pathetic tampa radio

[Kabrich]

This really has been one of the more interesting threads ever on this board - especially when Kabrich crawls out of the woodwork LOL. The exterminator failed I guess. Just joking Randy - SMILE!

When I stared in radio in 1972, I carried 45rpm records into the studio in old wooden kitchen drawers. I actually played "Billy Don't Be A Hero" at least 500 times a week. I was cured after therapy. But then, the DeFranco Family put me away again. In those days, we played shit...I mean really bad stuff. I remember one legendary record promoter offering me tickets to see a concert if I would play Melanie's Roller Skate Song - "Brand New Key". The concert was great by the way.

Research was more or less based on gathering results from telephone calls made to local record stores and getting their top 10 selling 45s and 5 top lps. This went on for so long...too long. And it also created wildly self-important personalities who thought they could run the station, forgetting that it is a business. Interestingly, if you look back at many of the super radio talents that emerged from the late 50's and 60's, they really had no competition. Most major cities had 8 or so AM stations and you could be the worst DJ on the air and still have a huge pulse audience. Fragmentation was not an issue then.

But as more and more stations appeared - the FM revolution so to speak, it became very necessary to begin looking at radio as a real business and not a toy. Things had to change - and new research methods and numbers crunching was needed.

Consultants provide that crunching. It has become much more of a mathematical science now to produce ratings and revenue. While it's true that a lot of the on-air passion is gone from the business, consultants like Randy Kabrich have a passion for looking at the numbers and from those numbers arriving at a conclusion that may help make a station successful.

BUT - as any science experiment will illustrate, if you keep poking and prodding the laboratory rat, it will eventually die. And that is my concern about the business. The constant streamlining and cost-cutting and experimentation has sent the lab rat into a coma. I think there is a fine line between keeping a product attractive to listeners while at the same time making it profitable and competitive in a radio market. That is the challenge.

The people are the determining factor. And if focus groups indicate that people want singing farting Pigs on a station, then why not create a singing farting pig format?

Years ago you would just throw a format on the air and hope a lot - NOW at least research is your first line of defense. That's why people like Randy Kabrich exist.

I despise the cost cutting that has happened - and if you read this thread, I detailed exactly where it went.

Radio Revenue has not grown in 8 years. Arbitron's piece of the pie went up 37% or more. What's wrong with this picture.

And that does not include the doubling of price Arbitron takes when they role out the people meter in your market.

Want to know where all money for the local personalities and promotion went? Follow the Arbitron checks.

If you are now going to send 4% of your revenue to Arbitron, you better make damn sure you deliver in Arbitron. Otherwise, you are of no use to Radio Owner's (and thus the Industry) today.

 

[Wazzie]

"And if focus groups indicate that people want singing farting Pigs on a station, then why not create a singing farting pig format?"

Wasn't the "B" side of "Heartbeat- It's a Love Beat" a song about farting pigs? ;D

Had I know about the financial and emotional rollercoaster radio has put me through in the past 30+ years, I would have opted for another profession. This business isn't about talent connecting to their audience anymore. It's about the bottom line. When you work for a multi-billion dollar company and every little purchase is questioned, you know the business is in MAJOR trouble. And sorry to say, I'm not seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. :-\

 

[Don62]

Its quite clear you never worked for me. Anyone that knows me knows I refuse to kiss anyone's ass and never am shy to speak my mind. In the famous word of Jack Nicholson, "you can't handle the truth"

TRUTH

WWBA has a 1.1 share overall. WWBA has a 0.8 in the morning.

TRUTH

The local morning show IS UNDERPERFORMING THE RADIO STATION and IS DRAGGING THE NUMBERS DOWN FOR THE STATION.

The station's SYNDICATED SHOWS have better ratings than the LOCAL SHOWS on WWBA (and elsewhere).

It really isn't hard to understand.

People want good radio no matter where it come from - and there are simply not enough great radio hosts in the USA to do it locally.

If local hosts underperform National Hosts, then yes, Radio will save money and use National Hosts. It's no different than any other Industry....Get More....Pay Less.

Who are you to say Dro Silva isn't good?

With what they have (thanks to Jacor and CC buying up most of the stronger AM signals here), Dro does good. It's a higher intensity show that's much more interesting and interactive than the generic Beck.

So Tampa - a large meto area - can't have a local show? Just because WFLA's jerk owners are too cheap doesn't mean listeners won't respond to local shows.

You think that jerk Hannity or that mental midget Schnitt are better in terms of quality?

Hannity non stop reads Republican talking points. Listening to someone reading a phone book would be more interesting.

Schnitt... that's another story.

