JON CALDARA: Consolidation of radio a cautionary tale for local TV news.
We’ve seen this type of conglomeration here before, in radio, and it’s served no one well, including, ironically, the companies that did it.
Before 1996, the Federal Communication Commission’s rules usually allowed only two radio stations to be owned by one entity in any one media market, an AM and FM station. It made for the “WKRP in Cincinnati” period of radio — local, often independently owned, stations with a variety of styles and personalities. In other words, lots of choice for listeners.
It also gave birth to the heyday of local talk radio, arguably the most potent force for limited government news and views we’ve ever had. It’s what drew me to work in talk radio for nearly 27 years now.
In Colorado, we had local giants like Mike Rosen and Peter Boyles who would dive into local politics and bring out stories and opinions the newspapers and TV stations wouldn’t touch. They kept the mainstream media honest
Talk radio was a political force. Those days are gone.
The FCC changed their rules so one company could own up to eight radio stations in any market. It started a buying spree. Companies went into debt to buy as many stations as they could as fast as they could.
The plan was to centralize the operations of the radio stations; thus, saving a lot of money by taking meat cleavers to the local stations.
Why have a newsroom crew serving only one station when you could have that one newsroom serve eight radio stations? Lay off all the other newsrooms’ employees, and there’s your profit.
If you’ve ever heard the same voice on different radio stations report the same news item, it’s because they record the story once and send it out to eight “sister” stations. No option of hearing how up to seven other stations might have covered that story differently.
If you’ve ever heard a radio traffic reporter mispronounce a common Colorado street or city name, it’s because they’re not in Colorado. They’re in another studio in a different state reading off some computer screen; then the guy does the same for the next city.
Fallout for local news
But the biggest damage done was the death of local news coverage and talk shows. Oh, yes, they’re still around, but they are not nearly the influencers and power brokers they once were.
Less local news/talk means less local accountability.