Listener supported WCCR AM1260 has been spending the week fundraising on the air. On Thursday, 04/27/2023, they were happily talking about the phenomenal response they were getting on this day. They have finance goals to meet. The lady host made a mistake when adding things up. She announced that they were down to needing (around) $600-some dollars or so. A few minutes later, she noticed that she had made a mathematical error and that they actually needed over 1,000 and some dollars to meet their goal.
-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
WCCR fund raising days
- Thread starter johnbasalla
- Start date
Today's college students are pretty bad at math, I've heard.
More like problem solving from what I've seen. The newer generation can't figure out how to load a cassette tape in a player, granted it should only take them a couple of attempts in under 10 seconds if they've never loaded one before.
This works both ways, though. While there are YouTube videos out there where they present younger generations with technologies or things like audio cassettes that may have still been commonplace 30 years ago but an 18 year old kid may have no idea how to load and get audio from, the reverse is also true. I've known guys that were amazing editors back in the analog days, but sit them in front of a Pro Tools computer that it would take any kid about 5 or 10 minutes to figure out and start effectively using, and some of the analog guys just can't get the hang of it. Same with audio mixers and consoles. I knew an old school audio engineer who demanded a giant analog mixer with a bunch of racks and outboard EQ and effects gear for the shows he worked until he retired. He wanted knobs and switches and buttons and to see everything laid out before him and he just couldn't wrap his head around a digital mixer that had a much smaller footprint and could do all the same functions as the analog behemoth with external racks, but where he needed to navigate a few screens and layers to operate. Again, stick any kid in front of that digital mixer and after several minutes, they're off to the races.
The lady who was hosting the fund-raising hour, with a Priest, between 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. may or may not have been a college student. She made no reference to anything like that. My impression is that she is not.
Yes Mikey, I will admit that is difficult for older folks to keep up with constantly changing technology. But it seems basic math skills have eroded. And don't get me started on social interaction. At my workplace during the lunch hour, there are usually a few people in the break room eating their lunch, but nobody is talking. They are all heads down glued to their phone.
To be honest, it wasn't until 2010 or so when a neighbor showed me that the stylist on a record player can be flipped or needs to be switched out to play 78 RPM records. As 78's were not common in my collection and I didn't have a player that could play them at the time, I had no knowledge about that. On the other hand, growing up in the 90s when records were being phased out for cassettes and CDs, I was about the only one who actually used a record player during that time, where some people my age probably never used one until recently.
Another example would have been the UHF/VHF knobs on an old TV. If anyone my age had one when they were younger, it was most likely connected to a cable box controlled by a remote control. The most they they would have to do would be to get up to adjust the volume or turn the TV on or off.
But the point is, you seem to be holding these younger folks to a standard that you've set based on your upbringing and technologies you knew (like audio cassettes) and the way you think they should interact, which may or may not be fair. I have a neice who's in her final year to get her Masters of Accounting. 2 of my nephews are finishing bachelors, one in engineering and another in computer science. I assure you, all 3 have solid math skills, probably better than yours or mine, and they're all 21 and under. Regarding the younger folks in your workplace, keep in mind that, based on some of your references, I'm guessing cell phones, online news and information and social media weren't around when you were younger. Many in the younger generations have never been without them for at least much of their lives. Because they interract and behave differently than you or your generation did, doesn't mean their way is wrong. Actually, it has its strong points because where older single adults can often suffer from loneliness and depression, younger single folks are more engaged socially and as a result don't feel they're "missing out" if they're stuck alone at home on a Saturday night as older generations perhaps did. - And again, keep in mind that, for better or worse, many of the ways that "boomers" and older generations act and think and speak is just as puzzling and in some cases offputting, to younger generations.
For what it's worth, HR departments most covet some of those younger generations. A few weeks ago I read an article (can't seem to find it now) which said that the overwhelming majority of HR managers they interviewed, said they coveted Gen X and then Millenial employees the most. They found they have the best balance of solid productivity, honesty and understanding/proficiency at technologies currently in widest use. Obviously those "youngsters" are doing something right if that reputation in the workplace seems to be universal.
Interesting discussion, although straying away from the topic of Cleveland radio. But it started with reference to a station doing a live, local program. Live and local, isn't that what most on this forum bemoan the lack of in modern radio? To top that, it was on a low power, non-profit station on an outmoded band serving a small segment of a limited potential audience but they got response with this live, local program! Admittedly, it's not a big cross-section of the population, but the point is that live and local can get results if a station has properly defined its potential audience and proceeds to super-serve them.
Might this show the big operators that they may have prematurely dismissed live and local in their pursuit of profits and are leaving more potential profits on the table?
Might this show the big operators that they may have prematurely dismissed live and local in their pursuit of profits and are leaving more potential profits on the table?
Solid points, @Santa fe, but I think the larger point is that advertising dollars for radio, at least in medium markets and smaller just aren't there as they once were, and to truly do "live and local" properly, it costs $$ that, for many commercial stations at least, simply isn't there. I think I saw @DavidEduardo mentioned in one thread that, all things considered, ad dollars had shrunk by up to around 50% or more in some cases vs. what they were just a few decades ago. Combine that with more competition from both other OTA broadcasters and other ways people get entertainment and media in 2023 - Streaming, apps, podcasts, satellite, etc. and "live and local" can be tough for many commercial stations to do properly and do well in today's climate. Hats off to the independents who can still pull it off.
I can confirm that the lady hosting was named Debbie, and she is not a college student, at least in the traditional sense of being 18 to 22 years old. They played a Legal ID she had recorded, and she mentioned that she sounded like "a kid", and, while laughing, asked if she could make a new one.
WCCR was doing a live fundraising drive out of necessity, not because of a want.
Fundraising at that time must have been 'A-thing" because over the course of the same days, Ave Maria Radio and "Catholic Answers Live", which is a national program, also asked for donations.
I'm not sure I get the distinction between necessity and want. Stations want to stay on the air and need income to do that. I do have to admit that national organizations like EMF also raise millions from listeners and they haven't the slightest pretense of being local, albeit live. But it still shows the power of broadcast, even AM, to be able to separate people from their money if they're given sufficient motivation, whether to support a small non-profit, or to buy a sponsor's product because they heard it on their favorite station, AM, FM, TV, stream or satellite.
From what I could tell, both WCCR, locally, and "Catholic Answers Live", nationally, were pleased with the response they got from listeners on most days. "Catholic Answers Live" is not only on broadcast radio stations. They're on other platforms as well, such as YouTube.
The national shows often help the affiliates. I think that would have been Debbie Georgianni of "Take Two with Jerry [Usher] and Debbie"? They definitely participate in local station fundraisers.
Adjusted for inflation, radio revenue today is about 35% of what it was in the year 2000. Much of the decline is due to revenue not keeping pace with inflation, but the rest is due to advertisers taking more of their budget to new media and, even, the fact that the PPM showed radio listening levels to be about 30% lower than what we were accustomed to see in the diary survey.
I think that without the national ads [death insurance, boner pill ads, etc.] the broadcast companies would have shut off their AM sides years ago. Outside of the morning show, one AM station I listen to has the same damn ads repeated over and over again every commercial break.....but at least I don't have to hear Dr. Lederman cancer ads on it.....unless I'm listening to WCBS. He should be able to declare WCBS as a dependent on his tax forms.
The talk stations that have national / non-local hosts provided by a network or syndicator are required to carry network ads as compensation for providing the show. The network, then, sells ads which the affiliated stations have to carry. The station does not share in that revenue.
Last edited:
- Status