978-1319102852 Chapter 5 Part 2

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only one hour to create a four-hour shift), it leaves no one in the studio to deal with

unexpected glitches or to provide emergency weather updates.

VI. Radio and the Democracy of the Airwaves

• The new pattern of radio ownership:

• Large companies buy several stations in a market.

• They change the formats to make them complementary, not competitive.

• They focus each station at a different niche market.

• The number of low-power FM radio stations nearly doubled between 2014 and 2016. By

2018, more than 2,170 LPFM stations were licensed. LPFM stations are only licensed to not-

for-profit educational organizations, government or nongovernment entities providing public

safety radio services, or federally recognized Native American tribes and tribal organizations.

In 2016, 38 percent of the 1,536 LPFM stations self-identified their formats as being

religious in nature. (See Nancy Vogt, “Number of U.S. Low-Power FM Radio Stations Has

Nearly Doubled Since 2014,” Pew Research Center, September 19, 2016,

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/09/19/number-of-u-s-low-power-fm–radio–

stations–has–nearly-doubled-since-2014.)

• The mandate that radio serve the “public interest, convenience, or necessity” remains

important. As of 2016:

• Radio reached 91 percent of all consumers (twelve years old and over) every week. (Source:

Radio Marketing Guide and Fact Book for Advertisers,

http://www.rab.com/public/marketingGuide/DataSheet.cfm?id=1)

• People age eighteen and older spent an average of nearly fourteen hours listening to the radio

every week. However, teens (age twelve to seventeen) average just under eight hours of radio

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listening per week. (Source: Radio Marketing Guide and Fact Book for Advertisers,

http://www.rab.com/public/marketingGuide/DataSheet.cfm?id=21)

• UNESCO celebrates “World Radio Day” on February 13 every year “to celebrate radio as a

medium; to improve international cooperation between broadcasters; and to encourage major

networks and community radio alike to promote access to information, freedom of

expression and gender equality over the airwaves. . . . Radio still remains the medium that

reaches the widest audience worldwide, in the quickest possible time.” (website:

http://www.worldradioday.org)

MEDIA LITERACY DISCUSSIONS AND EXERCISES

RADIO LISTENING HABITS

1. Think. Take two minutes to write down answers to the following questions about your radio

listening habits: How much radio do you listen to? When do you listen? How do you access

the radio station? What attracts you to a particular station? If you listen to news, weather, or

traffic, do you trust radio more or less than other sources?

2. Pair. Turn to a neighbor and compare notes. Which radio formats (if any) do you agree on?

What do you think the stations are doing that is “right?” What aspects of radio programming

bother you?

3. Share. Open up the discussion to the entire class. If you could envision the perfect radio

station with the perfect format, what would it be? How would it be funded? Whom would it

serve? What should be the purpose of this radio station in the community?

CENSORSHIP AND TALK RADIO

Considering that talk radio is now one of the most popular formats, discuss the following

questions: Do you listen to talk radio? Why? Should talk-radio hosts be able to say anything they

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want on the radio? Is it important to air all potential issues over the airwaves, even if those issues

might upset some listeners? Are radio talk shows just silly sideshows of extreme views and

shocking behavior, or do they appeal to listeners in unique and significant ways? Do all potential

topics contribute to democracy? What kinds of things shouldn’t be said or discussed on the

radio?

Ask students to consider the effect of the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine on the diversity of

voices on talk radio, and consequently, on political discourse in the United States.

UNDERSTANDING WAR OF THE WORLDS

Ask students about their familiarity with the Mercury Theatre Broadcast of October 30, 1938. Is

it the most infamous radio broadcast of all time? Have you ever heard the dramatization?

• Listen to the opening segment of the broadcast. (The CD included in The Complete War of

the Worlds book has the entire broadcast. I usually play about ten minutes of the broadcast,

beginning about ten minutes into the recording.)

• Ask students to write a response to the questions, “What skills are involved in being a radio

listener? In other words, how is ‘reading’ or interpreting the radio program different from

‘reading’ a television program?” Discuss the differences.

• Ask students to comment on what elements would have been familiar to the listeners and

what elements contributed to the panic.

• Were these people media illiterate? Or did the Mercury Theatre broadcast play against

people’s media literacy? (That is, you had to know something of the conventions to make it

“real.”) Note that this broadcast was the subject of one of the first important studies of media

effects (Cantril, Hadley, Hazel Gaudet, and Herta Herzog. The Invasion from Mars: A Study

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in the Psychology of Panic. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1940.) You might also

want to point out that two of the three authors were female scholars.

