WPLJ- 1 year later

[YoYoGo]

Yesterday, May 31, 2020, marked the 1 year anniversary of the EMF acquisition of 95.5 WLPJ from Cumulus Media.

There were so many tributes and remembrances of WPLJ prior to the switch and yet, 1 year later, not a mention.

Maybe it's Covid19.

Maybe it's George Floyd.

Or maybe people just don't care about radio anymore.

Such a shame.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

Yesterday, May 31, 2020, marked the 1 year anniversary of the EMF acquisition of 95.5 WLPJ from Cumulus Media.

There were so many tributes and remembrances of WPLJ prior to the switch and yet, 1 year later, not a mention.

Maybe it's Covid19.

Maybe it's George Floyd.

Or maybe people just don't care about radio anymore.

Such a shame.

Where do you expect a mention?

And can we not bring Floyd and covid into this... WPLJ had their time to do a tribute up to the final moment....

 

[Theater of My Mind]

The PLJ sign off was a big event for radio fans. But by the end, PLJ wasn't special enough to merit yearly commemorations on the anniversary of its death.

Race Taylor, who was the highlight of PLJ's farewell show, now does middays at WCBS-FM. PLJ's other famous former star Scott Shannon does CBS-FM mornings now. Mike Allan is at WNSH. They're all in better places now.

As you said, maybe people really don't care that much any more. The loss of PLJ represented an unfortunate contraction of commercial music stations in a market that could use more, not less. But music radio is like an appliance now, there's not much left to be passionate about. PLJ had fans who still liked hearing old-school style radio and I suspect some of them followed their favorite personalities up the dial to CBS-FM. The rest probably went to Spotify etc. Every time I hear about more cuts to radio I can almost hear the subscription meter clicking on the new subscribers to non-radio alternatives where they can customize the playlist to their heart's desire. Radio's best defense would be to ramp up the personality and creativity that sets it apart from the streaming jukebox services, but the industry keeps shooting itself in the foot. Honestly the top priority is just coming up with schemes to maximize executive pay.

 

[TheBigA]

Radio's best defense would be to ramp up the personality and creativity that sets it apart from the streaming jukebox services, but the industry keeps shooting itself in the foot.

There's a reason why the streaming companies haven't hired DJs. Even though they've all hired ex-radio PDs, and have no shortage of money. The personality is available at lots of AM/FM stations for people who want it, but it's not the automatic solution you might think it to be. Just hiring a lot of local people won't get listeners to throw away their phones and computers.

I had this exact conversation with Pandora a few years ago, and they told me point blank that they see no demand for hiring talent or "creativity."

 

[Theater of My Mind]

There's a reason why the streaming companies haven't hired DJs. Even though they've all hired ex-radio PDs, and have no shortage of money. The personality is available at lots of AM/FM stations for people who want it, but it's not the automatic solution you might think it to be. Just hiring a lot of local people won't get listeners to throw away their phones and computers.

I had this exact conversation with Pandora a few years ago, and they told me point blank that they see no demand for hiring talent or "creativity."

Sure, so if you want a steady stream of music you can get it from the streaming service. Or if you want the same thing with 18 minutes of commercials per hour, and voice tracks that might as well not be there outside of morning show hours, you can get it from FM? OK, sounds like a plan worthy of some of that executive pay.

 

[TheBigA]

Sure, so if you want a steady stream of music you can get it from the streaming service. Or if you want the same thing with 18 minutes of commercials per hour, and voice tracks that might as well not be there outside of morning show hours, you can get it from FM? OK, sounds like a plan worthy of some of that executive pay.

Believe what you want to believe....I can show you lots of radio stations with a full staff of local DJs that get a 1 share in the ratings. If all it took to make a radio station #1 was to hire lots of local talent, executives would gladly pay any amount. But it doesn't work. To a typical listener, DJs talking isn't much different than more commercials.

If executive pay bothers you, listen to WFUV. Lots of local DJs, lots of creative shows, no highly paid executives, and no commercials. They should be the top rated station in NY. But they're not.

The main thing that differentiates radio from streaming is it's free and easily accessible.

 

[CTListener]

There's a reason why the streaming companies haven't hired DJs. Even though they've all hired ex-radio PDs, and have no shortage of money. The personality is available at lots of AM/FM stations for people who want it, but it's not the automatic solution you might think it to be. Just hiring a lot of local people won't get listeners to throw away their phones and computers.

I had this exact conversation with Pandora a few years ago, and they told me point blank that they see no demand for hiring talent or "creativity."

Makes me wonder how long SiriusXM, which is now Pandora's parent company, will continue to pay DJs. Both Sirius and XM launched nearly 20 years ago, and had lots of boomer-age (and maybe older) radio people making decisions. So most channels had jocks, and at Lee Abrams' XM, especially, many were encouraged to talk freely between song sets, or even between songs. After all, that's the way radio sounded when Lee Abrams was at his most influential. But that was a good quarter century before XM, and radio's sound had changed greatly since. I'm sure there are a decent number of subscribers in their 60s, 70s and even 80s who love hearing guys like Cousin Brucie still on the air. But that's not a growth market for Pandora or SXM. I think, at some point, the jocks will disappear and both services will resemble each other, but with completely random playlists being the default on the SXM side, user-tailored playlists being the default on Pandora.

 

[TheBigA]

Makes me wonder how long SiriusXM, which is now Pandora's parent company, will continue to pay DJs.

Their CEO Jim Meyer is a boomer who loves old-style radio. So I doubt they'll change.

