Radio

Radio in the United States

Diversity

Brian Montopoli (a writer living in Washington, D.C.; his work has appeared in The Washington Monthly and The Washington City Paper) wrote a longish intro about the difficulty NPR has being diverse and also keeping its listeners. Here’s a bit:

“Public radio has been enormously successful in recent years, thanks in part to David Giovannoni, a public-radio analyst the New York Times calls “quite possibly the most influential figure in shaping the sound of National Public Radio today.” Giovannoni’s research shows that NPR’s core audience — affluent white baby boomers — doesn’t want programming geared toward minorities, or young people, even in moderation. Every time they turn on the radio, he argues, that audience wants to hear the dulcet tones of the Linda Wertheimer sound-alikes who’ve come to define public radio. Many stations believe that following the advice of Giovannoni and his disciples means they will attract more listeners, which means more donations. As a result, their programming has become aggressively unsurprising, rarely straying far from the predictable approach of “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered.””

Legal Materials

Ratings:  The main rating agencies for radio are Arbitron (212-887-1300) and AccuTrack, which provide rankings for ratio stations in various markets.

Note: A reference to an “under 100” market means it is in one of the 99 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas in the U.S.; a reference to a “100+” market means it’s one of the other MSAs. For radio, these “rankings” are done by Arbitron based on U.S. Census data and are posted on the R&R Web site.

For song and album charts based on sales, see “Music.”

Stations: The Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook (Bowker) lists all radio and TV stations, plus some cable stations from the U.S. and Canada. TVRadio World links to station Web sites.

News – Radio – Transcripts and Recordings Legal Materials

Radio News Show Transcripts & Recordings: Sources for radio news transcripts and recordings include:

  • The web site for the show or network (e.g., NPR);
  • BurellesLuce (800-368-8070), which has National Public Radio and many others;
  • You might also want to contact the Paley Center for Media (formerly the Museum of Radio and Television), located in New York City and Los Angeles. The Museum lets bona fide researchers view programs from the Museum’s collection in their on-site Scholars’ Rooms.

Monitoring: See the “Monitoring Services” section of the Television entry.

For more, see the Ratings section, above.

See Also

See Also

    • Censorship
    • Federal Communications Commission
    • Media Law
    • Metropolitan Areas
    • Music
    • Speeches
    • Television

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