FCC Throws Radio Listeners A Bone With No Marrow

The new FCC rules governing media ownership actually tighten regulations on how many radio stations a single entity may own, even as it relaxes the same rules for TV and print media. It is a move the commission’s chairman says is in response to public concern that a few mega-companies now control the lion’s share of U.S. radio programming. But the wording of the new rules will actually tighten the death grip on the industry of the biggest radio giant, Clear Channel, since its current station ownership, now over the new limit in many markets, has been grandfathered into the new regulations. In other words, Clear Channel can’t get any bigger, but no one else can even attempt to catch up.