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I. Introduction to Radio’s Future
The public sphere has a huge impact on the success of media. Or does it? In other
words, does the public sphere influence the development of a media type, like radio, in
order to build a successful market? While the public sphere affects societal norms and
views, it also affects how radio listeners can determine the survival of radio. Radio
stations are evaluated by ratings that are based on the personalities, interests, and
lifestyles of a listening audience. Therefore, these qualities, or psychographics, prompt
the media to dismiss programming in order to sell whatever people will buy. (McKee,
undated) While a common complaint in western countries is that the public sphere is too
commercialized in search of profits, a review of the history of radio and its importance
within a community supports the use of psychographics of the public sphere even though
the down play of commercialism can prove to be effective in the success of the Chicago
radio station, WTMX.
According to McKee, the definition of public sphere is “a metaphorical virtual space
where people interact similarly by having an open discussion that would be available to
the public that requires certain means of dissemination and influence by the public:
newspapers and periodicals, radio and TV being the media of the public sphere”
(Habermas, 1997). The public sphere becomes the term drawn from a collective group of
like-minded people brought together by location: the community.
In order to confirm that there is a viable audience who appreciates radio programming,
I will research and discuss radio's role in regards to the public’s outlook. I will discuss a
popular Chicago morning talk show: “The Eric and Kathy Show.” In addition, I will
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examine the dynamics between the different personalities of morning talk shows and how
those affect the ratings and keep radio alive. Furthermore, I will create a survey, explain
the results, and present the public’s opinion regarding radio’s future. The sample
population will consist of 4 age groups: middle schoolers, high school students, college
students, and adults no longer enrolled in an educational program. The survey will be
conducted among random participants throughout the Chicagoland area. The survey will
consist of questions that will relate to how and when listeners use radio. The purpose of
this project is to provide evidence that within a community there is an audience for radio;
the survivorship of radio is apparent.
II. History of Radio
The community is a place where interests, values, and beliefs are shared, and that
includes radio. Specifically, the art of radio first began in communities where small
towns used radio stations to keep the community informed of local events. Historically,
radio was first introduced as a way to communicate for the Morse code. Additionally,
radio was used with ships in the transportation industry. Eventually, talk radio became a
means for entertainment on the “open water.” Once radio was launched, people ran away
with the idea; some basically began to work out of their garages on their own frequency.
Consequently, radio exploded with a variety of different formats, from news, talk, and
sports, to the wide variety of music that networks people within communities. These
formats make up today’s radio society. (Mass Media & Society)
As time went on, networks began to replace local music, disc jockeys, and journalists.
Citizens within the communities stopped hearing local news and became irritated. This
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prompted the United States Congress to become involve in community radio. Congress
then rewrote the rules regarding ownership, character, and content of radio with the
institution of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Similarly, polls taken after the 2004
presidential election ranked media reform second behind the Iraq War in regard to issues
that needed additional input from Congress (Douglas, MoveOn.org)
III. Localism of Radio
The “Prometheus Radio Project” reported that The Local Community Radio Act of 2005,
a bill posed by former Presidential candidate Senator John McCain, opened the airwaves
for the largest growth of community radio in US history. McCain also supported the
Localism in Broadcasting Reform Act of 2005 that addressed the broadcaster for not
meeting its obligations for serving their local community. “The Media often
misrepresents politicians’ messages. The goal of the campaign strategists is to get the
media to report their candidate’s message in the best light.” (Carvallie, undated) “They
avoid serious politics and focus on human interest…and they do all this because this is
what people buy, and the profit motive is all they care about.” (Shattuc, 1997) Were these
interventions geared for a win-win situation?
Interventions of Radio
Interventions by the government set the public sphere as the pendulum in determining
outcomes. “Mass culture achieves increased sales by adapting to the need for relaxation
and entertainment on the part of the consumer strata with relatively little education, rather
than through guidance of an enlarged public towards the appreciation of culture
undamaged in its substance. (Habermas, 1989). Psychographics comes into play when
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radio listeners participate in surveys, such as the Arbitron Ratings. The Arbitron ratings
help the program director of a radio station to review the areas where their listeners are
employed, where they reside, and to identify whether or not they like what they hear on a
station. To illustrate this, Mary Ellen Kachinske, program director at 101.9 FM, WTMX,
Chicago, explained the ratings: “PPM, known as Portable People Meters are digital. It’s
not just the station you choose to listen to, but it’s what you’re exposed to. So, everything
is rated, your cum, your cumulative audience every week: how long they listen and when
they come back, which is time spent listening. They were going to call it “time exposed,”
but they stuck with “time spent” listening because if you worked in a Best Buy and you
had a meter, Best Buy decided they were going to play Kiss, or News/Talk. That’s what
would register even though your personal station might not be the station that you are
exposed to. And that is again where brands mean everything, The MIX is a heritage
station and Eric and Kathy have been around for a while. So, if you have enough fans and
enough cum, and that audience is big enough, they are going to keep coming back. Even
if you screw something up, you can still maintain a consistent performance in the ratings”
(Kachinske, 2012).
