In what ways has deregulation changed the radio and recording industries?

Deregulation was introduced by Ronald Reagan under the idea that his presidency would "get government off the back of business", however, his dream only came true in the world of broadcasting seven years after his term ended, in 1996. The beginning of deregulation was when the Telecommunications Act relaxed the limits on how many radio stations a single company could own. This immediately lead to mergers where companies joined and became even stronger. This also lead to the government backing out of the radio industry, as it no longer "saw its role as an intermediary for the public as necessary to ensure that the industry performed in the public interest."

Basically, deregulation freed the radio industry from the government, allowing companies to do and play what they wanted. This, in turn affects the recording industry and they did not have to adhere to the strict listening rules of the government and could record songs which wouldn't have been played on the radio before 1996 without the fear that no one would hear it and they wouldn't make any profit. Instead of letting the government decide which stations would be aired and which wouldn't, the industry developed a marketplace concept which allowed listeners to vote with the simple turn of the dial. Simply, if a radio wasn't liked, people wouldn't listen, if people didn't listen then the station would lose advertising, and if the station lost the advertising and the funding that came along with it, the station would cease to be a viable business and fade from existence.