Lets REALLY deregulate radio..

[Leebo65]

Eliminate the FCC, no license, anybody who wants can put out a signal and say or play what they want. If you wanna incite revolution outta your garage so be it. If a giant corporation wants to dominate with 1,000,000 Watt transmitter have it. Wide open, unfettered Democracy, Lets Do It Baby...Yeah

 

[TheBigA]

That's kind of what the internet is like now. I can start as many stations as I want, and consentration of media rules don't apply. And you're not just broadcasting to a city, but to the entire world. So you don't need to own stations in multiple cities. No public service obligations. No need to hire employees. Too bad you gotta pay those damned royalties. If it wasn't for that, you'd REALLY see some fireworks.

Everyone calling for more regulation in AM/FM should really look at the internet, and see what happens with no rules or regulations. It might be educational.

 

[landtuna]

The Internet is not without "rules". There is a governing body which controls and assigns addresses so that one user doesn't step on another. That is exactly the same base function of the FCC - only in OTA it is much more complicated due to the multiple use of single frequencies, wave propagation, ERP, and a million other factors not present on the Internet.

There is one other significant difference.....the electronic medium has a restricted transmitting range. There is no such restriction over the internet so long as the backbone is wide enough to handle the new sites.

In short, completely unregulated radio/TV would result in nothing but chaos.

 

[davideduardo]

In short, completely unregulated radio/TV would result in nothing but chaos.

And that is what we have had in recent years in Italy and Argentina (Italy's "branch office" in South America) where there are thousands of pirates, and the provincial and city governments also believe they can license stations.

 

[SirRoxalot]

I'm surprised that David didn't point out that the proposed wild-west "deregulation" would also violate multiple international treaties. RF doesn't stop at borders.

 

[4dude]

Eliminate the FCC, no license, anybody who wants can put out a signal and say or play what they want.

Well someone has to be there IN CASE SOMEONE STARTS TO CAUSE PROBLEMS ON THE RADIO.. (Many think they can swear and cause many hardaches over radio as they think no one knows who they are (And thats sad))

 

[davideduardo]

Well someone has to be there IN CASE SOMEONE STARTS TO CAUSE PROBLEMS ON THE RADIO.. (Many think they can swear and cause many hardaches over radio as they think no one knows who they are (And thats sad))

For AM, FM and TV, the NARBA has essentially been abrogated by several of the signatories, and diplomatic agreements rule over the coordination between the US, Canada and Mexico. For Mexico, we have the Comisión Mixta representing the FCC and the SCT. The US and the Bahamas essentially cooperate, but there are no other operative agreements in the western Hemisphere.

Other than frequency coordination that determines band usage and the limits of specific frequencies of bands, no other nation pays any attention to what we license on AM, FM and TV nor do we to them.

 

[WPPCProductions]

If the FCC is gone,radio airwave will be a big mess,radio will sound like the ole CB radio back in 1970's with 100's of carriers.imagine 100 50KW stations with iboc going on air at the same time on the same freq. each station 50 miles away or 200 stations on different freq's 10khz apart on the am band from 530 to 1700khz in the same area with off freq aligned xmitters... One thing the FCC should bring back the 7,7,7, ownership rule.if the rule was still in place all the ma/pa stations will be still here and ,ClearChannel and these other big radio conglomerates whoudn't be around .

 

[TheBigA]

One thing the FCC should bring back the 7,7,7, ownership rule.if the rule was still in place all the ma/pa stations will be still here and ,ClearChannel and these other big radio conglomerates whoudn't be around .

I'll make a deal...we go back to 7-7-7, but all radio stations that were allowed to sign on during the past 25 years must shut down. In order words, if we're going back to old rules, then we should go back to the same number of licenses. There was a reason why 7-7-7 was changed, and it's because there were too many stations for it to be practical.

 

[aunti-terrestrial]

One thing the FCC should bring back the 7,7,7, ownership rule.if the rule was still in place all the ma/pa stations will be still here and ,ClearChannel and these other big radio conglomerates whoudn't be around .

I'll make a deal...we go back to 7-7-7, but all radio stations that were allowed to sign on during the past 25 years must shut down. In order words, if we're going back to old rules, then we should go back to the same number of licenses. There was a reason why 7-7-7 was changed, and it's because there were too many stations for it to be practical.

Are you actually in a position to make a deal like that?

No?

 

[TheBigA]

Are you actually in a position to make a deal like that?

No?

The entire concept is theoretical. The government will not return to 7-7-7. You can't put toothpaste back into the tube. Returning to old rules won't bring us back to where we were 20 years ago. There's no "do-over" in real life.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

What a wild and woolly topic this is! O.K. I'll play your game. So. If deregulating radio complete is a good idea, then it would be a good idea for some other areas of enterprise, too.

Let's fully deregulate the airlines. The government has no business deciding WHO gets to fly the airplanes. Pilot's licenses are so 20th century. And let them put airports anywhere they want to. Right across the street from your house looks like a great place to land 747s.

