Beasley Urges FCC to Scrap Radio Ownership Caps

RADIO ONLINE | Monday, June 15, 2026 | 3:29pm CT

Caroline Beasley

Beasley Media Group is calling on the Federal Communications Commission to eliminate local radio ownership caps, arguing that decades-old regulations are hindering broadcasters' ability to compete in today's media landscape.

In an ex parte filing submitted to the FCC, Beasley Media Group CEO Caroline Beasley and Executive Vice President and General Counsel Chris Ornelas detailed meetings held June 10 with FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and members of his staff, as well as Acting Media Bureau Chief Alex Sanjenis, regarding the pending 2022 Quadrennial Review of the Commission's media ownership rules.

According to the filing, Beasley urged the FCC to repeal local radio ownership restrictions that have remained unchanged since 1996. The company argued that the rules were established before the emergence of satellite radio, streaming audio services, podcasts, social media platforms, digital advertising giants, smart devices, and integrated smartphone technology in automobiles.

The company contended that broadcast radio now competes in a vastly different marketplace and that ownership limits imposed solely on radio stations have become a competitive disadvantage rather than a tool for promoting competition, diversity, and localism.

Beasley told FCC officials that broadcasters lacking sufficient scale are at a disadvantage when competing for audiences and advertising dollars against larger digital and audio companies. The filing also pointed to the industry's ongoing shift of advertising revenue from traditional radio to digital platforms and argued that current ownership restrictions make it more difficult for broadcasters to attract the investment needed to support local programming and public service content.

"Continuing to starve the radio industry of the capital and scale it needs to survive will not serve the public interest," the company stated in the filing.

Beasley concluded by urging the FCC to complete the 2022 Quadrennial Review as quickly as possible and eliminate its local radio ownership rules.

The filing follows similar recent meetings between FCC officials and broadcast industry leaders seeking modernization of media ownership regulations amid increasing competition from digital media and technology platforms.