Music radio

Music radio is a radio format where music is the primary source of broadcast content on both commercial and non-commercial stations. After the rise of television brought about the decline of old time radio and its dramatic content, music formats became one of the dominant forms of radio in many countries, though radio drama and comedy continues, often on public radio. Music has been one of the driving factors in the advancement of radio technology, from the adoption of wide-band FM to the current upswing in digital media.

How it works

Cost of programming

Stations usually adopt a music format to gain the greatest number of listeners for the least expense. This reasoning is common in both commercial and non-commercial stations. Since the programming content has already been produced, all that a station has to provide is the low-cost on-air programming between records.

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Most music radio stations pay licensing fees to licensing agencies such as ASCAP or BMI, as do most commercial businesses that wish to use music as part of their business. As a result, while most commercial stations might get their music for free, they still have to pay royalties to actually play it. Some small neighborhood-sized stations can play unlisted locally-produced music, and avoid these fees.

Related Topics:
ASCAP - BMI

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Licensing issues nearly destroyed Internet radio during the first years of the 21st century; in the United States, Congress intervened to create a royalty structure that, while expensive to independent operators running on a shoestring, was far less onerous than the scale demanded by the RIAA. Currently, one service provider, Live365, provides programs that handle licensing issues; in addition, both XM and Sirius provide commercial packages that allow the exclusive use (though not rebroadcast) of their music programming by businesses license-free.

Related Topics:
RIAA - Live365

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Commercial Radio

Commercial stations charge advertisers for the estimated number of listeners. The larger the audience, the higher the stations' rate card can be for commercial advertising.

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Commercial stations program the format of the station to gain as large a slice of the demographic audience as possible.

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A station's value is usually measured as a percentage of market share in a market of a certain size. The measurement in U.S. markets has historically been by Arbitron, a commercial statistical service that uses listener diaries. Arbitron diaries were historically collected on Thursdays, and for this reason, most radio stations have run special promotions on Thursdays, hoping to persuade last-minute Arbitron diarists to give them a larger market-share. Stations are contractually prohibited from mentioning Arbitron on the air.

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Market share is not always a consideration, because not all radio stations are commercial. Public radio is funded by government and private donors. Since most public broadcasting operations don't have to make a profit, no commercials are necessary.

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Also, Satellite radio either charges subscribers or is operated by a public broadcasting service. Therefore, satellite radio rarely carries commercials or tries to raise money from donors. The lack of commercial interruptions in satellite radio is an important advantage. Often the only breaks in a satellite music station's programming are for station identification and DJ introductions.

Related Topics:
Satellite radio - Station identification

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Internet radio stations exist that follow all of these plans.

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Much early commercial radio was completely freeform; this changed drastically with the payola scandals of the 1950s. As a result, DJs seldom have complete programming freedom. Occasionally a special situation or highly respected, long established personality is given such freedom. Most programming is done by the program director. Program directors may work for the station or at a central location run by a corporate network. The DJ's function is generally reduced to introducing and playing songs.

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Many stations target younger listeners, because advertisers believe that advertising can change a younger person's product choice. Older people are thought to be less easy to change.

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Programming

Music radio has several possible arrangements. Originally, it had blocks of sponsored airtime that played music from a live orchestra. In the 1930s, phonograph records, especially the single, let a disc jockey introduce individual songs, or introduce blocks of songs. Since then, the program has been arranged so that commercials are followed by the content that is most valuable to the audience.

Related Topics:
1930s - Disc jockey

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Because dead air does not attract listeners, the station tries to fill its broadcast day with sound. Audiences will only tolerate a certain number of commercials before tuning away. In some regions, government regulators specify how many commercilalaals can be played in a given hour.

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Programming is different for non-traditional broadcasting. The Jack FM format eliminates DJs entirely, as do many internet radio stations. The music is simply played. If it is announced, it is by RDS (for FM broadcast) or ID3 tags (for Internet broadcast). Satellite radio usually uses DJs, but their programming blocks are longer and not distinguished much by the time of day. In addition, receivers usually display song titles, so announcing them is not needed.

Related Topics:
Jack FM - RDS

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Internet and satellite broadcasting are not considered public media, so treaties and statutes concerning obscenity, transmission of ciphers and public order do not apply to those formats. So, satellite and internet radio are free to provide sexually explicit, coarse and political material. Typical providers include Playboy Radio, uncensored rap and hard rock stations, and "outlaw" country music stations.

Related Topics:
Playboy Radio - Rap - Hard rock - Country music

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The wide reach and selective, non-broadcast usage of the internet allows programmers access to special interest audiences. As a result, both mainstream and narrow-interest webcasts flourish; in particular, electronic music stations are much more common on the Internet than they are in satellite or broadcast media.

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