Could this mean the end to small market radio?

[ratingsgeek]

I'm betting the NAB and the rest of the broadcast lobby won't let this one pass.

If it did manage to slip through, I'd further bet that there would be big concessions for cluster operators, along the lines of allowing one human being to operate multiple stations. Minimum-wage interns 7P to 6A.

If, God forbid, a truly oppressive worst-case rule requiring 24-hour staffing for every radio station was to surface, the FCC would find itself in the position of forcing many very small market operators to either shut down or just ignore the rule. With voice-tracking being as slick as it is now, it's easy enough to "sound" live & local even when it ain't. FCC inspectors would not know for sure without barging into the building. But are broadcasters going to require their 19-year old midnight-to-6 jock to open the door to anyone banging on the door at 3 AM claiming to be from the FCC? Not if that jock is MY son or daughter!

The Smaller Government movement has already cut the FCC enforcement staff to a handful of inspectors. It's not hard to imagine this turning into a nationwide game of "Catch Me If You Can."

 

[Flying-Dutchman]

But, someone needs to be on duty to assure the smooth operation of the station. If it's not a jock or enginer, maybe
the owner should get out of bed. It's a shame the FCC needs to tell us this.

 

[richmcdonald]

I'm betting the NAB and the rest of the broadcast lobby won't let this one pass.

If it did manage to slip through, I'd further bet that there would be big concessions for cluster operators, along the lines of allowing one human being to operate multiple stations. Minimum-wage interns 7P to 6A.

If, God forbid, a truly oppressive worst-case rule requiring 24-hour staffing for every radio station was to surface, the FCC would find itself in the position of forcing many very small market operators to either shut down or just ignore the rule. With voice-tracking being as slick as it is now, it's easy enough to "sound" live & local even when it ain't. FCC inspectors would not know for sure without barging into the building. But are broadcasters going to require their 19-year old midnight-to-6 jock to open the door to anyone banging on the door at 3 AM claiming to be from the FCC? Not if that jock is MY son or daughter!

The Smaller Government movement has already cut the FCC enforcement staff to a handful of inspectors. It's not hard to imagine this turning into a nationwide game of "Catch Me If You Can."

Many of you may remember when you had to hold a third class license at the radio station, When the stations were suppose to have a person around 24/7. This has been about 30 years ago. But,I worked for a station that left the building empty all evening and overnight against the law at the time. Many disgruntled employees and some outsiders wanting to get their hand on that license turned the station in. The FCC did walk in on them late one night in response to the complaint and the owner lost his license. Turned out like so many times, he really wasnt the owner. He had a group of lawyers from out of town that owned it.

Just by reading this board you can tell that a lot of employees of these stations are relishing the idea of throwing their management under the bus.

So, FCC inspectors may not be your biggest concern.

 

[justalurker]

I'm betting the NAB and the rest of the broadcast lobby won't let this one pass.

I'm counting on it.

BTW: What the FCC is considering is rolling back to 1995. If any of you are old enough to have been in radio and young enough to remember 1995, or wise enough to know how stations were operated back then, you should be either laughing at or angry at the ignorant comments being made in this thread about what will happen if this proposal passes.

Rolling back to 1995, clusters WILL NOT be required to have one operator per station. In 1995 stations were permitted to control their transmitters by "wire" (important for stations with studios not at the transmitter). Some of those "wire" operated stations were controlled from across the country. NO LOCAL OPERATOR.

This is what will end up happening ... if the FCC is stupid enough to go back to the old rules ... clusters will be fine. Large station groups will be fine. Ma and Pa will be in trouble. The same Ma and Pa who are actually trying to serve the community.

But, someone needs to be on duty to assure the smooth operation of the station. If it's not a jock or enginer, maybe the owner should get out of bed. It's a shame the FCC needs to tell us this.

No, they don't. As long as the transmitter is within parameters and the legal ID is playing appropriately the FCC does not care about the "smooth operation" of the station. They didn't in 1995 and they don't now. There are a few things that stations are required to do ... "smooth operation" is not one of them.

