Fear of a Litigious Nation

Lawyers for some of the victims of the Rhode Island/Great White fire are going to sue Clear Channel, owners of a local radio station that promoted the concert.

WHJY urged listeners to see the show and offered free compact discs and free admission, which resulted in overcrowding..

Bud Paras, the general manager of WHJY, said his station did not promote or sponsor the concert at the nightclub. He said the radio station simply produced and ran 15 half-minute spots bought by the nightclub for about $700. [Station DJ Michael] Gonsalves introduced the band, Paras said, but only because the musicians had been guests on his show and were friendly with him. WHJY gave away four free tickets, but did not hand out CDs, he said.

Gonsalves died in the fire.

While Clear Channel is guilty of many things - mostly for destroying radio - I cannot accept its guilt in this tragedy.

Clear Channel owns 1,200 stations nationwide. I'm not going to sit here and figure out how many concerts are advertised on the stations daily, but let's just assume it's a lot. Now, let's suppose that in one hour's time, one of the Clear Channel stations runs ads for McDonald's, American Idol, Budwieser and a baseball game.

Is the station responsible for whatever happens to a listener who utilizes or attends the advertised products?

If a person slips and falls at the local McDonald's, can Clear Channel be sued because the person heard an ad for Chicken McNuggets on their local affiliate?

If I'm sitting home and my television explodes while I am watching American Idol, can I hold Clear Channel partly responsible because the ad they ran made me want to sit in front of my tv and watch that show?

What about drunk driving accidents? What if I get hit with a line drive while attending a Yankee game that was promoted on a Clear Channel station?

Article Author: Michele Catalano

Michele is from Long Island and writes about two of her favorite things - punk rock and fast cars -along with her better half at Faster Than the World.

Visit Michele Catalano's author page — Michele Catalano's Blog