Compromizzzzz-ing Past The Point Of Recovery.

[Scooter Lesley]

Readers, Posters, Members of the Think Tank, and the few pud-pullin' hecklers who make sport of this discussion board,...whom I relish to meet some day: Since we have Satellite Radio...Pee-ing in our Cherios, on a daily basis, what should Commercial, Corp Radio do to surrrrrr-vive? With both billing, and listenership down,...HOW do they fix what is obviously broken? As we roll into month #2 of this new year, I do feel a bit opto that some major changes will be made. My skinny is this: The small, over-played, burnt, toated, Consultant/Record label suggested, playlists have drove your listeners away. When you are fortunate enough to sell a flight of spots, no one hears the ads because no one is listening. The advertiser gets a slow, little or even no return on/for their ad dollar, and the follow-up sales call is thwarted with a "No"! This is a wall that should not exist, and it's all birthed by the Poor Programming of small, sickeningly stale playlists. Another problem is collections. How can you collect, when the client is broke? As I listed in the subject space,...Compromizzzzz-ing Past The Point Of Recovery. If something is not done, some of these stations will have to be sold or go dark, waiting on the new owner to pay the deposit on the meter base. Maybe I have spouted, harped, vented, or ranted on this subject before, but it is THE TRUTH, and it is very important. Most of these stations can thrive again, but the right moves need to be fleet-footed on double banana peels, before time runs out.
So,...What-a y'all think?

 

[BostonRandy]

Hey, Scooter - I'm a big fan of your missives. I wish I could be as optimistic as you when it comes to the future of terrestrial radio. The only way radio will flourish is that the big corporations get out of the biz. I've worked for three of the "big guys" and also for "Mom & Pops". Passion for the craft started its slow bloodletting when private owners took the big $$$ offers and technology became a cheap substitute for talent.

Also, the FM dial is saturated in most of the top 200 markets. The pie (billing) is getting smaller and the individual shares are barely enough to recognize a swallow.

If radio was proactive in the late 90s, perhaps, the biz could have adapted to the new technology that began to siphon off listeners.

Sadly, the only instance radio will be a must-listen event will occur in a natural disaster or a catastrophe.

 

[freqdev]

boston i agree with most of what you say except for "except in the late 90's." cable tv hurt broadcast tv. satellite radio is to kill broadcast radio, internet radio is i don't know, streaming and podcasts and smart phone radio. there is nothing we could have done. technology happened. it is still a great business because it gets results. when that doesn't happen, we are past the point

 

[wnc40]

Time might have run out already.

Consider most markets: How many full market signals are not owned by one of the major corporations? How many shifts are voice tracked?

I am now in my very early forties I listen to my Ipod regularly. I have one of those fm transmitters for my aging car. I listen to Pandora and when I am not listening to my Ipod, I listen to my Sirius, 80s on 8 and Hair Nation plus Morning Joe on MSNBC.

I live NW of the Triad in North Carolina but grew up in near Asheville. Recall, if you will, the great hit battles that went on with Kiss, WANS, and WCKN (before the flip). I can still name the airshift on WKSF (Chuck, Boo, Dawn, GT, etc.) WCKN (remember D. Daniels) and WANS (Benson) WROQ (Murphy, Chrissy Hart, Chris Williams, Bill Catcher and Pete Williams). Remember the imaging? Remember when they had things like Make it or Break it, All Requests, Top 8 at 8 or 10 at 10? And, think about the remotes, when you just had to go to that car dealer to get a t-shirt? What about the contest where you had the sticker on your car? Competition made the war great for the listener. If you are familiar with the Triangle, it was a great time when WZZU 94Z went up against G105. Now, both are owned by CC. Or remember 95SX vs Q107. It was a great night of dx outside AVL when the Q came in.

Now, who does any of that anymore? Personality, Imaging, in short Promotions and people. Live and local too. If you have that or bring that back, success can be had. The question is, is the industry past the point of no return on that.

There are still some local operators who get it and do it right. Two that come to mind in this part of NC, WIFM 100.9 in Elkin. Live Am and PM drive and broadcasts high school sports very well. Another is WKVS in Lenoir. Same deal.

 

[Wabbit_Season]

Only time for a short reply right now, but I would say we're concerned about the mountain lion roaming in the back yard while there's a tyrannosaurus rex bearing down on us at the front of the building: the mountain lion being satellite radio, but t. rex being the internet. Let's examine for a second.

Satellite radio requires money to launch/maintain a satellite system. It requires money from it's listener base. It required money to staff itself both on and off the air. And say what you will, but the channels satellite offers up are almost as structured and researched as terrestrial radio.

Now let's look at the internet, where you take the ability to mico-program to specific tastes that satellite crows about, and then you can multiply that by a factor of whatever. Satellite has a comedy channel? You can find a stream on the internet specifically catering to Steven Wright fans. 60's and 70's r&b channel on satellite? How about one that just deals with Stax-Volt music on the internet? It's a google search away.

