Radio Days

[John FL]

The biggest issue in the end was that over the years, salaries increased and the economy got hit by the recession and the team later split up when salaries had to be adjusted (the market was off nearly 60% in the recession).

Egos can, to some extent, be controlled. The economy can't.

I have wanted to talk about the down turn in the economy and effect on radio for quite some time. In my own career and in all kinds of business, the trend has been operating leaner and meaner. Where I get concerned is when quality diminishes.

Quality can mean different things as it depends on the business. For radio, it’s one of those things that you have to hear to critique. There’s a good deal, I don’t understand.

In a few prior posts, TheBigA talked about big name talent. I have a tendency to bring up large markets and larger than life type personalities, but really I believe good, quality radio can be found anywhere regardless of market size or how much the jock makes. Granted, big markets have bigger operating budgets, normally, and can hire the best of the best. But, I’m actually talking about something else.

For a good number of years now, we’ve seen the rise of voice tracking. Personally, nothing beats live and local. However, VT has gotten better in my view than it was early on. Probably the best approach to voice tracking is when someone does it close to real time and who is in the same market.

I believe credibility and relevance is critical to a radio station’s success. Perhaps it was 6 or 7 years ago but Jacksonville was experiencing many fires in the area causing chocking smoke in the community. This went on for days. On a now defunct station, the midday host VT’d the show from several hundred miles away fairly close to airtime.

The morning show was local and live and there was a good deal of conversation and listener interaction regarding the fires and the smoke. The next show comes on and there was a definite disconnect. It was business as usual talking about an artist's next concert. From a relevance standpoint, it wasn't much.

I’m thinking, a PD or someone in authority should have passed along timely info about the community so the talent can incorporate that at times during his/her program. I believe positive listener impressions toward the station would not suffer. The incumbent VT talent could easily check a market’s news station etc. to get the lowdown to what is happening. There's has to be or should be some initiative, don't you think?

In my above scenario, it doesn’t cost a dime extra to execute but there’s more bang for the bucks expended if you catch my drift.

I’ve long believed music is a music station’s bread and butter. I have no idea why care and attention sometimes go out the window. A case in point. Some stations have a syndicated overnight program or in the case I remember, it’s a company-wide program for the format. Airing songs in the 6 AM hour that were heard in the 5AM hour should never happen. Listeners hearing this could tune out and have a negative view of the station, especially if it's a song they don't especially like.

I’ve heard the talent is NEVER supposed to change music programming. Why not? If there is an obvious mistake such as a recently played song repeating, talent should be empowered to make a change. Anyway, just a personal pet peeve of mine. Again, it doesn't cost more money but it's smart.

Lastly, I don’t understand why middays has become so neglected. There’s a good deal of automated programing then or VT. Now, I do know the ad rates are higher for morning drive and PM drive. Still, I see middays as a daypart where time spent listening, especially for office friendly formats, can have a positive effect on ratings. There’s also lots of driving around during lunch breaks and running errands. Let’s not forget all the service folks who drive around from job to job in the middle of the day. There's lots of listener impressions.

I can understand being lean and mean overnights and I do know there is a significant audience drop after 7PM. I happen to like middays a lot as a valuable daypart on many levels. A going through the motions midday is supposed to be a good lead in to PM drive? Doesn’t make too much sense.

I’d like to hear more about middays from the radio experts if they care to comment.
.
Again, I understand going mean and lean but that should never come at the expense of a quality broadcast.

 

[TheBigA]

Lastly, I don’t understand why middays has become so neglected. There’s a good deal of automated programing then or VT. Now, I do know the ad rates are higher for morning drive and PM drive. Still, I see middays as a daypart where time spent listening, especially for office friendly formats, can have a positive effect on ratings.

Of course they do. And when people are working, hopefully their attention is directed to their work, not to the radio. Any employer who sees his employees are more attentive to the radio than their job will quickly shut the radio off. Right? Imagine being at the bank and miscounting the money because you're laughing at something the DJ just said. Not a good situation. So the theory for mid-days, and this goes back to the 60s, is it's minimal talk, minimal personality, and more music.

.
I understand going mean and lean but that should never come at the expense of a quality broadcast.

There is no financial pressure at Apple, is there? No. This is a company with a capitalization of over $700 billion. They have no shortage of cash. Yet they spend absolutely nothing on hosting for their radio streaming channels. Same with Sirius. No shortage of cash. But many of their music channels are either VT or un-hosted. So on air staffing has nothing to do with being lean & mean. iHeart is $20 billion in debt, and they have recently signed some of their highest paid air talent. Cumulus is $2 billion in debt, and they're still hiring local talent at a lot of their stations. I just saw where their country station in Knoxville just hired a veteran award-winning local team rather than run the company's syndicated morning show. That's just one example where large radio companies are still choosing local over syndication.

