-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
Radio is slowly dying
- Thread starter oldmanradio
- Start date
DavidEduardo said:
Kissing a woman who smokes is like licking an ashtray.
Well, maybe that would be french kissing ... an ashtray.
Pardon me, if you were eating.
You get my point which of course is pointless.
I think I just insulted myself. But that beats Joe Pyne who told callers to
"gargle with razor blades."
Yeah, yeah, I know ... Joe Pyne?
Google it.
When did google become a verb? I mean the exact date.
Oh, smoking. The same holds true when you try to "eat" the mic after the three-pack-a-day jock leaves the building. Intimacy with the listener becomes difficult.
Not to mention the pot ... no, silly boy, not the one on the board. The kind you smoke. No, do not remove a pot from the board and try to smoke it.
Ah skip it.
I did pour a Coke down the front of a new, custom-made control board. It was an accident. Gee those pots were hard to move for awhile. It also tends to affect your voice when you are attempting to do something with the pot that mimics incline bench pressing.
For the person who asked me to please post more often, I am willing to consider offers. Cash. I don't trust banks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLgNPYw9QMw
pintobuddy said:
Radio Dying? Read on...
97.9 WKKW/Morgantown, WV PD/Morning Show Host Big John Bowen reports that their annual Biker Rally attracted upwards of 70,000 for their big MountainFest last weekend.
70K and that's in a small town!
OK David....Let me help you:
1.) We will operate in the Public Interest as Public Trustees.
What is "the public interest" today? Is providing relaxing music during the workday less in the public interest than a talk show about the new sewage plant?
First...Operating in the Public Interest means running your Radio Station in a manner that serves the needs of Listeners ahead of Stockholders, Bean Counters, and Bonus Structures. Do that well, and the Stockholders, Bean Counters, and Bonus Structures take care of themselves.
Second....There's nothing wrong with "....providing relaxing music during the workday", as long as a Qualified, On-Air Broadcaster interrupts it when a Tornado Warning is issued, or when Terrorist Act occurs....9-Eleven for example. (David, has the New York EAS tripped to inform those enjoying "....relaxing music during the workday...." in the World Trade Center South Tower that the North Tower has been hit yet?)
Last Thing....A Talk Show about a "...new sewage plant..." is not "....a more entertaining, creative, and memorable On-Air Product than Listeners can provide for themselves elsewhere....", unless it has just exploded. It is therefore not a cogent justification for an editorial decision to completely ignore anything that is not: "....providing relaxing music during the workday....". That you would even cite that example belies a programming weakness in you that should always be remembered when someone reads your commentaries.
Quote
2.) We will focus our Product on our true customers; Listeners.
With the important exception of the horrible facilities, like high-band daytimers, that can not compete, radio stations have to focus on listeners as without a listener group, advertising sales over anything but the very short term is impossible.
(Assuming that it's even possible to make heads or tails out of that statement....)
The current pervasive trend in Radio is to base Radio's main effort on Advertising Sales, to the exclusion of providing a Quality On-Air Product. Your (apparent) assertion that this is short-term is therefore correct.
As many have said, "...A rising tide lifts all boats...". Likewise, an ebbing tide lowers them. If a few large Radio Corporations act to lower the tide based on an inherent inability to afford a Quality On-Air Product, the Listeners are thus forced to either accept this lack of quality....
....OR FIND SOMETHING BETTER! ("....Network Programming, I-Pods, Multi-changer CD Players, and Satellite "Radio" Channels....")
Quote
3.) We will find and hire real Program Directors, charge them with the mission of delivering a more entertaining, creative, and memorable On-Air Product, than Listeners can provide for themselves elsewhere.
In today's multimedia world, radio can only be a mass medium. At certain times, listeners will want to custom tailor entertainment to their own taste... just like when we played 45's over and over. And at other times, radio's convenience is an important advantage.
Your comment has nothing to do with the subject of the quote. It's almost as if you have a blindness to the concept of "....real Program Directors, charg[ed]....with the mission of delivering a more entertaining, creative, and memorable On-Air Product than Listeners can provide for themselves elsewhere....". But then, that's not really a surprise, is it?
