In 2005, radio-giant Clear Channel Communications Inc. learned that a writer named Alec Foege was planning a book about it. The book's working title, "The Monster That Ate Mass Media," suggested something less than a puff piece was in the works.Clear Channel mounted a counteroffensive, lining up its own writer to tell the Clear Channel story its way.
As a result, dueling books about Clear Channel have recently hit the shelves. Mr. Foege's book -- now titled "Right of the Dial: The Rise of Clear Channel and the Fall of Commercial Radio" -- chronicles the company's role in the consolidation of the radio industry.
It competes with "Clear Vision: The Story of Clear Channel Communications," by Reed Bunzel, former editor of the trade magazine Radio Ink. Mr. Bunzel says Clear Channel paid him to do the book but declines to say how much. Another journalist says he was offered more than $100,000 to take on the project. The book doesn't disclose Mr. Bunzel's financial relationship with Clear Channel, but careful readers may notice that the company holds the copyright to the book.
Self-published corporate histories aren't unusual. But Peter Hawes, editorial director of Greenwich Publishing, a publisher specializing in corporate histories, says he has "never seen a situation in which a company has said, 'Hey, there's another book coming out. We don't think we're going to like it. Let's get our own book out.' " He also says he doesn't disapprove of the strategy as long as the company includes its missteps alongside its accomplishments.
Lisa Dollinger, Clear Channel's communications director, spearheaded the book project. She calls it an "evenhanded look at Clear Channel" that "was written from an independent point of view by a journalist with decades of experience in radio."
Clear Channel's move to recruit Mr. Bunzel dates back to 2004, when the company was preparing to fend off other rumored Clear Channel books. While those books never materialized, the false alarms meant the company was ready when it heard about Mr. Foege's work.
Eric Rhoads, publisher of Radio Ink and Mr. Bunzel's former boss, says he discussed the project with Ms. Dollinger. "She said that there was another book coming out about Clear Channel," recalls Mr. Rhoads. "She said she was afraid the story would not be told accurately, and she wanted to make sure it was told accurately."
After learning of Ms. Dollinger's search for an author, Mr. Bunzel took her a proposal, and they signed a deal in late 2005. He was given a year to deliver the book and, according to Ms. Dollinger, "unfettered access to Clear Channel executives and managers." It was up to Clear Channel to find a publisher.
Meanwhile, the company had been denying Mr. Foege access to its executives. "Several aspects of the project, not least the book's working title, 'The Monster that Ate Mass Media,' raise concerns for us with regard to substance, objectivity and accuracy," wrote Ms. Dollinger in a July 2005 email to Jonathan Galassi, president and publisher of Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, Mr. Foege's publishing house. "We will be letting Mr. Foege know that we will not be granting him access to company executives."
Mr. Foege says he was startled to learn, sometime in 2006, that another writer was mining his territory. He asked his agent to look into it but couldn't get much information. Eventually, Mr. Foege found an entry on Amazon that shed some light on his rival.
"He clearly was a radio guy," he says, adding that he thought, "Maybe it's the book for radio insiders." He traveled to San Antonio, the company's headquarters, but couldn't get as much as a return phone call from current employees. At a New York radio-industry dinner, he introduced himself to Chief Executive Mark Mays, who excused himself quickly.
Meanwhile, Mr. Bunzel was setting up interviews and flying down to San Antonio to meet with the Mays family and top company executives. "I was aware of the [other] book, sort of like parallel worlds, but like parallel worlds, I didn't want to go there," says Mr. Bunzel.
Ms. Dollinger arranged for Texas-based Bright Sky Press to publish Mr. Bunzel's book. Ruina Judd, Bright Sky's publisher, declines to discuss the business details between Clear Channel and Bright Sky.
Mr. Bunzel turned in his manuscript to Ms. Dollinger in late 2006. She had few suggestions, he says, other than getting rid of repetitive sections and other minor tweaks. An editor at Bright Sky didn't make major changes either, Mr. Bunzel says.
Mr. Foege's book, published in April, takes the company to task for some issues, such as what he characterizes as bullying musicians into playing at Clear Channel amphitheaters. He quotes former board member Karl Eller castigating the arrogance of Mark Mays and Chief Financial Officer Randall Mays. And he offers some juicy anecdotes, including one about company founder Lowry Mays being airlifted from an anniversary cruise to rescue a foundering deal.
Mr. Bunzel's book, "Clear Vision: The Story of Clear Channel Communications," includes some criticism of the company, such as a passage calling Clear Channel "almost oblivious to the mounting criticism that was bombarding it from all directions." But the unpleasant parts are leavened with plenty of praise, much of it in the form of long quotes from current executives. And many of the anecdotes revolve around the Mays family. The Mays, for example, had their children pick out their bedroom furniture at garage sales, and do grunt work for Clear Channel like construction over the summer.
By: Sarah McBride
Wall Street Journal; July 10, 2008
