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2020 iHeart bloodbath....

TheBigA said:
I'd say it's inter-related. When you say the product has deteriorated, what do you mean? We've experienced a complete generational turnover during that time, so what appealed to boomers and even GenX is no longer relevant. The music has certainly experienced a major change, when you compare pop hits 20 years ago vs. now. And the way we use media has changed. So has the product really deteriorated, or has it just changed to suit the changing audience?

As I often ask, who are all the personalities on Spotify and Pandora? If that's where the radio audience is going, maybe that's what the radio audience wants.
Click to expand...

Why do I say the product has deteriorated? I did not say definitively it has. I said it was my opinion; whether it has is subjective. Reasons why I feel it's deteriorated include 1) Less talented jocks around the clock with the possible exception of morning drive 2) Less entertainment and information content, 3) Much less conversation about and connection to the local community, 4) Less interaction with local listeners, 5) Less creativity in promotions and contests, 6) Lesser opportunity for local listeners to win prizes. I was not referring to the music; contemporary radio plays currently-popular music as it should.

I agree that the way we use media has changed and as I alluded to in my post above, digital technology has disrupted our lives in numerous way. There are so many more ways to listen to music that some audience erosion was inevitable. A lot of new shiny objects are out there.

Your feeling that terrestrial radio changed to suit the changing audience is an insightful one. However, in my opinion (and only my opinion), the objective of the downsizing that started at the dawn of consolidation, accelerated when Lee and Bain entered the picture, and is continuing now was not to reflect the changing tastes of listeners; it was to save money. I can speak only for myself, but the thought I've had many times in recent years is, "With radio deteriorating so much, I'm going to start streaming."
 
Re:

I completely agree with you, BigA, that radio stations in many cases do a horrible job of engaging with their listeners on social media platforms.

In the vast majority of cases, there is zero or near zero dialogue between station staff and listeners. It's as if the station /company is AFRAID to interact with the audience. Are there gag orders imposed? I've seriously wondered that. Some radio stations (not necessarily iHM stations) even conceal visitors' Facebook wall posts from public view!

Of course, with companies such as iHurt finding every way possible to eliminate live & local air talent, the above trend will only get worse...not better.
 
RoddyFreeman said:
Reasons why I feel it's deteriorated include 1) Less talented jocks around the clock with the possible exception of morning drive
Click to expand...

That goes back to the question at the end of my post: Name all the talented personalities on Spotify and Pandora. If they're not on FM, and there's a demand for talented jocks, then where are they? If money is the issue, Apple & Amazon has no shortage of it, and they could hire all the talented jocks as they're spending money on video content. They're not doing it because there's no demand. When you start something new, you can define what it is. So the streamers are now defining what people want from radio.

The other point is the antagonism to commercials. Listeners want fewer commercials. We see that in study after study. The problem is there is no other revenue stream. So in order to cut the commercial load, radio has to cut the costs. When David Field & Entercom took over the CBS stations, that was one of his pledges. He's now doing commercial-free days on some of his stations. But he's also cutting the talent in mid-days, evenings, and nights. There's a direct connection between the amount of money a daypart makes and the amount a station spends. So if you're an on-air talent, there's more money in mornings or in syndication. That's where the talented radio people are going.

You bring up Lee & Bain, and they left radio a long time ago. So did all the other investment companies. But consider that Bain was the main investor behind Home Depot. Their investment in Home Depot forever changed the hardware business. I remember as a kid going with my dad to the local hardware store. That was the regular Saturday activity. Kids today don't have that experience. They go to the Home Depot or Lowes. Are people angry about the loss of their local hardware stores the way they're angry about the loss of local radio? No. Home Depot sales are up. Home Depot is among the top advertisers keeping radio alive. So yes, things are changing. They've changed in a lot of ways.
 
MarkW said:
In the vast majority of cases, there is zero or near zero dialogue between station staff and listeners. It's as if the station /company is AFRAID to interact with the audience. Are there gag orders imposed? I've seriously wondered that. Some radio stations (not necessarily iHM stations) even conceal visitors' Facebook wall posts from public view!
Click to expand...

Part of that comes from the talent themselves. I saw where one station in Michigan was under fire because someone tweeted that they can't play two songs by female artists back to back. It wasn't true, but how do you take something like that back? It became a national story, picked up by other websites as an example of what's wrong with radio. Social media works both ways. But most of the stations I know encourage air staff using social media. What else are they doing while the music is playing? They're not the ones programming the Selector. They're not picking the music. They're not creating entertaining skits or comedy bits. So they should be engaging with listeners on social media. If it's not happening, it's not because they're being gagged.
 
TheBigA said:
You bring up Lee & Bain, and they left radio a long time ago. So did all the other investment companies.
Click to expand...

iHeart Media, Inc is still a subsidiary of Bain Capital and Lee Thomas Partners. When the leveraged buyout occurred in 2008, the subsidiary was established as CC Holdings, Inc. It took on its current name in 2014.
 
Re:

I saw where one station in Michigan was under fire because someone tweeted that they can't play two songs by female artists back to back. It wasn't true, but how do you take something like that back? It became a national story, picked up by other websites as an example of what's wrong with radio.
Click to expand...

Yup. That was 98 WKCQ in Saginaw. GREAT STATION with local ownership and live & local personalities...even on the weekend.

I do agree that the Tweet was dumb; it was in public view. The common listener - and obviously some influential artists (!!!) - didn't pick up on the satire.

Even the Detroit News published a story on the brouhaha:
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/e...nequality-saginaw-country-station/4510833002/
 
TheBigA said:
That goes back to the question at the end of my post: Name all the talented personalities on Spotify and Pandora. If they're not on FM, and there's a demand for talented jocks, then where are they? If money is the issue, Apple & Amazon has no shortage of it, and they could hire all the talented jocks as they're spending money on video content. They're not doing it because there's no demand. When you start something new, you can define what it is. So the streamers are now defining what people want from radio.

