Clear Channel To Cut $400M From Budget

[Bongwater]

If you are KZOK, and can make the same revenue from Mr. Slaton's former slot with either automation and voice tracking, or a younger DJ at a lesser cost, then the decision is simple. Modern radio listeners listen to a classic rock station for the music, and can care less about what DJ interrupts every quarter hour to read a concert calendar or give a weather forecast.

Well ANYONE who couldn't care less about listeners could come up with that.

But please don't blame the rest of us as advertisers find MORE EFFECTIVE means for their dollars. As radio continues it's suicidal quest for phantom "revenue" in this model, there will be other, more engaging technologies out there that will deliver to them what radio simply cannot do anymore.

Slaton was significantly more than the concert calender/weather spitting, liner card reading talentless hacks you think is the "future" of radio. If you think for one iota of a nanosecond that is any kind of future for radio, like I said, don't blame the rest of us when advertisers begin bailing out en masse for a PROFESSIONAL medium to spend their advertising budgets on. They have options today that have ENGAGING content and deliver RESULTS. With times as tight as they are, who needs an archaic and obsolete, stuffy and unresponsive medium as corporate radio today?

In other words: Who needs IT?

When the guys upstairs figure this out (and they will....eventually, when this whole scam INEVITABLY fails.), who's going to welcome you with the same warmth and empathy we have given Steve Slaton? A man who has EARNED it and THEN SOME.

Your dog maybe (and even that's questionable.) But you're just a dime a million to the rest of us (we already know who we are to you. And do we care?.........)

 

[Ron_Obvious]

I have to agree with you, Bongwater. As far as radio goes, with gurus like this, who needs enemies?

 

[IndigoCoyote]

Guru-

As far as I can tell, the only difference we really have is that you do not believe that a long established voice on a classic rock station presents an opportunity for long term viability, and I do. Maybe there's a "romantic" part of me that hopes you are wrong. But maybe I have my head in the sand.

DJDan tells us that these guys are always top billing in this market, and they certainly seem strong in their demos. Even with a shrinking ad spend, the only way that they are losing money is to service a huge debt. Whoops...that huge debt spent by buying too many stations on margin might have something to do with it...

If I want "classic rock" there are plenty of places for me to go. But only one place where my buddy sits in the passenger seat on my way home from work. My buddy is gone, so guess it's time to turn on one of 4 commercial free classic rock stations on Sirius. Why not? I get as much personality (none) with no commercials and more musical choices.

To me, KZOK is a brand. And brand dilution is a GIANT problem for long term success in our industry. Personality is what separates us from an IPOD.

 

[Bongwater]

KZOK was once a VALUED set of call letters. The House That Norm Gregory, Nils Von Veh. Steve Larson, Connie Cole and Rick Shannon built that Steve Slaton remodeled into the powerhouse it is today.

But for how long? Without Slaton's guidance, KZOK is just another dull, run of the mill, heard one you've heard 'em all, classic rock station. And it's starting to become PAINFULLY apparent.

KISW does well, but when you're the only headbanging GUY rock station in town, you'll always do well. As long as you don't lose that headbanging part. Heavy metal is alive and well and as long as they don't dismiss that generally UNPROFITABLE, alienated part of teen culture, they'll do OK. For the twentysomething guys.....they age too, y'know.......

But most young people I know (which is a LOT - I hire a lot of them) don't even listen to the radio anymore "What's a KISW?" I hear from a lot of them. Honestly. And when they do hear radio, they get bored and ask if there's something they can plug their iPods in.

So much for radio's Big Golden Future as the medium of MODERN youth.

I can say this much, if you're a rock station not playing Insane Clown Posse or H.I.M. regularly, you're COMPLETELY out of touch TODAY. Not a big ICP fan here either. Fact is, THIS is what kids like today - 100% radio free. This is what you get when big radio is no longer a medium that UNITES youth. Something else will. Live with it.

And personally, I'd rather hear pop-up pirates that play something like local rock, indie or punk, something these kids can see and get to know than THIS crap. Or the crap that leaks off most commercial rock radio today that wants $50 bucks for the CHEAPEST tickets.......

Who can blame younger people for feeling disenfranchised from corporate rock radio today? Nickelback was a great band for 2001. Daughtry was a great Nickelback CLONE for 2007.

Yawn...Anything else?

 

[mightymoose]

So, if I may, going back to the title of this thread. Who actually got cut from Clear Channel's Seattle cluster?? Anyone got names??

 

[TheBigA]

I posted this somewhere else, but it seems appropriate here, given this conversation.

I'm noticing a very obvious disconnect between certain groups of listeners, specifically of stations like Indie 103, or G-Rock in NJ, and maybe even KZOK in Seattle, and (on the other hand) the owners of these radio stations who need to attract larger numbers of people because that's what advertisers want. The problem with that is the smaller group is way more passionate than the larger group. So in order to attract advertising, these stations have to forsake a passionate audience base. There seems to me, just as an observer of it all, the need to find a way to translate audience passion into a quantifiable thing that an advertiser might want. What I'm talking about is something that isn't qualitifiable by PPMs or any traditional ratings. But radio needs to continue to attract the smaller passionate audience, as well as the larger more passive audience, in order to exist. We just have to find a way to translate audience passion into sponsorship dollars. Ideas anyone?

 

[mightymoose]

Well it used to be that an advertiser would target a specific promotion on one station. Only that stations cume would know about it. When properly done it DID NOT involve listeners going to the advertiser and saying "I heard on KRAP you were giving 2% off on yada-yada-yada".

Customers would come bustling into, or call, the advertisers business and lapp up whatever product or service was being promoted. But that's LOCAL radio and we all know that local radio doesn't work anymore, just syndicated shows, broadcast everywhere, full of generic content.