And Hospitals. Up to their armpits in rules and regulations. If somebody wants to set up some beds in a vacated Walmart store, go for it. It would do marvels for the economy.

And let's get the new Bernie Madoff law through congress. Banks, insurance companies, and stock brokering need no rules. Free them up to make our economy work.

And all this city government and sheriffs departments and state government bureaucracy needs to go. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have been worthwhile because it has taught us the War Lord philosophy of keeping society working efficiently. Let's abolish government, deregulate everything, and let the War Lords emerge.

I can hardly wait. I may pee in my pants any moment now.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Now that I got that wild hair out of my system, let me post a more rational scenario and question.

I read Jerry Del Colliano's daily blog/rant where he admonishes current broadcasters to invest in digital. He is the first to admit he doesn't know what the landscape of digital audio service will eventually look like, but as a radio operator if you are not wading around testing the waters, once the picture takes shape you won't be part of it.

I can't own the radio station I would like to operate. So I ask myself can I jump into the world of digital audio service. I'm not interested in serving the world, the nation, my region of the U.S. or even an entire state. My whole focus is a county, a city, a community. I could start an Internet "station" to serve my community but the minute it looks like I have something that might work I can expect 17 or 29 other yo-yows to jump in and try to do what I am doing, only they are sure they can do it better. How much can I afford to invest in my on-line adventure if there is no such thing as a franchise, an exclusive territory, or at least an exclusive format.

The common cry in today's America is "Get Off Our Back. Leave Us Alone." (copyright Grover Norquist?)

The common cry is deregulation is good for business. There are times when REGULATION IS GOOD for business. A city the size of Ft. Wayne, IN or Fargo, ND or Macon, GA would like to have airline service. No airline is going to make the investment needed and hire a staff for the facility unless they have some understanding that it they take the risk, they will not have 17 or 29 other airlines poaching their market. Maybe a second one would be acceptable, but ONLY if they agree to live up to certain levels of service.

In any business you can name today, finding the balance between franchise, patent and copyright vs. pure wild-west absolute freedom is a fine balance. And it needs to change sometimes to move with the changes in technology and market size and cultural values.

The man is right about putting the toothpaste back in the tube. It can never again be 1946 or 1966 in radio. But are we really ready for a day we simply turn the radio over to the War Lords?

 

[SirRoxalot]

I'm not advocating a return to 7-7-7, but I'm also unenthused about the current concentration of media.

Let me ask a few questions:

Of all the "new" radio stations since deregulation went into effect, how many fully cover their COL (City of License) with a signal level that would afford decent building penetration?

How many are programmed to actually serve their COL?

How many are FM stations that have essentially replaced music programming that was once found on AM stations?

How many are LP stations that don't show up in the ratings?

How many are repeaters that fill in coverage gaps for "parent" stations?


All stations are not created equally. Power levels and coverage maps vary widely. Yes, there are more stations now than there were 25 years ago, but many of the newer signals were intended to allow old daytime AM stations to have an FM signal that would cover their COL with a signal that was available 24/7. Anybody know how many of those were co-opted by consolidators and turned into rimshots in bigger markets?

Many of the new stations are low-power stations or repeaters. They were designed to allow community groups to provide local programming that wasn't available from commercial operators because it would not be economically viable. Some were intended to allow larger commercial operators to "fill in" signals in geographically hard-to-penetrate areas.

The bottom line on the problem really is that the current owners of many stations paid too much. Their debt is unsustainable. The sooner they go bankrupt, the sooner stations will end up in the hands of owners who will have reasonable amounts of debt, and enough income left over to provide competitive programming.

Speaking of competitive programming, Goat, there's no reason why anybody should have an on-line "franchise" on a particular programming format or approach. You've got some things that the average 17 or 29 year olds don't have - deeper pockets to provide better programming, and more experience to know how to create better programming. As the old Greek proverb says:

Old age and treachery will overcome youth and skill.

 

[elchupacabras]

David Eduardo wrote on: February 16, 2009, 10:38:27 am »
And that is what we have had in recent years in Italy and Argentina (Italy's "branch office" in South America) where there are thousands of pirates, and the provincial and city governments also believe they can license stations.

Right you are! I worked for a station serving a small town in the Bs. As. Province that was licensed to serve the community through wired speakers in private homes. The station decided to get cozy with the municipality and the "intendente" decided to allow the station to launch an FM service and said to "hell with COMFER," the country's regulating body.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Speaking of competitive programming, Goat, there's no reason why anybody should have an on-line "franchise" on a particular programming format or approach. You've got some things that the average 17 or 29 year olds don't have - deeper pockets to provide better programming, and more experience to know how to create better programming. As the old Greek proverb says:

Old age and treachery will overcome youth and skill.

Even if I could mount any kind of logic to defend the idea of a "franchise" it is NOT going to fly in this day and age.  I'm one of those guys who will throw into the middle of a conversation:  "Think outside the box!"

