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Atlanta Radio Layoffs

B

BigATL

this corona-virus pandemic has affected everybody, radio stations especially who relied on steady ad dollars coming in to operate now don't have that as most business have been even shutdown or largely been affected by this.

Now Radio-One's Majic 107.5-97.5 has lost Evening DJ Jarard J to Layoffs https://www.ajc.com/blog/radiotvtalk/jarard-laid-off-from-majic-107/tDpGdQtPgowAlKXd7pLm0O/

Also 92-9 the Game PD Terry Foxx who has been there since DAY 1 is out because of this https://www.ajc.com/blog/radiotvtal...ame-terry-foxx-leaves/bAUICtjZzKimN05fOT6igO/

Who know who else might be out but though times ahead and especially for radio which has already had a rough start this year.
 
WSB-AM still seems to be doing well although most spots have a coronavirus message. I think most clients think this situation will be short lived.
And WSB is still running those E/D spots which I thought would be the first to get cancelled.
They probably have enough revenue on hand to be able to ride thru something like this if it doesn't last too long.
Broadcasters should not be operating on a week to week basis.
 
WSB runs about 40 minutes of ads per hour during the Von Haessler Doctrine. I’ve measured this multiple times. Eric and his crew barely get 20 minutes of broadcast time. I’d say WSB is doing very well.
 
kf4rca said:
WSB-AM still seems to be doing well although most spots have a coronavirus message. I think most clients think this situation will be short lived.
And WSB is still running those E/D spots which I thought would be the first to get cancelled.
They probably have enough revenue on hand to be able to ride thru something like this if it doesn't last too long.
Broadcasters should not be operating on a week to week basis.
Click to expand...

If those ED spots are infomercial types, thats good guarenteed money through a time by or X $ per call for the station to a specific number
 
SomeRadioGuy said:
If those ED spots are infomercial types, thats good guarenteed money through a time by or X $ per call for the station to a specific number
Click to expand...

Those types of spots *might* be remnant time. I don't know this for sure, but it's very possible. And remnant spots are sold for way less than fixed commercials.
 
RoddyFreeman said:
Those types of spots *might* be remnant time. I don't know this for sure, but it's very possible. And remnant spots are sold for way less than fixed commercials.
Click to expand...

Would you please explain for the ignorant, self included, what "remnant time " is?
 
DavidEduardo said:
Would you please explain for the ignorant, self included, what "remnant time " is?
Click to expand...

Sure. I placed remnant time for a company that helped people who were behind on their income taxes.

Remnant time is unsold time that the stations would rather sell at around half price or lower rather than make zero on the time. The spots are preemptible if the station is able to sell the time to a full-boat advertiser at the last minute. And the remnant time is sold very close to the air date.

In normal times the stations that have significant unsold time are second and third-tier stations, not the ones with the ratings. For example, I was buying a :60 on WDAS-AM in Philly for $5 during the day and $1 for a 5AM-1AM rotator. Yes, WSB is far from a low-rated station, but this is an unusual time.

Because these stations tend to have low ratings, advertisers are typically those who don't care about ratings, mainly direct response advertisers. They know they get calls even when the ratings aren't there.

It's like DR time on TV. Because air time is a perishable product, stations would rather sell it at a big discount at the last minute than make nothing. A former boss went to a direct response convention, and someone said to him, "I became a millionaire from hash marks." For anyone who doesn't know what that means, the Nielsen ratings show a hash mark when a station doesn't have enough viewers to qualify for a .1 rating.
 
RoddyFreeman said:
Sure. I placed remnant time for a company that helped people who were behind on their income taxes.

Remnant time is unsold time that the stations would rather sell at around half price or lower rather than make zero on the time. The spots are preemptible if the station is able to sell the time to a full-boat advertiser at the last minute. And the remnant time is sold very close to the air date.

In normal times the stations that have significant unsold time are second and third-tier stations, not the ones with the ratings. For example, I was buying a :60 on WDAS-AM in Philly for $5 during the day and $1 for a 5AM-1AM rotator. Yes, WSB is far from a low-rated station, but this is an unusual time.

Because these stations tend to have low ratings, advertisers are typically those who don't care about ratings, mainly direct response advertisers. They know they get calls even when the ratings aren't there.

It's like DR time on TV. Because air time is a perishable product, stations would rather sell it at a big discount at the last minute than make nothing. A former boss went to a direct response convention, and someone said to him, "I became a millionaire from hash marks." For anyone who doesn't know what that means, the Nielsen ratings show a hash mark when a station doesn't have enough viewers to qualify for a .1 rating.
Click to expand...

So the station gets some income when they run the commercial? Do stations still have to give “best rate” to political ads? Would that dollar a holler figure be used when a station sells political ads? There is a an old story about a new station owner at a day timer that sold a package that had 50 cent run of schedule commercials (200 30’s in a week for $100.00) for new advertisers right before and election. The story goes there were several hours that had 55 + minutes of local political ads on the station during a primary that had 4 or 5 guys running for sheriff.


I remember the “Per Inquiry” commercials where the station got paid when someone called for info or bought the product. WLAC sold baby chicks and records by the thousands at night.
 
I believe "lowest unit rate" applies to the rates listed on your rate card. (Does not apply to PACs).



secondchoice said:
So the station gets some income when they run the commercial? Do stations still have to give “best rate” to political ads? Would that dollar a holler figure be used when a station sells political ads? There is a an old story about a new station owner at a day timer that sold a package that had 50 cent run of schedule commercials (200 30’s in a week for $100.00) for new advertisers right before and election. The story goes there were several hours that had 55 + minutes of local political ads on the station during a primary that had 4 or 5 guys running for sheriff.


I remember the “Per Inquiry” commercials where the station got paid when someone called for info or bought the product. WLAC sold baby chicks and records by the thousands at night.
Click to expand...
 
gr8oldies said:
I believe "lowest unit rate" applies to the rates listed on your rate card. (Does not apply to PACs).
Click to expand...

The FCC rule states that stations have to extend the lowest unit rate to political candidates. The lowest unit rate is the lowest rate any advertiser is paying for the same spot length in the same daypart. That is not necessarily the lowest rate on the rate card because stations sometimes sell spots for less than what's on the rate card.

If the lowest rate an advertiser is paying in morning drive is $100, any political candidate gets that rate. If someone on the same station was paying just $50 because they purchased an ROS plan, I believe the candidate would only get the $50 rate if they also purchased an ROS plan. If they bought a fixed spot in the daypart, they would pay $100.

This does not apply to issues advertising, only to registered political candidates.

One time I had purchased advertising on a local cable TV system from Comcast, and they were giving us no-charge spots as bonus. They said they could not offer the bonus spots during the political window; if they did, every political candidate would be getting free spots. So they came up with a promotion for us in place of the spots.
 
At One Time...

there was a candidate who proposed that stations should give candidates free political ads. Do you remember that?
Must have been 20 years ago or so. Glad that didn't happen.
 
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