Entercom

[Buddy Shula]

The ratings have not remained the same bolt. We just got another look at the trends yesterday that you will see next week. Our cume is nearly 70000. When I bought it, it was 28k. We will be back in the mid 3 share within 2 months. Our trend was a 3.5 that is not even counting 100.1 fm. Your a jealous person, and I bring our President in this because of the great success he has had as an entrepreneur. That lead him to be a great leader of the country. But you would not know that. You would not know how to walk across the street if someone did not show you, let alone buy radio stations.

 

[TheBigA]

the great success he has had as an entrepreneur.

You've obviously never been to Atlantic City. There's a great oldies station there.

 

[frankberry]

Your a jealous person, and I bring our President in this because of the great success he has had as an entrepreneur. That lead him to be a great leader of the country. But you would not know that. You would not know how to walk across the street if someone did not show you, let alone buy radio stations.

Those remarks are insulting, Buddy. Knock it off.
Keep Trump out of this. He has nothing to do with the subject.
Frank

 

[tbolt909]

The WECK 12+ ratings for the past decade are in the same range no matter what the format was or who owned it. It's a 2.5 share station...

 

[Buddy Shula]

The WECK 12+ ratings for the past decade are in the same range no matter what the format was or who owned it. It's a 2.5 share station...

You are totally wrong with shows your knowledge. A year ago we had a 3.7 12 plus. BEFORE I bought it, it did not have a 2.5! Next week you will see a 2.9 to 3.1 12 plus. Where the **** do you get your info?. Birch rating service? Our 25 54 numbers are also surging. Plus, our sister stations CFLZ and WJED will be in the July book. Show me bolt where weck was a 2.5 station before I bought it. You can’t! Because it wasn’t ! I bought it. I know.

 

[davideduardo]

So you are OK with Buddy mentioning Donald Trump? What did his comment have to do with Radio? I doubt that Trump has ever heard of WECK. The ratings for WECK have remained largely the same for the last decade (prior to the Shula regime)...

Frank already addressed the Trump mention.

But anyone with access to the historical ratings data knows that Buddy has pretty much doubled the WECK ratings compared to the mean level in the period prior to his ownership.

 

[Buddy Shula]

And there going up more

 

[flybynight]

It make me sick that Bob Pitmann was Radio Inks Leader of the Year in 2019. This guy put the largest broadcast company in bankruptcy! This is a leader?????? Not in my book. He is a loser, not leader. President Donald Trump would agree with me.

I am assuming the trump comment was sarcasm.

 

[davideduardo]

My company is small, but the stations are big. That is rare. I am thankful that I am not a slave to shareholders. I am in buying mode, not selling. It make me sick that Bob Pitmann was Radio Inks Leader of the Year in 2019. This guy put the largest broadcast company in bankruptcy! This is a leader?????? Not in my book. He is a loser, not leader. President Donald Trump would agree with me.

Pitmann was brought in when the group of investment banks that bought from the Mays group could not legally get out of the deal after the recession began. The bankers knew that they had a major problem, and needed someone who could make the company viable in the post-recession period.

Pitman did not drive the company down; the overpriced LBO did and he has tried to both save the assets and to move the company into new area that might produce a positive future.

 

[tbolt909]

Frank already addressed the Trump mention.

But anyone with access to the historical ratings data knows that Buddy has pretty much doubled the WECK ratings compared to the mean level in the period prior to his ownership.

The Nielsen data that I've seen shows an average of 2.5. The ratings changes have not been dramatic over the past decade. There has been no 4 or 5 share as was guaranteed by BS.

This thread started out about Entercom and how Radio signals are losing value. The prices are dropping. That value decrease affects all owners(Large and small)...

 

[SirRoxalot]

Pittman has stripped resources for OTA broadcast and invested in digital. The result? Huge gains in digital revenue, right?

See for yourself: https://www.statista.com/statistics/185195/revenue-breakdown-of-us-radio-stations/

 

[davideduardo]

Pittman has stripped resources for OTA broadcast and invested in digital. The result? Huge gains in digital revenue, right?

See for yourself: https://www.statista.com/statistics/185195/revenue-breakdown-of-us-radio-stations/

That is a paid site.

