How HD radio can end up in the hands of 10 million more Americans quickly.

[vsa]

Every year, I see still more colleagues and competitors get the axe or be forced into early retirement so their organizations can make budget. I'm talking about positions from top to bottom. Some of the best people in the business. The downward spiral in my market and most others continues to be relentless. I have been one of the fortunate ones so far.

Ditto.    But first off,  revenue ain't profit.  Revenue is... well Revenue.  Sales.  Input.  To say that revenue us Hemorraghing is not exactly factual.

I will gladly conceed that the amount of money spent PER STATION is down from preconsolidation days.  WAY DOWN I would suspect.  However, let's look at a group by me in a top 150 market.

3 FMs.  Between them they have...

1 Traffic person (Not 3)
5 air people (Multiple stations for most.  One is an Ops guy)
No engineer (The Ops guy does their limited IT and they contract RF)
4-5 Sales People (Varies month to month.)
1 Sales manager/GM
A couple of very part time "Board Ops" for club remotes and stuff.

That's 11 people for 3 pretty well rated FMs.  3.6 per station total. That's lean and mean for sure.  The rest was considered fat. 

I know consolidation isn't popular, but the big guys found a way to make a higher profit than the original owners.  The lack of funds for additional staff are being used as debt service for the aquisition.  In other words,  Todays spotloads are being used to fund the money athat allowed the previous owners to retire "on the beach".  Don't blame Lowery Mays.  Blame Mom and Pop who sold the best signal in town for  more money than they could imagine. Funny thing is,  some of those people are the loudest complainers.  You know the "Well when I was in radio.." gang.  Times are different.

While I don't care for the state of affairs,  I'm sure not sure the GOV'T should be fixing it.

Just my .02

As an aside about accounting, have you ever seen a successful motion picture or television series actually show a profit on paper?

What's it they say?  Figures lie and Liars figure ... 

Clouseau

Sure, I could have said it differently. Industry wide, traditional revenue this decade has been relatively flat and is now heading south in many cases. If you're not growing, you're actually falling behind. Some of that is being offset by non-traditional revenue, namely revenue from streaming.

I put a ton of blame on buyers who knowingly overpaid with sucker (stockholder) money, not caring that they would be gutting an industry in their quest for monopoly and riches.

 

[clouseau]

Sure, I could have said it differently. Industry wide, traditional revenue this decade has been relatively flat and is now heading south in many cases. If you're not growing, you're actually falling behind. Some of that is being offset by non-traditional revenue, namely revenue from streaming.

I put a ton of blame on buyers who knowingly overpaid with sucker (stockholder) money, not caring that they would be gutting an industry in their quest for monopoly and riches.

The sensationalism of many folks has almost made this topic taboo. The fact is (like it or not ... and I don't) The new owners can do a MUCH better (make that more profitable) job of selling and operating radio stations than their previous Mom and Pop owners. They can sell a lot better and they can operate for a lot less. Consolidaion has helped this by losing the support staff PER STATION and combining for efficiency.

Their sales efforts are much more focused and effective overall. Equipment has become much more reliable eliminating the need for full time engineers in small markets. IMHO the true sellouts here and Mom and Pop. That's because few people weren't as money grubbing as the big boys when the Big Boys were in aquisition mode. The Jerry Lee's of the world are few and far between.

It's hard for me to characterize today's big corporate radio operators as people who bought stations with sucker money. They appear to be making a go of it overall. The rules changed, the technology changed and they bought more radio stations.

You could make the same case about how Southwest wrecked the airline industry. I'll bet most people don't.

If Mom and Pop had his commitment to "The Business" instead of their own personal gain, they'd be bringing us good radio instead of lighting their cigars with Hundred dollar bills somewhere on the Florida beach.

Clouseau

 

[vsa]

Sure, I could have said it differently. Industry wide, traditional revenue this decade has been relatively flat and is now heading south in many cases. If you're not growing, you're actually falling behind. Some of that is being offset by non-traditional revenue, namely revenue from streaming.

I put a ton of blame on buyers who knowingly overpaid with sucker (stockholder) money, not caring that they would be gutting an industry in their quest for monopoly and riches.

