Media Today, 4th Edition
Chapter Recaps and Study Guide
Chapter 11: The Radio Industry
After studying this chapter, you will be able to:
· Sketch the history of the radio industry.
· Explain the relationship between advertising and programming.
· Detail the role of market research in the radio industry.
· Critically examine the issues surrounding the consolidation of radio station ownership.
· Discuss ways in which new digital technologies are challenging traditional radio.
· The rise of radio.
o At first, radio was seen as an advanced form of the telegraph, allowing for coded message to be sent without wires; the new medium was called radiotelephony, or “wireless.”
o Marconi is credited with brining together a number of technological advances and concepts that made radio possible; he established the Marconi Company, primarily for purposes of equipping merchant and military ships with wireless.
o De Forest invented the vacuum tube that made broadcasting possible; he envisioned forms of radio entertainment.
· Determining the use of radio.
o Conflicting interests fought over the control of radio in the U.S.; the Navy saw it primarily as a military device, but commercial interests wanted to develop the new medium within the marketplace.
· The creation of RCA.
o As a result of World War I, the Navy, Congress and commercial interests forced Marconi to sell its U.S. assets, which were reorganized as a holding company based on the key patents of major American corporations; the holding company was called the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), the most powerful player in the early development of radio in the U.S.
o Eventually, the courts broke up the monopoly, and forced RCA away from the other corporations that controlled it; as a consequence, advertising became the basis of radio financial support, and networks developed on a national basis.
· Radio and advertising.
o Early radio stations operated primarily to promote their owners’ businesses in other industries; AT&T’s New York station introduced advertising in 1922, and it caught on.
o By the late 1920s, RCA operated two networks (NBC Red and NBC Blue) and the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) was developed.
· Government regulation of radio.
o The Radio Act of 1912 authorized the Secretary of Commerce to issue licenses and also regulated the use of wireless on ships.
o The Radio Act of 1927 established the Federal Radio Commission (FRC) as the bureau that would issue licenses and regulate the emerging industry; the Act established the concept that the airwaves were a natural resource that belonged to the people, and broadcasters were expected to operate stations as a kind of public trust.
o The Federal Communications Act of 1934 established the Federal Communications Commission to regulate all electronic communications in the U.S.
· Radio in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s.
o By the end of the 1920s, the industrial pattern of commercial radio was set: it would be regulated, commercial, and characterized by networks that served local affiliates throughout the country.
o Network programming included many of the genres that later moved to television in the 1950s.
o The FCC required NBC to give up one of its two networks; this was the origin of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC).
o News developed slowly, because the newspaper industry forced the wire services to restrict service to radio news organizations; radio news emerged as a strong element during World War II.
· Rethinking radio, 1950–1970.
o The rise of television and the arrival of the baby boom generation significantly altered radio’s programming and audience strategies; radio gave up network entertainment programming to TV and concentrated on building specialized program strategies, or formats, aimed at demographic targets, the most important of which were the baby boomers.
o Radio became increasingly mobile as a result of the invention of the transistor.
o Disc jockeys developed the rock ’n’ roll format that catered to the baby boomers and played white covers of black music in most markets.
o Record companies sometimes offered bribes, called payola, to DJs to play certain records in order to make them hits.
· FM radio and the fragmentation of rock music.
o AM radio interests kept FM from emerging as a competitor for several years, but FM finally succeeded in dominating music formats; the FCC’s nonduplication rule of 1965 helped encourage unique FM programming.
· Challenges of fragmentation and digitalization, 1970 to the present.
o Both AM and FM stations were forced to target ever more narrowly as the number of stations grew and as the nature of popular music genres changed and became more diverse.
o The concept of networking changed, and old networks developed specialized services geared to the specialized formats that had been established for different kinds of music.
o Fragmentation encouraged the consolidation of ownership in conglomerates, raising conflicts over the kind of programming the industry provides.
· An overview of the terrestrial radio industry.
o The Telecommunications Act of 1996 increased the number of stations that any single company can own in a market; this encouraged the consolidation of ownership.
o Arbitron, the company that measures radio audiences, says that total listening time is in decline, because of other media alternatives; on the other hand, radio is increasingly portable and easy to access.
o The industry can be divided into AM and FM stations and into commercial and non-commercial stations, all of them with characteristic formats.
· Radio market size.
o Market size tends to determine the number of stations available to consumers.
o Program format segmentation has accompanied audience segmentation.
· Production in the radio industry.
o A radio station’s format is governed by four parameters: the style of music the station plays, the music time period (the time of the music’s release), the music’s activity level (its dynamic impact), and the music’s sophistication (simplicity vs. complexity).
o There are numerous program formats, sometimes determined with the help of a format consultant; the term narrowcasting refers to radio’s ever more specific targeting of audience segments.
o Radio programmers try to determine listening patterns of their targets in order to reach them; stations try develop personalities that listeners can readily recognize by means of so-called interstitials (jingles, speech patterns, etc.).
o The general manager is in charge of the station’s entire operation, and the program director is in charge of maintaining the station’s format or sound; on-air talents work within the format and have several responsibilities during a typical on-air shift.
o In order to maintain the integrity of the station format, DJs pull music from the station’s established playlist, formulated from audience research involving call-outs and focus groups.
o Stations use a so-called format clock or format wheel (a circular chart) to help on-air personnel maintain the requirements of the format.
o Morning and afternoon drive-times are the periods of the day when most stations have their largest audiences and when the advertising rates are highest.
· Distribution in the broadcast radio industry.
o Networks and syndicators provide programming geared for specific formats and aimed at specific audience targets.
o Format networks provide a subscribing station with all of its programming while automatic technology keeps the station on the air and running; such stations have little or no local programming.
o Consolidation has encouraged a decrease in network affiliations because the large radio conglomerates feel they own enough outlets so that they can make their own deals with national advertisers.
· Exhibition in the broadcast radio industry.
o In radio, the exhibition point is the moment at which the program is broadcast..
o There are two kinds of advertising in radio: local advertising spots that advertise local businesses and services and national spots that advertise national businesses and services.
o The placement and scheduling of spots help determine their cost to advertisers.
o Advertisers rely on audience research companies for information about radio station audiences; research is based on the keeping of listening diaries, portable people meters, and telephone surveys.
o Poor ratings often lead to changes in personnel, and sometimes result in format changes, even though that is a risky move.
· Broadcast radio and social controversy.
o Consolidation of ownership, and radio’s increasing influence over the political process are sources of heated debate.
o The lobbying activities of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is also a source of debate and concern.
· Radio and the new digital world.
o Satellite radio and internet radio (audio streaming) are two digital developments that may challenge the terrestrial-based industry.
o Traditional radio is responding to the digital development by pulling back on the amount of time given to commercials, by developing HD radio (a system that sends digital signals of AM and FM stations along with the analog signals), and by participating in internet streaming (many stations can now be heard via the internet).
· Media literacy and the radio industry.
o Media literate persons should consider the future of radio as more and more stations are consolidated and the digital options (especially streaming audio) begin to develop and mature.
o The regulatory environment encourages greater consolidation, but increasing competition from newer media makes the current conditions in the radio industry unsettling and challenging.