Entercom cuts

[johnster]

You've made a fortune!

 

[MarkW]

Re:

Closed at a $1.11 today and is now up to $1.16 in post-session trading; moving in the right direction. Of course, with how volatile the market has been in recent weeks, it wouldn't shock me if it closes below a $1.00 tomorrow! LOL

By the way, as traditional broadcast stocks are suffering, Netflix is riding high. They not only hit a 52-week high today, but I believe they also hit a 2-year high today.

Just goes to show how *uncompetitive* traditional AM/FM radio is in the 2020 media ecosystem. Hey, big radio: keep minimizing listener interaction, piping in DJs from 500 miles away (or using very "green" local talent in lieu of popular, well established personalities), making listeners suffer through six or seven minute long stopsets, and using boilerplate playlists from some over-aged consultant who probably was never very good at his or her profession in the first place. It's clearly working well!

 

[TheBigA]

By the way, as traditional broadcast stocks are suffering, Netflix is riding high.

They are the antithesis of radio. Subscribers instead of advertising. But everything is based on a centralized, national system. That's the way to make money. That's how the big TV companies are going too.

Radio would be in a better place if they could require listeners to pay. If listeners paid, radio would be more geared around what they want. That's how it is in public radio. The only problem with public radio is that 90% of their listeners don't subscribe.

 

[davideduardo]

Radio would be in a better place if they could require listeners to pay. If listeners paid, radio would be more geared around what they want. That's how it is in public radio. The only problem with public radio is that 90% of their listeners don't subscribe.

Ah, but the British figured out how to fix that: they made it into a separate tax!

 

[davideduardo]

Just goes to show how *uncompetitive* traditional AM/FM radio is in the 2020 media ecosystem. Hey, big radio: keep minimizing listener interaction, piping in DJs from 500 miles away (or using very "green" local talent in lieu of popular, well established personalities), making listeners suffer through six or seven minute long stopsets, and using boilerplate playlists from some over-aged consultant who probably was never very good at his or her profession in the first place. It's clearly working well!

Sorry, but that is actually wrong.

In many if not most of the nations where there is developed commercial radio, most operations are national and have synchronized national shows. In fact, one of the original uses of RDS was to automatically find the best signal for a national network and switch to it if the tuned one had a lesser signal.

Using Seacrest as an example, national shows have access to exclusive news and interviews that fit the format. Local shows have no such access and tend to repeat, usually late, things that were already accessible on the Internet.

I built my first simulcast national network over 50 years ago. In the station's format, it dominated local stations with imitation formats. My idea was not original; I was copying networks in places like Spain and Colombia and making the concept local for my project.

I think the reason why this did not occur in the US was the 7/7/7 ownership rule which was in place through the early to mid-90's. Then, the consolidators, who had no experience at the national level, focused on market dominance with multiple stations rather than national dominance with programming concepts and superstar talents.

But the Coronavirus may force radio to rethink the market-by-market model and to adopt a national model... heck, it has worked for over 70 years in TV.

 

[TheBigA]

Ah, but the British figured out how to fix that: they made it into a separate tax!

Great idea while it lasted.

 

[TheBigA]

But the Coronavirus may force radio to rethink the market-by-market model and to adopt a national model... heck, it has worked for over 70 years in TV.

The ONLY reason radio went into the market by market system was because it was cheaper. It was cheaper to hire local talent than pay for someone else's syndication. Once station owners got into syndication, that reason went away.

 

[davideduardo]

The ONLY reason radio went into the market by market system was because it was cheaper. It was cheaper to hire local talent than pay for someone else's syndication. Once station owners got into syndication, that reason went away.

But having music-based radio go nearly 5 decades without the ability to create owned networks caused two generations of new radio people to think of the industry as purely local.

If people in the industry saw that all radio was local, they thought all radio had to be local.

Fortunately, I left the US as a teen and used models from other places, such as Mexico where I interned, as my goals. I had no "preset" idea of how to do things, so I looked at many other nations for examples and picked the one that fit my needs. But if I had worked for a decade or so in US radio, I likely would have thought that there was only one way to do things, which was all local based.

 

[Rick Rose 2.0]

Considering that EMF has the only nationwide station with K Love, that shows the commercial radio operators they could do the same thing and be successful.

 

[TheBigA]

But having music-based radio go nearly 5 decades without the ability to create owned networks caused two generations of new radio people to think of the industry as purely local.

That's because there was enough money for a brief time to fund it all. Even then, about 25-30% of the radio stations were automated during that time with Beautiful music formats played from reel to reel tapes. There were dozens of syndicators in the 60s and 70s. The old radio networks expanded into syndication with NBC's The Source and ABC-Watermark. People created the mythology of live & local because the small number of popular stations were live & local. But as the FCC added more stations first with the FM explosion in the 70s, and the famous Docket 80-90 in the 80s, the money pie kept getting split thinner and thinner, until we got to consolidation. It's a long slow process that played out through 50 years.

 

[Deleted User]

They are the antithesis of radio. Subscribers instead of advertising. But everything is based on a centralized, national system. That's the way to make money. That's how the big TV companies are going too.

Radio would be in a better place if they could require listeners to pay. If listeners paid, radio would be more geared around what they want. That's how it is in public radio. The only problem with public radio is that 90% of their listeners don't subscribe.

The technology isn't even out there to do that with standard broadcast radio of any band, and what it would cost to do it would bankrupt all of them

With 5G rolling out it is easier to do it with online stations.