 

[John FL]

I’ve long believed there are many avenues to success. Perhaps some of you understand what I’ve been trying to say, not only in this string, but in my many years of posting. I’ve been very consistent. In my view, radio success can be illusive because when we talk about high stakes, I don’t believe listener impressions are weighted heavily enough.
The focus is on the money. Listeners respond positively to excellence, not mediocrity. It’s all so logical to me. Odds for success improve greatly when excellence is the norm.

Doing things right the first time is a must. Keeping the listener in the center of the decision making is also critical.

Cost analysis is on steroids nowadays. Every major business devotes considerable time and effort into it, to include radio. Companies have always been in business to make money. But, on the human side, we see automation replace livelihood at record levels. It’s tougher for the average person to make ends meet.

The traditional workday is changing. Many work a couple of part time jobs. The midday daypart is morning drive to some who start their job at the mall at 2 PM. There’s all kinds of reasons people tune into radio. A big reason is escape from everything going on and even their life circumstance. It's like one big wheel that keeps turning and feeding.

There’s a few more Radio Days recollections I would have enjoyed sharing. As time moved along, I saw a different side of radio and it was one I didn’t like at all. I truly wanted this subject to be a positive recollection of radio. The fact is, I really believe there are great, well-intention people who work in radio. However, the high demands to satisfy the owners/stockholders and to attract more sponsors trumps just about everything else and sadly that can include quality and creativity.

I witness formats launch. It becomes obvious which ones are favored by management. There is a hesitation to hire an airteam. In my view, a format should be launched firing on all cylinders. So much valuable time is wasted during the time listener impressions should be made.

There’s probably all kinds of analysis going go looking at ratings, billing, and if there is even the slightest negative effect on a cash-cow sister. If music tweaking is to take place, it almost always favors that established station. Some of you may think this is good business. My feeling is why initiate the new format in the first place if its success is something to fear? This impacts listeners, especially if the format winds up biting the dust.

I won’t mention the specific Jax station because it doesn’t matter. It could be anywhere. This is a station launched in 2015. In my view, it should be performing a lot better. I have this feeling, management is not sure what they want to do. Maybe I'll be proven wrong.

They participated in a national contest. At a designated hour, listeners were given a keyword to text to have a chance at a prize. One hour, no one showed up to announce the keyword.

A number of people showed their frustration in the station’s FB page. I recall some saying they tried calling the station but couldn’t get anyone. Mistakes happen. However, at the very least, there should have been an apology made. After all, people took time out of their day to specifically tune to the station. This is shooting yourself in the foot. It doesn’t make much business sense to treat people this way, especially if you are trying to build your audience.

Eventually, this station added two “voices.” The fact is I have no idea who they are. They never identify themselves, at least in all the times I’ve listened. Not much personality either, just typical stuff. As a new station, you’d think you’d want to stand out. Where's a good name shout jingle when you need one?

I looked on the FB page. There are no “DJ” blogs and no interactions with listeners. In a good number of radio stations, talent posts various things and you know it is from that person. It’s usually indicated by “ ~ john,” as an example. It makes radio a little more human and relatable to those who love and engage in social media.

I’ve heard some of the commercials on the station where the “voice” says, hi this is Joe Blow. I suppose we have to make the connection that this is a station personality. This makes no sense to me. Earlier in this string, we talked about other venues for talent to shine and reach listeners. When that effort isn’t done, that tells me something. Perhaps, they are just not sure about long term success. Perhaps, manipulation is at play. Don't invest too heavily or make a commitment if something else may be on the horizon.

Think about a brand new employee. They are brought on board at a company but a decision is made not to fully train them until they pass their probationary period. How can we expect that employee to perform optimally if they aren’t given the tools to succeed? It doesn’t make sense.I see radio do this sort of thing. Apparently, the bean counters believe it to be prudent.

I realize there may be someone who will justify some of these things I brought up here. It’s not good radio to me, pure and simple.

Next: One last recollection in this expansive saga....

 

[John FL]

Had I written “Radio Days,” there would be lots of final chapter possibilities. Over the last few days, I thought of something that would probably demonstrate where my head is with radio to include so many talented people I had the pleasure to listen to and even meet. I was very lucky to have experienced lots of radio evolution. It will always be a fascinating business to me.

It’s time for me to wrap things up and so I will share one final recollection. It’s back to the 70’s!

After college, I landed a job with a NYC Savings Bank as a Management Trainee. I bounced around from department to department and branch to branch learning this and that.
In the Manhattan branches, it was common to not only see but to wait on celebrity clients. Most were arrogant and nasty. I began to have second thoughts that I was in the wrong business. I felt like decking or verbally assaulting them. Just condescending people.

