Wednesday morning I testified before the Senate Commerce Committee on media consolidation's devastating impact on diverse and
local radio ownership.

Congress must send a message to the FCC to stop its rush toward more
consolidation. Ownership rules exist for a reason: to increase diversity and localism, which in
turn produces more diverse speech, more choice for listeners, and more owners
who are responsive to their local communities.

Read a summary or watch a video of my testimony.

Here's what I said during the hearing:

Mr. Chairman, and Members of the Committee, I thank you for the opportunity to testify today on the important issues surrounding The Future of Radio.

I am the Research Director for Free Press, a public interest organization dedicated to public education and consumer advocacy on communications policy.

Even in today’s multimedia world, broadcast radio remains one of the most powerful media in our daily lives.

• Well over 90% of Americans listen to the radio each week, for an average of 19 hours per week.

New technologies like HD radio and Internet-simulcasting hold great promise for the future of this industry -- as do changing demographics:

• For example, while total time spent listening to radio has stagnated among the general population, it has increased among African Americans and Latinos.

It matters who owns these stations.

In a democracy, the diversity in ownership should reflect the diversity of the population. Sadly, as my testimony will demonstrate, this is simply not the case.

The FCC has a statutory obligation to promote ownership diversity.

The Communications Act directs the Commission to “avoid excessive concentration of licenses” by “disseminating licenses among a wide variety of applicants, including... businesses owned by members of minority groups and women.”

But, the Commission lacks even the most basic understanding of what the true state of female and minority broadcast ownership actually is.

We can’t evaluate problems that we don’t measure or study—let alone solve them.

This is why my organization Free Press took on the task the Commission neglected. Using the Commission’s own data, we found that:

• Despite comprising over half of the U.S. population, women own just 6 percent of all radio stations.

• Minorities make up a third of the population, but own just 7.7 percent of all stations.

The radio stations that are owned by women and minorities differ in many fundamental ways.

• Female and minority owners are more likely to own just a single station, and are more likely to be local owners, which fosters a deeper connection to the communities they serve.
• These characteristics are important, for they are the precise characteristics of the station owners who are most vulnerable to the pressures of media consolidation.

The 1996 Telecom Act triggered a wave of consolidation in the radio industry by removing the national ownership limit and increasing local ownership caps. The impact on ownership diversity was clear, and it was devastating.

• Since 1996, there has been a whopping 40 percent decrease in the number of owners, even as the total number of stations increased.
• In the average local radio market, just two firms control 74 percent of the market’s advertising revenue, a highly concentrated level by any standard.

How did female and minority owners fare under this wave of consolidation? Our research conclusively demonstrates that more consolidation means less female and minority ownership.

As concentration increases, single-station, local owners find it increasingly difficult to compete against the Big Radio Giants.

I mentioned earlier that the FCC has no idea what the true state of female and minority broadcast ownership is.

This is not hyperbole.

It may be hard to believe, but they’ve never conducted an accurate count.

Though the FCC collects information regarding the race, ethnicity and gender of broadcast owners, they have done nothing meaningful with this data. Instead, they’ve issued bogus summaries that are deeply flawed.

For example, our research conclusively showed that the Commission, in its most recent effort, missed over half of all the radio stations owned by women and minorities. In television, they fared worse, missing over two-thirds of the stations.

This is simply a shocking testament to the FCC’s indifference to the plight of women and people of color in this country. And it is also an embarrassing record of neglect and incompetence for a Federal Agency.

How can the Commission conduct any meaningful analysis regarding the effects of its policies if it cannot conduct a basic count of who owns what?

Congress must send a message to the FCC to stop its rush toward more consolidation.

The Commission needs to first adequately study the issue of minority ownership before moving forward with any rule changes.

And the Commission needs to complete other related tasks such as the dormant localism proceeding, and issue the long overdue Section 257 report on the Commission’s efforts to promote ownership diversity.

We also support other measures that increase opportunities for women and minorities to access the public airwaves.

“The Local Community Radio Act” -- sponsored by Senators Cantwell and McCain -- expands Low-Power FM, and will help create a more diverse broadcast system and provide a crucial path to full ownership for women and people of color.

Ownership rules exist for a reason: to increase diversity and localism, which in turn produces more diverse speech, more choice for listeners, and more owners who are responsive to their local communities.

I thank you for your attention and look forward to your questions.