Oh, and you're already paying for access to all this by writing a check to Time Warner Cable every month for your internet access.

Focus, radio people. Sat radio has been with us for how long? And hasn't made a dent other than to be a spooky spectre that may or may not jump out and scare us. The real monster with real teeth is already here, and it's starting to take shape.

Just my two cents.

 

[freqdev]

i agree 100 percent wabbit. i laugh when posters complain about voice tracking versus live and local announcers. all the live and local announcers in the world are not going to change how people aquire entertainment in the future. i never saw sat radio as a real threat to terrestial radio. its an on demand world we live in. i believe terrestial radio will survive for some time, but tough financial decisions will continue to be made by owners which will probably mean more voice tracking and fewer live and local people.

 

[carolinaradio]

Agree with the posts about satellite radio not being a huge threat. I was with someone who was playing 60s on 6 via SXM and honestly, it was the same 60s oldies that the "good times, great oldies" stations wore out 10 years ago and the presentation wasn't stunning. The formats just seem too fragmented and don't have enough variety. I don't think satellite is going away in the near future, but it's been around for a long time and hasn't killed or really hurt commercial radio yet. If it hasn't by now, I don't really think it will.
Same for internet.

I prefer voicetracking (if well done) over automation anyday. If it can't be live, at least voicetracking shows a little effort.

 

[wnc40]

I agree about satellite radio. I like it though because I can get the formats I want. And, as far as presentation, there is really no difference between coming from NYC or Maine on satellite vs. voice tracking on a local station IMO. But, I only listen to it in the car.

I really like Pandora and 181.FM and other streaming stations. And, the internet/streaming is a much bigger threat.

My point was this though about live/local and promotions/competition. Give people a reason to listen and they will. But as long as it is a cookie cutter programmed station, why go back to it? I can get the same thing through... fill in the blank... internet/Pandora/Ipod/Satellite....

 

[freqdev]

wnc, there is no formula. people want what they want. playing the hits by the artists that are familiar to them is not a bad thing. there are several stations in our area that really have no competition and do well because of that. the on air personality or program director that wants to give the talent no restraints and live outside the box is crazy. it is a concept because there are many who think they are more entertaining than music. apologies to those with egos.

 

[wnc40]

I am not sure where I said there was a magic formula. And I never said that any station shouldn't be well programmed. Nor did I say they shouldn't play the hits that people want to hear.

But, what I did say is that radio must differentiate itself from the internet, the Ipod and satellite.

If I turn to the radio dial right now, I want to hear someone in my area talking about what is going on in my area. For instance, it is snowing right now. Be nice to hear about it. When I travel, I would like to get up to date traffic information and alternate routes. I never said that on air talent should not have a free for all or no rules. Of course rules are necessary but it doesn't have to be totally scripted either. There has to be some personality playing the hits, if not, then there is no difference than the new alternatives. And, with the new alternatives, I can program what I want or get it commercial free.

And, are stations without competition doing well because they do radio well, or because they have no competition? Or both?

 

[Gatekeeper007]

The problem with internet is you can't get it everywhere when you need it. With broadcast radio it is a lot easer to get when you need or want to hear it. Internet is still a pain at times trying to keep streaming running and having access where ever you might be. Please don't tell me 3G on cell phones will help you because in most cases it is just too slow and 4G isn't always there when you need it either. I am not saying internet isn't great but it's still not ready to take over yet.

 

[carolinaradio]

I agree that 3G streaming leaves a lot to be desired (I haven't tried 4G). It's good in the city, but when you start getting in more remote areas, it has issues. I think that will continue to improve, but right now it's not great. Not to mention that if you stream radio in the car on a regular basis, it uses quite a bit of data. There was an article on here about that a while back.

 

[Wabbit_Season]

Re: streaming on phones over 3G/4G

Yup, it takes a lot of data and therefore costs...but we are in the very early stages of hand-helds and phones being used for this purpose. I know that last winter I went north and wanted to monitor my station and spent the better part of three days listening to it over my phone (connected to my trucks audio system). Granted, you would lose signal occasionally and the audio quality itself left something to be desired, but this is just the first inning of this particular ballgame.

For a frame of reference, go back 14 years to 1998. MP3's were just starting to get acknowledged outside of "geek circles". I was told by a friend of a friend about how you can download a song, digitally, and play it back on your computer. Fast forward to 2012. Millions upon million of digital songs are sold, ITunes is a household word, and every phone and music player plays those once-new mp3's. It took less than a decade for a new technology to totally upend 100 years of music distribution.

Now, you can sit back and talk about how much streaming internet costs and how it doesn't reach everywhere you want it to, but I've lived long enough to go from AM to FM to 45rpm to 8-track to cassette to cd to dat to mp3. And I'm still young.

