How many Shadeland staffers are now on Monument Circle

[ChiefEngineer]

In a discussion yesterday many Shadland names now noted as being on Munument Circle to the extent it might be easier to name peple at Shadeland who aren't there.

Darren Tandy, Vicky Murphy, Jim Denny, J.D. Cannon. Anyone else?

 

[RDO]

Darren Tandy, Vicky Murphy, Jim Denny, J.D. Cannon. Anyone else?

It's just a matter of time before these guys end up there too.

 

[mouseman]

Do you really think there's going to be a mad rush of more staff to Emmis right now, no matter who's there? They've held five, FIVE stockholder meetings trying to take this company private at ...whoa, $2.40/share, and can't get it done. The company's in limbo. No matter who the manager is, I suspect more hires are going to be scrutinized closely right now.
Cumulus may be hard to work for, but this option is no picnic at the moment. :-\

 

[ChiefEngineer]

240 million is the worth of all the Emmis properties? The building in downtown was 44 million alone. I think this is without equipment. The radio stations are conglomeration of printing presses for cash.

The real estate is probably worth the price alone. Tower rental income. Emmis places the magazine and radio properties together saving money. (Sharing resources) Leave out the cash flow and the amount of money already infused by employees who bought stock at $62 a share.

The stock deal is really good...for Jeff.

 

[RDO]

According to this morning's Taylor on Radio-Info newsletter, Emmis is worth around $90 million.

 

[mouseman]

$90 million? With stations in LA, NY, and CHI, the three largest markets in the country [plus the rest of the group] - like I said, there's probably no rush of new staff through the doors at Monument Circle, no matter who's available on shadeland.

 

[ChiefEngineer]

I don't know how 90 million was reached but simply the real estate exceeds that. This is a good time to buy back stock and take the place private. The influx of money from stock over time has reaped great advances.

 

[long-time-first-time]

As of right now, Emmis is worth well below 90 million on Wall Street. Radio is dying. It breaks my heart to say that, but it's true. Emmis brought a lot of this on themselves. "Winning" is not a part of their culture at the corporate level. When is the last time they dominated a market? The Indy team will prove to be an exception to that trend by the end of the year. If Smulyan isn't able to take the company private, there's one company that claims to have the money to buy it. That company is Cumulus. The thought of that happening should be enough to terrify anyone interested in a career in Indianapolis radio.

 

[radioho]

Many Indy radio personnel have been 'spoiled' to be able to stay in one market for a majority of their career. Most in this industry have not experienced this stability, and are used to moving from market to market, never really finding a home. Indy will fall back into that pattern as well.

But really, radio has always been an industry of day to day job stability, regardless of where you hang your hat. Never has this industry been safe from locked doors.

 

[mouseman]

First-time, long-time:
As soon as I read "radio is dying" I tuned you out. Is the "sky falling" too? did you rediscover "the world is flat?"
If radio is the broken model why is Pandora now launching genre music channels [mainstream radio copycat]? If radio is the broken model, why are more auto manufacturers beginning to make HD radios standard equipment? IF radio is broken, why is Apple already including FM radio in it's product, well ahead of its competitors [I'd bet Apple knows what's its doing - they had a couple products that might catch on called the Mac, I-Pad, I-phones - I dunno, they're kinda out there]. If radio is the broken model, why are tereestrial radio listenership levels at an all time high?
As long as the consumer has to pay for subscription-based satellite radio; as long as the consumer has to pay for internet access [to internet radio stations, even if it becomes more portable with auto access] - the free model [terrestrial radio ad supported] will ALWAYS have an audience.

But just in case, I'll keep my umbrella permanently open so I don't get whacked by one of those pieces of sky falling.

 

[radiorob2.0]

First-time, long-time:
As soon as I read "radio is dying" I tuned you out. Is the "sky falling" too? did you rediscover "the world is flat?"
If radio is the broken model why is Pandora now launching genre music channels [mainstream radio copycat]? If radio is the broken model, why are more auto manufacturers beginning to make HD radios standard equipment? IF radio is broken, why is Apple already including FM radio in it's product, well ahead of its competitors [I'd bet Apple knows what's its doing - they had a couple products that might catch on called the Mac, I-Pad, I-phones - I dunno, they're kinda out there]. If radio is the broken model, why are tereestrial radio listenership levels at an all time high?
As long as the consumer has to pay for subscription-based satellite radio; as long as the consumer has to pay for internet access [to internet radio stations, even if it becomes more portable with auto access] - the free model [terrestrial radio ad supported] will ALWAYS have an audience.

But just in case, I'll keep my umbrella permanently open so I don't get whacked by one of those pieces of sky falling.

Radio no longer owns music delivery, that is what he was talking about. Just like AM thirty-five years ago no longer owned music delivery because of FM. Radio owned general entertainment programs, then came television.

Radio has always survived but it is much harder now with all the portable competition.

 

[buttonpusher812]

When is the last time they dominated a market? The Indy team will prove to be an exception to that trend by the end of the year. If Smulyan isn't able to take the company private, there's one company that claims to have the money to buy it.

When was the last time..... granted it started many years ago before Emmis owned them... and they are the smallest of all of the Emmis stations.... but .... let's look at little ole Terre Haute .... WTHI has been number 1 for over 20 years and more often than not they double #2 in the market... perhaps Indy should look just a little to the west for how things should be done ;D

 

[IndyKennyLee]

When is the last time they dominated a market? The Indy team will prove to be an exception to that trend by the end of the year. If Smulyan isn't able to take the company private, there's one company that claims to have the money to buy it.

