America's Largest Radio Company Gets Hip New Name for the Kidz
Communications giant Clear Channel, the largest owner of radio stations in the U.S., announced this week it will change its decades-old name to something a little more suited to the evolving tastes of the discerning contemporary millenial.
iHeartMedia, the new name, is designed to evoke pink iPod Minis and long-dormant Myspace pages, Tamagotchis and notes passed in class—just the stuff kids like you and me love. You know what else is cool? The radio. Now turn it up and rock on!
Clear Channel was about old stuff: the AM radio. iHeartMedia is about new stuff: cool, good stuff. CEO Bob Pittman, a teen at heart, explained the change to the Los Angeles Times:
"It's a recognition of who we really are today and the transformation this company has made," Pittman said in an interview. "We have a company that's doing progressive stuff, and yet we're named after AM radio stations."
iHeartMedia, of course, references iHeartRadio, the company's mostly successful effort to get techie teens tuning into the airwaves via iPhones, Androids, and other gadgets and gizmos. Rejected options included BroadcastLuvr1995, Apps-R-Cool, and x0MusicIsLiterallyMyLife0x. What do you think of the change?