The new owners can do a MUCH better (make that more profitable) job of selling and operating radio stations than their previous Mom and Pop owners.  They can sell a lot better and they can operate for a lot less.  Consolidaion has helped this by losing the support staff PER STATION and combining for efficiency.

Mom and pop owners also could have cut costs further in many cases - operate from a computer in a closet and forget about investing in content. Any home-based streamer can do that. Many consolidators have dumbed down their offerings so that ANYONE online can afford to provide the same quality of product. And with a lower spotload they're product is often much more listenable.

Their sales efforts are much more focused and effective overall.  Equipment has become much more reliable eliminating the need for full time engineers in small markets.  IMHO the true sellouts here and Mom and Pop.  That's because few people weren't as money grubbing as the big boys when the Big Boys were in aquisition mode. The Jerry Lee's of the world are few and far between.

It's next to impossible for any small operator to sell against a multi-station operator or operators who are willing to undercut you, forcing you to either cash out or go broke.

It's hard for me to characterize today's big corporate radio operators as people who bought stations with sucker money.  They appear to be making a go of it overall. The rules changed,  the technology changed and they bought more radio stations.

You could make the same case about how Southwest wrecked the airline industry.  I'll bet most people don't.

Of course it was sucker money. Look at radio stock values since 2001. It was free play money.

If Mom and Pop had his commitment to "The Business" instead of their own personal gain, they'd be bringing us good radio instead of lighting their cigars with Hundred dollar bills somewhere on the Florida beach.

Clouseau

I've lost count of how many consolidator radio stations I've heard where it's obvious nobody on staff is listening to the station-in-a-closet. Extended periods of dead air. Two formats/stations airing simultaneously on the same frequency for extended periods on-and-off for weeks or even months, etc.

Relentless cost cutting (and resulting lower quality of content) and heavy spotloads have prompted millions of listeners to look for alternatives. And people have been more than willing to supply alternatives.

 

[Tom Wells]

As someone who travels for work ( I am in Dallas this week) I will support the opinion that Southwest has ruined the airline industry.
All airline employess deserve better pay than Southwest. Such jobs are not intended to be able to support a family;
they are good 1st jobs after college, or good jobs for a second income in a family.
This does not foster professionalism or good customer service from experienced employees.
I'm tired of lackluster service and barely enough equipment or employees to get the job done.

I well remember a much higher expectation of service and and the higher standard of living airline jobs supported.

My best friend from high school days has been a pilot for United some 20 years, and he describes it as a race to be the worst.

I believe "we" fly too much, are unwilling to pay the actual price, and airlines are slitting their throats, betting they
can outbleed the competition.

THEN they go to congress asking for bailouts from the taxpayer.

Now I have undocumented foreign workers in "secure" areas of the airport mishandling my bags, and they don't even earn enough
to pay for an apartment. Then there's the TSA people, who also are on the "almost poverty" payscale, with performance to match.
I'm tired of having people who can't seem to zip a zipper or buckle a latch ruin my luggage, only to be told it is "normal".
It's only normal if TSA is supposed to stand for "Tearing S*** Apart".

I'd sure as hell like to see ticket prices go up.
I'd like to see people stop flying to places that are a 3 hour drive away.
There's a whole long list of parallels between radio and airline business ruination.


If your focus is on the money instead of the business, you will always make the wrong choice professionally.
You may stay solvent and in business, but you trade away your integrity, and your right to expect high standards and quality.

I have no interest in a race to the bottom. Those who gutted radio will surely enjoy the fruit of their efforts.

 

[clouseau]

As someone who travels for work ( I am in Dallas this week) I will support the opinion that Southwest has ruined the airline industry.
All airline employess deserve better pay than Southwest. Such jobs are not intended to be able to support a family;
they are good 1st jobs after college, or good jobs for a second income in a family.
This does not foster professionalism or good customer service from experienced employees.
I'm tired of lackluster service and barely enough equipment or employees to get the job done.

I well remember a much higher expectation of service and and the higher standard of living airline jobs supported.

My best friend from high school days has been a pilot for United some 20 years, and he describes it as a race to be the worst.

