Read it and weep... :-(
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bi...artmedia-layoffs-across-country-restructuring
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bi...artmedia-layoffs-across-country-restructuring
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2020 iHeart bloodbath....
- Thread starter deejaywestbrook
- Start date
So far Atlanta has had 3 on-air casualties. Power 96-1: Terry J, and Alt 105.7: Wendy Rollins & Rich Sullivan.
I'm kind of disappointed about Terry. He did middays for a while but most recently was part of the morning show cast. He also occasionally handled weekend shifts. I thought he was really coming along and starting to sound good. And...he was local.
I really hope this isn’t a sign of the times with terrestrial radio. Most of my co-workers listen to some kind of streaming service. Most of the ones under 30 don’t even touch FM radio or even know how it works. I love my radio and I pray this isn’t a sign radio could be dying off. I know it is so much easier to stream radio but it’s still nice to have the program come from the actual radio. I guess it’s what I’ve grown up with and I don’t want to lose. Radio frees up my smart devices and doesn’t draw any data. And it’s free.
Alt 105.7 is now running iHeart’s Premium Choice/Syndicated Alternative format. Unsure about jocks, but no longer local from what I hear on the stream.
Keep in mind that iHeart owns a streaming service, so they understand how that works. They also own a national syndication service. It's also been reported that the company that owns Sirius & Pandora is looking to buy an ownership stake in iHeart.
It's unfortunately been a sign of the times for a while. Consolidation--and the debt that resulted from it--is not the only factor causing it. Technology has a lot to do with it. Even the PPM methodology, which shows ratings decreasing when music isn't playing--is a factor.
Radio still has the largest share of listening, but people have been turning away. That should not be happening; everybody has a radio, there's no buffering and it's free. But it's being killed.
Premium Choice is not a source of syndicated real-time delivery formats. It's a computer system where all the work parts to a format are delivered to stations and, locally, the bits and pieces are assembled on the Zetta system and played on the air in accordance with the station's precise local commercial load and other things like traffic or weather and such.
In the new system, so-called "Centers of Excellence" will put together all the content and deliver the ingredients to the individual stations. The latest development is that local markets will have one on-air talent in mornings and even the general managers will be eliminated.
David, you're talking about markets that were getting the Premium Choice product, correct? What you're saying is certainly not the case in Atlanta.
iHeart is betting that people don't really care about local talent and involvement, and they may be right. People from Pocatello to Miami were watching Ken Jennings on GOAT Jeopardy, and why not that same model for audio? John Malone gets iHeart's terrestrial format for an extension of SiriusXM, but you buy a subscription if you don't want commercials. I think the protestations of the radio fraternity that "the people want local DJS!" has proven---with a few exceptions---not to be accurate. Sadly.
Part of the problem is some of the local talent haven't really done as much local involvement and local engagement as they could or should have. I've preached about this for so long, that radio DJs shouldn't lock themselves in dark, windowless studios or hide behind velvet ropes at concerts. They should hang with the listeners and be more relatable. Engage with them in social media and personal appearances. Obviously an exception is the station in Des Moines, where listener protests have led to the staff being hired back. But I don't expect we'll see that in Atlanta.
It appears that "Premium Choice" which consisted of show workparts is now going to be superseded or modified by greater hub and spoke delivery to local Zetta automation in all but morning drive (and only mornings in some markets due to revenue and advertiser demand).
Even the PM Drive talent at KOST in LA was dismissed.
Somewhere there was a comment that the centralization will affect the largest markets less, but I don't think that was necessarily an official statement.
This seems to be a "next step" in sharing talent... very few talents it appears... across many markets, delivering product to stations from hubs and letting the stations insert the commercial breaks locally.
The next step would be to run all stations totally from hubs, the way many TV groups have centralized regional master controls in one location.
I don't think this is the final step. They are clearing the deck for another move which removes nearly all programming from local studios and delivers it, spots and all, from the hubs.
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The scenario you describe is how I envisioned iHeart under Liberty Media ownership. It does look like the scope of the firings has gone beyond what was initially reported, and that more major markets are starting to get hit. I'm wondering if there will be another phase once the dust settles from this one.
