Why Do So Many Radio Stations Play the Same Songs?
NOW With Bill Moyers Takes A Look At What Radio Has Become in the Age of
Media Consolidation
Coverage includes interview with T Bone Burnett airing on
Friday, April 26 at 8:00 p.m. on PBS (WHYY Channel 12)
Stations on autopilot, air personalities churning out programs that
listeners think are local, and cookie cutter play lists across the country
are the new reality for radio.
This week NOW with Bill Moyers reports on current radio industry business
practices and why some critics suggest the variety of music available for
listeners has sharply declined over the past decade.
Six years ago, when the Telecommunications Act ended more than 60 years of
limits on the number of radio stations a company could own, it triggered a
wave of consolidation in the industry. One company, Clear Channel, took
advantage of the new rules more aggressively than any other. Clear Channel
got its start in radio in 1972, with one station in San Antonio, TX. Since
Congress relaxed ownership limits in 1996, Clear Channel has grown to
include more than 1200 stations.
Clear Channel is on the radio dial from coast to coast. In fact, 46 of Clear
Channel's stations are known as "KISS-FM," part of the company's vision of
creating a national brand identity through local stations that target one
demographic and air a music play list shaped by focus groups.
In an interview that will be broadcast Friday evening on NOW with Bill
Moyers on PBS, T Bone Burnett, one of the hottest record producers in the
world right now, explains the downside of media consolidation for the
listening public.
His soundtrack for O Brother, Where Art Thou, won five Grammy Awards this
year, but it was rarely played on the radio. Burnett asserts that a
single-minded focus on advertising profits has overridden all other factors
to determine radio play lists.
Burnett says, "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou, does not fit into Clear Channel's
notion of country music. They're not up there saying, 'we want to build a
community.' They're not saying, 'we want to help keep country music vital.'
They're not saying, 'we want to champion great musicians.' That's not their
business plan. Their business plan is to capture as much, as many,
advertising dollars as they possibly can in that marketplace."
The FCC is responsible for insuring that the radio and television industries
serve the public interest. Burnett says, "I think the FCC has its work cut
out for it thenŠthe public's interest is not being served by the modern day
radio establishment."
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