FCC & Radio Ownership Limits

[davideduardo]

Companies such as TranStar and Satellite Music Networks were able to deliver 24/7 national formats in the 1980s without any timing or flow issues. They were tracked by Arbitron;s RADAR system for national sales.

But to accommodate local sales, all of those “networks” from the past had to have fixed length stop sets in order to allow local abilities. The end result was many hours with unpaid PSAs for lots of PI spots inserted to fill unsolved time

The advantage of a “national station“ is that it can determine with flexibility the amount of commercial time needed to fill the requirements of sales. For example, on lighter sales days or later day parts extended music sweeps can be scheduled on extremely short notice as late as the afternoon prior. There is no need to consider local sales and Its potential need for commercial time which may not always be sold.

 

[TheBigA]

There is no need to consider local sales and Its potential need for commercial time which may not always be sold.

But what if the stations make more money with local sales?

 

[davideduardo]

But what if the stations make more money with local sales?

In that case, they should originate their own programming. The model exemplified by the 80s and 90s hardwired network format clocks is not going to work in today’s environment that requires flexibility based on lighter or heavier sold hours or day parts or days. This is why most of the national stations in other countries do not have “affiliates“ or local breaks.

 

[TheBigA]

In that case, they should originate their own programming. The model exemplified by the 80s and 90s hardwired network format clocks is not going to work in today’s environment that requires flexibility based on lighter or heavier sold hours or day parts or days. This is why most of the national stations in other countries do not have “affiliates“ or local breaks.

Then that's the answer to the question asked earlier about why the US doesn't have national formats.

 

[davideduardo]

Then that's the answer to the question asked earlier about why the US doesn't have national formats.

No, the reason why we don't have national formats lies mostly in the pre-deregulation ownership limits. If you could only own 7 stations of one type, then you could not even cover the top 10 markets.

Most of the national networks in other nations date back to when AM was the primary band and commercial operators could buy or license enough stations to cover their nation. A good example is the SER network in Spain which was truly national going back to the start of the post WW II era. Or the national microwave-linked national stations in Colombia like Caracol, Todelar and RCN..

 

[TheBigA]

No, the reason why we don't have national formats lies mostly in the pre-deregulation ownership limits. If you could only own 7 stations of one type, then you could not even cover the top 10 markets.

That hasn't been the case for 30 years. The way radio covered that before 1996 was with affiliates, not owned stations.

 

[davideduardo]

That hasn't been the case for 30 years.

My point is that the later 90's was too late to put something like that together in the USA. Most of the national stations elsewhere were assembled from new commercial licenses, not purchases. The vast majority, in nations like France and Spain and Chile and Ecuador and the Philippines were built on the new viability of FM in the 70s and were already well entrenched by the 90's.

To do the same in the deregulation era in the later 90's would have required much more money than any operator had in that period.

The way radio covered that before 1996 was with affiliates, not owned stations.

And that is not the same content as a "national station" that we only see with K-Love. And how long did it take them to build that model? They began in the late 80's and it has taken them about 35 years to get what is still only a partial national coverage. And they had the advantage of buying lots of lower priced non-commercial stations.

 

[TheBigA]

And that is not the same content as a "national station" that we only see with K-Love. And how long did it take them to build that model? They began in the late 80's and it has taken them about 35 years to get what is still only a partial national coverage. And they had the advantage of buying lots of lower priced non-commercial stations.

The way it works in other countries is for the government to own the media, such as the BBC.

 

[davideduardo]

The way it works in other countries is for the government to own the media, such as the BBC.

Yet, provoked by the pirate invasion of England in over 50 years ago, a majority of listening is now to independent non-government stations.

Nowhere in Latin America has the government owned broadcast media exclusively or even in a dominant position. The same goes for places as diverse as Spain and the Philippines.

Mexico, for example, never had a national government station, and did not even have one in Mexico City alone.

 

[TheBigA]

Yet, provoked by the pirate invasion of England in over 50 years ago, a majority of listening is now to independent non-government stations.

But either they aren't national stations, or they exist in countries that are much smaller.

Stingray is trying to do national radio in Canada, but they're a long way from reaching 90%. That's why they bought TuneIn.

 

[Mediafrog+]

Nowhere in Latin America has the government owned broadcast media exclusively or even in a dominant position.

Cuba says hello.

 

[davideduardo]

Cuba says hello.

You are right. I should have said "where there is a free market economy". We can soon count Nicaragua in that group, and Venezuela was headed there until recently (half the stations were closed for political reasons and the biggest TV network was taken over by the government).

 

[Mediafrog+]

You are right. I should have said "where there is a free market economy".

If and when there is a change of government in Cuba, it will be fascinating to see how the country rebuilds and reorganizes its broadcast media. They could pretty much start with a clean slate. Will require significant investment.

