"CW" wrote in message
...
We are one of the few countries in the world that has private
broadcasting.
As such, the FCC realized early on that if shortwave broadcasts were
allowed
to be targeted to the domestic population, there would be room for
relatively few stations and those would not best serve the local
communities
as radio stations wee intended to do. The regs. state that shortwave
broadcasting stations can not target the US. That includes the
religious
stations. Some are braver than others about skirting the rules. The
religious broadcasters are the worst about that as they can always
scream
religious persecution if the Feds ride them to much. The whole intent
was,
as I said previously, to have local, limited coverage stations so as
to
serve the interests of the local community. The generally limited
reach of
AM broadcast stations fit that role though, with the recent corporate
buyup
of local stations, that is not really the case anymore. Up until
recently,
the government took a dim view of the media (radio, TV, newspapers,
ect)
being controlled by just a few. This was to prevent mass propaganda
and
promote the dissemination of varying viewpoints. They have been
deregulating
this lately. Probably do to money.


It's been my assumption that the established radio powers were behind
the prohibition of US domestic SW broadcasting. The domestic SW
programming ban limited competition. And nearly all the stations were
affiliated with, or owned by one of the networks.

Frank Dresser