Originally published on November 18, 2005

Jonathan Adelstein

Federal Communications Commission
Commissioner

Jonathan Adelstein was first sworn in as a member of the FCC on Dec. 3, 2002. On Dec. 6, 2004 he was sworn in for a new, five-year term. Before being appointed to the FCC Adelstein served for 15 years as a staff member in the United States Senate.

 

Adelstein is not only a true fan of radio, but of music too. He is a self-taught musician who plays the harmonica, the flute, a little keyboard and some percussion and has been known to sing on occasion.

 

In the beginning: "When I graduated from high school I did an internship on the Hill. I got interested in government in college and subsequently went to the Kennedy School of Government. Instead of studying more after I had gotten my master's at Stanford, I decided to come to Washington and get a job. I managed to get a job on the Hill, working for Sen. Don Riegle, and here it is, 15 years later."

 

On being appointed to the FCC: "I was working for Sen. Tom Daschle when he was Senate Majority Leader and ended up working on telecommunications. Subsequently, he was asked for his recommendation to fill a Democratic slot on the FCC, and he recommended me."

 

His responsibilities: "We have vast jurisdiction over not just all broadcasting, but all wireline and wireless communications, satellites, cell phones — everything down to the wires that thread across the country for cable, telephone and data. It's huge."

 

How the commission works: "Most of what we do is 90% or 95% unanimous. Our current chairman is working hard to bring us together. Sometimes you just can't get everybody to agree, but we're all reasonable people, and none of us has a monopoly on the truth. We're all willing to compromise and get something that is maybe less than what we think is perfect as long as it is better than what would have existed otherwise. We have a pretty good group dynamic."

 

Thoughts on consolidation: "Consolidation is a concern because it leads to fewer voices being heard over the airwaves. The FCC has traditionally been very concerned about maintaining a diversity of viewpoints. When you allow one operator to buy another, that is eliminating a voice that would have otherwise been heard in that community.

 

"Localism is another lodestar of our concern, historically. We hear complaints that localism has been somewhat sacrificed by companies as they consolidate in order to attempt to centralize operations. Sometimes the one place they cut is local staff, so they tend to lose touch somewhat with the local communities they are serving. I hear example after example of that.

 

"The big conglomerates say that it's not happening. I hold hearings, and the people who show up are often in the radio business. They may be ex-employees of stations or people who were once involved in radio. Some of them lament what they see as the end of an era of local independence, and there also seems to be a lot of concern about that among the public and people currently in the industry."

 

On indecency: "We've seen improved compliance with FCC rules. There was virtually no enforcement action for years, and when it was stepped up over the last several years it got the attention of broadcasters, and they are being more careful. We're seeing fewer complaints, and that's good for everybody because it's far preferable to have material that is indecent not being broadcast in the first place.

 

"That being said, we have to be very careful because the First Amendment is at stake. If we overstep our bounds, it is somewhat problematical, because if a court were ever to find that something we held to be indecent was not, it could forever curtail our ability to police broadcasting for indecent material."

 

Payola concerns: "I've been expressing concern about payola for several years because I've been hearing complaints from the music industry that it was epidemic, but I never got any solid evidence until the [New York Attorney General] Eliot Spitzer investigation uncovered what he identified as a pervasive practice in the industry. The documents he has produced appear to bear that out.

 

"This is the most flagrant, widespread abuse of FCC rules in the history of American broadcasting. Broadcasting is a real privilege. Broadcasters are granted free airwaves, and there aren't a lot of things asked in return anymore. The one thing we ask is that broadcasters let people know who is trying to persuade them. They can accept any consideration they want, they just have to let people know about it.

 

"Spitzer's investigation has prompted the FCC, and the chairman has started an investigation. Spitzer's investigation has given us the kind of evidence that otherwise wouldn't come to our attention because, generally, we respond to complaints.

 

"I don't know if these people had any idea that there were even rules in place. Clearly, management isn't doing a very good job of policing employees, and in some cases it is management's involvement that has led to some of the abusive practices.

 

"There needs to be a wholesale reinvigoration in the industry itself to stomp out this practice. Hopefully, what Spitzer's doing and the investigation that we're undertaking will help people put the importance of these rules back in perspective."

 

Satellite vs. terrestrial: "Satellite radio has been one of the great success stories of the FCC. We created this industry out of the spectrum. It's a wonderful, vibrant and exciting area of radio broadcasting. The important contribution it can make is providing competition to terrestrial radio, which can only make terrestrial radio better. Competition is always a good, healthy thing.

