Clear Channel Consolidates Imaging Production

[TheBigA]

Oh, their customers can tell. That's one major reason why revenue is down.

Revenue is down everywhere. It's down in TV, newspapers, all media. That's why we're in a depression.

The only thing their customers care about is getting the lowest CPM. They don't care about station imaging.

 

[yugoidar]

Interesting analogy because there's a pizza price war going on right now.  Godfathers Pizza is selling a large pepperoni for $5.  That's half what Dominos and Papa Johns charges, and below cost. 

From everything I've seen, your "cost" of making a pizza is way off.  Love to see you back up your claim, which you rarely do. 

If you check it out on the net, you'll realize how wrong you are.  Nowhere have I seen a figure of even close to $5 plus to make a large pepperoni and cheese pie.  But that's pizza and this is about radio, so do what you really do best - ARGUE ON!

 

[calguy]

Pizza, interesting analogy. But as I've said before, radio is also to blame for screwing itself up.Yeah, yeah BigA, it's a crappy economy and these big corporations bear no responsibility for turning out sub par product. Yeah, right...

Here's one for you. If you bought a Ferrari, gutted it, replaced the engine with one from a Kia and swapped out all the quality parts with cheaper ones, would it still be a Ferrari? I think not, and I think your customers would know too... Take a great radio station and replace all of it's parts with cheaper ones and... See my point.

Like I've said many times before, you get what you pay for. Fortunately for CC they have put some very talented people in those positions. Sadly, from what I hear, they're not making any more money for the work and they still have to image the stations they were producing for on top of their other duties. Why would they agree to do it? What choice do they have if they want to keep working there? They have no choice other than to quit and few will walk away from a full time job in this climate...

Now, how 'bout some pizza?

 

[TheBigA]

Pizza, interesting analogy. But as I've said before, radio is also to blame for screwing itself up.Yeah, yeah BigA, it's a crappy economy and these big corporations bear no responsibility for turning out sub par product. Yeah, right...

If you're on the air, then YOU bear some responsibility for sub-par product, no?

I've been doing this a long time, and I've been proud to say that the budget has never driven my creativity. Radio has never been a function of money. Those who got into it for that reason made a big mistake. I do it because it's what I do. Not because of a paycheck.

 

[calguy]

Pizza, interesting analogy. But as I've said before, radio is also to blame for screwing itself up.Yeah, yeah BigA, it's a crappy economy and these big corporations bear no responsibility for turning out sub par product. Yeah, right...

If you're on the air, then YOU bear some responsibility for sub-par product, no?

I've been doing this a long time, and I've been proud to say that the budget has never driven my creativity. Radio has never been a function of money. Those who got into it for that reason made a big mistake. I do it because it's what I do. Not because of a paycheck.

So you work cheap? You don't need the cash? Everyone needs a paycheck. Personally I've been a major market talent for 3 decades, so I'm pretty sure my work isn't sub-par, but I hear a lot of sub-par product now days. I'm a radio guy, it's what I do because I love, breathe it and will do it till I can't anymore, but I won't work for free, that's just stupid.

 

[SirRoxalot]

The other part of that equation is how MUCH you have to do. When so many positions are cut, and your workload goes up to fill those gaps, you can't give each piece of production as much time and attention that you would have formerly. When copywriters are cut, and sales people are generating their own copy, you aren't going to get same quality of production. When programmers become responsible for more and more stations, and promotions people are cut, they can't produce the same quality of copy for imaging.

Spreadsheet jockeys see numbers, and they can't seem to plug artistry into a column. If they can't plug it into a column, it must not matter. Yet, that's what makes the qualitative difference between stations.

 

[calguy]

The other part of that equation is how MUCH you have to do. When so many positions are cut, and your workload goes up to fill those gaps, you can't give each piece of production as much time and attention that you would have formerly. When copywriters are cut, and sales people are generating their own copy, you aren't going to get same quality of production. When programmers become responsible for more and more stations, and promotions people are cut, they can't produce the same quality of copy for imaging.

Spreadsheet jockeys see numbers, and they can't seem to plug artistry into a column. If they can't plug it into a column, it must not matter. Yet, that's what makes the qualitative difference between stations.

Couldn't agree more. The operators talk about losing audience, but can't see that their product is inferior and the more they cut, the more they heap extra jobs on people the more inferior it sounds. I could give you examples, but that would reveal who I am and my ability to tell you what's going on...

 

[board_manager]

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