Note to FCC : Make TV and Radio Station Owners Reside in The City of License

Instead of eliminating the cap on broadcast station ownership the FCC should mandate that, like Congressman and Senators, owners and operators of TV and Radio stations must live in the community that is affected by their decisions.

The FCC in their stupidity/naivety continues to try to fix what is not broken.

In the old days, if you were fortunate/rich/lucky/strong-willed enough to win a frequency license for a TV or Radio station, you were mandated in the strongest terms to serve the local community, not to increase shareholders equity. Our current commission equates profits with the ability to serve the public ---BULL!

The viewing public had always been best served by local station owner-operators who competed with other local owner-operators for the hearts minds and eye balls of the citizens who reside in a stations coverage area.

Look back at those historic station owners and what they did for their communities …maybe because they wanted to, or maybe because they HAD to, either way the public and the station's owners and investors were served. What have the mega-groups done?

Broadcasters have always enjoyed success and above average incomes, so why is it necessary for the FCC to help today’s mega-groups, who by the way answer to the same investment bankers that gave us Enron and the recession we are enjoying now, instead of the owners of the airwaves…the public.

The mega-group BULL about cable competition is just that…when advertisers want to reach a market, they buy over the air TV…which are the most watched channels on cable. Local TV is so important that the satellite companies worked like crazy to let their subscribers also view LOCAL TV STATIONS…am I nuts or what?

I am a broadcaster who believes that companies that receive the exclusive right to use the public’s airwaves have a responsibility to serve that public.

Instead of eliminating the cap on ownership the FCC should mandate that, like Congressman and Senators, owners and operators of TV and Radio stations must live in the community that is affected by their decisions.

Ok so if you want to be a broadcaster then you MUST live in your market, so your station can become an integral part of the community. You should become a broadcaster not just for profit, but to serve and because it’s the right thing to do. (Kinnda like Doctors before the greed set in)

As an ex New Yorker I know that living in New York and running a station in Louisville or Detroit or Jackson does not afford the owners an opportunity to learn what’s really important to a stations' constituency. The feedback that comes from a mega-groups' "local management" is filtered and unreliable at best…remember our business has been known to kill the messenger and who can afford to lose their job in this economy?

Come on FCC don't screw up free TV anymore than you already have.

This is my opinion and it should be yours.

Bob Gordon, President
The Auto Channel
bgordon@theautochannel.com