According to the FCC there are 15,330 radio stations in the United States.
Of the 15, 330 stations 4,849 are owned by Evil Corporations. That leaves 10,481 stations owned by Mom and Pop.
Almost half of of the Evil Corporate stations own less than 10 stations.
Some of the Evil Corporate stations are: Pacifica, NPR, University of Illinois and oops...Mom & Pop like WTAN who also owns WDCF and WZHR.
So it would be good to get facts straight before playing the blame game with regard to radio ownership.
Corporations Are People Too
No joke. The Supreme Court has ruled. Corporations have the same standing as people.
Further, some moms and pops are incorporated, which means they are compound people.
What we are really concerned about is the "evil" component, which applies to stations that do not respect deep tracks and album orientation.
Take my stations as an example. I own several stations but my corporation is dissolved.
While operating a recording service I founded a corporation and intended to study evil at junior college but never enrolled, which explains why my stations are so small.
I'd play album rock if I liked it.
All cities in the USA should have at least 1 AOR station. Any city found not to be in compliance shall be subject to a $20,000,000 fine and/or prison time for the mayor and council persons. Let's see, there's 19,354 municipalities in the USA. So there would be that many Deep Track stations? The problem I see is there isn't enough radio stations to make this work.
Thanks AMradiolegend for showing us these interesting facts!
After all, you can't have more album rock stations then there are radio stations in the US now can you!
Are you saying I work for "Evil Corporate Radio"? The "Mom and Pop" (literally a husband and wife) who own the corporation I work for own three stations in the same town, two 100,000 watt FMs and one 5,000 watt AM (where I have hosted the morning show for the past 30 years). I am the chief engineer for all three.
We are locally owned, operated and programmed. Formats are A/C, Classic Rock, and on the AM heavy news and sports with oldies from about 1954 to 1979 (no disco, no hard classic rock).
Never realized we were "ECR"
TIB
Well, first you'd have to define "AOR". Then you'd have to define "city" and then you'd have to give the mayors council members control over these radio stations.
Many would argue that AOR and "deep tracks" are two different things.
TIB
My idea of a Mom and Pop station with Due Respect!!
Mom an Pop stations are usually one or two at the most and way less than 100KW The Glaucester, VA station WXGM on 99.1 is more Mom and Pop than that at 6kW 310 Ft in the air and they have an AM at 1420 is 740 Day and 58 Watts at night which is lucky to cover 18 miles from end to end. plus their AM Translator is barely readable in Deltaville, VA on a Tecsuc PL 380 at 20 miles away.
Most Mom And Pops can't afford a 100,000 station. Heck WAFX 106.9 a Classic Rock station in Suffolk is a corporate station and still covers an area from Elizbeth City, NC to Kilmarnock, VA and a bit further. They Are 100,000 Watts. They are 965 Ft up in the air.
Your station either was corporate at one time on a bankruptcy fire sale for cheap and you got it, or you and your Wife must be on a Rockefeller type income (it does happen if you got a major inheritance from someone Rich who willed you the money congrats).
But for 75% of the rest of America that is not what Mom and Pop stations are. Even a 6kW station is extraordinary for Mom and Pop. Mom and Pop stations are usually very low power as they want to cover a small town and the outskirts. They usually only don't care beyond that. Marshall Michigan had a Mom and Pop mono FM station in that town in the late 70s early 80's.
Lots of AOR stations in the 70s and 80s were on air. You may get them 15-20 miles max on a high end Radio like a Tecsun Radio.
I'm not asking for more AOR stations than all of the US Radio Stations. Don't forget you have HD2, HD3. Good to know.
Tongue in Cheek TIB. 🙂
There are plenty of 100kW mom and pops. 100kW doesn't mean a 100kW bill, as far as I know nobody runs a 100kW transmitter. More often than not the 100kW ERP is made up with antenna bays and height with stations running as low as 25kW. There are several Class C mom and pop stations in my area, some are C3 and C2. We happen to have a C2 with a 27.5kW transmitter with an ERP of 50kW. In Dallas a 100kW full blown Class C is fully family owned and has been since it signed on.
I'll have to share more "facts".
The AM I'm on was put on the air in 1948. It has been owned by regular private people since, in a town that is now 10,000 people.
The first FM purchased was in 1991. It had been on the air several years and was successful. The owners simply decided to move on to other things. It's a 100,000 watt station. The transmitter generates just over 20,000 watts. The 100,000 watts is ERP from the gain in the antenna. There are, to my knowledge, zero "100,000 watt" commercial FM stations in the USA that have transmitters that actually put out 100,000 watts. You do not need much more money to buy a transmitter that outputs 20,000 watts than one that puts out 10,000 watts. Which brings me to me next station...
The second FM was purchased not quite 3 years ago. Again, a station owned by area folks, who also owned TV stations in another market. They decided to get out of radio and focus on their TV stations and yes, this one was purchased for less than you'd pay for a new SUV. It too is 100,000 watts ERP, and we get there with 8,000 watts out of the transmitter, the rest created with gain in the antenna.
I could name plenty of individuals who own 100,000 watt stations within a 100 mile radius of me. Not to mention a long list of AM's that have been on the air for decades, all owned by local folks like you and me.
None of the three stations in the group I work for were ever owned by big corporations. Remember too that pretty much all stations are owned by a "corporation" even if it's a 1,000 watt AM owned by one cranky old guy. Smart business says you incorporate, or at the least form an LLC (also a corporation).
TIB
Tim, you make several good points which actually support my argument that many if not "most" of the Evil Corporations are actually Mom & Pop. So when others on this site whip up this feeding frenzy they need to see the facts. What I am curious about is how many Mom and Pop's own TV stations.
Singles Are a Minority
Mom and pop are a married couple and may own a few broadcast stations.
But how many stations are owned by single men and women?
I'm telling you there's a prejudice against the single and more of us deserve licenses.