Radio today is like the worst Basken Robbins ever.

[Parttimer]

When KQV first went Top 40, Sunday afternoon was a series of hourly recorded shows by their week-day line-up. WMCK was automated overnights after Bill Lynch signed off.

However, nothing beats, in my mind, what Cox broadcasting does in Tampa with WDUV automated 20 hours a day and WXGL automated 16 hours a day. No jock at all of any kind. They are just jukeboxes and are often one and two in the 12+ PPM,s which shows that even VT'ing from out of town is a useless luxury. The CC stations in Tampa still have somebody 18 hours or more a day and try to sound like they are in Tampa.

Clear Channel is live and local at the top of their food chain. DVE, the X and Kiss here.... pretty much the entire Tampa cluster. The heavily VT'ed stations are the AC/Classic Hits types, i.e. 3WS here and Mix there.

Clear Channel's big mistake in all of this was that they are in too many markets. Based on what they paid to roll up stations, the revenue in markets below #50 or so will just never be enough. If they could find their way out of the Wheelings and Parkersburgs of the world it would help them immensely, but the buyers aren't there.

I've also felt for a long time that they should sell off some of their big-market properties that they use as flankers to retire debt, even if it means they have to compete against a few of them. The debt is what drives all of this, but they remain focused on their big-cluster model. When a retailer is struggling they close the underperfoming stores. Yes, your competitor might open a store there, but if that location wasn't working for you it probably won't work for them either.

CC is very adept at finding buyers with whom they don't directly compete, either religious, or in the case of Pittsburgh, where they seem to have sort of an arms-length understanding with Keymarket (behave and we won't crush you). Froggy is a convenient friend of sorts for CC, who can tell clients who want to buy country to go to Keymarket rather than CBS' Y108. You will see DVE and Froggy sharing the stage at events like the Ribfest, and you'd never see them do that with CBS, Cox, Cumulus, or even Renda.

 

[TheBigA]

This is a fundamental change in the purpose of radio, and the change in fact happened 20 years ago.

What an assinine statement! Every programmer (and anyone in radio or out of it for that matter) will tell you different.

Really? Name a few.

 

[TheBigA]

I've also felt for a long time that they should sell off some of their big-market properties that they use as flankers to retire debt, even if it means they have to compete against a few of them. The debt is what drives all of this, but they remain focused on their big-cluster model.

They don't seem concerned about their debt right now. They spent $110 million to buy Metro Traffic in May, and have devoted millions to IHeartRadio and other digital initiatives. Pittman seems in growth mode right now, and looks to sell tonnage of his combined audience, rather than sell advertising one station at a time.

 

[corporateradiosucks]

We've had two generations come along since the boomers, and these generations grew up with personal music devices, starting with the Walkman, and now with the iPod and iPhone. They see radio and outside media differently. They are the empowerment generation. They don't listen to radio to hear YOU have fun. They listen so THEY can have fun. They want involvement. They want to drive programming. They want to interact, and maybe even get laid by listening to the radio. And NOT with the on-air talent! This is a fundamental change in the purpose of radio, and the change in fact happened 20 years ago.

And they have zero brand loyalty. So why bother targeting them?

 

[doowopvault]

There is an old saying......if a person eats only swill, then the only judgement he/she can make is what kind of swill he/she likes.

If a person only hears the music that's played on the radio, that person is only exposed to that small portion of a much greater musical spectrum, and can only make judgements based on that small universe of music that they hear.

 

[garnet]

There is an old saying......if a person eats only swill, then the only judgement he/she can make is what kind of swill he/she likes.

...Nailed it...Thats what this is about from the talent side. Nothing more.

 

[TheBigA]

There is an old saying......if a person eats only swill, then the only judgement he/she can make is what kind of swill he/she likes.

That assumes people have no choice. But in fact today, people have lots of choices. Lots of choices in ice cream. Lots of choices in music. Lots of choices in radio.

I stopped at a shop on my way to work for coffee. The store has about 20 choices of different types of coffee. And yet most people go for "Regular." They pass up Columbian, Dark Roast, Kilimanjaro, French Vanilla, and more. Baskin Robbins will tell you that with their 31 flavors, the most popular remains vanilla. Chocolate is #2. In music, people don't have to listen to commercial crap. If they're willing to take a chance, they can buy anything they can imagine. I used to work in a full line music store, and most people bought the Top 20. The rest of the choices gathered dust and took up valuable floorspace.

