Music Radio Stations Research Articles

Disco: When fashion took to the dance floor

Discothèques, fuelled by sexual liberation (both gay and straight), influenced fashion, music, nightlife entertainment, dancing and society for several years during the 1970s. New York City (NYC) was the epicentre of the disco scene. Sexual freedoms, fuelled by the birth control pill and the repeal of laws in NYC against same-sex dancing, played out in the hedonistic disco venues, the most infamous, Studio 54. The 1977 film, Saturday Night Fever, inspired by the popularity of disco dancing in New York, introduced the dance phenomena to the world, spawning a slew of copycats. The fashion world took notice and disco looks filled the runways and fashion magazines. Part of this new freedom was embodied in recently developed synthetic fabrics that promised easy care, brilliant colour and fluid movement. Disco’s downfall was precipitated by the advent of the HIV/AIDS epidemic that threatened both homosexual and heterosexual sexual expression, coinciding with a backlash orchestrated by rock and roll fans. The fashion world in turn revolted against synthetic fabrics, claiming that natural fibres were chic and polyester was cheap. Disco came to a crashing halt in the early 1980s as these social factors, coupled with the ‘death to disco’ campaign, orchestrated by rock music radio stations, ended the short-lived era.

Beyond the playlist: commercial radio as music culture

AbstractThis article presents the historical transformation of Finnish commercial radio popular music policies from 1985 to 2005 and contemplates the role of terrestrial radio in contemporary digital age. It argues that a sender-centred paradigm of early commercial radio was replaced swiftly by receiver-centred paradigm, which has been applied since the early 1990s. The change of radio music cultures is described in detail by dividing it into three different eras: Block Radio, Format Radio and Media Convergence. The study draws on the research project consisting of case studies analysing the music content of various radio stations. The primary empirical data is composed of 32 interviews of radio personnel and the analysis of 4,500 individual songs broadcast by popular music radio stations with newspaper and journal articles supporting the primary data. Radio music culture is approached theoretically from the ethnomusicological perspective and thus defined as all practices that have an effect on broadcast music, including the processes of acquiring, selecting and governing music. The empirical results of the study show that the transformation of radio music cultures is affected by economic, technological, legal, organisational and cultural factors.

“… And Please Visit Our Facebook Page, Too!” How Radio Presenter Personalities Influence Listeners’ Interactions With Radio Stations

Radio personalities or presenters are important to music radio stations, as their individual personalities influence if, how, and to what extent listeners want to interact with radio stations and presenters during programs. Both parasocial interaction with the presenter and flow experiences are believed to mediate the listener–presenter relationship. With this in mind, we conducted an experiment in which 236 German radio listeners aged 14 to 49 were asked to listen to the same radio show, but with varying presenters. Mediation analysis revealed notable effects of presenters’ personalities on listeners’ behavioral intentions. Both parasocial interaction and flow were found to be important mediators of the discovered effects.

Consumo musical: tensiones entre emisoras musicales juveniles y dispositivos portátiles

El artículo presenta los resultados de una investigación que tuvo como objetivo caracterizar las estrategias utilizadas por las emisoras musicales juveniles de Bogotá para mantener o aumentar el número de oyentes en el marco de las nuevas lógicas de consumo musical en dispositivos de audio portátiles. Se efectuaron entrevistas semiestructuradas a directores y programadores de cinco estaciones musicales de FM de la ciudad, con el fin de establecer las estrategias que ellos utilizan. Luego, se realizaron grupos focales con jóvenes de 14 a 17 y de 21 a 25 años, para determinar qué los lleva a sintonizar emisoras musicales cuando tienen acceso a la música que les gusta en estos dispositivos, como MP3 o iPod. La investigación estableció que la innovación en contenidos y la interacción con los oyentes a través de redes sociales son las principales estrategias para convocar a los oyentes. Estos sintonizan las emisoras porque presentan novedades informativas y temáticas, abren espacios de intercambio de opiniones vía redes y generan la sensación de cercanía y afinidad con los locutores.

Emisoras musicales juveniles y nuevo consumo musical a través de dispositivos portátiles

<p>El artículo presenta los resultados de una investigación que tuvo como objetivo caracterizar las estrategias utilizadas por las emisoras musicales juveniles de Bogotá para mantener o aumentar el número de oyentes en el marco de las nuevas lógicas de consumo musical en dispositivos de audio portátiles. Para ello, en una primera etapa se realizaron entrevistas semiestructuradas a los funcionarios de cinco radioestaciones musicales de Frecuencia Modulada, (FM) de la ciudad, con el fin de establecer las estrategias que utilizan. En un segundo momento se realizaron grupos focales con jóvenes de 14 a 17 años y de 21 a 25 años, para determinar qué los lleva a sintonizar emisoras musicales cuando tienen acceso permanente a la música que les gusta en dispositivos como mp3 y Ipod, entre otros. La investigación estableció que la innovación en contenidos y la interacción con los oyentes a través de redes sociales y otros canales virtuales son las principales estrategias para convocar a los oyentes.</p><p>A su vez, estos sintonizan las emisoras porque presentan novedades informativas y temáticas, abren espacios de intercambio de opiniones vía redes y generan la sensación de cercanía y afinidad con los locutores.</p>

Revenue Sharing as Compensation for Copyright Holders

Essential inputs are an important topic of debate for econom- ics. One common essential input is intellectual property, in the form of either patents or copyrights, which the producers of goods and services for final consumption must necessarily purchase from the input supplier. The ensuing monopoly power of the input supplier leads in many cases to controversial outcomes, in which social inefficiencies can occur. In much of the literature on the economics of intellectual property, it is as- sumed that the right holder is remunerated either by a fixed payment or by a payment that amounts to an additional marginal cost to the user, or both. However, in some significant instances in the real-world, right holders are constrained to use (or may choose to use) a compensation scheme that involves revenue sharing. That is, the right holder takes as remuneration a part of the user's revenue. In essence, the remuneration is set as a tax on the user's revenue. This paper analyses such remuner- ation mechanisms, establishing and analysing the optimal tax rate, and also the Nash equilibrium tax rate that would emerge from a fair and unconstrained bargaining problem. The second option provides a rate that may be useful for regulatory authorities. The model is calibrated against a (hypothetical) scenario in which the copyright holders in music are paid a regulated share of the revenue of music radio stations, a topic that is presently at the fore-front of the economics of copyright pricing.

