Remember when radio was family?

[Steven21]

Well, it was never a very nice family, but check out the last 3 paragraphs of this antique:

http://atlanta.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/1997/06/02/story4.html

 

[amfmxm]

Jacor as family? LOL!!! Maybe something akin to "Arrested Development"...

Real "family" radio operations were extremely common back in pre-Wall Street days, and I worked for several.

Trouble is, sometimes (oftentimes) people treat their families worse than they treat strangers--and when the owners thought of their employees as "family," it meant abusing the crap out of them.

I've been running radio stations & companies for the past 30 years, and I've always made it clear to all employees that we are not "family." We are co-workers. And at work they should expect to be treated better than they might be at home...

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

I have had a phrase to describe a certain management style for a number of years that I try to use rather judiciously as it has some connotations that are not politically correct.

There is "family company management" which often translates as "plantation style management". Its not always pretty.

 

[pocket-radio]

Dreams of radio like it once was may return..

Citadel is close to going bankrupt..
Clear Channel is close too.
and more will follow..

If you think things are bad now, just wait until first quarter when everything stops
and nobody has any money..

 

[One Who Knows]

Dreams of radio like it once was may return..

Citadel is close to going bankrupt..
Clear Channel is close too.
and more will follow..

If you think things are bad now, just wait until first quarter when everything stops
and nobody has any money..

You could get your wish about some big corporate bankruptcies and reorganizations...

But...don't keep dreaming about "the old days coming back". They are gone forever.

And some things about "the old days" weren't so good. I was there. I saw it. Working for owners who paid me the
kinds of wages that were low even for burger flippers. (Even though I had several years of radio experience at that time) Yet - the GM never paid for a meal...'cause he traded out everything under the sun for himself...unbenownst to the station owner.

 

[TheBigA]

These is the kind of unrealistic expectations that just leads to frustration and bitterness. A job is a job. Radio was never "family." No matter who you work for, even when you work for a family-owned business, and the boss is your dad. I can tell you that for a fact. Even if you work in public radio, where profit is not the primary motivation. Even if you work for the government. Especially if you work for the government. You want family? Get married. You want friends? Get out and meet some. Don't rely on the workplace to provide your family and friends, because it all could disappear tomorrow. That was the case in the 1930s, and it's the case now.

AMFMXM is right. Jacor was not run like family. Just watch how Sam Zell is running Tribune. Or how Randy Michaels ran CC. Both were at Jacor.

"Radio like it once was" has no chance of happening. Regardless of what happens to Citadel and CC. The new owners won't do things the old way. There is no money or growth in radio. Watch how GM is re-organizing. All that will happen is a lot of people will get fired, and a bunch of stations will go dark. Too many stations, no buyers. Especially AM stations. No one will buy them. That's the new consolidation. Fewer stations for fewer owners. And if the RIAA royalty gets approved, music will disappear from radio. You want radio like it once was? Go to a museum.

 

[GlennSummers]

BigA:
I never worked for a "big" company, and found that although there were plenty of shortcomings where I worked, it was a radio job, which, for the most part, I loved. Sure, the pay could have been better, the expectations a little loftier, but generally, I learned a lot and was able to distinguish what part of the manager's schtick was real and what was BS. You're right that these people will never be family, but they can be friends, and I still have many of them from the business.
As for doing radio the way it was, I refuse to buy into the idea that it can't be done. There are many small town stations that are keeping the hamsters busy in the transmitter shack and providing good programming to their city of license. If they stick to being the big fish in the small pond, keep the ego in check and don't try to be something other than what they are, I don't see why there can't be a resurgence in solid small operators coming around.
Just my $.02.

 

[Stewy]

Dreams of radio like it once was may return..

Citadel is close to going bankrupt..
Clear Channel is close too.
and more will follow..

If you think things are bad now, just wait until first quarter when everything stops
and nobody has any money..

Pocket nails the correct answer! BigA is wrong. Radio was a family and like real families, just as dysfunctional. That's a big reason why it WAS loved so much by listeners and coworkers. Each station/city was unique just as are families.

Make a ham sandwich and come sit with me on the courthouse steps Pocket, as you point out, we haven't much longer to wait.

 

[TheBigA]

Make a ham sandwich and come sit with me on the courthouse steps Pocket, as you point out, we haven't much longer to wait.

Wait for what? Godot? Unless you plan on buying some stations, don't waste your time waiting for the past to return. And the past was not as good as you think it was.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Wait for what? Godot? Unless you plan on buying some stations, don't waste your time waiting for the past to return. And the past was not as good as you think it was.

Well, the present is Kafka-esque. Whatever comes after the consolidator implosion won't be like the past, but it ain't gonna be worse for the myriad talented people who are out of work because the consolidators can't afford their debt service.

