Like him or not, Michaels is sound of modern radio
By Larry Nager
The Cincinnati Enquirer
There's one thing Randy Michaels' friends and detractors agree on — no one has had a greater impact on the way modern radio sounds than the former CEO of Covington-based Clear Channel Radio.
"I don't think there's anyone who knows more about radio than Randy Michaels, but there are an awful lot of people who wish he'd done it in a different way," said Eric Boehlert, senior writer at Salon.com, a daily online magazine, who has covered Mr. Michaels and Clear Channel Radio in a series of highly critical articles dating to March 2001.
For good or ill, Mr. Michaels is considered one of radio's most creative visionaries.
"When he was at Jacor, he saw the potential for deregulation, and he was a step ahead on that," said Marc Schiffman, managing editor of industry trade magazine Top 40 Airplay Monitor. "By the time he got to Clear Channel, he had all the resources to build the radio empire of tomorrow."
He is credited with making cyber-jocks — disc jockeys broadcast on multiple stations — the industry standard. The result is radio at its most cost-effective — and dully homogeneous. Every modern-rock station has the same playlist as every other modern-rock station. The same holds true for adult-contemporary and every other format on stations owned by Clear Channel. Forget about regionalism or local music getting on the air.
It's a cost-cutting measure, and not just for Clear Channel.
"Theoretically, we only have to deliver one record to one place. "Here's a new Red Hot Chili Peppers,' and they can send it to every station that they've got," said Craig Diable, Warner Bros. Midwest record promoter.
"They streamlined a lot of stuff, but it works. It's less people to pay, insurance costs. All companies are trying to streamline. Do more with less. He was kind of a pioneer in a lot of areas."
The result is the radio equivalent of fast food, his critics say.
"You'd be hard pressed to find anyone in radio who doesn't work for Clear Channel who thinks radio is more exciting or better than it was before Randy Michaels rose to the top," Mr. Boehlert said.
Mr. Michaels created a scenario that was like the Bizarro World version of WKRP in Cincinnati. Instead of stodgy station owner Mr. Carlson overseeing wild and crazy DJ Johnny Fever, Mr. Michaels painted radio in olive drab tones with a management style in glorious Technicolor. He became an industry legend for such attention-grabbing stunts as being carried into industry meetings on a throne or wearing '70s disco gear to chastise old-fashioned programmers.
"He kind of personified the spirit of radio, in terms of its ability to entertain and be larger than life," Mr. Schiffman said.
Said Mr. Boehlert: "That kind of ability to grab people's attention is great when you're the morning guy, but it's probably not the best thing when you're the most influential person at a publicly owned media company."
"He was the key player in the building of the greatest empire in the history of radio," said Bill Scull, a Cincinnati-based independent record promoter.
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