Talk radio may be one of the last bastions of free speech in America —we already know Big Tech controls the internet and newsrooms all over the country have been infiltrated by woke leftists with an axe to grind. That’s why it’s imperative that the FCC opposes ZoneCasting; a proposal which would, essentially, allow targeted FM programming, potentially eliminating certain types of programs —and perspectives —completely.
Conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt has written a letter to FCC commissioner Brendan Carr expressing his concerns. He calls the proposal “a torpedo aimed at midship for my program and those like it.”
“The ‘Zonecasting’ proposal at the commission now greatly endangers [the] prospect of a robust political dialogue,” Hewitt wrote.”I am concerned that [the] proposal before the commission could do significant and potentially permanent financial harm to the radio industry, while lining the pockets of the Big Tech platforms that actively engage in political censorship. You have been an outspoken leader in pushing back against political censorship by Big Tech and others.”
“[T]his type of capability — whether done on a limited or voluntary basis — could very well be the final straw for many stations — especially smaller stations — and would only further strengthen digital platforms such as Google, Twitter, and Meta — the very entities that have been the quickest to censor political speech,” Hewitt writes.
“Created by GeoBroadcast Solutions and in development since 2011, the technology would allow an FM to use a series of FM boosters around a market to offer localized programming and advertising,” Insider Radio reports. “The proposal has found little support within the radio industry and is opposed by the National Association of Broadcasters, and a list of companies that includes some of radio’s biggest, including iHeartMedia, Audacy, Cumulus Media, Beasley Media Group, Salem Media Group, and Connoisseur Media. Others on the list are a number of smaller and minority-owned groups; Urban One, Riverfront Broadcasting, Midway Broadcasting, and Ohana Media Group.”
“Not only are the radio groups worrying the technology could upend radio’s fundamental business model, but they have said they fear geo-targeted programming will drive both advertising rates and revenues down as advertisers push to purchase geo-targeted ads. They also believe the interference caused by geo-targeting, where the boundary of a primary station meets a booster airing different programming will damage radio’s image and have people reaching for alternatives,” Insider Radio continues.
Donald Trump Jr. raised awareness of the situation on Twitter, retweeting a story from the Daily Caller:
https://twitter.com/surabees/status/1533805660214804480?s=21&t=ZdqR7LtTyudrkcdb3Qwv8A
“The FCC is currently split politically, with two Democratic and two Republican commissioners,” the Daily Caller reports. “That means that if both Republican commissioners — Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington, both of whom were nominated to the Commission by President Trump — give it a thumbs down it would instantly kill the FCC’s Zonecasting experiment.”