As a side note, I met Telly Savalas who some of you may remember from the TV show “Kojak.” He was one of the nicest people I had ever met. He was just like you saw on TV. He was sharply dressed and yes, he often had a tootsie roll pop in his mouth. All of a sudden, I wanted to be an actor, not a banker. That never happened. I was transferred once again.

In the late 70’s, I wound up at a Brooklyn branch in a mostly Italian-American neighborhood. I felt right at home. Many of the young male customers looked just like characters in “Saturday Night Fever.” It was all so surreal. Disco was unbelievably big in the Big Apple, especially in Brooklyn. Gaudy gold chains were everywhere in the lobby.

Eventually I met a guy named “Don K. Reed” who hosted a show on WCBS-FM and a program called “The Doo Wop Shop.” He was a customer who had an issue with his passbook. Yes, transactions were printed in a book back then. It was exciting getting to know him.

He was a quiet and soft-spoken man who was just a regular guy. He was real. I noticed that same kind of characteristic when I met talk show host Neil Rogers a few times. The on air-persona seems more extroverted than the introverted person. I was always an introvert myself so it may be another reason I found radio people interesting.

One of the tellers was dating a guy named “Al Bandiero.” At the time, he was a part-time host on disco station phenomenon WKTU. Al wound up having a great radio career, hosted syndicated shows and eventually became an actor. I enjoyed many conversations with him. He was down to earth and what a radio voice!

Those two radio personalities represented two opposite ends of the spectrum. One was playing 50’s music and the other was playing what was very contemporary and trendy. I came face to face with famous actors, and show business folks. I much preferred getting to know radio people. There were interesting moments for sure.

There was a time some personalities ended their radio show with a theme song. I’d like to share one special one with you. This kind of nails it shut. The jock was a guy named “Frankie Crocker.” He had very clever lines like “If Frankie Crocker isn’t on your radio, you’re radio really isn’t on.” I especially liked and remember "May you live to be 100 and me 100 minus a day...so I may never know that nice people like you passed away."

I very much appreciate all the reads and interest in this subject. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. Time really does fly and things really do change. Kindly give this a listen. Cheers to broadcasting and quality radio! John

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0Qs5Ln12Hw

 

[b-turner]

You post brought up a memory of my first job in radio. Before my first shift, my boss had 'the talk' with me. He said, in a nutshell, words that were so profound in my mind they are forever etched in my memory. He began by saying he hired me to do what the community wanted. He acknowledged I had many ideas of my own that I wanted to try on the air but that was not why I was hired. He explained he had been there a long time and knew what the community wanted and expected from the radio station and my job was to give them what they wanted and expected. As a first time DJ with hair down to his shoulders and the mind swirling with memories of years of major market radio listening, I needed to hear those words.

He described a great radio station as one that reflects life in the community. A station that does this attracts listeners from the community in greater numbers. All those listeners draw in advertisers to broadcast their message to bolster sales at their stores. Those advertising dollars make sure we pay all our bills and provide us all with paychecks. So, the better job we do the healthier the radio station will be. So my job was to reflect life in the community to the best of my ability and to do so willingly even if it differed from my ideas of what the DJ should be doing.

As a major market jock told me before I got in to radio: my job was no different from the guy flipping burgers at McDonald's. His point was check the ego at the door and go in there and cook those burgers just as trained (aka do your on air work just as your Program Director expects).

A musician friend summed up another factor this way: it's not about showing the audience how talented you are at playing guitar but rather to play the music they love and enjoy. I applied that to radio to indicate your level of talent matters less than your ability to give the audience what they want and makes them happy.

Gordon McClendon was quoted once as saying basically, if I can get the programming right the sales will take care of itself. While that was in a different time and era, the truism still rings true.

I sort of wonder if radio today, with a more diverse offering on the radio dial, suffers from an attitude of doing just enough to get the ratings but not enough to make the station so memorable and long lasting. I'm not trying to diminish the talent and hard work that goes in to every station on the dial or to downplay the competitive factor but rather to say it is different when you have 3 stations doing the very same format in the same city. Today, with the vast number of stations, everybody carves out their niche and tries to maximize it without an extensive outlay of cash to maintain the success.

 

[TheBigA]

I sort of wonder if radio today, with a more diverse offering on the radio dial, suffers from an attitude of doing just enough to get the ratings but not enough to make the station so memorable and long lasting.

It depends on the station, the market, and the staff. I don't think it's something that can be generalized.

How memorable is TV? It depends on the show. Same with radio.

 

[John FL]

You post brought up a memory of my first job in radio. Before my first shift, my boss had 'the talk' with me. He said, in a nutshell, words that were so profound in my mind they are forever etched in my memory.

