And for the first time in the history of our country-for something that was once beloved-people started to say the words ‘I hate radio,’” Ayinde continues. “Companies like Clear Channel could just go in and buy up all the radio stations. That act, the “first major overhaul of telecommunications law” in more than six decades, eliminated a cap on nationwide station ownership and increased the number of stations one entity could own in a single market. “Then the Telecommunications Act of 1996 essentially deregulated it.” “Radio used to serve communities,” begins Ayinde Alakoye, founder of the live broadcast radio streaming venture nēdl and creator of the original iHeartRadio app. GTA III’s commercials also speak to a deeper shift that was going on in American media at the time.