I believe "we" fly too much, are unwilling to pay the actual price, and airlines are slitting their throats, betting they
can outbleed the competition.

THEN they go to congress asking for bailouts from the taxpayer.

Now I have undocumented foreign workers in "secure" areas of the airport mishandling my bags, and they don't even earn enough
to pay for an apartment. Then there's the TSA people, who also are on the "almost poverty" payscale, with performance to match.
I'm tired of having people who can't seem to zip a zipper or buckle a latch ruin my luggage, only to be told it is "normal".
It's only normal if TSA is supposed to stand for "Tearing S*** Apart".

I'd sure as hell like to see ticket prices go up.
I'd like to see people stop flying to places that are a 3 hour drive away.
There's a whole long list of parallels between radio and airline business ruination.


If your focus is on the money instead of the business, you will always make the wrong choice professionally.
You may stay solvent and in business, but you trade away your integrity, and your right to expect high standards and quality.

I have no interest in a race to the bottom. Those who gutted radio will surely enjoy the fruit of their efforts.

I was kind of hopng someone would pick up on this topic.

AS a guy who worked for a time, tangentially to the airline biz, I can tell you that Southwest has DEEFINITLY impacted the airline Biz. In that they have made it LOTS more affordable. And a lot more like Greyhound.

I find most people who work there to have a super attitude and I love the company. However in order to get these prices, other airlines have had to become a mess to compete.

As a guy who had a relationship with American back in the Crandall days, I can assure you AA is not as nice of an airline as it used to be. By Far.

More choices equals the need for more efficiency. It happened with 80-90 and it happened in the airline industry.

You can bet the experience of flight would be more pleasant if fares were doubled. You wanna pay it? (Not your expense account - You)

Everything has a price. Including low prices. Been to a Wal Mart lately?

Clouseau

 

[Radioman100]

I find the staff on most Southwest flights to be both friendly and professional. Especially the flight attendants. The other airlines, not so much.

 

[sbe1]

The easiest way to jumpstart HD is to lease out all the sub channels to preachers or foreign language programming. They will sell lots of radios. the stations will get lease money and in a few years, once a bunch of radios get out there, then the stations can take them back and program themselves if they want. Anybody that thinks the extra channels are going to be this oasis of great music is smoking weed.

 

[Tom Wells]

It's >because< no one is smoking weed that the extra channels will not be an oasis of great music.

Inspector hit the nail on the head. Airline travel now has all the benefits of bus travel.
Southwest employees ARE good, but I fear a good attitude and professional behavior unrewarded financially makes for
a bitter employee over the long run..
There is now no hope for these people to achieve the higher payscale once possible.

The true cost of choosing the bargain value becomes apparent when the higher quality choice is no longer available.

 

[vsa]

The easiest way to jumpstart HD is to lease out all the sub channels to preachers or foreign language programming. They will sell lots of radios. the stations will get lease money and in a few years, once a bunch of radios get out there, then the stations can take them back and program themselves if they want. Anybody that thinks the extra channels are going to be this oasis of great music is smoking weed.

Preachers and foreign language programmers aren't interested in selling radios. They pay for air time on AM stations because there are hundreds of millions of devices that are already capable of receiving their programming.

HD radio isn't going anywhere and we all know it. It's like "digital" CB radio in a cellphone and wireless VOIP world.

 

[vsa]

Getting back to the original topic of this thread and updating the first post, my friend Mark Ramsey reports 10 million SONY PSP devices will become Internet radios as their owners across the USA update their firmware over the next few days.

http://www.hear2.com/2007/12/yep-sonys-psp-i.html

How do you reach these SONY PSP owners? Stream publicly on a free Shoutacst server and tell them about it.  

Has anyone here expressed an interest in reaching these new digital radio owners with their radio station. Of course not. Only if these people are willing to listen with an old fashioned AM/FM or HD radio. It's not about competing. It's about control and controlling your slice of a shrinking pie.

 

[clouseau]

The true cost of choosing the bargain value becomes apparent when the higher quality choice is no longer available.

Tom,

This is one of the most profound statements I have ever seen on these forums.

