WRVU station manager sees conglomeration as important issue.
Eric Klinenberg, a sociology professor that has studied media consolidation in Nashville and all over the country, will speak at the Vanderbilt Law School Monday.
The lecture, entitled “Fighting the Air: The Battle to Control America’s Media,” will reflect Klinenberg’s research on those affected by media consolidation, from newsroom editors to disc jockeys and programming directors. Using the data and economic information he has gathered, Klinenberg plans to publish a book of the same title.
The lecture, which begins at 5 p.m., comes at a critical time in the future of Nashville media, as the Federal Communications Commission recently held hearings in Nashville to research how media consolidation has affected local radio stations, songwriters and newspapers.
“There is a lot of consolidation going on in the industry as a whole and buying of companies in the major markets, and Nashville is a large market,” said Roshay Reddy, general manager of WRVU, Vanderbilt’s non-profit radio station.
Reddy identified the costs and benefits of media consolidation from a radio station’s perspective.
“The advantages are that you are going to have large corporate money and attract more sponsors, and that’s going to help open up new windows like financing new projects and music,” Reddy said.
“The disadvantages are that you begin to lose the identity of the station. I am in charge of a non-profit radio station, and the corporate sponsors of profit radio stations begin to decide the identity of the radio station.”
Because WRVU is non-profit, Reddy said no one makes demands on or regulates the station, other than the FCC.
However, Reddy said that there’s not much that can be done to stop media consolidation at this point.
“You want to preserve free-form radio, but I don’t think it’s going anywhere,” Reddy said. “I can’t fault the corporations for consolidating markets. If the FCC allows it I’m willing to go along with it.”
The Klinenberg event is free and followed by a reception.
