Licenses to steal -- FCC commercial broadcast licenses

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: This in re: the post from a month ago, about the FCC report on the sorry "State of Media Journalism." : : ---------------------------------------- : LICENSES TO STEAL ARE EXPENSIVE - Speculation in Commercial Radio Broadcast Privileges in the United States : : by Charles Metalitz, Chicago, IL : Sept. 1, 2001 : [Chuck Metalitz is the Executive Director of the Henry George School of Social Science, Chicago.] : This paper was written because I resented being sold for $17. ... : Chicago's only remaining privately-owned classical music station, WNIB, was sold for $165 million. Bonneville International Corporation bought the station not because they wanted to continue or improve its operation; what they really bought was a license to broadcast to a market of nearly 10 million people. In fact, they bought the market, at a cost of about $17 per person. : Well, I used to listen to WNIB, and I resented being sold for $17. I wanted to look into the business of broadcast radio, and try to analyze it in Georgist terms. Henry George pointed out that those who monopolize natural opportunities could exact a toll on users, and that speculation could lead to excessive costs of access which eventually make productive use impossible. : What I found is, first, that the major asset of broadcasters is privilege. Actually, I could have figured that out just by reading the Chicago Tribune, who quoted the publisher of a radio trade magazine: "These radio stations are a license to steal. They're gushing oil wells." .................. : -------------------------------- : : To read the rest, go here: : http://www.groundswellusa.org/license02.htm : : More complete version with footnotes and statistics, here: http://www.hgchicago.org/othstufwedo.shtml )

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