Minority Radio Ownership at a Standstill

from Richard Prince Journalism's
http://mije.org/richardprince/minority-radio-ownership-standstill

November 2, 2009

Affirmative Action Setbacks, 1996 Law Continue Toll

In the last two years, the number of commercial radio stations grew from 10,506 to 11,249.

But minority radio ownership has remained virtually flat over that time. A report released Monday found that 815 of those stations, or 7.24 percent, were minority-owned. A similar study in 2007 put the figure at 7.76 percent.

The minority population of the United States is approximately 32 percent.

The study was conducted by Catherine Sandoval, a professor at the Santa Clara University School of Law, partnering with Allen Hammond, also of the law school, and David Honig of the Washington-based Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, which lobbies for minority broadcast ownership.

The study's was undertaken to make recommendations to the Federal Communications Commission.

It urged the FCC to take the new figures into account when it reviews ownership rules next year. It wanted the agency to recognize that most owners of color obtained their stations before the Supreme Court restricted the FCC's ability to take race into account in awarding licenses and construction permits, and before the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which abolished limits on ownership of broadcast stations, squeezing out many smaller broadcasters.

The report noted that "74.7% of all minority-owned stations broadcasting programming air minority-oriented programming. This pattern refutes Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s assertion in Metro Broadcasting v. FCC (1990 . . .) that the proposition that minority ownership contributes to diversity is based on stereotypes. The correlation between minority radio ownership and diversity in program service is robust.

"The FCC should recognize minority broadcasters’ contributions to our nation’s democratic dialogue and analyze how its media ownership rules can ensure that minority broadcasters and the communities they serve thrive in the twenty-first century," it said.

Spanish was found to be the most popular format among minority commercial radio owners, airing on 291 or 35.7 percent of the 815 minority-owned radio stations.

Urban, African American targeted formats were broadcast on 135 minority-owned commercial stations. Six broadcast an “Urban News/Talk” format, airing a News/Talk format addressing African American community concerns, the study said.

"Nine companies controlled by Native Americans and five Native American tribal governments operate commercial radio stations programmed in a 'General market' format, primarily Country," it continued, adding that "Programming in Country also makes these stations eligible for local, national, and regional buys targeted at Country audiences, a large market since it is the nation’s second most popular format and was for decades the nation’s number one radio format."

"The study found that 324 different minority owners control the 815 full-power stations, with 139 of those Hispanic and 129 African American. Sixty-one percent of those owners own a single station," RadioInk noted on Monday.

The FCC is holding three workshops this week as it begins a congressionally mandated quadrennial review of media-ownership rules. At the first session on Monday, Michael Copps was the only FCC commissioner in attendance, John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable reported.

Copps said media consolidation was likely going to continue as soon as the economy picked up, Eggerton reported.

"Copps said that there was less diversity, competition, and localism because the 'tsunami of consolidation' had eroded the underpinnings of all three, thanks in part of sloppy FCC oversight."

Despite the benefits of minority ownership cited in Sandoval's report, many critics maintain that black-owned and Spanish-owned stations can also be negative influences, citing their cutbacks of news and public affairs programming and for some, a lack of social responsibility.

“We cannot count on the owners of commercial radio, Black or White, to do the right thing by the community,” Bruce Dixon, managing editor at BlackAgendaReport.com, told the Final Call in May. “I don't see how we can stop the bleeding in Black radio, because owners don't acknowledge our people-hood. They only see us as a vessel to sell something to.”