Eroded the Role Black Radio Stations Played in the Community
Even with most of the stations being owned by a handful of white corporations, whites are still offered the entire political and social spectrum on their radio dial — from Pacifica to Rush Limbaugh, with NPR and all-news radio in the middle. But Black stations historically depended on one or two Black radio stations in a city to fulfill all the needed functions — educator, motivator, activist, spiritual uplifter. But those principles have been abandoned through white corporate ownership — at a time when the Black community needs them desperately. In the decade following passage of the Telecommunications Act, the number of independent radio station owners declined by 39 percent, with African-Americans owning just 3 percent of full-power commercial radio stations in the U.S.
