Staff meeting at 106.7 (5/5) Rumors of layoffs. I could post em here but I would rather hear it from you. Post what you know.
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Cuts at "Some" News 106.7?
- Thread starter fussbudget1
- Start date
Love the "Some" News 106.7 handle. This station is a complete joke, and waste of frequency. Boy, "The Kimmer" and Co. really lit things up, didn't they? News done right is an expensive operation. Cumulus should cut the losses, and move on. Pardon me as I state the obvious.
My sense is that money or staffing isn't the issue. Very similar situation in Houston.
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I didn't know you worked in Atlanta.
Well, if they let enough people go (which I do not wish this on anyone), it could be enough for All News 106.7 to flip back to Oldies. But even if they do that, the station is stuck with the Braves until the contract runs out in maybe 2017. Of course, the year of contract expiration is not official. I'm just making a guess. The worst nightmare would be if they flipped to all sports radio. When I tune in to AN106.7, sometimes on weekends when they do the sports segments, it's like they wish they could be a Sports Radio station, and it seems like they're hint-hinting that they're moving that direction. I just pray that they're misleading listeners like me into thinking this theory, and they either keep All News going or they flip back to Oldies. At this point, anything but Sports Radio would be fine. Yes, it would take some sports team PBP coverage load off of the Fan stations 680, 1230 The Fan 2, & 1340 The Fan 3, but mainly 680 The Fan (1). 1230 The Fan 2 & 1340 The Fan 3 don't coverage much sports team PBP coverage. They are mainly scheduling conflict resolution stations. We do not need another Sports Radio station on FM. Sportsradio 92.9 The Game is enough. That is all.
Since I am unable to confirm, let's put this thread to bed.
If there are staff cuts, it is probably because the station needs the money to pay for the new
Michael Graham program which starts next Monday. Is anyone REALLY surprised to see more
staff cuts? The management is very insecure about the so called "All News" format
Michael Graham program which starts next Monday. Is anyone REALLY surprised to see more
staff cuts? The management is very insecure about the so called "All News" format
If you had committed a couple years to a format, and it still wasn't attracting listeners, wouldn't YOU be "insecure?"
They hired a lot of experienced people from CNN Radio. For some reason, the people of Atlanta aren't rushing to listen to an all news station.
Sometimes, if you build it, they DON'T come. Then what do you do?
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For what it's worth, I've lived in the Atlanta area since 106.7 changed formats. I never saw anything that let me know that 106.7 was all news. If there were people here in Atlanta who wanted to listen to an all-news station, I be willing to guess that a lot of them didn't even know 106.7 was an option for them. If only one fourth of the people who wanted to listen to an all-news station didn't even know an all news station existed, that would mean a potential loss of one-quarter of what their ratings could have been.
If a radio station wants people to tune it in and listen to it, doesn't it make sense for them to do a better job of promoting it?
Now, I'll admit that maybe they did promote it, but they just didn't use any media that I pay attention to. But it seems to me that no matter what they did, the results indicate that they didn't do enough.
If a radio station wants people to tune it in and listen to it, doesn't it make sense for them to do a better job of promoting it?
Now, I'll admit that maybe they did promote it, but they just didn't use any media that I pay attention to. But it seems to me that no matter what they did, the results indicate that they didn't do enough.
Or maybe there just aren't enough people in Atlanta to support a 24/7 news radio station. Maybe they can get the news they need from other places.
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink.
Yes, they did promote the station. They did it by way of at least one billboard. I remember seeing it on the billboard off of I-75 just south of SR 120 Alt/N. Marietta Pkwy. near Six Flags White Water. Of course, the billboard is located on the east side of the interstate. I don't know if they used any other billboards in metro Atlanta. That I-75 @ SR 120 Alt/N. Marietta Pkwy. billboard was the only billboard I saw promoting AN106.7. The station was also promoted by way of a joint TV ad with FOX5 News since both FOX5 News & AN106.7 do make up Atlanta's Local News Team. Of course, the TV ad audio was simulcasted into a radio ad. I only heard the radio ad on AN106.7. I never heard it on Oldies 98.9. As for KICKS 101.5, Q100 @ 99.7, Q100 20 @ 97.9, and Rock 100.5, I don't know if the radio ad has ever played on any of those stations. Anyway, that is all.
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Wow! One whole billboard! Well then, if people who wanted to hear news on the radio missed that billboard, it's their own damn fault! The station lived up to its responsibilities. After all, it's not up to a business to promote what it's selling to potential customers. It's up to the customers to do the work and find it. Potential listeners who wanted to hear news on the radio should have been scanning up and down their radio dials 24/7 until they found what they wanted.
