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FM Streamlining NPRM/Rural to Urban Move-ins

R

Radiobub

Inactive
Inactive User
Comments are now closed for Docket 05-210 "Streamlining FM Rules" where the Commission is considering making a rural to urban "move-in" easier, using a minor change, which will deny the public comment and counter-proposals on these moves. This is in response to a petition by First Broadcasting, and it certainly appears that our Federal Communications Commission is encouraging the abandonment of rural-located FM stations in favor of the much wealthier urbanized areas. However, the FCC has statutory mandates from Congress and the Communications Act of 1934 which precludes them from this easy migration to urban centers. In a surprising twist, the opponents of this docket are a consortium of Commercial and LPFM interests. Even the National Association of Broadcasters(NAB)is mildly displeased as they specifiy that any new procedures
must be applied in furtherance of the goals of Section 307(b) of the Communications Act. Section 307(b) says that the Commission shall make such distribution of licenses among the states and communities so as to provide a fair distribution of service to each community. The NAB has always been against the migration of stations to urban centers as they are on the record in Docket 88-526 (from 1988) against these moves.

I would suggest to those policy-makers at the Portals and those reading this board, that the Public Interest has not changed a bit, but the value of these moves has changed. I would like to see this defeated soundly. And I would REALLY like to see erasers fly in the Policy Conference room at the Commission. Some of these policy-wonks need a good bonking on the head to realize that Americans care about Broadcast Localism, even if the Commission does not.
 
I'm not all that convinced that the general public cares about "broadcast localism". If that were the case, so many smaller stations wouldn't be struggling as the audiences all listen to the stations from the urban centers. I wonder if much of anyone has even bothered to file a comment opposing a move-in.
 
> I'm not all that convinced that the general public cares
> about "broadcast localism". If that were the case, so many
> smaller stations wouldn't be struggling as the audiences all
> listen to the stations from the urban centers. I wonder if
> much of anyone has even bothered to file a comment opposing
> a move-in.
>
Well, with all due respect, 82,000 persons filed comments in the FCC's
broadcast localism docket. And over 42,000 people filed comments in the LPFM docket. Listeners all over America are sick and tired of homogenous radio that does not serve communities large and small. You can have your main studio in a downtown urbanized center, and your community of license be 80, that's 80 miles away, and be legal. This is so wrong.
 
Compared the the entire US population, 82,000 aren't many. The people who "are sick of homogenous programming" are the folks who either have political agendas or could never be satisfied with anything but their personal iPod attached to a 50,000 watt transmitter, playing their favorite bar band. I could ask the next 200 people who walk by me who owns our local radio stations, and no one would be able to tell me. In Marion, OH, Clear Channel is about to move WMRN-FM, a 50kW heritage FM into Columbus, and the news has been greeted by a collective yawn by the locals. Not one letter of protest to the local paper or at city council. If everyone is so concerned with "local programming", stations like WPTW in Piqua, OH or WULM in Springfield, OH ought to be swimming in dough, but they aren't, because the audience is largely listening to Dayton stations.
 
> Compared the the entire US population, 82,000 aren't many.
> The people who "are sick of homogenous programming" are the
> folks who either have political agendas or could never be
> satisfied with anything but their personal iPod attached to
> a 50,000 watt transmitter, playing their favorite bar band.
> I could ask the next 200 people who walk by me who owns our
> local radio stations, and no one would be able to tell me.
> In Marion, OH, Clear Channel is about to move WMRN-FM, a
> 50kW heritage FM into Columbus, and the news has been
> greeted by a collective yawn by the locals. Not one letter
> of protest to the local paper or at city council. If
> everyone is so concerned with "local programming", stations
> like WPTW in Piqua, OH or WULM in Springfield, OH ought to
> be swimming in dough, but they aren't, because the audience
> is largely listening to Dayton stations.
>

I've got to argue otherwise. The "public" at large doesn't understand the business, but they DO understand what's coming out of the speakers. When everything sounds the same and is about as bland as it gets, no one wins. Radio IS losing audience to I-pods, Sat radio and more because the super-owners and the cluster creators are so $$ greedy and need to make more and more for the bottom line each year. It IS taking away from what radio needs to be: it is supposed to be local and it should be about local events, issues, music and the like.