So radio should be wall-to-wall syndication. What imagination. No wonder radio is in the dumpers.

 

[FiveStar]

The best AM signals in the market carrying English programming are 570, 620, 970 and 1250. Three are owned by Clear Channel, the other by Salem. 1040 and 1470 have nothing comparable in terms of signal strength or promotional budgets. Saying 970's ratings prove the powers that be there must be right about what they were doing strikes me as a stretch.

By the way I can well believe Mr. Kabrich's story about getting stiffed on the sat phone. It's happened to others. However, I will say that Clear Channel always met it's obligations and commitments to me. The problem is that a misc. expense item like that doesn't have a nice, neat check box on some form somewhere. Not a case where I would say anyone intended not to pay up, it's just that there wasn't any convenient way to get the invoice into the system.

Still stinks that it happened though. Someone steps up, does the right thing and that's the thanks they get.

 

[scottsvb5]

Who are you to say Dro Silva isn't good?

With what they have (thanks to Jacor and CC buying up most of the stronger AM signals here), Dro does good. It's a higher intensity show that's much more interesting and interactive than the generic Beck.

So Tampa - a large meto area - can't have a local show? Just because WFLA's jerk owners are too cheap doesn't mean listeners won't respond to local shows.

You think that jerk Hannity or that mental midget Schnitt are better in terms of quality?

Hannity non stop reads Republican talking points. Listening to someone reading a phone book would be more interesting.

Schnitt... that's another story.

So radio should be wall-to-wall syndication. What imagination. No wonder radio is in the dumpers.
[/quote]*

**Sounds like you just dont like republicans!**

 

[tampalistener]

**Sounds like you just dont like republicans!**

Nah. Don62 just doesn't like WFLA, and he repeatedly repeatedly repeatedly repeatedly repeatedly repeatedly repeatedly repeatedly repeatedly makes his feelings known about it here, using the same complaints and insults about its ownership and programming over and over and over and over and over and over again.

(Don62, I don't necessarily disagree with you about the direction 970 is going. But if I see any more of the same lame quips about "Crap Channel" and "mental midget Schnitt," I may have to kill myself with a grapefruit spoon and leave a note blaming you. Really ... 4,528 times is more than enough. We get it.)

OK, now, seriously ... let's turn it into something positive. Given what we all know about the state of the radio industry today and the cash constraints facing not only the radio business but every company in America today, how do we make Tampa radio less "pathetic" going forward ... and how do we go about paying for it?

And for those actually in the radio business -- those who see first-hand how money is made and spent -- tell us if the ideas make any sense in the modern radio environment.

 

[smedge2006]

TRUTH

WWBA has a 1.1 share overall. WWBA has a 0.8 in the morning.

TRUTH

The local morning show IS UNDERPERFORMING THE RADIO STATION and IS DRAGGING THE NUMBERS DOWN FOR THE STATION.

An excellent example of number-crunching without context, Mr. K.

During the Spring book, WWBA is at night power until anywhere from 6:30 a.m. (June) to 7:45 a.m. (March). In March nearly two-thirds of Larsen is on night power. On average, about an hour of Larsen each morning is lost to WHO out of Des Moines for most of the area. Therefore it's only logical to expect better numbers in middays and PM drive, and to expect AM Drive to underperform the station as a whole. Not to mention that both AM and FM band morning shows are spoken-word-intensive at those hours.

As for Dro Silva (9 am - noon), his show JUST STARTED a few weeks ago! Any numbers would be meaningless! They would refer back to Neal Boortz!

 

[Don62]

**Sounds like you just dont like republicans!**

Nah. Don62 just doesn't like WFLA, and he repeatedly repeatedly repeatedly repeatedly repeatedly repeatedly repeatedly repeatedly repeatedly makes his feelings known about it here, using the same complaints and insults about its ownership and programming over and over and over and over and over and over again.

(Don62, I don't necessarily disagree with you about the direction 970 is going. But if I see any more of the same lame quips about "Crap Channel" and "mental midget Schnitt," I may have to kill myself with a grapefruit spoon and leave a note blaming you. Really ... 4,528 times is more than enough. We get it.)

Thanks for the complements. I don't have a distaste for any particular political party.

CC's big enough and can certainly take any criticism.
After all, they own most of the AM signals in this market, and keep other potential competitors from competing.

Great to have a monopolist dictate how radio is run, and its employees or ex-employees come here and trash the competition.

CC can't, however, run this medium. CC doesn't own 3/4 of this forum, though they likely wish they could.

If CC didn't have a stanglehold on 3/4 of the signals here, and say only owned 50%, and WWBA or another real competitor had a much stronger signal, I'd say the ratings might be a different story.

