A coalition of national organizations representing minority communities has formally called on the FCC to update its broadcast ownership rules, warning that outdated regulations could jeopardize the future of local radio against unregulated threats from Big Tech.
In a letter to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and Commissioners Geoffrey Starks, Nathan Simington, and Anna Gomez, MANA President and CEO Amy Hinojosa, National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts Chairman and Co-Founder Felix Sanchez, National Urban League President Marc Morial, and Hispanic Federation President and CEO Frankie Miranda expressed strong support for updating local radio and television ownership restrictions.
The organizations raise the argument that broadcast ownership rules no longer reflect today’s media landscape, where local stations face competition from unregulated tech giants like Google, Meta, and TikTok.
“Today, local broadcasters compete with the largest technology companies in the world for audience and advertising revenue. Yet big tech companies operate without any regulations,” the letter states. “If local broadcasters hope to compete, we need your immediate help to level the regulatory playing field.”
The groups stressed the essential role local broadcasters play in providing trusted news, weather, traffic, emergency information, and diverse community-focused programming – services that large digital platforms do not replicate. A recent report from the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters and Nielsen shows that nearly 90% of Black adults tune in to AM/FM radio each month, with radio making up 76% of all ad-supported audio consumption among Black listeners.
Despite the expansion of media options, Nielsen data – in collaboration with the Hispanic Radio Alliance – shows that 54% of Hispanics’ ad-supported audio listening time is dedicated to radio, significantly ahead of podcasts (28%) and streaming audio (16%). From 2018 to 2024, weekly AM/FM listening among Hispanic adults stayed steady at more than 8 hours, compared to 10 hours spent on live and time-shifted television. Among Hispanics ages 18-34, time spent with radio is 81% of the time they spend watching TV.
“Local broadcasting also uniquely protects invaluable community connections and ensures that diverse voices within communities can thrive,” the letter continues. “Yet if broadcasters cannot compete on a level playing field, the development of content that is relevant to local communities that promotes diverse viewpoints will also cease to thrive.”
The letter comes as the Commission now reviews all the requests for deregulation under Chairman Carr’s “Delete, Delete, Delete” initiative, including an 80-page plan from the NAB calling for scrapping national and local ownership limits as well as select rules on Equal Employment Opportunity reporting, the Online Public Inspection File, foreign sponsorship disclosures, and ownership reporting mandates, among others.