The problem with these local "move-IN’s from afar" approach is the chaos that comes with squeezing in yet another station into an already crowded metroplex.

Take the case of First Broadcasting moving the local The Dalles, Oregon KMCQ, over 140 miles away from King County, Wa. What is the gain when over 60 radio stations already serve the Seattle-Tacoma area? With this pending move comes REAL victims as well; remember that 2 educational stations, KMIH and KGHP both stand to lose their radio programs, effecting hundreds of students and more importantly, true localism that is heard everyday on the air at these stations and others like it around the country.

Are you seriously going to say that it's better for the big corporations to continue raping this country and the PUBLIC's airwaves, all for the sake of bottom line profits? And what about the main EAS provider station in The Dales, Oregon (KMCQ) that will no longer provide the essential service for when another Katrina type event hits central Oregon? I can see it all so clear now: We'll throw the people out too, because after all, it's just a "rural area" right? Those folks don’t matter because they're all listening to the big guys in the big city.... Yeah.... and I'm sure that Seattle or Portland is going to cover all the intricacies of what's going on hour by hour in city of The Dalles when the big flood hits!

Radio is not JUST about music, sports or weather. It's about local for LOCAL; real events with real people involvement in the real, local community. We need to get our priorities right and keep the public's airwaves from being squandered away, all for the sake of a few bucks. Tell me again exactly why KMIH and other educational stations, don't deserve to continue educating students like KMIH has for over 35 years with proven success on the air to promote, train and educate young people into this business, over the corporate greed that does nothing for anyone in either Seattle or The Dalles. The ONLY promotion that’s going to happen in this case is 40+ million dollars of radio real estate to be sold by an investment firm to further line the pockets of CC and corporate America. Talk about political; it's the big companies that are USING politics, money and corporate power to buy off politicians and the FCC so they can do exactly what FM Steve is talking about!

That's the real political problem right now. Thank God we still have people like Maria Cantwell who aren't falling for the corporate payoff game. She's fighting for what's RIGHT and stopping the clear, blatant attempt to kick off 2 educational stations from the greedsters. There's no good reason for stations from afar to move-in to the big city. It's simply not in the "Public's best interest"
<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by radioplayer on 11/02/05 08:22 PM.</FONT></P>
 
Are you really saying that every station on the dial needs to be foreground with lots of talk elements? Maybe this should be required by law? Like it or not, the audience doesn't always want to hear DJs, even if we want to be DJs. As a nation, we watch the same movies and TV shows, eat at the same chain restaurants, and, yes, listen to the same types of music, but for some reason radio stations have to pretend that every little hamlet is its own culture unto itself. If that were the case, I should be able to go to any business in Piqua, OH and hear WPTW. Except I don't. I hear all the Dayton stations, almost without exception. If you got all the 82,000 respondents into a room and asked them what they wanted on the radio, no two of them would agree. Mostly it seems to be people who would like, given the opportunity, to force programming on listeners who don't want to hear it, sort of "I don't give a damn if you want to hear Smooth Jazz, you're going to listen to live coverage of the city council meeting". Or, "I don't care if you want to hear Eminem, you're going to listen to this local rapper no one has ever heard of". Except one problem..if radio were required to offer all this high minded, lcaol programming, you know how quickly I could turn it off? A lot faster than you could say "Public interest, convenience and neccesity". I'd venture to guess that those on this board who demand it wouold turn it off just as fast.The "good old days" of the 60s, 70s,and 80s weren't all that diverse either..some markets had six A/C stations with the same playlist.

I don't know all the issues with the educational station that you mention. I'll only add that it isn't only CC that causes them to go off the air..big NPR stations are often to blame.

The current allocation system was put into effect in the 40s...isn't it reasonable to expect that with all the population change since then some "tower dancing" might be appropriate?
 
