Copyright 2000 The Chronicle Publishing Co.
The San
Francisco Chronicle
SEPTEMBER 18, 2000, MONDAY, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: EDITORIAL; Pg. A17; OPEN FORUM
LENGTH: 1014 words
HEADLINE:
Broadcasters' Radio Show' Comes to a Troubled Region
BYLINE: Matthew Lasar
BODY:
IT'S COMING to San Francisco -- the National Association of Broadcasters
Year 2000 "Radio Show," live from Moscone Center. The "largest show of its
kind," boasts the association.
The party starts Wednesday, Sept. 20, and
promises a celebration of the "next big thing" in Internet radio technology.
Those who can afford the $435 to $735 entry
fee will hear a keynote speech by Gen. Colin Powell. Then they'll enjoy a
four-day tour of the latest gadgets designed "to provide the solutions and
strategies that you can implement today to shape your success tomorrow," as the
conference's Web site promises.
But while the broadcasting group's fancy
gizmos may open doors for some, its relentless lobbying in Washington, D.C., has
slammed shut that portal known as community-based radio. This is especially true
in the Bay Area, one of the most troubled broadcasting regions in the United
States.
The problems started in 1996, when the broadcasters and other
lobbies persuaded Congress to pass the Telecommunications Act. This revision of
the original 1934 Broadcasting Act allows corporations to own as many radio
stations as they like -- up to eight in any metropolitan area.
The
result was a frenzy of selling across the country. Twenty-one Bay Area radio
stations almost immediately changed hands. The price of a frequency went through
the transmitter. And the new owners brought a "banker's heart" management style
with little sympathy for community-oriented programming.
Take Street
Soldiers, a syndicated program that used to broadcast on local hip hop station
KMEL-FM. Created by the MacArthur award-winning founders of the Potrero Hill
Omega Boy's club, its compelling call-in format counseled Bay Area minority
youth in trouble.
That is until KMEL put Street Soldiers on the street
last year. The move came as KMEL's owner, am.fm Inc., announced plans to merge
with Clear Channel Communications, creating an 830-station empire. Why drop the
program? Because KMEL's latest ratings had slipped from second to third, said
its general manager.
Then there is the sad story of Live 105, one of the
West Coast's "Modern Rock" radio outlets. In the 1980s, KITS exploded on the Bay
Area scene with its brash billboarding of "alternative" music instead of the
warhorses of the '60s and '70s. Best of all, the frequency hosted a fast-paced
morning program that showcased Bay Area comedians and musicians.
Now CBS
owns the station. Live 105 satellites in tedious shock jock Howard Stern from
New York City. That's alternative?
A near epitaph for classical station
KDFC-FM is also in order. After its owner, Evergreen Media of Texas, merged with
Chancellor Media, Bay Area radio observers wondered whether the frequency's
format would survive.
In a region famous for its rich musical culture,
KDFC's staff responded with Classical-Lite: Vivaldi in the morning and
Tchaikovsky in the afternoon. It worked. Last year, KDFC scored the best music
arbitrons on the FM dial. To paraphrase railroad magnate Jay Gould's comment
about money, getting good ratings is easy if that's all you want to do.
But these tales are mild compared to that of KPFA in Berkeley. Even
before the Telecommunications Act passed, America's first listener-supported
radio station was having a tough time. Most public radio frequencies had shed
their volunteer air slots, dumping responsibility for local service on community
stations such as KPFA. In 1995, KPFA management, weary of dealing with so many
people in so little space, also dropped a host of volunteer programs.
The purge created an uproar. From the fracas, KPFA's overseer, the
Pacifica Foundation, took the wrong lesson: no more Mr. Nice Guy. Last year,
Pacifica suddenly canned the station's general manager, two weeks before KPFA's
50th anniversary. Then the nonprofit caused further chaos by firing programmers
who criticized the decision over KPFA's airwaves.
But the worst was yet
to come. Thanks to the Telecommunications Act, KPFA's signal was now worth
$65 million to $75 million. In the middle of
this mess, a member of Pacifica's National Board came up with a bright idea. Why
not just sell KPFA? "This is the best radio market in history," his e-mail
message declared.
The day the memo was discovered, Pacifica expelled
KPFA's staff and barricaded the building. It took a demonstration of over 10,000
supporters to get the station back. These cries of pain echo an urgent need for
airtime dedicated to local politics, dialogue and the arts. But does the
National Association of Broadcasters get it? Not as far as Low Power
FM, or "microradio," is concerned.
Last year, William Kennard,
chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, authorized a new service. It
would allow nonprofit groups -- schools, churches, even fire stations -- to
start FM radio stations with 100 watts or less of power. Broadcasting lobbyists
helped persuade the House of Representatives to pass a countermeasure that
Kennard says will effectively doom his proposal.
Now to be fair, the
broadcasting corporations have an answer to my complaint. The Internet will
solve your problem, they claim. As more radio stations go online, those lucky
enough to have the latest equipment will enjoy more choices. But as I explore
cyber/radiospace with my new Real Audio/DSL powered computer, I hear something
else. Most of the stations I access are just like KMEL, Live 105 and KDFC --
frequencies stripped of local color in pursuit of the bottom line.
So
let us welcome the National Association of Broadcasters to our broadcasting
"market," as they would put it, struggling to sustain its regional character
under the burden of a monopolistic law. When the association's conference goers
aren't wowing each other with the latest streaming doodads, they might want to
tell us how their private agenda serves the Bay Area's public interest.
So far, I haven't heard them. And believe me, I've been listening.
Matthew Lasar is the author of "Pacifica Radio: The Rise of an
Alternative Network" (Temple University Press, 200
GRAPHIC: GRAPHIC, Tom Murray / The Chronicle
LOAD-DATE: September 18, 2000
