On the rack
Clear Channel gets another stranglehold on S.F. media

By Dave Kim

On May 6 a giant Texas-based media conglomerate with a long record of right-wing politics and censorship launched its newest venture in San Francisco – and Mayor Gavin Newsom was on hand to make the announcement, with effusive praise and not a single hint of concern.

Clear Channel Corp., which owns some 1,200 radio stations nationwide, was inaugurating a program that will give it a hand in controlling the distribution of newspapers in town. The 20-year deal with the Department of Public Works allows the company to install as many as 1,000 pedestal-mounted news racks on city streets, replacing the individual free-standing racks that have been a central element of newspaper circulation in the city for decades.

There are serious problems with the contract: among other things, it forces all local papers in the so-called pedmount zones, which include high-traffic areas like Market Street and Union Square, to accept a limited number of inflexible distribution points. Since the pedmounts have a set amount of slots (and the three already installed are already full), the deal effectively restricts the number of different papers that can be distributed and makes it difficult for new publications to enter the market.

But it gives Clear Channel, operating through its Adshell subsidiary, the ability to sell ads on the back of 450 of the pedmounts – in effect, erecting the equivalent of 450 new billboards on the city's streets. The company doesn't have to disclose its profits or give the city a cut of the cash.

Yet Newsom was entirely upbeat, calling the traditional news racks "visual blights." And DPW director Edwin Lee called the ordinance "a win-win situation."

"Even though [newspaper publishers] have a lot of issues to resolve, I think they're very happy to see these [pedmounts] go up." Lee told the Bay Guardian.

Well, that's not exactly true. Bay Guardian editor and publisher Bruce B. Brugmann, who fought the deal from the start, said it sets a terrible precedent for San Francisco. "Why is the city inviting one of the worst media companies in America, a company that already has far too much control over local media, to muscle into the newspaper business?" he asked. "This is a terrible deal for the publishers and a terrible deal for the city."

Clear Channel not only owns seven local radio stations but also controls roughly half the billboards in town, owns the dominant music promotion outfit, Bill Graham Presents, and operates major local concert venues like the Fillmore and Shoreline Amphitheater.

Not surprisingly, Clear Channel's happy to have yet another foothold in the marketplace. "We're very excited about the advertising," William Hooper, Clear Channel president and general manager of Clear Channel Outdoor, said at the event. He also stressed that the billboards would promote "the core of the business and retail community in San Francisco."

The first set of 18-square-foot ads on all three Market Street pedmounts are for British Airways. Now Clear Channel can put up hundreds more billboards, exchanging one type of "visual blight" for another.