Letters

Clear Channel doesn't have political bent

There were several factual errors in your Editor's Note titled "Local Radio's Lone Liberal Voice," on May 21. In your article, you infer that Clear Channel stations do not support talk radio that is critical of President Bush and noted that Howard Stern "was telling listeners not to vote for Bush and that's why Clear Channel dumped him."

Clear Channel Radio is not operated according to any political agenda or ideology. Local managers make their own decisions about programming and community events. We employ approximately 250 local general managers, 750 local sales managers and 900 local program directors. They are measured on their ability to drive listenership by intimately understanding what audiences want to hear and delivering that.

Additionally, Clear Channel Radio's decision to suspend Howard Stern from our stations was based on our regulatory obligations and commitment to airing material that conforms to the standards and sensibilities of the local communities we serve.

--Lisa Dollinger,

Senior vice president,

corporate communications,

Clear Channel Communications

`Militant lesbian' causing California firestorm

Because of radical environmental controls, logging in California has dropped by more than 60 percent over the past 15 years, with only 1.66 billion board-feet harvested last year, compared with 4.67 billion in 1988. The state now gets 70 percent to 80 percent of its wood from other states or overseas.

How will California state legislators protect themselves from the political backlash when the inevitable wildfires caused by the much larger, denser, brush-clogged forests destroy homes, take lives and turn scenic gems like Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, Shasta and Sequoia to smoke and ashes? They are seeking cover behind Senate Bill 1369, sponsored by Democrat California Sen. Sheila Kuehl, a militant lesbian environmentalist. The Kuehl bill limits firebreaks around structures to 100 feet and only in select areas. This is a prescription for statewide catastrophic wildfires.

A political firestorm that toasts the politicians responsible for these destructive policies is desperately needed to save the Golden State and the adjacent Silver State area from being reduced to smoldering ruins.

--Ken Hovey

Rock critics should be aware of Loretta

While I agree overall with your review of Van Lear Rose in that it is an excellent album, your opening paragraph was a bit jaded and callous at best [Listening Station, May 13]. Never underestimate the power of the movie Coal Miner's Daughter and the woman behind the legend. That film was the first and best in a genre (the entertainer biopic) that is hard to do well. Most similar biopics flop, with the exception of What's Love Got to Do With It? (Tina Turner). Many, many people I know will tell you they fell in love with Sissy Spacek over that film. And I'm not that old, either. And Loretta Lynn--for a woman to have four children, then start on the road to superstardom from nowhere in her mid-twenties is unheard of in this plastic, produced "American Idol" era.

Trust me, when Loretta Lynn is no longer alive, rock reviewers will know it--if they truly consider themselves music reviewers.

--Andy Zeffer,

Fort Lauderdale, Fla.