Broadcasters migrating to news talk on FM dial, radio companies say

News talk stations are starting to fill a need on the FM dial and are now leading radio markets in North America and globally, Paul Tietolman, managing partner of radio company Tietolman Tetrault Pancholy Media, said. “A newscast cannot amplify a complete story,” Tietolman said in a phone interview. “If you want to play up the personalities that are making the headlines, who are in the middle of the whole story, you have to go several steps further.” Tietolman said a younger demographic is listening to radio for local information about how news and events will affect their needs, lifestyles, and responsibilities. “That’s where talk and information radio comes in, and increases in popularity and increases purely because there’s a need for it,” he said. Prabha Selvadurai, CEO of WorldBand Media Inc., a Toronto broadcasting company that has applied to the CRTC for a news talk FM station, said in a phone interview that radio companies across the globe are moving their AM news talk stations to FM. “In the U.S., what they are doing is they are reacting to the market reality and converting their underperforming music stations into a news talk format,” he said, citing research conducted by the company. “In France, 54 per cent of the FM listenership is a news talk format ... it’s happening around the globe.” Selvadurai said a younger 18-to-54-year-old demographic is pushing news talk content on FM because it is accustomed to a better sound quality, which FM provides. The CRTC has received applications from more than 20 companies or groups seeking a single available licence to operate on Toronto’s 88.1 FM radio frequency. The applicants, who have proposed music and spoken word stations, were heard at a hearing in May. WorldBand Media has applied to operate a Greater Toronto Area news station called Touch 88.1 FM. Selvadurai said in an email to The Wire Report that, according to research by polling firm Ipsos Reid, the 18 to 54 age demographic represents 52 per cent of the Toronto population, “who claimed to have no or poor service by existing radio station with respect to local news/talk.” According to the CRTC’s Communications Monitoring Report, there were 35 private sector news talk stations in Canada in 2011, holding 11.2 per cent of radio tuning shares. CBC Radio One, CBC/Radio-Canada’s news talk radio network, also held 11.2 per cent of radio tuning shares, the CRTC data said. In the French-language market, the CRTC data said, news talk stations held 7.9 per cent of radio tuning shares. The CRTC said last week it has given CBC/Radio-Canada permission to move its Edmonton French-language La Première Chaîne radio station from the AM dial to FM. Cogeco Inc. subsidiary Cogeco Diffusion said June 20 it will also change the format of three of its FM stations, CKOY-FM 107.7 in Sherbrooke, Que., CKOF-FM 104.7 in Gatineau, and CKOB-FM 106.9 in Trois Rivières, from music and talk stations to news talk. “We believe that these talk-format stations will become a genuine alternative to those currently existing,” Richard Lachance, senior vice-president of Cogeco Diffusion, said in a statement. Cogeco said the format shift comes amid “growing enthusiasm” for talk radio in the province of Quebec. “Cogeco Diffusion believes that by delivering more information, opinion and commentary, those stations will be better to meet the needs of the communities they serve,” the company said. David Bray, a radio industry expert and president of Bray and Partners Communications, said in a phone interview that the growth of news talk stations onto the FM frequency is happening slowly as companies explore it. He said station operators are drawn to news talk programming to fill a “format hole” on the FM dial. Canada is in its infancy in terms of putting news talk stations on FM “but it still looks very positive,” he said. News stations are more expensive to run because broadcasters must operate newsrooms, Bray said, but they are attractive to advertisers for their “foreground tuning,” or their ability to command listener attention. That contrasts with music stations, which can play in the background without listener attention. Tietolman, whose company has applied to use the 88.1 frequency for a station called Toronto's New Talk, said news talk stations are also more attractive to broadcasters as the CRTC seeks to increase the diversity on Canada’s airwaves. Broadcasters have a responsibility to serve listeners with more choices, he said. “I think the CRTC also wants to hear and see more diversity of voices, and more choices for the listeners,” Tietolman said. Tietolman said the news talk radio format is growing. “If we look at the trends in Canada alone, I would say that music radio listenership is down about 10 points over eight years ago and talk/information radio has moved up eight per cent of the total listenership,” he said. Tietolman said the news talk trend on FM is happening in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, where at least one or two of the top three FM stations are in the news talk format. “Most of them do very well in terms of market share,” he said. dgrenier@thewirereport.ca

Broadcasters migrating to news talk on FM dial, radio companies say

Broadcast | June 25, 2012

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Broadcasters migrating to news talk on FM dial, radio companies say

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