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Rumor Mill Reports Big Changes This Week
- Thread starter Schroedingers Cat
- Start date
No. They can go cheaper. Dump electricity, have a herd of gerbils running on a wheel hooked up to some generators....or maybe prisoners of war on a treadmill if the world ever gets to where it seems to be heading. No prize giveaways anymore.....soon it'll be "We'll take the 15th caller to give US $1,000 to keep the same 40 songs you like to hear over and over again. Otherwise we'll be changing the format to yodeling warthogs!" No need for aircraft warning lights on towers, pilots will just have to take their chances. A.I. DJs? Nah, STILL costs too much, them and their demands for electrons, bytes and such. Chimpanzees 24/7, it'll be like the screaming DJs of the late 50s and 60s all over again. So get ready for your LEADDDDDDDDDERRRRRRRR to make a return. Play the right tunes and a banana will pop out of a slot to keep them happy......which will be better than what some DJs get nowadays.
"Corporate" radio has been the norm since the later 20's when hobby and promotional stations mostly died off or were regulated off the air and the objective of radio was to make money by providing something useful, informative or entertaining to listeners.
Nearly every commercial radio station is owned by a corporation. Always has been. But now that advertisers have so many alternatives via the Internet, revenues are down and expenses have been cut.
I'm guessing that if your income is reduced by two-thirds over the last 20 years that you would cut your spending, too.
It shows the resilance of the radio industry, If you don't have a huge debt load hanging over you, cash flows are still good for successful stations even with a two-thirds income cut.
Huge Debt... the problem faced by MANY of today's "broadcasters" Wall Street traded companies have declining revenues, aging infrastrucure, and have less of a talent pool to draw from. Radio today is more or less propaganda feed to the masses with "approved talking points" and pay to play songs / artist pushed by an agenda to dumb down the masses with mind numbing hypnoitc garbage music that reinforces corrupt moral behavior and eats away at our social values.
The consolidation has helped provide breathing room for some stations that would have otherwise not survived. The ability to combine resources such as engineering, programming and sales, along with the ability to share talent across multiple stations has helped drive much of that cash flow. If everything was still "mom and pop" with 24/7 "live and local", it would not be a pretty picture.
Time to come back from the 1950s!
Keep in mind that the ONLY qualifications to buy a radio station is to be a US citizen. That means YOU could buy a station, and program it intelligently. Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you.
Terrestrial radio is an aging technology, and the more successful companies have developed local sales strategies that include much more than AM & FM. Townsquare is a good example.
Of course, there are many smaller group owners with manageable or no debt and which control the vast majority of stations in the US. For every publicly traded radio company, there are hundreds of smaller operators just trying to create a profitable business.
That's just absurd.
Radio is in its most extreme state of conflict with the music industry today. Few stations even get promotional items to use on the air, and the labels want to add additional royalties for "permission" to play their songs.
As to which songs are played or which topics are discussed, stations do research through which they learn about every song and topic's appeal and they try to give listeners what they say they want.
New music styles are born in the streets... at bars and clubs and the like. Radio reflects what different audience groups want to hear. I've been involved with radio programming for 60 years and I like some of today's music just as much as I liked that of other eras and decades.
You are applying your own tastes and beliefs and standards to other people. Neither you nor I were crowned as King, so let's realize that there are many taste groups and we never are going to like all of them.
Music Of Your Life or double-entendre sexual innuendo tunes.
Not a prudent finacial move, I'd rather keep making money than lose it.
The " reserach" they do - that's about as good as the "two weeks to flatten the curve" -
Not sure the last time you were "in the streets" but there is no NEW music being crafted on, in, or anywhere near the streets. Lots of violience, shootings, young kids killing people ( Chicago this past weeked.. Hello? ) So going to disagree with the "in the streets" argument, the streets aren't safe but we can't event talk about that one on the news. Radio is part of the legeacy media of the 20th century and has been corupted. The documented history of news, media outlets being compromised in the US is nothing new. History has proven that. When you look at who really owns the media coperations you should know by now it's a small select handful of BIG companies who help to craft the approved narrative. WHY do we see ALL the news stations reading the SAME extact stories word for word. This centralization and consolidation limits "other voices" I think congnative disonance is getting in the way of some folks ability for critical thinking.
I have no idea what the"two weeks..." reference is about.
Have you ever been involved at the station level with research... both perceptual and music testing? I have conducted done or supervised over 1,000 perceptual and music tests. I have also bought proprietary research from outside providers going back to the 70's (and audience research going back to the 60's). Radio research from the various well known companies is excellent, highly detailed and followed up with consultation at the station level.
I mean that tastes are formed at the music listener levels, not predetermined by labels or someone else. Labels have tried for decades and decades to force hits and it does not work.
"Street" today means "at the neighborhood level". Whether in schools, clubs or just in the car, people pick up on new music via streams, radio, friends, club play and the like. It can't be forced.
Hmmm. I know a bit about radio history and have no idea what you are talking about. And I have plenty of experience of the negative kind, too, having worked at, managed, programmed or owned stations in about 20 countries, mostly in The Americas.
There is no collusion, and the "big companies" are owned by shareholders.
In fact, collusion is illegal and there is none between radio companies.
Most news media uses a press service... what we used to . A news station in New York does not have reporters in LA, Chicago, etc. It's been that way for the last 6 or 8 decades...
First, it is "cognitive dissonance" and that is typified by, for example, smoking: we know it is harmful but we make a conscious bad decision to do it anyway.
Media has never been more decentralized and varied in the history of mankind. We have thousands of online sources, ranging from traditional ones such as TASS and Prensa Latina to AP and Reuters. We have "new" ones from Huffington Post to Breitbart to INFOBAE.
Perhaps the only reason they're losing money is because of what you call the awful programming. If you came in and fixed it, you'd make more money than you could ever spend.
Well one of the rumors has so far come true, B96 has shifted its presentation to skew older... also the hideous logo is gone:
radioinsight.com
B96 Moves Back To Its Roots
Audacy began the revamp of CHR "B96" WBBM-FM Chicago today as the station moved to a 50/50 gold to current/recurrent
radioinsight.com
Memphis needs a CHR. I'd move it to a stronger frequency.
Not that exciting. Just a few "throwbacks" in there. Won't change their ratings much. IMO.
If this is the rebranding they were looking for, then best of luck. But I do agree - bringing back their older logo was a good call.
I posted to their FB after the logo change what they should do. If they can play some classic house/dance throwbacks from the (89-97 era) ratings would increase immediately.
But since this company does not think outside the box nor know the history of the station they own, it won't. I would be shocked.
For B 96 like flashbacks, we have Dance Beat Radio (internet), The Beat Chicago(internet), and 103.1 WPNA (on weekends) to air those.
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