Rationalization, Standardization, or Market Diversity?

Abstract

The “golden age” of radio broadcasting in the 1930s and 1940s was dominated by large, national broadcasting networks. The rise of these networks is thought to have been accompanied by a dramatic decline in the number of locally oriented stations in operation in the United States. However, this presumption contradicts the dynamics of concentration and organizational foundings in a variety of other industries. In this article I use comprehensive data on the vital rates of radio station founding, failure, and density to empirically test the popular claims of network dominance in the midcentury U.S. broadcasting industry. The results indicate that locally owned commercial stations were not eliminated by the rise of national broadcasting networks. In fact, concentration in the hands of the networks actually increased the viability of locally owned radio stations.