Change is needed

[Sammy Lee]

Radio needs to find ways to change with the times. I was reading a book on the future of radio and came up with some great ideas to make more money for Coast Radio Group. I was treated like I was stupid for even suggesting it. So, instead, I set out to create was is needed on my own. If I already had clients as CRG does, then it would be making money already, but I'm making sure that all of my ducks are in a row before I hit folks up for the money, that I hope will take away from those who treated me the way they did.
If there are any out of work radio folks that have a show idea and need a place to broadcast it, just hit me up.

I hope to beat them all to the punch by atleast a couple of years and will set the standard on this.

 

[DouglasB]

Radio needs to find ways to change with the times. I was reading a book on the future of radio and came up with some great ideas to make more money for Coast Radio Group. I was treated like I was stupid for even suggesting it. So, instead, I set out to create was is needed on my own. If I already had clients as CRG does, then it would be making money already, but I'm making sure that all of my ducks are in a row before I hit folks up for the money, that I hope will take away from those who treated me the way they did.
If there are any out of work radio folks that have a show idea and need a place to broadcast it, just hit me up.

I hope to beat them all to the punch by atleast a couple of years and will set the standard on this.

Whatever it is you said you were doing....I wish you all the best. I, think.

 

[jboyd]

Amazing restraint, Douglas B.!

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

I thought about poking some fun at what you wrote, and then it dawned on me that it reads a little bit like some of the goat droppings I author some times, so maybe I should just tip my hat and ride on.

When you get your vision take root, let me know. I want to see what it looks like as it grows.

 

[tomservo]

Change is needed

I've got two dimes and nickel, will that do?

 

[Fran]

Radio needs to find ways to change with the times.

Good luck. For what it’s worth the locally owned Mississippi family broadcasters are changing with the times and are doing very well against Wall Street’s corporate radio groups.

The Blakeneys ran Cumulus out of Hattiesburg and to this day Clear Channel has been playing second fiddle there. Dowdy’s country station is the perennial #1 biller in Biloxi. The Holladays own Meridian and operate a strong successful group in Jackson.

Hard to find the successes of the MS corporate groups. WJMI and WKXI were the big dogs way before Inner City bought them. How has CC helped MISS 103 or Z106? In spite of having great signals both Backyard and Triad are reportedly in a race to leave the state.

Best of luck in putting something together. Being a “ma and pa” operation in MS, seems to work just fine!

 

[Sammy Lee]

You know after re-reading what I wrote, I did kind of go off into a couple of different directions. :-[
I think if I stayed on the subject, I would have to say that radio is losing listeners to ipods, satilite and internet. We need to find a way to brand something that gets to them on these devices. And I mean the portible devices.
The internet has killed more than one industry. Look at stock brokers, why pay a guy $300 a trade when you can get it online for 7 dollars. Then there was the Travel agent. Not many more of them around anymore.
Once high speed internet is given to everyone, radio will be in real trouble if it doesnt adapt. High speed cell phones are already here and you can get most of your news, sports and information right on them, why would you need to listen to some local guys view on life to get the info you want anymore?
Take that there is barely a station here on the coast that is about the local people. I can think of Super Dave, he is about the only one that is active in the community and giving that information over the air daily.
Radio needs to get back to meeting the needs of the people that listen, and on demand.
OK, was that better? ???

 

[Sammy Lee]

Radio needs to find ways to change with the times.

Good luck. For what it’s worth the locally owned Mississippi family broadcasters are changing with the times and are doing very well against Wall Street’s corporate radio groups.

The Blakeneys ran Cumulus out of Hattiesburg and to this day Clear Channel has been playing second fiddle there. Dowdy’s country station is the perennial #1 biller in Biloxi. The Holladays own Meridian and operate a strong successful group in Jackson.

Hard to find the successes of the MS corporate groups. WJMI and WKXI were the big dogs way before Inner City bought them. How has CC helped MISS 103 or Z106? In spite of having great signals both Backyard and Triad are reportedly in a race to leave the state.

Best of luck in putting something together. Being a “ma and pa” operation in MS, seems to work just fine!

I cant speak for the rest of what you said, but as far as here on the coast, its not as happening as you say. If it were, people would not be losing their jobs to the lack of money coming in. I can bet you that 108 is not making more money than any other station here on the coast. Maybe in that building. But again that happens when you put all of your effort into one out of the five stations that you own. I also know that they cut their price for commercials in half to try and bring money in.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

I cant speak for the rest of what you said, but as far as here on the coast, its not as happening as you say. If it were, people would not be losing their jobs to the lack of money coming in.

A person who has just lost employment doesn't need advice to "go see the world". I don't know your background and I am not asking you to share it. As a guy who started out broadcasting in Arkansas, I can tell you that sometimes if you spread your wings and fly high enough and far enough, you see that birds build their nests differently in other forrests.

There may be some ways of doing broadcasting you won't see until you venture outside of Mississippi... even if nothing more than a short busman's holiday rather than actual moving, relocating.

There may be some ways of doing broadcasting you won't see until you venture away from a coast that has been battered by hurricanes.