Many of you may remember when you had to hold a third class license at the radio station, When the stations were suppose to have a person around 24/7. This has been about 30 years ago. But,I worked for a station that left the building empty all evening and overnight against the law at the time. Many disgruntled employees and some outsiders wanting to get their hand on that license turned the station in. The FCC did walk in on them late one night in response to the complaint and the owner lost his license. Turned out like so many times, he really wasnt the owner. He had a group of lawyers from out of town that owned it.

It is a shame he didn't subscribe to one of the monitoring services that was available. Nobody at the station isn't a violation. Nobody in control of the station was the violation.

Just by reading this board you can tell that a lot of employees of these stations are relishing the idea of throwing their management under the bus.

I'm seeing that in a lot of comments. A lot of hatred for current owners. Bitterness. Sad really.

 

[spacetrucker]

Sounds like this might make owners put people in place that can actually RUN a radio station instead of just letting it sit there like it's some kind of money machine. For so many stations their only tie to the COL is the station ID.

 

[Flying-Dutchman]

In a small market, the owners and employees are like a family. In a major market the owner might as well be a
stable boy. He has got a lot of XXXX to shovel.

 

[gr8oldies]

So I take it everyone on this board who isn't already working in radio is going to rush to apply for one of these "make-work" radio jobs. In the "good old days" the ONLY reason the feds ever required an operator on duty was to make sure a given station's equipment didn't get out of wack and cause interrference to someone else, not so someone could "stand by to read severe weather warnings". Mostly it was AM directionals that needed a First Phone on duty, eventually just needing one on staff unless the station had a really critical pattern. Equipment us realiable enough that someone babysitting isnt neccessary (the feds don't and never did care if someone on the air stutterred, records ran at the wrong speed, etc.)

Will Noblesville really be more "served" if WJJK builds a studio in Noblesville? Is paying hefty lease payments on three buildings instead of one really going to create more "service" let alone more live air talent? How many people in Noblesville (or Speedway, or Zionsville) isolate to the point that they do not work shop or play anywhere but their own suburb?.

 

[Flying-Dutchman]

On November 6,2005 a NWS transmitter was off the air. It would have triggered the EAS but it was down. Along
came a powerful tornado that killed 25 persons with no warning. There have been dangerous chemical spills and no one
at a local station to get out a warning. Make excuses. But these are some of the events that have ticked off your
Uncle Sam.

There is also a national outrage because only the very wealthy can own radio stations today. This must change.

 

[Kent]

So I take it everyone on this board who isn't already working in radio is going to rush to apply for one of these "make-work" radio jobs. In the "good old days" the ONLY reason the feds ever required an operator on duty was to make sure a given station's equipment didn't get out of wack and cause interrference to someone else, not so someone could "stand by to read severe weather warnings". Mostly it was AM directionals that needed a First Phone on duty, eventually just needing one on staff unless the station had a really critical pattern. Equipment us realiable enough that someone babysitting isnt neccessary (the feds don't and never did care if someone on the air stutterred, records ran at the wrong speed, etc.)

You know, a lot of us have stories about working the overnight shift, me included. While I look back on my first overnight shift and even the overnight shift I worked because a fired PD told his staff to take Thanksgiving week off and I was the only one within 100 miles of the station with a smile, it's not an experience I want to repeat. EVER! I have a weekday job in software development, and I don't have any desire to spend a late night scrambling around a radio station to find some relief so I can drive back home and get rested up for my real job.

 

[justalurker]

On November 6,2005 a NWS transmitter was off the air. It would have triggered the EAS but it was down. Along came a powerful tornado that killed 25 persons with no warning. There have been dangerous chemical spills and no one at a local station to get out a warning. Make excuses. But these are some of the events that have ticked off your Uncle Sam.

ABSOLUTELY IRRELEVANT!

Go check out the EAS rules. There is no requirement that the stations rebroadcast anything but the monthly tests and national level emergency alerts. ZERO requirement. Even if there were 20 people in the building NONE of them are required by the FCC to go on the air an announce an emergency.

If you want to fix the problem of stations not reporting emergencies require them to report emergencies. Requiring them to staff the station isn't going to fix the problem that you keep raising Dutch.

 

[Kent]

Go check out the EAS rules. There is no requirement that the stations rebroadcast anything but the monthly tests and national level emergency alerts. ZERO requirement. Even if there were 20 people in the building NONE of them are required by the FCC to go on the air an announce an emergency.

