EDISON RESEARCH: CANADIANS SPEND MORE TIME LISTENING TO RADIO THAN AMERICANS

Edison Research has released their first Canadian Share of Ear study and it shows that terrestrial radio radio time-spent-listening (TSL) in Canada is more than 16% higher that in America.

Canada’s Radio Connects, a radio advocacy organization, partnered with Edison Research to conduct the first Share of Ear study north of the border. 

The chart on the left shows the Canadian Share of Ear summary. 

In Canada AM/FM stations have 61% of the ear-space compared to around 50% in the US. Canadians also consume a bit more Owned Music and somewhat less streaming audio and SiriusXM satellite radio.

The study also found that Canadians spend an average of 4 hours and 14 minutes every day listening to audio from all sources. Canadian TSL is slightly higher than the US TSL.

NONCOMMERCIAL RADIO IN CANADA HAS A BIGGER FOOTPRINT THAN IT DOES IN THE US

Noncom’s larger share of Canadian radio listeners is, in part, due to history. When radio began in the 1920s and 1930s, Canada embraced a hybrid system that combined elements from the UK and US. The government-funded Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) had a mission to bring radio (and late TV) to every corner of Canada as a public service. Commercial stations, often copying American formats, were concentrated in cities.

CBC radio was well funded and hired much of the nation’s best talent.  Many observers (including myself) felt that Canada radio sounded “better” than US radio. By the 1980s, budget shortfalls and more aggressive commercial stations cut the CBC’s share of listening. CBC responded by adding an FM “music and arts” channel that had a handful of listeners.

The CBC’s biggest change was the addition of commercials.  Though only two minutes of commercial content was allowed, the ads compromised the “non commercial” aura of the CBC. Now CBC stations have adopted “the NPR sound,” branding themselves as “public radio.” They even have pledge drives.

CASE STUDY: WINNIPEG

To illustrate the differences and similarities between noncom radio in Canada and the US, I assembled a Noncommercial Dial Guide (on the right) for Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Winnipeg metro has around 750,000 people, a similar size as Omaha. The Winnipeg noncom guide is on the right.

According to Numeris [link], the nonprofit organization that handles Canadian TV and radio ratings, the top station in Winnipeg is News/Talk 89.3 CBW-1, with a 14.5 average-quarter-hour (AQH) share and an estimated 118,600 weekly cumulative listeners. CBW-2, featuring CBC Two’s eclectic music mix lags behind with a 3.6 AQH share and 54,300 weekly cumulative listeners.

French-language CBC News/Talk station CKSB is only other noncom listed in the Numeris ratings.  They had a 0.2 AQH share and weekly cume of 2,900.

CJUM would likely sound familiar to US listeners. The University of Manitoba station’s schedule looks like a mashup of old-school American community radio and a college rock station like Radio K in Minneapolis. CJUM features US programs such as Radiolab, Democracy Now and e-town.

NEW MUST-READ BOOK: “THE POLITICAL SPECTRUM” BY THOMAS HAZLETT

So, how much of a media geek am I? Last Sunday night (6/4) I was glued to C-SPAN for Brian Lamb’s interview with Thomas Hazlett about his new book The Political Spectrum.  For a person like me who eats call letters for breakfast this hour of television is as good as it gets.

Check out the C-SPAN interview online here.

The Political Spectrum is about the intersection of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the electronic media spectrum and political influence.   

It is the definitive work about how and why the FCC has made decisions regarding radio, television, cable, the Internet and mobile devices. 

These decisions have made some people billionaires and other people paupers.

One reviewer on Amazon said about the book:

“At last -- the book that seamlessly blends Herbert Hoover, Milton Friedman and Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction!”

Hazlett’s new book is filled with cases studies about how the FCC handles, and sometimes mishandles, new and emerging technologies. With each new device and platform, the FCC rules and policies must adapt existing practices. In many ways, the FCC is trying to regulate and define “the genie in the bottle.”

Most FCC decisions have been helpful to the growth of electronic communication industries but there have situations when the FCC has stifled progress. Hazlett has plenty of examples of both in The Political Spectrum.

Thomas Hazlett is uniquely qualified to explore these topics. In the early 1990’s he was Chief Economist of the Federal Communications Commission, the person responsible for gaging the economic impact of FCC decisions. After working for the FCC, he has devoted his work to education, research and commentary on the impact of political decisions on government policy.

Thomas Hazlett

Today Hazlett is the H.H. Macaulay Endowed Chair in Economics at Clemson University, where he also is director of the Information Economy Program [link]. 

He previously held faculty positions at the University of California, Davis, Columbia University, the Wharton School, and George Mason University School of Law. 

Hazlett’s reporting and commentary has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, The Economist, Slate, Politico and Time.

Best of all, Hazlett is a terrific storyteller with a wry sense of humor and irony. This makes the book a fun, fast read.

SO, WHAT IS INSIDE THE POLITICAL SPECTRUM?

I haven’t received my copy of the book yet so I am basing this review on what I heard and saw on C-SPAN and other reviews.

Hazlett’s premise is that while the FCC is necessary to regulate “the ether,” when applied to new media, the higher the stakes, the higher for the potential of waste and political backscratching.

His narrative begins with the popular legend that the FCC’s predecessor, the Federal Radio Commission (FRC) was established in 1927, the radio spectrum was in chaos, with broadcasting stations blasting powerful signals to drown out rivals. This situation led to ever-increasing federal regulation of electronic media to impose necessary order. But, regulators pushed the FCC to block competition, impair free speech and protect the powerful and politically connected owners of media.

In The Political Spectrum, Hazlett reports how spectrum overseers produced a “vast wasteland” that they publicly criticized but privately protected. His story recounts the losing battle by Edwin Armstrong to establish FM, the untold story of how President Lyndon Johnson’s family became rich by easily acquiring radio and television station licenses and the FCC’s embrace of a HD Radio scheme that ignored common sense.