He described a great radio station as one that reflects life in the community. A station that does this attracts listeners from the community in greater numbers. All those listeners draw in advertisers to broadcast their message to bolster sales at their stores. Those advertising dollars make sure we pay all our bills and provide us all with paychecks. So, the better job we do the healthier the radio station will be. So my job was to reflect life in the community to the best of my ability and to do so willingly even if it differed from my ideas of what the DJ should be doing.

Thanks, b-turner for your contributions in this string. This is not the easiest forum to undertake a subject such as this. I’ve striven for accuracy. However, with the loss of most of my radio documentation and research, there were challenges. But, with your mentioning a memorable boss who apparently was a great influence on you, I believe that can explain a good deal about business and of course, radio.

In my career, as I noticed in radio as well, there are those managers who inspire and coach and there are those who fix blame. There’s a lot of in between as well. In my own experiences, I’ve seen perceptions and hype play a part in the hiring process. Some simply know how to sell themselves better and they have a lot of confidence. Some do a great job but they don’t always get the recognition deserved. Also, having a gift of gab doesn't mean your skills are better.

“Big names” tend to be remembered easier. There’s also “urban legends.” Over time, the truth can be distorted because of perceptions. For example, I was under the impression WAPE-AM was #1 overall well into the late 70’s. Mr. Eduardo showed that this was not true. There was an FM station that beat them overall. I mentioned a big name such as The Greasman but there were many radio personalities in the 70’s and 80’s who probably performed well. We just don’t hear about them. The reality is, I was depending on local participation to fill in the gaps but we just don’t get a lot of that in Jax.

In my last post, I talked about jock “Frankie Crocker.” The first time I heard him and his closing theme “Moody’s Mood For Love” would have been in 1969. He had a name shout jingle that after his name used Panasonic’s tagline “Slightly ahead of its time.” That was true in my view and the same applied to radio station WMCA-AM in NYC.

Ruth Meyer was the PD. It was in later years that she received recognition for her contributions to radio. WMCA was only a 5000 watt station. However, because of hype and assumptions, many probably don’t know that this little station beat 50,000 watt WABC regularly in the mid 1960’s in New York City proper, not the surrounding suburban areas because of signal. That was quite an accomplishment! It was when WABC no longer carried network non-music programming by the late 60's, that they closed the gap.

There was extraordinary effort, creative programming, and the jocks were known as “The Good Guys.” They gave away Good Guy sweatshirts that have literally become collectors’ items today worth good $. They were the first to play new Beatles songs and other songs while WABC was super cautious. That station served as inspiration to me. It's about what you CAN DO and not what you can't citing all kinds of excuses.

Here in Jacksonville, due to the incredible land mass of the area, I’ve long believed, creativity, effort, and hard work were not always evident because expectations were probably not high for lower power stations. That attitude is self-defeating as far as I’m concerned. But, the reality is we have no say in the business of radio.

In 1970. WMCA abandoned Top 40 and switched to news/talk. Yes, they were a station ahead of its time. They saw the handwriting on the wall. The rise in FM music listening affected that station more than WABC, at least at that time. At any rate, I wanted the readers to be aware that it’s not always the best signal that means better radio.

I’d like to explore “Urban Legends” a bit more upcoming. Apparently, there’s still more discussion left in this subject!

 

[John FL]

I promised an Urban Legends radio story. This one is my favorite.

In the early to mid-2000s, oldies formats were both evolving and disappearing. Some companies saw viability on building and tweaking upon an established brand. Others simply blew the format up. Invariably, 25-54 was in the heart of the decision making. I understand that and I always have.

What I did find perplexing up until a few years ago is the very slow pace oldies formats seemed to take in changing and updating their overall sound. If you were to look at music programming of a gold-based AC format, as an example, you would find a great deal of change in a five year period. Each year, there were subtle changes but change nonetheless. It's no wonder, oldies stations were slipping badly in 25-54.

I believed some regarded oldies formats in the same manner as “elevator/beautiful” music formats. It’s time was up and something else needed to happen. Some oldies formats were simply boxed in. While it was logical to become more 70’s focused back then, if there was a gold-based AC sister station offering 70’s in the mix, there was probably concern this could negatively impact, even indirectly, the cash cow.

I saw things differently. There was a great deal of music that would have allowed for very little music overlap between the two formats. I recall driving through the Savannah area and picking up a station former WKQL PD, Pat Garrett was programming. It reminded me of a Tom Kent 70's focused show - lots of fun and lots of variety. The signal sucked. When a new improved signal happened, the format was axed. That's radio!

It was around this time and prior to the first market switching to PPM that I became pretty excited in this new audience measuring system. The diary method simply had a lot of flaws and the main issue was overstating listening.

My feeling was if a format could position itself as another choice at the office and restaurants and places of business, PPM would prove a benefit. I talked about this a lot after Renda Broadcasting pulled the plug on WKQL in 2006. Some of you may recall how much I wrote about female listeners not having many options in Jax. There was AC WEJZ and that was pretty much the choice for the professional office crowd.

