Could this mean the end to small market radio?

[Ur-A-Dawg]

But, we in corporate radio need to take responsibility and handle this. Have any of you ever been to
any of the NAB conventions? These topics are frequently addressed by speakers.
We need to police ourselves.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

But, we in corporate radio need to take responsibility and handle this. Have any of you ever been to
any of the NAB conventions? These topics are frequently addressed by speakers.
We need to police ourselves.

Back in 1957 I changed jobs and found myself working for a station that was an NAB member. Today some stations ride the satellite. Oh, the shame of it. Back then we used to ride the network. Somehow we see those old network connections as GOOD, while we want to see BIRD connections as BAD. Go figure.

During those network hours I would often peruse the NAB material. It was a great time for our industry. It was a great time in American life. I wandered over to Memphis one day and toured WREC and actually met Mr. Wooten. Wooten could personally make a commitment as to what his station would do. While in Indianapolis I got the photography bug. Followed an classified ad about some darkroom equipment for sale. I found myself on a Sunday afternoon carrying some very nice equipment out of the basement of Bob McConnell. McConnell in those days could make a commitment as to what WISH would do.

There used to be a significant nursing home company called Turtle Creek based in Indianapolis. If you met Ethan Jackson at a civic club meeting and got into a discussion of the business, you were talking to a man who could make a commitment what that company would do.

In those days if you found yourself in conversation with Dan Young (Big Bad Dan and the Chevy Store) you could get a commitment from Dan that he could keep.

That was an era when we really had the ability to practice self-regulation and it was practiced by a lot of industries.

Today I think all the businesses I mentioned have been absorbed into corporations that are publicly traded. Companies that can find themselves being told by CALPERS and other very active owners of large blocks of stock, that they have reviewed your financials and that they have some recommendations for your company: Do the following (cut staff by 7%? as an example) or they will dump their holdings of your stock and drive your price down.

Self regulation ONLY is possible when enough of the major players in an industry have a PERSON who can speak for the company and make a commitment for the company. Back when James Cash Penney still controlled JCPenney, there was never, never, ever, and ad which said: $30 dresses now on sale for $20. Mr. Penney said: If the dress didn't sell out at $30, then it wasn't a $30 dress. Don't call it one."

Oh, I assume most people know what CALPERS is. Isn't it ironic that today the entities that dictate the decisions that cause corporations to dump large numbers of employees to boost corporate profits are the PENSION FUNDS that serve or are controlled by LABOR UNIONS. So much for the brotherhood of laborers.

Sorry to be a pessimist, but it may be possible that the golden era of self regulation has passed.

P.S. Back in the 70's I helped lobby (successfully) the Indiana legislature to NOT license auto repair shops and technicians, but to let us SELF REGULATE!

 

[kenhawk1160]

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.

Amen to that. Small market operators need to be proactive and inform their lawmakers (many of whom are regular interviews on such stations) of their concerns. My advice is, don't tell them "don't do this", but "don't do this, but they can do that". The FCC is going to want a compromise of sorts. I've proposed to Congressman Phil English to limit the new rules to stations of certain power levels that are in markets of 100 or higher. In other words, stations that can afford it.

 

[KillerOldiesJock]

I work for a local radio station and I must say I am all for recent proposals regarding stations serving their communities better. The 5 station cluster I work for is dropping on air staff left and right and no longer has any kind of news department. The stations may as well be ipods connected to the transmitters. I believe terrestrial radio is dying a slow death due to better programming in satellite, internet radio and podcasting. Gone are the days of community involvement, local news and most of all personality. The stations I work for spend thousands of dollars on equipment they don't even need or use. Why have a $30,000 sound board if nobody is in the studio to use it? They spend large sums on playout systems, when lower priced ones will do just fine, but don't want anybody live on the air. What happens when a news item breaks? what happens when a storm hits? Nothing, because nobody is there. In my opinion, cut the costs of needless equipment and keep radio live and local 24/7.

 

[Timewarp]

This whole thing has been misrepresented. These rules effect corporate clusters, not mom and pop
small town radio.

Some people just can't tell the truth and some don't have the experience to know the truth.

OK! I can name many clusters that will be impacted by these new rules. Many in medium sized cities.

Now, name just one true mom and pop that will be? I think, someone has their pants on fire!

 

[virgilstreetnc]

This whole thing has been misrepresented. These rules effect corporate clusters, not mom and pop
small town radio.

Some people just can't tell the truth and some don't have the experience to know the truth.

