The 1996 Telecommunication Act may sound like a somewhat dated and bureaucratic piece of legislation; but, it is really more like a seed planted two decades ago that has grown deep and gnarled roots into American culture. Consider, at the time, the 10,000 or so radio stations in America were owned by about 5000 different parties, but today 80 percent of those radio stations have been consolidated into ownership by three corporations. Clear Channel, for example, only owned 40 or so radio stations in 1996, but a decade later controlled hundreds.