This was the F3 that hit Evansville. It's important to remember that the South Central cluster in Evansville was attended 24/7 at the time (and may still be) as it has the local primary for Owensboro in WSTO 96.1. WIKY used to have a live overnight jock who babysat the EAS at WSTO. Also, don't forget that everyone, including LP-2 WKDQ 99.5, has to monitor two sources. WKDQ also monitors WWBL 106.5, and everyone else monitors WKDQ and NOAA. So, it seems like plenty went wrong. If anything, this situation seems to prove that no one listens to the radio for emergencies.

If you want to fix the problem of stations not reporting emergencies require them to report emergencies. Requiring them to staff the station isn't going to fix the problem that you keep raising Dutch.

I have no problem with the idea of requiring LP's to be attended 24/7. Many state EAS plans already require that, and I wouldn't have it any other way if I operated a local primary. However, it seems like killing a fly with an atomic bomb to roll the clock back, whether it's 10 years or 30.

 

[Kent]

BTW: What the FCC is considering is rolling back to 1995. If any of you are old enough to have been in radio and young enough to remember 1995, or wise enough to know how stations were operated back then, you should be either laughing at or angry at the ignorant comments being made in this thread about what will happen if this proposal passes.

I think you and I tend to agree more than we disagree. However, the big problem with the current NPRM is that we don't know what, if anything, the FCC will require. That's part of why this proposal borders on being scary. From reading the NPRM, it looks like they're considering rolling the clock back well beyond '95. However, I agree that, if the clock does get rolled back, it will likely be no further than '95.

Rolling back to 1995, clusters WILL NOT be required to have one operator per station. In 1995 stations were permitted to control their transmitters by "wire" (important for stations with studios not at the transmitter). Some of those "wire" operated stations were controlled from across the country. NO LOCAL OPERATOR.

Again, we don't know what the FCC will require. I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm quite aware that rolling back the clock to since I started in radio will not require one operator per station. I remember being on-air in the overnights and the news guy for the AM station down the hall signing the FM's log because I didn't have a license. However, the FCC seems to indicate it's considering rolling the clock back even further. Likely to happen? Probably not, but it is possible. It will likely depend on what they think should happen with respect to the main studio and city of license rules. Here's what the FCC actually says, "We are considering requiring that licensees maintain a physical presence at each
radio broadcasting facility during all hours of operation." (page 16, section 29 of the NPRM at www.fcc.gov/localism). That doesn't seem to leave much room for outsourcing control of the station like what was done in some small markets in '95.

This is what will end up happening ... if the FCC is stupid enough to go back to the old rules ... clusters will be fine. Large station groups will be fine. Ma and Pa will be in trouble. The same Ma and Pa who are actually trying to serve the community.

Agreed. That's why I say this will drive further consolidation. The people who will be in trouble will start looking to sell out. I also remember a lot of stations suddenly staying on in the overnights after previously signing off once the rule requiring a licensed operator to be in control of the transmitter went away. I wonder if people will start complaining that their favorite station was off-the-air when a storm hit?

Also, something that the FCC doesn't seem to be considering is the amount of sheer paperwork some of these provisions would involve. When you had to have a ton of supporting documentation to prove your license should be renewed, we had far fewer stations than we have now. I don't see how they could review so much paperwork for almost 15,000 stations with a reduced level of staff. I know all licenses aren't up for renewal at once, but I could see it almost feeling that way if there were enough objections and paperwork kept piling up!

 

[Bongwater]

On November 6,2005 a NWS transmitter was off the air. It would have triggered the EAS but it was down. Along
came a powerful tornado that killed 25 persons with no warning. There have been dangerous chemical spills and no one
at a local station to get out a warning. Make excuses. But these are some of the events that have ticked off your
Uncle Sam.

There is also a national outrage because only the very wealthy can own radio stations today. This must change.

The very wealthy have long thought radio would be an indefinate cash cow. So did the major record industry with CDs.

Such thinking NOW would be, to paraphrase a recently running TV ad scam "Crazy....like a Fox!" (But why the hell doesn't the FCC get hip to THESE things instead of busting little 1 watt pirate broadcasters I will never know......)

Whatever, guess it's all just $$$. No matter who REALLY gets hurt.

