But a higher percentage of their cash flow, pre-Covid.
And it was announced that this was the first stage in a reorganization.
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- Thread starter Y2kTheNewOldies
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But a higher percentage of their cash flow, pre-Covid.
And it was announced that this was the first stage in a reorganization.
America is a terrible place to be stupid. I don't feel sorry these big Companies that killed radio because of greed. Next time a local "dimwit" that brings local content and jobs to the city we should probably support him. David when was the last time you walked through the offices and studios of Univision Radio? I a ghost town with no local people.
Univision was ahead of the trend by doing "national" formats back in the early 2000's. It was adapting to the concept that was well known to us of "one to many" formats because that concept is usual and common all over Latin America where companies don't reinvent each format in every market.
Consolidation was the direct result of having half of all US radio stations in the early 90's not making money; that was caused by excessive FCC licensing. As mentioned, the "all that will fit" made markets like Key West / Monroe County, FL, have 39 AM and FM stations and translators.
As I said, radio was hit in the 2008 recession years by a perfect storm including revenue reduction, streaming and the PPM. The station owners had nothing to do with any of those.
And before you say it, the PPM was not wanted by radio: it was demanded by ad agencies.
Don’t Feel Sorry for any big corporation. Ppm,2008,coronavirus,high interest rates what ever the situation might be I don't feel sorry for large corporations that killed radio.
The people who can afford to take a hit should take a hit bottom line. On air djs, promotions, Aes, program directors,camara operators, board ops, engineers who live from paycheck to paycheck and have suddenly lost their jobs i feel sorry for.
It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.
The people who can afford to take a hit should take a hit bottom line. On air djs, promotions, Aes, program directors,camara operators, board ops, engineers who live from paycheck to paycheck and have suddenly lost their jobs i feel sorry for.
It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.
For years, the problem with US radio was the 7/7 AM and FM owner limit. Owners could not raise funding, and so we had mostly under-financed stations that could be ruined if the economy in just one of their markets soured.
Most banks would not touch radio financing. I can recall visiting half a dozen banks in FL when the company I managed bought WTNT in Tallahassee... they would not touch a company that had most of its revenue in just one market.
It only took the industry 5 years after Docket 80-90 for the losses to turn so significant that the FCC was forced to allow higher station and per-market limits. But that was sort of like taking care of dog poop on the floor by putting a throw rug over it.
So we should blame ad agencies for destroying radio, rather than iHeartRadio, Cumulus, or Entercom - heavily indebted entities that used the time honored tradition of “cutting people” in some sort of way to “cut expenses” in an effort to somehow save the company. And in the end, they wound up destroying radio for listeners.
That is the MBA way. It doesn't matter if the product is pickles or excavators, costs will be cut until the customer is driven to a competitor's product.
There's always lots of blame for corporate radio but I think the question is if radio was still operating under the 7 + 7 Rule, how would radio be better? How does a smaller company with shallow pockets do better based on what we have seen happen to radio as far as revenue and listening habits go?
The listeners left while the stations still had full staffs. After they left, there was no reason to keep all the people. Don't blame Entercom and staff cuts for KIKK.
Not sure where any KIKK reference came from, but the original KIKK-FM died in 2002 because demographic changes in the Houston market meant that there was no longer room for three Country FMs running current and recurrent music.
Today total Country share in Houston among KKBQ, KILT-FM and KTHT is less than what KIKK alone was pulling in the 1980's.
One aside: With the current social atmosphere in the U.S. it is probably an extremely bad idea to have a call with three "K"s.
I meant KILT. At one time they were beating KKBQ.
There is no worse blind man than the one who doesn't want to see. Big Corporations killed local radio/jobs. Before we get to the Kool- Aid part, let's recap some radio corporate greed. I heart, Entercom, certainly aren't the only wealthy company's putting their profits ahead of their workers and the citys they operate in. At the end of the day, corporations will put their profits ahead of ALL. Please stop making excuses for them by saying PPM ,Coronavirus, 2008,Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital Partners, Entercom Merger With CBS Radio or the stock market. Back in 2001 we started with a simple tool that killed on air content "voice tracking" , later came the P.D Jobs, Pds got "promoted" to program 2 or 3 radio stations, Engeeiner jobs cut, I.T Jobs cut, GMS got "promoted" to run several markets, one promotion department overseeing 6 stations, Aes jobs cut, one production person for 6 stations, promotion vehicles rusted with dead batterys etc etc...
Many families had to face this type of turmoil for years while company's kept making excuses to fire radio people and to make more money. It takes about 2 million dollars per year to run a station like KILT fully staffed so don't tell me is not corporate greed. For any company firing people should always be a last resort if you’re looking to save money because it has a negative impact on your business. I really doubt Randall Mays or John Hogan are crying about the milions they made....
Poor David Field must be having a hard time going to bed in at his 12 million dollar mansion in Pennsylvania.....
Many families had to face this type of turmoil for years while company's kept making excuses to fire radio people and to make more money. It takes about 2 million dollars per year to run a station like KILT fully staffed so don't tell me is not corporate greed. For any company firing people should always be a last resort if you’re looking to save money because it has a negative impact on your business. I really doubt Randall Mays or John Hogan are crying about the milions they made....
Poor David Field must be having a hard time going to bed in at his 12 million dollar mansion in Pennsylvania.....
