Jax & CC 2 Years Later

[John FL]

Today marks a sad two year anniversary for the dismissal of the entire on-air team of the former Magic 107.3 (WJGH) in Jacksonville. For a good number of years, I’ve talked of the role of talent and often asked the question is talent regarded as an asset or a liability? I’ve honestly tried to make sense of it all but the Jacksonville radio market continues to perplex me. Perhaps it does many of you as well because participation on radio boards for anything Jacksonville is at an all-time low.

Interestingly and timely, I heard an interview featuring Valerie Geller. I’ve only become familiar with her work over the past several months. We follow each other on Twitter and I find her very interesting. What she talks about, I’ve been speaking to for years on these boards often to no avail and being pretty much ignored. She, however, has the credentials.

For those who may not know, Ms. Geller is a broadcast consultant, talent coach, trainer, and seminar leader working with top personalities, news, talk, and information training communicators in many countries to grow audience. She talks of creating powerful radio methods to help broadcasters become more effective storytellers and communicators. Bingo.

In a world where there is so much competition to radio, instant engagement is a must. Typical listeners have limited attention spans. They have so many “toys” at their fingertips and this is part of competition. Jacksonville may be in a place where expenses are cut to the bone satisfying a part of a business model but are listeners really engaged? That should matter for the long run.

As many of you know, I travel to South Florida quite often. I find that radio market very engaging because personality still exists and there is a very high energy level among a number of stations. There are long-term personalities among stations in various dayparts as well. It’s more of that extended family stuff I’m very high on. I've always believed radio is best and can differentiate itself when it is a personal medium. It's great to see I'm not alone in that view.

Just north of South Florida is an area known as the Treasure Coast. There is an oldies station in that market that is owned and operated by Clear Channel. During this last trip, I came to realize even before hearing Valerie Geller that listener engagement is very important. Given the company’s incredible debt, cost-saving is a major part of their operation. Actually, I can understand and appreciate that. However, quality should never be compromised. Listeners also respond to what they perceive as good. There are tons of choices. Operating on the cheap and not offering a really good product don't make business sense to me and apparently others in the know as well. There are connections to Jax I'd like to make in the next post. After all it is about connections - yes - listener connections!

 

[John FL]

Voice tracking. It’s all about the bottom line. I’ve witnessed some that is quite good. Relevant, witty, engaging and even timely all masterfully done in seconds. 2 years ago in Jax, with Magic’s air team gone the station became a full time Premium Choice station. Localism was gone and Jacksonville witnessed generic presentation in the true sense of the word. With diminished talent pools, one would think the cream of the crop would rise to the top and be phenomenal in their presentation. Right?

In some respects it was like déjà vu to me in my recent trek back to Jax. The “Magic” in Miami/Ft. Lauderdale has some of the same vibe and excitement and localism that Jax’s Magic 107.3 had. By time I get to the Treasure Coast, Oldies 103.7 is a generic, going through the motions, not engaging at all kind of station. I recognize one of the jocks as having been on Jax’s Magic. I guess Premium Choice offers both a classic hits format as Magic 107.3 was and a more traditional oldies format for Oldies 103.7.

In the scheme of things, live and local is best from the kind of on-air excitement it brings. We hear local isn’t important, this doesn’t matter, that no longer matters. What the hell does matter? Sadly, this has been discussed to death and I’m very much outnumbered in my view because of the challenges to revenue and live talent is considered too expensive. I continue to ask where is the incentive to continue to listen if the product is bland, generic and doesn’t engage the listener at virtually every level? It’s obvious though when something major happens and it always does, impact is lost.

Valerie Geller talks a good deal about presenter/broadcaster “prep” and the importance of thinking about everything said. Listeners don’t like anything artificial, or forced checklist talking points sounding. One of the bright spots to Magic 107.3 was the talent overall. There was effort and there was prep. I can cherry pick some things that didn’t come off quite well but time would have fine-tuned things further. When Magic 107.3 had the talent in place, the station only lasted one year. The overwhelming consensus has always been that was a ridiculously little amount of time to kill a format.