A former Renda Broadcasting GM discussed WCBS-FM’s decision to flip from oldies to Jack FM. Favorable audience numbers were discussed. Obviously, this was mentioned to justify the decision to kill WKQL. It's common to "cherry pick" data to build your case. I don't recall this individual talk about the success of what would come to WCBS-FM as a classic hits station. For many years, I held CBS Radio in the highest of opinion, but flipping to Jack FM this was a huge blunder in my view. The Jack FM's of the world represented a cheaper way to operate - no jocks/no personality. Because of the contemporary elements in the music, it's an easier way to attract better 25-54. It's the ticket for some. But for me, my expectations were always much higher!

Several times a year, my work took me to the City of Brotherly Love – Philadelphia. It’s an amazing and historic city. A joy was listening to WOGL-FM over the air. I’d often think about Jacksonville and I wondered why we didn’t have a personality-driven station like that with an incredible mix of music with a definite lean on Motown.

For 12 years, I partnered with a marketing friend. We tested not only songs but airchecks of classic hits/oldies stations. WOGL was the #1 favorite more times than any other station. It’s what I have long envisioned as something different for Jax. Previously mentioned “Sunny 102.3” is on the right track musically. It’s just a shame, the signal sucks. If only they could move to a better signal!

There was a lot of listener complaints when WCBS-FM flipped to Jack. If one looked at the ratings, there was the appearance that the format was tanking. Many probably believe Jack FM failed and that’s why WCBS-FM flipped to classic hits. They may even believe their complaints made a difference. This is all an Urban Legend.

If my memory serves me correctly, Philadelphia was the first PPM market. WOGL performed so incredibly well, that CBS Radio realized they would have more success offering a personality 70’s and 80’s format with an updated imaging and delivery. I called for all of that before it happened. It was simply logical to build on what already existed. What an incredible brand. Offer creativity, on air excitement, and make listening fun and it’s a winner. That’s been the case for a good number of CBS Radio classic hits formats.

This string has been about time. One of my biggest regrets is Jacksonville wasted so much valuable time. Many listener impressions have been lost as well. In the early part of this string, I talked about the fact that I’m not privy to radio decision making and all the specific ratings information. I relied a lot on my “gut feelings,” lessons learned, and seeing what worked and didn’t both in Jax and other markets.

Overall, there’s a helluva lot more wonderful radio experiences than the disappointments. There’s been incredible memories and I’ve enjoyed writing about them. The things that have driven me the most are quality and commitment. There’s an overused expression that says “no radio station can be better than the management.” That’s certainly true. There are many great ones who have passed away. But they leave an incredible legacy behind. It’s all about love of radio. Or it should be.

 

[TheBigA]

I held CBS Radio in the highest of opinion, but flipping to Jack FM this was a huge blunder in my view. The Jack FM's of the world represented a cheaper way to operate - no jocks/no personality. Because of the contemporary elements in the music, it's an easier way to attract better 25-54. It's the ticket for some. But for me, my expectations were always much higher!

This is a complicated issue. The selling point of Jack wasn't that it was cheaper. Because it wasn't. Stations that wanted cheaper went the BEN-FM route in Philadelphia. If you wanted Jack, it was going to cost you. As a station you had to pay for the right to use the brand. You had to do the format their way. That required a local programmer who knew the format and the audience. Contrary to what you say, there WAS personality. The personality was the imaging. The use of imaging in radio is a topic all its own. In the early days of Top 40, you had singing jingles. Then you had promos. Imaging began in the latter days of AM Top 40, first as a combination of jingle and promo. Then it became its own thing. Two things led to this: The rise of the Production Director. Originally, he was the guy who worked with sales to do local ads. But then local ad production became more complicated. In the 90s you had digital editing that made production quicker, easier, and better. You could create vocal effects with phasing and phlanging, speed changing, and EQ. The results were amazing, and stations realized they had something they could use to sell their brand. That became imaging. So what if you had a station that was totally built around music and imaging? That's what Jack was. Imaging, if done in a consistent way, could become its own personality. At Jack, the goal was to have so much imaging, it never repeated. That wasn't cheap. Stations were encouraged to incorporate listener calls and interviews. Local stations were encouraged to submit scripts to Howard Cogan, the voice of Jack FM. Scripts that reflected the local area, local customs, and even certain local people.