Why the BBC Matters: Memo to the New Parliament about a Unique British Institution

The new Parliament will be asked at some point to make critical decisions about the BBC's future at a time when it is facing full‐frontal assaults from competitors who view the BBC as a major barrier to their own advancement. Whether it be newspaper groups seeking to monetise their online activities, commercial children's channels, terrestrial competitors or the owners of music radio stations, media conglomerates rail against the BBC's size and public funding with increasing regularity. Our aim is to remind our legislators of the vital contribution this institution makes to British life: from a journalism inscribed with values of fairness, integrity and impartiality—and valued throughout the world for its professional engagement with foreign affairs—to its creative commitment to British story‐telling, music, comedy, arts and children's programmes, the BBC's contribution to our democratic and cultural welfare is immense. It is a beacon for Britain, which provides social glue for its citizens at a time of fragmenting audiences and identities, within a uniquely non‐commercial space, accountable to both Parliament and its licence payers. It may distort the market, much as the National Health Service distorts the market for health care, but is held in high esteem by the British public and is admired throughout the world. This article explains why the BBC is a national treasure that underpins our creative economy as well as our cultural vitality, and argues that it must be protected from those who argue self‐interestedly for its diminution.

Maximizing the power of entertainment. The audience commodity in contemporary radio

This article explores the reconfigurations of the control and monitoring of the audience that take place in concert with the digitalization that characterize contemporary radio broadcasting. Three technologies for the automation of audience research and consumer monitoring are analyzed: MediaScore, used for online media research (in this case music tests); the iSelector for customizing music streams online, and the Personal People Meter (PPM) for the production of ratings. Drawing on analysis from an ethnographic fieldwork at eight music radio stations the article concludes that the work of producing the audience commodity within the radio industry is changing. Research is increasingly becoming a way to bond with listeners, turning audience self-disclosure into a part of media consumption as such. At the same time, as shown in the article, the three technologies distributes the responsibility of the research process to the people researched upon, meanwhile facilitating a more generalized surveillance. The expanded surveillance through digital media seems also to have other objectives than the previous production of audience statistics. This could be characterized as a shift from using quantitative to using qualitative data, in producing the audience commodity.

No "Country" for Just Old Men

No "Country" for Just Old Men

Coordination, Differentiation, and the Timing of Radio Commercials

This paper examines the timing of commercial breaks by contemporary music radio stations. A simple model shows that stations may prefer, all else equal, to choose the same times (coordination) or different times (differentiation) for breaks depending on how listeners behave. It also shows that how much commercials overlap in Nash equilibrium should vary in different ways with observable market characteristics, such as the number of stations, depending on whether stations prefer to coordinate or differentiate. Panel data on the timing of commercials by 1,094 stations provide consistent support for the hypothesis that stations prefer to coordinate on timing.

Race, Media Consolidation, and Online Content: The Lack of Substitutes Available to Media Consumers of Color

In its 2003 media ownership proceedings, the FCC relied on the existence of the Internet to provide justification for radically relaxing the FCC ownership rules. These rules limited the national audience reach of the broadcast licensees and the cross-ownership of different media properties by broadcasters and newspapers. In relaxing these rules, the FCC failed to recognize that a media submarket for African Americans and Latinos/as existed. This separate market is evidenced by the different television viewing habits of African Americans and Latinos/as as compared to Whites and Billboard magazine's delineation of R&B/urban music radio stations as a separate radio station format. The FCC reliance on the Internet for these communities was misplaced because these communities are plagued by the Digital Divide, whereby African Americans and Latinos/as have lower Internet penetration rates than their White counterparts. The Internet fails to serve these minority submarkets. Access to the Internet at schools and libraries provides secondclass access for Internet users of color People are limited by the hours of operation of the schools and libraries. They are likely to be subjected to the budgetary limitations of the government institution. They may have to wait on long lines to gain access. Over-expansive filters may restrict Internet users from accessing important health information. Once the Internet user of color gains access to the Internet, he will find the web sites of the traditional media may have the same stereotypes and absences that exist on their broadcast channels. For all these reasons, the Internet fails as a substitute available to media consumers of color.

Country Music Radio and American Culture Regions

Using a cultural regionalization of the United States, 162 listening areas are examined to discern the relative importance of regional and socioeconomic variables in predicting listenership ratings for country music radio stations. A regression analysis shows the significance of the Upland South (where the country style originated) and the Great Plains and Texas /Oklahoma regions. Conversely, the New England and Middle Atlantic regions demonstrate a relative aversion to country music. The analysis also reveals a significant inverse relationship between country music listenership and both population size and median household income. The study shows that the popularity of country music is strongly reflected in the cultural regions of the United States, and although country music has effectively diffused to all parts of the country, there is distinctive regional variation in its popularity.