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The second radio network launches

Its name was Columbia Phonograph Broadcasting Company.

The second national radio network in the U.S. took to the air on 18 September 1927. Slightly more than two years later, the U.S. would experience the stock market crash we know as Black Tuesday.

That second radio network in the United States was the Columbia Phonograph Broadcasting Company (parent of the Columbia record label). It began with 16 network radio stations* located as far west as St. Louis.

According to the New York Times, William S. Paley bought the “foundering network” about a year later. He would rename the company the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS).

CBS (now Paramount Global) no longer operates any radio stations.

In 2017, CBS Radio merged with Entercom. That created a nationwide network of 244 radio stations in 23 of the top 25 U.S. markets. The merged entity, now called Audacy, owns the bulk of the nation’s all-news radio stations: 10 of 25 (2020 data). There are 13 companies; the top four own 16 stations (64%).

The FCC prevents any one company from owning stations that reach more than 39% of the nation’s households. And yet iHeart Media (formerly Clear Channel Communications, San Antonio, Texas) claims to reach 9-in-10 Americans each month. It operates more than 860 live broadcast stations in 160 markets.

iHeart media

The current FCC rules on radio station ownership vary depending on market size:

  • In a radio market with 45 or more stations, an entity may own up to eight radio stations (18%), no more than five of which may be in the same service (AM or FM).
  • In a radio market with between 30 and 44 radio stations, an entity may own up to seven radio stations (16-23%), no more than four of which may be in the same service.
  • In a radio market hosting between 15 and 29 radio stations, an entity may own up to six radio stations (21-40%), no more than four of which may be in the same service.
  • In a radio market with 14 or fewer radio stations, an entity may own up to five radio stations (36%-50%), no more than three of which may be in the same service, as long as the entity does not own more than 50 percent of all radio stations in that market.

The ownership/branding history of CBS is quite circular:

 

The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) was the first broadcasting network in the United States. Its first broadcast took place on 15 November 1926 from the ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City.

~~~

*Originating station: WOR, Newark
The others:

  1. KMOX, St. Louis
  2. KOIL, Council Bluffs
  3. WADC, Akron
  4. WAIU, Columbia
  5. WCAO, Baltimore
  6. WCAU, Philadelphia
  7. WEAN, Providence
  8. WFBL, Syracuse
  9. WGHP, Detroit
  10. WJAS, Pittsburgh
  11. WKRC, Cincinnati
  12. WMAK, Buffalo-Lockport
  13. WMAQ, Chicago
  14. WNAC, Boston
  15. WOWO, Fort Wayne

 

#scitech, #media (241/365)
📷 Wikimedia
Daily posts, 2022-2023

By Kathy E. Gill

Digital evangelist, speaker, writer, educator. Transplanted Southerner; teach newbies to ride motorcycles! @kegill

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