from Think Progress
cross posted at Think Progress.org

The Center for American Progress and Free Press released the first-of-its-kind statistical analysis of the political make-up of talk radio in the United States this past June. It confirms that talk radio, one of the most widely used media formats in America, is dominated almost exclusively by conservatives.

The new report - entitled “The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio” - raises serious questions about whether the companies licensed to broadcast over the public radio airwaves are serving the listening needs of all Americans.

While progressive talk is making inroads on commercial stations, right-wing talk reigns supreme on America’s airwaves. Some key findings:

- In the spring of 2007, of the 257 news/talk stations owned by the top five commercial station owners, 91 percent of the total weekday talk radio programming was conservative, and only 9 percent was progressive.

- Each weekday, 2,570 hours and 15 minutes of conservative talk are broadcast on these stations compared to 254 hours of progressive talk - 10 times as much conservative talk as progressive talk.

- 76 percent of the news/talk programming in the top 10 radio markets is conservative, while 24 percent is progressive.

Below is a map of the United States showing the differences in ownership of conservative talkers vs. progressive talk radio.

As a former radio broadcaster, now hosting Blue Herald’s weekly podcast “Blue Herald Radio”, my commentary on this issue is to look at where radio has gone since President Reagan initiated the demise of the “Fairness Doctrine” and began the deregulating of radio. It’s the huge radio conglomerates such as Infinity Broadcasting and Clear Channel that dictate most of the high numbers of political right-wing talk stations.

While I applaud the F.C.C. (but light “golf” applause) for finally opening up some “low power” frequencies, it is, by far, not enough. To think that a message can get heard on a 100 watt radio station that can be heard for an approximate radius of three miles is laughable. Also the fact that these new low power stations are non-commercial is a real sticking point with me. Do you have any idea what it costs to start a radio station from scratch? Even one of these 100 watt “low power” stations takes a location for the studios, equipment, a transmitter site, monthly overhead, and you can’t expect people to work for free.