Big Radio Is Fewer Formats, Smaller Audience

BIG RADIO IS FEWER FORMATS, SMALLER AUDIENCE
[SOURCE: MediaWeek, AUTHOR: Jeffrey Yorke]
Consolidation of radio is killing the medium, giving audiences few choices of music, artists, formats and local voices, says a report released by the D.C.-based Future of Music Coalition. The report, which looks at the radio industry since the Telecommunications Act of 1996 went into effect and its impact on the recording industry, claims that “ownership consolidation at the national and local levels has led to fewer choices in radio programming and harmed the listening public and those working in the music and media industries, including DJs, programmers and musicians.” While big media companies gobbling up smaller media companies has long drawn the attention of Congress and the public alike, this report attempts to detail the effect consolidation has on the consuming public. The reports finds that four radio station owners have almost half of the listeners and “the top ten owners have almost two-thirds of listeners.” Corporate radio has also spawned a slew of out-of-town owners that challenge "localness" of radio, the report contends. “Ownership by individuals living in the community has declined between 1975 and 2005 by almost one-third.” The report finds that “just fifteen formats make up three-quarters of all commercial programming,” which the FMC refers to as a “cookie cutter” effect. The report goes on to say that ”niche musical formats like classical, jazz, Americana, bluegrass, new rock and folk, where they exist, are provided almost exclusively by smaller station groups.”
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=10035...

* False Premises, False Promises
http://www.futureofmusic.org/research/radiostudy06.cfm

* NAB Slams Music Coalition Study
The National Association of Broadcasters has fired back at a study released Wednesday by the Future of Music Coalition backing its claims that consolidation has hurt the radio industry. That study concluded that the 1996 Telecommunications Act's radio deregulation led to a loss of localism, competition, viewpoints and format diversity. The former limit of 24 radio stations per owner was lifted, replaced by Clear Channel's jaw-dropping 1,000-plus as the top radio owner. But NAB, citing a study of its own by BIA Financial Network in October, said that the number of formats is up 7.5% since 2001 and that the average number of formats per market has gone up and that the number of Spanish-language stations has increased by 45.5% in the past six years.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6399778?title=Article&spacede...

* NAB press release: http://www.nab.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=News_Room&CONTENTID=7456&TEMP...