Reply #4: Create Competition and Access... [View All]

[KharmaTrain]

I worked with the Fairness Doctrine in the 80's...it is a slippery slope when you start mandating "fairness"...especially in the hands of politicians. Radio has gone through a lot of other changes that are far more responsible for the rise of hate radio than the Fairness Doctrine. The floodgates opened with the deregulation and Telcom '96. It put a majority of the radio stations in the hands of a few who downsized, consolidated and "belt-tightened" to make the most money with their stations...and to create an artificially high price on their license that kept their stock prices high...and made them lots of money as well. It became so market-heavy that many large broadcast companies made their real money off the rise of their stock prices than the actual revenues of their operations.

One way to cut costs was to replace local programming and expenses with cheap satellite programming and right wing programmers gladly filled the bill...it attracted white males...one of the few audiences left that listened to AM radio (or sports talk). Now the bottom has collapsed on this shell game. Radio has seen revenue declines for several years (especially AM and hate radio) and the recent market crash has taken a real toll on the inflated values of the large broadcast companies...turning a lot of their properties into near dust.

The hey day of hate radio has passed. We saw in the last election that it no longer was a player, but rather a freak show. The ongoing change of listening trends to new forms of medium...satellite, internet, IPOD/IPhone is changing the broadcast landscape, and with it so will what we now consider "broadcasting".

Reregulating radio to open up both ownership and opportunities would be a big step in bringing both new blood and voices onto the public airwaves. Reinstituting the number of station a company can own in a particular market, shortening license renewal periods, making license challenges easier and giving preference to local and minority ownership would increase the variety, creativity and diversity on a morbid broadcast band and lead to a smoother transition into the future.

The real game here is to see if the same synergy that was used to turn the Internet into a major conduit for Progressive thought and communications and can transfered to broadcasting...harnessing the many talents that are out there and creating platforms where they can be heard, supported and flourish. It's a tricky act, but one that should be worthy of looking at as a future goal of expanding a Progressive agenda.

Cheers...