NABOB Demands Return of Radio 'Flagging'
By Bill McConnell -- Broadcasting & Cable, 10/13/2003 11:08:00 AM
The National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters Friday petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to reinstate its policy of flagging radio mergers that cause heavy concentration of local ad revenue.
The NABOB and the Rainbow Coalition said a Federal Appeals Court's stay of the FCC's June 2 broadcast-ownership revisions requires the commission to continue flagging deals and subjecting them to an extra layer of public comment and commission scrutiny.
Seven radio deals were blocked and others were discouraged by the controversial policy, which the FCC canceled as part of its ownership deregulation four months ago.
The agency argued that flagging was a general policy but never codified as an official rule and, therefore, it is not subject to the judges' stay.
