Supposedly, the marketplace decides things such as content provided on TV and radio. I have watched the radio market descend over the years, into a conglomerate, corporate formatting paradigm. Cookie cutter formats, voice tracking, little local content, and bland, bland, content. Deregulation has been good for some things, not so for others. I have heard both sides of the argument on deregulation of the telephone and airline industries. I have also heard the same about the broadcasting industry. Relaxed ownership rules have really killed creativity and local flavor in radio.
At the same time, my ideology leans towards freedom to do what you want with what you own. I realize that the government does not believe that any broadcaster owns the public airwaves. If you doubt this, try building your own radio station and see what happens.
Anyway, I lament the days of local radio and radio stations serving the public good. I read a story linked from a radio message board about the FCC dealing with ownership rules in radio. I do not think that corporate radio bosses care about quality or local flavor; only about the bottom line of dollars and cents. That mentality does not lend itself to quality radio programming, unique flavor, and certainly not public service in broadcasting. Few stations do this today. I miss the days of truly local radio that serves the public.
Anyway, here is the article on the FCC's proposed ruling. There is not much detail on the actual considerations, but the general topic is there.
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