IS THE FAIRNESS DOCTRINE AS UNFAIR AS CONSERVATIVES FEAR?

[Editor's Note: The following is accompanying material to a post by Dustin Siggins for his article on NewMajority. -nick]

In 2007, Senators John McCain and Ted Kennedy, along with former President Bush, attempted to pass controversial immigration reform. The Heritage Foundation, combined with talk radio personalities such as Michael Savage, Rush Limbaugh and Laura Ingraham, have since been credited with the grassroots reaction that caused legislators to shoot the bill down in the Senate. Since that time, liberals and Democrats have worked to reinstall the Fairness Doctrine. Despite what Representative Mike Pence (R-IN), former President Clinton, Senator Debbie Stabenow, as well as many others on the left and right think, the Fairness Doctrine is never coming back. Whichever party attempted to bring it back would quickly find itself out of power.

The bigger threat to talk radio- the only area of media dominance by conservatives, and more importantly an area of media that should remain as free as the Internet, television, newspapers (for now), books, magazines, movies, etc.- is what has been coined as “localism.” In 2007 the Center for American Progress came out with the liberal blueprint for policy designed to diminish the hold conservatives have on talk radio- the report decries the Fairness Doctrine but pushes for 24-hour on-duty personnel, localism boards to guarantee minority opinions are heard, and regulations on how many stations may be owned by one corporation in a particular area.

During my time as an intern in Regulatory Policy at The Heritage Foundation, I conducted a partial case study of Littleton, New Hampshire- a town of 5,845 according to the 2000 census- and how localism regulations would affect radio stations in the area. Below are my results:

A Brief Look at Littleton, New Hampshire

Littleton is one of the most popular tourist attractions in New Hampshire. Boasting a population of only around 6,000-the official U.S. census stated 5,845 residents in 2000-Littleton has three gigantic advantages over most towns its size. The first is its location, only 15 minutes from Cannon Mountain, where Bode Miller grew up. 25-30 minutes from Bretton Woods, a mountain part of the Mt. Washington Grand Hotel. It is also accessible from New Hampshire’s only interstate highway, Interstate 93, through multiple exits.

A second advantage is Chutter’s Candy Store. Started in 1995 as a small local store, it expanded to possessing the world’s longest candy counter at over 112 feet before its founders retired. A huge draw both locally and with tourists, Chutter’s sells everything from high-end chocolates to penny candy to novelty Littleton, North Country, and New Hampshire souvenirs. Over a dozen unique stores such as The Village Book Store, Littleton Bike Shop, and “Today’s Movies At Yesterday’s Prices” Jax Jr. Cinemas complete the ensemble of small, unique New Hampshire tourist and local attractions.

The third advantage is Littleton’s status as a perennial contender for the Great American Main Street Award. It has been names the #1 Main Street in the nation at least once since 1997, and boasts a 2% retail vacancy rate on Main Street, down from 20% in 1992. (http://www.golittleton.com/littleton_main_street.php) This status, and the publicity therein, make Littleton a necessary stop for Canadians passing through to the rest of America, as well as many Americans going to Quebec and other southeastern portions of Canada. Traditional visitors who enter New Hampshire for its foliage, great skiing, and famous hiking locations also make Littleton a regular stopping point.

Back in the 1990s, Littleton struggled with unemployment and sagging local support. One of its big turnaround points was the opening of Wal-Mart, which draws shoppers from as far away as an hour on a regular basis. Since 1998, when Wal-Mart opened its doors, Littleton has replaced Berlin, NH has the hub of activity in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Applebees, Lowe’s, Home Depot, Ninety-Nine Restaurant, and over a dozen chains have entered the town, boosting population, employment, and tourism rates.

Background of Major Littleton/North Country/New Hampshire Media

Newspapers

According to local author and bookstore owner Mike Dickerman, The Littleton Courier used to cover six high schools; now, since it is owned by a New Hampshire-based corporation with 11 North Country newspapers under its name, only three are covered. Mr. Dickerman, a former writer for the newspaper, explained that while the corporation allows for greater profit for the local newspaper, the amount of local news is lacking. Furthermore, since the corporate-owned papers trade articles, many locals are seeing the same articles twice in the same week. The Coos County Democrat, owned by the same corporation as The Courier, is one such paper located only two towns away from Littleton. Dickerman feels, as many do, that repetitive articles take away from the amount of news covered locally.

Eileen Alexander, the Democrat’s editor, says that since 1990 her paper dropped its coverage from the entire North Country-approximately 90 minutes of driving, from end-to-end, and many towns-to the several towns in the local school district as well as three towns close by and big news in neighboring Vermont.