 

"We also need to give terrestrial radio companies the tools they need to compete by continuing to expedite the rollout of digital radio. Digital radio will provide both better-quality sound to compete with satellite and more opportunities for niche programming by expanding the number of channels broadcasters can use.

 

"Of course, it's going to take time for people to trade their analog receivers for digital, but as more and more digital radios are sold, there will be a bigger market for this. If radio puts compelling content out there, there will be more incentive for people to buy these radios. The satellite companies are putting out compelling content that people are paying for, and that shows that if you put good stuff out there, people will buy the equipment to be able to hear it."

 

Biggest challenge: "Balancing family and work. I have two little kids, and there are a lot of demands on me, including travel, so I need to make sure that I keep that balance. And, of course, it's a challenge just doing the right thing — sufficiently preparing myself so I know the issues well enough that I'm confident that I'm able to make a positive contribution and make the right decisions in complex cases."

 

State of radio: "I grew up on radio. It was a really important part of my life growing up in South Dakota. It kind of introduced me to rock 'n' roll and music in general. I have had a long love affair with radio, and I care about it a lot, which people in the industry see as both a blessing and a curse. When I hear complaints about and sense problems or issues in radio, it's something I want to try to do something about.

 

"I hear complaints from the public across the country about the effects of consolidation. They say that it has led to less local news and less public-affairs coverage and that the music is sort of homogenized. It's harder for local artists to get heard on the radio.

 

"Radio is still a huge business with enormous reach, and its impact is vast on what kind of music, entertainment and news are heard by the American people. Despite its stagnation, the business remains an incredibly powerful one that we have to watch carefully because of its importance to the cultural and civic life of the country."

 

Something about the FCC that might surprise our readers: "It's just like coming to work anywhere else. No matter what job you have, you come to work and make decisions. We make decisions that affect a lot of people, and everybody's watching us like we're in a fishbowl. Sometimes what you say happens to be on the front page of the New York Times, but that's just part of the job."

 

Most influential individual: "Tom Daschle. I thought he was a great leader of the Senate and a person who had a philosophy of trying to build concerns and do the right thing. He tried to figure out how, within the constraints on him, he could make the greatest contribution he could, and he succeeded greatly in doing so."

 

Career highlight: "The fight against media consolidation, that we were able to succeed and ultimately take what everybody thought was going to be a fait accompli and turn it around. It was a big effort that involved bipartisan majorities in Congress and the federal courts. Having recognized early on that we were going down the wrong path, I sort of put myself in front of the train — at great risk to myself, a lot of people thought, but I felt it was what I had to do.

 

"In the end the whole world came around and realized that we were the ones who focused on it first. We were able to put the whole thing on hold while we got another chance to go back and do it right."

 

Career disappointment: "It's a wireline decision we made that ultimately got overturned by the courts — telephone-competition rules. I wish we could have reached a consensus here internally. We ended up with a 3-2 decision with the chairman dissenting. His vocal dissent helped lead to a very adverse court decision that overturned our decision and ultimately led to the collapse of AT&T and MCI as independent entities and vastly disrupted competitive telecommunication services in this country. It's those decisions where there is vigorous dissent that often lead to difficulty in court and uncertainty in the industry."

 

Favorite radio format: "Classic Rock."

Favorite song: "I have so many."

Favorite artist: "I just saw U2, and they are my favorite of the week."

Favorite television show: "The Daily Show."

Favorite movie: "The Godfather."

Favorite book: "The Creation of the Media, by Paul Starr. This is not my favorite book of all time, but it's one on a subject that people should be thinking about right now."

Favorite website: "I Google everything, and I'm an EBay fan too."

Favorite restaurant: "Little Washington."

Beverage of choice: "Sparkling water."

Hobbies: "I like listening to and playing music, spending time with the family and swimming to stay in shape."

E-mail address: "jonathan.adelstein@fcc.gov."

 

Advice for broadcasters: "To the extent that broadcasters stay true to their roots, they will succeed if they focus on the needs of the local community and deliver what the community needs and respond to its concerns. Therefore it's important to be in touch with the local community and respond in a very localized way to what's happening. That includes giving local artists a chance to be heard, knowing what's going on and delivering at least a little bit of local news and information to keep people in touch."