Anybody want to post something?

[davideduardo]

Re: If four companies own most of the stations in town...

> > > Contrariwise, if 30 stations are run by two dozen
> > > different (unconnected) people or more, there will
> > > be many more points of view, listener choices,
> > > advertiser choices, and employment opportunities.
> >
> > No, there will be the equivalent of the late 70's.. 5
> > beautiful music stations and 4 ACs. The individual owners
> go
> > for safe formats.
>
> We also had big band, WDBF, owned by Vic Knight.
> Now we have no big band.

And that is for the same reason we no longer have beautiful music... the format is no longer viable. On this, I am not guessing. I programmed, at one point, nearly 80 bueautiful music stations. Formats have a life span, and bueautiful, like big band, standards, classical, oldies, etc., are dead.
>
> And classical WTMI, owned by Marlin Broadcasting.
> Now we have no classical.

Same thing. with the exception of maybe 5 markets, a commercail classical station is no longer viable. On this one, I am not guessing. I owned one, and also managed one in the past.
>
> And oldies WAXY-FM, owned by RKO.
> Now we have only post-65 oldies.

Like standards, classical, disco, beautiful, standnrds. The format, playing 50's and early 60's oldies, is no longer viable as it appeals to people that nearly no advertisers want to reach.
>
> WFTL and WLOD were among the beautiful music stations.
> Now we have none.

WLYF, 106.7, WYOR, etc. There were, at one time, 5 of ém in Miami. The format is not viable. There is no new music, and since most of the stuff that existed consisted of versions of 60's and 70's pop songs, there is no relevance. Again, I syndicated the format to nearly 80 markets, some with populations of over 5 to 6 million, and the format is dead.
>
> We even had jazz on WBUS in Miami Beach.
> Now we just have jazz on WDNA, a public
> access jazz station deep in the bowels of south
> Dade that's not heard in most of Broward.

My first job was at a jazz FM. The format was so viable that we could do the logs a month or two in advance as there was no business that could be convinced ot advertise. Real jazz has never been viable as a format.
>
> No, radio is not better today. More profitable
> for the fortunate few who own shares, maybe.

Actually, probably 50% of the population of the US own shares in radio and media companies, since the average company in this sector is mostly owned by mutual funds, retirement funds, pension funds and insurance companies.

All the larger radio companies are publicly owned and not by individuals.

And... for the last 45 to 50 years, over half US radio stations have been unprofitable.

 

[PTWorm]

Re: If four companies own most of the stations in town...

>
> If four companies own most of the stations in town...
>
> And someone like DE, who says that nobody likes anything
> but the biggest hits, is running each one...
>
> There will be no room for anyone who wants to try a
> different idea.
>
> And very stale, limited playlists aiming for the
> lowest common denominator.
>
> Contrariwise, if 30 stations are run by two dozen
> different (unconnected) people or more, there will
> be many more points of view, listener choices,
> advertiser choices, and employment opportunities.
>
> What could possibly be wrong with that?
>
Don't misunderstand me - I'm all for having multiple stations, rather than national corporate-programmed clones. But the fact of the matter is that if the market becomes too diluted with stations, there will simply not be enough business to support them all. Like it or not, ad buyers don't give radio the same status as either newspaper or TV; they have an amount they're going to spend on a campaign, and that's that. They may put that all into one or two stations or spread their ad all around the market. Over time, there are some stations that will JUST NOT MAKE ENOUGH to sustain themselves. Niche formats appeal to only niche demos, and so unless 1) the station has a very generous advertiser trying to reach that demo, or 2) the station has some revenue source other than advertising, those that appeal to the "least common denominator" and hence widest range of demographics, will always be the ones that succeed. That's just economics.