A group that represents Christian music labels says the AM band should not be subject to the same radio ownership caps as the FM band.
The comments were filed by the Christian Music Trade Association (CMTA). It asked the FCC to retain current local market ownership limits for commercial FMs but eliminate them for AM stations.
The current FCC quadrennial rule review focuses partly on the Local Radio Rule that limits an owner to up to eight stations in the largest markets, with no more than five on either the AM or FM band.
Chairman Brendan Carr says the commission is not only considering making adjustments to that subcap limit but also raising the number of stations an operator can have in a market.
CMTA represents Christian and gospel music labels and is based in Nashville. According to its website, its board includes executives from major record companies including Universal (Capitol Christian Music Group), Warner Music Group (Word Entertainment), Sony Music (Provident Music Group), as well as New Day Christian Distribution, Fair Trade Services, Gaither Music Group and other labels.
It said it agrees with the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB), the musicFIRST Coalition and the Future of Music Coalition that FM ownership caps must remain intact.
It says allowing larger commercial broadcast conglomerates to acquire more FMs would lead to centralized programming decisions, reduced local staffing and fewer independent voices.
CMTA says independent stations already face intense local competition from unregulated non-commercial religious clusters, dominant commercial FM clusters of up to five stations in large markets, and global digital streaming platforms.
“Further deregulation would give massive clusters an unfair economic advantage to squeeze out smaller independent operators,” said Ed Leonard, president of CMTA.
To further its point, CMTA highlights a warning originally raised by iHeartMedia and supported by the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters (NABOB) regarding further FM deregulation.
iHeart previously warned the commission that if FM ownership limits are lifted, large broadcasters are expected to launch a mass divestiture of AM stations to fund new FM acquisitions, CMTA noted.
CMTA says iHeart explained that the flight of capital would drastically devalue AM assets.
CMTA says it regularly lobbies for policies that help independent radio broadcasters.
It wrote that it disagrees wth radio owners who believe eliminating FM caps would help the entire industry.
“These assertions fail to address the fact that, as NRB has aptly articulated, allowing large local FM clusters to become larger would be at the direct expense of those remaining independent commercial FM stations that persist in local markets with the intention of spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” CMTA wrote.
But it supports complete deregulation of AM radio in the United States. The group says it would provide economic relief for the AM band and operational flexibility.
“Removing AM ownership caps would enable commercial broadcasters in this struggling segment of the broadcast band to keep their heads above water as they try to compete locally against larger AM/FM broadcasters and also compete with national and global audio platforms for audience and revenue,” it said.
“We at the CMTA believe that together, these reforms would promote localism, competition, and viewpoint diversity in the American radio landscape.”
You can read the public comments for the 2022 Quadrennial Review here, enter 22-459 in the Proceedings field.
[Related: “NAB Presses FCC to Accelerate Radio Ownership Changes”]