And so two years later, where are we? The market has seen lots of changes and there is incredible sameness given there is a good deal of super serving some formats and completely bypassing others. Today 107.3 is considered an Adult Hits format. It’s automated and it’s cheap to run. It’s lifeless and boring but as long as metered participants tune in some minutes here and there; they get some numbers and I guess that’s all that matters.

It’s not the best fit for that signal but maybe in time things will change. While in South Florida I heard a barrage of TV spots promoting their CHR station given they face new competition. My understanding is CC uses that commercial in other markets too. I haven’t heard it in Jax but it wouldn’t surprise me because spots cost $$$.

For a long time I always believed either a CHR/Modern AC/Hot AC as in a “KISS” type brand would have been better served at 107.3. I always saw Magic as belonging on 97.9. A sister station combo of an ACish station and a Greatest Hits station would have been good strategy for them and I’ve discussed all those reasons in the past. But that did not happen. It was all about the cents and not the sense.

Finally, I do understand the pressures for revenue don't always result in the best decisions for listeners and the market in general. Jacksonville once had a good radio reputation. Where the market is today didn't happen overnight and certainly CC isn't the only one at fault. Still, it’s not the listeners’ fault that a major player is up to their eyeballs in debt. All they want is to hear something good among a number of stations they listen to. Are they getting that now? Do they feel engaged? Is there creative and innovative, exciting, personality radio in Jax? You decide.

 

[TheBigA]

Voice tracking. It’s all about the bottom line.

Actually it isn't. Have you ever acted in film? Have you ever done TV? Have you ever been a voice talent for commercials? It's all done in parts. They stopped doing movies in real time in the 1930s. Used to be that DJs read spots live on the air. They don't do commercials in real time. They don't make records in real time. In fact, most media that we see or hear isn't done in real time. The biggest trend in TV watching is DVR-ing a show and watching it on the weekend. So in pretty much every form of media, you have assembly line production of content. EXCEPT for radio. For some reason, those who are familiar with old style, real time radio believe it's the ONLY way to do it. I'm here to tell you it's not.

What really caused this change in radio? Historically it goes back to a very simple thing: The segue. Before the segue, the DJ spoke between every song. Typically he also played a commercial or two. But by the 70s, DJs on FM radio started doing something they had never done before, and that was play two songs back to back with NO interruption. HORRORS! How could you do that? The listeners would be confused. They'd tune out. But they didn't. In fact, as the 70s went on, they realized that if you grouped two or three songs together, listenership actually went UP! Amazing. So then what does the DJ do? Well originally the DJ was the one who actually DID the segue. But by the 80s, most of the segues were done by automation. And the discs (the first word in the name DJ) were going away. So there wasn't much for the DJ to do but listen to the music. Not a very exciting job. One jock explained it to me once by saying he spends his time waiting for the song to end so he can do his thing. So voice-tracking came along to allow the DJ to do his thing without waiting for the song to end. Why not? The technology was already handling all the music and spots. Why not incorporate the voice too? In fact, fully automated stations had been doing this since the 60s. Most of them NEVER had a live voice. Even the local news and weather was on CART. It had to be. That's how everything got played. It wasn't about the bottom line. It was about quality. Quality is why movies aren't done in real time. Quality is why almost all dialogue you hear in movies is post-dubbed. Quality is why records are made with overdubs. Quality is why commercials are pre-recorded. And quality is one reason why radio stations voice-track shifts. They could easily hire some college kid for minimum wage. But why put some inexperienced kid on the air when you have an experienced announcer who just wants to spend his nights with his family? What's so wrong about that? Is it less engaging? Depends on the talent. But if an actor can make a movie without a live audience in front of him, and a recording artist can make a record without an audience, then it stands to reason that a voice talent can be engaging and entertaining without being live on the air. That's just one man's opinion, as someone who long ago got tired of waiting for the song to end.

 

[John FL]

BigA, I appreciate your response. I’ll go a step further to add I enjoyed the “tone” of your argument. The radio boards have in large part turned into something that is not productive when disagreement exists between radio professionals and enthusiastic, atypical listeners. I’ve endeavored to consider the opinions of people who have a successful track record in radio. Most of my opinions have come through simple observation and research as to what does and does not work. They have served me well, especially at local levels.

