No ‘Business’ in Radio Show

One of the few business radio programs to survive and prosper is broadcast on non-commercial radio.

American Public Radio’s “Marketplace,” a daily half-hour program on 134 public radio stations, claims an audience of about 1.6 million listeners a week. Launched in January, 1989, the program is produced at USC’s KUSC-FM radio station, with funding from General Electric, USC and public radio stations.

Jim Russell, executive producer of “Marketplace,” says the program’s success is due to its purposeful avoidance of the business community--the common target of most business radio.

“This program is not for business junkies,” Russell says, noting that he had to fight just to keep the word business out of its title. “We appeal to a general, well-educated, hip audience like other public radio programs.” Most business radio, he says, is thick with colorless stock market reports and company earnings statements.

“Radio is a lousy way to deliver numbers,” Russell says. “You can’t cover a complicated subject by doing an endless string of question-and-answers over the telephone with a stockbroker.”