Re: FCC (was: Re: clear channel buys amfm)

[Sven Weil <sven@lily.org>]

With the current setup you really only have about  4 or  stations to chose
from,
Chancellor, Emmis, Clear Channel, Infinity, Entercom, Greater Media,
Disney.  It doesn't matter how many transmitters there are in a city --
there could be hundreds.  My concern is who owns and operates them.  It
seems that there are too many transmitters in the hands of too few
corporations.

--
Sven F. Weil
e-mail: sven@lily.org
World Wide Web: http://www.lily.org/~sven


On Tue, 12 Oct 1999, Mike Thomas wrote:

> Not quite.  If you have a lot of listeners, it may be due to the fact that you
> have a good signal.  In most markets, the stations with the best signals tend to
> be toward the top of the ratings heap regardless of format.  An example of this
> would be Portsmouth, NH.  The two top stations in that market year in and year
> out are WHEB and WOKQ.  Why?  Most likely because both have 50K sticks and the
> rest of the competition only runs 3 or 6K signals which don't cover the entire
> metro. Both HEB and OKQ have sounded pretty crappy over the past year, with HEB
> sounding the worst.  Because these stations have superior signals, do they "serve
> the public interest" better than a 3K signal doing good radio but that not
> everyone can hear?  I think not.
> 
> Many people complain about having only one newspaper to choose from,or only one
> cable company.  Imagine what it would be like if we had only one ISP to choose
> from, or one phone company again, or maybe one cellular/digital phone service.
> People, including some on this list would go ballistic.  I don't think having
> some limits on station ownership are a bad thing, but I don't want to go back to
> one AM/FM in a market either.  I think the current set-up is relatively fair and
> should stay in place.
> 
> Mike Thomas
> WXLO & Mediabase 24/7
> 
> Dib9@aol.com wrote:
> 
> > The average citizen couldn't care less who owns their local radio station.
> > My definition of the public interest is if you have a lot of listeners you
> > must be serving the public well and if you do not have a lot of listeners you
> > must not be doing a good job serving the public.
> >
> 
>