Re: good Phoenix article

["tony schinella" <radiotony@attbi.com>]

I don't think the point is whether a station has "near-zero listeners," as
much as whether or not people have the opportunity to broadcast. Or, more to
the point, the opportunity to broadcast without extreme regulation over what
a broadcaster would like to do on the air. Is doing a bi-weekly show on
freeform music show on near-zero listener WMFO a waste of my time? Maybe.
No, if it means I wouldn't get to broadcast at all. Yes, if there were other
opportunities where people could broadcast on larger stations without
worrying about demographics, playing the same five songs over and over
again, etc.

Surprisingly, this brings me back to the Kennedy piece and deregulation in
general. Personally, I am glad that the activists have finally gotten
together but where were they when some of us were trying to stop the 1996
Telecom Bill? Nowhere. And now, frankly, it is too late. Unless ...
Thinking about it now, I don't care if the FCC loosens the regulations to
allow a newspaper to own a television station, IF in exchange, they would
limit ownership of radio stations to two per market, per company. This would
allow a company to own a newspaper, television station, and two radio
stations. That is MORE than enough to cross pollinate advertising
opportunities between all the entities. The problem continues to be
corporate domination over markets with multiple stations.
Is it true that Clear Channel owns TWELVE [!] stations in the Denver market?

----- Original Message -----
From: "Aaron Read" <aread@speakeasy.net>
To: "Donna Halper" <dlh@donnahalper.com>;
<boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org>
Sent: Thursday, June 05, 2003 2:45 PM
Subject: Re: good Phoenix article


> At 02:11 PM 6/5/2003, Donna Halper wrote:
> >Not because I am quoted in it, but Dan Kennedy always manages to get to
> >the heart of the matter, regarding the FCC decision:
> >
>
>http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/top/features/documents/02
931075.htm
> >
>
> Perhaps even more telling is Steve Provizer's comments.  Those of you who
> know Steve know that he was a huge proponent of local media.  But three
> years of Allston-Brighton Free Radio have proven something to him: local
> media for local media's sake makes a nice sound bite but listeners/viewers
> don't care.  That's why ABfree has near-zero listeners - it's content just
> isn't that good, nor is it different enough from other free-form and
> quasi-free-form stations in Boston to attract a niche audience.
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------
> Aaron "Bishop" Read             aread@speakeasy.net
> FriedBagels Consulting          AOL-IM: readaaron
> http://www.friedbagels.com      Boston, MA
>