A family-owned broadcaster in Missouri says it wants to invest in more radio stations but that current FCC rules are blocking it from doing so.
Second-generation broadcaster John P. Zimmer is the president of Zimmer Radio of Mid-Missouri, which has 10 stations in six markets. He has added his voice to those calling for the FCC to do away with local radio ownership limits.
In a letter to the FCC, he described broadcast radio as his company’s core competency.
“We continue to look for new ways to increase our potential revenue base and serve our communities but we most want to invest more in radio broadcasting. It makes no sense for the FCC to keep outdated rules that prevent Zimmer and other local radio broadcasters from investing in the one business they know best and which desperately needs additional investment capital.”
If permitted under FCC rules, he said Zimmer Radio will invest in more stations. This, he said, “would allow us to spread the costs of news and other programming across more outlets and to offer a greater variety of programming in our local markets, thereby attracting larger audiences and additional advertisers.
“This result would benefit consumers and lead to more sustainable local radio operations.”
Noting that his father purchased his first station in 1956, Zimmer said the company “is strongly committed to serving local communities with high quality programming, including local news, information and emergency reporting,” but that the FCC needs to act in light of competitive forces that didn’t exist for radio when the current rules were put in place.
“Local radio stations have lost and continue to lose large portions of their advertising revenues to digital competitors. Radio broadcasters outside the largest markets particularly struggle financially.”
Zimmer noted that even the smallest broadcasters face certain fixed costs including equipment, electricity bills, programming and salaries.
The National Association of Broadcasters has urged the FCC to hasten its process and remove the caps.
Not all broadcasters are in favor. The National Association of Black-Owned Broadcasters has come out against it.
Separately, the musicFIRST Coalition, a longtime critic of broadcast consolidation, has told the FCC that “the current FM ownership caps remain necessary to protect the public interest in competition, localism and viewpoint diversity.”
