Brent Staples, essays

Brent Staples, essays Radio stations throughout the country may soon be taken over completely by corporations trying to take control over industry. In Brent Staples article, Driving Down the Highway, Mourning the Death of the American Radio, (New York Times, July 8, 2003) he focuses his article on how big time corporations are buying out the smaller radio stations to take over the entire industry. People are turning to other forms of music to get away from all the propaganda. Radio stations used to play an array of music, ranging from Jazz to Country. There used to be short commercial and advertisement segments, getting only 8 to 12 minutes per hour. (Staples 85) Now it seems there is almost 30 minutes per hour during the morning drive time. (85) Radio networks are also taking away a persons freedom of speech. For instance, The Dixie Chicks were booted from corporate air for criticizing the President over the War in Iraq. (86) Radio is changing considerably; it is no longer, what it used to be. At the beginning of the article Staples states, The CD player symbolizes my despair that commercial radio in New York and most other major markets has become so bad as to be unlistenable and is unlikely to improve anytime soon. (85) The information that he states throughout his entire article seems to be very accurate, and well worded. He goes into detail of reasons as to why larger corporations want to buy out all these small stations. They want to have control over the entire industry. A staple also interpreted his information fairly and has argued his topic logically. Throughout the entire article, he gave many examples as to why this might become a problem for listeners throughout the country. We will not know how bad the situation will be until if finally happens. By corporations, buying out all these smaller radio stations it is letting them have control over the entire market. ...