Radio

[gr8oldies]

I share the view that all the EMF, etc translators are way out of control, but in my area we certainly do have locally owned religious broadcasters,, but absolutely none of them would dare do a CCM format. So lots of people listen to and support KLOve..the locals won't give up the preaching (which mostly isn't local).

 

[Bongwater]

I share the view that all the EMF, etc translators are way out of control, but in my area we certainly do have locally owned religious broadcasters,, but absolutely none of them would dare do a CCM format. So lots of people listen to and support KLOve..the locals won't give up the preaching (which mostly isn't local).

Most of these syndicasted religious programs are brokered and they're little cash cows for small stations, although nobody's listening.....

 

[gr8oldies]

These are all very good sized stations and they carry the more popular syndicated preachers (Dobson, Kennedy, Stanley, Evans, etc.)

 

[bossbill]

"Clear Channel has been in business since 1977. The only thing the TCA did was eliminate the 12-12-12 rule. There are still lots of limits, and companies are forced to divest all the time. There are market limits, and revenue limits to control concentration of ownership. There is no "unlimited ownership." "



I should have said "Clear Channel as we know it", and maybe I took liberties with the term "unlimited". The only limit on the number of markets one group can be in is the number of markets that exist in the U.S. The fact is that the Act of '96 opened the floodgates for consolidation which resulted in the present-day Clear Channels, Entercoms, etc. And the mega-groups ALL have paid far more than any reasonable estimate of market value for many of their properties, thanks to ignorant shareholders and bankers. Now the chickens are coming home to roost.

 

[TheBigA]

The only limit on the number of markets one group can be in is the number of markets that exist in the U.S.

Not exactly. The limits relate to the size of the market. The most a group can own in a market is 8. And there are revenue limits as well. And then, there are limits in terms of managability. That's what CC discovered.

In Seattle, I don't think any one company owns more than 5 stations. That may get them a collective rating of a 20 share.

Now the chickens are coming home to roost.

Had the rules stayed the same way, radio would be in this exact same place. The owners in the 90s were looking to get out. Some like NBC, got out in 88. Someone else would have bought those small groups. Credit was cheap and easy to come by. Instead of 10 mega groups, you'd have 40, and they'd be all hurting today. You'd also have more LMAs and increased syndication.

 

[Bongwater]

The only limit on the number of markets one group can be in is the number of markets that exist in the U.S.

Not exactly. The limits relate to the size of the market. The most a group can own in a market is 8. And there are revenue limits as well. And then, there are limits in terms of managability. That's what CC discovered.

In Seattle, I don't think any one company owns more than 5 stations. That may get them a collective rating of a 20 share.

Now the chickens are coming home to roost.

Had the rules stayed the same way, radio would be in this exact same place. The owners in the 90s were looking to get out. Some like NBC, got out in 88. Someone else would have bought those small groups. Credit was cheap and easy to come by. Instead of 10 mega groups, you'd have 40, and they'd be all hurting today. You'd also have more LMAs and increased syndication.

Here's the commercial radio ownership breakdown in Puget Sound:

At one time, Entercom owned 8 stations in Seattle (97.3, 99.9, 100.7, 103.7, 107.7, 710, 770 and 1210) 1210 was sold to Bustos, and 710, 770 and 97.3 were sold to Bonneville. They were once the biggest player.

So here's where we're at today:

CBS has 94.1, 96.5, 102.5, 106.1 and 1090

Clear Channel has 93.3, 95.7, 102.9, 104.9, 950 and 850

Sandusky has 92.5, 98.9, 106.9, 880 and 1150

Saga has 92.9, 104.3, 790, 930 and 1170

Salem has 820, 1300, 1360, 1590 and 1680

Entercom: 99.9, 100.7, 103.7, 107.7

Crista has 105.3, 106.5 and 630

Fisher has 101.5, 570 and 1000. They also do the sales work for 98.1

Seattle Streaming Media has 1280, 1480 and 1490

Bustos has 1210 and 99.3

Second Amendment has 920 and 1400

Jim Keane has 660 and 1430

Way Broadcasting has 550 and 1600

Citadel/ABC/Disney has 1250

Multicultural has 1540

Family Radio has 1460

The remaining are a few stand alone independents, religious stations and public.

