Dan Rather puts the "attacks" on Sinclair into perspective

[calimary]

44. Sounds like you and I have shared work and activism experiences from back-in-the-day,

whatever that day was.

I remember when Reagan got rid of the Fairness Doctrine and the ownership restrictions. Used to be that one could own only THREE broadcast properties in any one market. That usually worked out to one TV station, one AM station, and one FM station but it could have been any permutation of those elements. But only THREE. Well, fucking Reagan got rid of that one, which led to a literal orgy of mergers and acquisitions, and buying out the mom-'n'-pop stations to cobble massive and mighty radio networks together while the moms-'n'-pops unloaded for ridiculously lavish amounts of money (which they took and then RAN!), and what had been 600+ owners of broadcast properties across the country were soon consolidated and shrunk to a mere SIX. Six obscenely large and eventually over-leveraged corporate giants.

They all argued that this would SERVE the LISTENER!!!! But all it did was serve the corporate masters, as radio staffers from coast to coast were fired or laid off, and you'd wind up with ONE jock recording liners from New York or some other center and syndicating to stations in all kinds of markets including those little ones that are very local and had been serving their communities rather intimately. That's all gone. So many jobs that so many of my friends and colleagues lost! You could have ONE guy in Manhattan telling dozens of morning shows and local program directors what to play, regardless what the local community wanted. SO MUCH local talent was shoved out onto the street. HORRID. And worse, if the station could be automated, all you'd really need were a couple of ad guys and an engineer to make sure the machinery worked and the syndicated shows piped in from across the country, and man were you saving on overhead.

But the ART was lost. And the local flavor was lost. And the local TALENT that opened the supermarkets and rode in the annual Santa Claus parades was lost. No wonder their numbers all dropped. When your favorite deejay is replaced by some purported big name from faraway New York City or Chicago or L.A., who could you relate to every morning (or other dayparts)?

It was horrible. And very very sad.