Having said that, why did it fail in NY? First of all, it didn't completely fail. It did what it was supposed to do, which was to lower the average age of the station. When the DJs came back, a lot of older music didn't return. But the fact is that CBS underestimated listener passion for WCBS-FM. Second of all, the Jack format wasn't done well at WCBS. That's my opinion. They didn't do the things that would have made the format better. The music wasn't done well, the imaging wasn't done well, and so it was a half-hearted attempt at the format. In markets where the format was done correctly, it succeeded, and in some, it's still there today, and that includes a few CBS-owned stations. The third thing about New York, and a lot of New Yorkers don't understand this, is that New York is a very traditional town. For all the talk about being cutting edge, they really value heritage. The Mets will never have the heritage of the Yankees. Chuck Scarborough has been doing the news in NY for over 50 years, and still gets great ratings. Heritage and tradition are big driving forces in New York media. So blowing up a heritage station was not going to work.

The final step for WCBS was the return of Dan Mason as the President of CBS Radio. He was an old school radio programmer, and his first day back, he announced he was dropping Jack from 101 FM, and bringing back the DJs. As I said, a lot of the older music didn't return. Some of the DJs had found other jobs and were unavailable. Some were in the final years of their career and only stayed a short time before retiring. But in keeping with your theme, an Urban Legend was created with this station, that Jack was cheap and bad. You say the idea that listener complaints is the Urban Legend, and I agree, because there are other station flips in NY that generated listener complaints and never returned. WNEW-FM, also owned by CBS, would be an example. WCBS certainly gained a public relations advantage by bringing back the format. What brought back WCBS was a combination of things, but the most important was the realization that they could make more money with a classic hits format.

 

[b-turner]

This is just an enjoyable thread from JonJax's posts as well as the comments. Having been on the air in the turntable, cart slinging, rip and read from the teletype days, then in to sales and finally management, I have seen so many changes in radio that if you took me in my first job to the present day I likely would not really recognize this business as radio. That's good and bad.

I know radio has evolved and quite frankly for the better over the decades. Radio was forced to change, get better and work leaner. Back when I started the radio dial had far fewer stations to compete with. There was no cable TV and where there was, it was in it's infancy and mainly in the sticks. There were not as many print options. There were fewer TV options. I'm not just talking about entertainment options for people but venues to place advertising. There was no internet and no cell phone. Still radio struggled under burdensome FCC requirements (jocks with a third class license, at least, to cover every broadcast hour, requirements for non-entertainment programming and such adding many thousands a month to the expenses even then). Small town stations, if not the major market stations hadn't yet learned just how lean and mean they could operate.

When satellite radio came, I saw so many stations opt to let young green jocks go. You had a service that set you back the cost of one employee that wouldn't quit without notice, call in sick, would follow format and not mess with the mayor's 15 year old daughter everyone swore was really 20. It was a way to save money you really didn't have to spend and lose all those problems humans created. The farm team had been dealt a blow.

Later came the computer. What a wonderful tool for radio. Full control and none of the cost except getting the programming right. There was not a need for many bathroom records by then and you could even perfect the sound as the jock could record breaks ahead of time making sure they didn't insert their feet in their mouth on that next break.

Along the way we learned our audience very well and with the computer came access to information to help us do so via the internet.

So, has radio hurt itself as it has grown. On one end, the business side, radio has done very well. I would actually say it is likely easier to make it with a station or a cluster now than it ever was. On the programming end, I'd say we are as finely tuned as we can possibly be.

There is one element I will bring up. Radio has lost its soul to a great extent. Group owners literally saved radio from a business perspective. There were so many stations that were losing money back before consolidation. With consolidation 'business' moved to a front seat. Maybe it finally took it's rightful place. Before consolidation you had many stations owned by folks with a passion for radio. They may have been their worst enemy as far as profitability was concerned. Many radio owners then let passion lead and believed the dollars would come if the passion was directed properly. I'm saying they believed the better the station performed in reaching the listener, the more money they'd bring in. That's still true today, but back then, the money side was expected versus creating a sales staff that got the same attention as programming. The thinking was great programming earns revenue versus the reality of fighting the good fight to convince advertisers to part with their dollars and choose their station as the best option.

The 'soul' began to wane as opportunities for entry level waned in number. The days of wearing many hats and learning where you fit was coming to a halt. Sure, those green jocks sounded rough and you'd likely cringe thinking back to when you did the same thing years before. But those jocks, as bad as they were, had passion and a hunger to connect with the listener. They had the platform to do so and any interaction only fueled their passion more. Sure we can Tweet and post on Facebook to interact today but we are comparing apples and oranges even though modes of communication have changed.

I suppose I'm trying to say many owners today have had passion squeezed out of the picture for the sake of business. The passion of the newbie, while not great listening, was having fun and you heard that. There was a little spark that seemed to pull you in. That seems to have been lost along the way. We seem a bit more like McDonald's than the restaurant started by the chef who puts their heart in every dish that comes out of the kitchen. And I have to ask myself if I want to own a McDonald's or a little restaurant where I christen every plate as 'just right' before it heads to the customer's table. I'd take McDonald's every time, but I secretly wish I was that chef. The reason, I think, is pure passion.