Quote
4.) We will provide these real Program Directors the tools they need, hold them accountable for the results we seek, and then leave them alone.
Unless you insert "in accordance with the economic ability of each market to sustain" in there, this is a wild dream. Radio, to sustain any programming, must be able to pay for the costs. Many stations have failed in the creation of programming that was too expensive for the market to sustain.
Re-read, David: "....We will provide these real Program Directors the tools they need....".
And yes, Radio is expensive....If any Radio Corporation, regardless of its size, cannot afford to provide themselves with real Program Directors possessing the tools they need to succeed, they should reduce their holdings to the limits of their finances, instead of the limits of their financing. You know, like manyTop Ten Radio Personalities do right now.
Quote
5.) We will watch as these real Program Directors find, hire, and direct On-Air Personalities who are more entertaining, creative, and memorable than Network Programming, I-Pods, Multi-changer CD Players, and Satellite "Radio" Channels.
Problem: not all listeners want "personalities." Some find all so-called "personalities" to be grating and annoying. That is why stations discover alternatives that deemphasize personalites and are successful with them... and that is in the public interest, isn't it?
There is not one Radio Programming solution, David....Although most Music Programmed stations, like Jack, try to prove that everyday.
Again, you diminish Talent to a level I'm not discussing, so your argument has some seeming relevence....
I said "....find, hire, and direct On-Air Personalities who are more entertaining, creative, and memorable than Network Programming, I-Pods, Multi-changer CD Players, and Satellite "Radio" Channels....". As your blindness cannot see someone like that, your mind cannot conceive that reality.
(This is truly like boxing with a blind man, is it not?)
Quote
6.) We will provide these Personalities with the tools, support, and paychecks commensurate with what is necessary for them to own homes, raise children, dress well, drive nice cars, and save money for their futures.
You should design rides for Disney's "Fantasyland." Businesses will pay no more than is required to accomplish the tasks at hand. How many Americans play football? How many play in the NFL and make $10 million a year. The rest are subject to what is generally explained by an excess of supply over demand.
OK, now re-read what YOU just said....Even the idea that Radio Personalities should have the tools, support, and paychecks commensurate with what is necessary for them to own homes, raise children, dress well, drive nice cars, and save money for their futures....
....Is FANTASYLAND!!
Again, everything I have said is true. You are an apologist for Radio's present. David, yours is not a working model for Radio's FUTURE!
By the way, the NFL League Player minimum for 2010 is $325,000.00. The XFL League Player maximum was $45,000.00. Which league is still in business?
Quote
7.) We will fire these Personalities, within minutes of them embarrassing our Listeners, our Communities, or our Company, On-Air, or Off.
We are to empower on air staff, and then expect that they never make a mistake? Save for egregious errors of judgement and things that are illegal, recognizing mistakes, appologizing and moving on is far more fair. And, within today's labor laws and rules, instant firing is freqently not legal.
When was the last time an honest mistake embarrassed anyone other than themselves? Besides, you have no problem firing Personalities, legally or not. It just have to be because you can't afford to have them.
Quote
8.) We will hire Advertising Sales Professionals who advocate for their Clients, and who want to sell our Product, not tinker with it.
You must have worked at a couple of bad stations and now assume that nobody in the business is professional. As high a percentage of sellers that I have met are as honest, ethical and professional as, let's say, dentists I have met.
You're making the assumptions pal, not me. For a supposed professional communicator, youo sure don't get much of what you read, huh?
Quote
9.) We will direct our Sales efforts to as few Advertisers as necessary to meet our financial goals, while simultaneously meeting their expectations of results.
Rates are set not just by the radio competitive environment but by the sum of all ad media. In a bad economy, rates fall because there is more supply than demand... no matter what we want to sell for.
And radio is a medium. The success of a campaign is about more than delivering a message... location, need, price, competition, etc. are part of the issues involved here. Radio has little or no control over most of these matters.
