More iHeart Layoffs

[atthestars]

AllAccess is reporting more layoffs across iHeartRadio today, including a few Philly names.

So far:

Brian Check- PD WISX
Dan Blackman- Afternoons WISX
Eliot King- Nights WIOQ

 

[AbrahamJSimpson]

AllAccess is reporting more layoffs across iHeartRadio today, including a few Philly names.

So far:

Brian Check- PD WISX
Dan Blackman- Afternoons WISX
Eliot King- Nights WIOQ

Blackman’s page appears to already be gone from the site.

 

[SP447]

WOW, Brian Check was there for more than 18 years....great guy, great supervisor....He was doing a great job with the Breeze. I hate what this industry has become. I don't think we will ever see the old days of Radio come back where there was single owners or family own stations.....big backs have ruing this industry.

 

[luperm]

WOW, Brian Check was there for more than 18 years....great guy, great supervisor....He was doing a great job with the Breeze. I hate what this industry has become. I don't think we will ever see the old days of Radio come back where there was single owners or family own stations.....big backs have ruing this industry.

It's never good to hear when someone loses their job.

Having said that, I think you have it backwards. Consolidation has helped radio survive. Single owner/family owned stations would not have prevented the dramatic revenue declines that have plagued radio. The other issue is that there are just too many signals, especially in markets where suburban/rimshot signals got shoehorned into larger metros. Consolidation has allowed station owners to operate stations with significantly lower overhead than would otherwise be possible. Plus, the idea that single owner/family owned radio stations were any less profit driven than stations owned by iHeart or Entercom is a fallacy. Cluster programming lets big revenue generating stations support other, less revenue generating stations in the cluster survive (which would not otherwise be viable as a stand alone).

 

[AbrahamJSimpson]

It's never good to hear when someone loses their job.

Having said that, I think you have it backwards. Consolidation has helped radio survive. Single owner/family owned stations would not have prevented the dramatic revenue declines that have plagued radio. The other issue is that there are just too many signals, especially in markets where suburban/rimshot signals got shoehorned into larger metros. Consolidation has allowed station owners to operate stations with significantly lower overhead than would otherwise be possible. Plus, the idea that single owner/family owned radio stations were any less profit driven than stations owned by iHeart or Entercom is a fallacy. Cluster programming lets big revenue generating stations support other, less revenue generating stations in the cluster survive (which would not otherwise be viable as a stand alone).

100%. Important to get cause and effect in the proper order.

 

[TheBigA]

I don't think we will ever see the old days of Radio come back where there was single owners or family own stations.....big backs have ruing this industry.

To have family-owned radio, you need local family owned advertisers. That's the main thing that's changed. Take a look at downtown Philadelphia. At one time, you had "the big six," family owned department stores. Wanamakers, Lits, Gimbles, Strawbridge & Clothier. The demise of local family-owned business and replacement by national chains in retail began in the 1960s and 70s. The loss of local advertising led to the nationalization of other ad-supported media, including newspapers and radio.

 

[davideduardo]

To have family-owned radio, you need local family owned advertisers. That's the main thing that's changed. Take a look at downtown Philadelphia. At one time, you had "the big six," family owned department stores. Wanamakers, Lits, Gimbles, Strawbridge & Clothier. The demise of local family-owned business and replacement by national chains in retail began in the 1960s and 70s. The loss of local advertising led to the nationalization of other ad-supported media, including newspapers and radio.

And this is even more acute in smaller markets. "Main Street" has been nearly destroyed in many such places by the arrival back as far as the 70's of K-Mart and Woolco and then the invasion of Walmart and the big boxes like Best Buy, Home Depot and Bed Bath & Beyond and chain "popular class" departments stores like Kohls and Target. What all those have in common is little or no local radio buys.

And when that kind of store does use local radio, it's a supplemental buy, not a core buy.

Of course, when this was happening in the most accelerated manner, the FCC decided to bring out Docket 80-90 and let nearly every small market (outside of the congested areas of the Northeast, at least) have double or more the number of local stations. Less money from advertisers and more stations meant that every station had to cut costs.