It is easier to look at the annual and quarterly reports which give a better idea. They are rapidly increasing digital revenue.

The reason why operating expenses have been cut at iHeart and nearly every other broadcaster is that, in inflation adjusted dollars, radio revenue has fallen nearly 2/3 since 2005. You can not expect a station that billed $2.5 million that is now billing $900 thousand to spend the same on operations.

 

[TheBigA]

Pittman has stripped resources for OTA broadcast and invested in digital.

Another way of looking at it is he's EXPANDED the resources of broadcast to other platforms at a time when the audience and advertisers are primarily using other platforms. Not unlike what David Sarnoff did with television in the 1930s.

Does it make as much money? Not now. But every year, as audiences use real time media less and less, it will make more money.

And if you're in the NATIONAL media business (I'm not talking local), the advertisers themselves are driving this. If all you're selling is :30 spots, and they can see you just lost 40% of your cume, they don't want to pay full price. You HAVE to give them something else to buy. You have no choice. There are fewer and fewer advertisers who are only buying broadcast.

 

[Buddy Shula]

The Nielsen data that I've seen shows an average of 2.5. The ratings changes have not been dramatic over the past decade. There has been no 4 or 5 share as was guaranteed by BS.

This thread started out about Entercom and how Radio signals are losing value. The prices are dropping. That value decrease affects all owners(Large and small)...

Give it up. The ratings have gone up dramatically. The cume has gone up four fold. And growing. We are now a 25 to 54 player. I have the trends dude from last week. Do I need to copy and paste for you? Why am I even wasting my time talking to you?. Go try to buy a radio station.

 

[Buddy Shula]

That is a paid site.

It is easier to look at the annual and quarterly reports which give a better idea. They are rapidly increasing digital revenue.

The reason why operating expenses have been cut at iHeart and nearly every other broadcaster is that, in inflation adjusted dollars, radio revenue has fallen nearly 2/3 since 2005. You can not expect a station that billed $2.5 million that is now billing $900 thousand to spend the same on operations.

Correct Dave, radio is the problem for these companies. It’s easy to show huge growth in digital when your starting from zero. They don’t know how to run radio stations. Simple as that.

 

[TheBigA]

They don’t know how to run radio stations. Simple as that.

If things keep going the way they're going, that won't matter. It's like saying Henry Ford didn't know how to train or raise horses, so he built cars.

 

[SirRoxalot]

I don't care how you deliver it, if you don't have content that people want to hear, you're done. iHeart has cut talent across the board - management, sales, and programming. About the only thing that they haven't cut is Pittman's salary and perks.

 

[davideduardo]

I don't care how you deliver it, if you don't have content that people want to hear, you're done. iHeart has cut talent across the board - management, sales, and programming. About the only thing that they haven't cut is Pittman's salary and perks.

Obviously they are moving towards national programming. In other words, just like all the web streams, Sirius/XM and TV networks and cable channels. National programming can have good talent, access to the better interviews and lots of other advantages.

It's amazing that the US commercial radio has taken so long to move that way, which is the norm in most of the non-totalitarian nations of the world.

Yet in TV, we accept that entertainment and music shows are national... going back to Steve Allen and even American Bandstand in the 50's and 60's.

This is a true American mindset. For example, when Metromedia got one of the first commercial FM licenses in Berlin over 20 years ago, they operated it as a local station. Germans, on the other hand, were used to national or regional ones and advertisers did not buy local anyway. So the station failed.

And Pittman deserves every cent of what he is paid for keeping the company running despite huge handicaps.

 

[davideduardo]

They don’t know how to run radio stations. Simple as that.

Sure they do. Look at the big markets like LA and NYC, where i Heart is dominant and doing better than any other operator.

 

[TheBigA]

I don't care how you deliver it, if you don't have content that people want to hear, you're done.

They have the #1 and #2 most listened to talk show hosts in the country. They have the #1 weekly Top 40 show. They have 2 of the Top 5 stations in NY, LA, Chicago, San Francisco, and Dallas. They aren't cutting talent at any of those stations. They have the top 3 podcasts in the country. They obviously have the content that people want to hear in the markets where it counts. Their streaming platform is so good that several other top radio companies PAY them for access. They have also created a very powerful advertising platform.