As someone who has been around the block a few times, I’ve witnessed the changes in radio you mention, especially along the role of talent lines. Where I used to enjoy hearing scoped airchecks of legendary AM jocks of the past, I find a lot of it is forced and annoying. Times and tastes change. I have never advocated a return to that sort of thing.

Quality is key. You get no argument from me. I will also add commitment is invaluable as well in that success is harder to achieve if the players are not all moving in the same direction. Quality is one of many attributes in a chain. There are owners/senior management, local management, programmers, presenters, sales associates, promotions & marketing, engineering and even the lobby and receptionist. One or more things regarded as a weak link for being either mediocre in job performance and/or lacking in commitment and no one should be surprised of the outcome.

As the subject is Clear Channel, I often wonder where accountability comes into play given the complexity and size of the company. The impression I get is coaching and mentoring are lacking. Firing people, flipping formats and pissing off listeners and sponsors don’t help the company in the credibility department IMO especially if this sort of thing could have been prevented. I will admit, it is very difficult to prove my points at a company-wide level but I will make my argument at the local level in another post.

Listeners and I will include myself here have no idea what goes on beyond the scenes at a radio station and at the company. Most of our likes and dislikes regarding a station/format come from what we hear over the speakers and the quality of that experience.
I am not adverse to voice tracking provided it brings value to the station and does not insult the intelligence of listeners. I maintain that it is economics that see its use in certain dayparts and especially on weekends.

Where does coaching and mentoring come in? Does management really listen to their product? I’d like to address these things and the links in the chain in another post at a local level as it pertains to Clear Channel Jacksonville and the former Magic 107.3.

 

[TheBigA]

Where does coaching and mentoring come in? Does management really listen to their product?

With regards to CC, I can't speak to it directly since I don't work there. But I know people who do. I also know people at all the other major companies. What I notice is that the CEOs tend to get the news coverage. But there are lots of other management people involved specifically in content decisions in terms of talent, music decisions, imaging, and everything else. Those decisions aren't made for budgetary reasons, but programming reasons. I often read of CC's huge debt, but I've also read that they really haven't made any payments on lowering it. So the common view that people are being cut to pay down the debt seems to be unfounded. The fact is that ALL costs in running a radio station have gone up, especially insurance and utilities. With revenues holding steady, those increased costs have to be paid for somehow.

It's been my experience that mentoring is a personal thing. Some times it's best to be mentored by someone outside your company. Another issue is the kind of employment relationship a person has with the company. Not everyone who works on air at a station is a straight employee. Some are contract employees who are seen as service providers. There are lots of reasons why some talent want to be an outside contractor. Contract employees have a different relationship to the company, so mentoring is probably not going to happen. Then again, people at that level of experience might feel mentoring is beyond them.

Back when I started out, I was warned that broadcasting is not for someone looking for consistency or permanence. Then again, there are very few places one can go for that. Somehow I've managed to last. It takes patience and compromise on both sides. The key thing I'd say about the changes in on-air talent is that regardless of where the talent is based, how the talent does the job, or what formats the talent is involved with, all of the radio companies are using talent. There are jobs available, and they pay pretty well. I know of a few colleges that are actually teaching the skills necessary to do voice-tracking and music scheduling using current software. They're also teaching students the importance of using social media to engage directly with listeners in ways that on-air can't.

I also know that formats need to change as audiences age and musical tastes change. It's just a matter of time. There are lots of popular formats and genres from the past that have disappeared from all radio. I read in another thread that Sirius has just dropped the 40s on 4 channel. So no more 40s music. Lots of upset paid subscribers, and not all of them are senior citizens. Smooth Jazz went away a few years ago. It's harder to find classic country and oldies. Soft rock is being replaced in a lot of markets. The situation is simple: Only a few radio stations per city, and they need to have formats that will attract the most people. If a heritage format is seen as weak or ineffective, it's going to get changed. That's the way the game is played.

So I've tried to give a broader picture of why these changes get made. It's not always about strictly saving money, but doing better radio, and providing better sales packages for advertisers. Advertisers want to reach the most people at the lowest cost. Sometimes that means selling a national package that uses the same talent in lots of towns. Sometimes that can mean multiple platforms using a combined radio-tv-internet-local event package in just one city. It depends on the resources available, and the potential advertising in a particular town. All of these things are factors in the decisions being made.