The 5 station limit only applies to one band, you can have up to three more in another. Entercom was the only company able to max out in Puget Sound....

 

[TheBigA]

At one time, Entercom owned 8 stations in Seattle (97.3, 99.9, 100.7, 103.7, 107.7, 710, 770 and 1210) 1210 was sold to Bustos, and 710, 770 and 97.3 were sold to Bonneville. They were once the biggest player.

Good work! That confirms what I said.

I think that's a very healthy and fair mix of owners. Obviously demonstrates there are limits, both in terms of regulations and in terms of operative limits.

 

[Bongwater]

At one time, Entercom owned 8 stations in Seattle (97.3, 99.9, 100.7, 103.7, 107.7, 710, 770 and 1210) 1210 was sold to Bustos, and 710, 770 and 97.3 were sold to Bonneville. They were once the biggest player.

Good work! That confirms what I said.

I think that's a very healthy and fair mix of owners. Obviously demonstrates there are limits, both in terms of regulations and in terms of operative limits.

Mmmmmm.....not exactly.

You see, multiple owners mean multiple opportunities. In Bellingham, where Saga rules, they own ALL the commercial radio stations in that city (yep, every station I listed to Saga, they own. All of them in Bellingham, all of them commercial and they're ALL owned by Saga.)

Hard to jump to the station across the street when THAT is owned by your former employer too, who just cut back on expenses (i.e. you.)

Meaning you'll have to uproot and move elsewhere for a job. It's something taken for granted by station management. Not by airstaff and other employees, many of whom have established themselves in the community, enrolled their kids in school, that kind of thing. Unless you're single and a total bachelor/ette, you just can't uproot like that so easily and even if you were, you gotta sever some contacts for something totally unknown. People have their own lives, significant others and families too.

And even when every other conglomerate in another town is cutting back, the whole idea of "career" in this industry is a distant second to a "career" in fast food.

And even more distant when money's too tight to mention.

It's more than just a pain, these days it's outright criminal to have the same people who are responsible for whatever mess the station cluster is in to shift the blame and the firings to the people who have done their best in a vacuum while the management stays where they are and still recieve their huge salaries and even raises.

Something is terribly wrong with this picture.....

I think to really equalize the situation, management needs to take some of the blame. But I doubt you will see THAT happen.....

HOWEVER, with ownership levels at pre-1996 levels, there would be more opportunities. A smaller station could get a leg up with freshly axed talent from a bigger station. There would be more blood circulation in the industry. More positions available that weren't consolidated into units for the whole cluster such as sales and production.

You may disagree, but to wholly assume it would have been the same regardless is buffoonery. Do you not agree that if corporations such as AT&T, major credit card companies, etc. as well as auto manufacturers were prohibited from exporting these jobs overseas or across the Mexican border in order to pay a lower wage that there would be more jobs in America now? You have to have a bare minumum of employees to make something work and work RIGHT and if you can't afford that, well, maybe it's curtains. Another company will form, buy up the assets and maybe make it work better. That's honest capitalism. And that's what kept radio going even through the bad times - a LOT of competitors. New ideas, blood circulation, that's what can save radio. Radio has been sitting in some pretty brackish water since 1996, now that water is starting to boil and beginning to reek. Listeners have been noticing this since 1996 and they're tuning out for other options - hell, options they will even PAY for to get away from what's on perfectly free terrestrial airwaves now...

 

[TheBigA]

Hard to jump to the station across the street when THAT is owned by your former employer too, who just cut back on expenses (i.e. you.)

Would it be any different if there was only ONE station in that town?

My point in this thread has been that there was a time when there were far less radio stations than there are now.

You assume that all of the stations on the air now would have stayed on the air if ownership had been held to pre-96 levels. I believe that's a false assumption.

Radio has been sitting in some pretty brackish water since 1996, now that water is starting to boil and beginning to reek.
Listeners have been noticing this since 1996 and they're tuning out for other options - hell, options they will even PAY for to get away from what's on perfectly free terrestrial airwaves now...

