ContentHispanicBusiness.Com is running a news brief on Clear Channel’s launch of a new Spanish language radio station in Arizona. At 97.1 FM, the new station, Que Suave (yes, Clear Channel is actually calling it that), will feature such artists as Ricky Martin and Shakira (both on Sony Records).
Not only is it too much to hope for that Que Suave will air the Voodoo Glow Skulls, but Clear Channel’s involvement raises bigger concerns. Last year Clear Channel was the target of a boycott for airing anti-immigrant talk shows and of an anti-trust lawsuit brought by the Spanish Broadcasting System in which SBS alleged that Clear Channel interfered with a potential merger of SBS and the Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation. Unfortunately, the Department of Justice recently approved of a deal in which Univision would take over Hispanic Broadcasting Corp (a company that is one third owned by Clear Channel), thus consolidating almost all of the Latino radio market in the hands of just a few large corporations.