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Fri. Nov 22, 2002

Radio Deregulation No Hit for Listeners

Radio Deregulation No Hit for Listeners – There’s been a study done to tell you what you probably already know; radio has become a homogenized mediocre muddle, largely due to government deregulation. Not once, but twice. “Six years after a landmark deregulation law lifted ownership limits on radio stations, airwaves in many cities are dominated by a few media behemoths that offer little in the way of variety or local content, the Future of Music Coalition found.”

“While deregulation has allowed companies like Clear Channel Communications Inc. to buy up struggling radio stations across the country, the new owners have often pursued profitability by slashing costs, rather than seeking to lure listeners with unique content [...] ’Much of radio on a local level has become bland and formulaic and not locally programmed,’ research director Kristin Thomson said.”

And what was the professional and intelligent response from the radio industry? “ ’This report has as much credibility as Miss Cleo,’ said NAB [National Association of Broadcasters] spokesman Dennis Wharton, referring to the television psychic who settled federal fraud charges last week. The report comes as large radio owners are coming under scrutiny from lawmakers on Capitol Hill, while at the same time the Federal Communications Commission considers whether to relax regulations on media ownership further.”

Yes, they’re thinking about deregulating even further. But we’re already two steps down the line from when I left the business in 1985. At that time, one individual or corporation could only own 7 radio stations and two TV stations (I think there was a limitation on the number of cable systems you could own as well). In one market, you could at most own one AM, one FM, and one TV station. Sometime after I left the business in 1985, they took the first step of deregulation, upping the limit from seven stations to forty.

“While federal law formerly forbade broadcasters to own more than 40 stations nationwide, 10 companies now claim 65 percent of the listening public. Two of these, Clear Channel and Viacom Inc.’s Infinity Broadcasting, account for 42 percent of listeners and a similar percentage of industry revenues. In smaller markets, these two firms and two others—often control all the stations on the dial, the report found. Such consolidation could subvert market forces as a few companies set advertising rates and determine what songs become hits, the coalition said.”

For decades, most markets had one ”powerhouse” conglomerate, like WSB-AM-FM-TV in Atlanta. That 50,000 watt AM, 100,000 watt FM, and TV combo gave them considerable weight in crosspromoting and collective budgets, and most such setups would dominate their market. In the market where I programmed a station, Macon, Ga., we had WMAZ-AM-FM-TV (call letters since changed). They ruled the roost by that sheer weight, as their 100,000 FM was at that time a fully automated Top 40 station, programmed out of state, ultra conservative, and generally a couple of weeks behind the curve.

Of course, various competitors tried to knock them off their pedestal. One contestant came in with a live staff and a huge promotional budget. But even though they were live, they could just as easily have broadcast the same format in Idaho. It was sterile. In the end, they became known as the station with more billboards than listeners.

We were a 3,000 watt FM on a 300 foot tower with a promotional budget barely big enough to keep us in t-shirts and bumper stickers. But we were live, local, and aggressive. We counterprogrammed the Behemoth, occupying a wide but moderate swath of rock music they left abandoned, as well as incorporating the fact Macon, Ga. is the birthplace of ”Southern Rock,” and still had some local bands worthy of airplay and support. Within that framework, we filled every niche they didn’t. Even if we played a song that they did, we’d tried and play an alternate version of it … album version rather than edited 45, or a remix.

We never beat them in the overall numbers, but consistently came damn close in the 18-34’s, our target. When I ”retired,” my successor took the station in an even ”harder” direction, and within a couple of years, they’d bailed and gone country. Meanwhile, another low power FM outlet had picked up the mainstream rock baton, and carried it to success. The market and the rules that regulated it at that time had already created a dominant force, but there were still many independent stations to pick at them, outsmart them, and keep them from totally owning the market. Those independent stations not only gave listeners a more varied choice, it did the same for advertisers, who could ”shop rates” and strike deals at various independent stations.

Recently, I discovered that a former employee still works at that last station I mentioned, the one that pretty much took up where I left off. He informed me that my old station was still around, unrecognizable under new call letters and format. He said, ”they’re our sister station.” Both are now owned by Clear Channel.

Instead of one Behemoth and a lot of independents nipping at their heels, providing a varied and evolving radio marketplace, now you have a few Behemoths, stagnating within their well defined turf, while they rake in the dough. You hear the result on your radio today. It didn’t have to be that way.

Government gave in to business, and you lost. They won’t be going back, either. They want even more.