What's happening to American radio right now is a crying shame - but few tears are being shed. In the weeks since the landmark Tele-communications Act of 1996 became law, a frenzy of radio deals has sent profiteers laughing all the way to the bank. Meanwhile, the victims - the American people -remain clueless.
Except for stories on business pages, mainstream news outlets are saying little about the huge shakeup in the radio industry. Newspapers and magazines devote plenty of ink to television. And TV is fascinated with itself. But, overall, radio gets little media attention.
One result: Infinity Broadcasting Corp. now owns 46 radio stations nationwide, including a dozen it bought for $410 million a couple of weeks ago.
Even before passage of the new law, media conglomerates sensed what was coming: 1995 saw "the largest group of radio transactions in the history of the world," says Scott Ginsburg, the gleeful head of the ever-bigger Evergreen Media Corp.
And we ain't seen nothin' yet. Since Feb. 8, when President Bill Clinton signed the Telecommunications Act, radio mergers and buy-outs have been worth an average of half-a-billion dollars each week.
The Wall Street Journal reports that "the telecommunications legislation has triggered a gold rush of the airwaves." A lot more than money is at stake. Those airwaves will be carrying whatever is most profitable - even if it's sleaze, hate-talk or misinformation.
Infinity Broadcasting, a dominant force in major radio markets, has just finalized a new five-year contract with its brightest syndicated star, the proudly crude Howard Stern. And now, Infinity plans to premiere "The Howard Stern Radio Network" - described by Advertising Age magazine as "24 hours of talk and music from jocks picked by Mr. Stern."
In the craven new world of mega-radio, it doesn't matter that Stern often denigrates women on the air. Commercial success qualifies him to judge who else should be promoted on national radio.
Infinity's other talk-radio hosts include G. Gordon Liddy, who has counseled listeners on the most effective ways to shoot federal law-enforcement agents. For a time, the company also syndicated Bob Grant, a spewer of racial hatred against immigrants, African Americans and others.
In February, when mammoth Jacor Communications Inc. paid $770 million to snap up 19 more radio outlets as well as a pair of TV stations, the firm's president, Randy Michaels, was ecstatic: "We think the opportunity of owning a gazillion radio stations and a television station in one market is terrific."
Lost in all the money-mad euphoria is the fact that the airwaves are supposed to belong to the public.
America's 10,200 commercial radio stations don't provide much diversity. With few exceptions, the "news" and "public affairs" range from inadequate to pitiful.
Even many "public" stations have become homogenized. Political reporter Cokie Roberts sounds about the same whether she's reporting for National Public Radio or the Disney-owned ABC network. Despite more lengthy coverage and a more erudite style, the gist of NPR News increasingly resembles what's on commercial networks.
Yet, radio still is enriching the lives of many listeners. Some independent-minded broadcasters are sticking to their mission.
Consider what one man named David Barsamian (see "Politics and the Media" WFP issue 14) has accomplished. Ten years ago, with no money but lots of determination, working out of his home in Boulder, Colo., he started a national program called "Alternative Radio," featuring speeches by people rarely heard in mass media.
Today, "Alternative Radio" is a mainstay on more than 100 non-commercial radio stations, which receive the weekly hour-long program via satellite. The speakers are articulate, committed to progressive social change -- and quite unlike what we usually hear on the radio.
In this high-tech era, radio retains the positive power to break through cliches that divide or confuse us. Unadorned, the sound of the human voice can resonate profoundly.
The wondrous potential of radio makes its current predicament all the more tragic.
Norman Solomon's nationally syndicated column "Media Beat" appeared in The Seattle Times until the paper recently decided to stop running the commentaries. Those interested in seeing this column appear more often in Seattle should contact editors at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Solomon works with New York-based, media-watchdog group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting.
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