Radio

Station Formats

Part II

Approaches to Radio Formats

Although appealing to audience segments by programming specific formats may have worked well in midsize markets, in the larger cities there were more radio stations than music formats. The question then became how to make your station — regardless of its format — stand out from the rest.

First, station program managers looked for ways of developing unique music and personality mixes. (Their jobs, like those of football coaches, depend on a winning season. In radio this means high station ratings.)

To further specialize, the major formats were subdivided; "rock" became "soft rock," "hard rock," "contemporary hits," etc.

Tapping into the power of nostalgia and associations with past memories, some stations specialized in hits of the 50s, or hits from the 70s, or the 80s. Some stations boasted of having a "perfect mix" of various kinds of music.

The chart below lists the most popular formats that have developed. The larger the slice of the "pie," the more listeners.

You will note that this graph differs in some ways from the listening patterns reported by car radio listeners (below). This is particularly evident when it comes to religious radio stations. These stations — particularly the evangelical stations — have been steadily growing in number in the U.S., especially after some FCC content requirements were relaxed on frequencies reserved for "educational" stations.

Interestingly, there are some big differences between the popularity of specific formats (as shown above) and the number of stations in the United States that use these formats. This is particularly evident when it comes to country music.

There are more radio stations in the United States specializing in country music than any other format. Most are in rural areas. On the other hand, there are a limited number of news/talk stations; but, since they are in urban areas, they have many more listeners.

Note that in the graph on the right that, despite this disparity, country and news/talk have similar audiences — at least when it comes to audiences that listen on their car radios.

News/Talk

Since the largest share of the overall radio audience today listens to news/talk stations (see previous graph), we'll conclude this module with information on this format.

Most major radio markets have local talk shows. Only a few are broadcast nationally. Almost all of these are conservative, highly opinionated and popular — primarily with white, male audiences.

Leading the list is Rush Limbaugh. Limbaugh came from a conservative Republican family, started as a radio announcer at an early age, and eventually worked his way to New York City. In 2003, Limbaugh's show was being heard on almost 600 radio stations and he was the highest paid radio talk show host in the U.S.

Limbaugh often uses humor to charm audiences and get his points across. By making fun of or mocking women's liberation, gays, environmentalists, and the former President Clinton and his family, he won over millions of faithful followers.

Although Limbaugh isn't considered an example of "hate radio," many talk show hosts who regularly deride Jews, blacks, Hispanics, and almost any group that "isn't like us," have clearly moved in this direction.

Possibly not entirely unrelated, according to a 2001 FBI report, hate murders (on the basis of race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability) have reached a five-year high in the United States.

Even though most talk radio personalities are conservative, there are two well-known radio personalities that might be considered on the other side of the ledger: Don Imus, and Howard Stern.

"Shock jock" Howard Stern is the more impertinent of the two. His irreverent abandon during his syndicated morning talk show manages to fascinate and stir listeners — as well as stir the retribution of the FCC, which has fined him (or, more specifically, the stations that carry his programs) more than $1-million. However, since the revenue his show generated far exceeded the fines levied against him, there seemed to be little motivation to tone down his antics.

In 2006, Stern moved his show to Sirius Satellite Radio, where he doesn't have to deal with FCC content limitations.

Pushing the Envelope to the Max

We've noted that film, radio and TV attract audiences by constantly pushing the envelope of what society sees as acceptable.

The questions arises as to what extent we can deride segments of our population, including our religious leaders and elected leadership, without undermining our social order.

Net Radio

In the last few years we've seen the emergence of a new radio medium: the Internet. Today, more than 5,000 traditional (terrestrial) radio stations also broadcast their signals over the Internet. The graph below shows the rapid growth of "net radio."

Many listeners are people displaced from their hometowns who listen to net radio to keep up with events "back home." (Most on-air radio stations can only reliably broadcast over a 50 to 100 mile area, and net radio is worldwide.)

There are tens of thousands of Internet-only radio stations. Since there are no laws governing Internet radio, anyone with a computer, the right hardware, software, and know-how can start an Internet radio station.

Satellite Radio

In November 2001, a new digital service was launched in the United States that offers more than 100 programming choices and doesn't suffer from some of the reception problems of terrestrial AM and FM radio stations. At the same time, heavy rain, thick trees with high moisture content, tunnels, etc., can momentarily block the satellite signal.

The first fee-based service to transmit digital signals from a satellite was called XM Radio. In the first two months of operation XM Radio signed up more than 25,000 subscribers. A similar service from Sirius Satellite Radio began in 2002. In 2007, efforts were underway to merge these two satellite services.

In addition to far fewer (or no) commercials (depending on the service), the new services offer a much wider choice of digital-quality programming.

Many people feel that the decline in radio listening in the United States in recent years is due in large part to "commercial clutter." Some radio stations now devote more than one-third of their broadcast time to commercials.

Depending on the supplier, the monthly fee for the new satellite radio services ranges from $10 to $15. In addition to a wide variety of music and original programming, the new services include familiar programs from radio networks and programming services
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Radio and Media Conglomerates

Like most of the mass media, a large percentage of U.S. radio stations are owned by media conglomerates. For example, Clear Channel Communications now owns 1,225 radio stations in 50 states. The Los Angeles area has at least 14 radio stations controlled by this one company. Other media conglomerates own large numbers of radio stations, but not as many as CCC.

The whole CCC enterprise is run by one man: Texas billionaire L. Lowry Mays (whose profits went from $74 million to about $8 billion — a 100-fold increase — in ten years.)

When a few media companies get too much power, allegations of unfair or biased content control often emerge. For example, according to The Los Angeles Times, (Feb. 25, 2002) singer Britney Spears allegedged that CCC stations have refused to play her records because her company didn't hire CCC as their tour promoter. When more than 1,000 stations refuse to play an artist's records it represents a major blow to their success.

We'll detail some of the major disadvantages of conglomerate control of the media in an upcoming module.

In the next module we'll introduce the medium that caused so many problems for film and radio: television. Before we get to that, as a person who has worked for years in both radio and TV, I often get asked the question, which medium I prefer. I've answered this question in "Radio vs. TV Announcing."

The next Matching Quiz will be after Module 23.