ftm Radio Page - week ending June 24, 2022

Suffering alternative broadcaster cuts costs and people
en masse

For nearly a generation broadcast technology advocates have preached to operators about the cost savings from the latest and greatest gizmos. Understood by all, yet left unsaid in polite company, DJs are expendable. Many broadcasters have pushed forward and limited the spoken word - not to forget jokes - to pre-recorded and easily recyclable bits. Listeners en masse reacted by simply opting for Spotify.

Swiss local radio station GRRIF is firing the DJs, said an announcement, quoted by public broadcaster RSR (June 23). GRRIF operates from in the French-speaking region. It celebrated 10 years on the air in March. Contracts for the three show hosts will expire at the end of December, Swiss labor laws being quite blunt. “We will try to offer alternative jobs within the group,” said owner BNJ Suisse co-director Matthieu Aubert.

Though no other company official or station staff member would be quoted, daily newspaper Le Temps suggested collapsed ad revenues stemming from Covid-19 lockdowns were behind the decision. BNJ Suisse operates three other local stations in the non-metropolitan parts of French-speaking Switzerland. GRRIF was something of a standout offering alternative music and programming for younger listeners.

GRRIF operates on FM from Delemont augmented by broad regional DAB+ distribution. The station must comply with legally mandated 30 minutes per day of local news. Media regulator OFCOM/BAKOM said it would issue a statement on the on-air changes by autumn. In 2024 OFCOM/BAKOM will decide whether or not to shutdown FM broadcasting in Switzerland.

Local radio station to change owner; politicians, loyal listeners and staff howl
conspiracy theories live

Media businesses periodically change ownership. Sometimes an owner wants to cash-out and retire. Other times it’s an offer that can’t be refused. Consequences of these transactions can be disruptive, or not.

Big broadcasting company TelevisaUnivision is exiting 18 Spanish-language radio outlets in ten top US markets to Latino Media Network, a newly formed company. The transaction was announced in early June. Two Miami, Florida radio stations are part of a proposed ownership change, WAQI, known as Radio Mambi, and WQBA. Approval from US regulator Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is required.

Both Miami stations have been on the air for decades; recently Spanish-language talk radio. Miami is a large US radio market, ranking 12th when combined with adjacent Ft. Lauderdale, and home to many Spanish-language radio stations. Miami is considered, by some, as the capital of Latin America due to the dominant share of those of Hispanic heritage. This includes, obviously, Cuban-Americans, families of whom fled the island nation in the 1960’s.

The proposed ownership transfer in Miami, in particular, has sent the full-moon crowd howling. Radio Mambi spoke, literally and figuratively, to extremely right-wing Cuban-Americans who continue squealing about Fidel Castro, the Cuban revolutionary known for overthrowing right-wing dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959. As most of the old Cuban exiles have long faded away, talkshow hosts on the station turned their attention to other favorite right-wing conspiracy theories. (See more about disinformation here)

Fulfilling their mission to find a commie under every bed, Radio Mambi show hosts now have targeted Latino Media Network because many, not all, of its directors and partners have at one point of another participated in Democratic Party administrations. After the transaction was announced right-wing Florida governor Ron DeSantis, often suggested as a contender in the 2024 US presidential election, bought a slew of ads on Radio Mambi ranting about “fighting against socialism in America.”

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Recently added radio audience figures and resources

• France - Greater Paris Radio Audience (April 2022)
  national and local channels, market share, trend
• France - National Radio Audience (January-March 2022, published April 2022)
  national channels, sectors, market share, reach/TSL
• France - National Radio Audience (November-December 2021, published January 2022)
  national channels, sectors, market share, reach/TSL
• France - National Radio Summer Audience (September 2021)
  national channels, summer period 2016-2021 trend
• Spain - National Radio Audience (July 2021)
  national and regional channels, reach share, trend
• Romania - Radio Audience (May 2021)
  national and Bucharest surveys, market share, trend
• Belgium - Flemish region, Radio Audience (April 2021)
  market share, Jan-Apr 2019 to Sep 2020-Feb 2021 trend
• Belgium - French region, Radio Audience (April 2021)
  market share, Jan-Apr 2019 to Sep 2020-Feb 2021 trend
• France - Greater Paris Radio Audience (April 2021)
  national and local channels, market share, trend
• Austria - Major Media - Radio Broadcasting (February 2021)
  public and private broadcasters, owners, management, audience trend

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