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   DJ Sundog - from the toot-lab (djsundog@toot-lab.reclaim.technology)'s status on Wednesday, 13-Nov-2024 07:01:01 JST DJ Sundog - from the toot-lab

   the decimation of locally-produced broadcast radio continues apace

   https://www.timesunion.com/business/article/local-iheart-radio-stations-layoff-hosts-company-19909869.php

   gonna end up with nothing but three bash scripts being run by three corporate juggernauts all churning out jack fm playlists from coast to coast. the worst.

   • Embed this notice
     DJ Sundog - from the toot-lab (djsundog@toot-lab.reclaim.technology)'s status on Wednesday, 13-Nov-2024 07:00:52 JST DJ Sundog - from the toot-lab

     in reply to

     The corporate capture of the airwaves might seem like a third-rate issue to be all hot and bothered about, particularly if you don't remember what the broadcast environment was like in the 1970s and the 1980s (and earlier, I assume, but I have no personal reference for).

     having people from your local community be the ones who are broadcasting news and entertainment for your community is a big deal! it's representation and it's focused on the needs of your community. it's not a platform for ad sales, it's a communications channel, a commonality, a way to bring people together.

     the broadcast realm is as much a third place voidspace as this fediverse of ours is, but it's been entirely contained by the oligarchs whomst hoard. a big part of me thinks if we could reclaim that voidspace again we'd be well on our way to fixing a lot of what's fucked, but I lean towards that space and am definitely biased. but, consider the possibilities...

   • Embed this notice
     DJ Sundog - from the toot-lab (djsundog@toot-lab.reclaim.technology)'s status on Wednesday, 13-Nov-2024 07:00:54 JST DJ Sundog - from the toot-lab

     in reply to

     even iHeartRadio's originator, Clear Channel Communications, didn't start out as an awful outsized force - that didn't happen until deregulation started rolling through the federal government.

     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IHeartMedia

     deregulation and private equity, every fucking time.

     alcinnz, Robert Link and Rocketman repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     DJ Sundog - from the toot-lab (djsundog@toot-lab.reclaim.technology)'s status on Wednesday, 13-Nov-2024 07:00:56 JST DJ Sundog - from the toot-lab

     in reply to

     and it doesn't have to be like this!

     iHeartRadio didn't even exist twenty years ago!

     this is relatively recent damage, but it's been so thorough that it might as well have been generations ago. the local station facilities and equipment has long been disassembled and parted out and sold for scrap. the staff found other fields in which to work, leaving broadcast radio as a thing they used to do, back when.

   • Embed this notice
     DJ Sundog - from the toot-lab (djsundog@toot-lab.reclaim.technology)'s status on Wednesday, 13-Nov-2024 07:00:58 JST DJ Sundog - from the toot-lab

     in reply to

     these airwaves - this system for disseminating information and entertainment - it's a shared resource.

     it's been stolen from all of us by deregulation and corporate capture.

     you deserve better. your communities deserve better. we all do.

     pisses me the fuck off.

   • Embed this notice
     DJ Sundog - from the toot-lab (djsundog@toot-lab.reclaim.technology)'s status on Wednesday, 13-Nov-2024 07:00:59 JST DJ Sundog - from the toot-lab

     in reply to

     iHeartRadio is a monster. they own over 40% of the stations owned by the ten biggest broadcast groups in the us (as of 2021, based on data from https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/programming-and-sales/who-are-the-top-earning-u-s-radio-groups )

     their dream for the broadcast radio landscape is five super-popular personalities piped into algorithmically-generated playlists optimized to make you hear and respond to as many ads as possible.

     this huge chunk of the commons, put under the forced stewardship of the government who decided to regulate it, turned over to the resource extraction class to absolutely suck it dry and make it valueless.

     Luci for Chai Tea repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Robert Link (phaedral@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 13-Nov-2024 07:08:11 JST Robert Link

     in reply to

     @djsundog The success of niche marketing, the movement against monoculture, also was the success of dividing and conquering the electorate, it seems.