William Lacy Clay was a Congressman from Missouri for 20 years, up until 2021. In an opinion piece in The Hill Clay says that Black-owned radio, the lifeblood of Black communities, is in trouble and the government needs to step in and help.
In his letter, Clay urges Congress and the FCC to promote minority ownership and he praised the civil rights community who he says is working with Congress and the FCC to reverse the decline in Black-owned radio.
Clay also thanked the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council which proposed seven racial justice initiatives to the FCC that would help Black-owned radio stations raise capital, expand their advertising base, and compete with the large radio companies.
Clay says something that can be done quickly to help minority-owned broadcasters is the approval of geo-targeting technology being pushed and promoted by GeoBroadcast Solutions. It’s been opposed by many of radio’s large broadcasters who claim the technology has not been tested enough and may interfere with their broadcast signals. The NAB says GeoTargeting would undermine radio’s business model.
The proposal in front of the FCC would provide traffic, weather, public interest information and advertising to their local communities using FM boosters. Some believe the real reason the bigger broadcasters are objecting is that last item, the advertising. They are already in a battle with big technology companies for local advertising dollars.
Clay disagrees with the objection from big broadcast companies. In his Hill piece he writes, “Contrary to the publicly filed comments from mega-broadcasters that are not inclined to compete fairly with small stations, geo-targeted content does not equal “redlining.” Just the opposite is true. In the simplest terms, like local cable television operations, radio geo-targeting would reserve a small segment of airtime for local advertising. Geo-targeted content encourages more advertising for “mom and pop” business owners with limited dollars, who seek an opportunity to connect to a geographically specific audience.”
Read Clay’s column HERE.
