Radio filth starts in corporate suites

RADIO FILTH STARTS IN CORPORATE SUITES
[SOURCE: NY Daily News, AUTHOR: Pete Fornatale, WFUV ]
[Commentary] The lion's share of blame for courser radio and TV programming must be placed at the feet of the broadcast industry itself. Here's the problem: Unregulated, uncontrolled radio makes so much money doing its worst that it simply can't afford to do its best. Since 1996, an orgy of consolidation has helped fuel a 34% decline in the number of owners, a 90% rise in the cost of advertising rates, and - not coincidentally - a rise in the number of indecent broadcasts. And the public is complicit. In the face of these trends, too many of us have turned down the volume on our own voices, settling for a kind of radio that, for the most part, replicates the industry view of what it should be. It doesn't help that the FCC continues to be populated primarily by appointees sympathetic to the broadcasting industry and often employed by the broadcasting industry when they step down. Conflict of interest, anyone? Rampant deregulation has created this mess - and only reregulation can get us out of it.
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