John Harrigan, former 2^nd-generation owner of the Colebrook News & Sentinel in Colebrook, NH, believes that the Localism laws would have no effect on ability of papers to be local; he makes the claim they already are. According to Harrigan, weekly papers outnumber dailies 11-1; approximately 13,000 to 1,200. Dailies are less profitable than weeklies, because they offer much of the same information as other dailies, whereas weeklies cover what the local people want in a unique fashion. Furthermore, on the business end, corporations have little effect on newspaper ownership, because the public chooses what it wants. The New Hampshire Sunday News columnist believes there are always opportunities available to entrepreneurs who want to open a newspaper in the modern world and serve a market better. Harrigan states without equivocation: “I don’t give a fly about the FCC.”

Few other newspapers reach into the Littleton area. Some of the larger papers, such as The Boston Globe and The New York Times, have their typical presences, but other than The New Hampshire Union Leader-NH’s largest state newspaper-and The Caledonian-Record, a medium-sized paper out of St. Johnsbury, VT with a circulation of just over 10,000 daily papers, (http://caledonianrecord.com/main.asp?SectionID=14&SubSectionID=467&ArticleID=60&TM=53123.72) other printed media presences are limited primarily to several small, free papers.

Radio

In radio, however, things are very different. Presences range from ultra-local to locally regional to multi-state regional. Also, while change takes place, there is a free-flow of stations and interchanging ownership.

Recent examples of the ever-changing, as well as growing, evolution of radio in the Littleton, NH are omnipresent; the following are just a sample. 106.3, WMTK’s, move to its base of operations one town over to St. Johnsbury, VT; however, it still plays Classic Rock in Littleton and the surrounding towns. Two new radio stations-one, an Oldies station, and the other, a Classic Rock station-have opened in the area in the last twelve months, owned by the same radio company that owns 96.7, WLTN and 1400 A.M. A small, privately-owned station started a summer program of music within the last several years on 91.7 FM. 107.5, Frank FM, an Oldies station out of Portland, Maine hit the airwaves several years ago, and has expanded to around half-a-dozen stations in Northern New England. Also, 96.3, WJJB, out of Gray, Maine changed from Fox Radio to Sports on September 1^st. A light rock station, 94.9 WHOM, the largest radio transmitter in the nation-which reaches five states & parts of Canada-and country station 103.7, WOKQ, are both located on Mt. Washington, the tallest mountain on the East Coast. Both reach from Massachusetts to the North Country. Kiss 102.3, WXXS, plays modern pop music, and has been in the area since 1998. Other stations include Star 92.9, WEZF Burlington, VT and 90.5 WCKJ-owned by Christian Ministries, Inc.-out of St. Johnsbury, VT.

A number of local stations cover local events, news, etc. 106.3, WMTK, covers Littleton-Chevrolet events, as well as daily updates on local restaurants and specialty stores. 1400 AM covers all Red Sox games, as well as Littleton High School basketball games. 103.7, known as 97.5 in the southern part of NH, covers events at the local airport and other locations, in addition to all New England Patriots games. New Hampshire Public Radio also covers many different events.

A number of those involved with the radio industry agree the changes would have some negative effect. The General Manager of Nausau Broadcasters: Frank FM, Patrick Tyrrell, in Portland, Maine, for example, believes that “The customers get what they want. If they want local, they will go local. If they don’t, they will go non-local.” Meanwhile Andy Phillips, a 17-year veteran of Littleton-area radio and a former radio personality in northern Vermont, believes that harm will depend on the station; some stations still fully staff, so variety is present. Also, the effects of localism will affect these stations minimally. The Main Studio Rule would only apply if on-air, so closing at night gets rid of expense problems.

One of the strongest opponents to localism regulations was Barry Lunderville, owner of Barry P. Lunderville, LLC and several area radio stations. He believes that localism boards put stations out of business, and that greater ownership in the Littleton area increased by anti-conglomeration regulations would create less of a piece of the pie per company would also but stations out of business. In fact, Lunderville stated that “centrally-located” business will be impossible with the type of regulations the FCC proposed in December of 2007.

Television

There has always been a local television channel in Littleton, for selectman’s meetings, etc. WMUR-TV, an ABC-affiliate owned by Hearst-Argyle with two other locations in Boston, MA and White River Junction, VT, made a return to the North Country of New Hampshire in 2005. (http://www.wmur.com/station/5013678/detail.html) It provides state news on its TV station and website, as well as locally-focused programs such as “New Hampshire Chronicles.” It has three repeaters located in the North Country; two are in Littleton, and a third is in Berlin, New Hampshire. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WMUR-TV)? Also, New Hampshire Public Television goes all around the state, often in the North Country.

