Format Monopolies: The Evolution of “Nationwide Format Oligopolies”

Effects of Local-Market Radio Ownership Concentration on Radio Localism, the Public Interest, and Listener Opinions and Use of Local Radio

“…Incremental deregulation through the years-accelerated during the 1980s (Bednarski, 2003;Cole & Murck, 2007;Fairchild, 1999;Mazzocco, 2005;Shelanski, 2006;Tillinghast, 2006)-culminated with the enactment of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which relaxed local-market radio station ownership caps and lifted the national ownership limit entirely. Promoting competition was the overt justification for the greatly loosened restrictions, which permitted the rise of national radio conglomerates and oligopolies in many local markets and nationally (Drushel, 1998;Wirth, 2001Wirth, , 2007. This free-market (or marketplace) model of broadcast ownership regulation (Cole & Murck, 2007;Prindle, 2003;Shelanski, 2006;Tillinghast, 2006) proffers that the marketplace is best suited to promote competition, diversity, and localism.…”

“…Chambers (2001) reported a drop in the number of locally based radio station owners in the wake of post-Telecommunications Act mergers. Wirth (2007), following up his prior examination of radio ownership and formats nationally, discovered an evolution toward format monopolies directly related to the Telecommunications Act. In his earlier study, Wirth (2001) found nationwide format oligopolies, along with examples of duopolies and monopolies, among 10 music formats.…”