- •The Radio Industry
- •Determining the Use of Radio
- •The Creation of the rca
- •Government Regulation of Radio
- •Radio in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s
- •Network Programming
- •The Baby Boom, Radio, and Recordings
- •Ethics and Payola
- •Fm Radio and the Fragmentation of Rock Music
- •Challenges of Fragmentation and Digitization, 1970 to the Present
- •Internet radio a service in which streaming audio is distributed to digital devices that access the Web location
- •An Overview of the Terrestrial Radio Industry
- •Where and When People Listen to the Radio
- •Am vs. Fm Technology
- •Commercial Radio Stations vs. Noncommercial Radio Stations
- •Radio Market Size
- •Production in the Radio Industry
- •Radio Formats
- •Determining Listening Patterns
- •Working with Formats
- •Producing the Playlist
- •Conducting Research to Compile the Playlist
- •Maintaining the Format and Retaining the Target Audience
- •Distribution in the Radio Industry
- •The Role of Networks, Syndicators, and Format Networks
- •Learning Who Listens
- •Conducting Market Research to Determine Station Ratings
- •When Stations Fare Poorly in the Ratings
- •Radio and the New Digital World
- •Satellite Radio
- •Traditional Radio’s Responses to Digital Music
- •Commercial Time
- •Hd Radio
- •Internet Participation
- •Media Literacy and the Radio Industry
- •If you had to create an industry that streams music and talk formats to Americans, would the radio industry as it is now organized be what you would choose?
- •Questions for Discussion and Critical Thinking
- •Case Study
Traditional Radio’s Responses to Digital Music
The internet's new music distribution and exhibition platforms perform many of the same functions that contemporary AM and FM stations do. They are available when people want them. And they help to guide listeners through the thicket of songs that they feel they should know about, or might want to learn about. In fact, internet radio sites often present a lot of information about the music they are playing, including biographies of the artists and discographies (lists of the records they have put out).
The one advantage that broadcast radio has retained is its presence in virtually all automobiles. Americans report that fully one-quarter of their music listening takes place in the car, and much of that is still captured by traditional radio stations. Even the relative lack of auto competition may represent short-term relief, however. With the increasing ability to connect to the internet outside the home via mobile phone handsets and other devices (see Chapter 14), it will not be long before many people will have the choice to stream sounds from the internet virtually anywhere.
The radio industry has responded to the challenges posed by satellite radio and the internet by addressing three major areas: commercial time, HD radio, and their own internet participation.
Commercial Time
hybrid digital/analog radio (HD) a system in which digital signals of AM and FM stations are sent along with the traditional analog station sounds on the same frequencies allocated to the analog stations
Executives for major station groups admit that the amount of time that they have traditionally devoted to commercials and promotions—as many as twenty minutes per hour—has driven some listeners away. Some stations have tried to soften the blow by bunching commercials together into long strings; listeners are guaranteed twenty minutes or more of music before they hear any ads, for example. Although this approach may assuage some in the audience, it may get advertisers upset if they are stuck in the middle of the commercial break, worried that many listeners have long since changed the station, if only temporarily.
In late 2004, Clear Channel, the nation's largest broadcast radio station owner, tried to set a new example with an approach it called “Less is More.” Clear Channel committed itself to reducing its available ad time to no more than fifteen minutes of ads per hour and no more than six ads in a row. The policy didn't stop audience loss and it lowered revenue. Consequently, Clear Channel has embarked on another strategy. Instead of emphasizing traditional thirty-second commercials, the firm is intent on dropping some commercial time in favor of integrating promotions for products into the fabric of the station—through the DJ's comments, contests, and other activities. They hope activities integrating commercial messages into the fabric of what listeners care about will allow the station to bring in ad revenues while not pushing listeners away.