Big Business Monopolizing AM & FM Radio?

[Rich Wood]

> How many corner delis do you have any more?

You may want to rethink this analogy. In New York there are thousands of them. Same with Chinese restaurants.

In my last New York City neighborhood there were delis on three of the four corners of the intersection.

I lived in Dallas. Like Los Angeles, it's a sprawling city without the neighbothood makeup of New York. Maybe pizza joints are more appropriate. There are still thousands of them unaffiliated with big chains.

Rich

[Rich Wood]

> It said that the FCC performs four major functions:
>
> 1. Spectrum allocation
> 2. Creating rules to promote fair competition and protect
> consumers where required by market conditions
> 3. Authorization of service
> 4. Enforcement
>
> It's the second point where I feel the FCC has fallen far
> short and could do more.

Please! Don't get the FCC involved in anything creative. Lawyers and Politicians create little more than useless paper, especially when they're appointed for little more than their contribution to getting a President elected.

In most cases, lack of fair competition results from a player not playing fair. That becomes an FTC issue. The FCC still limits the percentage of the market a company can control.

I will agree that stock market controlled corporations don't tend to be very creative. I'll also note that poor Mom and Pop operations often can't afford to be creative. From my days in network radio I know many of the major players. The larger the market the more risk you take. New York is the least creative market in the industry. If you make a mistake there, you may never be able to recover, especially if you're an AM. WCBS-FM may be a perfect example.

Rich

[Rich Wood]

> Only in theory. Unless you have a gazillion dollars and can
> operate at a loss (literally hemoraging money) for a decade
> or so, you can't build a competing newspaper to a major
> daily. Maybe there's no FCC, but there are local laws and
> rfegulations about building a giant, multi-acre printing
> plant.

The major dailies are being eaten alive by small suburban papers. Why do you think major papers have multiple suburban editions? I think you'd have a much better chance of finding a site for a large printing plant than a tower site.

I could make the same gazillion dollar, operating at a loss, hemoraging money argument about WINS, New York. Westinghouse waited a long time for its all news format to take off. It was probably the last serious risk New York radio has taken. At least WFAN (almost all sports) had Don Imus from the former WNBC.

Rich