visit the story link to read the complete salon.com article about Clear Channel Communications

In the late 1990s, while no one was looking, a corporate behemoth became the largest owner and biggest force in America's most venerable mass medium: commercial radio.

Today's rulings do not reflect a principled public interest analysis, nor is there any numerical limit to the percentage of advertising revenue share a single owner or a duopoly may possess. This approach is dangerously close to writing the public interest out of the statute.... In an era of nearly uncontrolled consolidation in the radio industry, this Commission's failure to adhere to the simple dictates of prior decisions produces results that are both structurally and functionally at odds with the Communications Act. If the Commission wishes to alter its approach, it should do so after notice and an opportunity to comment. Stealthy use of the Bureau's delegated authority subverts the principles upon which our prior cases, and indeed our government, are based.

L.A. Weekly, April 20-26, 2001: A new underground radio station has become the talk of Hollywood, but just as its mix of punk, ’80s tunes and weird comedy bits has begun to give FM radio the butt-kicking it deserves, it may become history. PIRATE CAT RADIO (87.9 FM) was started in a Los Angeles apartment a month-and-a-half ago by a computer whiz from San Jose who calls himself MONKEY MAN. He works out of a bedroom filled with transmitters and computers programmed to broadcast 24/7, and visitors such as DEEP EYNDE, GET-UP KIDS, NAKED AGGRESSION and LEE VING have joined him “in studio.” He says KROQ called with a job offer, but he turned ’em down. Recently, however, the FCC served him with a “notice of unlicensed operations,” which could ultimately force him off the air.

The FCC Chairman told NAB 2001 attendees yesterday at a breakfast session that "there's no effective way to measure diversity" and that having multiple owners of radio stations does not necessarily mean that there's a diverse choice in the minds of consumers. Powell rejected the idea that the only way to achieve diversity is by government mandate, and he said that the FCC under his direction is unlikely to launch any LPFM program. "We are just going to follow through on what we've been told to do [by Congress]. We'll see where we end up."

From John Anderson's about.com Pirate/Free Radio site:

You'd expect the issuance of the first construction permits for legal low power FM radio stations in more than 30 years
to be accompanied by some fanfare. But last week, when the FCC gave 25 LPFM applicants permission to build their stations, it didn't even bother to issue a news release. But the ball is rolling now: These selected applicants in five states can now raise their antenna and prepare to start broadcasting. Not surprisingly, none are located in major metropolitan areas, and in many locations the applicants could've applied for a full-power FM station license (if the cost had been lower.) It is disappointing to note that of the first permits to be issued, almost half are going to churches and religious groups, including various Calvary Chapel-affiliated congregations around the country. Religious groups (including Calvary Chapel) have already hogged enough spectrum through the use of automated FM translator stations. This is diversity? This is increasing community access to the airwaves? Sorry to rain on the parade, but if this is a sign of things to come, then for those that are lucky enough to get an LPFM station to listen to, it's not going to change the status quo on the dial much. And remember, this is only a small fraction of the more than 1,700 applicants who tried for an LPFM license.

After years of litigation and lobbying, the nation's largest broadcasters, cable companies and other media outlets have begun winning important changes to federal rules that restrict their ability to grow larger and to dominate new markets.

The changes achieved by the powerful media and telecommunications companies reflect a new regulatory climate in Washington, both at the Federal Communications Commission and before a federal appeals court here.

In a marked departure from decades of Supreme Court opinions on the subject, the agency and the appeals court have become significantly more sympathetic to the free- speech rights of corporations and more skeptical of the role of government in promoting diversity in mass media....

The next industry victory is expected this week, when the communications agency is scheduled to relax a rule that for decades has prohibited one television network from buying another.

And within a few weeks, officials said, the agency will begin to loosen a 26-year-old regulation restricting a company from owning a television station and a newspaper in the same market.

In recent weeks, the federal court, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, has handed two big victories to the largest companies in the cable and broadcasting industries. It struck down the rules that limit how big a cable company can grow, and it expressed grave doubts about comparable rules that have limited the nationwide size of broadcasters.

FCC to Accept Window 4 and Window 5 Low Power FM Applications from June 11 through June 15, 2001. Window to Open for proposed facilities in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Guam, Iowa, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia. (see story link for details)

On April 2nd, the National Lawyers Guild Center for Democratic Communications and the Prometheus Radio Project sent a letter to the FCC expressing concerns over the fact that LPFM applications will now only be accepted using the FCC's electronic filing system. Visit http://www.nlgcdc.org/040201_ltr.html for details.

President George W. Bush plans to nominate two Republicans, Kevin Martin and Kathleen Abernathy, and a Democrat, Michael Copps, to the Federal Communications Commission, charged with overseeing the telecommunications, cable and radio industries. The five-member commission is typically split three to two in favor of the political party that holds the White House. The planned nominations, announced by White House spokesman Ari Fleischer on Friday, require confirmation by the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee and the full Senate. ``Each of the three nominees ... if confirmed by the Senate, will bring important experience and expertise to the commission and I welcome the opportunity to carry out the responsibilities of the FCC with them,'' FCC Chairman Michael Powell said in a statement.

The FCC has modified its rules for the low power FM (LPFM) service. The modifications 1) prescribe LPFM station third adjacent channel interference protection standards, and 2) prohibit any applicant from obtaining an LPFM station license if the applicant has engaged in the unlicensed operation of a station in violation of Section 301 of the Communications Act of 1934.

This Second Report and Order (Second R&O) adopts modifications to the
LPFM service rules implementing provisions of the FY 2001 Appropriations Act (Act).

The new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Michael K. Powell, yesterday told a House panel that he aims to spare the industries he regulates from an excess of rules, allowing market forces to largely determine the shape of the telecommunications, broadcasting and Internet industries. Powell also called for a reexamination of the rules governing the broadcasting industry, whose lobby is among the most powerful in Washington. He said he plans to launch a formal proceeding in May to lift a long-standing ban on a single company owning a newspaper and a television station in the same market. He also plans to pursue lifting rules that bar a single company from owning television stations that reach more than 35 percent of the national market, asserting that the cap dates back three decades to "an entirely different media environment."