Radio was Bob Pittman's launching pad as a jock and then PD. Now he seems to be contributing to terrestrial radio's demise. I wonder whether what's happening at iHeart will be used as cover for Cumulus, Entercom and potentially even Cox to do the same thing.
It won't be a demise at all if their research turns out to be correct -- that millennials and future generations will want a free-flowing, constantly customizable soundtrack for their lives, unencumbered by songs that turn them off or other people's voices trying to make them laugh, sell something to them, or talk to them about the world outside their bedrooms, kitchens, work stations or cars.
Very good point.
Cumulus, with a few obvious trouble spots, seems to, for now, be going the opposite direction. In Market #72, the Cumulus cluster delivers more live and local programming than some markets do in total (10 hours of news-talk, live all day except for Rush, 13 hours of sports talk daily plus whatever hours Country powerhouse WIVK is local). I don't see Cox, even with new ownership, going that route just yet. iHeart is uniquely set up to do national radio with stations in all of the top markets and the streaming.app platform.
I may have to eat crow with BBQ sauce (won't be the first time, see the 2016 election). I had been insisting that the elimination of the main studio rule wouldn't mean the wholesale closure of offices and studios, but under this scenario, I can. Maybe just a small sales office in most markets. I still don't believe retaining the main studio rule would have stopped what iHeart plans to do.
How long does WLW stay mostly live and local? When talent contracts run out?
I may have to eat crow with BBQ sauce (won't be the first time, see the 2016 election). I had been insisting that the elimination of the main studio rule wouldn't mean the wholesale closure of offices and studios, but under this scenario, I can. Maybe just a small sales office in most markets. I still don't believe retaining the main studio rule would have stopped what iHeart plans to do.
How long does WLW stay mostly live and local? When talent contracts run out?
Maybe. The other way to look at it is operating with huge debt loads and diminishing revenues is what's contributing to radio's demise. You can't hire & retain staff without revenue. So maybe it's time for radio to reinvent itself, as it did after the arrival of TV in the 50s. Prior to that, radio was built around national network programming. When that programming moved to TV, radio moved to local programming. So what iHeart is doing is returning to the national model.
Keep in mind this national programming is exactly what critics envisioned (or feared) 20 years ago when Clear Channel expanded to 1,000 radio stations after the 96 TCA. It's taken 20 years to get to this point. It didn't happen overnight.
Good point. A lot of on-air talent doesn't add much to the experience. Then you have someone like Kaedy Kiely, who adds a lot of interest, content, and value to her daypart on River (and Z93 and 96 Rock before that) with information about the music she's "playing". And she's well-respected for that. And she has a HUGE social media presence. Of course, she's got almost 40 years of on-air experience in ATL, going back to I think 1983 or so. You can't create that kind of listener relationship in a short time.
That's not to say someone like Kiely couldn't be voice-tracked, but value is value. Be interesting and worth listening to, or STHU.
https://www.facebook.com/Kaedy-Kiely-314318691948097/
You certainly make a good point that you can't hire and retain people when revenue has been decreasing as it has.
My question is: What came first, the chicken or the egg? iHeart, and really all consolidated radio companies, have been moving in the hub-and-spoke direction for quite some time. And the product on the air, at least in my opinion, has deteriorated. So did this contribute to the revenue decline that now is requiring greater cutbacks? Probably some of the decline would have happened anyway because digital technology has changed our lives in many respects.
I watched Tom Webster of Edison Research present some numbers on IAB Day in October. Terrestrial radio's share of listening has gone from 66% to 44% of total listening (all sources) from 2014 to 2019. It still has the greatest share of any audio source by far. During the same period streaming's share increased from 11% to 16% and podcasts from 2% to 4%.
It appears to me that this is not a reinvention but a continuation of the past 20 years. I hope I'm wrong.
I'd say it's inter-related. When you say the product has deteriorated, what do you mean? We've experienced a complete generational turnover during that time, so what appealed to boomers and even GenX is no longer relevant. The music has certainly experienced a major change, when you compare pop hits 20 years ago vs. now. And the way we use media has changed. So has the product really deteriorated, or has it just changed to suit the changing audience?
As I often ask, who are all the personalities on Spotify and Pandora? If that's where the radio audience is going, maybe that's what the radio audience wants.
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