Internet

The lack of high-speed Internet has been a point of concern for years in New Hampshire, especially in the rural North Country. However, recent efforts by New Hampshire Senator Judd Gregg and former Senator John Sununu have brought broadband Internet access to the North Country. This had been previously unavailable, leaving Dial-Up as the primary Internet access speed to towns without the (relative) economic influence of large towns/small cities like Berlin, North Conway, and Littleton. Many people, from business owners to public officials, believe this will improve the economies and opportunities of and in rural New Hampshire. (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa5283/is_200712/ai_n21277993)

Several new and influential sites are www.bluehampshire.com, a liberal blogging/grassroots website, and www.polickernh.com, a takeoff from www.politicker.com. BlueHampshire, started several years ago, gained notoriety when a former staff member of former Representative Charles Bass went on the site to blog against Bass’ opponent, current Representative Paul Hodes (http://bluehampshire.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=85) Politicker, on the other hand, bills itself as a “virtual watercooler for the state’s political elite.” Its opinions and biases appear moderate-they make no official statement on their site regarding leaning left or right-and it runs daily polls, weekly “winners & losers” within New Hampshire, and has numerous articles and opinions from local to national influence and scale.

Littleton and its neighboring towns have added websites promoting themselves; the sites range from relatively simple and straightforward- http://www.whitefieldnh.com/ -to comprehensive and vibrant-www.golittleton.com. These sites are incredibly useful to the thousands of tourists who visit the area every year, as well as the many actively involved and culturally inclined local citizens.

Telecommunications

One issue of great contention across Northern New Hampshire for the last several years has been telephone company Fairpoint’s plans to buy Verizon’s northern New England telephone network. Many New Hampshire residents and organizations opposed this, and took many steps to prevent its passage. (http://www.nhpr.org/node/13987)

The FCC eventually signed off on the deal in early 2008, but it still needed state support and approval. (http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2008/01/09/fcc_oks_fairpoint_verizons_new_england_phone_deal/) Since then, New Hampshire has accepted Fairpoint’s offer (http://www.nhpr.org/node/14351), which critics have called a positive for Verizon-which is trending away from residential phone lines-and a negative for everyone else, especially consumers. (Investors appear to feel the same way; the day the FCC approved the deal, Fairpoint’s stock dropped while Verizon’s went up). The deal also includes some Internet services. Since then, the issues have not stopped for Fairpoint, including some customers claiming they have not received bills in months (my parents and some of their friends, for example) and accusations of “cramming” onto bills. (http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Fairpoint+bills+%27crammed%27+with+bogus+charges&articleId=a4cde5ad-bf43-49aa-bb6a-3e57f7b6d9f1)

Conclusions

Localism and localism-related concerns are largely invalid. Rules such as main studio, 25-mile radius, and ownership limits are far too expensive for single-station and other small radio companies to follow and still be in business. Local boards will also be expensive, as radios will lose market share, in addition to limiting what consumers within the market listen to. After all, if the majority of a particular market ignore what the minority wants and listen to what they want anyway, a station that listens to minority opinions on local boards will be out of business in a very short time.

In regards to the Littleton, NH market specifically, there are more radio stations now than ever before. Also, with the Internet, TV, phone lines, and cellular phones become more modern, more numerous, and more prominent than ever before, information can be gathered more effectively, quickly, and thoroughly than those trying to pass localism regulations realize. Localism rules, the Fairness Doctrine, etc. are limiting to small companies and consumer choice, not liberating.

One of the other arguments used in support of the aforementioned regulations is that in small and/or rural markets greater risks of conglomerate monopolization exist. While such business practices DO take place, by and large it is medium and small businesses that are present in small towns. Also, should a conglomerate monopolize a region and bring a product-in this case, listening material-different than what is preferred by the target market, consumers will not listen because they have so many different options of media. This will cause the company to lose profits, and therefore either modify to the market or sell that particular location. Lastly, between 1970 and 2004, in the era of deregulation of media, the number of radio stations has actually increased, putting a lie to the idea of conglomeration preventing radio growth and diversification. (http://www.cato.org/testimony/ct-at040928.pdf)

ONE LEGITIMATE CONCERN: If there are no other choices, people may HAVE to listen…they may not care enough to demand change. However, there will always be a disgruntled listener, risk-taking entrepreneur, etc. to bring a product the target market will enjoy and partake of. Furthermore, with current technologies including television, Blackberries, and computers, the negative effect of a dominant radio conglomerate is very limited.

-dustin siggins