IHeart media IHRT stock is tanking. What are going to do in Seattle because of it?

[Kelly A]

Some participants of this site show signs of a bizarre version of Stockholm Syndrome. They love radio. They have fond memories of radio. But they believe that radio has let them down because it isn't like they remember, so they revel in any signs of financial or success stress that radio groups might experience. They've gone from growing up with fond memories to feeling betrayed and the need for some sort of revenge outlet.
Rest assured that radio isn't going away. There may be fewer stations, especially AM in the future. Most larger groups will likely need to become private, especially considering all the competition taking ad sales away. None of it means radio, or broadcasting, is somehow on death's door.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

Amazon didn't make a profit for its first decade of existence. Technically, it was losing money. It definitely didn't have a non-existent future. One of the factors probably keeping it afloat was the tremendous market potential, and it's massive customer base which indicated that it was here to stay.

And Amazon very nearly went bust in the 2000-2002 recession. As they say, there's no free lunch.

Pandora probably would have gone bust by now if they hadn't been bought by SiriusXM. Spotify hasn't hit the fan yet because they continue to have excellent revenue growth. The problem is that the cost of revenue is growing roughly as fast... they'll have to deal with that eventually.

 

[bobdavcav]

Some participants of this site show signs of a bizarre version of Stockholm Syndrome. They love radio. They have fond memories of radio. But they believe that radio has let them down because it isn't like they remember, so they revel in any signs of financial or success stress that radio groups might experience. They've gone from growing up with fond memories to feeling betrayed and the need for some sort of revenge outlet.
Rest assured that radio isn't going away. There may be fewer stations, especially AM in the future. Most larger groups will likely need to become private, especially considering all the competition taking ad sales away. None of it means radio, or broadcasting, is somehow on death's door.

I somewhat agree with this statement. The fundamental problem with a lot of the big groups today at least is that on a lot of their stations, it's the same content market to market. If I turned on any of iHeart's smaller market stations, there's nothing compelling to keep me tuned in. And by smaller markets, I don't mean Minot ND, I mean markets as big as Harrisburg and Syracuse. How is radio to survive, whether delivered by transmitter or internet, if broadcasters are just going to play 10 in a row with one jock break that doesn't discuss anything relevant to the community in which the station is licensed? My fond memories of radio involve listener interaction, where the DJ is taking callers on the air and sends promotions people out to events in the community. If stations are even doing that today, I don't hear it on the air.

 

[TheBigA]

The fundamental problem with a lot of the big groups today at least is that on a lot of their stations, it's the same content market to market.

That's NOT a problem. It's not a problem for Sirius, it's not a problem for Apple, it's not a problem for Spotify. So WHY is it a problem for iHeart?

What matters is if the content is good. That's it. Not where it comes from. There are no FCC rules requiring these stations to have local hosts. EMF seems to be doing quite well with a national service. If they can do it and make money, why not iHeart?

iHeart is banging it's head against the wall with live & local sports hosts at KJR. Who cares? Nobody.

 

[CTListener]

That's NOT a problem. It's not a problem for Sirius, it's not a problem for Apple, it's not a problem for Spotify. So WHY is it a problem for iHeart?

What matters is if the content is good. That's it. Not where it comes from. There are no FCC rules requiring these stations to have local hosts. EMF seems to be doing quite well with a national service. If they can do it and make money, why not iHeart?

iHeart is banging it's head against the wall with live & local sports hosts at KJR. Who cares? Nobody.

Sports talk with national hosts talking about Lebron James and Shohei Ohtani and Pat Mahomes doesn't attract listeners. Sports talk with local hosts, talking about local teams, or teams of regional interest, does.

 

[TheBigA]

Sports talk with national hosts talking about Lebron James and Shohei Ohtani and Pat Mahomes doesn't attract listeners. Sports talk with local hosts, talking about local teams, or teams of regional interest, does.

Then why is KJR with local hosts a 2 share station?

 

[Kelly A]

Then why is KJR with local hosts a 2 share station?

KJR has always been a 2 share station. Maybe a 3 in it's heyday. You know as well as I that sports/sports-talk isn't a ratings play.

 

[Kelly A]

My fond memories of radio involve listener interaction, where the DJ is taking callers on the air and sends promotions people out to events in the community. If stations are even doing that today, I don't hear it on the air.

Realizing this is like telling a kid that the Easter Bunny doesn't actually exist, but most mid/large market radio stations never actually fulfilled requests. Typically they would take a call while rolling tape, and if it's a good editable call, they would play the call going into a break preselling the song coming up, or right before playing the already playlist scheduled song. It's been that way since the 70's when computers started picking/printing music playlists.
Fast forward to today: People don't call radio stations. Hell, they don't even call their family. Texting, DM's and other means of communication are used. Putting prerecorded calls on the air would be completely foreign and useless.

