iHM names "new" PDs for 4 stations

[Rob Piotrowski]

"New" in that it's added responsibilities for existing workers - not new hires.

The Drive middayer Julie Dunn is now programming 107.3 The Bull AND is named PD for B107.5 and US 96.9 - in Binghamton. That in addition to being APD/MD at 100.5. AND PM drive on The Bull AND tracking middays on B107.5.

Wow. That kind of workload will require superlative time management skills.

In other news, WHAM AM driver JP Hastings gives up programming The Bull and Sunny 102.3, and now takes over Y94/Syracuse programming duties.

So to recap: 3 iHM FTEs shown the door (one a 34-year veteran), replaced by 2 existing employees.

 

[SirRoxalot]

I'm waiting for "TheBigA" to tell us how this is good corporate management by a team of professionals.

 

[tbolt909]

Nothing new here. Radio jobs have been dwindling for 20 years.
It's worse now because AM stations and many FMs are worthless properties.

Corporate Radio views staff as a "nuisance cost" and pawns are
expendable in Chess & Radio. Bland generic product has been the norm
for a long long time...

 

[SirRoxalot]

Doesn't happen everywhere. There are some very healthy companies out there who haven't overextended themselves and buried themselves in debt. iHeart just isn't one of them.

 

[davideduardo]

Nothing new here. Radio jobs have been dwindling for 20 years.
It's worse now because AM stations and many FMs are worthless properties.

Corporate Radio views staff as a "nuisance cost" and pawns are
expendable in Chess & Radio. Bland generic product has been the norm
for a long long time...

Radio jobs have been dwindling since equipment became more reliable in the 50's and 60's, requiring less engineers and technicians. And they have been dwindling since the later 50's and onwards with the advent of better tape handling gear, particularly tape cartridge equipment, allowing combo operations with the DJ running the whole show.

Then the FCC relaxing of operator requirements in the 70's reduced the need for transmitter operators at directional sites, and allowed many more to be remote controlled.

Syndicated formats sprung up in the late 60's with tapes that ran on automation gear. No PD, no live staff. Satellite radio came later and further developed the fully automated programming at many stations. Then digital systems came in the mid-90's and made production, music management and automated formats even easier.

In the meantime, computerized traffic systems began to be used in the mid-70's, reducing the need for a large traffic and continuity department as well as billing clerks in major stations. Computerized music scheduling, beginning around the time of the IBM PC, made it easier for an on-air PD to do their work with no assistant.

So the use and advance of technology has been the prime motivator in staff size changes.

Most AM stations are still viable, or more of them would be going off the air permanently. They simply have changed their functions, particularly in major markets. The ones that are worthless are mostly those that should never have been licensed: horrible technical facilities, daytimers and stations in markets too small to support any local media.

And I know of very few FMs that are "worthless". Yes, there are some licensed to towns of 1,000 persons that can never work. And there are some dreadful rimshots. All are a product of Docket 80-90 and are, similarly destined to never making money... not because they are FM stations but because they are stations where no station is needed.

 

[davideduardo]

I'm waiting for "TheBigA" to tell us how this is good corporate management by a team of professionals.

The reasoning likely has to do with the fact that the Binghamton market has 17 commercial stations and only $8 million dollars in revenue with no growth on the horizon. Meanwhile, costs, particularly regulatory related (increases in fees, taxes, minimum wages and compliance) increase constantly.

 

[tbolt909]

It's true that technology & automation eliminated radio jobs.
It's also true that management knows the "cost of everything &
the value of nothing".

Many talented people are long gone from Radio.
Technology has also made Radio obsolete. Quality music & content
can be found elsewhere rendering commercial radio irrelevant...

 

[davideduardo]

It's true that technology & automation eliminated radio jobs.
It's also true that management knows the "cost of everything &
the value of nothing".

That's not true. The job of a radio manager is to attract the largest audience size at the lowest cost possible so that a profit can be made on the sale of advertising to that audience. That means that an attractive product must be produced.

Many talented people are long gone from Radio.

In your opinion.

Technology has also made Radio obsolete. Quality music & content
can be found elsewhere rendering commercial radio irrelevant...

If radio is obsolete, why does it continue to be the leading reach medium just based on OTA listening? Nearly 95% of Americans use radio weekly. And most radio companies understand the distribution channel is irrelevant and are using every available platform for distribution.

 

[TheBigA]

Doesn't happen everywhere. There are some very healthy companies out there who haven't overextended themselves and buried themselves in debt. iHeart just isn't one of them.

As numerous articles have pointed out, they have not used any of their operational savings to lower the debt. So this is not about debt at all. It's about costs exceeding revenue in certain markets.

You don't see this kind of doubling or tripling up of duties at successful stations like iHeart's WBBS. This is one of the few iHeart country stations that doesn't run the company's daily syndicated morning show, but is live & local.

This is a way to determine which programmers are adept at managing staff and growing revenue. From what I've seen in the trades, there is room for advancement for programmers who succeed. For those who don't, there's the door.

