Clear Channel embraces Pirate Radio

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This kinda stuff was actually really common in the early 90's. You had record labels publishing fake zines, and employing people to sit in chat rooms pretending to be 16 year old girls in order to promote their stuff. There were a number of indie labels that were actually subsidized and controlled by majors. All the radio stations aired alterna shows late at night where the DJ's would pretend they had free run of the station. MTV itself aired a short lived show that was supposed to be some guys tapping into their airwaves and taking over for their own pirate television show. Then you had concert tours with huge sections of the audience filled in by casting call extras acting like fans. There was a whole period when trendspotting became big, and they started faking trends that had corporate backing. Recently, Pony shoes relaunched their brand by giving away shoes to celebs and other people they thought were cool...then you have shoe stores that get small run Addidas, and Nike shoes so they can create a false collector market on exclusives. They've been doing it in Pro Wrestling story lines for years too, and it's been big business.

One one hand it's marketing people turning youth culture against intself, and on the other hand, it's just exploiting a culture where industry trade information is common knowledge... kids know about things like box office receipts, ratings, contract buyouts, corporate sponsorships....etc.