As society continues to demand more and more for less and less, EVERYBODY and EVERYTHING gets squeezed.

In big metros we've traded a dozen radio choices for 3 dozen. ANd 100 channel extended BASIC cable and the internet and the previous owners cashing out and....

No wonder there's no money left to program the station.

Or provide service on the airline.

Or whatever.

I truly belive that the more we try to Negotiate our way to prosperity, the more we end up just even.

Thanks for the wisdom, Tom.

Clouseau

 

[SUPERCASTER]

"The bitter taste of poor quality lingers long after the sweetness of low price".

 

[clouseau]

"The bitter taste of poor quality lingers long after the sweetness of low price".

And the early bird gets the worm... Yada yada yada.

I would suggest that in a finite service such as airline travel, this does not hold true. Setting aside safety issues (Which I think is fair) two days after you travel, the $250 bucks in your pocket lingering is sweeter than the bigger seat and free drinks, etc...

And I would put forth most people see it that way and that's why the sirline industry has trasnfomed itself into... Well, whatever it is today.

Clouseau

 

[oldjohnny]

Got your attention?

The Sony PSP will soon be getting a free firmware update (v3.80) turning the portable game console into a walking streaming Wi-Fi Internet Radio player. There are close to 10 million Sony Play Station Portables in the USA.

http://www.orbitcast.com/archives/sony-psp-gets-internet-radio.html

Meanwhile, Radioman100 reports HD radios are flying out the doors at his Dallas area Fry's in the astounding single-digit figures. Mike Walker reports iBiquity is on track to have a half million HD radios in the hands of owners by the end of 2007.

Let's speed things up a wee bit. Stream those HD stations-between-the-stations and have the HD Radio Alliance spend 500 million dollars in inventory promoting that fact. Tell those 10 million Sony PSP owners they don't even have to buy a "radio". Just tune in!

So I got my hands on a PSP with a Internet Radio Player and IT SUCKED! The web based tuner (that's right, web based) has lousy controls, it is very hard to control and to tune to other stations, It has a very annoying way of tuning to other stations (it actually pretends to be a real radio so much that it even has static while switching from stations)and I was limited to WinAmp stations only. And this is supposed to be better than HD radio? The only bright side to this is the Portable aspect, everything else you can throw out the window.

 

[vsa]

Got your attention?

The Sony PSP will soon be getting a free firmware update (v3.80) turning the portable game console into a walking streaming Wi-Fi Internet Radio player. There are close to 10 million Sony Play Station Portables in the USA.

http://www.orbitcast.com/archives/sony-psp-gets-internet-radio.html

Meanwhile, Radioman100 reports HD radios are flying out the doors at his Dallas area Fry's in the astounding single-digit figures. Mike Walker reports iBiquity is on track to have a half million HD radios in the hands of owners by the end of 2007.

Let's speed things up a wee bit. Stream those HD stations-between-the-stations and have the HD Radio Alliance spend 500 million dollars in inventory promoting that fact. Tell those 10 million Sony PSP owners they don't even have to buy a "radio". Just tune in!

So I got my hands on a PSP with a Internet Radio Player and IT SUCKED! The web based tuner (that's right, web based) has lousy controls, it is very hard to control and to tune to other stations, It has a very annoying way of tuning to other stations (it actually pretends to be a real radio so much that it even has static while switching from stations)and I was limited to WinAmp stations only. And this is supposed to be better than HD radio? The only bright side to this is the Portable aspect, everything else you can throw out the window.

So it sucked, did it? Let's see what actual PSP owners have to say about this FREE upgrade that no doubt will see further software updates:

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2007/12/17/attention-music-lovers-psp-firmware-v380-is-live/

Did you need to use a dipole antenna? Were you limited to stations who's transmitter was only a few miles away from your listening location? How much additional money did you have to spend to hear these stations?

BTW, they are Shoutcast, not Winamp stations. These are about 10,000 stations that stream in MP3 format using the industry standard Shoutcast server.

