Black Radio Today...listening has declined

...Black Radio Today 2011...uses Arbitron audience estimates to develop a...profile of radio listening among Black consumers...

About 94% of Black consumers listened to radio every week.

Black radio’s decline in Time Spent Listening continued.
...All formats were down year-to-year except Religious, which gained 15 minutes per week, while Adult Contemporary and All News held steady.

{I'm not surprised.  I greatly doubt that Black radio is serving their communities and providing all of the public service they could. - S!ick}

Listening by older Black men increased.
...men aged 35 or above have tuned in during weekday middays, afternoons and evenings.

Urban Adult Contemporary continued as America’s favorite format among Black listeners for the fifth straight year.

Gospel was a Time Spent Listening powerhouse.
Gospel enjoyed the longest Time Spent Listening rates of all formats targeting Black listeners. It was No. 2 only to Urban AC among those 12-24 and in various adult demos. Its TSL decreased just 15 minutes per week overall, but gained among 18-34s—the only music format to do so.

================================

to letters@ebony.com
date Fri, Mar 18, 2011 at 5:26 AM
response to an "Achieve" article

regarding:
April edition
page 68
"The Death of Black Radio?"

I have never worked for Cathy Hughes or Radio One.  I HAVE worked for radio stations formatted for Black audiences, that were Black-owned...and am very hesitant to again do so.

I once worked at WYCB in Washington, a gospel station, and to my great surprise found the most "two-faced Christians" I have ever met.  When KDKO in Denver was Black-owned, it was unnecessarily stressful with expectations of staff to genuflect to management.

Working for a Black-owned radio station in Milwaukee that was mass-appeal formatted, "Churban/Rythmic", I did not make a lot of money...but the owner, Willie Davis, and the rest of management (that were at All-Pro Broadcasting) were very kind to me.  I will again work for him/them if ever given the opportunity.  But based on what I have heard about Radio One from those who have been employed by them (and are) does not give me great desire to seek a position with that organization.

Black people in Black radio are killing it.  We've abandoned what made it great by mimicking the mistakes and weaknesses of large radio broadcasting corporations.  Of course it's a business, but it should also be "a calling".