NO MORE CLEAR CHANNELS! STOP THE FCC MEDIA GIVEAWAY!

The FCC is poised to approve the most dramatic changes to media ownership regulations in decades. Leading the charge is FCC Chairman Michael Powell, Colin Powell's son, who essentially declared war on diversity in media at the same time that his father was spearheading the war against Iraq.

Thursday, media activists and concerned citizens protested at Clear Channel radio stations throughout the United States with the message: No More Clear Channels! Stop the FCC Media Giveaway!

Clear Channel Communications is the poster child of everything that's wrong with media deregulation. After the media deregulation of 1996, Clear Channel gobbled up hundreds of radio stations throughout the country and now owns more than 1200 stations nationwide, dominating the audience share in 100 of 112 major markets. Not only is the company the world's largest radio broadcaster, it's also the world largest concert promoter and billboard advertising firm. Clear Channel promotes a cookie-cutter style radio that has urban stations throughout the country seemingly playing the same seven songs. It shuts out independent artists and eliminates local programming. The company also uses its stations to promote its right-wing political agenda, such as the pro-war rallies that Clear Channel has sponsored in numerous cities since the start of the war against Iraq. In San Francisco, Clear Channel station KMEL fired popular public affairs director Davey D after he invited anti-war Congresswoman Barbara Lee to speak on a KMEL public affairs show.

There's still time, campers, to email the FCC and Congress. Let's send them a message before the June 2 FCC vote on media deregulation: Protest Clear Channel radio and the media monopoly! We demand truth over profit, diversity over monopoly!

Sponsored in part by The Prometheus Radio Project