Abstract
While radio is America's most abundant medium, its content is characterized more by sameness than by diversity. Stations find it more profitable to duplicate mass appeal programming formats than to program to minority tastes. Such rational business decisions come at the expense of the listening audience which is given few formats from which to choose. The regulatory system, which speaks to the value of program diversity, has been unsuccessful in creating effective incentives to foster radio diversity. The article suggests a novel approach to radio regulation that combines economic incentives with new methods for identifying audience preferences such that a profit-maximizing radio industry would serve more tastes than are presently served.
Similar content being viewed by others
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
An earlier version of this paper was presented to the Mass Communication and Society Division of the Association for Education in Journalism, Boston, August 1980.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Jassem, H.C., Desmond, R.J. & Glasser, T.L. Pluralistic programming and radio diversity: a review and a proposal. Policy Sci 14, 347–364 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00137396
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00137396