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Clear Channel

So they are basically going to run them like satellite channels? Same song on every single station in particular format with local ad breaks. Almost a Tru Oldies format en masse.

They will probably let a couple station remain with a local flavor while forcing the rest to satelite style formats. So maybe here Project and Bull based onthere new hire ar more locally focused and the rest just become automated?
 
Great...more voicetracking and cookie-cutter formats... :p

We saw how well that worked with WMAX 105.3, Mix 105.7, Cool 105.7, and the Peach to Lite transition, and again from Lite to Bull, and maybe even the blowup of 96 Rock.

"Everything you love to hate about satellite...now with COMMERCIALS!!!"

However, this shouldn't affect ATL much since CC doesn't have any stations of consequence here.
 
This is a sad thing for radio. But thus far, voicetracking and centralized programming really haven't affected ratings in a significant way. I realize Clear Channel's Atlanta ratings are poor, but the company's stations do really well in a number of markets.

PPM ratings and minute-by-minute analyses suggest that listeners to music stations want to hear music; audiences decrease immediately when talk comes on, on a music station.

If ratings declined, CC would take another look at the whole voicetracking/centralized thing. But it's going to take that kind of audience reaction to change things. Unfortunately that hasn't happened so far.
 
I know I'm an idiot...but it seems like even if all the music programming came from a centralized source, fed into the automation systems of every music station, you could still have local jocks (be they live or voicetracked) introing songs, doing local PSAs, injecting whatever local flavor they can. Jesus, remember when the FCC not only cared but mandated radio stations serve their local communities?

As far as talking on music stations, that's a chicken or the egg thing. Listeners only tune out talking that is talentless...which is exactly what stations created by erasing anybody that knew how to entertain and was making more than $12/hour.
 
jaxradidio said:
I know I'm an idiot...but it seems like even if all the music programming came from a centralized source, fed into the automation systems of every music station, you could still have local jocks (be they live or voicetracked) introing songs, doing local PSAs, injecting whatever local flavor they can. Jesus, remember when the FCC not only cared but mandated radio stations serve their local communities?

As far as talking on music stations, that's a chicken or the egg thing. Listeners only tune out talking that is talentless...which is exactly what stations created by erasing anybody that knew how to entertain and was making more than $12/hour.
Click to expand...

Not being in the biz, it seems to me that the problem with local jocks is a lot of local paychecks, unless you pay them part-time wages (and get what you pay for). You could have some "generic" personalities VT multiple stations full-time, even keeping with interchangeable jock stereotypes like:

For AOR: the Stoned Female, the Breathy Sexy Female, the Overcaffeinated Guy, the Rehabbed Metalhead, Mr./Ms. Rock Trivia, Drinking Buddy, Ms. One Of The Guys
For AC: The Gal Pal, The Sensitive Guy, The Fatherly Type, The Mellow Guy
For CHR: The Twentysomething Teenager, The Cute-Sounding Guy, The Party Animal
For country: The Neck As Red As They Come, Mr. Pressed and Ironed Blue Jeans, The Rodeo/Rasslin' Announcer, The Backbone of America

Get a good voice actor and save even more money by having him/her do multiple roles--you can always redo it if the actor breaks character, since it's not live.
 
jabba17 said:
Great...more voicetracking and cookie-cutter formats... :p

We saw how well that worked with WMAX 105.3, Mix 105.7, Cool 105.7, and the Peach to Lite transition, and again from Lite to Bull, and maybe even the blowup of 96 Rock.

"Everything you love to hate about satellite...now with COMMERCIALS!!!"

However, this shouldn't affect ATL much since CC doesn't have any stations of consequence here.
Click to expand...

You forgot Real Radio 105.3, Wild 96.7, 96.7 The Buzz, 105.3 The Buzz...did I forget anyone?
 
This is sooooooo not a shock to me. Here's why. Radio has the technology to do just what CC wants to do. One set of jocks on each station format across the country. From purely a business perspective, why not? You will save money and you have control and do things exactly the way you want. Local ratings, who needs 'em. We're national. Arbitron suffers because now they're not getting paid the big bucks for all those local rating services.

