Here in Minneapolis, this issue has been quite visible. We had a few stations, including the now famous and defunct Revolution Radio fall victim to the massive corporate radio assimilation. Disney/Capital now owns over 60% of our cities airwaves!
After the 1996 Telecommunications Act was passed into law, the media focused mainly on cable TV and cell phones with no coverage of the potential impact on radio. According to ARD by the end of 1997 over 4000 of the nation's 11,000 radio stations had been sold and in the 50 largest markets three firms controlled over 50% of the ad revenue (in 23 of those markets 3 firms controlled over 80% of revenues.)
This buying frenzy sent the cost of radio skyrocketing. The Rev, a radio station with a weak signal and less than a 2% market share, sold for over $17 million! More than ever, when you travel around the country, you hear the same songs, the same voices, the same commercials -- no matter what station you listen to.
While MP3 streaming radio has helped to fill the gap for me, it's only a moderately reasonable alternative because of my DSL connection.
To me, this falls in line with some of the same goals of the Open Source movement. More and better access for everyone, and less of an opportunity for special interest control. Control of the airwaves by media conglomerates means less artistic freedom and more packaged and processed drivel.
Slashdot Mirror
After the 1996 Telecommunications Act was passed into law, the media focused mainly on cable TV and cell phones with no coverage of the potential impact on radio. According to ARD by the end of 1997 over 4000 of the nation's 11,000 radio stations had been sold and in the 50 largest markets three firms controlled over 50% of the ad revenue (in 23 of those markets 3 firms controlled over 80% of revenues.)
This buying frenzy sent the cost of radio skyrocketing. The Rev, a radio station with a weak signal and less than a 2% market share, sold for over $17 million! More than ever, when you travel around the country, you hear the same songs, the same voices, the same commercials -- no matter what station you listen to.
While MP3 streaming radio has helped to fill the gap for me, it's only a moderately reasonable alternative because of my DSL connection.
To me, this falls in line with some of the same goals of the Open Source movement. More and better access for everyone, and less of an opportunity for special interest control. Control of the airwaves by media conglomerates means less artistic freedom and more packaged and processed drivel.
-djH
Good work gents.
Thanks for the john-john blather, how about a Y2k ala WarO'Worlds future broadcast? You Lienuks pros *can* bend space and time, right?
todays montra: hack to hell in post production...
-djH