Cumulus, Zimmer Owners Meet With FCC Over Market Caps

Two U.S. radio groups — national owner Cumulus Media and small-market operator Zimmer Radio of Mid Missouri — asked the FCC again last week to repeal its local radio ownership caps, adding to a growing industry push as the commission reviews media rules under a Republican majority. 

The meetings, disclosed in ex parte filings, came after the FCC eliminated the 39 percent national ownership cap on broadcast television stations. Industry officials say that move, plus a sympathetic commission, has raised expectations that radio limits could be next.

Cumulus executive vice president Collin Jones met with legal advisors and staff for Chairman Brendan Carr and Commissioners Olivia Trusty and Anna Gomez. He called repeal “urgent,” arguing the caps have been frozen since 1996 while radio’s competitors have multiplied: streaming services, podcasts, satellite radio, social media, digital devices, and dominant digital ad platforms. Jones said greater local scale is essential as industry revenues fall. Larger clusters, he argued, would let groups spread the cost of local programming, offer more formats, attract more advertisers, and draw investment that current “artificial” limits block.

The same day, Zimmer Radio president John Zimmer met FCC officials and spoke with Carr. 

National Association of Broadcasters lawyers joined part of the visit. Zimmer, whose company owns 10 stations in mid-sized and small Missouri markets, said the 30-year-old rules now threaten many local stations’ survival. New audio services have cut time spent with local radio and the audiences stations can sell to advertisers, he said. Digital platforms dominate local ad markets, while big-box stores and online retailers have replaced the small businesses that once bought radio spots. Stations in smaller markets, he added, now earn only a fraction of the revenue of those in the largest cities.

Zimmer said more local stations would let smaller owners spread programming costs, launch new formats, and grow audiences. He told the FCC no owner would simply duplicate existing programming.

The local radio cap still uses a sliding scale set in 1996: up to eight commercial stations in the largest markets, with tighter limits and AM/FM subcaps in smaller ones. Broadcasters say those numbers no longer match a market reshaped by streaming and digital advertising. Critics counter that lifting the caps would accelerate homogenization. The commission has not yet acted on radio, even as it has moved faster on television.