Talk Radio by the Numbers
Center for American Progress
July 10, 2007
Broadcast radio may seem like the wave of the past, but radio remains a strong force in American media with over 90 percent of Americans ages 12 or older still tuning in each week. Yet a startling percentage of the political and talk radio broadcast each day is conservative—91 percent.
This dominance, according to the recent Center for American Progress report “The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio,” is due to structural imbalances—not popular demand. The complete breakdown of the public trustee concept of broadcast, the elimination of clear public interest requirements, and the relaxation of ownership rules have tipped the scales against localism and allowed the few to indoctrinate the many.
CAP suggests three ways to increase localism and diversify radio station ownership to better meet local and community needs:
* Restore local and national caps on the ownership of commercial radio stations.
* Ensure greater local accountability over radio licensing.
* Require commercial owners who fail to abide by enforceable public interest obligations to pay a fee to support public broadcasting.
Here’s a look at the state of talk radio by the numbers.
Still Rockin’
90: Percentage of Americans ages 12 or older who listen to the radio each week.
1,700: Number of radio stations nationwide.
50 million: Number of listeners who tune into news/talk radio each week.
Conservative Dominance
257: Number of news/talk stations owned by the top five companies.
2,570: Hours of conservative talk broadcast by those radio stations each day.
254: Hours of progressive talk broadcast by those stations each day.
(Continued here.)
July 10, 2007
Broadcast radio may seem like the wave of the past, but radio remains a strong force in American media with over 90 percent of Americans ages 12 or older still tuning in each week. Yet a startling percentage of the political and talk radio broadcast each day is conservative—91 percent.
This dominance, according to the recent Center for American Progress report “The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio,” is due to structural imbalances—not popular demand. The complete breakdown of the public trustee concept of broadcast, the elimination of clear public interest requirements, and the relaxation of ownership rules have tipped the scales against localism and allowed the few to indoctrinate the many.
CAP suggests three ways to increase localism and diversify radio station ownership to better meet local and community needs:
* Restore local and national caps on the ownership of commercial radio stations.
* Ensure greater local accountability over radio licensing.
* Require commercial owners who fail to abide by enforceable public interest obligations to pay a fee to support public broadcasting.
Here’s a look at the state of talk radio by the numbers.
Still Rockin’
90: Percentage of Americans ages 12 or older who listen to the radio each week.
1,700: Number of radio stations nationwide.
50 million: Number of listeners who tune into news/talk radio each week.
Conservative Dominance
257: Number of news/talk stations owned by the top five companies.
2,570: Hours of conservative talk broadcast by those radio stations each day.
254: Hours of progressive talk broadcast by those stations each day.
(Continued here.)
Powered by Blogger
3 Comments:
I find this statement very telling:
"CAP suggests three ways to increase localism and diversify radio station ownership to better meet local and community needs"
First, I am not at all suprised that CAP first searches for a problem and then finds a government solution for it. George Soros is the leading contributor to CAP, so their agenda of suppressing speech they don't like or agree with is well known.
Second, what better way to 'meet local and community needs' than by letting the local community choose the programming it wants to listen to? No, better to have government enforce what is best for 'the community'.
This whole debate over talk radio is that the federal government doesn't like criticism! George Bush is a North American Union advocate and cares more about the economy than he does about nation-defining attributes such as borders, language and culture. I have said it in this forum previously and I will say it again - talk radio is the only forum that allows Americans the chance to hear what other Americans have to say. Try sending a letter to the editor of a major newspaper that doesn't coincide with their philosophy or try to post something on a blog that the blog site owner doesn't like - it won't get published. Talk radio is the only forum we have for the free flow of debate and ideas in this country.
Talk radio is not a problem in this country. The real problem is politicians - both Democrat and Republican - who think their job is an annointed job and that they should be immune from criticism.
I know, let's just suppress the will of the people to choose the radio programming they want by government enforcing the 'correct' radio programming....like they do in countries that are icons of freedom and liberty such as, oh, say, Venezuela.
Wouldn't you agree, Mr Joe Mayer???
"George Soros is the leading contributor to CAP, so their agenda of suppressing speech they don't like or agree with is well known."
When I was assigned to Eastern Europe, Soros supported democracy-building programs there to the tune of 400-500 million dollars per year. More than the U.S. gov't at the time. Suppressing speech?
In this country, George Soros is funding think tanks such as CAP that offer government solutions to problems that do not exist for the specific purpose of suppressing the speech and/or will of the people.
This whole thing came to light because Bush and the Senate finagled a backroom deal to offer amnesty to the 20 million illegal aliens in this country. Hillary Clinton and George Soros, not to mention Trent Lott, feel threatened by an informed public on their backroom deals. They blame talk radio and publish papers or make comments suggesting that talk radio is the problem and not the fact that our government is completely out-of-touch with the people on nealy every issue. How else can you explain approval ratings for both Bush and Congress that are in the toilet?
What better way to take away a forum for the people than to regulate the forum out of existence? Soros seems fine with that in this country despite his tossing money at initiatives one could loosely call 'democracy building'.
Post a Comment
<< Home