—Developed by Matthew Smith, Wittenberg University

(Note: If you don’t have a chance to play a recording of War of the Worlds in class, here’s a brief

description of the broadcast:

The production was scripted in the form of fake news flashes that repeatedly interrupted musical

recordings. The first news flash reported strange activity sighted on Mars. The next interruption

was an urgent message saying a meteor had crashed near Grover’s Mills, New Jersey. Then came

a “live” report from the New Jersey site saying that it wasn’t a meteor at all but, rather, Martians

with death-ray guns who had just killed one thousand people. A subsequent “eyewitness report”

described the Martians as “weird creatures streaming from a huge silver cylinder and burning

everything that lay in their path.” The report stopped suddenly “for reasons beyond the station’s

control.” Then news bulletins from across the country started streaming in, telling listeners that

the National Guard had been called out, the U.S. military was rapidly mobilizing, and the White

House had declared a state of national emergency. Even though there had been a strong

disclaimer at the beginning of the broadcast saying that the story was only make–believe, people

crowded into churches, highways became jam-packed with cars, and many people put on gas

masks. In one unlucky town in Washington State, an actual power failure magnified the frenzy

and horror.)

FORMAT SPECIALIZATION

This Critical Process exercise examines radio–group ownership and format specialization. Assign

each radio station in your market to individuals or small groups in the class. Listen to the same

hour (e.g., 4:00 to 5:00 P.M.) during the day for each station.

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1. Description. Create a chart that breaks down the selected hour into a program log. Describe

what you hear, including music, news, deejay chatter, ads, community announcements,

station promotions, and contests. Describe the style of these broadcasts as well as the number

of minutes devoted to each category. Who is the target audience? Who owns the station? Do

the ad and promotion styles match the general flavor of the station?

2. Analysis. Compare program logs and other station information with classmates. What

patterns emerge? Do the stations owned by the same radio group sound similar in certain

ways (e.g., advertisers, newscasters, promotions)? Are there any locally owned stations, and

do they program differently? Which (if any) stations provide the best local news, events, and

weather information? Which (if any) stations feature local artists? What did you like best of

what you heard? What did you like least?

3. Interpretation. According to FCC rules, radio stations are trustees of public airwaves. Basing

your opinion on the limited hours you listened, do you think these stations are doing a

responsible job of serving the public? If some radio stations in a single market have similar

formats, is that bad? Is there enough station differentiation in your market? What audience

segments are not targeted by the radio stations in your market? Why not?

4. Evaluation. Does the radio industry give listeners what they want, or does it give listeners

what the industry wants? (Radio remains “the number-one source of music discovery”

according to Nielsen; see “2014 Nielsen Music U.S. Report” at

http://www.nielsen.com/content/dam/corporate/us/en/public%20factsheets/Soundscan/nielse

n-2014-year–end–music-report-us.pdf). Do you think radio companies are being responsible

stewards of the public airwaves? What are some changes you’d like to see in radio?

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5. Engagement. Listeners have the right to provide written comments about a station’s

programming to both radio stations and the FCC. Commercial stations are required to keep

letters and e-mails received from the public in their public file, which must be open for

inspection at every station by any citizen during regular business hours. Listeners also have

the right to comment on a radio (or TV) station’s license renewal process (which usually

happens every eight years). Citizens may file a petition to deny a license, an informal

objection, or positive comments with the FCC. For details on how to do so, see “The Public

and Broadcasting” document at http://www.fcc.gov.

NPR VERSUS COMMERCIAL RADIO NEWS

Pre–Exercise Question: Why should taxpayer money support NPR (through the CPB) in the

United States when it could probably be supported solely by corporate sponsorship and private

donations?

In this Critical Process exercise, you’ll compare newscasts of NPR’s Morning Edition or All

Things Considered and those of their affiliates with morning and afternoon newscasts of

commercial radio stations in the same market.

Find your local NPR affiliate (check http://www.npr.org to find a nearby station) and a local

news/talk/information station (usually on the AM dial). Compare and contrast the stations’

coverage by recording and listening to the same hour on the same day during the morning or

afternoon “drive time.”

1. Description. Develop a profile of a full hour of news from each station, including the total

time of news versus commercials/promotions/corporate sponsorships, the number and length

of news stories, and the news story topics.

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2. Analysis. What are the major differences between the news programs of the NPR affiliate and

those of the commercial news stations? Look for patterns.

3. Interpretation. Do you think that being nonprofit and publicly supported makes a difference

in the content and length of a station’s news stories? Were longer stories more

comprehensive and thoughtful? What do the differences mean?

4. Evaluation. Morning Edition and All Things Considered draw three to four million listeners a

day, more than twice the number of people who read the Wall Street Journal or USA Today.

Based on these news programs, does NPR deserve some kind of public-funding mechanism

that could keep it free of advertising? Do you think there is a difference in the kind of news

and delivery provided by a noncommercial program versus a commercial one?

Suggestion: For a class project, students should work in pairs, with each responsible for

recording a newscast at the same time.

5. Engagement. If you’re interested in the kind of journalism found on NPR, you may want to

consider becoming involved in the Next Generation Radio training project. Cosponsored by

NPR and a number of journalism and media organizations, the project enables budding radio

journalists to report and produce their own radio stories.