No David, your brand of Radio is what is out of control....Like a golfer who ignores the Rules. What is he or she actually doing?
Quote
10.) Our decision-making will always result in a stronger On-Air Product, not a weaker one.
Most broadcasters already do that. The first decisions in this business, as in any business, relate to the survival of the enterprise. Since radio did not create the recession, then we are subject to its pressures.
Yes David, Radio Broadcasters do indeed, do that....However, they are the scarce minority running Radio these days. However, Radio Managers, the vast majority, running the industry today do not.
By the way, properly-run Radio is recession proof....Radio was one of the only industries that profited during the Depression.
Recalibrate David....Remember, it's impossible to fill an overflowing cup.
Jon-David Wells
The Wells Report
1.) We will operate in the Public Interest as Public Trustees.
What is "the public interest" today? Is providing relaxing music during the workday less in the public interest than a talk show about the new sewage plant?
First...Operating in the Public Interest means running your Radio Station in a manner that serves the needs of Listeners ahead of Stockholders, Bean Counters, and Bonus Structures. Do that well, and the Stockholders, Bean Counters, and Bonus Structures take care of themselves.
Second....There's nothing wrong with "....providing relaxing music during the workday", as long as a Qualified, On-Air Broadcaster interrupts it when a Tornado Warning is issued, or when Terrorist Act occurs....9-Eleven for example. (David, has the New York EAS tripped to inform those enjoying "....relaxing music during the workday...." in the World Trade Center South Tower that the North Tower has been hit yet?)
Last Thing....A Talk Show about a "...new sewage plant..." is not "....a more entertaining, creative, and memorable On-Air Product than Listeners can provide for themselves elsewhere....", unless it has just exploded. It is therefore not a cogent justification for an editorial decision to completely ignore anything that is not: "....providing relaxing music during the workday....". That you would even cite that example belies a programming weakness in you that should always be remembered when someone reads your commentaries.
Quote
2.) We will focus our Product on our true customers; Listeners.
With the important exception of the horrible facilities, like high-band daytimers, that can not compete, radio stations have to focus on listeners as without a listener group, advertising sales over anything but the very short term is impossible.
(Assuming that it's even possible to make heads or tails out of that statement....)
The current pervasive trend in Radio is to base Radio's main effort on Advertising Sales, to the exclusion of providing a Quality On-Air Product. Your (apparent) assertion that this is short-term is therefore correct.
As many have said, "...A rising tide lifts all boats...". Likewise, an ebbing tide lowers them. If a few large Radio Corporations act to lower the tide based on an inherent inability to afford a Quality On-Air Product, the Listeners are thus forced to either accept this lack of quality....
....OR FIND SOMETHING BETTER! ("....Network Programming, I-Pods, Multi-changer CD Players, and Satellite "Radio" Channels....")
Quote
3.) We will find and hire real Program Directors, charge them with the mission of delivering a more entertaining, creative, and memorable On-Air Product, than Listeners can provide for themselves elsewhere.
In today's multimedia world, radio can only be a mass medium. At certain times, listeners will want to custom tailor entertainment to their own taste... just like when we played 45's over and over. And at other times, radio's convenience is an important advantage.
Your comment has nothing to do with the subject of the quote. It's almost as if you have a blindness to the concept of "....real Program Directors, charg[ed]....with the mission of delivering a more entertaining, creative, and memorable On-Air Product than Listeners can provide for themselves elsewhere....". But then, that's not really a surprise, is it?
Quote
4.) We will provide these real Program Directors the tools they need, hold them accountable for the results we seek, and then leave them alone.
Unless you insert "in accordance with the economic ability of each market to sustain" in there, this is a wild dream. Radio, to sustain any programming, must be able to pay for the costs. Many stations have failed in the creation of programming that was too expensive for the market to sustain.
Re-read, David: "....We will provide these real Program Directors the tools they need....".
