This newspaper has concentrated on the news of the Upper Valley for more than half a century, so we know something about local. In this area, the attachment to communities and the region is strong. We believe those bonds are strengthened when media reflect them.

Thus we are happy to hear that the next owners of the Vinikoor radio group’s six stations from Lebanon to the Lake Sunapee region have committed to keeping a close-to-home focus. “I think radio’s a local business,” current owner Bob Vinikoor told staff writer John Lippman recently. “I never wanted to abandon that. That’s what makes the business work.” The new owners, subject to approval of the sale by the FCC, will be Rob Landry and John Landry, broadcast engineers who live near Boston and New York, respectively.

Vinikoor’s approach — local ownership and studios — has been counter to the strategy of corporations that have snapped up hundreds of stations around the country in recent decades. The top 10 radio groups account for nearly 50 percent of all radio station ad revenue in the nation, an industry report from BIA/Kelsey said this summer. Those groups also control “the vast majority of stations in the largest markets.”

But there is plenty of life here in what industry leaders might think of as a backwater. And so there is value in having a morning show on WNTK that allows area nonprofits to talk about their good works, and for callers to gripe about local matters. People shouldn’t spend all their waking moments fretting about Clinton-Trump, a choice that is, despite all its importance, not something over which one voice can have much effect. On the other hand, getting potholes filled or homeless ordinances adopted — or rejected — are within reach.

We are not holding out much hope for more throwback stations like Vermont’s legendary WDEV, which features the Trading Post swap show on weekday mornings, and Music to Go to the Dump By on Saturday, but WNTK offers a morning show that serves its broadcast area with ample discussion of local topics, along with local sports programming.

Vinikoor’s six stations include talk/news, country, variety and classical. On the talk station, opinions tilt hard to the right after the local morning show, with Rush Limbaugh, Howie Carr and Michael Savage. Those who wish New Hampshire to become a blue state tune in at their own peril.

But change is in the air, and broadcast radio, local or otherwise, is facing profound challenges. Streaming brings mammoth music libraries to cellphones, and, if you want to stick with radio, you can stream in some of America’s best stations, or those from Europe or Asia, for that matter. As attractive as that can be, it raises the paradox of choice: the possibility that so many options leave consumers overwhelmed and unsatisfied.

Local media still have a vital role to play as new media bring a national or global reach. Without them, you can be a citizen of the world and a stranger in your own neighborhood.