 

[Radioman100]

So it sucked, did it? Let's see what actual PSP owners have to say about this FREE upgrade that no doubt will see further software updates:

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2007/12/17/attention-music-lovers-psp-firmware-v380-is-live/

Did you need to use a dipole antenna? Were you limited to stations who's transmitter was only a few miles away from your listening location? How much additional money did you have to spend to hear these stations?

BTW, they are Shoutcast, not Winamp stations. These are about 10,000 stations that stream in MP3 format using the industry standard Shoutcast server.

Well, I'm not going to bother reading all the comments about a toy I care little about, but I did do a search for the word "radio" on that page and found the number of people commenting on that particular feature was nowhere near all, which is odd considering the article is about this specific feature. Many of the posts I glanced were about features people DO want like divx video playback and asking why they got internet radio instead.

The comments I read all basically said the same thing - it's nice that we have a new feature. Of course it is. Whenever they add a new feature to my iPhone, that's nice too, even if I have no plans to use it.

It appears web radio on the PSP isn't any sort of big coup for webcasters, it's more of a non-issue for PSP owners. An added feature that will likely be played with for a few minutes then forgotten or never bothered with at all.

This poster pretty much summed it up: "Lame something I will never use. Get that PSstore for PSP. Then I might give you some credit. But these updates are lame."

 

[vsa]

So it sucked, did it? Let's see what actual PSP owners have to say about this FREE upgrade that no doubt will see further software updates:

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2007/12/17/attention-music-lovers-psp-firmware-v380-is-live/

Did you need to use a dipole antenna? Were you limited to stations who's transmitter was only a few miles away from your listening location? How much additional money did you have to spend to hear these stations?

BTW, they are Shoutcast, not Winamp stations. These are about 10,000 stations that stream in MP3 format using the industry standard Shoutcast server.

Well, I'm not going to bother reading all the comments about a toy I care little about, but I did do a search for the word "radio" on that page and found the number of people commenting on that particular feature was nowhere near all...

That's what you get when you are afraid of Internet radio and your mind is so closed that you don't bother to READ!!!  A comment that says "Awesome..." or "I love you..." or "Great update for the PSP, thank you..." will not show up when you search for the term "radio".

Sony's Playstation blog states, "Music has been one of the primary uses of the PSP system, and with the addition of Internet Radio, consumers are able to access even more of their favorite artists. Enjoy."

Cost to all 10 million Sony PSP owners in the USA?  F-R-E-E !!!

Sony did this upgrade at the request of its users, not because of an FCC mandate and not after taking money or free advertising from some industry trade group trying to push their hardware.

 

[oldjohnny]

So it sucked, did it? Let's see what actual PSP owners have to say about this FREE upgrade that no doubt will see further software updates:

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2007/12/17/attention-music-lovers-psp-firmware-v380-is-live/

Did you need to use a dipole antenna? Were you limited to stations who's transmitter was only a few miles away from your listening location? How much additional money did you have to spend to hear these stations?

BTW, they are Shoutcast, not Winamp stations. These are about 10,000 stations that stream in MP3 format using the industry standard Shoutcast server.

Well, I'm not going to bother reading all the comments about a toy I care little about, but I did do a search for the word "radio" on that page and found the number of people commenting on that particular feature was nowhere near all...

That's what you get when you are afraid of Internet radio and your mind is so closed that you don't bother to READ!!!  A comment that says "Awesome..." or "I love you..." or "Great update for the PSP, thank you..." will not show up when you search for the term "radio".

Sony's Playstation blog states, "Music has been one of the primary uses of the PSP system, and with the addition of Internet Radio, consumers are able to access even more of their favorite artists. Enjoy."

Cost to all 10 million Sony PSP owners in the USA?  F-R-E-E !!!

Sony did this upgrade at the request of its users, not because of an FCC mandate and not after taking money or free advertising from some industry trade group trying to push their hardware.

First of all, how many of those 10 Million users will actually bother to upgrade? Just like the iPhone, the PSP has been hacked to play Nintendo games so not many people are rushing to upgrade.

I also looked it up, and yes many people were thanking Sony for the "Web Radio", but many were also thanking them for the Customizable Backgrounds feature. The Web Radio was probably only added to fight the iPod and the recent hacks (Nintendo games) made by people. What better way to make people upgrade, you add a customizable background, a sucky web radio, and you patch up some security holes, thus kill three birds with one stone.


