THINKING LOCAL
I love the way FCC chairman Michael Powell has decided to pretend that critics of relaxing ownership restrictions are genuinely concerned about "localism"--rather than commercialism (a.k.a. radio with ratings), effective competition, or formats (and politics) they don't like. Want localism? There's nothing more local than low-powered radio. So the FCC will make it easier to get into that once-banned business.
The expert on low-powered radio is Reason's Jesse Walker, author of Rebels in the Air and numerous articles on micro radio. So I was interested in his comments on Powell's announcement yesterday. Reasoners are constitutionally unable to ever say anything nice about any government official, but this comes awfully close. Powell is the most free-market FCC chairman we've had since the Reagan administration. (Regulatory jobs don't usually attract people who distrust regulation.)