LOCAL radio is in SERIOUS DECLINE. And no one at the corporate level has the foggiest idea of how to SAVE it.

Consolidation is NOT the answer. Because all it leads to is A) Fewer jobs. B) Fewer listener choices. C) Less listener interaction. D) Less community service, which all leads to E) Pretty damn sucky radio....PERIOD.

There are a LOT of innovative and exciting NEW broadcasters out there (as well as the many solid gold classic broadcasters that STILL have a lot to offer yet.) Not just the "chosen few" overhyped and overpaid. This is where we need to let the markets decide. Not just the "old boys club" as corporate radio has become.

 

[ratingsgeek]

On November 6,2005 a NWS transmitter was off the air. It would have triggered the EAS but it was down. Along
came a powerful tornado that killed 25 persons with no warning. There have been dangerous chemical spills and no one
at a local station to get out a warning. Make excuses. But these are some of the events that have ticked off your
Uncle Sam.

There is also a national outrage because only the very wealthy can own radio stations today. This must change.

The very wealthy have long thought radio would be an indefinate cash cow. So did the major record industry with CDs.

Such thinking NOW would be, to paraphrase a recently running TV ad scam "Crazy....like a Fox!" (But why the hell doesn't the FCC get hip to THESE things instead of busting little 1 watt pirate broadcasters I will never know......)

Whatever, guess it's all just $$$. No matter who REALLY gets hurt.

LOCAL radio is in SERIOUS DECLINE. And no one at the corporate level has the foggiest idea of how to SAVE it.

Consolidation is NOT the answer. Because all it leads to is A) Fewer jobs. B) Fewer listener choices. C) Less listener interaction. D) Less community service, which all leads to E) Pretty damn sucky radio....PERIOD.

There are a LOT of innovative and exciting NEW broadcasters out there (as well as the many solid gold classic broadcasters that STILL have a lot to offer yet.) Not just the "chosen few" overhyped and overpaid. This is where we need to let the markets decide. Not just the "old boys club" as corporate radio has become.

Great post, right up to "This is where we need to let the markets decide." What your complaining about now is a direct result of laissez faire lack of regulation these past 25 years. When markets are unregulated (or virtually so) the rich and the ruthless will crush everyone else.

But be careful about painting with such a broad brush. I work for a company owned by a billionaire--one of those guys listed in the annual Forbes "Richest People In America" issues--and he's a great guy, a terrific corporate citizen and an excellent broadcaster. And we run very responsible, community involved radio stations with complete well-paid staffs. Not every corporation or corporate chairman is Darth Vader.

At this point radio could use some additional "light touch" regulation to make sure we broadcasters are indeed meeting our responsibilities to serve our communities. Call it a correction.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Great post, right up to "This is where we need to let the markets decide." What your complaining about now is a direct result of laissez faire lack of regulation these past 25 years. When markets are unregulated (or virtually so) the rich and the ruthless will crush everyone else.

But be careful about painting with such a broad brush. I work for a company owned by a billionaire--one of those guys listed in the annual Forbes "Richest People In America" issues--and he's a great guy, a terrific corporate citizen and an excellent broadcaster. And we run very responsible, community involved radio stations with complete well-paid staffs. Not every corporation or corporate chairman is Darth Vader.

At this point radio could use some additional "light touch" regulation to make sure we broadcasters are indeed meeting our responsibilities to serve our communities. Call it a correction.

Much of what we post and discuss on Radio-Info Boards is unique to broadcasting. This thread is becoming a discussion that could be about many different lines of business in the 21st Century.

It's very American, very macho, very patriotic to be "free enterprise", "free market" all the way. To even have a look on your face that you might be thinking about anything else could result in losing an election, losing a job, losing friends. A few years ago we would slap on the label 'You must be a communist' and then your life would really be down the toilet.

We in the United States learned in the "Robber Barron" days at the end of the 1800's and early 1900's that maybe a little bit of regulation keeps the playing field level. [If you are unfamiliar with that era, go back and read about the railroad monopolies coupled with oil and steel.] The current sub-prime mortgage mess is brought to you by a 2000 law that forbids the Feds or the States from regulating investment packages designed for the rich in the hedge-fund industry. The airlines have become the Greyhound Bus system all over again. Where I live they deregulated the natural gas utility industry. What a screw-over of the consumer that has turned out to be.