In terms of radio, people can subscribe to satellite. It's available in Pittsburgh. Most people will say "Why bother?" There is a multiplicity of online radio choices. Don't like Pittsburgh radio? Tune in an online stream from a station in St. Louis, or a home brew station from Live365. But surveys show that most people are happy with their OTA radio station. It's cheap and easy. That's what wins.

 

[TheBigA]

And they have zero brand loyalty. So why bother targeting them?

Actually they have incredible brand loyalty. Look what happened the night Steve Jobs died.

 

[corporateradiosucks]

And they have zero brand loyalty. So why bother targeting them?

Actually they have incredible brand loyalty. Look what happened the night Steve Jobs died.

LOL seriously? I must have missed the candlelight vigil in Central Park, or the emo-boys in their Steve Jobs t-shirts.

If you're talking about posting on Facebook, I would wager that there were still more cute kitty posts than Steve Jobs posts.

 

[TheBigA]

If you're talking about posting on Facebook, I would wager that there were still more cute kitty posts than Steve Jobs posts.

No...I'm talking about the run on Apple products in the wake of his death. Many folks bought new phones and iPads in his memory.

But that was just one example. Brand loyalty to Facebook is another. Thanks for mentioning it.

 

[F.M.Hertz]

So, yes, radio today is like the worst Baskin Robbins ever. Especially in Pittsburgh, where broadcasting was invented. What can be done to make it better? That's the question.

 

[TheBigA]

So, yes, radio today is like the worst Baskin Robbins ever. Especially in Pittsburgh, where broadcasting was invented. What can be done to make it better? That's the question.

As long as radio is driven by advertising, and advertising is driven by mass numbers, vanilla and chocolate will continue to be the most popular flavors. On the other hand, when you throw in a different business model, like WQED, there's a chance for a twist, like cherry vanilla. It's all about where the money comes from.

Broadcasting may have been invented in Pittsburgh, but the first commercials aired on WEAF in New York. Blame them for ruining Pittsburgh's great invention.

 

[F.M.Hertz]

Very true Big A. It's all run by the $ sign. Just remember the old adage: "Money talks, and Bull$#!% walks."

Today, a radio station won't do a remote somewhere unless it's sponsored. A station would broadcast from a fair or a Three Rivers Arts Festival or a Regatta, unless it's sponsored.

But broadcasting is going back to the sponsorship of the 30's and 40's where a company will buy a block of programming or sponsor something: (i.e. The Comcast Sports Report on KDKA-TV, or The Lexus of North Hills Studios at KD Radio.)

 

[corporateradiosucks]

If you're talking about posting on Facebook, I would wager that there were still more cute kitty posts than Steve Jobs posts.

No...I'm talking about the run on Apple products in the wake of his death. Many folks bought new phones and iPads in his memory.

But that was just one example. Brand loyalty to Facebook is another. Thanks for mentioning it.

Have you been on FB lately? It's a pain in the ass. Everyone complains about it but still stays on it because unfortunately, it's become a default mode of communication. Saying people are "brand loyal" to it is like saying they were "brand loyal" to the phone company before deregulation.

 

[borderblaster]

Thread #9,342 basically saying "radio sucks, let's go back to DJs in every town reading jokes from O'Liners over intros".

I know someone who was a radio jock, and TV weatherman who started his first website in the late 90s. He built a huge fanbase on Facebook, and Twitter, and when the boot came from the corporate TV station didn't miss a beat building his own online platforms, leveraging the fanbase he already had, and probably making more money than when he was corporately employed. Everyone waiting for consolodation to b reversed and mom and pop radio to return so they'll have a DJ job again is going to be sorely dissapointed.

 

[TheBigA]

Have you been on FB lately? It's a pain in the ass.

Wow...everything new sucks. Get off my lawn!

 

[borderblaster]

Everytime Facebook changes anything, the "One Million Strong to Change Facebhook bck to the layout we hated last time" pages pop up. Even if Facebook lost a million of their 8 million, they'd still have 7 million people providing free content for advertisers.