Why do conservatives do better on the radio than liberals, and what can be done about it? That’s the question addressed in a study released today on talk radio by two left-leaning policy groups, the Center for American Progress and Free Press. The conclusion: conservative success in radio is due to the ownership structure of radio, and Washington can fix the problem through greater controls on radio ownership.
The conclusion is no doubt a comforting one to left-of-center radio programmers. No one, after all, likes to be told they are unpopular. Yet, it is as wrong as it is dangerous. None of the number-crunching in the CAP/Free Press study contradicts the essential fact that conservative talk radio is more successful because it is more popular. More people listen to it, so radio stations provide more of it. And that’s not a problem that Washington can – or should – “fix.”
The CAP/Free Press study is based first on one unsurprising finding: there’s a lot more conservative radio on the air than liberal radio. Of the political talk radio programming in the top ten markets, for instance, the study found 76 percent is conservative, and 24 percent is liberal. That percentage varies quite a bit by market – some markets were overwhelmingly conservative, while others – such as Chicago and New York – were split almost evenly between left and right.
The $64,000 question is why conservatives are doing better. To their credit, the authors dismiss the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine as the root cause, saying correctly that the “Fairness Doctrine was never, by itself, an effective tool to ensure the fair discussion of important issues.” (What they don’t mention, however, is that the doctrine was very successful at discouraging such discussion.)
Instead, CAP and Free Press point to the ownership structure of radio. Radio stations owned by women or minorities, and those owned locally, they conclude, have less conservative programming than those that are not. Twenty-eight percent of minority-owned stations, for instance, air conservative talk shows, compared to just over 50 percent of non-minority owned stations. Their conclusion: Washington should strictly enforce broadcast ownership rules, combined with strict “public interest” requirements, to solve the “problem” of conservative radio predominance.
But how much is programming really affected by who owns a station? CAP/Free Press, for instance dwell extensively on the importance of local ownership of stations. But a closer look at the numbers show that’s really a marginal difference – with 43 percent of local owners with conservative hosts, and 54 percent of non-local owners.
And there’s an elephant in the numbers that the authors don’t mention: more owners in every sub-group – women, minorities, local, national – program more talk radio than program liberal talk radio. Local owners favor conservatives 43 percent to less than nine percent. Minority-owned stations favor the right 22 percent to 20 percent.
Clearly something else is affecting programming besides industry structure. That something else, as it turns out, is listener demand. For whatever reason, liberal shows simply haven’t drawn listeners as well as conservative shows. Air America, for instance – the leading liberal radio service — draws an anemic audience share of around one percent, a fraction of the ratings for the top conservative shows. Oddly, however, the CAP/Free Press report includes no discussion of comparative ratings – although that is the most direct measure of what listeners want.
Tellingly, however, the study inadvertently gives a nod to the role of consumers, suggesting that minority-owned stations may program relatively less conservative shows because they tend to be in areas where there are “high percentages of progressives and liberals.” That seems to indicate the market is working. Overall, according to CAP/Free Press, the talk radio listener audience is 43 conservative and 23 percent liberal. It’s not surprising then that the programming for this audience also trends conservative.
It’s not clear why the radio audience leans right. The answer may lie in demographic differences between liberals and conservatives, or perhaps the history of the media. Or perhaps conservative talk show hosts do a better job. And whatever the reason, there certainly is no conservative dominance of other media – as a few minutes browsing the web will show.
But whatever the cause, it is simply not the role of policymakers to “correct” the choices of radio listeners. Even — and especially — if they disagree with those choices.
The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology.