THE XM Satellite radio recently announced its intentions to include local programming on their stations, as reported in The Washington Post. They plan to broadcast local traffic and weather information to 21 individual cities from their satellites in space.XM said it will also continue to use local advertising -- a direct threat to local broadcasting stations.This is an increasing trend for larger corporations, like XM and Clear Channel, to ineffectively deliver local content to supposedly appeal to "local populations."
A national corporation has no sense of the community's pulse or daily activities.These are corporations vying to monopolize the market with immense resources and national reach -- by no means is this a fair environment where the "market is working." By simply broadcasting weather and traffic reports, which are easily picked up on Internet wires, these companies are not "local." If you want local coverage, an independent radio station will deliver these services in a much more accurate manner.
XM Satellite already captures business from local stations, but now with its incorporation of weather and traffic, even more consumers may be fooled to accept these false notions of community. By nationalizing radio stations, communities no longer share information and characteristics unique to their town. This satellite company beaming down "popular" information and music to every city in America has grave consequences for local communities. Clear Channel fosters this same environment by playing mostly "pop" music and giving local stations fewer options to play non-mainstream music and garage bands.Soon, all of radio will be subsumed by the Clear Channel conglomerate and satellite stations, so that the only local programming will be weather and traffic.
In Charlottesville, Clear Channel owns six stations. These stations comprise the "Clear Channel Family" in Charlottesville -- WCHV-AM 1260, WCYK-FM 99.7 Country, WHTE-FM 101.9 Hit Music, WKAV-AM 1400 Sports, WSUH-FM 102.3 Super Hits and WUMX-FM Smooth Jazz 107.5. Despite recently relaxed FCC regulations for media corporations, the FCC still condemned monopolistic practices in the Charlottesville area. The FCC issued a preliminary denial for a Clear Channel station transfer in 2002.
Listeners need to revive that feeling of radio representing their community -- talk shows and music which accurately reflect their concerns, ideas and feelings in the community. A traffic and weather report does not accomplish this. Consumers should critique XM and Clear Channel's notions of taking over the industry and support local ventures in radio programming. I want to know what local bands are on the rise or why the town council is restricting highway reconstruction plans. National corporations do not address these concerns and are falsely creating this picture by supplementing all national programming with wire reports.
Some of the Clear Channel stations do not even use local DJs. This takes away the advantages of radio for local communities. It is an inexpensive medium which helps communities listen and react to each other's concerns. Everyone in the community can listen -- radios are affordable and offer a platform to express concerns.
On a musical note, the availability of non-mainstream music is heavily diminished. A regional music scene does exist. The East Coast definitely has different tastes than West Coast listeners -- as demonstrated in the Biggie-Tupac rap music shakedown. Many rap fanatics consider this regional music rivalry the cause of both rappers' deaths. Pop music and national corporations transmit one popular music form to the entire nation and create a uniform society where everyone listens to the same music and has no sense of community.
Further hindering local radio, XM plans to utilize local advertising on its nationally-based stations. In the advertising business, more companies will choose a station with higher ratings and the prospects of a large corporation. XM gains unfair advantages in advertising markets, and this reinforces false notions of local community. Local advertisers do not make a station ready-made for local audiences; instead, they just reveal a monopoly system where local stations are weeded out. Local stations do not have the same resources to land significant advertisers and therefore face funding shortages.
As radio listeners, we cannot let Clear Channel and XM Satellite dominate the market in Charlottesville. Local stations provide unique perspectives and diverse music options. We do not envision the radio medium to be broadcast from New York by a DJ from Chicago. Weather and traffic reports and local advertising should not fool you -- this is still a corporation which has very little interest in fostering community and promoting your local characteristics.
Michael Behr's column appears Wednesdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at mbehr@cavalierdaily.com.
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