When was the last time..... granted it started many years ago before Emmis owned them... and they are the smallest of all of the Emmis stations.... but .... let's look at little ole Terre Haute .... WTHI has been number 1 for over 20 years and more often than not they double #2 in the market... perhaps Indy should look just a little to the west for how things should be done ;D

Yeah. And how about their little class "A" 3000 Watt station "The River" being something like #3 in the market. If I were the other flame throwers, I'd be a bit depressed that one of the smallest commercial stations in the market, took that much home!

 

[bigtime]

Didn't Emmis have some very dominant stations in New York And LA for quite a while?

 

[mouseman]

Sorry radiorob2.0 - that's not what he said. First-time long-time said "radio is dying" in the context of companies like Emmis and Cumulus not having "winning" cultures to compete as busnesses. He said nothing about radio losing as a "music delivery" platform.
Now, I will agree with you that as the industry morphed from mostly local owners to corporate, radio became very risk averse from a product standpoint. New music is driven almost exclusively to the internet to build a following before mainstream radio adds it to Selector. [the most recent high profile example - Justin Bieber's relatively short career chronicles this dynamic, as do many other new artists].

BUT, even in it's most conservative, risk averse state, the industry is not dying. Other platforms [Satellite, Pandora] are modeling themselves more and more like terrestrial radio with each passing day.

 

[radiorob2.0]

Sorry radiorob2.0 - that's not what he said. First-time long-time said "radio is dying" in the context of companies like Emmis and Cumulus not having "winning" cultures to compete as busnesses. He said nothing about radio losing as a "music delivery" platform.
Now, I will agree with you that as the industry morphed from mostly local owners to corporate, radio became very risk averse from a product standpoint. New music is driven almost exclusively to the internet to build a following before mainstream radio adds it to Selector. [the most recent high profile example - Justin Bieber's relatively short career chronicles this dynamic, as do many other new artists].

BUT, even in it's most conservative, risk averse state, the industry is not dying. Other platforms [Satellite, Pandora] are modeling themselves more and more like terrestrial radio with each passing day.

You're right, radio still has listeners. But AM radio had 90 percent of the audience in 1970. By 1980, FM surpassed AM in listeners and music moved to FM. Today, few under the age of 40 even use AM radio which is why stations like WIBC moved to FM as a matter of immediate survival. But even then, radio (even on FM) must compete with so much that didn't exist even ten years ago. It's a brave new world.

The new President and CEO of NPR has a background that doesn't include radio and notes the monopoly of content delivery via the broadcast tower is over. Content distribution is now on line and interactive. Your don't have to rely on the linear deliver of radio to hear "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me", it can be downloaded and listen to at one's leisure.

Almost sixty years ago kids embraced a linear content delivery device called the transistor radio and helped bring radio back to life from almost death when TV took general entertainment programming. But today, the kids have a new toy that is an interactive delivery system. Why wait for a radio station to play a song when you can download it or listen to it through a browser on demand.

All products have a life cycle and radio still has cashflow but its growth potential is in question. Once the cash flow decreases and growth no longer exist, the product dies and is no longer relevant. You mention other platforms are modeling themselves after terrestrial radio. But here is the thing, those platforms are not using terrestrial radio as the delivery system.

Radio ain't dead yet. But as long as it is being run like a vending machine and those in suits show up to clean out the coin box once in a while, it will be business as ususal until it is too late.

 

[mouseman]

Nice reply radiob2.0 - you know the industry.

I will simply respond by staking out my original position - as long as all of these other delivery systems are subscription based, and terrestrial radio is free to the consumer [ad supported], radio is long from dead. The business model for other delivery options are not predicted to change.

Now, when these other delivery systems start delivering product FREE, I'll back my bags!

Yes, FM usurped AM. As the product improves, it does shed older technology. That in and of itself is a not a predictor of the end of this product's lifecycle. That in and of itself isn't a deathkneel to the industry.

 

[radioho]

Radio is convenient to listen to in the car. Other than that, the days of leaving the 'stereo' on all day at home are over.

But the bigger picture, RADIO is only as good as the content delivered. New music today is boring. Country really isn't country, and new rock is just not very good. Taste is in the eye of the beholder I realize, but every decade UNTIL 2000 had a specific MOVEMENT that kept your radio on so you wouldn't be left behind with new music.

50's gave birth to rock & roll; 60s of course speaks for itself; 70s may have been sidetracked by disco, but still continued the hard rock of zepp, who, etc, and kicked in with Van Halen and others in the late 70s; 80s had it's specific hair band era; and the 90s had grunge. What has there been from 2000 on? Kid Rock? Godsmack?

Radio has to have something to offer. Breaking new music use to be the reason radio was relevant. Right now the music biz is bad, and radio reflects that.

 

[bigtime]

Yes, radio still has a great convience factor compared to other delivery systems, and it IS free. It's not considered 'sexy" anymore though. You're not likely to see a tv show or movie based around radio now (like WKRP or the movie "FM").

Most decades for at least the past 60 years have had a dominant music artist or genre that has appealed to the masses. Elvis in the 50s, Beatles in the 60s etc. The current fragmented nature of music and pop culture delivery systems makes it very difficult for any one artist or style to become dominant. Lady Gaga or Katy Perry may be big now, but they are not heard by the broad & massive audience that heard Elton John on top 40 radio in the 70s. In the past, artists generally needed to make very mass appeal music to get top 40 airplay and succeed. In today's fragmented world of delivery systems and speciality radio formats it's much easier now for very specialized artists and styles to get exposure, but it's not the mass exposure it takes to make them or their style iconic. This fragmentation can at least partially be seen as the reason we have few good mass appeal pieces of music that are loved by many today and why people see today's music as of poor quality.