 

[Steenman]

Hi. Unless you all know something I don't, KZOK is currently owned by CBS, not CC and the title of this post is "Clear Channel to Cut $400M" so perhaps you all meant this for the "Slaton" thread the next post down?

That being said, does anyone KNOW the local Seattle impact of the rumored CC cuts? I understand KJR Am/Fm sales combining, several more salespeople and a manager not being brought over from the KBKS acquistion, all good people. What about the programming side, what's the word there and what's the final body count here? Anybody?

 

[TheBigA]

Customers would come bustling into, or call, the advertisers business and lapp up whatever product or service was being promoted.

That's a wonderful story. So what happens when all the local businesses of any consequence, from the pizza shop to the sub shop to the hair salon to the hardware store are no longer locally owned? What happens when downtown closes and everyone moves to the mall? Then what?

 

[mightymoose]

That's a wonderful story. So what happens when all the local businesses of any consequence, from the pizza shop to the sub shop to the hair salon to the hardware store are no longer locally owned? What happens when downtown closes and everyone moves to the mall? Then what?

Hmmmm, even in the face of Walmart, Target, Supercuts, Pizza Hut, Papa Johns, Home Depot, Lowes, Krispy Kreme, Safeway, etc, etc this scenario seems highly unlikely. Remember that SMALL businesses are still a very important factor in the economy, though we ofter hear only about the GM's, Ford's Chrysler's, Boeing and WAMU. But IF all the local businesses of consequence were actually owned by an absentee owner my guess is that some local guy would come along and start a competing business to exploit one of their weaknesses.

But I don't have to be concerned about that now thanks to LARGE corporate radio owners who think they have all the answers,. So let them figure their way out of the woods while their ad dollars are shrinking like a 4 day old balloon.

 

[aunti-terrestrial]

I posted this somewhere else, but it seems appropriate here, given this conversation.

I'm noticing a very obvious disconnect between certain groups of listeners, specifically of stations like Indie 103, or G-Rock in NJ, and maybe even KZOK in Seattle, and (on the other hand) the owners of these radio stations who need to attract larger numbers of people because that's what advertisers want. The problem with that is the smaller group is way more passionate than the larger group. So in order to attract advertising, these stations have to forsake a passionate audience base. There seems to me, just as an observer of it all, the need to find a way to translate audience passion into a quantifiable thing that an advertiser might want. What I'm talking about is something that isn't qualitifiable by PPMs or any traditional ratings. But radio needs to continue to attract the smaller passionate audience, as well as the larger more passive audience, in order to exist. We just have to find a way to translate audience passion into sponsorship dollars. Ideas anyone?

Isn't that what niche formatting was supposed to be all about? Superserving narrower, but more passionate, numbers of P1s in order to drive them directly to their target advertisers?

 

[TheBigA]

Isn't that what niche formatting was supposed to be all about? Superserving narrower, but more passionate, numbers of P1s in order to drive them directly to their target advertisers?

Nice theory. What happened to the advertisers? These are stations that are mainly delivering men in their 20s and 30s. I understand that's a tough audience to reach. And these stations can't make money.

 

[aunti-terrestrial]

Isn't that what niche formatting was supposed to be all about? Superserving narrower, but more passionate, numbers of P1s in order to drive them directly to their target advertisers?

Nice theory. What happened to the advertisers? These are stations that are mainly delivering men in their 20s and 30s. I understand that's a tough audience to reach. And these stations can't make money.

Like I said, didn't you guys tell us that superserving P1s and targeting narrow demos with niche programming would superserve them and the clients by and driving the P1s directly to their target advertisers? You mean it didn't work?

 

[the brakes]

F.Y.I. there is an interesting topic on the Atlanta board about whether or not you should accept a job offer from a Clear Channel station if one was offered to you. I'd sure think twice!

 

[diva chick]

The thing that REALLY sucks about all this is that most radio operators are not LOSING money. They're just not making as much as they want to. Entercom's Q3 profits went down 6% 2008-2007, from a profit of $122.9 million to $115.6 million (source All Access). Now that's just sad, isn't it? Poor them.....

 

[TheBigA]

The thing that REALLY sucks about all this is that most radio operators are not LOSING money. They're just not making as much as they want to. Entercom's Q3 profits went down 6% 2008-2007, from a profit of $122.9 million to $115.6 million (source All Access). Now that's just sad, isn't it? Poor them.....

Let's put it in human context rather than corporate context.

Say you're a waitress who made $30K in tips in 2007.

Then in 2008, you made $20K in tips.

Are you losing money? Or making money? And is the 10K drop a problem? Are you freakin' out?

 

[Mack Daddy]

Isn't that what niche formatting was supposed to be all about? Superserving narrower, but more passionate, numbers of P1s in order to drive them directly to their target advertisers?

Nice theory. What happened to the advertisers? These are stations that are mainly delivering men in their 20s and 30s. I understand that's a tough audience to reach. And these stations can't make money.

KPTK makes a ton of money with Dan Tullis/Joel Clark ads. Also the IRS tax resolution guy who spits when he talks. And lots of talk about co enzyme ke U-20!

 

[AQH]

KPTK makes a ton of money with Dan Tullis/Joel Clark ads. Also the IRS tax resolution guy who spits when he talks. And lots of talk about co enzyme ke U-20!

How much money do they make?

You know KPTK is owned by CBS, not Clear Channel, right?

 

[Mack Daddy]

The thing that REALLY sucks about all this is that most radio operators are not LOSING money. They're just not making as much as they want to. Entercom's Q3 profits went down 6% 2008-2007, from a profit of $122.9 million to $115.6 million (source All Access). Now that's just sad, isn't it? Poor them.....

Oh, that's just devastating! How will they eat? Or clothe themselves?