There may be hope

[Mike_Serio]

Don't know if y'all have seen this...it's from today's "Taylor On Radio-Info" e-mail newsletter.

The FCC’s ideas on localism – like full-time staffing – will pinch some broadcasters.
Chairman Kevin Martin is sticking with his “local staffing” proposal – and some operators are already crying that requiring “a physical presence at a radio facility during all hours of operation” would put some stations out of business. That may be overly dramatic – or maybe not. But the specter of what happened during that infamous January 2002 train derailment in Minot, ND still haunts the dialogue over local staffing. There’s at least one U.S. Senator who keeps trotting out the tale as a horror-show result of consolidation. He says Clear Channel was allowed to own almost everything in town, and that nobody was in the building that fateful Sunday night. While Clear Channel insists it “absolutely had staff working that night” and that the miscommunication was created by “the local authorities’ failure to install their Emergency Alert System equipment.” Chairman Martin included a “physical presence” requirement in a proposed notice in March, and he’s using the prospect of “severe weather or a local emergency” to justify it. Martin proposed something else, last Spring, that broadcasters are bucking against –


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[kilohertz]

The only way to save radio and put it back where it belongs is to bust up companies like Clear Channel and the rest and return the medium back to the days when programing counted and number crunchers and bankers knew their place. The public knows something is wrong and if you read today's WP you'll see most people in this country want the big boys busted up. It's going to be very rough for the Mark Mays of the world after the 08 election cycle. If we get a Dem in the White House folks like Michael Copps will no longer be in the minority on the FCC. Then and only then will things change.

 

[John Waywoods]

Remember, the bill that allowed multiple station ownership was passed by Bill Clinton. Also, I won't be surprised if the rules are further relaxed prior to the next presidential election.

 

[drt]

Yes, Bill Clinton signed the deregulation bill passed by both houses of Congress; supposedly he signed the bill since a veto would have likely been overriden.

What is interesting is the current FCC commissioner is that he is pushing for even further deregulation, while at the same time pushing for more local programming and/or presence.

I hope that after all of these proposals, there will be an improvement in radio, for both the AM and FM band; IBOC - hybrid-digital does not even begin to compensate for the lousy programming on most stations.