• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Clear Channel wants to get BIGGER!

gspitslive said:
You would have 4 owners here and only 2 would matter.
Click to expand...

Here's the upside to fewer owners: More format diversity.

How many owners are there in satellite radio? How much format duplication do you have?

The same would be true in radio. Fewer owners in a market would mean more format diversity.

That's the choice you need to make: Do you want more formats, or do you want more owners? Format diversity or ownership diversity. Can't have both. If you have lots of owners, you'll get each one of them operating with the same 5 formats. That leads to format competition, but less programming diversity.
 
"Here's the upside to fewer owners: More format diversity."

More splinters of formats that play often the same songs in different "stripes." How is that formatic diversity?
 
JimmyJames said:
"Here's the upside to fewer owners: More format diversity."

More splinters of formats that play often the same songs in different "stripes." How is that formatic diversity?
Click to expand...

The goal for a programmer is to put together a group of songs that appeals to the most people. Right now, other than the main formats, people are looking for combinations or music mashes. So sure, there may be some duplication of songs, but in a way that appeals to different people. Hit songs are hit songs, so playing the same songs isn't an issue.

But that still doesn't address the fact that lots of local owners will mean lots of duplication.
 
You need to remember the "good old days". There were markets with six A/C stations. They all had to use their only signal to go after the most profitable piece of the pie. So no, you wouldn't be hearing deep cut oldies, obscure album cut formats, etc., if these stations were somehow handed to mom-and-pop operators.
 
But I remember distinctly in that era you'd have one CHR that was new music friendly, one more adult, etc. Same with AC, you'd have gold ACs, ones that dug deeper, some that would play anything that appealed to adults regardless of chart position. It wasn't as though there wasn't diversity within those formats either.

And TheBigA, I work in the business and I know for a fact that many signals will simply play a slice of the exact same music, because cluster is more about protecting the 2 stations at the top than making sure each station is serving its most viable position in the market. More owners, more people trying to a: win or b: provide a niche service - either way, I think it results in a more diverse set of programming choices.
 
JimmyJames said:
cluster is more about protecting the 2 stations at the top than making sure each station is serving its most viable position in the market.
Click to expand...

That's only half of the equation. The other half is providing the right combination of audience demos for the advertiser. If you spend to much time and attention on the first half, you sacrifice the second.
 
gspitslive said:
This is AMAZING to me. CC wants the FCC to expand the number of stations a single group can own in a large market to 10. Can you imagine? You would have 4 owners here and only 2 would matter.
Click to expand...

Government Sociologists (that is ... Social Engineers) would tell you that it is more efficient in homogenizing and neutralizing a large market, if one corporation is in charge of the many genres that the 1996 Act so generously and lovingly gave "us".
 
TheRover said:
it is more efficient in homogenizing and neutralizing a large market, if one corporation is in charge of the many genres
Click to expand...

As I said, one company owns all of satellite radio, and you have much more format diversity there than if you had four companies.
 
You have markets the size of Dayton Ohio that had 8 viable signals with 5 owners; now you have 30. You would not be able to divide radio's share of ad revenue (with more competition than ever) among 30 different owners and have them all stay in business let alone have 1970s size staffs and niche formats.
 
So, in other words, will CC buy the struggling Citadel stations anytime soon? That company is in debt right now, & CC might be the last thing to buy this struggling company. Any thoughts on that?
 
I find it interesting that Citadel and Cumulus each own an AM & an FM, which would safely fit under the 1978 ownership cap. These are two of the biggest owners in radio, but barely have a presence in the nation's #5 market. Are they models of what you'd like to see more of in Dallas?
 
UncleCharlie said:
@TheBigA - so you are suggesting that clear channel should be allowed to monopolize radio?
Click to expand...

Owning 12 stations in a market with 107 stations doesn't come close to a monopoly.

Miller and Bud are more of a beer monopoly than CC is a radio monopoly.

Obviously the stations not owned by CC and CBS need to step up their game a bit. Uncle Charlie doesn't even know you're there!
 
I always find it interesting that no one ever talks about NPR as a monopoly. They don't own any radio stations, but they program 900. That's more than Clear Channel. They often program as many as five or six stations in the same market. But everyone loves what they do, and they're non-profit, so they get a buy. Even though they make it possible for stations to operate without much of a local staff.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom