Alec Foege, RIGHT OF THE DIAL: THE RISE OF CLEAR CHANNEL author: Mr. Media Interview

It is so easy to hate terrestrial radio these days. No matter how many stations you scan, AM or FM, it’s difficult to find one on which you can land without moments later wanting to take a sledgehammer to the radio.

The politics are angry and irrational -- left and right. The music hasn’t changed in 30 years and it seems to repeat every hour. Local news and talk is virtually non-existent. Ditto for humor.

The smartest radio guy of the last 20 years, Howard Stern, escaped more than two years ago and is better than ever in the unshackled environs of Sirius Satellite Radio.

Who screwed up radio?

Will today’s generation of young people even care in a few years, what with the glut of alternatives before them, from satellite and Internet radio to iPods and cell phone broadcasting?

I suspect these are just of the few issues I’ll be discussing today with my guest, Alec Foege, author of Right of the Dial: The Rise of Clear Channel and The Fall of Commercial Radio.

You can LISTEN to this Mr. Media interview with ALEC FOEGE by clicking the BlogTalkRadio.com audio player below!

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Copyright 2008 Bob Andelman. Click here for copyright permissions!

Here Comes the Bubba

Just one week back on the job after an eight-year layoff and Mr. Media is already drawing major media attention to the epicenter of the media world, St. Petersburg, Florida.

Okay, okay, maybe it's the wedding of Sirius satellite radio's Tampa-based afternoon personality (and hedonistic thrillbilly) Bubba the Love Sponge that is drawing his boss, the King of All Media, Howard Stern, and his on-air crew of Artie Lange, Robin Quivers, and Fred Norris to America's Next Great City this week, but is it really a coincidence? Mr. Media thinks not.