I flashed to a memory of a decade or so ago. I'm in the land of Lincoln driving. In my car is an AM/FM Minidisc Recorder Player in dash. I'm looking for interesting radio. Suddenly my radio lands on WHOW AM & FM in Clinton. They're playing an old country tune. There's a kid on the air, likely a local high school student doing the afternoon shift. I hit the record button. He says the CD player broke so he's tracking albums, literally playing scratchy old albums, one whole side at a time. It was so awful it was like a bad accident where you want to look away but can't. But that jock. Even with his equipment failing him he was having a blast. He had a sharp mind. And he was green, kind of a neon lime green. I listened until the static overtook the station's good signal on the AM dial.

WHOW was likely one of the worst facilities in radio at the time. I'm not talking just from a programming aspect but technical as well. Management, I heard, was pretty much just to keep it on the air. No real sales effort. No real community interaction. It was said the station was pretty much ignored by the owner who had an AM/FM combo in another town. All of that is speculated by folks I talked to.

At the top of the hour they aired the National Weather Service audio, for example, and when the information cycled through and began to repeat, the jock said "I think we're heard that before. Let's get back to the music." I say this to get across there were two reasons I listened: first that is was so very odd but second and this became the real reason very quickly, the jock was simply having fun. The fun level was like he had bought out a Starbucks and guzzled the inventory. I hope the walls and ceiling were soft because he was bouncing off of them with his passion. My point is I feel like we have subdued that passion and that might be what we think we are missing with radio. Not every station can do the 'passion' thing but passion is not just live and local but something that comes out of the radio speaker that is not heard but felt.

I felt the passion with KKAJ in Ardmore, Oklahoma in it's earliest days as an AC days, Top 40 nights 'concept' format where jocks were allowed to only back announce songs. In short, passion made me listen to stations that did not always fit my preference, not because I loved radio but because that fun was somehow conveyed beyond mere words. I still catch it here and there but there was a time is was the odd station that didn't have it, regardless of format and delivery style.

 

[TheBigA]

With consolidation 'business' moved to a front seat. Maybe it finally took it's rightful place. Before consolidation you had many stations owned by folks with a passion for radio. They may have been their worst enemy as far as profitability was concerned.

I have to disagree about that. Before consolidation, a lot of major stations were owned by insurance companies, electronics manufacturers, and companies that specialized in other businesses. There was nothing less passionate than working for a radio station owned by an insurance company. For them it was all about maximizing growth, because the radio station was strictly an investment. Same with electronics manufacturers, like RCA, Crosley, and Westinghouse. You'd think because radio & electronics were so aligned that there'd be passion for radio. But in recent history, there wasn't. Television had replaced radio for those electronics companies, and today, telephones are the real passion. Working at a TV company that also owned radio was a guarantee that radio was the poor step-child.

At the heart of consolidation was the idea that radio could be run as its own company, not as a division of another. When you study the early days of Clear Channel or any of the other companies that grew as a result of consolidation, it was all built on radio passion. Sure they had to make deals with investment companies to fund their passion, and those deals may have ended up going sour when the dream didn't pay off. But the intent was to have radio be its own profit center, not as a poor step-child to a greater company.

Maybe that's my own bias, having never worked in small market radio. I worked for one mom & pop, and left because I needed company-paid insurance. The mom & pop didn't offer that. I also wanted more opportunities for career growth that simply weren't available in small markets. I've spent my time in the majors since I was a kid. I still see college kids with the same passion I had then. I reach out and try to involve those kids in the business. It'll be interesting to see how they incorporate their experience, growing up in a multi-platform world, to grow radio in new ways going forward.

 

[b-turner]

TheBigA: I can agree with your statement wholeheartedly. I spent many years moving market to market before reaching the big city after 15 years in the business. I actually never worked for corporate radio. I worked a couple of group owners but they had maybe three or four AM/FM combos in small towns separated by many miles to the point you never knew one another.

What I did find is radio was not the sole undertaking of most owners. Usually they owned another business and fortunately that other business or two could help the station on those months when ends didn't meet. Even so, lots of those owners were local and frequently left the station to be managed and operated by someone who had been in the business a long time. Frequently the station was never throwing off money left and right. In some respects "I own the radio station" was sort of a badge of honor and something that assured mixing in the upper social circles of the area.

Some were those were owned by those with war stories and colorful memories behind the microphone before gaining enough experience and somehow an investor to experience ownership of a station. They tended to survive without a safety net of other non-radio investments to pull from.

Passion was alive and well in the smaller markets for sure.