 

[SirRoxalot]

It's hard to lower your debt when you're having trouble paying the debt service. iHeart has lost money company-wide for how many quarters now? Over the last decade, they've cut their way to virtual insolvency. Decimating markets like Binghamton doesn't cause the media uproar that a larger market would. If you think revenue is low now, do you think that the cuts made there are going to improve the product? Yikes.

 

[davideduardo]

It's hard to lower your debt when you're having trouble paying the debt service. iHeart has lost money company-wide for how many quarters now? Over the last decade, they've cut their way to virtual insolvency. Decimating markets like Binghamton doesn't cause the media uproar that a larger market would. If you think revenue is low now, do you think that the cuts made there are going to improve the product? Yikes.

iHeart has considerable cash flow on an EBITDA basis. The radio operations themselves are profitable.

 

[SirRoxalot]

But the company is not.

 

[TheBigA]

Decimating markets like Binghamton doesn't cause the media uproar that a larger market would.

The larger markets don't get cut because they're hugely profitable. Binghamton is one of the markets bringing the company down.

BTW he size of their work force now isn't much smaller than it was 5 years ago.

If you think revenue is low now, do you think that the cuts made there are going to improve the product? Yikes.

Improving the product isn't going to make money appear. This isn't about the product at the station. It's about the revenue in the market. The ad market in Binghampton isn't going to improve by hiring staff at a radio station.

 

[SirRoxalot]

So you're saying that the number and quality of the sales staff in Binghamton is the same as it was five years ago? How about pre-recession? iHeart's been stripping resources for a long time. It takes time to damage the trust between a station and its customers - both advertisers and listeners - but iHeart has shown that it can be done. Smaller markets, which rely on relationship selling and local dollars instead of numbers games and national spots, suffer worse when they lose sales talent.

But, hey, carry on. iHeart is doing a fine job leading the industry, and Bob Pittman is a genius.

 

[TheBigA]

So you're saying that the number and quality of the sales staff in Binghamton is the same as it was five years ago?

Did I say that? No. But since you brought up Binghamton, take a look at the market for a minute. The population has dropped from 80,000 to 47,000. That's a pretty sizable drop. City services have dropped to fit the falling population. School, police, and firemen. So the city has adjusted to suit the changing market. You're telling me that the area radio stations should keep staffing as though it's still a Top 100 market? As I said, hiring more staff isn't going to bring more money into this station. They already tried that. It didn't work. So if you didn't make money with a certain staffing level, you adjust to one that will. If you have a lot of markets like Binghamton, it's hard for a company to make money, even when you have lots of other markets that are doing well. Ratings are not the problem. The stations are doing well ratings-wise. The problem is the potential audience is dropping because the population is changing. That's all that's happening here. Radio isn't the first business to adapt to this change in Binghamton. In fact, it's one of the last. And even with these staffing cuts, the company is still losing money, because costs keep going up, while revenues aren't.

Which would you rather have: Full staffing with everyone making minimum wage and limited benefits, or smaller staff with everyone getting paid well with the same corporate benefits they'd get in a larger market? That's typically the choice you have when choosing to work for iHeart vs. a small local owner. Which would you choose?

 

[Rusty Bridges]

Kicking the debt service can down the road. iHeart. The Puerto Rico of American radio. Let's all stand and sing La Borinqueña!

 

[TheBigA]

Kicking the debt service can down the road. iHeart. The Puerto Rico of American radio. Let's all stand and sing La Borinqueña!

Or if you want, the United States Government of American radio. Except the iHeart debt is much smaller than US. And we keep electing the same people to Congress, who keep kicking the same can down the road. The American public isn't any smarter than the folks at iHeart. And the government deals with it the same way: Cutting staffs and services at agencies like the FCC, while at the same time spending millions on duplicate offices for Congressmen and their staffs on the Hill.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Binghamton has six stations, and 10 full-timers on the programming side - including PDs. If that makes sense to you, then you're part of the problem, not the solution.

 

[davideduardo]

Smaller markets, which rely on relationship selling and local dollars instead of numbers games and national spots, suffer worse when they lose sales talent.

Many of those smaller markets that have negative retail sales growth have seen the local business community shrink, with the only merchants left being big box chains, restaurant chains, mall location chains and a shrinking number of car dealers.

Current Binghamton radio revenues are approximately the same level they were at in 1996 or a bit lower, around $8 million. So in terms of inflation, the market would have to be billing about $13.5 million just to be at the same level. The truth is, in terms of the value of money, the market is off 40% over the last two decades.

Few small market stations have 40% margins. Costs have to be cut, and drastically. Yet everything from minimum wages to property and FICA taxes has increased.

 

[Kent]

What I'll say to your defense, Rox, is that the former Clear Channel overpaid for those stations. They shouldn't have spent what they spent to get into a market that had already been losing population for decades. I'm sure, if Clear Channel hadn't done it, someone else would have, but that was the company that did it. Clear Channel was, more than anything, a symptom of a much bigger problem. Truth is, Binghampton has more stations than it probably should have. The way the FCC and Congress decided to deal with it was to allow larger clusters. It seemed like a better solution than letting those stations go off-air or continue cannibalizing each other. One can argue it didn't work as intended, but it's equally hard to assert that attempting to turn back the clock would've been better.