Of course, CC's apologists would come on here and say how a station that makes millions in revenue can't afford announcers, can't afford this, can't afford that, and only needs to cut cut cut and outsource its programming. After all, an election was held and the audience voted against real radio, right?

Incidentally, Dro is doing real radio, unlike WFLA. So to criticize him and what he's doing is to attack the very heart of radio.

So what do you want? Lame, mediocore (most of the day) radio that has ratings?

 

[MichaelCrose]

Again I say, 1040 is doing something no one else is. LOCAL programing. THANK YOU 1040.

Is it good local programing? At this stage I say 90% of success is showing up. They are showing up.

They WILL get better. (Hell they already are better than they were just a few weeks ago.)

Again, I am SO gratefull that they are doing this. I even spent money with the annoying air conditioning company that advertises on the news cast.

 

[David Sharp]

Where to start? I have been following the thread for awhile. First: "Pathetic Tampa Radio?" Honestly, it's pathetic everywhere. Personally, being old school, I prefer the local content but recognize what a syndicated show can (or can't do) for a station. Back in the "old days" you could tell a lot about a town by it's radio-- the presentation, sort of music, etc. Nowadays, syndicated programming has many talkers sounding alike. Also, similar playlists (presumably approved by a company big-shot somewhere) has left many music-formatted stations sounding the same, from one town to another. Radio is on the decline because it has lost it's personality. Even in Australia, where I now work, it's the same. The only bright light in capital cities here are the community stations. I dare say, many people "back home" would find WMNF and WUSF a nice change to the usual radio offering and at least those stations show a bit of "personality", lost by their commercial counterparts.

 

[metromediocre]

I despise the cost cutting that has happened - and if you read this thread, I detailed exactly where it went.

Radio Revenue has not grown in 8 years. Arbitron's piece of the pie went up 37% or more. What's wrong with this picture.

And that does not include the doubling of price Arbitron takes when they role out the people meter in your market.

Want to know where all money for the local personalities and promotion went? Follow the Arbitron checks.

If you are now going to send 4% of your revenue to Arbitron, you better make damn sure you deliver in Arbitron. Otherwise, you are of no use to Radio Owner's (and thus the Industry) today.

Arbitron has been a problem. Sadly radio is held hostage by their charges. Maybe we should start our own ratings gathering business?

But I agree. It is a very lop-sided picture.

And when you consider all the other expenses that have gone up while radio revenue has been stagnant, it becomes quite a challenge to keep the roof on the station while preventing the bottom from falling out.

Cowards should duck for cover because radio is facing more and more survival challenges each day - and only the strong and "streamlined" will survive!

 

[David Sharp]

Ok, radio revenue is on the decline. So, here's the gad-zillion dollar question: "If revenue rebounded and companies were making a zillion dollars more, would they sink that into better programming, when they have learned to do it on the 'smell of an oily rag'?"

 

[Kabrich]

TRUTH

WWBA has a 1.1 share overall. WWBA has a 0.8 in the morning.

TRUTH

The local morning show IS UNDERPERFORMING THE RADIO STATION and IS DRAGGING THE NUMBERS DOWN FOR THE STATION.

An excellent example of number-crunching without context, Mr. K.

During the Spring book, WWBA is at night power until anywhere from 6:30 a.m. (June) to 7:45 a.m. (March). In March nearly two-thirds of Larsen is on night power. On average, about an hour of Larsen each morning is lost to WHO out of Des Moines for most of the area. Therefore it's only logical to expect better numbers in middays and PM drive, and to expect AM Drive to underperform the station as a whole. Not to mention that both AM and FM band morning shows are spoken-word-intensive at those hours.

As for Dro Silva (9 am - noon), his show JUST STARTED a few weeks ago! Any numbers would be meaningless! They would refer back to Neal Boortz!

Keep trying - some day you will actually get something Correct.

MARCH WAS NOT EVEN IN THE SPRING BOOK! The Spring book started on Thursday April 3rd.

Get a clue as you spew excuses.

Also, last Summer, WWBA-AM had a 0.8 and Larsen had a 0.7 - STILL UNDERPERFORMING THE STATION.

Quit trying to find excuses and realize Occam's razor is correct.

 

[Kabrich]

Who are you to say Dro Silva isn't good?

I've never heard him in my life -and doubt I ever will. However, I'll let the audience tell me if he's good or not, as I really don't care.

With what they have (thanks to Jacor and CC buying up most of the stronger AM signals here), Dro does good. It's a higher intensity show that's much more interesting and interactive than the generic Beck.

