NEWS FLASH: PEOPLE ARE LISTENING LESS TO RADIO!

[OttoM]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/15/business/media/15radio.html

An interesting tidbit: According to the article Clear Channel is thinking about following CBS's lead and selling off some underperforming smaller-market stations.

 

[e-menace]

According to the NAB--RADIO HAS NEVER BEEN BETTER!!!

So don't let slipping numbers, stations sales, and declining TSL deceive you!

 

[LITTLEBOYBLUE]

According to the NAB--RADIO HAS NEVER BEEN BETTER!!!
So don't let slipping numbers, stations sales, and declining TSL deceive you!

Looked at exhibit floor layout ... you could cover that in about 15 minutes, basically!! Gone are days when vendors feel they "have to be there or they will miss". Talked to a couple companies that used to make a big deal of going and same response from everyone ... "it's now a class reunion for about 5 group heads and three or four of their lieutenants who still have group permission to even ATTEND a convention". Combining NAB & RR conventions probably a good effort ... but it also kind of sends the signal to the community that this is last-gasp effort on behalf of both groups to get people to attend to make the event financially viable.

 

[AQH]

Looked at exhibit floor layout ... you could cover that in about 15 minutes, basically!! Gone are days when vendors feel they "have to be there or they will miss". Talked to a couple companies that used to make a big deal of going and same response from everyone ... "it's now a class reunion for about 5 group heads and three or four of their lieutenants who still have group permission to even ATTEND a convention". Combining NAB & RR conventions probably a good effort ... but it also kind of sends the signal to the community that this is last-gasp effort on behalf of both groups to get people to attend to make the event financially viable.

Sadly, I have to agree. I remember when it was here in Seattle in '97 or '98. That seemed to be the first show that the group heads were really starting to crack down on that expense.

About e-menace's post: of course the NAB is going to say radio is thriving. No one expects Chuck Heston to tell everyone to hand in their guns either.

 

[TowerLamp]

So, what to do?

We, the programmers, GMs and airtalent need to get radio back to its basics. We need to remind the bean counters, stock holders, owners that its what happens between the songs that makes radio great.

If we continue to sell music by the pound we reduce radio to a commodity and we'll lose. CD's, XM, Sirius, iPod and WiFi will deal us a slow death unless radio responds with the one thing none of these others can provide, LOCAL personality.

It's already started. How many surveys do we need to see that show radio has become irrelevant to 18-20 year olds. FM is as foreign to them as 45 RPM records are to us.

If you're a GM, PD, owner, jock and are just hanging on hoping to rack up the $$$ in your 401K, do us all a favor. Get a job with XM and leave local terrestrial radio to those who have the passion and skill to make it work...to fix it before its too late....OK, I'll get off my soapbox now.

 

[e-menace]

I guess I should have forseen NAB as a toady, it's just the propagandist contradiction is too funny to go without mention!

 

[Oldbones]

So, what to do?

We, the programmers, GMs and airtalent need to get radio back to its basics. We need to remind the bean counters, stock holders, owners that its what happens between the songs that makes radio great.

If we continue to sell music by the pound we reduce radio to a commodity and we'll lose. CD's, XM, Sirius, iPod and WiFi will deal us a slow death unless radio responds with the one thing none of these others can provide, LOCAL personality.

But is "LOCAL personality" what the audience wants? If, as you say listeners are abandoning radio in droves for CDs, IpoDs, satellite radio, etc. maybe they're trying to get away from yappy djs who think they're "personalities". Isn't that like saying that if only Ford went back to building the Country Squire and the Pinto they'd be successful again? The world has moved on, if you can't adapt to the new ways you get left behind.
Radio is a mass-appeal media, and alas, there is no mass-appeal anymore.

 

[LITTLEBOYBLUE]

But is "LOCAL personality" what the audience wants? If, as you say listeners are abandoning radio in droves for CDs, IpoDs, satellite radio, etc. maybe they're trying to get away from yappy djs who think they're "personalities"....

I think it's local CONTENT. Talent tends to assume it's local personality ... with is one form of local content. Talk shows tend to do better when they are local call-in --- listeners feel like they have a shot at participating instead of listening to someone else's tastes, opinions and what-not. Local news tends to be more interesting than international (unless, of course, they're just dwelling on a fire or something long after it's timely). Where this disconnect seems to be the widest are local music stations who scream "we're local" and then nail the switch that sends the automated voice tracks from another land out to the local transmitter that runs nationally-researched liners in between the nationally selected and researched hits. Soon to be followed by internal and external memos from the company about how "local is their biggest asset".

If local PERSONALITY means nothing more than a local name issuing bland verbage ... it's not really a local personality. It's a local throat. When the talent knows how to engage and entertain ... it's local personality and THAT seems to be the only lifeboat of stations hanging in there. Dave Ross may be one of best examples...wraps show around local issues, involves local callers, and has enough of a brain to keep the pacing on-track. You know the show on Wednesday is probably much different than the show on Monday -- and that's perhaps why I'm having a harder time trying to think of music-based local show examples (obviously it's much easier to 'mix it up' when you're an issue-based program instead of functioning as a transition or glue between the hits!!).

