Brewing & the 1996 Telecom Act (was "The Lost 45s with Barry Scott" moves to Oldies 103.3!)

["Roger Kirk" <rogerkirk@ttlc.net>]

A. Joseph Ross wrote:
> Maybe so, but because of the consolidation of ownership, it's unlikely
to
> happen.  The large conglomerates aren't going to do anything new.
It's
> the small owners who are willing to try something new to find a nitch,
and
> there are very few small owners left.

Except for the number of licenses available, the broadcasting
industry seems to be going through the same turmoil the beer
brewing industry is going through.  When I was a child (mid 50's)
there were a good number of local breweries throughout New
England (probably the whole country) e.g. Carling, Black Horse,
etc.  that were slowly bought out by the larger breweries.  A spate
of novelty beers in the late 60's/early 70's e.g. Gablingers did little
to dent the hold the majors held on beer.  Today, microbrewing is
easy to do (even some restaurants have an entire brewery on-site)
and is taking a modest chunk out of the beer market.  Of course,
one could debate the Sam Adams issue (microbrew or macrobrew)
endlessly, but one only has to look at the varieties of beer available
from local brewers to see that things have come full circle.  Now, if
Clear Channel and a couple of their bretheren would see fit to go
belly-up and make the licenses available at fire-sale prices...........

Wishfully,
Roger Kirk
rogerkirk@ttlc.net