Hazlett’s book is certain to enlighten and anger readers on the left and right. Here is a sample of the reviews:

• Lawrence Lessig, the author of The Future of Ideas:

“Among [the] proponents of a market for spectrum, none is more vocal and persuasive than …Thomas Hazlett…. Hazlett has done an extraordinary service demonstrating the harm of government-managed spectrum.”

• Gerald Faulhaber, The Wharton School and School of Law at the University of Pennsylvania:

“Few understand spectrum, and yet few things are more important to our networked future. Tom Hazlett covers it all superbly.  A monumental work.”

• Bruce M. Owen, Emeritus Professor of Public Policy, Stanford University:

"Tom Hazlett describes convincingly and clearly how federal regulation of the radio spectrum epitomizes crony capitalism in the U.S.  With colorful writing and extensive research, The Political Spectrum demonstrates how spectrum regulation provides politicians and regulators with a goody bag of campaign contributions while in office and high-salaried jobs afterwards, all at the expense of the general welfare."

The Politic Spectrum was released in late May 2017 and is available from Amazon [link] and local booksellers.

BOSTON’S “WELL-MANNERED RADIO WAR” • TOM TEUBER MAKES RADIO HISTORY IN MADISON

Image courtesy The Boston Globe

Sunday’s Boston Globe has a story that is familiar to people who work in public radio and/or read this blog. 

Check out reporter Mark Arsenault’s article – In well-mannered public radio, an airwaves war [link] – about the competition between Boston’s two NPR News stations WBUR and WGBH. 

Arsenault advances the story and provides a behind-the-scenes look at the people behind the programming at both stations.

Arsenault captures the stakes for WGBH when they decided to challenge WBUR beginning in 2009.

The story begins:

At the time, it seemed like a bold move for a media company. Maybe a stupid one.

Sleepy public radio station WGBH-FM would forsake classical music and jazz programming that had defined it for decades in favor of an all-news and talk format, going head-to-head — or maybe, tote bag to tote bag — against WBUR, the established NPR giant licensed to Boston University.

Mark Arsenault

“It was a bit of a jump off a cliff,” WGBH Radio general manager Phil Redo acknowledged.

Arsenault echoes my observation that the competition between the two stations has increased listening to both stations:

Perhaps the most remarkable part of WGBH’s ascent is that it largely spared its chief rival, steadily building a base without damaging WBUR, or even swiping their monogrammed umbrellas.

I am grateful to Arsenault for making use of my Nielsen Audio weekly listener statistics and crediting my analysis for his report.  This means a lot to me. I publish SPARK! as a public service.  I don’t make a nickel from the blog. Sometimes it is nice to be recognized. Besides, I like seeing my name in The Boston Globe.

Arsenault’s article must have clicked with Globe readers because there were several hundred comments just hour after the story was released. Folks care about public media in Boston.  Here are a couple of their comments:

Comment #1

Boston is REALLY lucky to have two NPR stations of this caliber to listen to. I listen to WBUR and WGBH every day, sometimes all day, switching back and forth for my favorite shows. My all time favorite is GBH's "The Takeaway" with John Hockenberry.

Hockenberry is, in my opinion, a national treasure right up there with Ted Koppel (in his Nightline years). He's a master at dissecting the stories of the day, both serious and humorous, and has a talent for cutting through the typical media bulls##t (even the occasional NPR bulls##t), to get to the heart of the matter.

Of course, if I listen to Hockenberry, I miss WBUR's "On Point" with Tom Ashbrooke, also great programming. Ashbrooke does a great job of bringing out the best in his interviews.

Comment #2:

Why should I pay for copycat programming delivered by WGBH? WGBH offers more local stuff which is Boston centric. Folks in the North and South Shore, Worcester, Providence and Nashua/Manchester really don't care about the Boston City Council's meeting

WVMO MAKES LPFM HISTORY WITH SIX WISCONSIN BROADCASTERS AWARDS

In May 2016 we reported [link] on WVMO-FM, a gutsy LPFM station that signed on in 2015. It serves the Madison suburb of Monona (population 7,859). WVMO, 98.7 FM [link] is known as the “Voice of Monona.” 

Recently WVMO received half a dozen awards from the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association.  It is thought to be the first LPFM station in the nation to win multiple honors from a statewide organization. The awards included:

• Best Client Event Promo for “Hoot Hoot Hustle”

• Best Sports Coverage for “Soul of Baseball”

• Best Election Coverage

• Best Use of Audio for the Halloween episode of “Listening to Records Club”

WBA Executive Director Michelle Vetterkind said about KVMO’s trophy-haul:

“It shows everyone how community service and excellent broadcasting go hand-in-hand.”

It also shows the positive power of great mentors. Volunteers at KVMO are guided and inspired by two radio pros, Tom Tueber and Lindsay Wood Davis.

Tom Teuber

If you mention Tom Teuber’s name to folks in the broadcasting and music industries you will hear stories about the great stations he has programmed such as WMET, Chicago, WCMF, Rochester and especially WMMM, Madison. 

You will also hear about people he has hired, mentored and stayed in touch with over a forty-plus-year career.

Lindsay Wood Davis is a Monona resident who has worked with the best commercial and noncom broadcasters in the state.  Last year he was inducted into the Wisconsin Broadcasters Hall of Fame. Davis said about the recognition:

“WVMO has been called, ‘The coolest little station in the nation!’ To be the first LPFM in America to win statewide broadcast awards shows that the City of Monona's ‘community-owned, locally-programmed, volunteer-driven’ radio station can use its unique hyper-local approach to successfully compete with the top stations in the state.”

Well-done and congratulations!