And yes, Radio is expensive....If any Radio Corporation, regardless of its size, cannot afford to provide themselves with real Program Directors possessing the tools they need to succeed, they should reduce their holdings to the limits of their finances, instead of the limits of their financing. You know, like manyTop Ten Radio Personalities do right now.
Quote
5.) We will watch as these real Program Directors find, hire, and direct On-Air Personalities who are more entertaining, creative, and memorable than Network Programming, I-Pods, Multi-changer CD Players, and Satellite "Radio" Channels.
Problem: not all listeners want "personalities." Some find all so-called "personalities" to be grating and annoying. That is why stations discover alternatives that deemphasize personalites and are successful with them... and that is in the public interest, isn't it?
There is not one Radio Programming solution, David....Although most Music Programmed stations, like Jack, try to prove that everyday.
Again, you diminish Talent to a level I'm not discussing, so your argument has some seeming relevence....
I said "....find, hire, and direct On-Air Personalities who are more entertaining, creative, and memorable than Network Programming, I-Pods, Multi-changer CD Players, and Satellite "Radio" Channels....". As your blindness cannot see someone like that, your mind cannot conceive that reality.
(This is truly like boxing with a blind man, is it not?)
Quote
6.) We will provide these Personalities with the tools, support, and paychecks commensurate with what is necessary for them to own homes, raise children, dress well, drive nice cars, and save money for their futures.
You should design rides for Disney's "Fantasyland." Businesses will pay no more than is required to accomplish the tasks at hand. How many Americans play football? How many play in the NFL and make $10 million a year. The rest are subject to what is generally explained by an excess of supply over demand.
OK, now re-read what YOU just said....Even the idea that Radio Personalities should have the tools, support, and paychecks commensurate with what is necessary for them to own homes, raise children, dress well, drive nice cars, and save money for their futures....
....Is FANTASYLAND!!
Again, everything I have said is true. You are an apologist for Radio's present. David, yours is not a working model for Radio's FUTURE!
By the way, the NFL League Player minimum for 2010 is $325,000.00. The XFL League Player maximum was $45,000.00. Which league is still in business?
Quote
7.) We will fire these Personalities, within minutes of them embarrassing our Listeners, our Communities, or our Company, On-Air, or Off.
We are to empower on air staff, and then expect that they never make a mistake? Save for egregious errors of judgement and things that are illegal, recognizing mistakes, appologizing and moving on is far more fair. And, within today's labor laws and rules, instant firing is freqently not legal.
When was the last time an honest mistake embarrassed anyone other than themselves? Besides, you have no problem firing Personalities, legally or not. It just have to be because you can't afford to have them.
Quote
8.) We will hire Advertising Sales Professionals who advocate for their Clients, and who want to sell our Product, not tinker with it.
You must have worked at a couple of bad stations and now assume that nobody in the business is professional. As high a percentage of sellers that I have met are as honest, ethical and professional as, let's say, dentists I have met.
You're making the assumptions pal, not me. For a supposed professional communicator, youo sure don't get much of what you read, huh?
Quote
9.) We will direct our Sales efforts to as few Advertisers as necessary to meet our financial goals, while simultaneously meeting their expectations of results.
Rates are set not just by the radio competitive environment but by the sum of all ad media. In a bad economy, rates fall because there is more supply than demand... no matter what we want to sell for.
And radio is a medium. The success of a campaign is about more than delivering a message... location, need, price, competition, etc. are part of the issues involved here. Radio has little or no control over most of these matters.
No David, your brand of Radio is what is out of control....Like a golfer who ignores the Rules. What is he or she actually doing?
Quote
10.) Our decision-making will always result in a stronger On-Air Product, not a weaker one.
Most broadcasters already do that. The first decisions in this business, as in any business, relate to the survival of the enterprise. Since radio did not create the recession, then we are subject to its pressures.
Yes David, Radio Broadcasters do indeed, do that....However, they are the scarce minority running Radio these days. However, Radio Managers, the vast majority, running the industry today do not.
By the way, properly-run Radio is recession proof....Radio was one of the only industries that profited during the Depression.
Recalibrate David....Remember, it's impossible to fill an overflowing cup.