We seldom use pure metals. We mix metals together in alloys that are suited to the task at hand. You don't use the same mixture of tin and lead to solder transistorized electrical connections as you would to solder old fashioned gutters on your home.

Somewhere there is a recipe that mixes a little bit of regulation that is currently missing from our industry. What is needed to make radio work in New York City and Denver and Indianapolis and Phoenix is probably different that what is needed in Wabash and Greensburg and Sullivan and Winchester, Indiana.

The next to the last post said:

And no one at the corporate level has the foggiest idea of how to SAVE it

Sure they do. They didn't get where they are by being DUMB. What they want to save is different than what you want to save and different than what I want to save. The corporation is not paying them to save the industry. They are being paid to enhance the fortunes of the one particular corporation they work for. There in lies the rub. If that means squashing me and you, too bad about that.

We are back to the very oldest of human dilemmas: When do I look out only for me, and when do I look out for the community that may be necessary to rescue me some day.

 

[Timewarp]

These new rules are meant to create more mom and pop radio stations, not destroy them.
More mom and pop radio stations in small towns is just what the FCC wants to see. Here's
the truth about mom and pop radio. Mom and pop monitor their station. Mom and pop are
always on duty. Mom and pop will get the emergency warning on the air. Their station is a
matter of pride for them. They would be ashamed to read in the paper that their station
failed to warn the people of their town.

Those who will be effected by these new rule are the corporate clusters who have several
stations in one building and nobody home!

 

[Ur-A-Dawg]

I see about 1 or 2 people on here who have actually owned or managed a radio station.
The rest don't know what they are talking about.
I am opposed to these new rules and a member of the NAB. There are people here who say they are on my side and I wish they would go to the other side.
We as broadcasters need to be saying, "We police ourselves. We have fixed the problem. Or we are fixing it."
Come on! Saying it does not exist and we don't need to handle it is not helpful.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Response to TimeWarp:

I hope your reading of the rules proposal, and what eventually comes out of the process, is an accurate read. We would like to see the good players get a leg up, and villans get horsewhipped.

However, your post, taken alone, makes it look like a black and white world. Good guys and bad guys. And just like the Saturday afternoon western of the 1930s and 1940s, we can tell which is which by the color of their hats.

Up in Appalachia recently a couple of different stations out in the boonies were busted because the owner was not watching for bad weather, but was watching and trading pornographic pedophilia on his computer.

It's kind of hard to look back on the careers of Gary Todd and Jeff Pidgeon and say "anything radio owned by the big companies in always bad stuff."

Response to Ur-A-Dog:

Bravo! May your tribe increase and prosper.

 

[Kent]

These new rules are meant to create more mom and pop radio stations, not destroy them.

Maybe they're meant to create more mom and pop radio stations. I'm not convinced of that, but that may very well be the idea. The problem is that these rules will achieve the exact opposite by making operating a radio station something only the big guys can afford. While I understand there has to be some regulation of radio, overregulation doesn't help small businesses; it kills them.

 

[richmcdonald]

But, someone needs to be on duty to assure the smooth operation of the station. If it's not a jock or enginer, maybe
the owner should get out of bed. It's a shame the FCC needs to tell us this.

You obviously come from the small business World. Me too, It is intolerable for people like us to work for a big corporate outfit. Because most of what they do doesn't make any sense. They should be willing to get out of bed and help with the operation of the station. But who is it and who would it be?

Their isn't one single owner, the company is owned by shareholders. So, now you have no one assuming ownership or responsibility. Many of these people have what I call execuitese. They love and thrive on titles. They love to sit around, full of themselves and pontificate on everything, they love meaningless meetings, write memos, launch senseless wasteful programs etc. Just so they can point and say "look what I have done". They are to self important to get their hands dirty and feel their time is far to valuable to be bothered with mundane task. So the buck keeps getting passes around and nothing gets accomplished. The simpliest thing now becomes complex.

The CEOs job is to give shareholders ROI and on down the line it goes. It is the "that's not my job mentality". What happens is the crap rolls down hill and the people who work the front line feel the brunt of it all and become disengaged and embittered by the whole thing. But the funny part is that they make money inspite of it all.