IV. Radio as in Reguards to the Bill of Rights
Should it then seem reasonable that radio serve however and whoever they choose?
The 1st Amendment of the Bill of Rights to the United States Constitution prohibits
“…abridging of the freedom of speech or of the press.” Congress voiced support of radio
confirming it as the best mainstream mode for providing access to news and culture
within communities because of its low costs and greater ease of distribution. Yet, as a
believer “in the reality of working-class intellectual activity, and choices made by
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popular audiences," McKee noted "that empirical research into popular audiences
suggested that they do not passively accept what they’re given, but interpret it in their
own ways."
V. Radio as a Sense of Community
Radio’s birth within communities has matured to that dependable source for
information strictly relevant to those people of a given community. For example, here at
North Central College, our radio station, 89.1 FM, WONC, portrays a great
representation of community radio. Listeners choose to call in to request songs. Often
times, they tell us we do a great job by engaging in “light” conversations. WONC serves
as the medium to the community by delivering updates or hosting individuals who give
information about community events in Naperville.
The “feeling” of community was expressed in the Prometheus Radio Project when it
stated that 90% of new radio stations are those of community radio. To look at this in
another way, we’ve all heard of Hillary Clinton’s book It Takes a Village and how it
takes many people to get a job done. Simply put, it takes a community to keep radio “on-
air.” This relates to Mary Ellen Kachinske’s claim about how hot adult contemporary top
40 stations make their mark by getting big strong morning shows. In doing so, she
identified three legs that make a station stand tall in a market: great music, a great
morning show, and good marketing. She adds, "We are lucky enough to have Eric and
Kathy. They’ve been together going on 16 years now as of the year 2012. There wasn’t
anything like Eric and Kathy at the time. I kind of think they’re like Seinfeld. Their show
is like everything and nothing at the same time. You can find out a lot, and maybe some
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of it isn’t important, but it’s always entertaining. It may not be funny, but it’s always
compelling.” McKee relates using cultural capital from one culture in the public sphere
that can make it easier for one group to understand something. Journalist Jacques-Rene
Hebert wrote “You must swear with those who swear…anyone who appreciates
frankness and probity…will not blush at the fucks and buggers that I insert here and there
with my joys and angers. “ (Hartley, 1996)
VI. Future of Media & Background of Public Sphere
Through the use of media and technology, the needs of a listening audience can be
better met. Public discourse can relate to the general public’s view of societal norms as
the public sphere grows and advances in time. "Radio Comes of Age" reflects on these
changes. “Adult Contemporary format traces its roots back to the 1950s when stations
wanted to play current music, but did not want to play loud, rhythmic rock music. Later
on, stations upgraded to a mellower type of format, known by many different names
including middle of the road and/or easy listening. Most of the songs were often soft rock
songs with non-offensive lyrics.” Haberas adds to this discussion by stating that
“Commercial culture uses the commodity form as a way to distribute high culture,
formally educated audiences, caring not about how many people it reaches…but only the
quality of art produced.” (Habermas, 1989). While this may be true, radio stations like
the MIX have proven to care about the art they produce, the numbers of their listening
audience, as well as quality programming. In particular, Kachinske comments on how the
public sphere is crucial for the station’s success: “In general, the hot ac (adult
contemporary) format or the top adult 40 format is lifestyle: very pop-culture and geared
to women on what’s happening in the world and here in Chicago. But, younger women
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are more in tuned to the top 40 where hit songs are played every hour. The beauty of hot
ac is that you can play it at work and its not going to pound you over the head with the
same songs. Yet, we do have to play the current hits and the most popular ones every 2-3
hours to keep the people interested because when the song does become hit, people want
to hear it over and over. Hot adult contemporary formats were geared toward younger
women even though as it became more popular in different markets, older women
jumped on the bandwagon, too. And I think the key to that is that women and men like to
stay younger, longer. So, you can play a rap song that M&M does and you’ll have a
21 y/o women love it and a 55 y/o women love it! And that is the beauty of music today:
it’s available everywhere, not just the radio, even though 94% of Americans get their
music from radio and listen every week. The MIX, here in Chicago, is/was, a modern ac
station and now is a hot ac station, and more of an adult top 40. It is the same format that
we play as the mass appeal music for women 24-39, is like our core that we look at and
will appeal to people younger and older. We sort of play the best of the pop; we play the
best of the rock.”
