Salem Media Group Urges 'Light Touch' From FCC

As the Federal Communications Commission begins the next quadrennial review of local media ownership rules Salem Media Group are urging regulators to take a light touch when rewriting the rules governing radio.

In a letter last week, Salem Media Group expressed concerns that any sudden deregulatory move could do more harm than good—especially to AM radio.

InsideRadio reporrs Salem CEO Ed Atsinger and president of broadcast media David Santrella refer to FCC chair Ajit Pai as a “champion of AM radio” in the letter. But in an indication that it has concerns about the FCC going too far in rolling back its media limits, Salem Media Group has for the first time gone on the record urging the Commission not to undo what it has already accomplished.

Atsinger and Santrella said they are “concerned about the likely effect” that removing the subcaps will have on the AM dial. They worry proposals to allow operators to own more FMs would result in more talk programming being pulled off of AM stations, leaving AM for “very specialized” formats. “If the AM band ceases to be the destination for popular programming, AM traffic will greatly diminish and the value of AM radio will collapse,” they warned.

Salem points to the Atlanta market as a case study. Cox Media Group’s news-talk WSB 750 AM added the WSBB 95.5 FM simulcast eight years ago and it reports Nielsen data shows just 20% of the station’s listening comes from the AM band today.

“Most listeners have migrated to the FM, pulling audience away from AM radio and depleting traffic for other broadcasters on the AM band in Atlanta,” the Salem executives said.

InsideRadio notes that’s critical for their company since 70% of Salem’s owned-and-operated stations are AMs—including four in the Atlanta metro—and its conservative talk Salem Radio Network is cleared on many AM stations.