Read this for a real rush.... LOL it's really funny as hell.
Content, Not Consolidation, Saved Radio May 28, 2003
Folks, here's part of a story from AP: "Supporters of media ownership
restrictions are making a final push to warn of the dangers of more
media mergers ahead of an FCC vote that stacks 3-2 against them. The
FCC is to consider on Monday eliminating many of the restrictions on a
single company owning combinations of newspapers and TV and radio
stations in the same city." The real point of this comes way down in
the story. "Critics worry television could become like radio."
We all know what this really
means: Critics worry that television could become like Rush Limbaugh.
Deregulation in 1996 allowed companies to amass hundreds of stations
and cut costs by replacing local shows with national programming. The
radio industry was dying, and there was a proper amount of
consolidation permitted, and many think that restored health to the
radio industry, but it wasn't consolidation that saved radio. It had
nothing to do with who owned what, ladies and gentlemen. It was
content that saved radio and the Democrats cannot even admit that.
They are afraid that if consolidation happens in TV, everything is
going to end up like the Fox News Channel, just like they think all of
radio ended up as me and Limbaugh wannabes.
This is where the Democrats continually miss the boat. Do people
listen to radio stations because of who owns them? They don't. People
are going to watch TV or listen to radio based on what's on it, not on
who owns it, but the Democrats cannot get that through their head.
They think if they can get the right group of owners, or shut out
certain owners, then certain programming will be shut out. They are so
out of the realm of reality here, my friends, they do not know what
hit them. It started about 15 years ago, and they're nowhere near
figuring it out.
In the audio link below, you
can hear FCC Chairman Michael Powell make a key point during an
interview with Lou Dobbs on CNN. Powell's point is that all of this is
aimed at popularity. These companies in the crosshairs own 25% of the
channels out there, but those channels happen to represent 80% of the
most watched channels. They're the most popular, and because of this,
people are out there charging monopoly. Powell has nailed it. There's
a bunch of stuff out there that's popular (conservatives) that certain
people (liberals) don't like and, since they can't beat that
popularity in the market, they'll go after the owners and try to break
it up and give it to other people. It's like the Fairness Doctrine.
The Fairness Doctrine was not about fairness. The Fairness Doctrine
was about making sure that nobody you want to hear got a radio show.
What do we do in the radio business? We try to charge the highest
advertiser rates we can, by acquiring the largest audience we can get
and then holding that audience for as long as we can hold them,
guaranteeing sponsors that their spots are going to be heard and
reacted to by a loyal audience. This stuff just doesn't happen by
dictate or by fiat. It's like anything else; it has to be earned. Who
owns the program or station on which I broadcast doesn't matter to
you, and it hasn't changed this program one iota. It doesn't matter.
I've had something to do with it, but you are the main reason this
program is what it is, not the ownership of radio stations, not the
ownership of syndication companies, not the ownership of satellites,
not the ownership of phone lines, nothing at all like that has had
anything to do with it. That's just the vehicle whereby we get to take
our chance at things. The American people decide what networks are
most popular. The American people decide what TV and radio programs
are most popular, and they don't care a whit who owns them!
How many radio stations are there in this country? 12,000. How many
channels are there on cable or DirecTV? There are over 200. To say
that somebody is being denied their chance to be heard or seen or that
ownership is freezing people out when you have something like The Food
Network on the air! Good Lord.
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