From 80-90 to 04-233

Those numbers on the title don't make sense to anyone not in the radio business, but they've affected everyone.
FCC Docket 80-90 basically allowed certain FM stations to be closer together, meaning many hundreds of new stations became possible. The number of advertisers (and the money they spent) stayed the same giving each station a smaller slice of the ad pie, relegating many stations to "repeater" status-simulcasting with another station. Here in NH we have WLKZ/WNNH, WWHQ/WWHK, WXRV/WVFM, WXLF/WZSH,WWOD/WCFR, WOKQ/WPKQ and more I can't remember off the top of my head. These repeater stations obviously have no airstaff, so even in little NH that amounts to roughly 15 full-time and 10-15 part-time jobs that don't exist anymore.
Now comes Docket 04-233 and it could blow up the business model for Big Radio.
Among other things it would require stations to be staffed 24/7 and a stations' studio to be in it's city of license (all radio and TV stations are licensed to a community). Since many stations are run from one location (a cluster) many new studios would need to be built and people hired to man them. Big Radio, including the National Association of Broadcasters, is already rallying the troops to protest the proposal claiming it will force small operators out of business. I doubt it. Before roughly 1990 there were very few unstaffed stations-many owned by small operators who despite the "crushing economic burden" of 24/7 staffing managed to make a good living in most cases. They hired DJ's and newspeople, and local radio was a part of the community. Automation and simulcasting have made radio jukeboxes with commercials.
Maybe the FCC, long known for screwing up anything they touch, is on to something here.