 

[RadioCoug]

Local Broadcast Radio is dying, big time.

KCMS is alive! However, all other formats (except live sports) are dying. iPod and all of radio's competitors are in, and radio is out. Do you think college students are walking around in between classes listen to their local FM on their Walkman? I don't think so. Apple and Satellite radio have destroyed radio in America. When TV was launched in the fifties, there was still plenty of room for radio. Today, becuase of so much competition, radio is getting tougher sell. KCMS is the real deal, and maybe a KOMO or KIRO, but most of the FM's and AM's are basically history. BTW, I love KCMS and I love my Sirius. Once you go Satellite, it's hard to go back. The writing's on the wall.

 

[Oldbones]

Re: Local Broadcast Radio is dying, big time.

Apple and Satellite radio have destroyed radio in America.

Satellite radio is nothing more than a bit player...total listenership amounts to less than a 1 share. If it doesn't find a way to turn a profit pretty soon, it's not going to be a player at all.

 

[TowerLamp]

LBB,

You're right. It has to be personality...not just local yappin'.
It doesn't have to be politics or anything earth shaking. Its can be as simple as a mention of "how I'm going to miss Larry's Market once they close"...or "how much did you pay to park at the Hawks game Sunday?"...anything that lets the listener know that you're part of his world. I've even heard it done on KING-FM. And it doesn't have to be wordy. You can get it done in less that 60 secs. Listeners don't hate jock personality, they hate mindless yap. It takes a good PD to know, coach and lead his/her airstaff to that next level. There are damn few good PD's left in the business. The corporate types don't get it. They can't put it on a spreadsheet or sell it to a bunch of angry stockholders.

Sat radio will find a home, but it by no means the death star for radio that the press was so eager to play up. Remember that print competes for the same $$ that broadcast radio does. So along comes a potential threat to radio that DOESN'T TAKE ADD $$$...OMG...newspapers fell over themselves touting this new godsend thats going to kill radio...XM & Sirius played the MSM like a violin. The newspapers, as they say, "had an agenda."

No, its not Sat radio that will kill radio...radio is killing itself just fine thank you...

 

[RadioCoug]

Have you ever experienced Satellite radio in your car? Have you ever rented a vehicle with Satellite Radio? In 2002, I held the first iPod in my hand, and thought, "what a geat idea". An audio jukebox of all my favorite tunes. But then I said, "it will never catch on". The masses are not going to pick it up...kind of like VHS people. VHS people sat on the fence until DVD was a standard, and the price of players went down to $99. Once people experience Satellite radio in their car, they are probably going to like it. Now grantid, there are some misers and savers out there that will not spend a dime on radio, and that's okay. For the most, once they experience, and certainly once they buy it, they will never go back. Just like a Mac. (Once you experience a Mac in your home, you will dread the Windows operating system). As far as the financial stamina with Satellite, I disagree with you completley. I've read your post before and I am laughing. The Satellite industry has big deep pockets, and they are in it for the long run. They are not thinking 5 or 10 years, they are thinking twenty years. Not too much down the road and all new cars will have the option, except for base models, or economy models. Satellite is here to stay. Oh, here is another example. Every time I pick up my 79 year old mom, my Sirius is set at Channel 75 Standards. She loves the big band standards format, and loves the 2 line LCD Display, with the year, artist, and song. Prior to KIXI going syndicated, KIXI was playing The Beatles and Neil Diamond. (I love both artists), however, people who are in their goldon years prefer the old KIXO, the Bob Liddle KIXI, and you can't get that anymore. You can on Satellite, and my mom is blown away. For Christmas I will install a receiver in her home so she can listen to Standards, commercial free, the music of the 20's, 30's, and 40's that she loves, including the standards from Barry Manilow, Tony Bennett, Steve Tyrell, and Michael Buble. Once people taste Satellite, they will think twice about their choices. Satellite is here to stay, and honestly, I think your in denial. If you still disagree with me, go rent a premium car for the weekend and see for yourself. Satellite rocks. Oh, one more thing. We have a 3 year old Toddler at home. What does my wife do? She turns on the TV, DishNetwork, and chooses KidsTune from Sirius on the DishNetwork TV. She has KidsTunes playing all throughout the house, and she is not even a radio junkie. My wife, loves satellite. KidsTunes, no commercials, on the Dish, (mono) but my wife doesn't care, she's happy. My point is that The Dishnetwork is a hooker, and Sirius has got a great future.

 

[Kelly]

It's interesting when I hear people in radio, or think they know radio, make comments like.."take radio back from the Bean-Counters, and Shareholders"..blah blah... Well you know what kids? Radio stations were owned by publically held companies with Bean Counters and Shareholders back when radio was born in the 1930 and 40's. In fact, much like today, about five publically traded companies with evil Shareholders and accounting folks owned the majority of the major stations in the country including names like Crosley, Westinghouse, RCA, RKO, and NBC.