 

[John FL]

TheBigA, you’re analysis has given me lots of food for thought. You painted a broad picture and this subject is actually very complex. In your closing you talked of doing better radio and providing better sales packages for advertisers and sometimes that means selling a national package. The operative word is “better” and there we agree.

I’m all for that better product. However, on-air content speaks volumes. Coaching and mentoring are important management tools. However, even outside of radio, new challenges have emerged given face-to-face time is not always possible or even practical. (Virtual Office, working from home, contractual etc.)

If you look at successful Greatest Hits formats across the country, the one thing that stands out to me is they are programmed to be a soundtrack of the community served. In addition, competition in that market is considered when fine tuning the playlist and of course the station has to complement and not compete against sister stations in the cluster.

A decision was made to offer Premium Choice 10PM to 6AM weekdays and strangely every other weekend. Perhaps this was a corporate decision that this service needed to be utilized. I don’t know. A long time ago I learned successful radio stations have a consistency in sound. Listeners pull it in like a security blanket. Premium Choice and the presenters had a different vibe (more rock lean) than what Magic 107.3 had and in my opinion more than the market could support. If you add the various changes the station continuously made as well, listeners I’m certain weren’t exactly sure what they were getting and so momentum opportunity was lost.

There are a number of CC presenters who voice track for a number of stations. That’s how it started middays at Magic. I actually knew the midday guy and believed he was a good fit. Here is a specific case where I believe coaching and mentoring could have improved overall performance and listener perceptions as well.

A few years ago, Jacksonville experienced extremely smoky conditions as a result of brush fires all around the area. Locally, it was big news. AM drive and PM drive (local talent) discussed the situation at length and had interaction with listeners who shared stories of chocking, not being able to see driving, school closings etc. Middays – there was not a mention. I consider that a “disconnect” and opportunity lost. It’s not enough to put a radio station out of business but in building powerful and successful radio, managing content and establishing expectations are critical.

Micromanaging is not the answer. However, informing VT talent of a big, local news story that requires mentions (even if by email) adds credibility to the station and will probably solidify local appeal. Coaching and mentoring and development of the team are clearly in job responsibilities of the PD or should certainly be. I also believe the talent should be self-starters as well. It takes seconds to pull up an internet page featuring local news. It’s all about credibility. A presenter should know a little something about the community to include how to correctly pronounce towns, streets, local “celebrity” names etc. Credibility is a helluva thing to lose.

Coaching and mentoring in big organizations such as Clear Channel is challenging. I worked in a large corp and sometimes we got mixed messages. Job descriptions along the food chain and especially at the regional and local level probably list this as metric of some kind. The fact is some simply perform better at it than others. Earlier I talked about not really knowing what goes on behind the scenes. My perceptions come from what I hear over the speaker. Content and quality go hand-in-hand and the right leader/mentor/coach can make a huge, positive difference in my book. More to come, I'm sure.

 

[John FL]

I’d like to offer some more support to this subject. I’ve talked of observations and TheBigA has talked of formats that sell among the many things he discussed. I fully understand radio is in the business to make money. Cutting expenses is not unique to radio either. But I’d really like to get into accountability and the importance of commitment and how quality can make a difference and where coaching & mentoring is the job of just about everyone.

Earlier, I talked of Premium Choice being utilized part of the time. Aside from the issues I laid out regarding inconsistency in sound, there were also music scheduling problems. A number of times some of the same songs that were featured in PC programming aired either in the hour after or before PC started/ended. That is unacceptable. This is not quality. Someone is responsible. Was anyone looking at the music logs? Music is the bread and butter of a station. Here was a perfect coaching opportunity. That issue continued so I doubt that was addressed. Listener perceptions had to be negatively impacted.

I had occasion to visit Clear Channel Jax a number of times. In the lobby, there wasn’t a bloody picture, a logo, not even a bumper sticker promoting the Magic brand. Why was that? Who was responsible? Twice, I noticed a receptionist wear a former brand (Planet 107.3) jacket. How many employees saw that? No one thought that was inappropriate? No one said anything? In my banking career, we went through great lengths protecting the brand. When mergers took place we had to destroy all evidence of the past brand.