 

[davideduardo]

Well, the present is Kafka-esque. Whatever comes after the consolidator implosion won't be like the past, but it ain't gonna be worse for the myriad talented people who are out of work because the consolidators can't afford their debt service.

For every large group that expaneded, there are a couple of dozen small market broadcasters who borrowed money to buy a station in the same period of time. There are managers who bought the station from a retiring owner, small town guys who wanted out of the big city, groups of local businesspeople, and other similar purchasers. Their only mistake was buying a few years before a recession.

Those small market buyers have to make debt service just like Citadel does. And with automotive and financial, two of radio's traditional top billers, almost totally inactive, and the economy on the skids, revenue is off.

While some major market stations may make 50% margins, in smaller markets 20% to 25% is more like it... and the economy is off more than that. So guess who can't make the payments? It's your small town broadcaster... by the hundreds and, if recovery takes several more years, by the thousands.

And these smaller market stations are often cutting back, too. Staff, news coverage, services, maintenance... it's just on a smaller scale.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Yet, oddly, most media watchers report that small and medium market stations are doing better coping with the recession than major market stations.

Most of the small and medium market stations had a broader base of advertisers, and revenues were based on relational sales rather than transactional sales. Smaller markets have always been more flexible that major markets.

 

[davideduardo]

Yet, oddly, most media watchers report that small and medium market stations are doing better coping with the recession than major market stations.

Most of the small and medium market stations had a broader base of advertisers, and revenues were based on relational sales rather than transactional sales. Smaller markets have always been more flexible that major markets.

The entire economy is off; small markets don't have the dependency on agency business that larger ones do, but if you look at local economies, there are just as many retail closings in small towns as in large ones.

Whether you are off 22% in a small market or 28% in a big one, your margin is practically nonexistent.

And small markets were even more dependant on retail automotive and retail banking... and those categories have hit very hard in smaller cities and towns.

 

[TheBigA]

Well, the present is Kafka-esque.

Waiting for Godot was Samuel Becket, not Kafka.

it ain't gonna be worse for the myriad talented people who are out of work because the consolidators can't afford their debt service.

If they're really talented, they should be able to start their own businesses and declare independence from the corporate dole. The only ones who really need the regular check are the ones who can't make it on their own. There are lots of opportunities now, more than ever, as an outside contractor. But you need to have documented talent, and you can't have burned bridges.

 

[Prais]

MY Corporate dole (not radio!!!)spent $11 thousand dollars on a complicated heart surgery FOR ME. Working for a corporation is not bad - if it's the RIGHT one.

Hey, A why not fill us all in on what YOU do? Tell us about YOUR OWN business. I sold mine for over a million in 1985. Now, I CAN live easily off the giant healthcare company I work for.

Being on your own is fine - if you don't mind 16 gour days (I did ok) but the bene's from a good corp are even better.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Well, the present is Kafka-esque.

Waiting for Godot was Samuel Becket, not Kafka.

Really? No foolin'? Is it just POSSIBLE that I MEANT to refer to Kafka and his writings about out-of-control bureaucracy rather than the absurdist Becket? Both have a similarly bleak outlook, but from very different points of view. The term "Kafkaesque" ain't a bad description of corporate management these days. I haven't heard anybody use the term "Becketesque".

it ain't gonna be worse for the myriad talented people who are out of work because the consolidators can't afford their debt service.

If they're really talented, they should be able to start their own businesses and declare independence from the corporate dole. The only ones who really need the regular check are the ones who can't make it on their own. There are lots of opportunities now, more than ever, as an outside contractor. But you need to have documented talent, and you can't have burned bridges.

Let's see... You've been fired by one of the consolidators because they can't pay their debt service. You had great numbers, a stellar career, but they pulled the plug and replaced you with an out-of-market VT because they can get some morning-show sidekick who's never done a radio show on his/her own before for $50 a week - take it or be replaced by somebody who will.

You've got 52 weeks of unemployment, which will - because you DIDN'T overextend yourself - allow you and your family to get by thanks to your wife's salary. There's NOTHING in radio these days because you work in a market where all the stations that pay a living wage are owned by consolidators, and they've cut into the marrow in order to try and stave off bankruptcy a little longer.

There ARE opportunities as an outside contractor, but here's the rub. If you pursue those opportunities, you lose your unemployment. You can't even work part-time because it doesn't pay enough to make up for what you'll lose from unemployment. You know that there are people that are interested because you've earned a great reputation, but corporate won't let them hire ANYBODY right now.