VII. Psychographics & Lifestyles
In the interest of looking at the objectives set forth by this popular ac station, I
conducted a survey to explore the interest of radio among listening audiences in the
Chicagoland area. Pre-teens/middle schoolers through non/out of college adults indicated
that listening to radio allows them to hear what they want to hear on the station of their
choice. Middle schoolers and high schoolers tuned in to "top 40" current hits, rock, and
alternative rock stations. Whereas, the adult audiences added country, alternative rock,
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talk, and sport stations. Radio is targeted as the go-to-source of entertainment, dependent
on the time of day. The younger age groups admitted listening to radio that their parents,
for example, listen to while being driven to various destinations: school and/or after
school activities. Yet, the adult groups used radio for entertainment as well as news,
talk, and sports throughout their day at work or while working at home.
The Eric and Kathy Show of The MIX is one of those often "tuned in" stations,
making it number one among Chicago’s morning radio shows. The success of radio
stations like The MIX is determined by ratings. The rating focus primarily on
psychographics as the parameters that constrain and expand the boundaries of public
discourse. In this instance, psychographics includes demographics, marketing,
personality, values, lifestyles, attitudes, and opinions as motivating factors for listening to
a particular radio station. “The main key to success is that this entertainment based,
lifestyle driven show, has been able to keep the content engaging to grownups and clean
enough to sail right over the heads of youngsters. In addition, they are able to draw the
interest from the younger demographics with high school teens and/or middle schoolers
with stories of life experiences. This theme continues through the other radio hosts,
therefore continuing the success to pull in an incredible listening audience to 101.9, the
MIX.” (Kachinske)
“One of the main strengths of adult contemporary music is that the station attracts
what is known as the “Golden Demos" of working women and moms. Usually those who
are employed outside the home listen on their commute to and from work, and even while
they work.” (Media Programming: Strategies & Practices.) In his study, McKee cites
Hartley’s reference toward the working-class culture and insists that the popular audience
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is a group of individuals whose value can neither be proved nor disproved through proof.
In addition, McKee’s support of the public sphere parallels the mission of the MIX when
addressing that the commitment to equality "be open to the forms of culture with which
different members of the public are familiar." (McKee 97) Kachinske adds to this
discussion: “For the demographics, we always think a narrow focus really gives you
broad results. I would say it’s women 25-44: you look at them, their lifestyle, what
they’re going for, what their music is, knowing that people younger than that will listen,
and those women will set the pace for the older women. It’s amazing we’re normally
number one with women 35-64 too, as well as 18-34. And then we get a lot of men.
That’s another thing we didn’t know before portable people meters. Men never write
down that they listen to Eric and Kathy: someone might make fun of them. But we
actuality hear a lot of men playing the contest or calling in and being part of a bit with
Eric and Kathy. We just need to know we need to be as much mass appeal as possible
because that’s how you win the game.”
At the same time, while radio stations make efforts to draw in a large listening
audience, they are, at times, unsuccessful in spite of using strategies like psychographics.
Modern technology contributes to the downfall of radio since people listen to music on
their iPhones and iPods. This is due to the fact that the listener chooses not to be
bothered by commercials and chatter from radio personalities. Consequently, one could
even ask, “Is radio in jeopardy of surviving?” as Matt Newton does in “The Death of
Radio and the Future of Media.” In the effort to defend this type of commercial culture,
Habermas states that “the point of the public sphere is for competing voices to come
together presenting different positions; …the voices heard in the public sphere must be
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those of individual ‘private people’. (Habermas, 1989)
Furthermore, Bob McCurdy in “The Future of Radio,” states that radio has heard
audio challengers come and go since the early days of crackling static and living room
theaters. He makes known that radio has proven to be resilient since it draws its strength
from communities, which in turn, defend radio and negate any jeopardy of its extinction.
