A recent Counterpunch article on BusRadio, the secretive yet insidious company which desires to hard-wire school buses into a closed-circuit radio network chock full of targeted advertising, highlights the company’s struggling fortunes: recently the school board in Jefferson County, Kentucky rejected an overture from BusRadio after mass protest from parents, students, and citizens.
BusRadio has now completed one full academic year of business and little to show for it: whereas it initially bragged of grandiose plans to grow its network to reach millions of kids, currently its captive audience is only about 100,000. Jefferson County, Kentucky, which includes the city of Louisville, provides bus service for 60,000 students alone; failing to close that deal was a big failure for BusRadio.
In addition, BusRadio’s not just under attack for its crass commercialism, but also for its apparent insensitivity to the privacy of children and what it considers to be “age-appropriate” programming. And now, BusRadio’s home state of Massachusetts is considering banning all advertisements in schools, including buses. Without some serious growth, BusRadio may soon be running on fumes.
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