles.

And none of this has anything to do with Clear Channel, the radio station owner.

Now, come on, like Emily Litella, please say, "Never mind." :-)

[KoKo]

7. He didn't say "I used to listen on a clear channel" he said Clear Channel

and frankly i doubt that term was used by the everyday radio listener in the 1950's or 60's to describe their listening experience. It may have been an FCC term in a document, but when Brokaw uses "Clear Channel" we all know what that means. It was a "plug."

[pocoloco]

9. There was not very many clear channel stations and each one used

the term "clear channel" as a potent advertisement tool. My favorite as a teenager was "Clear Channel KOMA" in OKC. At night many could be picked up across America and had widespread audiences.

[patmacsf]

16. You're wrong

The term clear-channel is well known to anyone with any kind of broadcasting knowledge. Don't get your panties all twisted and try and learn something from the well versed posters above you.

Jeesh!

[Tansy_Gold]

25. Listened to clear channels all the time in the 60s

I was a teen-ager then and certainly NOT a radio buff, but I knew what a clear channel station was. I used to lie in bed, in the dark, and oh so slowly turn the dial of my little Philco transistor radio on Saturday nights. In NW suburban Chicago I picked up many of the stations mentioned in an earlier post -- N'Orleans, Cincinnati, Minneapolis. I frequently listened to a Canadian station that broadcast classical music.

I'm sure that as a teen-ager in either one of the Dakotas with any interest in journalism or broadcasting, Brokaw listened to clear channel stations and knew exactly what they were.

[0007]

19. Your right on!

Would also like to hear those precious little words from the thread starter.

[KoKo]

6. Here's the scoop on when Clear Channel was founded. Browkaw didn't

listen to Chuck Berry on "Clear Channel."

Company founder and chief executive Lowry Mays declined to be interviewed for this story. But earlier this year, Mays told Fortune magazine: "We're not in the business of providing news and information. We're not in the business of providing well-researched music. We're simply in the business of selling our customers' products."
Clear Channel's critics say that attitude is the whole problem. Although the conglomerate's actions appear to have all been legal and it is not the only media company to have multiple stations in some markets, they say the company should be more sensitive to public opinion.
"There's a public responsibility to those who use these airwaves and if you just completely ignore it and say 'I'm just in it for the money and just in it for the shareholders,' the way their CEO has, you're going to get yourself in trouble and you're going to deserve it," said John Dunbar, director of the telecommunications project at the Center for Public Integrity.
The Mays family's involvement with the Republican party -- Lowry Mays has been a big financial backer of President Bush -- also has caused concern, despite Hogan's assertion that mixing politics with business is bad business, and that the company would never do it.
"If you have a politically active CEO who is of a particularly ideological bent you become worried that if they control entire markets, which Clear Channel does, that ideology might make into some of the coverage," Dunbar said.

Clear Channel Communications Inc.
Some facts about Clear Channel Communications Inc.
Headquarters: Sandpoint, Idaho.
History: Founded in 1972 in San Antonio, Texas, as the San Antonio Broadcasting Co. by investment banker Lowry Mays and a partner.
http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Sep/09212003/business/94249.asp

[buckeye1]

20. Oh perhaps you know better.

n/t

[Stephanie]

8. Brokaw also said "ABB"

Said there were Dems who are "ABB, anybody but bush" - Brokaw must be reading DU.

[Algorem]

11. Brokaw also said that a McGovern endorsement of Clark would be terri-

ble for Dean because he's known as "the other McGovern."Take a breath,dikweed,the McGovern comparison wasn't meant as a compliment.

[TheDalaiMama]

14. Brokaw who????????/ why do we care what this man said?

dalai

[Algorem]

15. If everyone thought like you noone would have to care what he says.That

would be great.He'd be a bitter briefcase repairman or something somewhere.

[NashVegas]

13. Clear Channel Station Identification

Next time you listen to a CC station, notice that the "A Clear Channel Station" is mentioned just as prominently in the IDs as the station's call letters.

That's brand identification for you.