Radio news looked like an endangered species on commercial stations in 1987 when John Motavalli wrote about the effects of the Federal Communication commission's 1981 deregulation of the industry (see "Radio Daze: Tuning Out the News," CJR, November/December 1987).

Motavalli referred to a 1986 study by Vernon A. Stone, a professor of journalism at the University of Missouri, which estimated that 2,000 full-time radio news jobs had been lost -- replaced by 700 part-time positions -- in the previous year alone.

Now, a decade after deregulation, jobs continue to disappear. "Very simply put," says Frank Catalano, a former anchor for King Radio in Seattle, "as a broad-based medium [commercial radio news] is dead. What's really happening is the various body parts are still twitching."

Stone reports that between 1990 and 1992 more than 300 commercial stations dropped their news operations. "That means close to 900 stations" -- out of 6,600 commercial stations, a total that counts joint AM/FM operators as one -- "now have no news," he says. "Before deregulation, there were virtually no stations that did not carry news."

Network news is an alternative, although since advertising is down significantly, as it has been in other media, the networks too are laying off people. Tough economic times led the Westwood One network to cut staff sharply last August (a Westwood executive says by 15 percent; other sources say 30 percent), and CBS admits to some cuts as it shifts the production of some programs to subcontractors. ABC is rumored to be facing cuts, but network executives did not return phone calls.

Meanwhile, the networks face increasing competition. Unistar, for example, which distributes its own news broadcast as well as CNN radio material, saw its fortunes rise after intense listener demand for news during the gulf war. The most recent entry is Standard News network, started up last fall by Pat Robertson of the Christian Broadcasting Network. Standard is offering two distinct broadcasts -- one for secular stations, the other for Christian stations.

The decline of local news may be boosting demand for network feeds, but it could hurt network quality. In the past, networks could turn to an affiliate for reporting if a big story broke in the local station's area. Now the affiliate may have no news staff.

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