How Deregulation Destroyed Indie Rock Across America

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was enacted by the 104th Congress on January 3 and signed into law by President Clinton on February 8. It was a big overhaul of American telecommunications code—the first significant one in sixty years. For the first time, the Internet was included for broadcast spectrum allotment.

Because the act deregulated telecommunication and broadcast markets and eliminated a cap on nationwide radio station ownership, it became a checkered flag for a small number of corporations to snap up commercial radio stations across the country and homogenize playlists.

Tom DeSavia had been working for the performance rights organization ASCAP since 1989. In January, he was hired to do A&R for Elektra Records. “There was regionalism in music,” Tom said. “You knew where your band was from the same way you knew your sports team. We knew The Cars were from Boston. We knew R.E.M. was from Athens. We knew The Ramones were from New York. When you went to Minneapolis, Soul Asylum would be on the radio. When you went to Texas, you’d hear Jimmy Dale Gilmore.

“This was the beautiful part,” Tom said. “If a record did well and it wasn’t just on locals-only play, then radio stations could see how it was performing in all these different markets. If you looked at the radio charts, you could see the song spider-webbing out across the country.

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