Billboard Radio Monitor, September 8, 2005
By Chuck Taylor

Are Clear Channel and Infinity responsible for dirtying up the airwaves?

That's the question posed in a new report from the Center for Creative Voices in Media and Fordham University's Donald McGannon Communication Research Center. According to their analysis, the answer: a resounding "Hell, yeah."

"Indecency on the airwaves and consolidation of station and program ownership are linked," said Jonathan Rintels, executive director of the Center for Creative Voices in Media and co-author of the study. "Our research suggests that increased indecency is an unintended consequence of the deregulation of media ownership."

"Ownership Concentration and Indecency in Broadcasting: Is There a Link?" focuses on a brief, four-year period in the consolidation of the radio industry, namely from 2000 to 2003. The report concludes that 96% of the FCC indecency fines from 2000 to 2003 were levied against four of the nation's largest radio station ownership groups: Clear Channel, Viacom, Entercom and Emmis. The percentage of overall indecency fines incurred by these four companies was nearly double their 48.6% share of the national audience, while the 11,750 other U.S. radio stations not owned by these companies—or 88% of the country's stations — received just four FCC indecency violations.

The report questions the FCC's current approach to policing indecency and offers a subjective voice on "the potential chilling effect on constitutionally protected speech posed by 'Consent Decrees' that the commission reached in 2004 with Clear Channel, Viacom and Emmis. The authors call for new policies that balance threats to the First Amendment and the concerns of local communities about offensive content."

"While many today call for exponentially increasing indecency fines, the report shows that a better way to address the problem of indecency on America's airwaves may be to reconsider deregulation," Rintels said. In other words, consolidation is bad, the report decides.

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