[/sarcasm off]
[U]"Or maybe there just aren't enough people in Atlanta to support a 24/7 news radio station. Maybe they can get the news they need from other places." [/U]
This is absurd. Atlanta HAS the population numbers. We are NO different than other major metro areas, but the problem here is that Cumulus chose NOT to promote the all news format. I listen to several of their other stations and heard nothing. Then there is the KING of news, WSB, always in the AJC with colorful ads. If Cumulus had been serious about this format from the outset, you would have seen many ads in the AJC and perhaps on some cable channels or even on WSB-TV. Cumulus is not serious about news, never has been and never will be. And all this is a real waste because 106.7 has some of the best news people that they got when CNN decided to give up being in the radio news business. They inherited a wonderful news crew and yet they are now willing to cancel out the 9am-Noon segment for this ultra conservative Michael Graham show. This is nonsense. They are only interested in one thing: REVENUE. And the all news format is NOT bringing them what they thought would fall into their lap.
This is absurd. Atlanta HAS the population numbers. We are NO different than other major metro areas, but the problem here is that Cumulus chose NOT to promote the all news format. I listen to several of their other stations and heard nothing. Then there is the KING of news, WSB, always in the AJC with colorful ads. If Cumulus had been serious about this format from the outset, you would have seen many ads in the AJC and perhaps on some cable channels or even on WSB-TV. Cumulus is not serious about news, never has been and never will be. And all this is a real waste because 106.7 has some of the best news people that they got when CNN decided to give up being in the radio news business. They inherited a wonderful news crew and yet they are now willing to cancel out the 9am-Noon segment for this ultra conservative Michael Graham show. This is nonsense. They are only interested in one thing: REVENUE. And the all news format is NOT bringing them what they thought would fall into their lap.
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It'll be two years very soon since the station launched. Initially it was heavily promoted with digital billboards all over Atlanta. The station also gets a ton of cross promotion from Fox 5. The problem is two fold, one it never had a chance against WSB which is the go to station for news, weather and traffic and two Cumulus never saw the station as more than a spot carrier. When the light finally went on at HQ they began to move to mostly news to some news adding talk shows, sports, brokered programming etc. The only person on the planet who actually believed the station would succeed to any degree was the so called Atlanta radio insider who finally gave up the ghost months ago. 20+ months later the station has yet to hit a 2 share in the $ demo. The writing was on the wall two months after the format launched when the PD was canned for protesting informercials, told him and should have told everyone else how serious Cumulus was about making a real go of it as a news outlet.
JVR
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Only interested in making money?????? what kind of business is that??? Seriously, the connection with FOX5 is actually pretty big advertising. They need to stay focused on the news and not talk. Also need to keep their web page, Facebook posts and Twitter posts current and updated often.Other stations that cover news update numerous times during the day. 106.7--not so much. For example, today the only thing that came from 106.7 on Twitter was a picture about the interim DeKalb CEO. the only reason for the retweet? It mentioned 106.7. this does not inspire me to want to listen to them. The other main newsstation tweeted about traffic, local, national,and world topics. They know what is going on. Laugh if you want, but this social media connection does bring listeners to the radio. more listeners bring more advertisers which bring more money to the station. If I notice wsb updating information through out the day, I am more likely to turn to them when I want to listen to the news. Why??? because they seem to be on top of it!
Just having population doesn't necessary mean the population wants to listen to a traditional all-news station on FM. All news on FM didn't work in NYC either, and I'd suggest they have the population numbers. And they promoted it with TV ads, billboards, and lots of other media. It's also not working in Houston. Sometimes good formats don't work in certain places.
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106.7 did put a lot of ads on the sides/backs of MARTA busses. Now. One has to wonder if that sort of placement was the best way to reach people who might want to try an all-news station.
I suspect the answer is, no.
Did 106.7 ever do any live remotes from office parks where all-news listeners might be found lurking during the day? That's what I would have done. Bring in a few food trucks, maybe a shave ice truck on a hot day, some sort of Braves appearance tie-in, make a nice recurring promotion out of it and do it all over town. Might be better than busses to reach the audience they want. Ah well. What do I know.
They do NOT promote their Braves affiliation nearly enough. Went to the station website on opening day and there wasn't even a schedule showing when the games would be on. It should have been splashed all over the page, big banners, fancy graphics to click on. I have sympathy for the station but anger for who or what is (not) doing their website. Total waste of a chance to promote what the station has.
I suspect the answer is, no.