Not true. Technology killed local radio jobs. Local radio jobs are being killed at corporate stations and at mom & pop stations. It's been that way for 60 years. If an owner has a way to save money, he'll do it. In the 60s and 70s, that meant carrying taped syndicated formats from companies like Bonneville and Schulke. In the 80s and 90s, that meant carrying Satellite Music Network and TranStar. Now it means in-company syndication. This is nothing new. These stations are not government-funded make-work programs. They're businesses. If the advertising is drying up, there's less money for salaries. There is no other way.
Another thing that's killed local radio jobs is rising health insurance. The great thing about working for a big radio company is you get great benefits. The bad news is those benefits are getting expensive, almost to the point where they add another 25% on to a worker's salary. Those benefits are far better than those workers would get at a mom & pop station. I left a mom & pop exactly for that reason. So if you get a big radio company job, you will make more money and get better benefits than working for a small station. But it means you will have to work harder.
In 1980, Aribitron did not have DST and inadequately measured Hispanics. And the Hispanic population of the MSA was less than a third of what it is today.
1. Voice tracking is a new name for an old practice. Back in the 70's I "voice tracked" all but mornings on the #1 and #2 music stations in a top 20 market with a gain in share! Some formats and stations were "voice tracked" way back in the mid to late 60's.
2. Engineering was cut when the FCC reduced the need for 1st ticket holders at many directional and high power AMs. Then, with gear that was increasingly reliable, one engineer could handle many stations.
3. New production tools, ranging from ProTools on down, it became easier and easier to produce spots.
4. Clients found remotes to be less than useful and they died off considerably. Then, with the Internet, the thrill of seeing a station at a car dealer wore thin.
5. With better music scheduling, voice tracking, and other improvements a good PD could do several stations. Since, in the past, a company could not have more than 2 per market, we did not see cases in the US. Back in the 60's I was PD of 15 radio stations... all were at the top of their format and leaders in their markets. In one market I had 9 stations. I delegated some tasks to a "chief of announcers" on each one. That was common practice at groups that had 5 or 6 station or more in a market back then.
6. Clients don't like to have multiple people from one company calling on them. So if you have 6 stations, you send one seller, not 6.
Every industry going through changes has that happen.
KILT spends the first $4 to $5 million on sales commissions, agency commissions and rep commissions. Music licensing is close to $1 million alone. I could go on, but stations like that, when lucky, convert 40% to local cash flow. Then there are corporate expenses, ranging from management to FCC attorney fees. And on, and on, and on.
And his father had to use his own capital to keep the company alive. It's that bad out there.
By the way, if a football or baseball or basketball player or singer or TV show host can make tens to hundreds of millions in annual income, then isn't it fair that the best of the best in business and industry also get compensated? While there may be some that get more than they deserve... and David Field is, I believe, one of them, good managers and executives are hard to find.
Right now, with revenue below the level needed to cover costs at nearly every radio station in the US... and maybe the world... staff and promotion are the first to go. You can't move to a cheaper building or tower site without initial capital and payment for unexpired leases. You can't cut electricity, insurance, music licensing, maintenance, and other fixed expenses. So you cut the things that you can, just to survive.
That was the core issue when the FCC relaxed ownership: more than half of all stations were losing money.
The projections that owners and those that finance owners had in the mid-90s and well into the 2000's was that radio would continue to grow ahead of inflation at a good rate. With consolidation, costs would be eliminated in management, sales, office space, insurance, and many other areas.
What happened starting in 2008/09 with smartphones, PPM and the recession were a "perfect storm". Unpredicted, totally. Every ratio, every projection was wrong. And then, after losing 30% or more billing in the recession, we had 8 years of growth that was less than the inflation rate in radio and so now the industry, in adjusted dollars, bills about 60% less than in 2005.
Oh, and we always used debt to finance acquisitions. In 1978 I put together a $10,000,000 loan to buy WTFM, WWOK/WJOK and WLVH. We used projections to get the financing and the banks (Manny Hanny and Chase) agreed and opened the account. That is how the business runs. You borrow money at a rate less than your profit margin, and pocket the difference.
Whether the owners were iHeart or Cumulus or any other, the result today would be the same.
So that makes it ok??
I've been on all sides of the business beleive me..And still continue to be very involved in the industry. Nothing justifies corporate greed!
Let's use the 5million dollar mark for conversation purposes at KILT. The station in 2008 was doing 20million. 15 million in profit is not a bad place to be (but not enough for greedy corporate executives)
Sounds to me people are out of touch with the real hard working people across the country in radio.
Big corporatios are in the toilet because of bad business practices, not because of the stock market in 2008 or any other excuse.
I've been on all sides of the business beleive me..And still continue to be very involved in the industry. Nothing justifies corporate greed!
Let's use the 5million dollar mark for conversation purposes at KILT. The station in 2008 was doing 20million. 15 million in profit is not a bad place to be (but not enough for greedy corporate executives)
Sounds to me people are out of touch with the real hard working people across the country in radio.
Big corporatios are in the toilet because of bad business practices, not because of the stock market in 2008 or any other excuse.
I don't know if that's true. More like somebody moved their cheese.
Look, you don't like corporate radio? No problem. Put the big 3 together and it adds up to about 10% of all radio stations. That leaves 90% for average people.
How are they doing? Are they smarter? Are they making more money? Are they making BETTER RADIO? You tell me.
I read that even public radio has been laying off people. So maybe there's more to the story.
No I don't hate corporate radio, but I do hate people bashing on local owners. This whole thread started because of people bashing on a local owner who provides local jobs and local content.
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