Should (USA) Congress revisit 1994 and 1996 legislation that has increased the blandness of FM radio?

Question

In 1994 the FCC began awarding licenses via auction, rather than "best public use" policy

In 1996 a 40-station nationwide ownership cap was erased

"In 2003, the FCC Media Bureau produced a draft report analyzing the impact of deregulation in the radio industry.The report stated that from March 1996 through March 2003, the number of commercial radio stations on the air rose 5.9 percent while the number of station owners fell 35 percent."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fcc

I'd personally like to see Congress require the FCC to break up the commercial FM monopoly and require that a higher percentage of FM frequencies be available for local, noncommercial, nonreligious, HIGH POWER licensees. Many of the commercial stations now are completely automated, so it's not gonna hurt the Clear Channels of the nation to give up some frequencies, particularly if they were given a 2 year period to realign their operations or such.

Next thing you know Clear Channel will be able to take your house via eminent domain (a la Home Depot) for a transmitter site!

Huevo: Honestly there is more variety in online radio than in satellite radio. And satellite costs, broadcast radio doesn't. And satellite has atmospheric / physics limitations.

If I could find a decent HD car radio with a USB port and a recessed area to keep me from knocking a flash drive off, I'd probably be content with that

Answer 1

Seems like they have too many other things to worry about now, but that was one of the WORST decisions ever made. If Clear Channel isn't a monopoly then I don't know what one is. They broke up Bell a while back, I could see it happening again with radio. It can't go on this way forever and I think they know they made a huge error. I also hope that the XM & Sirius merger gets blocked because that will be bad news too.

Answer 2

Agreed, man.

But there's Too much back$lapping going on behind those big, fancy wooden doors in Washington for anything drastic to happen.

This is why I've pretty much given up on regular radio... A long time ago. It's all 'Net & word of mouth for all my new discoveries now. Even my beloved classic rock stations play the same tired 20 songs again & again.

I used to dj at a station in the mid 90s (just when those changes happened) & then one day, almost outta the blue, a buncha suits waltz in & announce they're taking over & that 'positions would be lost'. The plan was to go automated during certain shifts.

Makes me wish I'd been into radio YEARS earlier. I totally missed out. Nearly zero soul & personality in radio today, unless it's a "morning drive zoo' thing. & even they're all similar.

Answer 3

I absolutely agree with you. Much like box stores and restaurants, this legislation has directly contributed to the homogenization of America. At one point in history I'm sure you could go to different cities throughout the country and have a different listening experience. Now, unless they said the name of the town and the call letters, you'd have no clue where you were at. It's really sad, there's a chance to have individuality throughout different regions, perhaps the opportunity to focus in more on local artists, but now it's all about money and selling crap to the consumers. Boring crap at that. Not being a suscriber to satellite radio (which I should) I have pretty much given up on the idea of radio itself (with the exception of sports talk and NPR). If such legislation should be reviewed and modified, then I might be interested in returning back to the FM dial.

*I was aware of the cost factor and interference but I always assumed that there was a greater variety through satellite. That's pretty sad, to have to pay for less.

Answer 4

So this is why the quality of radio stations have been dropping. It's really going to take non-stop petitions at this point to even make progress at stopping these practices and monopolies. The nation has placed itself in a big hole that radio regulation laws have a lower priority than the economy, the war, the health system, etc. We have to at least bring awareness to everyone of what's going on so we can take action instead of constantly *****ing about Nickelback getting played every hour.

Answer 5

Very good question.."dance with who we say..or you don't dance at all"..Monopolies and Privatisation seem to be accepted nowadays...? Look at oil price fixing...I wonder if the Finnish parents of their children killed by that psychopath in Finland are questioning the idea of You Tube's open slather..apropos of guilt/duty of care? Who is running the world today? Any usual suspects?