Radio Market Definition ‘Troubles’ Powell

FCC Chairman Michael Powell is “troubled” by how the commission defines a radio market and how stations are counted for purposes of determining whether they follow ownership limits. In responding to a question posed by Radio World, he suggested that advertising dollars might be used as a way to measure a market, rather than the current formula that uses the number of voices in a market. “Maybe it should be the way dollars flow rather than (contours).”
Powell spoke to reporters on the eve of a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on radio consolidation.
Of those expressing angst about media consolidation, he said, “We don’t have a tin ear to the concerns” that have surfaced.
He said the FCC’s hearing in Richmond, Va., would likely be the only such hearing on the topic away from the commission. That won’t limit the public’s efforts to be heard by the agency, he said. The FCC has received roughly 2,000 filings of comments from the public on broadcast ownership and about 900 of those are from individual citizens, said Powell.