What does this say to a perspective client? It tells me if the company doesn’t seem too gung-ho over the brand, well maybe I should not be either. What does this say to the sales team? Billing is life itself for a radio station. If they perceive management isn’t too hot on the format, why would we expect them to be any different?

You see folks, there can be music testing and a creative playlist created. There can be a programming hole in the market. There can even be a lot of good, creative local talent in place. But if that chain has weak links to include indifference it all unravels in my view. It takes an entire village from senior management all the way down to a receptionist to be on board being coached and actively mentoring others even if not in the job description. I believe economics was at play all along. Kill salaries and the cluster performance improves. What listeners want - doesn't really matter.

I’ve said what has been on my mind. Perhaps what I observed in CC Jax is not representative of how the company operates. Do we learn anything from all of this? I honestly don’t know. Formats come and go all the time. I still wonder how many could have been saved provided a little TLC, correcting mistakes timely and all working together as a team driven to succeed would have been the norm. As I’ve said these are just my perceptions. TheBigA has explained the business side of radio very well. Consider my comments from a listener’s perspective.

 

[John FL]

It should be obvious two years has not been sufficient time for me to release my anger and frustration as to what happened. My entire career was one of working in corporate America like a Clear Channel and for close to 30 years, I worked for one of the biggest banks in the country. There are pluses and minuses in working for large corporations and I would bet most CC employees feel as I do.

We probably all have that favorite boss or company or even time in our lives where we were the happiest in our careers. It probably had little to do with getting a free pass but rather being challenged and also being valued. Mentoring and coaching helped me tremendously. I was at my best and my team was at their best too when I invested time and effort in developing them to exceed expectations. The company benefits with that type of culture as well. A lot has to do with core values of that company.

Two years later and I can only hope dysfunction and unprofessional behavior have been shown the door at CC Jax. Shortly after the Magic team was fired, an email was sent regarding the former Greatest Hits format to various CC employees by a member of management. It was offensive, derogatory and insensitive. A number of people let me know about it. That is not only unprofessional and mean-spirited but it has no place coming from a “leader.” To me, it represented brutal honesty of opinion. What resulted should not surprise.

The right management holds the keys to the kingdom. A long time poster on this board once said something to the effect “The station can’t be better than the management.” True.

It’s a shame things happened as they did. Given the nature of radio, former CC Jax management teams are gone. They get on with their lives and their careers but they leave a mess behind. The new guy comes in. His hands are clean. And so it goes but I grow more cynical by the day.

Finally, I’d like to say it’s great seeing radio consultants such as Valerie Geller gain notoriety for recognizing the importance of those presenters/broadcasters and for advocating the practicality of mentoring and coaching and ultimately managing content to help deliver powerful radio. It would be great if Jacksonville took this direction.

Around the time of the Beatles 50th anniversary celebrations, I was in South Florida. The local classic hits station, Magic 102.7 literally went Beatles intensive for weeks. One morning, the entire show waxed Beatles nostalgic featuring Ed Sullivan air clips, concerts, songs, old interviews and plenty of interaction with callers. Interestingly some of these people talked of their kids and even grand kids who are Beatles fans. The Fab 4 remain a phenomenon popular among generations. I had opportunities to listen to a number of CBS Radio stations via streaming as well and there certainly was on-air excitement. Powerful radio because the presenters helped make it so.

During that time, I also wondered if Jacksonville radio was doing anything in recognition of this extraordinary accomplishment. I doubt it because the format doesn’t exist in Jax. Looking back, it’s just a shame things happened as they did. Honestly, I believe Jacksonville lost a truly great station, even dispute some of the flaws because most were correctable.

Radio execs will talk of revenue and formats that may work elsewhere but not necessarily here. There’s truth to that but I also maintain when commitment, professionalism and the proper skill sets are at work, opportunities for success rise as well. Two years later and counting. It doesn’t look promising to see classic hits/greatest hits return to Jax and everyday I hope I am proven wrong. I’ll always believe it didn’t have to be this way. In my heart, I believe I made the case without fabrication or even generality. I appreciate this opportunity to speak my mind! Thanks for listening.