Editing IHeartMedia (section)

===Lack of local staff during emergency===
{{Main|Minot train derailment}}
Clear Channel was criticized for a situation that occurred in [[Minot, North Dakota]], on the morning of January 18, 2002. At around 2:30&nbsp;a.m., a [[Canadian Pacific Railway]] train derailed and leaked {{convert|240,000|USgal|L}} of toxic [[anhydrous ammonia]], releasing a cloud of caustic, poisonous gas over the city.<ref name="CBC">{{cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/minot-train-derailment-kills-one-injures-dozens-1.342396 |title=Minot train derailment kills one, injures dozens |publisher=CBC |date=January 18, 2002 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070817204119/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/minot-train-derailment-kills-one-injures-dozens-1.342396 |archive-date=August 17, 2007 }}</ref> At the time, Clear Channel owned six commercial radio stations out of nine in the Minot area. City officials attempted to contact the local Clear Channel office by telephone to spread warnings of the danger using its radio stations, but it was several critical hours before the station manager was finally reached at his home. In the meantime, [[9-1-1]] operators were advising panicked callers to tune to [[KCJB]] for emergency instructions, but the station was not broadcasting any such information.<ref name="Now">{{cite web|url=http://www.democracynow.org/2007/1/25/exclusive_911_calls_in_north_dakota|title=Exclusive... 911 Calls in North Dakota Town Reveal Dangers of Media Consolidation|publisher=Democracy Now|date=January 25, 2007|access-date=November 29, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206055034/http://www.democracynow.org/2007/1/25/exclusive_911_calls_in_north_dakota|archive-date=December 6, 2010|url-status=live}}</ref>

The ammonia spill was the largest of its kind in the United States, with one person killed, and over 1,000 seeking medical attention. Clear Channel claimed no responsibility for its failure to warn residents, maintaining that the city should have used the [[Emergency Alert System]] to trigger automatic equipment in place at all U.S. radio stations. The EAS equipment was later found to be functional at the time, but had not been activated by city, state or regional authorities.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.radioworld.com/article/2718|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130201021200/http://www.radioworld.com/article/2718|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 1, 2013|title=Reconsidering Minot and EAS|access-date=October 12, 2010}}</ref> Other critical systems throughout Minot were either inoperable or had failed, including the public siren system, electricity in parts of the town, and the 9-1-1 telephone system, which became overloaded.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.slate.com/id/2157395/|title=The whole story about that toxic spill and the Clear Channel "monopoly".|first=Jack|last=Shafer|date=January 10, 2007|work=Slate Magazine|access-date=September 8, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091125002557/http://www.slate.com/id/2157395/|archive-date=November 25, 2009|url-status=live}}</ref>