Avast mateys!

Let's be clear (ha!).

Clear Channel Communications is evil, and is run by unimaginative, greedy corporate whoremongers who have nothing but contempt for the artists they exploit; As someone else said recently, Money is How The Untalented Keep Score, and CCC eptiomizes that statement. When the revolution comes, these brutish thugs will be the first against the wall. Music in general, and thus our society, is cheaper and more savage with android salesman like this controlling art, and the airwaves must be returned to their rightful owners, the public.

To further their rapacious exploits, they have come up with a further degradation of public perceptions; an anti-corporate 'pirate' radio station actually owned by one of the corporate beasts.

What a cynical admission that their overformatted, monolithic commercial swill is artistically and emotionally bankrupt. This tactic as much as concedes that the typical Clear Channel monopolization of the radio does not provide enough variety and excitement; further, it then attempts to exploit that void by pretending to be something it's not: an actual alternative.

I remember when someone actually . ran a real pirate station in Milwaukee during the early eighties. We listened to it often. I remember during a party, the dj just played the entire side of the first Pretenders album. It worked.

We already have a pretty good alternative station in Milwaukee, in WMSE. But WTPS also filled a void, and its success shows that there is real appetite for stations with diversity and little format. The success of Satellite radio also demonstrates this.

But Clear Channel and its faceless faux alternative Disney-Pirates sanitized crapfest is the furthest thing from this. Pirate radio, or even open format radio, has to be operated by someone who actually cares about the music, and doesn't just see it as a way to suck money from mindless consumers. It takes passion and commitment; the ability to actually hear music and determine what is good, or even just what you honestly like, as opposed to what sells the most or is the least offensive. You can't fake it, and Clear Channel will not be able to buy it or co-opt it. I hope this idea falls flat for these overgrown two bit huslers.

I'll believe their commitment when a Clear Channel station broadcasts Dead Kennedys day, which opens with "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" and closes with "Buy My Snake Oil", and features at least an hour of Jello Biafra's spoken word pieces, along with an interview segment where Jello gets to play his favorite music. Here's Jello's web site for Alternative Tentacles; Go buy some stuff.

Dammit, now jsut because I'm pissed off I'm going to go buy some Dead Kenndys music. Bite my fat hairy white ass, Clear Channel