In fact, even in my early days I was amazed at how radio survived. Some kid programmed the station. The jocks were fresh out of Columbia School of Broadcasting or some other facility. In fact, if you had a 3rd class, no interview was needed, you were hired on the spot. With no training you'd be told to write and produce spots from scribbled notes, never getting client approval or the disinterested ear of the salesperson who had been given a list and told to go out and see these people. Training was on the job and the extent of training was just do it even if you aren't sure how. Any other business would have fallen on it's face, but the radio station lumbered along. And actually, all those unconnected dots did a pretty good job considering. If you got any instruction, it was later on after you learned the ropes through trial and error. Behind that ignorance was a thirst to learn and achieve excellence.

Yes, there was great concern for revenue but much of the staff was sheltered as a child would have been over a household financial crisis the parents sorted out. You were in a state of ignorance figuring everything must be fine because the writing on the wall was hidden from view. It was all too common in the smaller market.

Even programming was a joke. Your 6 months under his belt programming genius is told to target the 24 to 35 year old without having a clue of how to do that and no budget to help them figure it out. They simply tell the jocks who return the same blank stare the PD had when told, waiting for an explanation of how to do it. At best, they had a few stations they heard they felt must have targeted the same group and try to mimic them to some extent. Overall, fewer choices on the dial and local information let them win the listener by default. The salesperson likely never knew they were hawking ads supposedly targeted to the 25 to 34 year old but rather sold based on them being the local station locals listened to.

 

[davideduardo]

A former Renda Broadcasting GM discussed WCBS-FM’s decision to flip from oldies to Jack FM. Favorable audience numbers were discussed. Obviously, this was mentioned to justify the decision to kill WKQL. It's common to "cherry pick" data to build your case. I don't recall this individual talk about the success of what would come to WCBS-FM as a classic hits station. For many years, I held CBS Radio in the highest of opinion, but flipping to Jack FM this was a huge blunder in my view. The Jack FM's of the world represented a cheaper way to operate - no jocks/no personality. Because of the contemporary elements in the music, it's an easier way to attract better 25-54. It's the ticket for some. But for me, my expectations were always much higher!

There are missing facts in most instances of a WCBS-FM analysis.

The oldies format was failing due to decreasing revenue and aging audiences. The alternatives were not too obvious, since moving from "60's and early 70's" which the format had become meant diving deep into the disco / rhythmic years and then playing Men at Work, Eurithmics and Pet Shop Boys. And Boy George. Jack was working in many significant markets and go those 35-54's with a format that was an inch deep but a mile wide. It worked, while "oldies" was not working.

But then Arbitron started testing the PPM in Philadelphia. And WOGL there noted that their format worked better in the PPM than the diary. They learned some PPM tricks via the deeper analytical data in the service, and the ratings increased... in the diary, too. CBS noticed, and became afraid that when the PPM rolled out in NYC, someone else wouldl take the position CBS had left (and call it by a different name) and cause them to lose a major billing opportunity.

So, while Jack was already delivering better 35-54 numbers than the last year of CBS-FM's oldies, they blew it up and installed a totally new format, "classic hits", to replace it. And they looked great in the PPM when it arrived and they had disposed of the dreaded "oldies" name for the format along with its association with doo-wop and the 50's and 60's.

There was a lot of listener complaints when WCBS-FM flipped to Jack. If one looked at the ratings, there was the appearance that the format was tanking. Many probably believe Jack FM failed and that’s why WCBS-FM flipped to classic hits. They may even believe their complaints made a difference. This is all an Urban Legend.

The urban legend is that CBS should have been left alone and that jack was a mistake. In fact, Jack was the right move at the time, and it worked. But what was discovered about the upcoming PPM change-over from the Philly tests revealed a third format... classic hits... that would e even bigger. The problem is in saying that "oldies" and "classic hits" are just fine tuning issues. They are separate formats.

If my memory serves me correctly, Philadelphia was the first PPM market. WOGL performed so incredibly well, that CBS Radio realized they would have more success offering a personality 70’s and 80’s format with an updated imaging and delivery. I called for all of that before it happened. It was simply logical to build on what already existed. What an incredible brand. Offer creativity, on air excitement, and make listening fun and it’s a winner. That’s been the case for a good number of CBS Radio classic hits formats.

Philly was the first major test market (if we ignore some technology tests in England and Wilmington prior to the Philly tests). The test was done with only some stations participating. Not everyone encoded. Small stations and suburban MSA stations generally did not encode, and some majors did not. But some folks at CBS who were very good at looking at the data found some interesting things, and they discovered some "tricks" for getting better PPM TSL, which they started calling "incidents" of listening.

The first official almost total PPM test was in Houston, and that was the first market to be rolled out. Houston ended it's two years of testing in 2006, and became a full-time PPM market in 2007, with one overlapping diary and PPM period of Winter of 2007. The rest of the markets waited until at least mid-2008 for the change to begin.

Philly was more of a feasibility test, from both technical and results perspectives. Houston was the "we have the system, let's work on the sample" test.