There have been numerous studies on the adverse impact of radio ownership consolidation as a result of the Federal Communications Act that deregulated ownership.
- far less local content and local ownership
- far less diversity of content
The top four radio station owners now have nearly half of the listeners nationwide...with packaged programming.
IMO, that is not the best use of the public airwaves.
I dont know that the return of the Fairness Doctrine is the answer.
I do believe that there should be a return to restrictions on ownership (number of stations a company can own in one market) and far greater open competition and access for licensing.
The public airwaves are not a commodity that should be controlled by a small number of mega-corps.
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