Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

A bit of history

Author:Pasha Sadri
Posted:9/7/1999; 7:35:04 PM
Topic:A bit of history
Msg #:10716
Prev/Next:10714 / 10717

I was listening to KPFA, an excellent bay area radio station. They were discussing non-commercial or alternative media, particularlly the radio. I think one of the points mentioned on the show applies alarmingly well to the web as well.

It was said that in the early days of radio, there were no regulations about the usage of frequencies. Many local and community radio-stations operated across the US. Then, commerical entities realized the advertising potential of radio and began to buy the rights to frequencies in an optimal reigon of the radio spectrum. Once they owned a chunk of the radio spectrum, they lobbyed and passed laws that restricted public radio broadcasts to very specific bands (you can guess which ones these were) thus shutting all the other stations out and raising the 'value' of their investments.

I believe the same will happen to the web. Sure, there will be 'independent' sites operated everywhere but their voice will drown out.

If you look at the US society in the present day, you will see that the sources of information for the majority of people are controlled by commercial entities that propogated their own interests. Very few people follow alternative sources of news. Today's web populace probably represents a good portion of that minortiy. However, once more people are on the web, the majority will again just visit sites owned by the big coorporations.

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