And don't think this could be limited to local staff. Nowadays, most radio business isn't conducted from the station. Every sales executive I know has an office at home and does most of their business by way of phone, fax, internet. Even sales calls! Traffic directors are also at risk. All you really need is a staff at a large corporate office to do the work on one system and now with companies like Marketron/Wicks/CBSI/Google, etc. giving stations the ability not only to invoice electronically but to work over the internet you don't need local staffing anymore.

In fact, the only local folk you'll probably need would be someone who works on a part-time basis (or on-call) to engineer the transmitter. Promotions...gone! It's very do-able and, I know of 2 companies that are working on that right now. One is CC and Disney. My guess is that most of the others have plans in the works to flip within the next two years.

Face it folks, live, local radio has died. Technology allows us to do this and we will. But here's something else to throw into the mix. I had the opportunity recently to interview a group of people for a project I'm working on. I asked them a series of questions related to listening habits, song types, radio formats, jocks, etc. Their ages were anywhere between 18-66. I discovered that 90%...90 PERCENT OF THOSE WHO TOOK THIS QUESTIONAIRE, didn't care about local radio hosts! They didn't give a darn about traffic or news reports. In fact, if anybody spoke for longer than 5 seconds, the channel was changed! What really shocked me was that of the 90% who responded that way, ALL OF THEM PREFERRED A RADIO STATION TO BE A PERSONAL JUKEBOX! No jocks, no commercials, no talk, just music. The other 10% were news/talk fans and they liked things just the way they were.

Eventually, my prediction will be that the government will be forced to step in and order large corporations to go back to the local markets and serve them because, as a national format, they can't serve the public interest. The only trouble with that right now is...the public isn't interested.
 
Grandson: "It's terrible. Clear Channel is trying this new thing by going all national with only a handful of talent in one or two places. You didn't have to suffer through what I'm going through, did you?"

Grandpa: "Nope, it's new. Totally different. I had NBC Red & Blue & CBS........totally different." ;)
 
Well one thing about it, if you've got one station per format that's getting fed to every market in the United States...that station better be programmed so well I'll need a cigarette after I'm done listening to it. In this age of personalized, content on demand, NOBODY can make a success of a homogenized, one size fits all music station.

The big national radio networks in the Jack Benny and Bob Hope days worked because that's all the entertainment there was, and radio was cool and new and in its infancy. Now we're going to try it again, WITHOUT talents like Jack Benny or Bob Hope, and when radio is not only not cool but you have your ipod for a TRULY personal jukebox.

This probably will happen, and all the other radio companies will follow like lemmings because that's all radio executives know to do, but it ain't about building a business or even increasing radio's profitability. It's about nothing but this ongoing crazed obsession with operating on nothing. Nobody and no company EVER got rich just by slashing the budget. Eventually, you've got to have something worth a damn to sell.
 
Interesting to note: are the people who want are happy with a jockless jukepbox any less "members of the public" than those who want talk and "public service"? I can't tell you how many non-radio friends of mine have no interest whatsoever in hearing a DJ, let alone caring if one is sitting in a chair somewhere in the city of license. One particular female I know equates a DJ with loud commercials, the minute one opens their mouth she says "stop shouting at me"!. With odds like this, we really expect the government step in and mandate that those who don't want DJs get DJs anyway? As though it was still 1968 and listeners couldn't plug in a CD til the "public service" goes away and the music comes back?

Sometimes I read these boards and am reminded of someone who, despite the fact that the auto plant closed years ago and the local union office is now a payday loan store, that "yep, the union's going to get my job back". Seems to be the same thing "the government's going to take all these stations away from the big bad radio companies and give them to other people, and they'll hire all the out of work DJs back."

Unfortunately, even if this happened (new owners) they would still have to get financing. Financial institutions know about things like hard drive automation and sateelites, and they want a return on their investent too. They won't be issuing blank checks to stuff stations with bodies.
 
trusty said:
Grandson: "It's terrible. Clear Channel is trying this new thing by going all national with only a handful of talent in one or two places. You didn't have to suffer through what I'm going through, did you?"

Grandpa: "Nope, it's new. Totally different. I had NBC Red & Blue & CBS........totally different." ;)
Click to expand...

No Mutual? :)

Local radio will survive, just not on the big sticks (not that much different than today). Then again, 100k FM/50k AM ceases to be local.
 
If the Obamable FCC decides to move forward with their localism initiative, CC is screwed. I hope they haven't cut their lobbying budget.
 
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