Chapter 7: Radio (30629.0K) - McGraw-Hill

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Media Probe Reality—What a Concept The biggest trend in international television for the last five years has been reality television—shows such as Survivor, American Idol, and Big Brother—and the company that’s responsible for many of them is the London-based FreemantleMedia, part of the huge Bertelsmann media conglomerate. Although Freemantle did not invent the reality format, the company was its leading promoter and is now raking in money from 263 shows in 37 countries. Like MTV, Freemantle learned that the key to international success was to find a concept with global appeal and tailor it to local tastes. For example, the dream of going from rags to riches seems to be a universal one and is behind Freemantle’s greatest success— American Idol, as it’s known in the United States. The “idol” concept began in Great Britain as the brainchild of Simon Fuller and Simon Cowell who envisioned a talent show but with built-in drama that lasted for weeks and finally ended with a nationwide election. The governmentchartered British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) wanted nothing to do with the show, but the commercial network ITV picked it up and called it Pop Idol. The program became the biggest phenomenon to hit Britain since the Beatles. Even with its success in Britain, the idol concept almost never made it to the United States. The ABC network refused it, and the Fox network was cool to it until the daughter of Rupert Murdoch, the boss of the company that owns Fox, told her father about the show’s huge popularity in the United Kingdom. Murdoch asked that Fox executives take another look. They did, and American Idol aired in 2002 and became a big hit in the United States. Freemantle conquered other countries as well. There’s Belgian Idool, Portugal Idolos, Deutschland Sucht den Super- Star in Germany, a Pan-Arabic SuperStar in the Middle East, and even SuperStar KZ in Kazakhstan. In all, the idol concept is in 30 countries, and income from the program boosted Freemantle’s revenues to more than a billion dollars in 2004. Freemantle’s promotional strategy is also notable. The local TV network spends the money promoting and creating a pop star, and then BMG, the music division of the Bertelsmann organization, signs the winner to a recording contract and takes in the resulting revenues. The debut album of Clay Aiken (American Idol, 2003) sold more than 2.5 million copies, generating about $40 million in income for BMG. In addition, much of the voting for idol contestants is done using text messaging. In some countries, Freemantle has worked out a deal to share the income with the local cell phone company from the huge number of messages generated by the program. What’s the next universal concept that Freemantle is betting on? It’s a program called How Clean is Your House? with two women who tackle the dirtiest cleaning jobs in the country. Naturally, Freemantle is working on a sponsorship deal with companies that manufacture household-cleaning products. The program has already identified its American target: college fraternity houses. On the set of CNN International. During its news broadcasts, CNN International links together anchorpersons from CNN bureaus all over the world. ■ The Economist, also based in London, carries financial news and analysis. Readily available in the United States, the weekly is printed in Virginia, London, and Singapore. It reaches about 800,000 readers. ■ The Wall Street Journal’s international editions reach about 1 million people, mainly in Europe, Asia, and South America. Other papers that enjoy international status are the New York Times, Le Monde (France), El País (Spain), The Times (Great Britain), The Statesman (India), and Al Ahram (Egypt). The international flow of news is dominated by global news agencies. Reuters, Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, and ITAR-TASS are the biggest, but in recent years more specialized news organizations, such as the New York Times Syndicate and the Los Angeles Times Syndicate, have also become important. As far as magazines are concerned, Reader’s Digest publishes more than 49 international editions that are distributed to about 19 million readers in nearly 200 countries. Time Warner, in addition to publishing the international edition of Time, which is distributed in about 190 countries, also publishes Asiaweek and a newsweekly in Chinese. The international edition of Newsweek reaches about a halfmillion readers. Hearst Maga- 396
Chapter 17 The Global Village: International and Comparative Media Systems 397 zines International oversees the distribution of eight major titles—including Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, and Redbook—in more than 100 countries. Cosmopolitan alone is sold in 41 countries, including Japan, Poland, and Russia. Smaller special-interest magazines are also growing internationally. A Spanishlanguage version of Popular Mechanics is sold throughout Latin America. Men’s Health publishes a British edition as well as one for South America (where it is called Hombre Saludable). Many business magazines, including Business Week and Fortune, also have significant foreign readership. >> Global Broadcasting About 150 countries engage in some form of international broadcasting. Many of these services are government run or at least government supervised. Others, like WRMI, Miami, are private operations supported by the sale of commercial time. In the past, international radio broadcasting was done exclusively in the shortwave part of the radio spectrum (see Chapter 7). Although it goes a long distance, shortwave radio is hard to pick up and prone to interference problems. In an attempt to improve technical quality, major international broadcasters have been striking partnerships with locally operated FM stations. The Voice of America, for instance, has a network of 400 local stations in Latin America that rebroadcast its signal. Further, many international radio services are available in digital form on the Web or carried by satellite. Listed here are the leading global broadcasters as of 2005: ■ The World Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has a worldwide reputation for accurate and impartial newscasts because, in theory at least, it is independent of government ownership. Along with its news, the BBC also carries an impressive lineup of music, drama, comedy, sports, and light features. The BBC pioneered the international radio call-in show in which prominent people, such as Prime Minister Tony Blair, answer calls from listeners around the globe. The BBC broadcasts 1,120 hours per week in 43 languages and has about 140 million worldwide listeners. ■ Voice of America (VOA), now in its fifth decade of operation, broadcasts 1,000 weekly hours of news, editorials, and features in more than 40 languages to an audience of about 100 million people, about half of them in Russia and Eastern Europe. The United States also operates Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty. With the end of the Cold War, however, the long-term future of these two services is in doubt. The VOA is part of the International Broadcasting Bureau, which also includes Radio Martí, a special AM service beamed at Cuba; its TV counterpart, TV Martí; and the Worldnet TV service. ■ Radio China International transmits about 1,400 hours of programming weekly in 43 foreign languages. Radio China International carried strident anti-American propaganda until the early 1970s, when improved relations led to a mellowing of its tone. Most of Radio China International’s programming consists of news, analysis, commentary, and cultural information about China. ■ Deutsche Welle (DW), “German Wave,” broadcasts about 1,000 hours per week in 30 languages. DW’s transmitters are located in Germany, Africa, and Asia. It has a large audience, particularly in Africa. ■ Radio France International (RFI) broadcasts more than 300 hours a week to 45 million listeners, many on the African continent, in 20 languages. RFI programming consists of a blend of music, news, commentary, and locally produced features. The biggest change in international broadcasting in recent years has been the proliferation of global news, sports, and music channels. The pioneer in this area was CNN, which now reaches millions of hotel rooms and numerous cable systems in Europe, Africa, and Asia. CNN International (CNNI), started in 1990, reaches more than 150 million homes in about 200 countries. CNN International has been regionalized into four networks: CNNI for Europe, Africa, and the Middle East; CNNI for Asia; CNNI for Latin America; and CNNI U.S. CNN International has also started broadcasting newscasts in several local languages as well as in English. CNBC offers 24-hour business news to 147 million
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Chapter 7: Radio (30629.0K) - McGraw-Hill

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