"Colorado's closest federal election in history is now heading to court.

Democrat Mike Feeley is asking a Denver district court judge to prevent results of his 7th Congressional District race against Republican Bob Beauprez from being released until all qualified ballots are counted.

The results for the district were to be announced Tuesday evening.

"We are extending the agreed upon deadline of Tuesday, Nov. 19 to accommodate any instructions from the court and so that we may provide consistent result tallies," Secretary of State Donetta Davidson said in a written statement."

The Democrat tries a Republican tactic.  My candidates lost every race, except this one.  I'm holding out hope, but am not sure it really matters.

The study has been released.  For those not interested in the whole 145 pages, there's a nice executive summary, which I furthur summarize here:

"Major Findings

EVIDENCE OF CONSOLIDATION

1. Ten parent companies dominate the radio spectrum, radio listenership and radio revenues. Deregulation has allowed a few large radio companies to swallow many of the small ones. Together these ten parent companies control two-thirds of both listeners and revenue nationwide. Two parent companies in particular, Clear Channel and Viacom, control 42 percent of listeners and 45 percent of industry revenues (see Chapter 3, pp. 24-25).

2. Consolidation is particularly extreme in the case of Clear Channel. Since passage of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, Clear Channel has grown from 40 stations to 1,240 stations -- 30 times more than congressional regulation previously allowed. No potential competitor owns even one-quarter the number of Clear Channel stations. With over 100 million listeners, Clear Channel reaches over one-third of the U.S. population (see Chapter 3, p. 24).

3. Oligopolies control almost every geographic market. Virtually every geographic market is dominated by four firms controlling 70 percent of market share or greater. In smaller markets, consolidation is more extreme. The largest four firms in most small markets control 90 percent of market share or more. These companies are sometimes regional or national station groups and not locally owned (see Chapter 3, pp. 31-35).

4. Virtually every music format is controlled by an oligopoly. In 28 of the 30 major music formats, nationwide, four companies or fewer control over 50 percent of listeners (see Chapter 3, pp. 36-39).

EFFECTS OF CONSOLIDATION

5. A small number of companies control the news Americans hear on the radio. Four parent companies control two-thirds of the nation’s News format listeners. Two such firms, Viacom and Disney’s ABC Radio, also control major television networks (see Chapter 3, p. 38).

6. Format consolidation leads to fewer gatekeepers. A small number of companies control what music is played on specific formats. Coupled with a broad trend toward shorter playlists, this creates few opportunities for musicians to get on the radio. Further, overwhelming consolidation of these formats deprives citizens the opportunity to hear a wide range of music (See Chapter 4, pp. 61-63).

7. Increased format variety does not ensure increased programming diversity. From 1996 to 2000, format variety – the average number of formats available in each geographic market – increased in both large and small markets (see Chapter 3, p. 44-45). Yet format variety is not equivalent to true diversity in programming. Formats with different names have similar playlists. Analyzing data from charts in Radio and Records and Billboard Airplay Monitor, revealed considerable format homogeneity – playlist overlap between supposedly distinct formats: as much as 76 percent (see Chapter 4, p. 56). Furthermore, radio companies regularly operate two or more stations with the same format in the same geographic market. Such format redundancy undermines a common economic assumption that station owners with multiple stations in a market would program differently, in order to avoid competing against themselves. We found 561 instances of format redundancy nationwide, amounting to massive missed opportunities for format variety, which might in turn enhance programming diversity (see Chapter 3, p. 50).

8. A “twin bottleneck” limits musicians’ access to radio. Radio’s oligopolies interact with a five-company recording industry oligopoly, hurting musicians and citizens. Eighty to 100 percent of radio charts are dominated by songs released by the five (previously six) major label conglomerates. This “twin bottleneck” makes access to the airwaves even more difficult for musicians – and reduces choice for citizens (see Chapter 4, pp. 63-67).

CITIZENS' VIEWS ON RADIO AND CONSOLIDATION

9. Radio reaches a large portion of adults on a weekly basis, but time spent listening is at a 27-year low. In September 2002, Duncan’s American Radio reported that the “average persons rating” – the percentage of the U.S. population listening to the radio in any average quarter hour – has experienced a near-17 percent drop in listening over the last 13 years.

10. Citizens favor preservation of independent and locally owned stations. Eighty percent of survey respondents support action to prevent further consolidation. Thirty-eight percent would go a step further, supporting congressional action that encourages more local ownership of radio stations (see Chapter 5, p. 81-82).

11. Radio listeners want less advertising. Industry wide, the amount of advertising per hour has grown significantly over the last several years. A 2000 study found that advertising “clutter” had increased six percent nationwide in 1999, though by 2000 the amount of ads had leveled off. (4) When asked about the quantity of ads, 60 percent of survey respondents said that radio has too much advertising (see Chapter 5, p. 85).

12. Radio listeners want to hear a wider range of music that includes local musicians. Twenty-five percent of survey respondents said they hear too little of the music they like; 38 percent said that local artists are underexposed on the radio (See Chapter 5, p. 85).

13. Radio listeners want longer playlists with more variety. Seventy-eight percent of those surveyed would rather hear programming from a longer playlist – one with more songs – than from a shorter one. Fifty-two percent of those surveyed said that less repetition, more new music, or more local acts would most make radio more appealing (See Chapter 5, pp. 76-77).

14. Citizens support action to stop “indie” promotion. Sixty-eight percent of those surveyed support congressional involvement to curb the use of payola-like systems that use third parties to let record companies pay radio stations for airplay (see Chapter 5, pp. 80-81).

15. Citizens support efforts to grow low power FM radio. Seventy-five percent of survey respondents said they would welcome low power radio stations into their communities (see Chapter 5, p. 82-84)."

For a whole lot more detail, check out all 145 pages of the report here.