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In comments filed with the FCC, the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council (MMTC) is urging the Commission to take action and revise or delete "certain outdated and ineffective rules" for the purpose of improving the general state of the radio broadcasting industry. MMTC eliminating market barriers as well as station location and operations would promote public service, public safety, minority entrepreneurship and democracy.

"The broadcasting industry, as a whole, is suffering an economic paralysis," said MMTC, "leaving minority broadcasters grasping for life support. The current financial crisis has all but destroyed the broadcasting industry's equity value," the trade association noted, "while competition from new technologies and the Internet challenge radio broadcasters' economic stability."

MMTC pointed out that recent reports show that the radio industry will continue to struggle as many of the country's largest national broadcasters remain on the verge of bankruptcy. The Commission's outdated radio rules, said MMTC, coupled with the industry's economic crisis, "only serve to compound the grim reality of the consistent market entry barriers that challenge minority entrepreneurs."

"Minority broadcast ownership does not remotely reflect the representation of minorities overall in the population," MMTC continued in the filing. "Despite the fact that minorities comprise over one-third of the population in the United States, minorities own a mere 7.7 percent of the minority-owned stations are on the AM band, and these stations tend to have inferior facilities."

Deleting "outdated radio rules" will eliminate market barriers, improve the general state of broadcasting and lessen the burdens to minority broadcasters by allowing stations more flexibility in station location and operations. "The revision and deletion of obsolete and ineffective engineering rules is important not only because the radio industry is ready for these rules to change, but also because Congress expects it" MMTC concluded. (10-26-09)

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