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Radio is "not a viable business"

DavidEduardo said:
And there you go, telling that half that they are wrong. If you talk to them, as I previously said, they will say that you are wrong. Sorta' like FM antennas: we have vertical and horizontal polarization.
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Have you ever tried to talk to someone who belongs to a Cult? Facts are valueless to them. Thoughtful discussion on policy is not possible. There's a logical reason why you don't see Biden bumper stickers and merchandise. The Cult of Trump demands blind obedience and doesn't tolerate dissent.

Getting back to Radio, Rush Limbaugh made his career by conning these people. Broadcasters made lots of money and took no responsibility for the damage it inflicted on Society. Radio is now facing obsolescence, so maybe that's Karma...
 
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Funny thing is the people who say radio is no longer viable are those who seem not to make it in this business. It's much tougher now but I will say the cost of running a radio station can be a fraction of what it was years ago. Stations have the ability to adjust to the financial response of the coverage area.
 
tbolt909 said:
Getting back to Radio, Rush Limbaugh made his career by conning these people. Broadcasters made lots of money and took no responsibility for the damage it inflicted on Society. Radio is now facing obsolescence, so maybe that's Karma...
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No, Rush made his career by appealing to the values of his core listeners. He also was “at the right place at the right time.” since he appeared around the time of the demise of music on AM. Radio is not facing obsolescence, what it is facing is contraction due to technological change just as it did when television arose and music switched from AM to FM.
 
bturner1 said:
Funny thing is the people who say radio is no longer viable are those who seem not to make it in this business.
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It's not funny. Radio is not viable in the context of their overall business. That's why CBS and all the big US media companies have sold off their radio business, and perhaps why the companies that bought them ultimately go bankrupt. The sale price for the Bell stations hasn't been disclosed yet, but I expect it to be low. We'll see how viable the stations are when no longer supported by a billion dollar company.
 
Back in the 1990's I had a discussion with Don Payne who was Radio World's engineer of the tear. We discussed the future of streaming. At that time streams buffered and sounded bad. Desktop computers with telephone line modems weren't portable.
And, there wasn't much bandwidth to accommodate all the radio listeners..

But we knew that in the future this would all change. That future is here now. The best time to get out of radio station ownership was before 2008. The station I sold in Indianapolis for more than six million would be worth one tenth of that today.

I have some news for you guys. I never ran any radio station that lost money. But I worked like a dog to do that. I had fun doing it.
Success also means knowing when to get out.

Yes radio will survive as long as us old pharts are out of the nursing home or the grave. I'm not sure of radios future after that happens. Sorry all good things come to an end........
 
TheBigA said:
The sale price for the Bell stations hasn't been disclosed yet, but I expect it to be low. We'll see how viable the stations are when no longer supported by a billion dollar company.
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If we stipulate that the reason for the Bankruptcy was the debt taken on by the buyers of the ex CBS, NBC and ABC stations (in their different corporate incarnations) then if the price paid to Bell was "low" the stations should be profitable to the new owners. That presumes the new owners are competent operators who know their markets and how to operate stations within the budget requirements of the markets.

I think we all agree that the Audacy stations are profitable, it's just the debt burden was impossible to sustain. What we don't know is are the divested Bell stations in the same condition.
 
Many many people who borrowed money to buy or start radio stations in the 1990's lost their shirt and pants. Part of the secret to success was to have your own money and not take out loans.

I don't borrow money ever!
 
Look at Classic rock. It rates very high in many markets. Does that mean young people love grandpa's music? No! It means radio's audience is getting older.
 
Flying Dutchman said:
But we knew that in the future this would all change. That future is here now. The best time to get out of radio station ownership was before 2008. The station I sold in Indianapolis for more than six million would be worth one tenth of that today.
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One of Super Shirk's former Indy stations (WHHH) just sold last year to a religious interest for $3.3 million. So... no.
 
PTBoardOp93 said:
One of Super Shirk's former Indy stations (WHHH) just sold last year to a religious interest for $3.3 million. So... no.
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I know Bill and he got out for tens of millions. He's a smart guy. And, by the way, Radio One paid 18 million for a CP in the Cincinnati market. What's that worth today?
 
PTBoardOp93 said:
One of Super Shirk's former Indy stations (WHHH) just sold last year to a religious interest for $3.3 million. So... no.
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Religious stations are doing pretty well right now. Their listeners are loyal. Expect many more in your area before long.

1980, Bloomington Indiana. You could only get one Christian radio station and it was on AM. Today there are at least ten religious signals there. The Indianapolis stations that were once popular there are jammed out by religious translators.
 
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Dr. Bob said:
No, Rush made his career by appealing to the values of his core listeners. He also was “at the right place at the right time.” since he appeared around the time of the demise of music on AM. Radio is not facing obsolescence, what it is facing is contraction due to technological change just as it did when television arose and music switched from AM to FM.
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You mean pandering to the basest of the base. He spewed vitriol he knew was false. It was all justified under the umbrella of "Entertainment".

The technological changes facing Radio are more challenging than when TV arrived. There was no Internet back then. You are hearing "experts" saying the business model is not viable. That's a severe problem as Radio usage declines...
 
Mediafrog+ said:
Radio One paid $72.5M in 2004 for what is now KROI In Houston. They are currently struggling (via a divestiture trust) to unload it to SBS for roughly one-tenth of that amount.
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Say for example you bought a new car in 2004, and sold it today. What percentage of its value would it retain?
 
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