If you
> got all the 82,000 respondents into a room and asked them
> what they wanted on the radio, no two of them would agree.
> Mostly it seems to be people who would like, given the
> opportunity, to force programming on listeners who don't
> want to hear it.

Actually, when you consider the somewhat hidden nature of the FCC's provision for sending comments on a RM petition, 82,000 is quite a bit. If this issue had been widely reported on by the mainstream press along with clear instructions on how to voice an opinion to the FCC, I have no doubt you would see even more respondents.

The FCC really doesn't want to hear from the public.

As for forcing programming on people who don't want to hear it; well, isn't that what commercial radio is all about? 'Playing somebody else's favorite song', to paraphrase Steely Dan?

db
 
I'm still not convinced that the average listener is demanding that their local stations be confiscated from company A and given to companies B, C, and D. What commervcial broadcasters have to do is find their niche, ask their listeners what they want and give it to them. At best its a compromise because commercial radio stations, no matter who owns them, cannot deliver every individual's personal iPod. As for muy comment about people wanting for force their own programming choices on people who don't want them..a lot of the folks sending comments are demanding that Rush listeners be forced to listen to liberals, or that music listeners be forced to listen to long-winded newscasts and commentaries..or local bar bands. In 2005, it doesn't work.
 
> I'm still not convinced that the average listener is
> demanding that their local stations be confiscated from
> company A and given to companies B, C, and D. What
> commervcial broadcasters have to do is find their niche, ask
> their listeners what they want and give it to them. At best
> its a compromise because commercial radio stations, no
> matter who owns them, cannot deliver every individual's
> personal iPod. As for muy comment about people wanting for
> force their own programming choices on people who don't want
> them..a lot of the folks sending comments are demanding that
> Rush listeners be forced to listen to liberals, or that
> music listeners be forced to listen to long-winded newscasts
> and commentaries..or local bar bands. In 2005, it doesn't
> work.

It seems like you keep blowing around like the wind and keep shifting your position! First it was the commercial stations could do whatever they want-now it's "programming contents and the alleged problem of long-winded newscasts"....please get real. The topic is about FM Streamlining NPRM's and rural to urban transitions.

Programming is changed whenever big fish company takes over and moves another local, rural station off to the edge of urbanville, solely to make more $$ for the (you guessed it) Big Fish who bought the little guy out.
This is being done all over the country and there's never been anything good about the buying out of these stations nor the consolidation and corporate greed that continues unabated in the industry. In fact, this is the exact problem that's bringing you commercial after commercial on all the stations everywhere and it's killing the very thing we both should agree on: that radio used to be fun, exciting and entertaining in addition to serving the local community well.

With the advent of First Broadcasting and others, the days of good radio is, at best, limited. The FCC needs to step in NOW; take a good look around and stop the corporate greed that is happening at the expense of the PEOPLE's airwaves.

82,000 people constitute those people who took a good portion of their valuable time to file comments before the Commission. I can be counted as number 82,001 for the fact that I could not file this time around. There are a lot more people who are very concerned and would also file if they knew how. It's your turn to convince everyone else just WHY these move-ins help anyone....particularly the rural to mid-sized town that had a station for many years, only to fall victim to corporate greed and lose the station to the big city. Look no further than my example of The Dalles, Oregon's proposed move of KMCQ-FM, 135 plus miles to another state for crying out loud! This needs to stop before good radio is totally gone and everyone has lost out, starting with your local stations where you live gr8oldies.
 
