The fight for program origination on a FM booster — key to the commercialization of GeoBroadcast Solutions’ “ZoneCasting” technology — has seen a multitude of broadcasting executives and the industry’s biggest voice on Capitol Hill speak out against a FCC proposed rulemaking that would make ZoneCasting happen.
The CEO of Connoisseur Media has been on the list of naysayers. Now, he’s reiterating his company’s opposition to the NPRM.
Speaking for his company, Jeff Warshaw told the FCC’s Commissioners in a letter that “the promises of geocasting are ones that few if any radio operators will be able to realize, and the risks of implementing the proposed changes far outweigh any possible benefit.”
In fact, as Warshaw sees it, the very reason proponents of ZoneCasting — including Democratic FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks — want it is flawed. “Ultimately, authorization of this service will undermine what has been the core goal of the FCC’s allocations policy for over 50 years — the promotion of localism.”
Yet, it is hyperlocal content and, in many ways, addressable advertising that is fueling GBS’s push for technology it is easier to earn revenue from after years of expenses perfecting ZoneCasting and its potential uses.
Warshaw also says the NPRM’s adoption “will endanger the local programming that listeners have come to demand, and which Connoisseur and other station owners are uniquely positioned to provide. Adoption of this proposal could allow the biggest stations to get bigger and more economically dominant, at the expense of those stations in outlying and smaller markets. In no respect does that outcome serve the public interest.”
For Warshaw, ZoneCasting could have a potentially strong impact on Connoisseur’s entire operation. In Frederick, Md., it owns an AM and FM that competes against many Washington, D.C., radio stations. On Long Island, five radio brands targeting Nassau and Suffolk County compete for dollars and audience against several New York City radio stations. Even in Connoisseur’s Connecticut home, its Fairfield County and New Haven properties must strive to gain listeners and advertisers while competing against both New York and Hartford radio stations.
“Connoisseur’s operations are indicative of those most at risk if the Commission were to permit geocasting,” Warshaw told the Commissioners.
That is why he finds it surprising is that there are other smaller broadcasters “who seem to be advocating for the service based on generalized promises that the service will offer radio the ability to target its advertising to specific markets.”
This geotargeting has been likened to the ad options provided by local digital media, but Warshaw says, “These promises simply do not withstand scrutiny. Even if the significant technical questions about the technical degradation of FM service that have been raised by many commenters on the NPRM were resolved, the record establishes that for many FM stations geocasting will be an expensive undertaking with no real prospect of delivering a meaningful financial return to the vast majority of all radio operators.”
Lastly, Warshaw concludes his ex parte filing on behalf of Connoisseur, submitted October 17, by noting, “Adoption of the proposals in the NPRM will only add insult to injury for smaller station operators that have only just begun to recover from the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Commission’s proposals will at most benefit the largest stations, at the expense of localism. It will encourage more dominance by fewer broadcasters. It will not strengthen the vast majority of the radio industry but will instead peel off the local advertisers that support local service by local radio stations. This result is neither necessary nor desirable. Accordingly, Connoisseur respectfully asks the Commission to reject the proposals advanced in the NPRM.”