The other point is the antagonism to commercials. Listeners want fewer commercials. We see that in study after study. The problem is there is no other revenue stream. So in order to cut the commercial load, radio has to cut the costs. When David Field & Entercom took over the CBS stations, that was one of his pledges. He's now doing commercial-free days on some of his stations. But he's also cutting the talent in mid-days, evenings, and nights. There's a direct connection between the amount of money a daypart makes and the amount a station spends. So if you're an on-air talent, there's more money in mornings or in syndication. That's where the talented radio people are going.

You bring up Lee & Bain, and they left radio a long time ago. So did all the other investment companies. But consider that Bain was the main investor behind Home Depot. Their investment in Home Depot forever changed the hardware business. I remember as a kid going with my dad to the local hardware store. That was the regular Saturday activity. Kids today don't have that experience. They go to the Home Depot or Lowes. Are people angry about the loss of their local hardware stores the way they're angry about the loss of local radio? No. Home Depot sales are up. Home Depot is among the top advertisers keeping radio alive. So yes, things are changing. They've changed in a lot of ways.
Click to expand...
Why would Spotify have DJ's. It's a massive CD collection in the palm of your hands.

To me the problem with radio is voice tracking. Years ago the DJ's would take live requests and interact with the listener. Now it's all preprogrammed.
 
https://www.ajc.com/blog/radiotvtal...lt-105-terry-the-beat/LYOBYeYJEmgrwkRAac3X4H/

Here is the local fallout on the Iheart cuts in Atlanta.

The company has not released a complete list of those departed. It even took down the on-air schedules of all its radio stations earlier this week when the cuts happened. iHeart also opened itself to mockery and cold corporate speak by using the term “dislocations” for layoffs or cuts.

Atlanta - where iHeart owns talk 640/WGST-AM, country 94.9/The Bull, top 40 Power 96.1, hip-hop 96.7/The Beat, Latin Hits Z105.3 and Alt 105.7 - didn’t appear to get hit too hard.

Two full-time staffers I have been able to confirm were let go were Alt 105.7’s mid-day host and assistant program director Wendy Rollins and 96.7/The Beat mid-day host Terry J (full name Terry J. Griffin Jr.). Their bios have been taken down off their respective websites.
Click to expand...
 
RadioPatrol said:
https://www.ajc.com/blog/radiotvtal...lt-105-terry-the-beat/LYOBYeYJEmgrwkRAac3X4H/

Here is the local fallout on the Iheart cuts in Atlanta.
Click to expand...

The trade press is putting the number of employees let go at around 1,000. The cutbacks were all in the programming/on-air area.

Rumors are out there that market managers, especially in medium and small markets, are next as iHeart is under pressure to slim down before Liberty Media acquires the company. At this point this is only a rumor.
 
TheBigA said:
That's not correct, unless you consider engineering to be programming. In addition, the entire structure of regional VPs was eliminated.
Click to expand...

Were Regional VP's let go?

I was told that the Regional VP's will keep their home/major markets, and that the smaller markets they were overseeing will now report to one of the Excellence Centers. That's the case here in Atlanta, where the Market Manager was also over Columbus, Macon and Albany, GA; but will now be over just Atlanta.

I could have been told wrong.
 
I don't think this has anything to do with iHeart, but Entercom let a few more executives go over the past couple weeks. (They have been under-the-radar doing this for a year or so.)

Locally, Mike Fowler was the first one to go. He was the Vice President of Sales at V103, 92.9 The Game, and Star94.
 
RoddyFreeman said:
Were Regional VP's let go?

I was told that the Regional VP's will keep their home/major markets, and that the smaller markets they were overseeing will now report to one of the Excellence Centers. That's the case here in Atlanta, where the Market Manager was also over Columbus, Macon and Albany, GA; but will now be over just Atlanta.

I could have been told wrong.
Click to expand...

"Excellence Centers"
 
HerbTarlek said:
I don't think this has anything to do with iHeart, but Entercom let a few more executives go over the past couple weeks. (They have been under-the-radar doing this for a year or so.)

Locally, Mike Fowler was the first one to go. He was the Vice President of Sales at V103, 92.9 The Game, and Star94.
Click to expand...


IIRC there has been several sales "executives" get the ax at Colony Square stations.
 
POWER 96 and 94.9 The Bull Cuts

BUMPING THIS NOW...

https://radioinsight.com/headlines/200744/another-round-of-layoffs-at-iheartmedia/

Well there has been more cuts from I-Heart Atlanta

CHR “Power 96.1” WWPW loses all of its local talent.

“PK In The Morning” comes to an end as PK and Denise Kalentzis and Duryan Smith exit. PK & Denise joined WWPW in January 2016 after stints in mornings at KKHH Houston and KXJM Portland, the latter of which syndicated their show through the 2000s.

Ryan Maddox exits as APD/MD/afternoon host at WWPW. Maddox joined WWPW at its launch in 2012 and moved into his current role in 2014. He previously worked at WXXL Orlando and WFLZ Tampa.

At Country “94.9 The Bull” WUBL, ‘Otis’ Maher departs as Music Director/afternoon host after just shy of four years. Otis joined WUBL in 2017 after stints in CHR as APD/MD of WNKS Charlotte and PD of WDJX Louisville.

Of note, 94.9 The Bull was 9th Overall in the November Ratings recently with a 3.7 up from a 3.5 and ahead of main competitor 101.5 which was a 2.7 this month

Power 96 was 12th overall in the November Ratings with a 2.8, up from a 2.6; Q99.7 is right ahead of them with a 3.0
 
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