 

[bobdavcav]

That's NOT a problem. It's not a problem for Sirius, it's not a problem for Apple, it's not a problem for Spotify. So WHY is it a problem for iHeart?

What matters is if the content is good. That's it. Not where it comes from. There are no FCC rules requiring these stations to have local hosts. EMF seems to be doing quite well with a national service. If they can do it and make money, why not iHeart?

iHeart is banging it's head against the wall with live & local sports hosts at KJR. Who cares? Nobody.

It seems this is always the argument I get when I bring this up. So, why hasn't iHeart fully embraced nationalism? K-Love does it right, so did Radio Disney. The entire thing was off the network save for RD having a few local and regional spots and a couple imaging spots that said the local frequency. Contrast that to iHeart, where depending on the market, you may have two totally different lineups of national trackers and imaging for a station with a supposedly local brand that does nothing but run national content all day. To add to this, if the content is so good, then why am I so bored when listening to it?

 

[TheBigA]

So, why hasn't iHeart fully embraced nationalism?

They can make more money with local sales than a total national network. EMF is non-commercial, so local sales doesn't matter.

To add to this, if the content is so good, then why am I so bored when listening to it?

It's not a function of location. You could be equally bored listening to live & local DJs.

Record labels work on a national, even international platform. The music you hear in Seattle can also be heard in Miami or anywhere else. If it's not a problem for music to be the same everywhere, then why is it such a problem for the people who present that music to be the same?

 

[radiofan2023]

Sports talk with national hosts talking about Lebron James and Shohei Ohtani and Pat Mahomes doesn't attract listeners. Sports talk with local hosts, talking about local teams, or teams of regional interest, does.

If the host knows what they’re talking about and is entertaining, I don’t care if they’re on Mars, the moon, New York or down the street.

Look at the podcast ratings for national sports talk podcasts and compare them with the ratings for your city’s local sports talk stations.

 

[Kelly A]

If the host knows what they’re talking about and is entertaining, I don’t care if they’re on Mars, the moon, New York or down the street.

Look at the podcast ratings for national sports talk podcasts and compare them with the ratings for your city’s local sports talk stations.

That's why a lot of sports-talk stations have local talent on AM and PM drive, maybe middays, but everything else is syndicated national programming. Local hosted shows bring in the agency and local advertisers. Everything else is filler.

 

[radiofan2023]

That's why a lot of sports-talk stations have local talent on AM and PM drive, maybe middays, but everything else is syndicated national programming. Local hosted shows bring in the agency and local advertisers. Everything else is filler.

Have there been any successful local shows that were syndicated besides the KLAC shows (Petros & Money, etc.) and maybe Jim Rome?

 

[Kelly A]

Have there been any successful local shows that were syndicated besides the KLAC shows (Petros & Money, etc.) and maybe Jim Rome?

Back when S/T was new, there were a couple notable hosts that started out local and later became national. Rob Tepper (aka 'The T-Man') started doing nights on a Sports Fan Radio network run out of Las Vegas, later moving to KJR in Seattle. Later Rob was pressed into doing AM drive at KUBE in Seattle, and eventually let go for an unfortunate on-air decision. Rob has been a professional blackjack player for several years.
Jim Rome started in the S/T thing at XTRA 690, later his show was syndicated by Premiere, then ESPN, and SXM.

 

[xmtrland]

I know KIRO 710 AM/Seattle Sports, syndicates their 6am to 6pm (Monday - Friday) shows to some Eastern Washington stations.

 

[PB Randolf]

Oh so now some of you are finacial experts all of sudden. LMAO -

 

[PTBoardOp94]

Oh so now some of you are finacial experts all of sudden. LMAO -

Please point out errors as necessary. Vague subtweets aren't cool.

 

[fordranger797]

I looked at iHeartMedia’s stock prices over time. Wow, what a wild ride that is. I’m not disputing that iheart is still a successful company, but let’s just say that I probably wouldn’t park my money on that stock. A real savvy investor might know what they’re doing, but many people who mess around with E-trade in their spare time aren’t finance wizards. I knew a guy who always proclaimed to know what he was doing while day trading online. I think he lost quite a bit of money…

 

[Kelly A]

It seems this is always the argument I get when I bring this up. So, why hasn't iHeart fully embraced nationalism? K-Love does it right, so did Radio Disney.

Except that Radio Disney was a complete abject failure.

The entire thing was off the network save for RD having a few local and regional spots and a couple imaging spots that said the local frequency.

And unlike iHeart stations; it made zero money and had no listeners in multiple markets.

Contrast that to iHeart, where depending on the market, you may have two totally different lineups of national trackers and imaging for a station with a supposedly local brand that does nothing but run national content all day. To add to this, if the content is so good, then why am I so bored when listening to it?

Because you're not an average listener.

 

[bobdavcav]

I don't think Radio Disney's failure had anything to do with its network model. If I were to guess, children's radio in general isn't a profitable business model. I don't see why that model couldn't be adopted with a tried and true radio format though.