Jon-David Wells
The Wells Report
You can hear (parts of) the plan in action Monday through Friday, from 5-8 PM, on NewsTalk 660 K-SKY....
http://den-a.plr.liquidcompass.net/player/flash/audio_player.php?id=KSKYAM&uid=124 www.ksky.com
And you can see it on Justin TV....
http://www.justin.tv/thewellsreport
As for the other parts of the plan, one will be (hopefully) published soon.
bturner is a GM and has posted on this topic, if he implements any of these ideas, I have succeeded.
Hopefully, there are other GM's reading this thread (that aren't part of the problem) who will not be threatened by someone else's opinion, and will either take up the mission, or parts of it.
In short, Biggie....I just published the plan. (It's not a manifesto.) Now, what parts of it are you going to implement?
J-D
TWR
http://den-a.plr.liquidcompass.net/player/flash/audio_player.php?id=KSKYAM&uid=124 www.ksky.com
And you can see it on Justin TV....
http://www.justin.tv/thewellsreport
As for the other parts of the plan, one will be (hopefully) published soon.
bturner is a GM and has posted on this topic, if he implements any of these ideas, I have succeeded.
Hopefully, there are other GM's reading this thread (that aren't part of the problem) who will not be threatened by someone else's opinion, and will either take up the mission, or parts of it.
In short, Biggie....I just published the plan. (It's not a manifesto.) Now, what parts of it are you going to implement?
J-D
TWR
jondavidvox said:
As I said, most of us live in the real world, not one of fantasy, not one that we own and control.
But next time I see Mr. Obama, I'll give him your thoughts. I'm sure he'll drop what he's doing and implement them immediately.
As for me, I have my own manifesto, and I implement it every minute of every day. Far be it from me to feel my manifesto is more important than yours, nor do I expect you to implement my manifesto.
The 9/11 EAS thing keeps being brought up. If the EAS tones had gone off, what would people who were listening to something not carrying coverage have been instructed to do? Run? Evacuate all buildings immediately? What likely would have happened is more panic than what was already happening. It's fine to have squeaky tones going off, but the authorities in charge have to have a message instructing people what to do. I was in Dayton, Ohio, working for Metro at the time, and I don't know any station off the top of my head that didn't have coverage. Even stations that were normally juke boxes. If EAS tones had gone off in Dayton, what would have been the point? I was supposed to run to a fallout shelter? Not sure I'd have even known where there was one. There were people watching movies on Lifetime that morning. Why wasn't there a live announcer ready to go on the air on each cable channel? I remember when Princess Diana died late on a Saturday night. The CBS Newsroom was unstaffed, and they had to carry an ITN feed. If it was a terrorist attack then, even CBS would have been unpreprared.
Someone does not have to be sitting at a control board to go on the air with emergency information. It can be done from anywhere with the technology that exists.
I understand the sentiment, but somewhere, to implement it, you have to run the numbers by a bank or someone with capital to implement it. You say your going to hire live jocks 24/7 and pay top dollar? Maybe a five-person news team? When do you show the bank you're going to turn a profit?
A lot is made of the people who will absolutely, under no circumstances, listen to anything they did not download personally and preferably play guitar on, who will not be satisfied with anything radio does. But yet, having wacky DJs talking up intros again will bring them all back? Kinda have my doubts.
Someone does not have to be sitting at a control board to go on the air with emergency information. It can be done from anywhere with the technology that exists.
I understand the sentiment, but somewhere, to implement it, you have to run the numbers by a bank or someone with capital to implement it. You say your going to hire live jocks 24/7 and pay top dollar? Maybe a five-person news team? When do you show the bank you're going to turn a profit?
