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Is WABC profitable?

While WABC management and hosts boast about their (relatively) good ratings, those ratings don’t appear to be generating advertising. In fact, throughout the day and night, there is nearly a complete absence of legitimate advertising, with the “Balance Of Nature” ads the predominant ads—Balance Of Nature recently paid a $1.1 Million false advertising settlement and their ad campaign was legally halted until they stopped making fraudulent medical and health claims for the pills containg “31 fruits and vegetables,” so incessantly running those ads tells me WABC is desperate.
 
It doesn't have to be. Which is a good thing for those who like the programming. Very similar to WRME in Chicago or KOAI in Phoenix. These are two very popular radio stations that cater to an over 65 audience that don't have to be profitable. WRME is a marketing tool for the MeTV network.
 
I read elsewhere that WABC had a 4.0 share in the March Nielson ratings. That can't hurt (yes, with older demos.)

Question: WABC is heavy on Tunnel-to-Towers spots. Are they ads or PSAs?
 
WABC doesn't need to turn a profit but their business model is such that they more than likely do. T-t-T sponsors at least one or two of their weekend shows and those aforementioned spots are likely ads or make-goods.

I can't imagine Cats owning a station that does nothing but bleed money.
 
It likely is a hybrid similar to St. Jude or PETA, where the station gets a small percentage of the money raised.

Typically a PSA will end with saying its a public service of the station. OTOH the drunk driving/seat belt spots you hear/see end by saying they're paid for by the NHTSA. They are all paid advertising.
 
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WABC doesn't need to turn a profit but their business model is such that they more than likely do. T-t-T sponsors at least one or two of their weekend shows and those aforementioned spots are likely ads or make-goods.

I can't imagine Cats owning a station that does nothing but bleed money.
He has a daily show in addition to subbing for hosts and appearing at other times. His WABC show also appears on a competitive radio station AM970, which, presumably, he pays for, and given his horrible radio presence, bleeding money might be unimportant for a reputed billionaire who likes being in the media, though inarticulately so.
 
He has a daily show in addition to subbing for hosts and appearing at other times. His WABC show also appears on a competitive radio station AM970, which, presumably, he pays for, and given his horrible radio presence, bleeding money might be unimportant for a reputed billionaire who likes being in the media, though inarticulately so.
Does he have orange hair? ;)
 
While WABC management and hosts boast about their (relatively) good ratings, those ratings don’t appear to be generating advertising. In fact, throughout the day and night, there is nearly a complete absence of legitimate advertising, with the “Balance Of Nature” ads the predominant ads—Balance Of Nature recently paid a $1.1 Million false advertising settlement and their ad campaign was legally halted until they stopped making fraudulent medical and health claims for the pills containg “31 fruits and vegetables,” so incessantly running those ads tells me WABC is desperate.
The acceptance of ads is legally controlled. If you take one over-the-counter product, you have to take them all. A station can not evaluate every advertiser.

So accepting "Balance of Nature" ads is just normal business practice. The client likes WABC because it is a "full attention required" news or talk operation and they like that environment. The station accepts the ads because refusing them would be illegal.
 
I read elsewhere that WABC had a 4.0 share in the March Nielson ratings. That can't hurt (yes, with older demos.)

Question: WABC is heavy on Tunnel-to-Towers spots. Are they ads or PSAs?
They are paid as a cost of raising funds from what I have read. Many "charities" or non-profits buy paid ads to raise money. The biggest example is the dreadful "Kars for Kids".
 
The acceptance of ads is legally controlled. If you take one over-the-counter product, you have to take them all. A station can not evaluate every advertiser.

So accepting "Balance of Nature" ads is just normal business practice. The client likes WABC because it is a "full attention required" news or talk operation and they like that environment. The station accepts the ads because refusing them would be illegal.
What's your citation on that? I don't know of any such law. Aside from political ads, a licensee has very broad control of what is and isn't allowed on its airwaves, including ad content.
 