OK..hold on. Was there a time when commercial radio stations didn't carry "commercial after commercial"? Those hallowed small town mom and pop radio stations carried more commercials than Clear Channel ever thought of carrying. I've worked for some of them, I know. Is it OK if the small town owner is greedy? Maybe an insurance company that owns radio stations, as was often the case in the "good old days"? Again, I say, where is the huge public outcry from Piqua and Greeneville, Ohio protesting the fact that their stations were moved to Dayton? When was that packed city council meeting and the protesters outside Clear Channel and Cox Radio, Dayton? Where are the hundreds of letters to the editor of the Marion, Ohio newspaper protesting the upcoming move of WMRN-FM to Columbus? Answer: nowhere. The audience simply does not care, because they watch the city based TV stations, listen to the city-based radio stations and often read the city based newspaper. They don't think of themselves as being in some isolated enclave. WPTW, the remaining AM station in Piqua. It's struggling because the listeners aren't listening for "local content" and the advertisers aren't advertising because the listeners aren't listening. Put the Piqua obituaries on the 50,000 watt FM again and the listeners still won't be listening. And the previous Mom and Pop ownership of the same station still attempted to be a Dayton station.

I don't know what legislation could be produced that would bring back "good radio" and it would depend on whose definition you'd accept. "Good radio" is what a particular audience wants to hear, and as much as we don't like it, often its a familiar playlist and no announcers or announcers who stay out of the way.
 
> OK..hold on. Was there a time when commercial radio stations
> didn't carry "commercial after commercial"? Those hallowed
> small town mom and pop radio stations carried more
> commercials than Clear Channel ever thought of carrying.
> I've worked for some of them, I know. Is it OK if the small
> town owner is greedy? Maybe an insurance company that owns
> radio stations, as was often the case in the "good old
> days"? Again, I say, where is the huge public outcry from
> Piqua and Greeneville, Ohio protesting the fact that their
> stations were moved to Dayton? When was that packed city
> council meeting and the protesters outside Clear Channel and
> Cox Radio, Dayton? Where are the hundreds of letters to the
> editor of the Marion, Ohio newspaper protesting the upcoming
> move of WMRN-FM to Columbus? Answer: nowhere. The audience
> simply does not care, because they watch the city based TV
> stations, listen to the city-based radio stations and often
> read the city based newspaper. They don't think of
> themselves as being in some isolated enclave. WPTW, the
> remaining AM station in Piqua. It's struggling because the
> listeners aren't listening for "local content" and the
> advertisers aren't advertising because the listeners aren't
> listening. Put the Piqua obituaries on the 50,000 watt FM
> again and the listeners still won't be listening. And the
> previous Mom and Pop ownership of the same station still
> attempted to be a Dayton station.
>
> I don't know what legislation could be produced that would
> bring back "good radio" and it would depend on whose
> definition you'd accept. "Good radio" is what a particular
> audience wants to hear, and as much as we don't like it,
> often its a familiar playlist and no announcers or
> announcers who stay out of the way.
>
I am sorry, Mr. Oldies, but your free-market premise to let the market decide about content and 135 mile rural-to urban transmitter moves is, unfortunately wrong. America is being spoon-fed programming to the lowest-common denominator, and we ARE reacting to this disgraceful corporate attitude. It's just that 99.9 percent of the public does not know how to file a comment, electronically or otherwise. Basically, they are ignorant or not knowledgable. Either way their voices do not get heard. When the former Allocations Chief of the FCC is the exact person leading these market moves into urbanized areas, something is very, very wrong here. If you're such a right-winger, free-marketologist, just simply note that it was The United Church of Christ....yes, that bastion of conservative, religious thought.....that essentially started the LPFM movement.

Click here and you will see (the light):

http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6009851740

I'm sorry, Mr. Oldies (and the FCC if you're looking at this board), we're just not going to take it anymore. House Resolution 3731 will put a stop to this
corporate greed and nonsense. Get ready for the battle royal up on Capitol Hill.
 
Two simple questions.

1. What SPECIFIC programming would you like radio stations to be forced, by law, to carry?

2. How do you then, force listeners to listen to that programming and not change stations, plug in a CD, or turn on their iPod or Satellite radio?


It just never occurs to you "government knows best" folks that a substantial number of people like their favorite stations the way they are. If you went on the street and said "we have a petition to make the Top 40 station carry more news programming and play unpopular music",very few people would sign it.

Aside from that, the UCC is one of the most liberal Christian denominations in existence. In fact, they've aired copmmercials blasting conservative denominations.
 
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