Under control

The Guardian features an article by Tony Stoller, bemoaning the current poor performance of commercial radio (share of UK audience currently 41.3%) , and blaming the decline on a lack of "localness".

He argues "In its persistent lobbying over the past 25 years, the radio industry has been pursuing three aims. First, to be free of its public service obligations, and free from regulation. Second, to be allowed ever more ownership consolidation. And third, to be able to network and to automate programming output..... Since 2000, localness has been in headlong retreat".

As the comments pages show, for eight of those 25 years, from 1995-2003, Tony was Chief Executive of, er, The Radio Authority. The authority became the industry regulator in 1991, after the break-up of the Independent Broadcasting Authority, and in 2003 it was itself replaced by Ofcom.