And that is what has to happen in this climate.  "Back in the day" if you wanted to open an appliance store in your hometown county seat,  you could go to Maytag and RCA and General Electric and get a "franchise" to sell their product in your town and those companies would protect your market for you.  If the Maytag dealer in the town 25 miles away bought advertising on the radio station in your town, you picked up the phone and reported that to Maytag and the dealer in the next town got a visit or phone call explaining "how cows eat cabbage".  Back in that era if I were the Chevy dealer and the Chevy store 25 miles away started marketing in my market, one call to Chevy put a stop to that.  Post World War II America was built on that type of system.  Today we have decided that system was vulgar and has no place in America.  If you grew up in that system,  it may not naturally flow in your blood to know how to live without a little bit of safety net of some kind.

Deregulation and brave new trends in the whole area of "anti-trust regulation eras"  are still emerging and developing.  Since the deregulation binge begun circa 1980 we have not had enough time to know whether it actually works or not.  In another 25 years or so we may have definitive evidence that it does, or that it does not.  As of this year we now know that IT DOES NOT WORK in the banking and investment business.

And when will be know if it works for radio?

So, in the meantime I sit here sucking my thumb, trying to decide how much I of my retirement funds I am willing to risk on my wild-haired ideas for localized-content audio-on-the-Internet.  Life in America in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s did not prepare me for this moment.  I'm still looking for the location of the box so I can identify and examine what would be outside of it.   ;D

 

[aunti-terrestrial]

Deregulation and brave new trends in the whole area of "anti-trust regulation eras" are still emerging and developing. Since the deregulation binge begun circa 1980 we have not had enough time to know whether it actually works or not. In another 25 years or so we may have definitive evidence that it does, or that it does not. As of this year we now know that IT DOES NOT WORK in the banking and investment business.

And when will be know if it works for radio?

So, in the meantime I sit here sucking my thumb, trying to decide how much I of my retirement funds I am willing to risk on my wild-haired ideas for localized-content audio-on-the-Internet. Life in America in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s did not prepare me for this moment. I'm still looking for the location of the box so I can identify and examine what would be outside of it. ;D

Anyone hear anything new on the emerging rumor that CC's radio division is gearing up for Chapter 11/bankruptcy? Wouldn't it be funny if they demanded a government bailout?

Not funny?

Deregulation didn't work in investment. It didn't work in banking. It didn't work in energy (anybody remember Enron, or the State of California going dark?) In fact, I think the next four years are going to see a remarkable reverse on the deregulation binge that allowed a handful of people to become enormously wealthy while their industries crashed and burned.

In the meantime, most of the work you'd need to do for a successful local Internet venture needs to be done before you spend a cent on actually buying a domain. Gathering information to research a venture doesn't cost a thing, but it's time-consuming. The advantage of being local and targeting local is that you can offer something someone else either can't or isn't willing to do, and that you're willing to get out and pound the streets making friends with your potential listeners so they'll be more likely to choose your page over someone else's (or in addition to). If you're worried about committing, why not start with a few short-form podcasts and test the waters? Go for it!

 

[TheBigA]

Anyone hear anything new on the emerging rumor that CC's radio division is gearing up for Chapter 11/bankruptcy?

Not going to happen. Bain didn't invest all that money to watch it turn to zero. They will fire everyone and cut costs to zero before they let that happen. And they're the ones calling the shots. Same with any company that has a line of cash coming to it, like Citadel or Cumulus. They will not be going bankrupt. They will sell the real estate first.

In fact, I think the next four years are going to see a remarkable reverse on the deregulation binge that allowed a handful of people to become enormously wealthy while their industries crashed and burned.

That's what they said 25 years ago. They were wrong.

The reason for deregulation is because the only people worse at running these companies are government agencies. Need I mention Amtrak? How did the SEC do regulating Bernie Madoff? You tell me. They're such experts at running things, how did the federal government turn a huge surplus into a multi-trillion dollar deficite? You think they'll really do a a better job running radio? Do you REALLY?

The government won't re-regulate because that would cost money, and they don't have any. Michael Copps has been screaming for years about needing more funds to run the FCC, and no one cared. Now he's Chairman, he knows he's not going to get any more money, and so he's very quiet. No new broadcasting regulations. Not now. Not ever.

In the meantime, most of the work you'd need to do for a successful local Internet venture needs to be done before you spend a cent on actually buying a domain.

Interesting...how much government regulation is there in the internet? Not much. And people love it. No requirements for local news, no requirements to serve the public, and no limitations on the number of domains you can own. If it works so well for the internet, why not apply the same logic to broadcasting?

 

[SirRoxalot]

Interesting...how much government regulation is there in the internet? Not much. And people love it. No requirements for local news, no requirements to serve the public, and no limitations on the number of domains you can own. If it works so well for the internet, why not apply the same logic to broadcasting?

That logic will become valid as soon as there are unlimited radio channels available, anyone who applies can have one, and they can be run for about 8 bucks a month.

 

[Tom Wells]

Radio is ultimately regulated by the laws of physics, which is why it should be the realm of engineers.

The business and industry ignore this to their own detriment.

Italy was indeed a mess on the FM.

I say bring back 7-7-7, 1st class tickets and an a paid engineer on staff per so many stations, required.