And you could be swimming in a pool where the water has been discolored by one person or one family that has dominant ownership.

 

[Fran]

. . . .I can bet you that 108 is not making more money than any other station here on the coast.

. . . and the bet is for how much? I, like the Biloxi casinos, will gladly accept your money.

Once upon a time K-99 easily ruled the Gulf Coast in terms of revenues. Today (and for a while now) that crown belongs solely to Dowdy. . . leading by roughly half a million dollars annually. See for yourself, there are publications [i.e., Kagan] that report revenues. Simple common sense will tell you the “second ranked country” is not who agencies target in a small market. The short read: Dowdy #1. Even though CC has good news/talk ratings, revenue wise that format is on a par to having good urban ratings.

Biloxi, unlike Jackson, which is somewhat insulated because of its state capitol status, is depended on the casinos. Casino towns are now hurting. I can buy a Vegas package with airfare and a long weekend stay at a name hotel for under $500. . . $600 if I wanted a suite. Vegas or Biloxi. . . who do you think wins that one?? And yes, there will rate cutting going on in '09. . . by all stations.

 

[Powerpig56]

Morgan may be doing well with Kicker but I've said it before, and I'll say it again, he's the tightest SOB I've ever worked for.

Hey Fran, please tell Brian and Steve S. that Kevin Michaels says hello from DC.

 

[tomservo]

The question is, can a radio station actually make a profit and be fully staffed (or if we're talking small towns, staffed during the day)?

Are cuts happening because the money isn't there, or is it because the owners want to make as much money as possible and don't care about being a 'community service'?

 

[Sammy Lee]

You know its clear Fran that you are on his payroll, so I understand you trying to defend and make him sound larger than life. But, I was there until a month ago. I know that they are not bringing in much money. They have a sales staff thats not selling and only 5 people trying to run 5 radio stations. Out of those 5 stations only 3 of the day parts are live. They are hurting as a company. Morgan isnt hurting I'm sure.
Zach, I'm betting on community service needing to come back. Most people listen to a station that they relate to. Its not just the music they listen for. As I've said before the only show that I know that does that at all is Super Dave's. He is really into the events on the coast.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

The question is, can a radio station actually make a profit and be fully staffed (or if we're talking small towns, staffed during the day)?

Are cuts happening because the money isn't there, or is it because the owners want to make as much money as possible and don't care about being a 'community service'?

At the risk of sounding a bit arrogant, let me paint for you a different picture of radio and what to expect from radio either as a participant or a listener.

Sammy, it sounds like you have been working a market that may have a little more opportunity than some parts of the state... like where Zach is... or was when he and exchanged some thoughts last year.

The first new paradigm is: What does it mean to be fully staffed. If you are thinking like the 1950s, the 1960s when a person was at the station at all hours, probably doing something live 12 to 16 times per hour while some one up at the front desk took care of traffic and billing and (if you were in a really thriving station) a news person was delivering half a dozen newscasts baked-from-scratch and also spending the rest of the day and night actually going to government buildings and the chamber of commerce and sitting in on city council meetings, no that probably CAN't be done, but more importantly, SHOULD NOT be done today.

That would be like telling all farmers in Mississippi they should look to their Amish neighbors for guidance on how to farm and sell their tractors and return to walking behind a horse.

Radio in that era, required by regulations in that era to have an operator on duty, hired a lot of people who were as green and inexperienced as I was. And our programming showed it. Most of us wanted to stay with the business, but found that demands of raising a family took most of us to some other line of work. Radio was a training ground where green-beans were groomed so other businesses could make use of us as we matured.

Today a station, when it needs help, rather than hire someone fresh out of school may need to look for the person that has gained some maturity and knowledge while working for McDonalds or Best Buy or teaching school or driving a bread truck in the community.

Find the person with some humor, some imagination, but don't ask them to walk behind a horse. Teach them how to be the master of some automation equipment that allows them to get out in the community two to three hours at a time and then spend an hour having a fantastic conversation with Earlene the Machine or whatever name you give your station's programming device. GIVE IT A NAME. MAKE FUN OF IT. Give each staff member a small digital recorder and if business is good, a broadband cellphone that lets them go on the air from anywhere they go. Most really small town stations can and must figure out how to function with 3 key people and a handful of part time "stringers". And don't ask them to walk behind the horse and shovel manure at the end of day before they go home.

 

[Fran]

. . . You know its clear Fran that you are on his payroll. . .

You would have to be better at radio than you are at betting and/or guessing.

As far as Morgan being larger than life. . . before deregulation Morgan was getting his butt kicked regularly by every operator in town. The total ineptness of the Wall Street gang trying to play radio on the Gulf Coast led to Morgan becoming the radio champ of Biloxi. It is that simple.

Whether or not Dowdy radio is good, is not for me to decide. But given the alternative choices, I’d pick a local Mississippian over the out-of-state bean counters pretending to be know anything at all about radio. Trust me on this, without exception, they ALL wish that they hadn't overpaid to be in Mississippi.

As far as your bet. . . r u paying in cash or pay pal?