Market Size, Preference Externalities, and the Availability of Foreign Language Radio Programming in the United States

Abstract

Using data for 320 radio stations operating in the 50 largest Arbitron metro radio markets during 2004 that offered at least some programming in 1 or more of 19 different foreign languages, strongly positive statistical relations were found between the size of foreign language populations in the radio market and the amount, or variety, of radio programming in their respective language that is available. A preference externality effect was also found: consistently negative relations between the variety of foreign language programming available and size of the English language population. Similar results were found for a measure of programming quality: the percentage of news and talk programming that is locally produced. Conventional wisdom that minority populations tend to be “underserved” by media is generally supported.

"Haitians live for news"

“…There was a significant audience for POC radio that was starkly separate from the largely white mainstream (Waldfogel, 2003). A 2011 media-economics study corroborated this: After analyzing 320 radio stations operating in the largest 50 radio markets in the U.S., researchers Xiaofei Wang and David Waterman concluded that there are indeed significant and positive correlations between the size of foreign language populations in the radio market and the number of radio programs available to POC in their respective languages (Wang & Waterman, 2011). On top of producing programming that could be "authentic," there was a clear economic advantage for Haitian radio stations to produce authentically Haitian programming.…”