In fact, he states that radio’s future is as exciting as when radio was first born. McCurdy
states that radio has proven its resilience and transformational power as a marketing
solution that advertisers demand. Due to the fact that radio can be tuned in at any time
and place, it remains one of the most powerful and intimate ways to reach mass
audiences.
VII. Radio as it Exists Today
Brad March, former CEO of the Austereo Network, reports that the listening of music
is 80% through radio even though radio is accessed through computer generated devices
such as iPads, iPods, or tablets. In an attempt for radio stations to function as home base,
the Austereo Network is creating new ways to listen through apps on smart phones or
Apple Inc. devices. In turn, March supports the reputation of radio stating that radio is the
perfect partner for social media. Now, companies like Facebook and Pandora have
realized the key to their success is gearing up toward the local markets, just as radio does.
Secondary research from Douglas Ferguson, Professor of Communication at the
College of Charleston, reports in the Journal of Radio Studies: “Uses and Gratifications
of MP3 Players by College Students: Are iPods More Popular than Radio?” Ferguson
looks into how college students are using the modern technology tool of iPods in
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comparison to radio listening. Some of his results showed that motivations for using the
players included boredom, stimulation, entertainment, relaxation/escape, and loneliness.
An important finding was that the use of MP3 players appears to be serving college
students as a substitute for listening to traditional radio. Adding to Ferguson's research,
was the survey conducted for this research concurring that people do listen to music via
iTunes on their iPhone and/or iPad, as well as via apps like Spotify, and Pandora. This
opinion transfers among the ages questioned. They admitted that these types of media
allows them to have complete freedom and control to listen to the music they want as
well as when they want to hear it, instead of listening to radio personalities who may
ramble on and on.
“The future of radio news: BBC radio journalists on the brave new world in which
they work,” was further investigated by Anna Luscombe. In the Radio Journal:
International Studies in Broadcast & Audio Media, she researched radio listeners in the
United Kingdom and discovered that they increasingly are using new digital platforms –
internet, mobile phone and podcasts – to tune into their favorite and new radio stations.
She claims “Digitization has allowed radio to emerge from its box on the counter or in
the dashboard and take flight across national borders and boundaries, across time and
history, beyond streaming broadcasts, out of the house or car and into our pockets and
headsets’ (Hilmes 2007). This is definitely true since technology is always changing and
demanding. Journalists have to become multi-skilled, working across the spectrum of
print, radio, TV, and online networks.
Yet, there are nay-sayers like Matt Newton, a staff writer for The Brabble.com, an
Internet magazine, who speaks of “The Death of Radio and the Future of Media.” He
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describes radio as something that “used to be” magical and “used to have” famous DJs
where you “used to hear” your favorite songs. While Newton focuses on the negatives of
radio because of his personal impulsiveness to listen to what he wants, when he wants,
and where he wants, he supports Podcasts to feed his frenzy. Podcasting makes audio
files available online and poses a threat to radio. For a very small cost, Podcasters can
produce music, local news, and public-affairs programs that are instantly available and
always accessible. While this may be true, Newton unconvincingly supports his argument
when he puts his foot in his mouth referencing the 1st amendment: “People have the
power of choice now and how great it is!” However, according to McKee, popular
audiences don’t passively accept what they’re given. They make interpretations in their
own way and make the appropriate choices on what works best for them. In addition,
Richard Hardiman, a radio DJ in South Africa, admits that live radio does provide the
listener with current music and a radio personality, he believes that “The future of radio
is online, device-driven and in your car. ” Nevertheless, listeners do need to have Internet
or a smart phone to have this option. Hardiman proceeds to toss the final dagger into the
heart of radio by identifying the use of the Internet and smart phones as the fuel to the
decline of live radio.
In a similar but different view, Michael J. Saffran’s symposium on Radio Localism
lists the vessel where radio is tuned in that affects the numbers of the listening audience.
He found that seventy-six percent of respondents surveyed listen to local radio in their
car. Their commute to and from their work place keeps them trapped in their cars and
committed to the radio for their listening pleasure. Similarly, McKee support this
commercialized popular culture. He confirms that this culture is a working-class culture
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where social classes are not separated since it provides a hopeful sign of increasing
popular access to the public sphere. Conversely, Jake Sutera references Donna Halper, a
well-respected radio historian and author in “The Future of Radio: Is Live and Local
Content the Key to its Success?” and states that Halper believes radio must change back
to its local content with emphasis on informative non-boring programming if it wants to
survive within the circuit of young adults, ages18-24, in the 21st century. Saffron
identified that new digital media serves as the substitute for radio as college students have
resorted to their iPods for listening to music. While this may be true, Mary Ellen
Kachinske voices opposition, explaining that “radio, satellite, television, or internet are
all related; it is all show business, and young people want to be a part of it. “It’s a
wonderful thing (radio) because the nay-sayers are saying that radio is dead, and it’s not.