And if you were working for Mel and got fired, you couldn't just walk across the street to XM, now, could you?

 

[Bongwater]

Hard to jump to the station across the street when THAT is owned by your former employer too, who just cut back on expenses (i.e. you.)

Would it be any different if there was only ONE station in that town?

My point in this thread has been that there was a time when there were far less radio stations than there are now.

You assume that all of the stations on the air now would have stayed on the air if ownership had been held to pre-96 levels. I believe that's a false assumption.

Radio has been sitting in some pretty brackish water since 1996, now that water is starting to boil and beginning to reek.
Listeners have been noticing this since 1996 and they're tuning out for other options - hell, options they will even PAY for to get away from what's on perfectly free terrestrial airwaves now...

And if you were working for Mel and got fired, you couldn't just walk across the street to XM, now, could you?

The Bellingham stations go back to 1927, the youngest, 930 goes back to '63

Second, if radio stations were at pre-1996 ownership levels, they would NOT go "off the air" Other companies/individuals would buy them. Some will be successful, some not, And the circle of life would still go on.....

And the XM/Sirus merger was another stupid, ill-planned move. Using EXACTLY the same lines fed to the FCC and Congress for the Telecom' 96 merger....with the SAME result.....

The ugly truth is the "old boys" wanted to control the ENTIRE business, assuming the mom and pops and upstarts wouldn't know what to do with radio. THAT was the false assumption.....

 

[TheBigA]

Second, if radio stations were at pre-1996 ownership levels, they would NOT go "off the air" Other companies/individuals would buy them.

"Other companies?" Like who? There have been hundreds of stations on the market for the past five years. There are very few new buyers in the market for radio. That train came to a halt a long time ago.

I bet I could find you a couple of stations in the Seattle area for payments even you could afford. Would you invest your own personal money? Be honest.

The ugly truth is the "old boys" wanted to control the ENTIRE business, assuming the mom and pops and upstarts wouldn't know what to do with radio. THAT was the false assumption.....

The ugly truth is the mom & pops didn't HAVE to sell. Lots didn't.

 

[bossbill]

"Not exactly. The limits relate to the size of the market. The most a group can own in a market is 8. And there are revenue limits as well. And then, there are limits in terms of managability. That's what CC discovered."


What I said was:

The only limit on the number of markets one group can be in is the number of markets that exist in the U.S.

And my point was that a single owner can cover the entire United States with radio stations, with multi-station clusters in virtually all markets.

I know that the limit varies within the market based on size of the market. In non-rated markets, the limit still varies based on a specific market definition based on transmitter sites and coverage. And the market definition can be different for different group owners. For example, I can own 4 FMs in our little market, but my competitor can only have 3, because our transmitter sites overlap other stations differently.

 

[TheBigA]

And my point was that a single owner can cover the entire United States with radio stations, with multi-station clusters in virtually all markets.

OK, and a couple of owners, NBC and CBS, were able to cover the entire United States with programming in the 1930s and 40s. Although they only owned a few stations each.

We were heading in that direction again in the 1990s, with LMAs and program syndicators. As Disney has shows with their radio station, there is no advantage to ownership of stations. The goal is reaching as many people as possible with your content and advertising, and you don't need to own to do that. None of the synergies that were intended in the 90s were accomplished by ownership. They could have done the same thing with LMAs.

 

[LITTLEBOYBLUE]

People, People, People!!

Aren't you forgetting the NAB told us all to stop being so negative about the industry and then it will be better.....?

 

[Bongwater]

People, People, People!!

Aren't you forgetting the NAB told us all to stop being so negative about the industry and then it will be better.....?

LOL!

SUUUURE! And when you're drowning, not thinking about air will make it a LOT better!

Visualizing good things in the future is only as good as there are good things to visualize now.

I see good things, but not in radio as it's been mismanaged over the last few decades. I actually think the only way commercial radio can be saved is to completely destroy it. Then rebuild it back up with COMMON SENSE, not corporate projections (which are neither common, nor sense)...

Lorenzo Milam HAS to be laughing in his grave now.....