Was Commercial Radio's dismissal of Li Wei-ling just a business decision?

Commercial Radio has the right to hire and fire as it wishes, as long as it doesn't breach its licence conditions or employment laws and meets its shareholders' needs. The recent departure of host Li Wei-ling could easily be justified as a programming decision but has highlighted the need for regular industry-wide ratings and a redistribution of FM frequencies.

Businesses need to respond to customers' needs. In the case of a for-profit radio station such as Commercial Radio, its success is based on revenue exceeding expenditure. It is the antithesis of public service broadcasting on which RTHK is modelled. A public broadcaster must work to traverse social and linguistic barriers with a balanced and ingestible message.

A for-profit station targets a specific audience in the hope advertisers will buy time. It is not uncommon for listeners to avoid certain stations because there is too much "noise" or chatter.

As a business that sells air time, every second is for sale on Commercial Radio. It can sell ads, sponsorship of specific programmes and events and even the news and weather. Its management has the responsibility to ensure time is used effectively by constantly reviewing content.

This would involve audience research, programme planning and regular meetings with producers and presenters. Content such as music, commercials and news, and presenters, topics and guests, should be carefully selected to ensure they appeal to a channel's target audience.

One of the region's leading broadcasting companies, Southern Cross Austereo, complements regular ratings with direct listener feedback. The company uses smartphone apps to ask listeners to rank music and other content elements. It also uses social media and focus groups. Austereo's content directors are respected across the industry for being able to fine-tune stations to ensure a sound that matches the audience.