Local radio is it a thing of the past and just holding on by the skin of it’s teeth?

I say yes and the main reason is that the Telecommunications act of 1996 has allowed the huge
conglomerates to come in and buy up most of the stations in the large to medium markets
and playing the fewest songs that appeal to the most people. Though more then 30,000
CDs are released in a year, the national play lists are getting tighter then ever and are
being influenced by big money from the big labels being brought into the stations through
independent radio promoters.

As the former manager of the Police, Miles Colpeland said in the article “What’s Wrong
With Radio?” by Greg Kot of Rolling Stone Magazine, “the Telecommunications Act of
1996, which deregulated radio and set off an unprecedented wave of media mergers. That
action “made radio more corporate, more homogeneous, and rounded out the rough edges
that make music interesting.” I can’t agree more. Back in the day the independent radio
stations use to break new bands and had all the control of their play lists as well as being
a little rough and fun to listen to.

In today’ radio markets the play lists are set by corporate management and focus groups.
The Disc Jockey we know of old who use to bring in interesting and new music is gone
and now we have a person who is told what he can play and when.

I am one of those old time radio announcers from the 80’s. I use to go into the studio with
a pile of records and cd’s and try to give the listeners a vast selection of music to listen to as
well as the hits of the time. I felt my job was to open the minds of the listeners to new types
of music and new bands. Nowadays if a band doesn’t have a contract with the big record
labels they probably won’t be getting there air time on the radio.

Another big problem with these big media mergers is that the local areas have lost their
local stations. Sure in the morning you get some local news and traffic but you don’t
have a station that is giving back to the community in one way or another. The owner is
located in another state or town so the bulk of the money spent on advertising is leaving
the community the station is in. Or worse as Gabriel Harrison said in Brian Liberatore of
the Press & Sun-Bulletin’s article BU disc jockey contends radio giants inadequate in
serving some markets. “You get these stations that advertise themselves as top 20
stations and some of them are run by machines,” Harrison said. “Some have gotten rid of
the DJs. Now they just have sales positions. Used to be when you called a radio station
they’d say, ‘Hey, what song do you want to hear?’ Now you get a secretary who says,
‘What business office can I connect you to?’ “

The listenership of radio has been dropping for a few years now..due to poor music
selection, internet radio, and satellite radio. Internet radio is giving the listener what they
want to hear variety in the music and not the same 40 songs that the local radio station is
playing.

So what can you the listener do about all this…let your voices be heard?
Every radio station in the United States gets its broadcast license from the Federal
Communications Commission for free — on the condition that the station serves “the
public interest.”