Funny, WHPT has one of the worst FM Signals in the market. Lex and Terry said thats why they could not win on WHPT.

Yet, within 30 days, Bubba became #1 P12+, 18-34, 18-49, 25-54 etc. on the same "damaged FM signal"

Amazing what happens with talent who people really want to hear.

So Tampa - a large meto area - can't have a local show? Just because WFLA's jerk owners are too cheap doesn't mean listeners won't respond to local shows.

Thus far the listeners HAVE spoken - and its thumbs down.

 

[Don62]

It really isn't hard to understand.

People want good radio no matter where it come from - and there are simply not enough great radio hosts in the USA to do it locally.

If local hosts underperform National Hosts, then yes, Radio will save money and use National Hosts. It's no different than any other Industry....Get More....Pay Less.

Who are you to say Dro Silva isn't good?

I've never heard him in my life -and doubt I ever will. However, I'll let the audience tell me if he's good or not, as I really don't care.

National programming automatically is better than local programming?

Tell that to the TV stations in this market that run lots of local news. That all sucks, right? It would be better to bring some national show in during those spots, right?

And the audience had a vote, right? Where?

You stated Dro's show wasn't good, yet you yourself admit you haven't listened to it.
Have you never heard of streaming? Or... you don't want facts to get in the way of your thinking?

 

[Kabrich]

It really isn't hard to understand.

People want good radio no matter where it come from - and there are simply not enough great radio hosts in the USA to do it locally.

If local hosts underperform National Hosts, then yes, Radio will save money and use National Hosts. It's no different than any other Industry....Get More....Pay Less.

Who are you to say Dro Silva isn't good?

I've never heard him in my life -and doubt I ever will. However, I'll let the audience tell me if he's good or not, as I really don't care.

National programming automatically is better than local programming?

Tell that to the TV stations in this market that run lots of local news. That all sucks, right? It would be better to bring some national show in during those spots, right?

And the audience had a vote, right? Where?

You stated Dro's show wasn't good, yet you yourself admit you haven't listened to it.
Have you never heard of streaming? Or... you don't want facts to get in the way of your thinking?

Do you type just to hit the keyboard? I admit given how incorrect your statements have been, it appears that is the case.

I have answered those questions three times thus far.

Either get some reading glasses or give it up.

 

[coolaid213]

Do you type just to hit the keyboard? I admit given how incorrect your statements have been, it appears that is the case.

I have answered those questions three times thus far.

Either get some reading glasses or give it up.

Given your past failures in this market, I'm surprised you feel so comfortable deriding some of the most intelligent and well informed people that post here. Your last several posts have had very little to do with Tampa radio, and have been blatantly antagonistic. Don't you have work to do? ;D

 

[Wazzie]

Don62 wrote: "If CC didn't have a stanglehold on 3/4 of the signals here, and say only owned 50%, and WWBA or another real competitor had a much stronger signal, I'd say the ratings might be a different story."

CBS and Cox aren't setting the world on fire either. Who says a great talker has to be on AM? How about one of the other big companies tackling the mighty 970? How about an FM that would cater to Gen Y? How about an FM breaking the mold of what passes for radio these days... like live announcers that are passionate about the music and equally as passionate about day to day living in Tampa Bay?

No, I don't think CC is doing anything outstanding. But nobody else is either.

 

[Don62]

It really isn't hard to understand.

People want good radio no matter where it come from - and there are simply not enough great radio hosts in the USA to do it locally.

If local hosts underperform National Hosts, then yes, Radio will save money and use National Hosts. It's no different than any other Industry....Get More....Pay Less.

Who are you to say Dro Silva isn't good?

I've never heard him in my life -and doubt I ever will. However, I'll let the audience tell me if he's good or not, as I really don't care.

National programming automatically is better than local programming?

Tell that to the TV stations in this market that run lots of local news. That all sucks, right? It would be better to bring some national show in during those spots, right?

And the audience had a vote, right? Where?

You stated Dro's show wasn't good, yet you yourself admit you haven't listened to it.
Have you never heard of streaming? Or... you don't want facts to get in the way of your thinking?

Do you type just to hit the keyboard? I admit given how incorrect your statements have been, it appears that is the case.

I have answered those questions three times thus far.

Either get some reading glasses or give it up.

Like judging a book by its cover, right?
Oh, wait. You haven't even put on your reading glasses to read this book.

You're so high and mighty and think you know everything about radio that you don't even have to know who is hosting the show.

Because it's not a nationally syndicated show, it's therefore "not good."

What a waste. Why don't you just admit you know nothing of what you speak.

 

[The Beave]

Gentlemen,

NOBODY knows everything about radio.