In what ways has deregulation changed the media and radio and recording industry?

Deregulation has majorly altered the radio and recording industry. Before, in the 1920’s, there were too many stations on the air to fit the frequencies, so the Federal Radio Commission was created to give people licenses and regulate. They’d give licenses to stations that would broadcast for the public interest. This worked until Ronald Reagan’s goal as president was to “get the government off the backs of business” (134). With the 1996 Telecommunications Act, limits were lessened on how many stations one company could own. Stations went wild with merges because the government didn’t have as much as an immediate role. Then the marketplace concept was created, where the marketplace had greater control in deciding what was broadcasted. If people were dissatisfied with what they were listening to, they could just turn a dial to another station. It was the people’s decision. Also in 1996, Congress relaxed the FCC’s limits. By 2003, Clear Channel owned 1,200-plus stations. With playlists, the same top songs were played continuously and with voice tracking, those songs were played over multiple stations in different markets. Next added were advertisements, with some stations running 22 minutes of ads an hour.