OK! I can name many clusters that will be impacted by these new rules. Many in medium sized cities.

Now, name just one true mom and pop that will be? I think, someone has their pants on fire!

Please point out the difference in how it effects corporations but not mom and pop? Are you assuming all mom and pops have a board op standing there 24/7?

Any mom and pop that has to shell out over $24,000 a year for an overnight person instead of automation will be impacted. Most small county stations don't even sell spots overnight because there could literally be a listenership of 10.

And corporations will suffer too. Not all corporations are bottomless pits of money. To assume they'll just pull it out of their back pockets would be foolish.

When a grocery store experiences increased food costs, it raises prices accordingly. Nobody blames the grocer when milk prices go up because they understand it's not the grocer's fault. But you can't just raise spot rates at a radio station to cover additional government regulation. The one thing it can save on is employee salaries and benefits. Look for more employee benefit cuts.

Employees call it greed, owners call it basic economics.

 

[Timewarp]

Mom and pop are always on duty and will work for no pay to keep it on. That's what they do.
Name me one that will go off.
Again! Again! Again! This is for the corporate guys. How about the truth. Sorry some tried
this campaign on the Indiana board where there are those with a great deal of knowledge
about the reality here.

 

[virgilstreetnc]

Mom and pop are always on duty and will work for no pay to keep it on. That's what they do.
Name me one that will go off.
Again! Again! Again! This is for the corporate guys. How about the truth. Sorry some tried
this campaign on the Indiana board where there are those with a great deal of knowledge
about the reality here.

You need to get out into the real world and see how mom and pop are running these days. Not every owner is on board 24/7. Short of sleeping on a cot in the kitchenette, it's impossible and does not happen these days.

Many small stations are on the air diligently from 6am until late evening, then go to automation overnight. We are not talking about Indianapolis where there is a lot of activity and third shift workers to listen.

Not sure where you're from, or how many small stations you've worked at, but most small stations are not manned overnight.

With a working EAS system, and in most cases local authorities know how to reach the owner or gm in an emergency situation, there is no reason for this additional hardship.

And since I'm not privy to the books of most small stations, I can only give you my opinion and cannot name stations. But I can tell you it will effect me, and I do not own a cluster.

 

[gr8oldies]

People on boards like this tend to over-romanticize the :"good old days" and actually believe all of these "mom and pop" owners took second mortgages on their house just so they could..."sniff"..do a good swap and shop show for all of the people of West Podunk. For the most part, they want to make money too, or if they borrowed money from a bank or got a bunch of investors together, they want to see that loan paid back or a return on their investment.

Case in point, a station in my home town went through a variety of owners, one of them playing head-banging rock and roll with live DJs in this small town, and they had quite a following. (No revenue..but a big following of 16-24 year old males). They were purchased by a guy with an extensive on-air and programming background (in addition to sales). You'd think he'd be one guy who would have run broadcast utopia...live DJs around the clock, etc. Instead, he turned the station into one of the first Transtar A/C affiliates, and even made arrangements with the local motel to have the desk clerk monitor the EBS and take readings. The station was successful, and this owner eventually bought a station that became a very successful move in into a larger market. This wasnt Clear Channel, this was a single owner. As it happened the FM that went away into the largwer market was replaced by a smaller station to serve the home town.

Lots of people tell us how stations need to "serve the community" , especially the city of license. Does WLHK need to spend 50000 watts to read the Shelbyville obituaries? Would anyone in Shelbyville care? Do we assume that all of the allocations that were put in place in the 40s, 50s and 60s are static and changes in population can NEVER be taken into account?

 

[virgilstreetnc]

Even in "the good ol days" before computer automation, many creative thinking owners and engineers used a combination of carts, reel to reel, tape recorders or any other audio device they could put into a chain and sync it up to run their own unique song sets and formats overnight.

There usually was and is no need to have someone there at 3am starring at a control board. A simple emergency plan coordinated with the local authorities for anything more than severe weahter is all that is needed. A tornado warning or any other community emergency is reason to go live, but not before or after if the community is in no danger.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Lots of people tell us how stations need to "serve the community" , especially the city of license. Does WLHK need to spend 50000 watts to read the Shelbyville obituaries? Would anyone in Shelbyville care? Do we assume that all of the allocations that were put in place in the 40s, 50s and 60s are static and changes in population can NEVER be taken into account?

Communities grow. Communities Shrink. Interstate highways make two distinct communities into one. Change goes on and on and on.