What's your citation on that? I don't know of any such law. Aside from political ads, a licensee has very broad control of what is and isn't allowed on its airwaves, including ad content.
This goes back decades and decades. I recall a Koteen & Burt client letter in the 70's stating that "if you take any ads in a category, you must take all".

The origins of this came from companies like Bonneville limiting the ad categories they took. When Arch Madsen (a personal friend) was head of that group, they got "opinions" on their decision to not take beer and wine as well as cigarettes in the 1960's.

The premise was that "if you discriminate against one brand you are committing an unfair trade practice". A major station that refused, let's say, Pepsi ads could be sued for hurting Pepsi's business by allowing Coke and 7-Up and Canada Dry but not that one brand.

In Puerto Rico, the broadcaster's association petitioned the NAB to make an exception to the NAB Code to allow rum advertising as rum was a core part of the local economy. NAB said "no" to rum, but that we could carry all hard liquor ads, not just rum. And later, the NAB Code itself was ruled to be a form of collusion.

So the situation where stations could not take one account in a category but not another is based on trade regulation, not FCC rules.

The only exception would be if you questioned the creative, such as "we don't take screaming ads on our Beautiful Music station". If you apply that uniformly, that is a legal practice. That's your case of "content".

But if you take the Chevy dealer and not the Ford dealer, you could be sued. Trade practice, not FCC rule.
 
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I'm not a lawyer, so I'll take your word that that applied in the 70s. A lot may have changed since, though...
 
I'm not a lawyer, so I'll take your word that that applied in the 70s. A lot may have changed since, though...
I just used the 60's (the case with Bonneville and Arch Madsen... we were AIR directors at the time). But at Univision we were told incessantly by in-house counsel that if we took one advertiser in a category, we could not exclude others.

Of course, we were not looking for reasons to NOT accept accounts.

Again, the area of creative is separate and allows things like "we don't take ads in English". So we might accept all ads in a category, but turn one down because of the content of its creative since that is a separate criteria.
 
The acceptance of ads is legally controlled. If you take one over-the-counter product, you have to take them all. A station can not evaluate every advertiser.

So accepting "Balance of Nature" ads is just normal business practice. The client likes WABC because it is a "full attention required" news or talk operation and they like that environment. The station accepts the ads because refusing them would be illegal.
Media reject ads all the time.
 
What's your citation on that? I don't know of any such law. Aside from political ads, a licensee has very broad control of what is and isn't allowed on its airwaves, including ad content.

A Christian media outlet can turn down an ad for Hooters, for example.
 
Media reject ads all the time.
Yes, based on content. Or, in the case of some stations and groups, non-acceptance of specific categories.

Good example of category exclusion: in Colorado, which has legal marijuana, only one station group took pot ads. The rest did not accept them, based on fear of Federal regulation and community standards.

But you can't accept on advertiser in a category and turn down others unless the reason is based on another criteria, such as the style or language of the ad.
 
While I can't speak to the talk on the station (because I rarely listen unless I'm driving late at night and can't pick up WSM - then it's pretty much the only live/local thing on the dial and better than something syndicated)... their music programming on the weekends is something I always try to catch. Brucie is great, as is Sundays with Sinatra.

I went on a canoe trip down to the Carolinas over spring break from college with some friends and we pulled WABC in down there to hear Sundays with Sinatra on my little transistor radio. My friends all dug it!

It would be amazing for more of the major-market AMs to do programming like this on the weekends. If nothing else, I admire the courage to do something *different* with a 50kw AM - even if just on the weekends - instead of the same tired old talk.
 
It would be amazing for more of the major-market AMs to do programming like this on the weekends. If nothing else, I admire the courage to do something *different* with a 50kw AM - even if just on the weekends - instead of the same tired old talk.
Totally agree. Now they would need to give up those hours of infomercials running on weekends!
 
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