Nexus Broadcast

As the illusion of a free internet slips even further away with the FCC’s watered down Net Neutrality ruling, is radio poised to give voice to American political and economic anger?

By DJ Pangburn, Death + Taxes Magazine

The  Local Community Radio Act was signed into law by President Obama this past Wednesday.

The act had its origins during the Bush administration when MAIN-FM, a local radio station in Ashville, NC, went on the air as WPVM “The Progressive Voice of the Mountains” with only 2 watts of signal power when their license granted them 100 watts.  The FCC restriction was the result of the lobbying efforts of various commercial broadcasters to restrict the signals of local broadcasters.

The victory was the result of a long battle by a coalition of media reformers.  One of the organizations involved, Media & Democracy Coalition, had this to say of the Act being signed into law:

“After years of well-executed strategy the Prometheus Radio Project, OC Inc at the United Church of Christ, the Media Access Project, the Future of Music Coalition, Free Press, the Media & Democracy Coalition, and many other public interest organizations can share in the pride that many more low-power FM radio licenses will be available for communities across the country. This is a great achievement for local, independent media and will help to create a more diverse radio dial.”

What most Americans are unaware of in history of the radio wars is that much of this can be traced directly back to Bill Clinton’s crowning corporate achievement of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.  Americans were told that the legislation would create greater competition in the radio and television industries.  What the 1996 Act did, however, was create a situation in which various corporations were able to buy up and consolidate radio and television stations, thus forming gigantic media conglomerates.

Clear Channel Communications, for instance, used the Act as a pretext for purchasing hundreds of radio stations across the United States, which resulted in bad music, more ads and non-controversial content and radio personalities.  Clear Channel now owns over 1200 radio stations, and operates—according State of the Media statistics—at least one station in each of the top 25 markets.

And while Clear Channel is clearly the biggest, it is not the only conglomerate at work in radio.  The shadows of corporations like Infinity Broadcasting, Cumulus Media, Citadel Communications, Entercom Communications and American Family Association stretch across the American radio landscape, creating something like an approximation of Mike Judge’s “Idiocracy.”

In short, the result of this sort of consolidation is that radio stations have been allowed to exercise much less editorial independence for fear of incurring the wrath of advertisers or the government.

And while it is pleasant to see President Obama take a break from his transmogrification from human being into corporate and banking automaton, it almost seems as if the Local Community Radio Act is a piece of subliminal government and business cynicism.

How, you might ask?  Well, in the wake of the Net Neutrality fiasco, it seems as though the scraps of radio have been thrown back to its rightful owners with the hidden message, “Have the radio, we’ve got the internet now, suckers.”

And so the mission is two-fold now: build another internet and start broadcasting on the low FM frequencies.  Provoke.  Antagonize.  Make Obama wish he hadn’t signed the bill into law by criticizing moves such as the appointment of his new Chief of Staff William Daley, son of the Chicago political machine and current JP Morgan Chase executive, whose crowning achievement was NAFTA.  Turn Obama’s signing of the bill against him in a bit of sweet irony.

People still value the radio, as was revealed when Clear Channel napalmed Los Angeles’ Indie 103.1 (on which you could listen to a show hosted by Jonesy from the Sex Pistols, for instance).  Many listen to local public radio stations and NPR.  And though internet occupies more of our time these days, people still listen to the radio.

Agitate on the low frequencies, my friends.