Dickey: "We Are Hiring Salespeople"

[Radio Ink Buzz Stream]

With the economy ever-so-slightly turning positive and local sales on the rise, Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey says he given the order to hire more sellers. Between now and the end of the year Dickey wants 50 more salespeople on the streets selling Cumulus products. There are now 1400 salespeople working for the company and Dickey says they are taking share away from the competition. It's just execution. The dollars are out there and our team is doing a real good job of staying on top of it."

More...

 

[SaltyDog]

50 new salespeople on top of 1400 represents a 3 1/2% bump which is nice. I wonder how many he has to hire to get to a gain of 50 after taking attrition into account.

 

[gr8oldies]

The idea is to churn salespeople in and out and of hundreds you may get in the door, a couple will work out and one might be a superstar. Not unique to Cumulus nor to the radio industry...it's the way most sales operations are run

 

[BigJimmy]

from what I hear from people who work there-------- life is not great inside cumulus, clear channnel or cbs.

and , seems to me, shares & cumes willl lilkely fall as more people turn away
from AM & FM radio. Maybe some day Neilsen willl focus on ratings of internet radio. And even sirius--xm.

 

[TheBigA]

Maybe some day Neilsen willl focus on ratings of internet radio. And even sirius--xm.

You'd be surprised how low those figures are. In fact, shares and cumes for radio aren't falling. Radio is showing increases, especially in younger demos.

Ratings for Sirius music channels are not important, because they don't sell advertising. Ratings for internet streams of OTA stations are counted by Nielsen, and in some places, they show up in the book. But internet-only radio stations get very low traffic numbers, which translate into low ratings.

Nielsen will count anything, but the radio stations need to subscribe for those numbers to be published. That costs a lot of money, and most don't feel it's worth it.

 

[BigJimmy]

You'd be surprised how low those figures are. In fact, shares and cumes for radio aren't falling. Radio is showing increases, especially in younger demos.

Ratings for Sirius music channels are not important, because they don't sell advertising. Ratings for internet streams of OTA stations are counted by Nielsen, and in some places, they show up in the book. But internet-only radio stations get very low traffic numbers, which translate into low ratings.

Nielsen will count anything, but the radio stations need to subscribe for those numbers to be published. That costs a lot of money, and most don't feel it's worth it.

You mean music formats like AC, HOT AC, CHR, country are doing well ? but how long can it last
with so many other sources of music these days. ?

 

[TheBigA]

You mean music formats like AC, HOT AC, CHR, country are doing well ? but how long can it last
with so many other sources of music these days. ?

Urban is doing very well. Lots of Hispanic formats are doing well. Sports is doing well. Classic Hits is doing well. On and on. The main thing about all these formats is they're curated, which means the listener doesn't have to do any work. Just sit and listen to the hits they love. Radio is everywhere, on every device, and other sources have limitations, like the need for internet connection.

 

[BigJimmy]

Urban is doing very well. Lots of Hispanic formats are doing well. Sports is doing well. Classic Hits is doing well. On and on. The main thing about all these formats is they're curated, which means the listener doesn't have to do any work. Just sit and listen to the hits they love. Radio is everywhere, on every device, and other sources have limitations, like the need for internet connection.

I don't think you can say radio is on every device. But radio may be trying to be on every device in the
future. But----wiilll it be HD FM ---AM ?

 

[BigJimmy]

I don't think you can say radio is on every device. But radio may be trying to be on every device in the
future. But----wiilll it be HD FM ---AM ?

correction-------VERY unlikely any devices willll include an HD AM receiver.

 

[TheBigA]

correction-------VERY unlikely any devices willll include an HD AM receiver.

No one I know about is planning their future around HD AM. If it went away tomorrow, no one would care except iBiquity.

Most radio stations stream their signal on the web and have mobile apps. The content is everywhere.