Bill would gut return of local radio

As the most portable medium - radio - reaches the verge of collapse, only localism can save it.

That's why some broadcasting regulators and radio people have wisely urged the restoration of localism guidelines that were dashed in the '90s. Under these reforms, stations would be bound to serve their communities instead of rebroadcasting identical national feeds that have no items of local interest.

After the disaster that unfolded in Minot, North Dakota, several years back, this is an important issue.

But along comes the Republican brain trust in Congress, which cries, "YOU CAN'T DO THAT!!!"

Right-wing Rep. Greg Walden (R-Oregon) and right-wing Rep. Mike Pence (R-Indiana) have introduced legislation to bar any funding to enforce these new rules (if the new rules are passed at all). It would also bar funding to enforce the Fairness Doctrine - but they call the new localism rules a "stealth Fairness Doctrine" and "censorship."

Localism is a "stealth Fairness Doctrine"??? How???

The Fairness Doctrine has to do with coverage of issues, whether national or local. Localism has to do with restoring local features. Localism and the Fairness Doctrine are separate matters.

Perhaps the real censorship is performed by the big nationwide broadcasting companies that issue lists of songs that their stations can't play - as Clear Channel did after 9/11. Censorship is talk stations giving airtime to only one side - as they do now.

That right-wingers would introduce a bill to gut the new proposed regulations is practically an admission that radio is currently dominated by the Right.

As for the loss of local content, I think that if stations want to keep rebroadcasting national programs all day, they should be relicensed as translators instead of full-power stations - and lose the privileges that full-power licenses have.