When ANY entity (government. business, judicial, social, etc.) that makes a decision about what you, Joe Citizen, gets to hear/see/read, is a form of censorship. Again, as I stated above, I did not post here to dabble in politics.
I posted to prove a point on how badly the QUALITY of the media, especially RADIO has become SINCE federal (FCC) deregulation.
How did mega-owners like Clear Channel and Cumulus get the chance to form near monopolies in most all markets in America in the first place?
Good question!
Since the Federal Radio Acts of 1912 (requiring all passenger fare paying ships at sea to have Morse Code radios and operators on board because of the Titanic disaster)...1929, and 1933 (where technology of AM and "voice" communications needed to be federally regulated) federal regulations prohibited a newspaper from owning a radio or tv station....it also prohibited any one owner from owning more than one AM and more than one FM in any given geographical market (say....70-90 miles from any one given town or city).
FCC deregulation in 1979 and 1980 changed that.
Within a couple of years, the FCC board was petitioned by radio station owners (big money, Like ABC, NBC, Jacor, Prisim, Clear Channel) to allow one owner to own up to two FM's and up to 4 AM's in any given market...as AM radio's dominance was begining to wane in the "ears" of the listeners.
AM radio was running it's course as static, fading, and sometimes interferance in the fringes of AM radio range can suffer...as FM usually has crisp, clear stereo sound. Music stations were abandoning AM in droves to get FM licences. Talk/News radio stayed with AM, and continues to be the anchor of most AM markets today.
By the early 1990's, the FCC was officially petitioned again by big corporate radio and granted another deregulatory action that allowed big owners to own up to 4 FM's and as many as 6 AM stations.
That's when the small mom & pop owners caved in to big money offers and sold out to the mega owners. When the poster above, scratching his head wondering how highly rated successful stations get gobbled up? Easy...MONEY. Independant mom & pop's got an offer they couldn't refuse. Money TALKS.
Seeing even more profit on the horizon, the bigger mega-owners began gobbling up the smaller mega-owners...Clear Channel bought out Jacor (headquartered in Cinncinatti) and then bought out Prism (which I worked for, headquartered in Tuscon).
CBS bought out a number of smaller mega-owners and took over their stations. Cumulus did the same thing.
Since deregulation, mega-owners fired (in the name of "consolidation") most of the talented air talent who had experience and high ratings and replaced them with folks just out of college and broadcasting schools to save money. With very little experience behind the mic....quality suffered, and some listeners went to satalite radio, or just listend to CD's as a result.
Radio listenership and station profitability fell drastically after the late 90's.
Now, people are saying "why does radio suck"? Why should I have to PAY for satallite radio for quality programming? I SHOULD get quality programming FREE on my radio!
That's why you are starting to see legislation put forward to reverse some of the damage done by companies who form near monopolies in the name of profit...not competition and serving the public interest.
Left, right, politics? I could care less. I do not care about radio as an employment venue for my self as I got out 7 years ago. I'm my own boss now.
I just think it's a shame that you younger folks turn on the radio and get voice-tracking/automation/satallite oat-meal-vanilla crap programming, when I grew up listening to some of the best air talent of our time.
Yesterday I dove 215 miles through a wall of severe thunderstorms and tornado warnings...punching the radio dial from station to station looking for weather information--only to find NOTHING. Over 2 hours of looking for needed safety info and all I heard was generic voice tracking.
I remember doing afternoons at WZZU-FM in Raleigh/Durham, and setting my funny material aside to stop down and do minute-to-minute tornado warning tracking so the public would have fair warning to take cover.
It's the responsible thing to do.
Somehow, now, radio depends on the EAS system going into auto-override mode and warning you, when sadly, many times it doesn't--and you think you are safe. All the while the studio is dark, the automated voice tracking plugs along, and the studio request line goes unanswered.
Last winter's tornados in Florida killed people because while the tv station EAS and live personel went into action to warn people, some of the local radio stations EAS failed.
I can understand why some people want a change.
Me, I listen to CD's.
68ROX
