The Nashville, TN Radio Market

I live in White House, TN, a small town around 20 miles north of Nashville, TN. While White House is not large enough to have a major radio station, our nearby major city of Nashville ensures that a large number of stations come in loud and clear to our radios.

This website provides a comprehensive profile of ratings of Nashville stations:

http://ratings.radio-online.com/cgi-bin/rol.exe/arb073

Analyzing the list, several trends emerge. While over a dozen different companies own at least one radio station, the top 10 radio stations (which control around 65 percent of the market) are all owned by one of three companies: Midwest Communications, iHeartMedia, and Cumulus Media. In addition to the top 10, iHeartMedia and Cumulus Media each own one station outside the top 10. This means that these three companies, between them, control around 70 percent of the market. Pick ten random people listening to radio in the Nashville area, and seven are on a Midwest Communications, iHeartMedia, or Cumulus Media station. 

You can find a fairly diverse range on Nashville radio. The most popular songs are there, but you can also get talk radio, classical, gospel, news, and public radio. Not surprisingly, a few genres control most of the market. 3 of the top 10 stations are country music, not surprising given Nashville's status as a country music center. 2, including the number-one rated Mix 92.9, play adult contemporary music. One each play hip-hop/R&B, sports, classic rock, oldies, and contemporary hits. 

The diversity of broadcast radio is trounced by that of satellite radio, and I can tell you this from personal experience. Satellite radio is easily accessible; many cars come with it, and aftermarket receivers are easily available. I have found stations dedicated to music from just one decade (every decade from 1950s-2000s), stations dedicated to comedy, news from a specific view point, and even stations dedicated to music from just one artist. The downside is that it costs a monthly fee.