[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 16]
[Senate]
[Page 23879]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[[Page 23879]]

  MEDIA CONCENTRATION FOLLOWING PASSAGE OF THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS ACT

  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, in 1996, the Congress passed the 
Telecommunications Act. I was involved in the passage of that act. I 
served on the Commerce Committee, and we wrote the first rewrite of the 
telecommunications law in some 60 years.
  One of the contentious areas in that debate was the ownership limits 
on television and radio stations. The ownership limits on television 
and radio stations in this country were established over the years 
because we wanted to promote localism in radio and television stations, 
local ownership, local control, so that people living in an area would 
have some notion that those who were distributing information over 
their television and radio stations would have some idea of local 
responsibility.
  It is interesting what has happened since 1996. When we had that 
debate in 1996, the Commerce Committee took all the limits off radio 
stations. You could own as many as you want. They took the limits that 
existed on television stations and increased it.
  I authored an amendment on the floor of the Senate to change what 
happened inside the Commerce Committee. I offered an amendment saying I 
didn't think that was the right way to go. We didn't need bigger 
ownership groups owning the radio and television stations. The 
amendment would have restored the ownership limits on television 
stations in this country.
  We had a rollcall vote, and I won with Senator Dole leading the 
opposition. It was a surprise to everyone, but I won. Then a Senator on 
the other side asked for permission to change his vote. He changed his 
vote because he wanted it to be reconsidered at some point. That was at 
4 o'clock in the afternoon. And then dinner intervened. About 7 or 8 
o'clock that evening, as I recall, they asked for reconsideration of 
the vote, and four or five Members of the Senate had some sort of 
epiphany over the dinner hour and discovered their earlier vote was 
wrong and they really had to change their vote, so I lost.
  I understand how things work here. I understand what happened over 
the dinner hour. People didn't have bandages and visibly broken arms, 
but clearly pressure was applied because over a period of 3 or 4 hours 
people changed their votes, and I lost. We have no ownership national 
limits on radio stations, and the ownership limits on television 
stations have been dramatically relaxed. The number of television 
stations you could own has increased.
  Let me show a chart on radio stations. In 1996, we had the top 10 
companies in this country owning roughly 400 radio stations. Clear 
Channel had 57 stations. This total was about 400 radio stations for 
the top 10 companies. Let me show you what this looks like today on 
this chart. These are the top 10. Between them, they now own well over 
2,000 radio stations. Clear Channel owns over a thousand by itself 
following its merger with AM/FM. I won't go through the rest of them. 
You can see what is happening--a massive concentration. They are buying 
up radio stations all over the country.
  In 1996, Clear Channel wasn't in North Dakota. Now they own numerous 
stations in the State. In Minot, ND, a former broadcaster called me and 
said: Do you know what is happening? They own all the radio stations 
except the two religious ones. I said: How could that be?
  It was approved because the Minot service area was considered the 
same as the service area with Bismarck because their signals overlap. 
Therefore, it was one market and in a community like Minot, with 40,000 
people, one company can essentially own all the radio stations.
  The question is: What do they do with those? What kind of localism 
exists when you have a company whose headquarters is somewhere else 
controlling a thousand radio stations? Does that matter? It sure does 
to me. It ought to matter to the Senate. How about television stations?
  On this chart, the yellow bar represents the situation in 1996 when 
we passed the Telecommunications Act. For example, the number of 
stations Paxson had was 11, and now Paxson has 60 as the red bar 
indicates. That doesn't describe, incidentally, the management 
alliances that existed. It is much more aggressive than this chart 
indicates.
  In television and radio stations, we are galloping toward 
concentrated ownership in a very significant way. I think this Congress 
ought to ask itself: Is this what we intend? Is this what we want to 
have happen? Don't we want local ownership in this country with radio 
and television stations? Do people in our communities not have a voice 
in what is broadcast on their radio stations? Does their voice have to 
extend to a city 2,000 miles away where the owner of their radio 
station resides?
  I think the Congress ought to have a good discussion about that. 
Where does it end? Do we end up with several companies owning almost 
all the radio stations? In one of our largest cities, two companies 
will bill over 80 percent of all the billing from radio stations--two 
companies. Is that competition? I don't think so.
  I raise the question because I intend to meet with the FCC and send 
them a letter and meet with others. I don't mean to be pejorative with 
Clear Channel. I've never met with them, but they are the largest group 
in radio ownership. They were approved for the merger with AM/FM. They 
have well over a thousand stations. Where does this end? Is it good for 
this country to demolish the notion of localism in broadcasting? I 
don't think so. I don't think it is good for television or radio. These 
are public airwaves and they attach to it, in my judgment, the 
responsibility of certain kinds of public good that must be presented 
by broadcasters when they accept the responsibility of using the 
airwaves.
  So I raise that question today, and I intend to visit with the 
National Association of Broadcasters, and especially with the Federal 
Communications Commission, to ask them if this is really what was 
intended, is this what Congress wants, and is it something that we 
think marches in the right direction? Frankly, I don't think so. I hope 
we can discuss this as we turn the corner next year and talk about 
public policy and whether we think concentration of radio and 
television stations is something that should alarm all of us. I believe 
it should.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Idaho.
  Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I understand we are in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. That is correct.
  Mr. CRAIG. I ask unanimous consent to speak for the next 10 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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