New York's Ultra-Conservative AM Dial

[SoDesuKa]

New York's most powerful AM stations broadcast the conservative gospel almost exclusively. There are two factors that make a station powerful: its wattage, and its separation in between the next stations on the dial. In New York City, allegedly the capital of broadcasting, a rogues' gallery of conservative figures has the center of the AM dial all to themselves.

Here's my analysis:

WOR broadcasts at 50,000 watts at 710 on the dial, and the signal can drift a range of 110 kHz. That is a lot of real estate! WOR features Lou Dobbs, Glenn Beck, Michael Savage, and Bill O'Reilly.

WABC broadcasts at 50,000 watts at 770 on the dial, and the signal can also drift a range of 110 kHz. WABC features Don Imus, Joe Scarborough, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham.

WNYM is an exception in that it broadcasts at only 5,000 watts at 970 on the dial, and the signal can drift can drift a range of 80 kHz, a still-significant amount of AM real estate. WNYM, the self-proclaimed "voice of TownHall,com," features Bill Bennett, Dennis Prager, Michael Medved, and Dr. Laura Schlesinger.

There are some other powerful stations that broadcast an all news format, among them 50,000-watt WINS, 50,000-watt ESPN, and 50,000-watt WCBS. WWRL, the only remotely left-leaning station on the AM band, is down at the end of the dial and broadcasts at 25,000 watts during the day. That number drops to 5,000 watts at night.

Here's the point: None of these stations did anything to merit their privileged placement on the AM dial. The radio spectrum belongs to all of us equally. Fairness requires access to a share in the AM spectrum just as much as it does any other publicly-owned good. Think, for example, of how people would react if they couldn't get to the beach in the summer because it's all privately owned. Or access to the other side of the street. We just assume that red lights turn green eventually. But if passage across intersections were allocated like segments of the AM spectrum, you might have to wait till after midnight to carry your groceries home.

Conclusion: Don't let the FCC off the hook. If Rush Limbaugh has gotten so fat and prosperous he can denounce liberalism as pathological, perhaps we ought to remind WABC and similar stations that they don't own that spot on the dial. Perhaps we ought to agitate for a fairer allocation scheme. How about an annual lottery? This might result in a windfall to the lucky "winner" each year but it also might result in a group of licensees that more closely resemble the populations these stations claim to serve.

[rpannier]

1. Bill Bennett?

Does he give out the odds on sports and gie personal tips on poker and roulette?

[Optical.Catalyst]

2. A little Fairness Doctrine would clear that right up

New York has at least 15 right wing talk radio hosts on the air with no rebuttal. That is not 'fair' by any measure. There should be at least a short period of time allocated on each show to clarify the progressive position in response to the right wing hate these talk radio hosts spew each day.

[Dennis Donovan]

3. Actually, diversity in ownership of the NYC flagships would do much more than...

...the FD would/could ever do.:thumbsup:

[Optical.Catalyst]

4. The thing is, there is a problem here

What ever the solution comes out to be, now is the time to find it.

Since we hold the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the Executive Branch, it is time to restore ownership of the radio spectrum to the people of the United States. The right wing has had complete control of talk radio for 20 years, it is time for the people to regain control of what rightfully belongs to us all.

[KharmaTrain]

7. Bingo...Also Local Ownership

WMCA and WWDJ are owned by Salem...a right wing group that makes its money from dollar-a-hollar preachers that go to pay for Bettamillion Bennett, Michael Weiner and a bunch of right wing harpies. In the past year this company's value has plummeted...it's stock market cap will barely cover the bills.

WABC is controlled by Citadel Broadcasting...who franchise their bile on big stations all across the country and is on the verge of bankruptcy; having overspent for the former ABC stations.

Revising Telcom '96...or even better, eliminating it altogether would be a good start...reduce the number of stations a single company can own in a market, drastically restrict the LMA or Limited Management Agreements that allow for absentee ownership, reducing license renewal periods and giving preference to local and minority ownership. "Fairness" means little when the station your on is drowned out.