Politics has always been a power-game, and today the game has been perfected so I don't hold my breath waiting for what I describe next to happen: If a powerful FM station licensed to Shelbyville is going to function as an Indianapolis station, then there should be a 'process' to change the city of license. Just as in zoning where neighboring property owners must be notified of the proposed change, communities, city government, county government and chambers of commerce should be notified of the proposed change. The FCC has always come up with ways to evaluate competing applicants for a frequency. Why shouldn't local governments have access to a FCC procedure of evaluating which city deserves to be a city of license.

The first logical argument against my proposal would be that cities should not deprive the OWNER of a license of the increased value that will be obtained by moving the license. This would not be new ground. When states and cities sit down and decide where Interstates and expressways will be built, they suddenly make some people's real estate very valuable and some one else who just knew his property would get the exit finds his property value flat. Granting zoning to build one of these modern upscale mixed used shopping centers suddenly makes the innocent bystander who owns property across the street very wealthy.

So, we are back to asking ourselves: what is the responsibility and task of the FCC. Do they have a responsibility to look at communities and if there are small communities who can financially support a local coverage broadcast operation, they the FCC should have rules and procedures that make that possible.

My suggestion would be this. If you own a 25,000, 50,000 watt FM station in a small market and you want to move it next door to mega-city, they it should be your responsibility to find and put in place the low powers facility to serve the little market. No blank spot on the dial? Look a little further out and find starter-city which has two or three stations... buy one and move it to little community. Now the FCC has to have a city evaluation procedure for THREE communities getting their egos bruised.

The sticky-wicket then becomes: when does a suburb loose it's individual identity which qualifies it for a broadcast facility, and when does it simply become absorbed in as one more community within mega-city?

I don't have the answers. I just know that question I think SHOULD be answered.

 

[Kent]

This whole thing has been misrepresented. These rules effect corporate clusters, not mom and pop
small town radio.

How does it not affect mom and pop small town radio? They're the ones who benefit the most from the relaxed rules. They don't have to worry about spending a ton on the license renewal process, and, contrary to what you seem to think, the mom and pop operators were the ones who signed off in the overnights when they had to have their stations attended. Remember, if the mom and pop operators are what you think, why did they sell out in droves once the Telecom Act passed?

Some people just can't tell the truth and some don't have the experience to know the truth.
OK! I can name many clusters that will be impacted by these new rules. Many in medium sized cities.
Now, name just one true mom and pop that will be? I think, someone has their pants on fire!

OK. I'll call your bluff! I do weekend radio at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. My weekend employer is owned by one individual; the company is called Benne Media. It's as close to mom and pop as you'll get. The stations are only staffed roughly half the day. Benne owns KLOZ, which is live about half the day and satellite hot AC the other half. He also owns KQUL, which runs satellite oldies pretty much 24/7. Do you really think he's going to turn around and staff both stations 24/7 if this rule kicks in? What about the main studio rules? The station is located in Kaiser, MO; KLOZ is licensed to Eldon while KQUL is licensed to Lake Ozark. Do you think Benne will double KLOZ's staff and then hire a full staff for KQUL to work in Lake Ozark? Surely you realize the stations are certain to sign off at midnight or 10 PM rather than be staffed around the clock. There's just not enough money to staff two stations 24/7 from separate studios. Really, there's not enough money to staff both stations 24/7 from the same studio! This is an area where unemployment goes through the roof in the winter because the economy is totally based on tourism. How can you staff a station during the off season, when there are fewer than five minutes of spots per hour?

Also, there are two clusters owned by former KHTR 103.3 St. Louis jocks. Dennis Klautzer has KRMS/KMYK. He tried to acquire KFBD 97.9 a few years ago only to sell it about three months later. He ran satellite AC on KFBD while KRMS-FM 93.5 aired satellite classic rock and KRMS 1150 aired news/talk. The AM had a local morning show and a local afternoon show. KRMS-FM dumped satellite classic rock for adult hits as "Mike FM," which is a Jones format. It wasn't making money even though only the morning show was live. Two satellite stations couldn't make money, and you mean to tell me they could suddenly afford to be staffed 24/7 if required? That would be funny if you weren't so serious when you said it!

