By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

RADIO station owners are challenging the decision by regulators to seek two more FM broadcasters given that the market is already saturated with players “dumbing down” content and struggling to survive.

Wendell Jones, chief executive of Jones Communications, the Love 97 operator, told Tribune Business that the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) needs to focus its energies on other communications niches given that New Providence’s FM broadcast sector already has too many operators “who can’t keep the lights on”.

Speaking to the regulator’s decision to put two additional FM frequencies out to bid, Mr Jones said: “I think URCA needs to think carefully about that because the market has been saturated now for a long time, and the radio broadcast market is not what it used to be. “We have a very small population and a very small economy and it is, quite frankly, not in the national interest for URCA to issue more radio licences. In addition to that, you should not set people up to fail. There are many people who look at the broadcast industry and believe that it is very profitable, but the cost of operating today is far higher than it used to be.”

Mr Jones spoke out after Carlton Smith, URCA’s chief executive, told Tribune Business it was seeking to balance “competitive pressures” with facilitating new entrants in a “free market enterprise system” despite previous research having shown The Bahamas has more FM radio stations than New York city.

URCA has now removed the moratorium on new radio licences, which it imposed in March 2014, and is seeking bidders to operate stations using the 90.7 MHz or 105.7 MHz spectrum frequencies. However, research conducted for Tribune Radio Ltd suggested the FM radio broadcasting market is already unsustainable, with its 47 stations chasing 377,374 potential listeners - a total that equates to 8,029 listeners per station.

By contrast, New York’s 42 stations equate to 388,000 stations listener, while in Jamaica, Trinidad and Barbados - all of which have between five to 35 licencees - the average listeners per station range from 38,074 to 78,852.

Mr Jones, meanwhile, argued that “half” the radio stations operating now are “jukeboxes” and provide no educational value for Bahamian consumers, while many operate on a limited basis while not being able to keep their utilities running.

“What we had in the last two decades is the dumbing down in the broadcast industry with the issuance of new licences, and all URCA and the government is doing is assisting in that dumbing down,” he added.

Branding Mr Smith a “capable man” who has the “intellectual capacity” to do what he is doing, Mr Jones asserted: “There have been entities who have been given radio licences who have not been able to keep the stations on the air, and there are stations that are on the air sometimes.

“More than half of these radio licences are not providing a national service. You can count on your one hand the stations that are providing a national service.”

Galen Saunders, chief executive of Omni International Management Company, operator of More 94FM, agreed with Mr Jones that URCA should focus on other sectors as the radio industry is already over-saturated with competition.

He said: “I can understand them considering this after the country has rebounded from the economic turmoil, although I still would feel there’s too much in the market. I feel as though they should at least reconsider the current economic situation.”

Warning that the market is “extremely challenged with advertiser support” at the moment, Mr Saunders said: “I think URCA should give some attention to establishing some sort of structured scientific studies or surveys so that advertisers could better know how to spend their money.

“I respect URCA and what they do; they play a very important role in the development of this industry. I feel the same way about other sectors as well. The Bahamas has a very serious energy problem and there is one power company, I feel as though if there was another power company, it gives everyone a better opportunity.

“If there’s one power company, and over 20 radio stations in Nassau, there is some level of disparity there. There should be at least two power companies or three power companies that can provide service in this market to ensure that we get better service, better pricing, reduce costs and fuel prices and so forth.”