The State of Radio

I conducted interviews and wrote a piece about the state of radio after the Telecommunications Act of 1996:

On January 3, 1996, congress approved an act that would modify the future of the broadcasting industry. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 deregulated ownership laws for radio, allowing companies to acquire more properties than previously permissible. The result has been media consolidation with programming coming from fewer sources.

The industry saw an immediate effect. After the act passed, a broadcasting entity could own as many as eight radio stations in one market. The national ownership cap limit went from around 40 radio stations to an unlimited amount.

Clear Channel, a San Antonio based media company, owned 43 radio stations in 1995, according to the company website. By 2000, the company held or programmed 1200 making it the largest radio outfit in the United States, controlling 9% of the country’s stations.

The company has been accused of selecting its music play lists selections nationally, taking control away from local programmers. Its website insists that this isn’t true, citing that program directors make selections based on their communities.

In a speech given by Reed Hundt, the Federal Communications Commission Chair who led the Commission during the act’s passage, he said that with the new rules “we also seek to promote diversity in programming and diversity in the viewpoints.” The consensus among FCC officials and congress was that the prior regulations weren’t relevant in the modern niche format media world. The hope was that with fewer companies controlling the air waves, more variety would be on the dial due to less program duplication.

The Future of Music Coalition, which calls itself a nonprofit “collaboration between members of the music, technology, public policy and intellectual property law communities”, says the Telecommunication Act of 1996 “has not benefited musicians or the public.” Kristin Thomson and Peter DiCola of the FMC write that after exclusive research, they have found that the act creates “less competition, fewer viewpoints, and less diversity in programming.”

Jacent Jackson, assistant program director and music director for WKQX, Chicago’s Alternative Rock station at Emmis Communications, said that it’s hard to distinguish if there’s more selection on the dial post 1996. “It’s subjective, maybe there’s more variety”, Jackson said.

He went on to say that the Telecommunication Act allowed some new and experimental formats to exist. Jackson claims that the Alternative format might have disappeared if deregulation hadn’t occurred. This is because when a company owns several stations that are bankable, they can allow struggling stations to develop. Jackson said that companies “are not depending on one station to provide the bottom line.” He added that there is less head-to-head competition due to stations trying to niche format.

Jackson said that a major problem with media consolidation is that it eliminates career positions. With up to eight radio stations being united under one roof, employees can take on multiple duties. He said that this makes it more difficult for people to break into the business.

Norm Anderson, operations supervisor of Backyard Broadcasting, a radio station company in Sioux Falls, SD, agrees that young aspiring broadcasters face a more challenging market place. Anderson said about smaller market radio, “the same number of people that would run one station are now running several stations.” He cited that there is less room for new talent, but the eager broadcaster will always have a place in radio.

Anderson is firm in the belief that program diversity has decreased. “A lot of the independent operators have been blown out of the [radio] business” he said when discussing all the corporate buyouts since 1996. Anderson lamented that many stations commission consultants to make programming decisions. He said that over the years, radio stations have become more homogenized and lost their locality.

Both Jackson and Anderson agree that technology has also played an integral role in reshaping the radio industry. Many smaller market radio stations use voice tracking, where the on air talent prerecords their show for later broadcast. A six hour music program can be completed in about an hour. Another option is satellite formatting, where the talent is out of market, trying to portray that they are local. Both of these are measures taken by companies to cut costs.

With the use of automation and lack of localization, radio stations can lose their urgency in broadcasting pertinent, breaking news. In 2002, a train derailed in Minot, ND causing anhydrous ammonia to go into the air. At that time, Clear Channel owned six of the eight stations in the market according to the Northpine.com data base. Authorities struggled to reach the disc jockeys, but no one answered the phone at the radio station. Also, the Emergency Alert System was malfunctioning. According to an article in the Nation, it took over 90 minutes for the Clear Channel stations announce the news of the train crash. This resulted in numerous complaints being filed with the FCC regarding the heavy use of radio automation.

Today, terrestrial radio faces competition from the internet, ipods and satellite services such as, XM and Sirius radio. Jackson says that this has pushed AM and FM radio to find more creative, compelling programming approaches.

According to recent radio trade magazines, listeners have become frustrated with heavy repetition. Jackson said that WKQX has increased the amount of songs in its playlist to reach more listeners. Other stations in the Chicago market have taken this approach as well.

The Telecommunication Act of 1996 has had a big impact on large and small market radio. Both Jackson and Anderson feel that air talent will always be needed and that terrestrial radio will survive. Jackson expresses that programmers just have to think outside of the box and find new formulas.