Even back in the 60's, when Top 40 was all the rage, stations were owned by large and small publically traded companies. Some of you may remember in the 60's and 70's, the hayday of radio, the evil "Drake" formats who revolved around tight, fast presentation, keeping number words to a mininum, reading liner cards most of the time with the emphasis on driving home the call letters, 1.5 hour song rotation, oh and and just happened to give birth to many "personalities" such as Gary Owens, Charlie Tuna, Don Steele, Robert W. Morgan, The Wolfman, and many more. Those talented people could take the message in a liner card, and deliver it with their own unique personality that stood out above the frey. It's listening to true personalities like these starting when I was only six years old, which is the reason I got my first commercial radio gig when I was 16.

So in my mind, the question is not whether corporations are wrecking personality radio, but more that there are no more up-and-coming personalities coming into this business to deliver entertainment, and thus wrecking the corporations? Is the bar set so low, that there is no longer an example to be made??

 

[RadioCoug]

Kelly,

I agree with what your saying. If we could just get rid of the liners, and bring personality radio back, like it was in the 70's. And make it clean, not R-rated, either. In the 1970's people litterally by the zillions would listen to 95 KJR each and every day. Now you have liner jocks that are paid cheap wages, and they have no freedom. Wouldn't be fun to create a boss jock format station, and see if it works? I am talking real boss jocks, like were found on KJR, KHJ, and KFI.

 

[TowerLamp]

So in my mind, the question is not whether corporations are wrecking personality radio, but more that there are no more up-and-coming personalities coming into this business to deliver entertainment, and thus wrecking the corporations? Is the bar set so low, that there is no longer an example to be made??

Kelly, Great question. Is the tail wagging the dog or vice/versa?

While there has always been corporate ownership (I once worked for MetroMedia, remember them?) It was never on a scale like today. Additionally, technology like voice tracking didn't exist in the Drake Days. Radio had few competitors for teenage (read future 25-54's) ears. So Drake's crush & roll and play the hits worked. And yes there were the great jocks who even with all those restrictions still managed to shine. Because they got their chops working on "the little 250 watt daytimer in a cornfield".

Even the biggest operators, CBS, RKO, Metromedia, et. al were all prior to Telecom act of 1996 and were allowed to own only a handful of stations compared to today's mega owners like Clear Channel, Entercom...It's this corporate dictation of format, "group PD's", out of market voice tracking and the death of mom & pop "farm club" stations that are certainly partly accountable for the loss of our next generation of "personalties".

Agreed, radio has always been about money, and back in the days of Charlie Tuna and Robert W Morgan and the other greats there were certainly publically traded group owners but to equate those corporations, GE, Westinghouse, etc with today's broadcasting corporations is apples and oranges. Prior to 1996 groups had a hard cap on licenses at 40 nationwide and two per market. For RCA, NBC and others it was a drop in the bucket. With but a few exceptions certainly no stockholders got their panties in a bundleover the format or jocks on any given station for financial reasons. They didn't buy Westinghouse stock because they liked KDKA's format. Westinghouse made its $$ from washers and TV's. RCA was all about color TV and Crosley made radios and record players. Radio was a sidebar to the heavy bucks generated by these old time owners.

So where will the next generation of personalties come from? I recently read that Clear Channel is selling off some of it's smaller market properties and other groups are considering the same. Maybe real radio ain't dead yet!

 

[AQH]

So in my mind, the question is not whether corporations are wrecking personality radio, but more that there are no more up-and-coming personalities coming into this business to deliver entertainment, and thus wrecking the corporations? Is the bar set so low, that there is no longer an example to be made??

Bingo! Well said.

 

[Oldbones]

Even the biggest operators, CBS, RKO, Metromedia, et. al were all prior to Telecom act of 1996 and were allowed to own only a handful of stations compared to today's mega owners like Clear Channel, Entercom...It's this corporate dictation of format, "group PD's", out of market voice tracking and the death of mom & pop "farm club" stations that are certainly partly accountable for the loss of our next generation of "personalties".

So where will the next generation of personalties come from? I recently read that Clear Channel is selling off some of it's smaller market properties and other groups are considering the same. Maybe real radio ain't dead yet!

I wouldn't bet the rent on it (mom & pop radio coming back). Keep in mind that these stations were the first ones to "downsize" airstaffs, running automated and/or satellite formats. Those little AM daytimers in Omak or Wenatchee were dying off 20 years ago...long before the 1996 Telcom Act. Reliable music-on-hard-drive automation was the final nail in the coffin of local small-market radio. Do you really think all these mom & pop operators & small regional chains would have sold out if the writing wasn't on the wall financially?

 

[TowerLamp]

Bones,

Might not literally be mom & pop, but could very well be an operation small enough to be involved in the community and possibly field a locally produced broadcast day. There are still some pretty good "onesie-twosie" owners who take the time to join the Rotary Club and sell direct to the local Ace Hardware store.

For sure the Audiovault/Scott Studios genie is out of the bottle and not going back in. But it's certainly possible to use those tools and still have a station with local community roots.