[BC] put stations back in their city of license

[Mark Humphrey]

I've never understood the sense of assigning licenses to small
municipalities or CDPs anyway.  By definition, broadcasting is
supposed to serve a "broad" area, so wouldn't it make more sense to
assign them to counties, SMSAs, or even "micropolitan" areas?  For
example, the Class B FMs in and near Providence probably should have
been assigned to "Rhode Island" (the state, not the island)

  The FCC handles cellular and PCS licensing this way, but (as usual)
broadcasting largely remains regulated as it was in 1934.

As Commisioner Copps pointed out, the FM move-in craze last decade (in
which many small towns were designated as new first service COLs) was
an "arcane parlor game" some owners and their lawyers played to take
advantage of strange 307(b) policies.  But they were motivated to do
so because the potential rewards were so great.

However, the most lucrative opportunities have dried up and some
larger market are oversaturated, so we may now see a "move-out" trend.
 A recent sale near Jacksonville, FL (sorry, I forget the stations and
players) is an example.  Prices must still come down to earth before
some of these move-outs make sense.

Mark

>
> On Feb 2, 2010, at 9:00 AM, Tom Spencer wrote:
>
>> The 80-90 drop ins, alone, aren't nearly the problem as much as the
>> rimshot move-ins.
>>
>> Put those stations back into their local markets, and watch the ad
>> dollars from local merchants paying for LOCAL programming roll in.
>>