Also, I made a mistake, not only can you listen to shoutcast, but also to icecast. But not that it makes much difference since they use the same Web Radio face!

You obviously haven't used the "web Based radio". When tuned into a station, you cannot use the PSP's other feature like (It's whole purpose) play games, watch the pictures, or use the Internet (the web address bar is disabled). The PSP is also a B Wi-Fi, so it starts to skip when you get The PSP a little too far from the router. Also, IT KILLS THE BATTERY. You have to have it plugged into the wall if you want to have a healthy battery afterwards. I admit, it is a nice feature, but people will eventually forget about it. It's a dead and buggy feature just to amaze people and to keep PSP's updated.

Sorry, I just don't see how this is better than HD radio.

BTW, they are Shoutcast, not Winamp stations. These are about 10,000 stations that stream in MP3 format using the industry standard Shoutcast server.

Aren't Winamp and shoutcast both runned by AOL? Don't be so picky. You know what I meant.
You can' tune to all of the stations, only selected ones like 181.fm or .977, so you don't have full access to all 10,000 stations.

I say this, please buy one, then say if you are satisfied. Because I wasn't. Now if you excuse me, I have to return tis PSP to it's rightful owner.

 

[Radioman100]

That's what you get when you are afraid of Internet radio and your mind is so closed that you don't bother to READ!!! A comment that says "Awesome..." or "I love you..." or "Great update for the PSP, thank you..." will not show up when you search for the term "radio".

Sony's Playstation blog states, "Music has been one of the primary uses of the PSP system, and with the addition of Internet Radio, consumers are able to access even more of their favorite artists. Enjoy."

Cost to all 10 million Sony PSP owners in the USA? F-R-E-E !!!

Sony did this upgrade at the request of its users, not because of an FCC mandate and not after taking money or free advertising from some industry trade group trying to push their hardware.

And there you go. Vsa making yet another claim that I'm "afraid" of Internet radio. Did it ever cross your mind that I may simply think it's going nowhere? Given the difficulty it will have in making money due to the high CRB rates, that's not an unrealistic position.

But tell me, since you seem to think anyone that disagrees with someone else's premise is scared, how scared must you be of HD Radio to incessantly post off-topic threads about web radio in the HD forum?

That seems a lot more like fear to me, particularly given all the whining the webcasters were doing about HD being a "spectrum grab" in the early days of this forum. They were very upset that the big commercial broadcasters were capable of doubling or tripling their available channels.

Go back and read the early posts from webcasters. You can smell the fear and frustration.

Web radio is headed nowhere. It's trending down and HD Radio is trending up. That, and the RIAA has all but guaranteed web radio's demise, a fact even the biggest webcasters don't try to hide.

While HD Radio is just getting started, the web radio party is just about over.

 

[dbdigital]

A great assessment of radio for 2007 and what's in store for '08 written by radio expert, Don Barrett can be found on today's LA Radio site. Although Don is directing his comments to the #2 radio market his observations can apply anywhere.

I particularly enjoyed this thought:

"Radio is a small cog in the entertainment food chain, but L.A. Radio is significant with $1 billion up for grabs and the hundreds of jobs provided by the 82 radio stations. HD Radio is not the answer. HD is only a distraction. The real answer rests in content. In this area, radio is no different than the movies or television. You must have content or there is no reason for you to exist.

I remain ever optimistic about the future of radio and L.A. Radio in particular. But, and this is a big BUT, it will never happen if we do nothing. More simulcasting and more voicetracking is not the answer."

Of course, there are a couple of radio professionals here who firmly believe that converting to HD Radio is a ticket out of obsolescence and irrelevancy and into a new era of hipness and public rediscovery ("if only the pesky public would get with the program and buy one of these darn HD receivers and forget about web radio").

But Don, who has interviewed and rubbed shoulders with nearly all of the PD's and station managers in Los Angeles and the OC, tells it straight as to the future success of radio (hint: it has nothing to do with HD Radio).

http://www.laradio.com/

db