In what way has deregulation changed the radio and recording industry?

Deregulation has been an evolving force in the radio and recording industry. Deregulation allowed large companies to become even larger by taking over the smaller ones. “Pressured by broadcasters to relax the limits on how many stations a single company could own, Congress in 1996 eliminated any cap” (Vivian 135). This allowed for the larger companies to take over ownership of the smaller ones by buying them out and therefore expanding their empire. This called for major mergers in the industry such as the big merger of Clear Channel and AMFM in 1999. This deregulation gave the industry more freedom because the cap on the number of stations they could own grew letting more individual, interest based stations pop up which could appeal to larger audiences.

Deregulation also let satellite radio spring up with companies such as XM and Sirius. These stations could broadcast whatever they wanted because you had to buy a subscription to them therefore you knew what you were going to be listening to. This was and still is a popular trend because it allows for the larger station to broadcast a number of channels, each with its own host and topic. This would not have been possible under government control because there is no way that the government would have let certain programs pop up because many could be political based and be saying something that they did not agree with. Deregulation changed the radio and recording industry forever by expanding companies freedoms.