Thanks to an old professor of mine I was introduced to a GREAT book, Fighting for Air: The Battle to Control America’s Media by Eric Klinenberg.

I do suggest you all to check out the book just because I think it is worth the knowledge.

Anyway, one specific thing I’d like to bring up is the 1996 Telecommunications Act which opened up the flood gates to American Radio. Prior to the signing of this Act, there were greater restrictions of how many stations of broadcast (and the level of their frequency) could be owned by one person/corporations. In the releasing of these restrictions companies bought up the air waves thus creating an atmosphere where competition was limited and insights shared.

What this means? Well if one company owns 1000 stations across the U.S in both large and small markets with high frequency reach, these 1000 stations will share one common mindset… the owners’. There will be limited perspecitives on a topic and a great deal of bias with the type of information released by the stations… In a simplier way: our media is being controlled in a manner similar to a straight jacket.

Is anyone else upset by this? The implications are vast.