We can soon count Nicaragua in that group

The 2026 WRTH lists only ten AM stations still on the air in Nicaragua, all but one of them in Managua. There are a few dozen FMs scattered around the country with the typical mix of brandings, but I would have to dig a lot deeper to figure out who owns what.

Longtime religious station Ondas de Luz is still around on FM; they once also had an AM and a shortwave outlet, now long gone.

Venezuela was headed there until recently

Another one to watch with interest.

Venezuela had its own international shortwave service for a few years under the Chavista government, using transmitters in Cuba. They had planned to build their own Chinese-built transmitter complex near Calabozo, but that was scuttled by economic conditions and withdrawal of support from Beijing.

 

[cc333]

If and when there is a change of government in Cuba, it will be fascinating to see how the country rebuilds and reorganizes its broadcast media. They could pretty much start with a clean slate. Will require significant investment.

Cuba is basically stuck in the late 1950s, isn't it? I may be mistaken.

Regardless, post-revolution Cuban culture is an interesting time capsule in many ways. R. Enciclopedia, for example. The last time I think radio sounded kind of like that in the US was the late 1950s, and even then, things were advancing rather fast.

c

 

[gr8oldies]

If and when there is a change of government in Cuba, it will be fascinating to see how the country rebuilds and reorganizes its broadcast media. They could pretty much start with a clean slate. Will require significant investment.

Return of the border blasters, Cuba edition.

 

[Mediafrog+]

Return of the border blasters, Cuba edition.

There would be no audience outside of MWDXers. No money to be made. Besides there are countless basketcase U.S. stations that can do the same programming on a local basis.

Cuba was a signatory to the 1941 NARBA Treaty, which the Castro government abrogated. Would they go back to recognizing that?

 

[TexasTom]

Companies such as TranStar and Satellite Music Networks were able to deliver 24/7 national formats in the 1980s without any timing or flow issues. They were tracked by Arbitron;s RADAR system for national sales.

When I was in college in the early 80s, the FM station in the small college town was affiliated with Satellite Music Networks' StarStation format. And while they generally did make it work, there definitely were some timing and flow issues caused by the inflexibility of the technology of that era. Breaks were of fixed lengths, with fill music where a station didn't sell (or otherwise utilize) a particular break. The "tell" for the unsold breaks was that the DJ would go silent for a moment (in order to allow for some slop in the automation gear at their affiliates) before resuming talking and introducing whatever the fill song was. And the fill songs were certainly constrained by time limits -- those breaks were either 3:00 or 3:30, which meant that they could never use a really short song (like "Yesterday" by the Beatles) or a really long song ("Hey Jude" by the same).

Aside from that, the time zone issues resulted in rather weird shift changes out west -- we were in the Pacific time zone and ended up with a DJ shift change in the middle of what would be afternoon drive in a city big enough to actually have rush hour traffic.

In the end, it worked well enough to be listenable and reasonably entertaining, but not so well as to be a substitute for local talent in a market big enough to afford marginally decent talent.

 

[bobdavcav]

I feel like most of the national programming issues would be solved these days by things like what LRN uses. I think even the Westwood1 formats use this technology now. If I'm not mistaken, songs are available as fill if a local station doesn't sell all the airtime. I also don't see an issue with several regional hubs. Let's take iHeart for example. I could see not one national station, but four regional ones. All west coast programming comes out of Los Angeles. Mountain out of Phoenix. Central out of Chicago. Eastern out of New York. That's still four regional stations, not hundreds. Again there's the expense we've talked about in this thread, but that solves the programming issue while not making awkward shift changes in one timezone.

 

[TheBigA]

I feel like most of the national programming issues would be solved these days by things like what LRN uses.

One issue you haven't addressed is local marketing. Today with the number of audio sources, radio stations need to be in front of potential listeners if they want to build audience. Stations can't just assume that if you build it, they will come. One way stations handle that is have local personalities make appearances at area events or charity events.

 

[Kent]

I feel like most of the national programming issues would be solved these days by things like what LRN uses. I think even the Westwood1 formats use this technology now.

Westwood One bought the company that created Storq for its satellite programming. I don’t know if it uses it on all of its formats, but I believe it uses it on most of them.

If I'm not mistaken, songs are available as fill if a local station doesn't sell all the airtime.

Waitt Radio Networks had filler songs. I would assume that has continued under Westwood One.

I also don't see an issue with several regional hubs. Let's take iHeart for example. I could see not one national station, but four regional ones. All west coast programming comes out of Los Angeles. Mountain out of Phoenix. Central out of Chicago. Eastern out of New York. That's still four regional stations, not hundreds. Again there's the expense we've talked about in this thread, but that solves the programming issue while not making awkward shift changes in one timezone.

I'm not sure how it’s done at Westwood One, but I remember a few stations showing one of my former OM's on overnights. Other stations in the same format, though, didn’t show him. I don’t know if it's a matter of someone not updating their website or if it's multiple feeds or voicetrackers offered. I'm still in touch with that former OM, but he won’t talk shop with people not working for him.