GekeVenn: iHEART
Our federal government was supposed to help us avoid conglomeration, trusts, and powerful mega corporations that operated monopolies. But what government has made possible for corporations is just the opposite. A great example of this is what I call the Clear Channel “conglomonopoly.”
(Although I thought I might be coining this term, a quick web search proved otherwise. Oh well, great minds and all that.)
Clear Channel Communications started up in 1972, but was bought out by Bain Capital in 2008. (Mitt Romney was a co-founder and CEO of Bain, but he left the company in 2002.) In 2014, Clear Channel Communications was rebranded as iHeartCommunications. Following the lead of its owner, the acquisition-happy Bain Capital, iHeart now owns 850 radio stations in the US, the most of any single company.
Both iHeart and Bain illustrate just how worthless the government's promise to protect us from trusts has actually been. As a result, there are few to none small-business radio stations left in the country. Radio, itself, has turned into a conglomonopoly.
And the help iHeartMedia received includes government arms like the House and Senate Commerce Committees, as well as the FCC, as noted in the venn diagram. According to RadioWorld, Robert Fisher advised the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee on matters pertaining to telecommunications and mass media. Kelsay, likewise, had a similar role in the House Commerce Committee, advising on telecommunications and mass media issues. Marventano's issues of expertise in advising the House Commerce Committee included broadcast, cable, and satellite policy issues.
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Look at lpfm or low power fm. It is a license the came up during the Clinton years. It was meant to combat pirate radio, but lots of small communities often church congregations have bought them. They have very small foot-prints and are in tertiary and some secondary markets sure to restrictions, but corporations or groups are not allowed to own more than 5.
Yes, that's the only bastion left against the giants of mass media in radio.
Anything requiring a government license is a crony socialist/socialized industry.
that is why I am in love with podcasts. We, as independent indie podcasters, can speak our truth...