April 24, 1998
 

The Honorable Bob Aderholt
1007 Longworth House Office Bldg.
Washington, D. C. 20505

Dear Bob:

I will soon be retiring.   My advanced age is part of it, but a big part of my getting out of the radio business is due to the flooding of the cities and towns of America with radio stations with Docket 80-90.

The F.C.C. has admitted that this was a serious mistake, and have now allowed entities to buy up all the radio stations they want, but not over 50% of the stations in any one market. They allowed this mass ownership because 50% of all stations were losing money, and these consolidations and automation reduced expenses to the degree that most of the stations could continue to operate in a limited fashion.

Now the F.C.C. is considering requests from Pirate radio stations, under the guise of the First Amendment, to flood the marketplace with new, low-power stations.

Thus, our limited number of businesses who buy advertising on radio will be bombarded with many new vendors looking for ways to finance their operations..to the point that they will resist buying ANY radio, or seeing ANY more solicitors.  This has already happened, and, with new, low-powered stations reps calling on them it would be impossible.

Furthermore, as competition gets this intense, none of the stations can offer the service to communities that they have come to expect from broadcasters.

HELP!   Please use your influence to persuade the F.C.C. to turn down the "pirate" groups who could destroy the best broadcasting system in the world.   References are:  FCC File Nos. RM-9208 and RM 9242.

Thanks!

Yours truly,

Ed Carrell, Pres. & GM
 

CC:  FCC, Room 222
 l9l9 M Street, N. W., Washington, D.C. 20554