I am intrigued...so it's time for a plunge into the pool. Apologizing up front for the length, but it all fits.
Having an accumulated 30 years doing some form of this business, there are some hard facts discussed here to be amplified:
The FCC: Right, they don't care about the programming so much anymore (there was a time we actually had a Radio Code of Standards...but those are rules, and heck, they can be broken right???). However, 'serving the public trust' or 'broadcasting in the public interest, convenience and necessity (from the Communications Act of 1934) also indicates that radio must not neglect the communities they serve (because, in fact, radio is there to SERVE the listening area). The ones who serve best know their audience, target it and inform it. But do they??? FACT: If you never hear news, if you don't get even 30 minutes of public service information, if you find nothing but degrading, offensive programming on the FREE airwaves, there is a definite violation going on. Again, though, the politically 'correct' thing is to allow whatever free speech to spill out over the air so that 3-year olds think gang banging, mauling and rape are really cool. PUH-LEEZE. That should be relegated to the pay arena if it must be 'protected'.
Here in Hartford we all witnessed something that few got angry about: a live street camera shows a man walking across a downtown street, gets struck not once, but twice, by two cars in hot pursuit of each other; people pass by the badly injured man and do nothing until a cop several minutes later passes the man, stops, and gets assistance. Governor Rell gets the word out about how low we have sunk to have absolutely no time or compassion for a fellow human. Where do you think we got our training on insensitivity and callousness? Just listen to some of the shows on radio...
What some owners forget very conveniently is their responsibility to be a 'good corporate citizen' (not that it's a law, but it is accepted business practice across the universe). I work for a station which has a longstanding record of being such and it has enjoyed a very successful ride since the 1950s (it makes money). Yeah, they can make the excuse that revenue drives their success, but should it come from the deranged among us in a PUBLIC forum like broadcast radio?
THE ENTERTAINMENT: As for 'your' vs. 'my' vs. 'our' music, yes, listeners do and should have an expectation that the public airwaves should be able to have a home just for their tastes. Usually the marketplace makes room for all of us, but with duplicity (multi-ownership) and special interests buying up properties that doesn't happen much anymore. That's why internet radio is doing so well and why brick & mortar facilities have VERY mixed feelings about them. Some who can capitalize on it; others find the competition too overwhelming. This is precisely why there has been a longstanding struggle by some of the biggest names in the industry (PBS, ABC, etc.) to create punishing royalty fees to 'eliminate the competition' who do not have as yet the big sales revenues. Obviously business should make money, it's how they thrive, but the actions which block out large segments of providers to form a protectionist bloc is akin to how business runs in Russia these days. Again, the FCC created this monster and the monster for now can do mostly what it pleases until we the people get off our rumps to do something. Maybe the financially adept among you can pool resources, find those of us in the business who know how this all works, and buy stations! There's plenty of them in trouble.
THE INFO: It's the same way with news: try getting anything 'balanced' these days. AP pretty much dominates stories, and they work their biases into the hand picked faves. Want proof? See the coverage of the presidential campaign to date, then ask yourself, 'who else is running besides the Dem and Rep figureheads?' Did you know the Libertarian Party had a convention in Denver a few weekends ago and picked two CONSERVATIVE candidates for their presidential ticket? And why aren't the 'talking heads' in radio talking about that? And if that doesn't get you, back in June 2006 my immediate area one evening had been issued a Tornado Warning from the National Weather Service. NOT ONE RADIO STATION aired this alert. It was Sunday, 7pm, and if the programming wasn't canned, it was being run by people with absolutely NO COMMON SENSE. I found out about it at a local gas station whose attendant got the info from someone with a weather radio.
When the bottom line effects the people being served, there should be outrage. The airwaves are not there as just a cash cow, there is a duty that goes along with the license. Where offenders keep offending it is up to the public at large to complain with filings to the FCC and / or the station's public file, which the FCC is duty bound to scrutinize.
Keep in mind one other thing, music lovers: any station that says 'this is what statistics show' is not programming from a real connection to its audience; how many of us work for stats-driven companies that have only modest relationships with their consumers at best, and often do little or nothing to enhance a consumer's experience? All it amounts to is lazy marketing, and eventually someone comes along and outclasses and outperforms. Internet radio thrives for just this reason.