TRACKING RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RADIO INDUSTRY: A SEMESTER–

LONG CRITICAL PROCESS EXERCISE AND PAPER

In this exercise students discover the most recent developments in the industry, and they become

familiar with industry trade sources. The paper they produce is due in sections, which

correspond with the steps in the Critical Process.

1. Description. Read industry trade sources to get a sense of the main issues affecting the radio

industry. Look at the websites of industry trade associations and professional societies.

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(Links to websites of some industry trade sources are given in the Classroom Media Sources

below.) Take notes on topics that have multiple stories or mentions in the current year. What

issues or developments in the industry have received a lot of recent attention, discussion, or

commentary in industry sources? (Focus only on information from the current year—and

only from trade sources.) Write a one-page synopsis of the information you found about

current topics in the industry. Cite your sources properly.

2. Analysis. Look for one development or pattern that has received significant attention on trade

sites and from trade journalists in the current year. Choose one specific trend, and write one

or two pages with details about the information you found about that trend. Continue to track

news about your topic as the semester progresses. Cite sources properly.

3. Interpretation. What does the trend mean for the state of the industry? Is it evolving? How?

What does it tell you about media in general at the current time? What might it say about our

culture or our society? Can your information help us interpret the role of the industry in our

lives? Write up your interpretation in a five-page paper. (The first page should be a synopsis

of the trend, with proper citations.) You might not have to provide information from your

sources for the next four pages because this section is your interpretation of the trend. (Save

any ideas you have about whether the trend is “good” or “bad” for the Evaluation step of the

Critical Process.) Cite any sources properly.

4. Evaluation. Is the trend “good” or “bad?” For the industry? society? culture? democracy? us?

What do you think might happen in the future?

5. Engagement. Are there any actions you can take (related to your trend and the industry)?

Possibilities include posting your views on social media, creating a petition, contacting

people in the industry to see what they think of your interpretation and evaluation, or going

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to an industry event if any are held nearby. (This step need not be required if students are not

motivated to take action.)

Note: This exercise works well if each step of the Critical Process is due two weeks after the

prior step is due. Limiting students to only trade sources and only information from the current

year helps keep them on track. Your institution’s librarians should be able to provide students

with information on how to access industry trade sources.

CLASSROOM MEDIA RESOURCES

LAUNCHPAD FOR MEDIA & CULTURE: launchpadworks.com

Radio: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow (2009, 4:09 minutes). Scholars and radio producers

explain how radio influences other media and how radio has adapted to today’s audience and

media landscape. Featuring Richard Campbell, Dino Corbin, Charles Osgood, and Sedge

Thompson.

Streaming Music: “Bad Blood” (2015, 4:04 minutes). The music video for Taylor Swift’s hit

song “Bad Blood” features a variety of celebrity guests and high production value.

Talk Radio On Screen (2009, 22:25 minutes). Sean Hannity is a conservative political

commentator who hosts a syndicated talk radio show. He also hosts a television show on Fox

News. In this clip, he discusses political issues with filmmaker Michael Moore.

VIDEOS/DVDS/CDS

The Agronomist (2004, 90 minutes). This documentary, directed by Jonathan Demme, examines

the life and assassination of Haitian radio journalist and human rights activist Jean Dominique.

Demme uses a combination of historical footage of Haiti’s troubled past and interviews with

Dominique and his wife, Michelle Monta, highlighting the unique role of radio technology in

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remote areas of underdeveloped countries, as well as the personal danger that crusading

journalists face.

The Complete War of the Worlds (2001). This book with accompanying audio CDs tells how

Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre drove 1.2 million people into a panic over something that

never happened. Available used at Amazon.com.

Invasion from Mars (1988, 25 minutes). This program illustrates how the increased reliance on

radio as an information and news medium set the stage for the panicked reaction to the War of

the Worlds radio broadcast. The video includes interviews with Orson Welles as well as with

people who remember listening to the broadcast. In discussing the dominance of radio during

that period, this video also includes elements of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s fireside

chats and Edward R. Murrow’s and H. V. Kaltenborn’s newscasts from Europe right before

World War II.

Ninety–three–year-old Public Radio Station WNYC thrives by embracing constant change (Dec.

7, 2017), 10:09 minutes). Peter Weingard, CMO of New York Public Radio explains how new

technology and willingness to experiment with formatting has helped WNYC grow its audience.

Available at https://youtu.be/zU9CqIKbfdg.

WEB SITES

Billboard Magazine: http://www.billboard.biz

History and Old Time Radio: http://www.old–time.com/otrhx.html

National Association of Broadcasters: http.//www.nab.org

National Public Radio: http.//www.npr.org

Nielsen: http.//www.nielsen.com

Pandora: http.//www.pandora.com

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Radio Advertising Bureau: http.//www.rab.com

Radio Days: http.//www.otr.com

Radio Ink: http.//radioink.com

Radio Locator: http.//www.radio-locator.com