A lot is made of the people who will absolutely, under no circumstances, listen to anything they did not download personally and preferably play guitar on, who will not be satisfied with anything radio does. But yet, having wacky DJs talking up intros again will bring them all back? Kinda have my doubts.
gr8oldies said:
I have a better story for you. After the first tower was hit, questions were asked why nothing was done to prevent the second tower from being hit. We are of the opinion that our military patrols the airways and could immediately dispatch jets to shoot down or at least divert attacking airplanes. But the military jets responsible for this were in stand-down mode miles away. Their pilots were asleep. By the time they were rustled and disptached, the second tower had already been hit. Things were even worse in Washington DC. We were lucky the pilot was unable find the White House. There was a lot of luck that morning.
As I often say, our government is in charge of emergency plans. Not radio stations. Not journalists. It's nice to think we can become Deputy Dawg and tell people what to do. But it's absolutely not our role as broadcasters. All we are allowed to do is make our airwaves AVAILABLE for emergency use. That's it. If the real emergency people don't man their stations 24/7, why is it our responsibility?
jondavidvox said:
If you reread my post, I stated that a station, unless it has no alternative due to facility, must satisfy a viable listener group to succeed. So considerable effort is expended in finding out what those listeners want. It pleases the listeners, and, of course the owners... who, by the way, are predominantly individuals and small partnerships, not companies with "street name" shareholders.
Since radio stations don't "trip" the EAS, that's an irrelevant question. The EAS does not usually "tripped" (the real term is "be activated by an authorized person of authority") for Earthquakes, either. Once they occur, unless there is something like a perilous dam about to crumble and flood the city, there is nothing authorities can say that is particularly useful.
Again, even in peak hours, 7 out of 8 people are not listening to radio, so today's world requires a multi-service alert system that contemplates loss of power, destruction of broadcast transmitters, etc.
And, today, it is the job of government authorities and civil defense authorities to activate the EAS and any other alert systems they may have available to them. This system was designed because it is faster than were we dependent on the media to find out about an event, verify it (to avoid panic, etc.) and report on it.
There are some stations that can not compete in the ad sales market due to facilities that are bad; they have no alternative but to do some form of paid programming. All others must seek a listener group that will use them regularly, as otherwise, no level of advertising revenue can be generated or sustained.
Simper yet: unless you are a 500 watt directional daytimer on 1550, you have to serve a measurable group of listeners and make them happy if you want to sell and continue selling ad time.
A real program director today needs to first recognize what radio can do in a more crowded field. They also have to do this in a world where ad revenue, and the economy, are off around 30% compared to a few years ago. Within this context, all the PD's I know are trying their best to have a good sounding radio station.
Selling stations will do nothing to improve those that remain. Only an improving economy will do that... but the radio of the 70's and 80's is not coming back because listener expectations have changed.
And operators do provide the tools that are needed in proportion to the abilities of each market and station. We always wish we could spend more on staff, promotion, equipment, etc. And we wish there was more revenue in the market to pay for that.
There is sales talent, engineering talent, accounting talent and on air talent... you were talking about "personalities" and, by the definition of same, there are lots of people who don't want to hear personalities. That is one of the alternatives in programming today. There are also stations that emphasize personalities, and those that daypart them. Each, again, is an alternative. But putting yacky motormouth jocks back in the name of personalty is not a solution.
The very reason many people use alternatives to broadcast radio is the lack of "personalities."
A radio station can not pay more in salries, promotional expenses, transmitter leases, management salaries than it is reasonably possible to cover from ad sales. What a station can pay may not meet the requirements for home ownership or nice cars, and never has. A lot of people got into radio because they liked it, not because they didn't know that they would be frequent customers of U-Haul or stopping by the unemployment office on occasion.
Save for the most egregious of offenders, firing is never easy or taken lightly. I work with some incredible personalities and have a pretty long record of finding and training and supporting them... when the fit is right for the target audience.
The realities of the economy, the ad market and supply and demand prove you wrong... because those are the rule-setters.
A radio station can not pay more in salries, promotional expenses, transmitter leases, management salaries than it is reasonably possible to cover from ad sales. What a station can pay may not meet the requirements for home ownership or nice cars, and never has. A lot of people got into radio because they liked it, not because they didn't know that they would be frequent customers of U-Haul or stopping by the unemployment office on occasion.
