Media conglomerates do an exceptionally poor job of operating local radio stations. Seattle’s KNDD-FM, or 107.7 The End, is an unfortunate casualty of free-market deregulation.

The End is the legendary commercial radio station that broke world bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam, among many others. Unfortunately, the radio station was bought out by media juggernaut Entercom years ago.

Entercom running 107.7 is like Wal-Mart buying Easy Street Records on Queen Anne. They’ll keep the name, but they’ll fire all the cool local employees who actually know about music in this city and replace them with cheap labor from the Midwest. They’ll standardize and sterilize the music selection, and all that will be left is a Potemkin shell of what used to be a unique gem exclusive to Seattle.

Whether it be the analogous record store or any other business, CEO boards will cite slow markets for the lack of sales and neglect the blatantly obvious detail that Seattle is a complex market. In The End’s case, upper management morons based in Pennsylvania can’t effectively program a radio station and fine-tune it for our audience.

Recently, Entercom fired two exceptionally talented staff members from The End: Bob Van Dyne, aka DJ No Name, and Jim Keller.

Keller is the godfather of alternative radio in this city. He’s been in the business for more than 20 years. He ran KJET-AM, Seattle’s original alternative radio station, in the 1980s. He’s seen classic acts like Bob Marley at the Paramount Theatre and the Beastie Boys live — before the License to Ill record.

But corporate radio has no regard for heritage or history.

More than a year ago, Entercom placed an offensive program into their afternoon line up called “The Church of Lazlo.” The offense doesn’t derive from the content; it comes from the insulting idea that Entercom expects our region to embrace such terrible programming.

Rather than groom genuine, organic local talent to fill the airwaves, Entercom would rather move “The Church of Lazlo” from its Kansas City, Mo., cluster of radio stations. It’s hiring within, it’s cronyism, but most of all it’s inbreeding, and everyone knows that this generates recessive genes. Basically, corporate radio juggernauts are like big inbred families. No wonder they’re so poorly run.

Among the list of reasons why free market capitalism embracing deregulation is bad is that a company like Entercom, along with other media conglomerates, is “free” to run its numerous stations poorly.

I pick on Entercom in particular because, according to Google Finance, the company is generating negative profit margins. Most of the United States is stuck with a mega-poor business involved in its daily broadcast entertainment.

Clear Channel is generating a roughly 13 percent profit margin, so for a company like Entercom, perhaps firing all the local talent at a heritage radio station isn’t keeping revenue down. Could it be the imbeciles in management? But why would they fire themselves? Blaming local talent for poor performance is a way for someone in upper management to justify his or her own position.

The bottom line is that if a business fails, regardless of the industry, it’s because it was poorly managed.

The End used to be live and local during the week. Now, with syndication and the station running on automation, it is only live and local four hours a day Monday through Friday. Technically “The Church of Lazlo” is live, but I don’t consider them local.

Radio conglomerates like Entercom and Clear Channel need to be busted up so more diversity and concentration will make its way onto their stations.