by paterson » Mon Oct 14, 2019 9:06 pm
Some good points Jon, and sorry tuned pretty much disagree with everything you have said.
I think the number of stations is a big factor and of course satellite radio, radio station apps, steaming, etc. I maintain that what the radio industry is going through here is not unique to Canada. All over the world in democratic countries stations are facing similar challenges. Consolidation ain't unique to Canada by any stretch. We are still children compared to our cousins in the south. We have allowed our media giants to grow in a different way than the US. It is debatable which was the right way, or if it actually matters. Both have their faults. US has a lot of great radio, and they have a lot more "stations" that are pretty bad as well in my opinion.
Do stations really have fewer listeners than 35 years ago? I would think there are some that have more listeners. Back in the day, then BBM tended to highlight the weekly cume for major market stations. Don't know when it changed, maybe with the PPM's but the emphasis now seems to be on daily audience. Aaron would know more about that, I haven't seen weekly cumes for major market stations in years, but I only have a public's view of the ratings.
Tuned, sorry you won't like this, but hate them or love them, CBC Radio has been having the best ratings they have likely ever had in many markets in Canada over the past 5-10 years. Where I live, our relatively new CBC local station was number #2 central market share and reach and #2 full coverage reach last fall. This is in a market with 11 stations and about 40 stations out of market that come in clear over the air. Almost half of our radio listening is out of market.
Lack of diversity of opinion? Says who? Talk radio is better than ever, at least talk, news and sports radio have personality and lots of it. Tuned are you trying to say that ALL the talk show hosts support the liberals? Really? Never listen to Roy Green? I can only speak to where i live in Ontario: Newstalk 1010 has a strong conservative mid morning host and primarily conservative drive home host, weekends a mix of left and right, AM 640 would be a mix of mostly middle/conservative and some left leaning hosts (they carry Roy on the weekends), CHML would be a mix of left and right (Roy on weekends), Newstalk 570 is mostly in the middle but also carry a lot of news and sports.
As far as I am concerned the only state broadcaster in North American right now is Fox, and even they are starting to crack a bit. How do you explain when the president can phone up Fox and Friends or Hannity whenever he wants and take up all the time he wants. Hosts that offer softball questions or help out the prez when he is getting himself in trouble on air? And the Fox news site is a joke. I know CNN isn't any better with their fixation of everything and dislike of Trump all the time. That's why I don't watch CNN much other than some of their special programs and some of those are excellent.
I still enjoy local radio, just wish most of the hosts made more of an effort, maybe do some show prep and not just surfing on their computer and going to all the same sites to scoop stories that five other stations in the market are also talking about. Having some personality and being local isn't that hard, and it only takes one person, the host of the show.