The only subscription radio model that is working (for the moment) is SXM, and that required a merger to be financially feasible, and deals with auto manufacturers to include radios with SXM recievers... and even then it is problematic...

Example, I have 3 SXM subscriptions and that gives me online streaming if I want to burn data...

the 2 radio kits were cheap enough, but I wanted factory installed in my Rav4 ( after declining to spend the money for it in my Highlander as it required a package upgrade of huge dollars) and the upgraded radio in the Rav was somewhere in the 500 dollar price range and was part of a radio with a NAV system, and a navigation system in a car in the era of WAZE is just a waste and the map updates ain't cheap!

I love my SXM subscription, I have it on my home stereo, in the kitchen on my Alexa device, phone, etc and I think it is a great value for my entertainment dollar. But I am paying out close to 300 dollars a year for it.... less than a dollar a day and it is all I listen to.

 

[davideduardo]

That's because there was enough money for a brief time to fund it all. Even then, about 25-30% of the radio stations were automated during that time with Beautiful music formats played from reel to reel tapes. There were dozens of syndicators in the 60s and 70s. The old radio networks expanded into syndication with NBC's The Source and ABC-Watermark. People created the mythology of live & local because the small number of popular stations were live & local. But as the FCC added more stations first with the FM explosion in the 70s, and the famous Docket 80-90 in the 80s, the money pie kept getting split thinner and thinner, until we got to consolidation. It's a long slow process that played out through 50 years.

But all those stations with syndicated formats... AC, urban, Beautiful Music, Country, MOR, Oldies, Music of Your Life and others, were local. They assembled the format locally, had local operators in attendance due to antiquated licensing requirements, and inserted news (to meet FCC requirements) and other stuff.

In the 70's and 80's, while many formats were syndicated, they were locally assembled.

In fact, Shulke and Bonneville required the top markets to have live local announcers saying "all day...... all night.... all nice! .... Easy 105". There was a lot of localism still for the larger market. In Miami where I was in or working with in the 80's, only a couple of easy listening stations were syndicated. In Birmingham in the 70's, only one station was syndicated.

And the syndication yielded to satellite in the very late 80's. That was mostly in smaller and unrated markets and represented very small percentages of the US population.

The problem was that, when consolidation began, nobody said that "what works in most of the rest of the world is big star national formats" but instead tried to create small fortresses on local islands.

Imagine if Scott Shannon could have done WHTZ in the top 100 markets instead of just Z-100?

 

[TheBigA]

In the 70's and 80's, while many formats were syndicated, they were locally assembled.

Depends on what you mean by "assembled." Yes those were local college kids loading up reel to reels and carts in automation racks making $2.75 an hour. If that counts as assembling, sure.

The problem was that, when consolidation began, nobody said that "what works in most of the rest of the world is big star national formats" but instead tried to create small fortresses on local islands.

Once again it didn't happen overnight. The foundation for what we have today was set 50 years ago.

 

[TheBigA]

The technology isn't even out there to do that with standard broadcast radio of any band, and what it would cost to do it would bankrupt all of them

Yes I know. I tried. And by the way it's also against the law.

Example, I have 3 SXM subscriptions and that gives me online streaming if I want to burn data...

Thank you. I own lots of stock. Bought it real cheap too.

 

[TheBigA]

In fact, Shulke and Bonneville required the top markets to have live local announcers saying "all day...... all night.... all nice! .... Easy 105".

The REAL assembly work for Bonneville was being done by Marlin Taylor in a non-descript office building in Tenafly NJ, within sight of Major Armstrong's famous tower.

 

[Wimmmex]

But all those stations with syndicated formats... AC, urban, Beautiful Music, Country, MOR, Oldies, Music of Your Life and others, were local.

Depends on what you mean by "assembled." Yes those were local college kids loading up reel to reels and carts in automation racks making $2.75 an hour. If that counts as assembling, sure.
.

In Boston, the syndicated Beautiful Music Stations, WEZE (IBMA), WJIB(Schulke), WHUE (Bonneville) WSSH (FM100) all had local live professional announcers.

WCGY ran TM's syndicated ac/rock format....and had local jocks.

The MOYL station had local professional jocks too.

Stations that ran these formats didn't simply pay someone 2.75 to "change the tapes".

 

[TheBigA]

In Boston, the syndicated Beautiful Music Stations, WEZE, WJIB, WHUE all had local live professional announcers.

But now all these years later, the DJs people can name are the ones who played the pop hits, not the ones at the syndicated BM stations.

 

[Wimmmex]

But now all these years later, the DJs people can name are the ones who played the pop hits, not the ones at the syndicated BM stations.

Gene Gerry
Jack Lazarre
Alan Dary
Bob Stewart
Eric Morenghi
George Fennel
Ron Dwyer

All pretty popular names in Boston. But the point was they were not "assembled by 2.75 college kids changing reels of tape".

 

[TheBigA]

But the point was they were not "assembled by 2.75 college kids changing reels of tape".

You're telling me professional announcers threaded up reels of tape? In those days, announcers announced. They didn't "assemble."

 

[Wimmmex]

You're telling me professional announcers threaded up reels of tape? In those days, announcers announced. They didn't "assemble."

Why do I feel this thread will go on forever as you try to couch every comment.

What "those days" are you referring to?

Yes, every one of those professional announcers no doubt threaded tape.