If you check to the raiser in this particular poker game, you'll go broke. Maybe not in the next few hands, but eventually. Take nothing for granted. That's today's lesson.

 

[Gatekeeper007]

Re: streaming on phones over 3G/4G

Yup, it takes a lot of data and therefore costs...but we are in the very early stages of hand-helds and phones being used for this purpose. I know that last winter I went north and wanted to monitor my station and spent the better part of three days listening to it over my phone (connected to my trucks audio system). Granted, you would lose signal occasionally and the audio quality itself left something to be desired, but this is just the first inning of this particular ballgame.

For a frame of reference, go back 14 years to 1998. MP3's were just starting to get acknowledged outside of "geek circles". I was told by a friend of a friend about how you can download a song, digitally, and play it back on your computer. Fast forward to 2012. Millions upon million of digital songs are sold, ITunes is a household word, and every phone and music player plays those once-new mp3's. It took less than a decade for a new technology to totally upend 100 years of music distribution.

Now, you can sit back and talk about how much streaming internet costs and how it doesn't reach everywhere you want it to, but I've lived long enough to go from AM to FM to 45rpm to 8-track to cassette to cd to dat to mp3. And I'm still young.

If you check to the raiser in this particular poker game, you'll go broke. Maybe not in the next few hands, but eventually. Take nothing for granted. That's today's lesson.

I don't disagree that technology advances changes the way things are done or should I say forces it at times. I too have lived thru all the changes you mentoned and am younger than some who would talk about it but I have also noticed that not everything changes at the same rate some are held because of money some for other factors like lack of technology in every place that it is needed, HDTV for example is really only 1080P when it's on an off air signal ie: out side antenna or bule ray DVD but not everything else they try to tell you, satellite TV is starting to see the first signs of being pushed to the curb in the not too distant future but even thou they don't have the technology they need right now money will hold them in place for a good while. Some technology's do force their way in and change things but other's require money or time to grow and some times they don't get it like they should, how many new things have been predicted to take over in years to come but never did, the internet will but with a lot of growing pains first.

 

[Radio-X]

Right now, 90% of people under 30 have never touched the "AM" button on their radio. There is going to be a time very soon where people under the age of 35 have never touched the "RADIO" button of their stereo. The technology is there to have free radio on smartphones and have it take a massive chunk of revenues out of broadcast radio. To recoup R&D costs and to avoid reception complaints these big cell companies put caps on internet usage, much like local ISP's did in the 90's.

There will be a time in the next couple of years where dataplans are unlimited and cheap(er), and rural reception will increase. One will be hard-pressed to listen to a peashooter FM when your cell phone can get the same internet stream, allow you to record it, rewind/fast forward it, and find similar local streams based on your location. When you park your car, you take the same stream with you right into work! The technology is there for the common man to broadcast his thoughts to millions for not much money. 5 years from now, if you're a listener, Why listen to an analog signal that craps out after 40 miles or a digital signal that might make it 20 miles? If you're a broadcaster, why pay thousands/millions of dollars to broadcast a limited audience?

The problem with radio is that its not responding to changes properly. The industry tried to "save" AM with AM Stereo which really just became a pissing contest between the big American electronics R&D people. HD, while people can debate on its current status, is solid technology. The issue is a heavily-regulated industry full of old-timers trying to modernize itself against a smarter, faster, sexier, and more interactive medium. HD radio has great potential! With a power hike, these stations could easily reach their analog coverage areas. Unlike analog data SCA's, HD could carry insane amounts of data over an incredible range. The problem is proprietary iBiquity software and a FCC that is pretty wishy-washy about the whole thing.

Radio won't go away completely; the government won't let it. But if people in higher places don't get their head in the game, radio will become a dumping ground of "leased formats" selling various snake oils, and the only time the general public will listen is when the internet or power is out. Given its current state, though, there would be no local information on there to help those afflicted by the outage...just more computer-driven programming.

Enjoy the future!

Radio-X

 

[Scooter Lesley]

Well,...since I started this mess, let me scratch-in just long enough to blindly poot in the right direction...or re-direction??
All of the posts a apreciated, but most got off the original subject matter. On 2/17, Freqdev delivered a rather short, but brillant post that contained a very profound sentence: "Technology happened." Yes, it damn well did, and we, clearly misused alot of it...to the point of irreversable conquences! My original thread was to draw thoughts on commercial radio, not a glitering sling-shot suplex into the future. We still have Radio, and HD has provided extra choices, but the general product sucks.
Yes, the Sat channels are clearly better...so why are those programmers so good at what they do?
If you don't believe that WROQ is a pale shadow of what it use to be, flip on the Sat, and there you will find several that sound like it use to! Compare MAGIC to one of their AC's...or WROQ to one of their Classic Rock channels. If you had to bet the ranch, that's everything you had...owned...on which was correct,...Where would you place your money?