If you believe that radio would improve by hiring sellers based on your point #8, you must believe that today's sellers are not competent. Hoist on your own petard.
Radio is a service industry, and we are specificly message bearers for advertisers who are responsible for insuring that their offerings are desirable and worth spending money for. You, on the other hand, want to shoot the messenger for not changing the message!
You might want to look at how many stations were on the air in the year before the Great Depression and a few years later. There were some people who took advantage of failing stations and created enterprise.. Wm. Paley being a good example... but in an era when radios cost as much as a week's salary, the post depression years were not great for radio overall.
jondavidvox said:
Isn't that the station that seems to have averaged less than 2,000 listeners in that time slot? That would be about 37th in the market, I am guessing.
jondavidvox said:
As a follow up, in January 1929 there were 570 stations on the air.
In April of 1933, there were 525.
In January of 1935, there were 550.
So, after over four years of the Deperession, there were fewer stations than when it started (White's, Stevenson's and Radex, 1928-1935). While ad reveunue in 1934 exceeded the pre-depression levels, and radio was the only medium to gain over pre-depression times, it's important to remember that radio was barely developing as an ad medium in the late 20's (Broadcasting Yearbook, 1935).
Most of the gains in radio were not by radio stations, but by the new concept of radio networks, which offered the first timely delivery of ad messages nationally, a field mostly dominated by magazines until then (Broadcasting, 1935). The first network did not even debut with limited programming until late 1926 (Radio Annual, 1938)... just "moments" before the Depression started.
You can hear (parts of) the plan in action Monday through Friday, from 5-8 PM, on NewsTalk 660 K-SKY.... J-DW, TWR
Isn't that the station that seems to have averaged less than 2,000 listeners in that time slot? That would be about 37th in the market, I am guessing. David Eduardo
Yes David it is....We've been on the air here at KSKY for 2 monthlies....We're just getting started.
....Oh, by the way....What are your latest ratings?
What station are you on?
What format?
What are your successes?
What is your real name?
Finally....
What's your plan for Radio's future.....
....no-where man?
Jon-David Wells
The Wells Report
Isn't that the station that seems to have averaged less than 2,000 listeners in that time slot? That would be about 37th in the market, I am guessing. David Eduardo
Yes David it is....We've been on the air here at KSKY for 2 monthlies....We're just getting started.
....Oh, by the way....What are your latest ratings?
What station are you on?
What format?
What are your successes?
What is your real name?
Finally....
What's your plan for Radio's future.....
....no-where man?
Jon-David Wells
The Wells Report
jondavidvox said:
You mean for two full books? Both appear to be down books, too.
In which market?
Click the link.
I can certainly agree radio must live within its means but Jon-Davod has some very, very valid points.
Let's admit right off, the jocks and even the program director factor low on the scale in radio stations. I had a former GM of KTSA and KTFM in San Antonio tell me a successful station is when programming and sales have equal power. As he put it, most GMs at stations do not come from programming, don't understand it and don't care. Most GMs come from sales. There's nothing wrong with that if they understand the whole picture. Programming must have sales. Sales must have programming. Programming is the product you sell. Sales brings the value to programming.
Imagine, if you will, a factory. There are a bunch of folks assembling the products and lots of machinery to help put it all together. In the office is the Manager and the Sales staff. Imagine the plant manager deciding to hire replacements in the assembly plant at minimum wage instead of $15 an hour, the going rate. All of this is fine, except production drops and fewer 'units' are assembled each day. Quality falls and sales decline a bit. Now imagine the plant manager automating part of the plant. He had to do it, sales were falling. They continue to fall a little more. Frustrated, the manager works a deal to have everything assembled overseas. The savings are real but product quality has fallen so much, the customer base is dwindling. Profit is acceptable because the sales staff can still sell enough of the product, but the orders are getting smaller and smaller as time goes on. Then a company comes in and buys the factory for triple the going price. The debt is so high everyone wonders if the factory will survive. I'm trying demonstrate, using a factory, to show what radio has done to itself.
