The Boss's new album, Magic, hit the top of the charts almost immediately after its release three weeks ago, selling more than half a million albums – all without the help of play on corporate radio. Clear Channel has reportedly blacklisted all of Springsteen's new songs, though they can still play the classics like "Born in the USA" and "Born to Run." This was reportedly decreed in a memo circulated to the more than 1,100 Clear Channel stations around the country. Fox News columnist Roger Friedman says it's because Clear Channel has decided that Springsteen is "too old" for rocking:
Clear Channel seems to have sent a clear message to other radio outlets that at age 58, Springsteen simply is too old to be played on rock stations. This completely absurd notion is one of many ways Clear Channel has done more to destroy the music business than downloading over the last 10 years. It's certainly what's helped create satellite radio, where Springsteen is a staple and even has his own channel on Sirius.
I'm with Friedman on Clear Channel destroying all that is good and wonderful in the music world, but I somehow doubt it's Springsteen's age that's got corporate radio all riled up. But calling it ageism is a lot more palatable for Fox, where it couldn't possibly be about the album's whole anti-war message thing. Clear Channel wouldn't have a political motivation behind banning anything from an album that includes lines like, "We don't measure the blood we've drawn anymore / We just stack the bodies outside the door / Who'll be the last to die for a mistake?"… right?
UPDATE: Eric Alterman also wrote about this, and someone from Clear Channel responded saying that the story was false. So, uh, surprise! Fox got something wrong. Actually, they quite like Boss, says their rep., and for whatever it's worth, they've got up a "Know the Facts" page to counter all the things we haters have to say about them.
--Kate Sheppard