Randy Wright, former KHTR midday jock who stayed on after it switched to oldies as KLOU, owns KZWV. Wright paid $1.2 million just for KZWV's license. He has about as many employees as you can count on one hand. He has a two person morning team that's live. Middays are voicetracked by Polly Peterson out of Iowa, and Wright voicetracks afternoons himself. The rest of the time, the stations is music, liners and commercials. One of our weekenders wanted to do part-time there and was told they couldn't afford her, even at minimum wage. Again, do you really think he's going to turn around and hire at least four more people to do airshifts? You know, I have some oceanfront property in New Mexico if you're interested!

The only station that's staffed 24/7 is KJEL, which is owned by GoodRadio.TV. It's also the LP-1. Lake of the Ozarks is the classic case of a market where the corporate owners will do just fine while the smaller guys will suffer. Two people who got into ownership from the programming side and would love to have live radio 24/7 can't make it work. What does that tell you for the hopes of small town mom and pop operators? It doesn't tell me anything good!

 

[Kent]

People on boards like this tend to over-romanticize the :"good old days" and actually believe all of these "mom and pop" owners took second mortgages on their house just so they could..."sniff"..do a good swap and shop show for all of the people of West Podunk. For the most part, they want to make money too, or if they borrowed money from a bank or got a bunch of investors together, they want to see that loan paid back or a return on their investment.

What it goes back to is the old Billy Joel quote, "The good old days weren't always good, and tomorrow ain't as bad it seems." We tend to remember the good in the past and spend our time preoccupied with what we're afraid will happen tomorrow.

As I've said before, I can look back on those overnight shifts with a lot of fond memories. I remember getting my feet wet, dealing with drunks, learning a new automation system and more. I did all of it when most of the world was asleep. However, I also don't have much desire to ever relive those days.

I still think about when I worked at that small market cluster I've talked about a few times on this board. The Friday before Thanksgiving 2002, we fired our AM news/talk station's PD. He called his part-time staff, who had no idea he'd been fired, when he got home and told them he found a way to cover their shifts over the holiday weekend. He told them to have a great holiday. Well, I was on duty pretty much all day Sunday. I worked from 9 to 4 at our top-40 and AC stations and had to come back in at 5 to do part of my airshift live because we had a remote. So, I did 5 to 7 and went back home for just over an hour only to come back and do 9 to midnight. Well, my relief didn't show up at midnight, and there was no one within 100 miles of the station to relieve me. So, I ended up working an almost 24 hour day. It didn't help that my girlfriend and I had partied all Saturday night, and I was already running on very little sleep. She was getting ready to go to Kansas City to visit her family, and I was going to go to Springfield to see mine. Saturday night at Dr. Zhivegas was our last time to be together before Thanksgiving, and we treated it like we were never going to see each other again.

I made it to Springfield late Monday afternoon, and I handled it pretty well, or so we thought. Two days later, my father was taking me to the emergency room. It turned out to be a minor problem. However, I'm sure the stress of that weekend had a lot to do with it. It's something I look back on with a smile, but I can safely say I don't ever want to experience it again.

 

[kenhawk1160]

This is an area where unemployment goes through the roof in the winter because the economy is totally based on tourism. How can you staff a station during the off season, when there are fewer than five minutes of spots per hour?

This scenario reminds me of northern Michigan, which is very tourist-driven. Business slows to a trickle during the winter months, and any revenue spikes that owners have during the summer months have to be banked in order to get them through the winter. You're literally running on a dime and a prayer during the winter months.

Duopoly has greatly benefited those stations up north. Prior to the Telco Act of '96, there were a number of properties in northern Michigan that were sitting dark. I don't mean AM daytimers, either. I'm talking about Class A FMs and at least one Class B station as well. There's FMs up there that are struggling because they're having a tougher time. One reason is because people are heading down south for vacations. The radio business in cooler climates isn't doing so well.

 

[Ur-A-Dawg]

Indiana's small towns are dead or dying. If a major tornado or earthquake hits, many of them
should never be rebuilt. Mom and pop radio is dead for the most part and new FCC rules
will not bring it back.

The companies who formed the clusters paid high prices for these licenses and it is they
who will suffer under these new rules.

The FCC allowed consolidation in the 1990s to save these signals from going dark. Many
of these were in towns where there was no market to support them. By putting these stations
under one corporate roof with one crew running all, they could survive.

Changing the rules after we have paid high prices for these stations is what's unfair.

