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FCC quote from document: Today, AM radio remains an important source of broadcast entertainment and information programming, particularly for locally oriented content. AM broadcasters provide unique, community-based programming to distinguish themselves from other media sources in an increasingly competitive mass media market. (citation omitted) For example, all-news/talk, all-sports, foreign language, and religious programming formats are common on the AM band. Indeed, over 90 percent of all news/talk stations operate on the AM band. (citation omitted) Local programming is also prevalent on the AM dial, including discussions of local news, politics and public affairs, traffic announcements, and coverage of community events such as high school athletic contests.
If the FCC hadn’t given the entire FM band to the big money players, you wouldn’t have this problem. All forms of radio programming would have made a natural and viable transition to the FM. Now the AM band is the only place for anyone wanting to explore programming diversity to get started without needing tons of money. Used to be you could buy small FMs in large markets for a few hundred thousand. Not after Ronnie Reagan and the Republican schmucks in Congress started chipping away at ownership limits. The internet and interference did not kill the AM band, Congress did . . . all in the interest of the big getting bigger.
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