Study examines link between radio indecency, ownership concentration

Published: 2005-09-16

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A new study on radio indecency notes the "striking" fact that 96 percent of the fines levied by the Federal Communications Commission for indecency were against the United States' four largest radio chains. The 96 percent figure, the study added, was twice as big as the combined audience, 48 percent, of all the radio stations owned by those chains. "In contrast, all the other radio stations in the nation were responsible for just four of the total of 101 FCC indecency violations," said the study, titled "Ownership Concentration and Indecency in Broadcasting: Is There a Link?" "They were responsible for just 4 percent of all FCC radio indecency violations, a fraction of their national audience share" of 51.4 percent, and an even smaller fraction of the 88 percent of the U.S. radio stations they own, said the study, jointly issued in September by the Center for Creative Voices in Media, Jesuit-run Fordham University in New York and Free Press, a journalism advocacy organization.

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