Most Americans don’t go to bed at night wondering how much money their favorite radio station is making–unless, of course, they work in the radio business. Or unless they draw their livelihood from advertising.
But they may be more concerned when a favorite station is snapped up by a big conglomerate that changes the format, making it sound like so many others around the dial.
Numbers released this week by Duncan’s American Radio, the respected chronicler of the radio industry, provide a good indicator of the extent of consolidation.
Radio’s top 10 revenue-producing stations during 2000 are owned by two companies–Clear Channel Communications Inc. and Infinity Broadcasting Inc., the two largest station owners in the nation. And 13 of the top 15, according to Duncan’s, are owned by these two companies.
Five years after Congress approved the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the point is being driven home that the biggest corporate benefit from the removal of most ownership restrictions is control of advertising dollars.
Together, Clear Channel and Infinity own less than 15 percent of the nation’s commercial radio stations, but in many markets–Chicago included–the two companies control from half to two-thirds of the radio ad dollars spent. The national ad revenue figures from Duncan’s underscore that trend and how consolidation is gaining strength.
One year ago, three companies dominated the top 15–Clear Channel, CBS and AMFM Inc., which last year was bought by Clear Channel.
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“This isn’t surprising at all because these companies are so large and they control many of the largest stations,” said J.T. Anderton, an analyst at Duncan’s American Radio.
To plagiarize, or not to … It’s not entirely clear whether the rate of journalistic indiscretions–plagiarism, fabricated quotes, even fabricated people–is on the rise, or whether technology has simply made it easier to detect the misdeeds. Even if the rate has not changed, a number of notorious incidents in recent years certainly suggests that the problem is not going away.
Now help has arrived for those wanting to be delivered from temptation: The Ethics Advice Line for Journalists, a joint effort sponsored by the Chicago Headline Club and Loyola University’s Center for Ethics, has been created.
“Though the vast majority of journalists strive to be ethical, all of us are hurt by reports of columnists who create fictitious people and quotes, of undisclosed revenue-sharing schemes between news organizations and advertisers and of undercover reporting that is considered illegal,” read a release announcing the free service.
The service is open 24 hours a day and pledges to try to respond to queries within 24 hours. Will this be a buzzing business or will the counselors at the service conjure up images of the Maytag repairman? Since the service began Jan. 22, the latter seems to be the case.
“We’ve had four questions so far that were substantive ethics questions–from all over the country, not just locally,” said David Ozar, director of Loyola’s Center for Ethics.
Ozar, who is also a professor of philosophy at Loyola, said he is not sure whether journalistic ethical indiscretions are more frequent. “Because of technology, many more people have the opportunity to know about ethical lapses now. … My hunch is there is no greater percentage, but the news covers them better and with more avidity,” Ozar said.
Ozar said he originally expected about three to four calls a week. He said he would be surprised if there are more than that.
Touchdowns, but no paydirt: No matter what the ratings look like for the 2-week-old XFL season, Credit Suisse First Boston projects the league will lose $30 million by the end of April, the end of the XFL’s first full year of operation. Total cash losses for the joint venture between the World Wrestling Federation and NBC are projected to be $100 million through December 2002.