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Advertisers, not listeners, matter in commercial radio

Submitted by Benjamin Melançon on Tuesday, December 26, 2006 - 09:24

From the Associated Press:

After a backlash from this liberal city, Clear Channel Radio is keeping its Air America affiliate on the air instead of switching the progressive talk format to sports on Jan. 1.

Citing the overwhelming negative reaction to the planned change, the nation's largest radio station operator said it would keep The Mic 92.1 FM on the air as a progressive talk station.

The planned change to Fox Sports Radio, announced three days after the Nov. 7 election, had sparked outrage in Madison, a city long known for its liberal activism. Clear Channel said the station, WXXM-FM, had struggled to attract advertisers despite high ratings and a sports format would be more profitable.

At least it's admitted. Listeners, ratings, people don't matter. It's business' advertising dollars, perhaps disposable income, wealth that determines what we hear on commercial radio (and surely corporate-sponsored so-called public radio).

With some exceptions due to public protest. So that's also admitted: taking to the streets, literally, does sometimes work.

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Re:

Submitted by Diane Rotz on Mon, 2007-01-29 15:40.

Sorry for the sarcasm but, where have /you/ been? That's a great big no brainer. Of course the radio stations are going to listen to the people who give them money first, everyone else second. These people never claimed to have an altruistic purpose. Yes, they are there to entertain, but from it's inception public radio was about money. The entire purpose of the entertainment is to get people to listen to the ads.

On the other hand, the advertisers do listen. The reason they advertise is to get customers. If the customers aren't listening, the advertisers, the businesses, are wasting their money. And if the customers are unhappy with the radio station, so will be the businesses that advertise there.

Public protest only helps here in that it makes the people with money notice that their income source (i.e. their customers) isn't happy. That can also be done with petitions and individuals telling the advertisers their opinions.

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Claim of "giving people what they want" is the cover lie

Submitted by Benjamin Melançon on Fri, 2007-03-09 03:50.

The point is that corporations don't always claim altruistic motives, but their cover story is that they are "giving people what they want."

See the owners of a new owner of the Los Angeles Times argue this absurdity.

That they will listen to advertisers first is routinely fudged in public discourse, and the fact that ideology can trump even ad dollars has probably never been admitted.

The other big lie exposed here is the message most media tries to give: activism is ineffective.

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