Did 106.7 ever do any live remotes from office parks where all-news listeners might be found lurking during the day? That's what I would have done. Bring in a few food trucks, maybe a shave ice truck on a hot day, some sort of Braves appearance tie-in, make a nice recurring promotion out of it and do it all over town. Might be better than busses to reach the audience they want. Ah well. What do I know.
They do NOT promote their Braves affiliation nearly enough. Went to the station website on opening day and there wasn't even a schedule showing when the games would be on. It should have been splashed all over the page, big banners, fancy graphics to click on. I have sympathy for the station but anger for who or what is (not) doing their website. Total waste of a chance to promote what the station has.
WSB and the Constitution
Cumulus trying to take on WSB and the Atlanta Constitution with an all news format? WSB (with a 50,000 watt transmitter) and the Constitution are both owned by the Cox organization - which explains why the station can afford splashy ads that Cumulus would have to pay for. How are they supposed to be competitive?
Cox or many years also owned KFI in Los Angeles until they sold it to a firm which was then swallowed by Clear Channel. In that market Cumulus owns KABC, which pioneered talk radio as a format (along with KMOX in St Louis) When KFI converted from music to news/alk its 50,000 watt signal swamped KABC, as well as that of all news KFWB. Both of the latter are mere 5000 watt stations.
In the late forties Bill Paley of CBS made a great talent raid on the then supreme NBC of the Sarnoffs. Bob Sarnoff confident of NBC's technically superior affiliates and dismissed the raid. He had a point- what he failed to take into account was that the golden age of radio was ending and the talent would be a great asset in television. Besides, CBS was beefing up quality of its radio group as well - an avenue unfortunately not open to Cumulus no matter how many people from CNN they can acquire.
KFI before converting to talk was languishing in music competition with KHJ and pre-all news KFWB (color radio) on the AM dial. All three died with he shift of the music audience to better sound quality FM stations. Today it and 50,000 CBS owbed KNX are the only AM statons in the top 10 of Los Angeles radio - one is all news. Why? They each have both signal and talent strengths the AM competition can't copy. WSB has the same advantage in Atlanta plus the affiliation with the city's legacy newspaper.
Lesson? Cumulus is playing a losing game without access to both signal and talent resources that are competitive with the existing stakeholdwers.
Cumulus trying to take on WSB and the Atlanta Constitution with an all news format? WSB (with a 50,000 watt transmitter) and the Constitution are both owned by the Cox organization - which explains why the station can afford splashy ads that Cumulus would have to pay for. How are they supposed to be competitive?
Cox or many years also owned KFI in Los Angeles until they sold it to a firm which was then swallowed by Clear Channel. In that market Cumulus owns KABC, which pioneered talk radio as a format (along with KMOX in St Louis) When KFI converted from music to news/alk its 50,000 watt signal swamped KABC, as well as that of all news KFWB. Both of the latter are mere 5000 watt stations.
In the late forties Bill Paley of CBS made a great talent raid on the then supreme NBC of the Sarnoffs. Bob Sarnoff confident of NBC's technically superior affiliates and dismissed the raid. He had a point- what he failed to take into account was that the golden age of radio was ending and the talent would be a great asset in television. Besides, CBS was beefing up quality of its radio group as well - an avenue unfortunately not open to Cumulus no matter how many people from CNN they can acquire.
KFI before converting to talk was languishing in music competition with KHJ and pre-all news KFWB (color radio) on the AM dial. All three died with he shift of the music audience to better sound quality FM stations. Today it and 50,000 CBS owbed KNX are the only AM statons in the top 10 of Los Angeles radio - one is all news. Why? They each have both signal and talent strengths the AM competition can't copy. WSB has the same advantage in Atlanta plus the affiliation with the city's legacy newspaper.
Lesson? Cumulus is playing a losing game without access to both signal and talent resources that are competitive with the existing stakeholdwers.
First of all, KNX isn't very successful with all news in LA, even with its signal and legacy. KFI is more successful because it combines news and local talk. That's also what WSB does in Atlanta and what Cumulus is transitioning towards with 106.
Second, Cox Media and Cox Print are supposed to be two separate entities. Like Viacom and CBS. That's how they've been positioned to the SEC. In they're using their resources unfairly, that gives Cumulus a legal challenge. Not sure Cox wants that.
Third, Cumulus has a local media partner with Fox TV. Cumulus hired the award-winning talent resources of CNN Radio. So the problem isn't the talent. The problem isn't marketing. The problem is that the people of Atlanta don't want a strictly all-news format. They don't want it on WSB, and they don't want it on 106.
When Atlantans want news on FM, the place they go is WABE. WABE doesn't have the resources of Cox, and WABE doesn't have a lot of local news staff. But that seems to be where people go, regardless of money or marketing.
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