"Local" Radio

[Ferreri]

The "1470" thread brings to mind the fact that there is no more "local" radio. The city of license is simply a word during a legal ID. Here in West Pasco there was once my old station, WLVU-FM and WPSO-AM. Well, LVU licensed to Holiday was part of a complicated upgrade and became 97.1. WPSO is run by two Greek brothers and programs to that community. Our old AM, 1470 licensed to Dunedin apparently has a change in the works. Time was a small operator could buy a "local" station and serve that community and make a decent living. It was fun to be a part of a community. Join the Chamber, Rotary, and serve on various boards in the community. We've lost something with end of "local" radio.

 

[jefflaurence]

Frank I do some work with a fellow named Craig Baker in Georgia. Craig and his wife have purchased a couple of stations in small markets including the one in our (adopted second residence) community of Madison, GA. WYTH is only a 1KW station with nighttime authorization that only serves the Morgan County area. The radio station IS a Gateway PC..that's it. Craig runs local weather, community news, and other local items via GoToMyPC from his home in Eatonton. He owns the name "StarStation" and calls both the Eatonton station (CP for 10KW @ 1540) and Madison that moniker..got a few Jam jingles made up..and runs a very ecclectic hybrid Nostalgia-Jack format..VERY listenable, and the community likes having thier own local radio outlet. He bought the madison station for 65K, and is making a go of it. Eatonton is a similar deal..He gets good quality used AM transmitters from upgraded outlets (sometimes dark stations) and is constantly upgrading his little radio stations. He does remotes with a cellphone (EV 635A attached to the phone) and can interrupt his on-air signal with the "*" button..he does humane society adopt-a-thons, bake sales..bank openings, chamber meetings, Rotary meetings..car washes, and in general programs the station directly to ONE listener... He is a sharp guy who can literally plug his local radio formula into any little market with a dying radio station and make money with it. He gets a lot of local advertising revenue by making the community the star. It's a lot of legwork, but he likes it and the town is responding..regarding thier local radio station as a "treasure" and supporting them in kind.

No he can't afford a full staff, but he makes the station sound compelling, and worth listening to. I do a few commercials for him from time to time, and am glad to pitch in and be a part of my little town radio station. Your right is IS fun.

Example of his format: usually three songs..then two spots and WX or commuity update..jingle or sweeper back to music: every hour..no backsells, nothing but a few songs and items of interest..No time contraints on the spots..they are all sold as individual items..might be 22 sec..might be 72 seconds..whatever gets the message accross..and many of the local spots feature the people who own the businesses..It's so simple it's scary.

 

[naughtytalker]

Yup, simple

 

[Nostalgia]

FERRERI I think you were reading my mind when I made that dig about the Dunedin city of license. I have read so much about the "localism" initiative from the FCC and cant help but laugh out loud, then cry a little, about the demise of the "local" radio station. I look at 1470 and do not see a station that is ready, even with a move to Tampa, to pick a fight with all the other established stations in the big "metro" market, AM or FM. Unless Genesis has something up their sleeve, all the formats are covered with big signals for the most part. What I do see would be something that could be the station for north Pinellas and south Pasco, covering the local high school games, ect., selling spots to the small businesses in the area, doing the remotes. WTAN could do that, probably some others, except for the chain O&Os. WWBF in Bartow is doing it. The flaw in this of course is- the cost of the stations now exclude mom and pop from buying in and running them in this fashion, at least in the large markets. Jeff's friend in GA seems to have a little jewel on his hands, and I wish him good luck and continued success. Perhaps if we wanted to move out into the boonies and get a small AM we could do it. And I say that with some authority because last year I had a small AM under LOI and that was my business plan. But with the economy in the toilet there are times I now thank the seller for backing out of the deal!!

Clearly the ramblings of an old radio guy who misses the "good old days", hence my screen name Nostalgia. Thank you for starting this thread.

 

[MsMusicRadio]

Local radio is alive and well at WMNF

 

[Ferreri]

Jeff, thanks for sharing the story of Craig Baker. Now, that's real local radio. Betcha the guy is having a ball doing it as well. Simple, YES! Simplicity is the key. Nostalgia makes a good point regarding WTAN. You know, once upon a time they were the voice of Clearwater. Had a couple guys who were on the air for years. Bob Clark was the PD. Local guy with roots. And yes, 1470 could become the Upper Pinellas, South Pasco, Countryside, Palm Harbor, Dunedin station. You don't have to sound "small town" either. As Jeff mentioned, he is doing spots for his pal. You can't get too much better talent than Jeff Laurence! Of course, with limited finances the owner, as Jeff's friend does, will have to wear many hats. Radio was once fun. Never once in 30 plus years did I ever go to "work" or to a "job". Yes, it is a business, however, a fun business...or at least, once was.

 

[Mike_Hennessy]

I love what Jeff is saying. Nice to know that someone realizes the economic and social value of a down home, local radio station. I worked at a couple of stations along the way that were corny enough to make "Hee-Haw" look uptown! But you know what? Those stations were valuable to the community in terms of its identity and serving the needs of those folks. If the product wasn't as polished as a canned, cookie cutter satellite fed station, they still filled a lot of needs.

As far as WMNF is concerned it certainly fills a need for it's listener/donors, but a community supported, block formatted station can't possibly make the kind of community wide impact (especially in a market as large as this one) as a properly programmed, locally owned (or at least locally operated) commercial station.

 

[dwtpa97]

As has been mentioned elsewhere in the postings, WGUL in its former music days was a great example of local radio doing a great job. They used a lot of common sense - they programmed live local dj's during the daytime, and used a music service at night. Sunday mornings they broadcast call-in infomercials. Their live dj's were excellent, the station's promo's were professional, and the music mix was good (for their target audience). Over the years they evolved from a big band format to a mixed format that included milder 1950s - 1970s Top-40 with an occasional adult standard thrown in. I miss that kind of station.

 

[CBSBoardOp]

I think for the most part "local" radio is a dying form, especially in a transient community like Tampa/St. Pete where so few people have any sort of long-term ties to the community.

Most people here just want to hear music. We don't want Schnitt interrupting the latest hip hop song to play an obnoxious prank call. We don't want our Classic Rock interrupted by Mason rambling on about how Jesus kept him alive during his car wreck. We don't want Veronica interrupting the latest Clay Aiken song to tell us about how drunk she got at the Round-Up the night before.

That's why Clear Channel's move to everything on satellite and voice tracking has been such a godsend to us listeners (and us boardops to lazy to have to run a live show yet still make $19,000 a year) who just want music without any attempts to appeal to local listeners.