Friday, December 15, 2006

New Radio Study Released by FOMC

(Via press release) The Future of Music Coalition publicly released its report this week documenting the effects of radio station ownership consolidation on musicians and the public.Data in the 116 page report shows that station ownership consolidation at the national and local levels has led to fewer choices in radio programming and harmed the listening public and those working in the music and media industries, including DJs, programmers and musicians.

Key points included in report:

* The top four radio station owners have almost half of the listeners and the top ten owners have almost two-thirds of listeners.

* The 'localness' of radio ownership - ownership by individuals living in the community -- has declined between 1975 and 2005 by almost one-third.

* Just fifteen formats make up three-quarters of all commercial programming. Moreover, radio formats with different names can overlap up to 80% in terms of the songs played on them.

* Niche musical formats like Classical, Jazz, Americana, Bluegrass, New Rock, and Folk, where they exist, are provided almost exclusively by smaller station groups.

* Across 155 markets, radio listenership has declined over the past fourteen years, a 22% drop since its peak in 1989. The consolidation allowed by the Telecom Act has failed to reversethis trend."

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