Let's admit right off, the jocks and even the program director factor low on the scale in radio stations. I had a former GM of KTSA and KTFM in San Antonio tell me a successful station is when programming and sales have equal power. As he put it, most GMs at stations do not come from programming, don't understand it and don't care. Most GMs come from sales. There's nothing wrong with that if they understand the whole picture. Programming must have sales. Sales must have programming. Programming is the product you sell. Sales brings the value to programming.
Imagine, if you will, a factory. There are a bunch of folks assembling the products and lots of machinery to help put it all together. In the office is the Manager and the Sales staff. Imagine the plant manager deciding to hire replacements in the assembly plant at minimum wage instead of $15 an hour, the going rate. All of this is fine, except production drops and fewer 'units' are assembled each day. Quality falls and sales decline a bit. Now imagine the plant manager automating part of the plant. He had to do it, sales were falling. They continue to fall a little more. Frustrated, the manager works a deal to have everything assembled overseas. The savings are real but product quality has fallen so much, the customer base is dwindling. Profit is acceptable because the sales staff can still sell enough of the product, but the orders are getting smaller and smaller as time goes on. Then a company comes in and buys the factory for triple the going price. The debt is so high everyone wonders if the factory will survive. I'm trying demonstrate, using a factory, to show what radio has done to itself.
There is room for radio for every taste. I've seen comments about how leased stations weren't serving the public. They could be no more wrong as the leasee represents an ethnic market so small they would have no service without our staion, but I digress.
Jack, EZ listening, screaming top 40 jock, etc. all has a place on radio. Every station doesn't need to be personality. Time brokered stations are needed too (this includes ministry based Christian stations that either get a percentage of donations received from their coverage are of they sell blocks of time).
We tried local radio. For an AM daytimer, it was like running on a treadmill. This was 17 years ago, but to get a $200 a month account took about $200 in time and expense to keep. Why? Client Cultivating: Cultivating was the time it took to find 1 yes that wasn't just a 'I gave it a try' advertiser versus number of regular clients. Generally this snowballs but we ended up at the same place at the end of a year. We opted for selling time to ministries and then the ethnic community started asking for time. By the way, I'm in Houston.
This way we survive. I'd love to toss on some format, have live air talent and shoot for some ratings, but the money is not there. Anyway, if I did music on the AM dial and started having any success, somebody on the FM band would be hungry enough to take the format
Jack, EZ listening, screaming top 40 jock, etc. all has a place on radio. Every station doesn't need to be personality. Time brokered stations are needed too (this includes ministry based Christian stations that either get a percentage of donations received from their coverage are of they sell blocks of time).
We tried local radio. For an AM daytimer, it was like running on a treadmill. This was 17 years ago, but to get a $200 a month account took about $200 in time and expense to keep. Why? Client Cultivating: Cultivating was the time it took to find 1 yes that wasn't just a 'I gave it a try' advertiser versus number of regular clients. Generally this snowballs but we ended up at the same place at the end of a year. We opted for selling time to ministries and then the ethnic community started asking for time. By the way, I'm in Houston.
This way we survive. I'd love to toss on some format, have live air talent and shoot for some ratings, but the money is not there. Anyway, if I did music on the AM dial and started having any success, somebody on the FM band would be hungry enough to take the format
David....
I'd like you to share your numbers, and the year you earned them, in the last market you did an English Language Talk Show in a Top-5 market.
J-D
TWR
I'd like you to share your numbers, and the year you earned them, in the last market you did an English Language Talk Show in a Top-5 market.
J-D
TWR
bturner said:
That's a really clear explanation. Thank you.
I love the sentence about the "whole picture." To serve clients, you need listeners. To get listeners, you need good programming. To get that, you need revenue.
I learned at my first station, at age 18, that it was a lot easier to sell in a competive market if you were #1. If I could figure that out, I've always assumed that most other radio managers can do the same. Today, of course, it's possible to have multiple #1's in different demos so we can program more diversely and serve more specific target audiences.
It's still impossible to sell well and consistently unless there are people listening.
- Status