Female/minority power needed in radio

A recent study of radio stations reveals an alarming lack of female and minority ownership in a medium that is the easiest entry into media.

The study by Free Press — a group that works to inform and give the public a voice in the national media debate — is packed with depressing statistics:

• Women own only 6 percent of full-power stations while accounting for 28 percent of non-farm businesses.

• Racial and ethnic minorities own a meager 7.7 percent of full-power stations contrasted to 18 percent of non-farm businesses.

• The average market has 16 white male-owned stations to every female-owned station, and 16 for every two minority-owned stations.

The ill effects of concentrated ownership on radio is evident to any listener. Since the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which allowed a single company to own an outrageous number of stations in a market, radio has been transformed from an intensely local medium to a homogenous sound found from coast to coast.

Compounding the damage of consolidation are the small numbers of minorities and women who are in upper management of corporate radio chains. A problem that plagues all forms of media, this is the opposite in minority- and female-owned radio, where minority-owned stations are more likely to be headed by a female, and there is a better chance that a minority will head up a female-owned station.

There is hope in the 76-page analysis. Free Press found a correlation between minority- and female-owned stations and a market having both conservative and liberal programming.

This finding is encouraging for democracy. It shows that a diversity of ownership creates an environment on the radio dial where diverse viewpoints are aired. That diversity of opinion and reporting is at the heart of our nation.

The Federal Communications Commission should take Free Press' work to heart. This is an important study that shows the nation's impaired airwaves could be improved if new rules and laws are created to encourage female and minority ownership of radio stations.