So, what are the alternatives? Go outside the market - moving your family and forcing your spouse to give up a job that likely pays more than YOU make, and is more stable? HOPE that you can establish your business and "declare independence from the corporate dole" - and that it happens before you and your family face personal bankruptcy? Or, do you sweat it out, knowing that the market for your services is very likely to get better when the consolidators collapse and people whom you know very well get back into the radio game when radio station values come back down to realistic numbers?

I guess that you can scrap whatever retirement you've built up over a long career and take the plunge, but try selling THAT deal to your wife. Maybe if you were a highly-paid executive, and can afford to throw a few million at the project without endangering your family, it's a different story. For the guys in the trenches, the options are a LOT more limited.

 

[gr8oldies]

Gosh, can't take a chance that you might make more than your unemployment check. Better to wait for "the savior" to buy your station, hire boatloads of DJs because they folks who buy these stations will have unlimited boatloads of cash and no lender to say "not so fast". Obviously, Rox, you have set your life up to be a lifetime employee, "workin' for the man". You hate the man, and you hope that a different man wilk come to the rescue before your unemployment runs out. That's a little like someone who used to work at General Motors in its heyday. Despite the fact that the plant closed years ago, the union local office is now a payday loan store, "yep, the union is gonna get me my job back". Now we have a bunch of unemployed DJs sitting around "yep, the owner's gonna go bankrupt, and somebody else is gonna come in and hire live DJs 24/7, a 15 person news staff, and let us all talk as much as we want and bring in our own music". Dream on.

 

[TheBigA]

There's NOTHING in radio these days because you work in a market where all the stations that pay a living wage are owned by consolidators, and they've cut into the marrow in order to try and stave off bankruptcy a little longer.

One word: MOVE! The weather sucks where you live anyway. That's why I left. Most people in radio make at least 5 moves during their career. Go someplace where taxes are lower (that won't be hard) and cost of living is more manageable on radio money. The history of this country is that people moved to where the jobs were, rather than taking what was available. What was good for our forefathers is good for us. My grandfather moved four times before he found a place where he and his brothers could all find work.

Or, do you sweat it out, knowing that the market for your services is very likely to get better when the consolidators collapse and people whom you know very well get back into the radio game when radio station values come back down to realistic numbers?

You're dreaming again. In market after market, the first thing the new owners do is cut the staff. The next thing they do is cut salaries and benefits. That includes people like Larry Wilson. In Portland, he fired live & local talent and replaced them with syndication. Ask former WYRK PD John Paul. He got fired twice by new owners. So by holding out for corporate radio bankruptcy, all you're doing is delaying the inevitable. New owners won't be sharing their money with you.

The market for your services is going to be better someplace else. If it's a burden for your wife and family, tough. It was your choice to do this. No one forced you to get on this merry-go-round. It's easy to look at the big radio companies, and say they were idiots for not seeing that the economy was collapsing. But if your personal situation is as you describe in your post, how did you not see this coming? I know people who, five years ago, saw the collapse was coming, started retraining in another field, and are now happily working as paralegals and docter's aids, making more money than they did as union talent in top 10 markets.

 

[gr8oldies]

People having to decide to move with radio or stay home and get out is nothing new. If you were home sewn and home grown, and you had a wife who didn't want to move, you ended up doing PR for the local bank. Nothing wrong with that, it was just reality.

 

[SirRoxalot]

So, your basic response is:

Get out of radio.

What you're saying is that radio management is interested solely in providing the cheapest product possible, and will simply go to the low-cost provider. Radio will continue to grow less interesting and relevant until nobody wants to consume the product, or buy airtime to support it anyway. Talk about Kafkaesque.

Somehow, from what we're hearing from the NAB convention, not everybody follows your way of thinking. Whether they're simply providing lip service, or whether the industry will invest in talent as the recession eases will tell the tale. Perhaps, before uprooting the family and diving into the vast unknown, it might be worthwhile to see what happens after the collapse of some groups that are obviously going to fail, and the improvement in the income of the groups that survive. In the meantime, I suspect that a lot of people are looking beyond radio when planning their future.

You denigrate talent, yet corporate radio has been on the forefront of locking that talent in so people couldn't run a business on the side - even outside the market - and had to deal with non-compete contracts that were so unfair that several states have now outlawed them. You talk about how "corporate provides". Where the hell do you think that corporate came by the product that provided the cash flow in the first place? Broadcasting companies were built on the work of talented people - on air, in sales, and in management. It's losing sight of that fact that's led us to the current state of affairs.

I know, you're not spokesmen for corporate radio. Well, if it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck...

BTW, I wasn't talking about my situation, simply what I seeing several good friends go through. I constantly amazed at some of the people who are out of work, and at some of the people who are still employed. It all seems to boil down to "who works cheapest" and vagaries of edicts sent down from corporate, irrespective of talent and/or past performance.