SAVE THE MEDIUM MARKETS NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[gr8oldies]

Docket 80-90 has to be taken into account too..it created enough competition to sharply depress ad rates and no one could afford to have a local news department. The example in Lake of the Ozarks is a good example of how stations could literally go silent. In the small AM I worked for in Ohio that the previous poster knows about, there is no way in heck it could have been staffed around the clock.they couldn't pay those of us who were there from 6a-6pm. And the owner, who was wrapped up in a ministry and basically wanted to be an absentee owner, would not have slept on a cot in the building.I know someone will say "if they can't afford 3 studio buildings and a 24/7 live staff they should just go out of business and let someone have it who can!". In whose dream world? Unless you think stations should only be owned by millionaire hobbyists, dream on! There isn't a bank in the world who is going to put money in a bottomless pit (our local bank, let's say, found out the hard way).

There should be a way to change city of license without the legal fiction of "first aural service to the independent community of West Podunk". I'm not sure what that would be.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

The companies who formed the clusters paid high prices for these licenses and it is they
who will suffer under these new rules.

The FCC allowed consolidation in the 1990s to save these signals from going dark. Many
of these were in towns where there was no market to support them. By putting these stations
under one corporate roof with one crew running all, they could survive.

Changing the rules after we have paid high prices for these stations is what's unfair.

SAVE THE MEDIUM MARKETS NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You have captured the situation quite well. Here is the contrary side argument:

You are describing the situation from the perspective of investors who leaned on the government to make a bad poligy and then paid too much for stations. Now you want relief to protect that bad investment.

Why do medium markets now deserve "salvation" when we didn't come up with a 'save plan' for small markets that COULD survive.

I'm sitting here paying bills this morning. I constructed a station in a small town years ago. Back then I could have walked around the square and delivered those checks to the gas company, the phone company, the water company, etc. Those offices are gone. The town is dying. Now you propose piling-on by having a public policy that also takes the presence and economics of the radio station out of town... if it isn't already gone.

I don't care whether my natural gas comes from Indianapolis or Chicago or Louisville. It all burns the same. I accept the fact that my electricity may be generated 100 miles away. The light burns the same. Here is a LISTENER'S perspective: I would like an audio service that is "generated" in my town, in my county. I would like to bump into the guy or gal who voices the news at the Rotary Club where I can offer an improved pronunciation of the little town in the south end of the county where we had a fire last week.

As a listener I really don't have a lot of compassion over your company paying an obscene price for the little station in my home town and moving it over to our arch-rivals in the next county.

As a guy sitting here on the sidelines, want to buy one of those little stations as my semi-retirement activity, I am basically pissed-off that your company paid the obscene price and put the industry just beyond my reach.

Hows that for the opposite view?

 

[Ur-A-Dawg]

Docket 80-90 has to be taken into account too..it created enough competition to sharply depress ad rates and no one could afford to have a local news department. The example in Lake of the Ozarks is a good example of how stations could literally go silent. In the small AM I worked for in Ohio that the previous poster knows about, there is no way in heck it could have been staffed around the clock.they couldn't pay those of us who were there from 6a-6pm. And the owner, who was wrapped up in a ministry and basically wanted to be an absentee owner, would not have slept on a cot in the building.I know someone will say "if they can't afford 3 studio buildings and a 24/7 live staff they should just go out of business and let someone have it who can!". In whose dream world? Unless you think stations should only be owned by millionaire hobbyists, dream on! There isn't a bank in the world who is going to put money in a bottomless pit (our local bank, let's say, found out the hard way).

There should be a way to change city of license without the legal fiction of "first aural service to the independent community of West Podunk". I'm not sure what that would be.

Where in Ohio are you talking about? I don't read that board vey often.

 

[JimmyJames]

KRMS 93.5 was doing at least some live and local programming before the flip to Mike FM.

 

[richmcdonald]

The biggest problem most of you are talking about is the station is incapable of selling its airtime. Most radio stations I have ever seen have a staff of order takers but lack true sales talent. In my experience, I have found that many small businesses would love to advertise on radio. They are just looking foe someone to show them how. Go to a small business and talk to the owner about abritron or ratings and watch them get a glossy look in their eyes. If a small station would become a active participant in the city it is in. Build relationships with the business community and be a contributor to the community. They will have the advertisers on the station. It isn’t easy and it takes very hard work to do this. The truth is that most people don’t want to work and enjoy the status quo. They believe they want to win. They tell themselves, spouses, staff or whoever else will listen they want to. But, when the rubber meets the road they really don’t. To make it you just need to work smarter and harder than your competitor. But most wont, they like fun and easy and stay away from hard and necessary.