His goal is to get people who love that kind of radio to pay him $15 a month to get it, and so far he has 30 million people doing it.

AM/FM stations would LOVE to be able to charge their listeners directly for what they do, but they can't put their signals behind a paywall. If they tried to operate like non-coms with no commercials and listener contributions, they'd starve. The average public station reports that only 7% of their actual listeners contribute.

 

[Syfy]

Their CEO Jim Meyer is a boomer who loves old-style radio. So I doubt they'll change.

His goal is to get people who love that kind of radio to pay him $15 a month to get it, and so far he has 30 million people doing it.

AM/FM stations would LOVE to be able to charge their listeners directly for what they do, but they can't put their signals behind a paywall. If they tried to operate like non-coms with no commercials and listener contributions, they'd starve. The average public station reports that only 7% of their actual listeners contribute.

Yet the idiot still raises the price of monthly subscription by five dollars just because congress demand that sirius pays royalties on music past a certain year of age. Even though they have that many subscribers when it comes down to it siriusxm is a greedy company who does not care about their listeners.

 

[davideduardo]

Even though they have that many subscribers when it comes down to it siriusxm is a greedy company who does not care about their listeners.

They simply run a business. You charge more than what your expenses are. If expenses increase, you up the rates.

That's good business, not greed.

You have no obligation to to subscribe. Terrestrial radio is free, but you pay by listening to ads.

 

[davideduardo]

Believe what you want to believe....I can show you lots of radio stations with a full staff of local DJs that get a 1 share in the ratings. If all it took to make a radio station #1 was to hire lots of local talent, executives would gladly pay any amount. But it doesn't work. To a typical listener, DJs talking isn't much different than more commercials.

If executive pay bothers you, listen to WFUV. Lots of local DJs, lots of creative shows, no highly paid executives, and no commercials. They should be the top rated station in NY. But they're not.

The main thing that differentiates radio from streaming is it's free and easily accessible.

On the other hand, the head of WNYC makes a competitive salary that is as good as what is paid in commercial stations. And more important, paid what good fund raisers at other non-profits of that size make. Pay less, get lesser ratings and lower donations and poorer programming.

Great managers in any business are no more easy to find and hire than great recruits for football teams. There are more suitors than candidates and the good ones get the big dollars.

As an idea, the conductor of the LA Phiharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel (recruited from the Venezuelan national orchestra system) makes $1.6 million. The CEO of the Philharmonic makes $1.5 million. Together, they raise funds and put butts in the seats. A lesser team would not attract the same level of donations and not provide the inspired level of music. There are YouTube videos of Dudamel, and they give me chills just to listen to. When the Philharmonic reopens, I plan to attend.

 

[TheBigA]

On the other hand, the head of WNYC makes a competitive salary that is as good as what is paid in commercial stations.

In salary yes. But, as any corporate owners will tell you, the posted salary is nothing compared to the stock options or bonuses. So yes she makes $1 million in salary. But that's it. No bonus and no stock. That's the negative in the non-profit world.

 

[Theater of My Mind]

They simply run a business. You charge more than what your expenses are. If expenses increase, you up the rates.

That's good business, not greed.

As I recall, Sirius and XM promised the FCC that they would not raise rates as a condition of the companies' merger, then once the deal was done they turned around and slapped a royalty fee onto every subscriber effectively raising their rates. SiriusXM's justification was that their royalty rate had gone up (by 0.5 percent I think), but many subscribers considered it a shady tactic that amounted to greed as the company was well aware that paying music royalties would always be part of their cost of doing business. The agreement against rate increases expired long ago but the royalty fee persists. I can certainly understand how it irks customers.

The below-the-line junk fees on cable bills pissed customers off for years too, and look what's happening to cable now. Well just like cable, people have a lot more options for paid music subscription services these days and people don't forget about things like that.

 

[davideduardo]

In salary yes. But, as any corporate owners will tell you, the posted salary is nothing compared to the stock options or bonuses. So yes she makes $1 million in salary. But that's it. No bonus and no stock. That's the negative in the non-profit world.

But I doubt any local manager in NYC at a commercial station is anywhere close to that.

Yes, the heads of groups with a coupla' hunnert stations are paid more. But the WNYC manager is above the level of commercial stations as she raises millions and millions in donations each year through her efforts and her management. And the station gets to do pretty good and well financed programming.

 

[TheBigA]

But I doubt any local manager in NYC at a commercial station is anywhere close to that.

New York Public Radio is more than just a local radio cluster (that includes New Jersey Public Radio). Its also the originating station for several nationally syndicated shows, a live performance space, as well as several online platforms beyond the station's website. I'd imagine her budget is bigger than most NY radio stations.

Still the example I gave was WFUV, and I'd suggest there is no one there who gets paid a lot of money. They have a full professional staff. Same with WFMU.

 

[Jeffrey]

Believe what you want to believe....I can show you lots of radio stations with a full staff of local DJs that get a 1 share in the ratings. If all it took to make a radio station #1 was to hire lots of local talent, executives would gladly pay any amount. But it doesn't work. To a typical listener, DJs talking isn't much different than more commercials.

If executive pay bothers you, listen to WFUV. Lots of local DJs, lots of creative shows, no highly paid executives, and no commercials. They should be the top rated station in NY. But they're not.

The main thing that differentiates radio from streaming is it's free and easily accessible.

If WFUV had a format more popular with New Yorkers it might very well be a top rated station.

 

[TheBigA]

If WFUV had a format more popular with New Yorkers it might very well be a top rated station.

Sort of stating the obvious, no?