Chapter 6 questions

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1. How did advertising come to dominate radio economics?
When the FCC forced NBC to sell off its second network (which became ABC), this allowed radio to become a stronger medium for information. Money spent on radio ads doubled, surpassing the expenditures of newspapers. This money made radio a profitable medium.

2. What kind of regulation was necessary to develop technically?
Radio Act of 1912

3. What kinds of programming characterized radio networks in the 1930s-1940s? Why did they decline?
News reports, especially those that relayed information from London during World War II; propaganda; television became a mass medium and the networks focused their resources on developing television networks

4. How did radio formats change after the decline of radio networks?
The radio focus became local instead of national, which made for cheaper operation. Recorded music, news, and talk radio developed on these localized formats.

5. How did FM radio and 1960s-1970s music genres affect each other?
Since there were many FM stations, those stations could specialize in certain genres and subgenres. In turn, those genres gave FM stations an identity.

6. Why did radio station ownership concentrate in the 1990s?
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 allowed radio station groups to buy many more stations and become much larger.

7. How do new technologies like webcasts, smartphone apps, and podcasts affect broadcast radio?
They divert the local radio audience into finding more specific mediums to satiate their musical tastes.


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1. What kinds of radio networks exist now?
non-commercial radio, satellite radio, internet radio, and high definition radio

2. How are radio formats related to music genres?
Radio formats adjust to the changing audience and their preferred music genres.

3. What are the target audiences for some of the main radio formats?
FM radio stations target old and middle ages with oldies, middle and younger crowds with rock and other genres from that time (1970s-1980s), young people with 1990s and 2000s music.
AM stations cater to those that live in small towns with country, religious, and talk radio. Other AM stations can cater to minorities, such as Latinos.

4. Why does the concentration of radio ownership cause concern?
Less diverse music gets played because concentrated ownership of stations means more standardized formats.

5. What copyright challenges are raised by Internet radio and podcasting?
People illegally recording music played on these stations and then copy it so others can have it, therefore leaving the artist uncompensated.