Super Huge Pop Star Censored By Government

Hey, everybody, Will Bunch has our newest thing to boycott: It’s Star 104.5! Or, rather, Alice 104.5. Wait. Maybe it’s the station that simulcast WJJZ 106.1. Oh, wait, Rumba 104.5?

Wait, that’s right, I actually wrote about this before. (In the previous paragraph, I forgot Sunny 104.5, but that was in my article.) Anyway, Bunch says the station, now on an alt-rock format, was told by its owner not to play the new Bruce Springsteen song!

Yay! The new one that sounds just like “867-5309/Jenny”? Are they maybe worried about being sued by Tommy Tutone? Oh, no, wait, it’s his new track “Magic” which the always-reliable Fox News says Clear Channel has ordered its stations not to play.

Like Springsteen, these “older” artists have been relegated to something called Triple A format stations — i.e. either college radio or small artsy stations such as WFUV in the Bronx, N.Y., which are immune from the Clear Channel virus of pre-programming and where the number of plays per song is a fraction of what it is on commercial radio.

Aw, no, but Bunch isn’t having any of that. No, he believes it’s because the song makes fun of President Bush! Or, rather, it has lyrics that aren’t rah-rah war or something. Okay, fair enough, Clear Channel probably does like war. (They are American.)

It’s pretty bad when your best excuse for banning Springsteen is ageism (he’s 58) but you have to conclude this is really all raw politics. Down with Tyranny has a good analysis of what’s really going down.

The Clear Channel stations here are Q102, Power 99, WJJZ, WDAS-FM and WDAS-AM, and 104.5, which now plays the rock of the ’90s, a format I never thought I’d live to see (no classic rock, by the way). I’m about to take 104.5 off my presets, and I suggest that anyone who cares about free expression exercise their freedom not to listen to Clear Channel.

Yes, you “have to conclude this is really all raw politics.” I can see no other logical conclusion. After all, “Clear Channel is a big-time and very consciously right-wing power player with a goal of changing American pop culture,” says that good analysis. Oh, but wait, some of its stations are playing the song.

As we all know, “Who Let The Dogs Out?” wasn’t that big of a radio hit. What does President Bush have against the Baha Men? And be sure not to listen to Q102. Since it’s not 1992, I think you should be okay without it.