And it’s never going to be.” She continues to explain that radio stations like the MIX
have a web site and eventually will become a web site with a radio station.
Consumers’ Union spokesman Joel Kelsey states the importance of putting low-power
FM licenses in the hands of communities in order for communities to have an alternative
to the easy go to, take-out, syndicated national programming: McRadio. Likewise,
Prometheus Radio Project’s program director, Hannah Sassaman, argued the importance
of building local radio stations that are accountable to local civil rights, school,
neighborhood, and community groups. In an attempt to assess the validity of Sassaman’s
claims, Glenn Hubbard, assistant professor in the School of Communication at East
Carolina University, conducted a study on “Putting Radio Localism to the Test…”
Results revealed that the listening audiences shared the sense of community mindedness
and favored locally originated programs, while taxing the operating expenses of a radio
15. 15
station. On that note, radio stations need to be connected to their local community since
consumers are plugged into what's going on in their hometown.
IX. Syndication Explained
Yet in an effort to save money, radio stations enlisted the idea of syndication to save
operating expenses. Celebrity DJs record their show from a location distanced from their
listening audiences. The entire show could use one DJ, be transmitted to thousands of
stations, be pre-recorded, and then be played back on a different station within the same
company. Nevertheless, Halper acknowledged radio syndication as a disaster just waiting
to happen and added that the use of psychographics alerted corporations like “All Access
Music Group” to a bad decision. One example occurred when Chicago radio station,
WLIT, went syndicated in 2007 to bring Whoopi Goldberg to its programming. It
dropped its hometown DJ and netted a huge drop in their listening audience. Corporate
decision makers had hoped to create a grandiose economic scale and maximize their
profits. However, with that event, WLIT’s VP/Programming, Darren Davis, admitted
fault to underestimating Chicago’s love for their local DJ, Melissa Forman, cancelled the
syndicated show, and brought back Chicago’s loved DJ.
Through an email correspondence I had with Clear Channel’s VP of Programming,
Darren Davis, he agreed that syndication could prove to be disastrous, he emphasized
that the key to radio's success is high quality content that consumers love. While some
great radio shows originate locally and some great shows air nationally, the ratings hold
true that people do indeed love national shows with hosts such as Ryan Seacrest, Elvis
Duran, Delilah, and Rush Limbaugh. Listeners love how entertaining those shows are,
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regardless of where the shows originate. What I found surprising in my research is that
very few people knew anything about syndication. While they do listen to radio, they do
not know much about syndication.
X. Localism being the Key to Success and Conclusion for the Future of Radio
Once again, the key to successful radio is on the voice and the personality of radio
personnel that keep stations surviving. This emphasizes the need for local broadcasts that
allow the community to hear local music and listen to talk about local issues. Further
support of this thought is confirmed in Hubbard’s study “Putting Radio Localism to the
Test…” where the need for more low power FM stations that served local communities
was concluded. Simply stated, people just wanted radio programs that they liked. In a
similar vane, Congress echoed this sentiment through Bernie Sanders, an Independent
Representative from Vermont, as he acknowledged that radio’s strengths could be
restored since “people own the airwaves; they have a right to demand that radio be
better.” Radio has weathered years of competition from technological advancements and
has accepted the challenges to be current and relevant in today’s society. The public
sphere has proven effective in influencing the success of radio despite modern
technology. Corporations have learned that psychographics, in addition to the
interpretation of ratings, is an important tool in addressing the needs of all people
regardless of their social class. On WONC 89.1 FM, our radio station here at North
Central College, we sound out our logo ‘proudly serve our community’ as we recognize
the importance to localism. We understand, as well as those who have made unsuccessful
attempts at syndication, that commercialization in radio is not always the acceptable
means for broadcasting. "Radio" realizes it needs to stay connected to young audiences
17. 17
as they pave its future. My research identified the young listening audience as fans of
live radio who note that stations promote artists and add contests so they could win
tickets to concerts. Should that listening population continue to support radio, radio's
survivorship has to be guaranteed at least another generation: 50 years!
18. 18
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