[RoccoR5955]

5. Solution to this problem: Congressman Hinchey's Media Ownership Reform Act

Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D NY-22), has introduced this bill a couple of times. There is more and more of a move on for him to introduce it again. Here's the summary of the bill. You can find a link to the entire bill at http://www.house.gov/hinchey/issues/mora.shtml

Media Ownership Reform Act
Bill Summary
I. Guarantees Fairness in Broadcasting

Our airwaves are a precious and limited commodity that belong to the general public. As such, they are regulated by the government. From 1949 to 1987, a keystone of this regulation was the Fairness Doctrine, an assurance that the American audience would be guaranteed sufficiently robust debate on controversial and pressing issues. Despite numerous instances of support from the U.S. Supreme Court, President Reagan's FCC eliminated the Fairness Doctrine in 1987, and a subsequent bill passed by Congress to place the doctrine into federal law was then vetoed by Reagan.

MORA would amend the 1934 Communications Act to restore the Fairness Doctrine and explicitly require broadcast licensees to provide a reasonable opportunity for the discussion of conflicting views on issues of public importance.

II. Restores Broadcast Ownership Limitations

Nearly 60 years ago, the Supreme Court declared that "the widest possible dissemination of information from diverse and antagonistic sources is essential to the welfare of the public, that a free press is essential to the condition of a free society." And yet, today, a mere five companies own the broadcast networks, 90 percent of the top 50 cable networks, produce three-quarters of all prime time programming, and control 70 percent of the prime time television market share. One-third of America's independently-owned television stations have vanished since 1975.

There has also been a severe decline in the number of minority-owned broadcast stations; minorities own a mere four percent of stations today.

* MORA would restore a standard to prevent any one company from owning broadcast stations that reach more than 35 percent of U.S. television households.
* The legislation would re-establish a national radio ownership cap to keep a single company from owning more than five percent of our nation's total number of AM and FM stations.
* The bill would reduce local radio ownership caps to limit a single company from owning more than a certain number of stations within a certain broadcast market, with the limit varying depending upon the size of each market.
* Furthermore, the legislation would restore the Broadcast-Cable and Broadcast-Satellite Cross-Ownership Rules to keep a company from aving conflicting ownerships in a cable company and/or a satellite carrier and a broadcast station offering service in the same market.
* Finally, MORA would prevent media owners from grandfathering their current arrangement into the new system, requiring parties to divest in order to comply with these new limitations within one year.

III. Invalidates Media Ownership Deregulation

MORA would invalidate the considerably weakened media ownership rules that were adopted by the Federal Communications Commission in 2003; rules that are now under new scrutiny through the FCC's Future Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. The legislation further prevents the FCC from including media ownership rules in future undertakings of the commission's Biennial Review Process.

IV. Establishes a New Media Ownership Review Process

MORA creates a new review process, to be carried by the FCC every three years, on how the commission's regulations on media ownership promote and protect localism, competition, diversity of voices, diversity of ownership, children's programming, small and local broadcasters, and technological advancement. The bill requires the FCC to report to Congress on its findings.

V. Requires Reports for Public Interest

MORA requires broadcast licensees to publish a report every two years on how the station is serving the public interest. The legislation also requires licensees to hold at least two community public hearings per year to determine local needs and interests.


Congressman Hinchey is my Representative in the House, and I am proud of all he has done, and continues to do. He is truly working for WE THE PEOPLE!

[Smarmie Doofus]

6. K and R ; By comparison, the one AAR affiliate loses it's signal...

>>>>they don't own that spot on the dial.>>>


... somewhere around Yonkers and has infomercial vitamin shows on all weekend.

Do me flavor: can you cross post this to MEDIA so it stays around longer?

[GCP]

8. I live in the most liberal state next to the most liberal city in that state, Boston

And there is NO liberal voice on the radio excepting NPR - which doesn't count IMO.

It's infuriating. We had one AM station which was an AAR affiliate and it was sold to an hispanic salsa music station over a year ago now.

It's fucking unbelievable.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

9. All that does is confirm that there is not a market for liberal talk

is that what we really believe?

[SoDesuKa]

10. Location, Location, Location

Other factors account for the purported "success" of conservative talk radio. Look where they're located on the AM dial - solidly in the middle, broadcasting at 50,000 watts with a lot of real estate on either side of them. What you're acknowledging is that stations with that kind of moxie tend to attract a lot of listeners. But that doesn't imply that liberal stations that are hard to tune in are rejected because of the message. It could simply be that they are hard to tune in.

When I was in the Army, we used to get WABC in South Carolina - very clearly, too. It competed with WLS in Chicago, another powerful station with lots of bandwidth to either side. Put a liberal on one of these stations and you'd have a fair comparison.