There seems to be a disturbing trend developing in Buffalo broadcasting. We've seen cuts at WJYE, Susan Banks being forced out, hardball negotiations with The Why Guy, and the cutting of the Accounting Department at Channel 4. Now I'm hearing rumors of well-known talent at Citadel being told to take a pay cut or hit the highway.
Management is saying that "Buffalo's market rank has dropped" and "Revenue is down in the Buffalo market". Corporate seems to think that cutting talent cost will raise profits. Well, that hasn't worked out so well for Channel 7. If the 12+ trends are any indicator, WJYE has been on a steady downward trend since their cutbacks. In fact, a look at the 12+ numbers indicates that the stations who spend the most money on talent in their format also reap the biggest numbers. Live and local is beating syndicated across the board.
I'm also hearing that sales people are being told to cut rate in order to sell spots, or clients are being "bonused" with free spots on other stations in a cluster - effectively driving down the spot rates.
The CBS/Infinity cluster started it, trying to grab as much loose cash as possible before Regent takes over. Citadel followed suit, once again trying to pump up revenues by overselling at lower rates in an attempt to push stock prices up so they don't negatively affect the ABC merger deal. Entercom had no choice but to play the game with the other two groups in town putting on the lipstick and offering "red light specials".
Will one of the groups in town be smart enough to scoop up talent as it falls by the wayside and pay them enough to stay in the business? Losing a good local jock in order to save $10K per year means a savings of $192.00 per week - or the income from two spots. It seems to me that should be easier for local sales people to sell spots to local advertisers when the advertiser is familiar with the talent on the show they're thinking of buying. Even numbers-based buys should be that much bigger if having live and local talent means an extra share or more over syndication. It seems to me that losing a well-known local jock would cost a station more than it will save.
Let's hope that somebody in management is paying attention, and that they understand the meaning of the old adage "Penny-wise and pound-foolish".
Management is saying that "Buffalo's market rank has dropped" and "Revenue is down in the Buffalo market". Corporate seems to think that cutting talent cost will raise profits. Well, that hasn't worked out so well for Channel 7. If the 12+ trends are any indicator, WJYE has been on a steady downward trend since their cutbacks. In fact, a look at the 12+ numbers indicates that the stations who spend the most money on talent in their format also reap the biggest numbers. Live and local is beating syndicated across the board.
I'm also hearing that sales people are being told to cut rate in order to sell spots, or clients are being "bonused" with free spots on other stations in a cluster - effectively driving down the spot rates.
The CBS/Infinity cluster started it, trying to grab as much loose cash as possible before Regent takes over. Citadel followed suit, once again trying to pump up revenues by overselling at lower rates in an attempt to push stock prices up so they don't negatively affect the ABC merger deal. Entercom had no choice but to play the game with the other two groups in town putting on the lipstick and offering "red light specials".
Will one of the groups in town be smart enough to scoop up talent as it falls by the wayside and pay them enough to stay in the business? Losing a good local jock in order to save $10K per year means a savings of $192.00 per week - or the income from two spots. It seems to me that should be easier for local sales people to sell spots to local advertisers when the advertiser is familiar with the talent on the show they're thinking of buying. Even numbers-based buys should be that much bigger if having live and local talent means an extra share or more over syndication. It seems to me that losing a well-known local jock would cost a station more than it will save.
Let's hope that somebody in management is paying attention, and that they understand the meaning of the old adage "Penny-wise and pound-foolish".
