Slow death

[Tom Wells]

Today the pizza place is a parking lot.

Your pizza joint analogy was priceless, Jeff. So, I'm nominating you for Board Laureate Of The Month, October. (Sorry Rox.)

We've seen (and heard) so many AM radio stations that have been run into the ground like a '65 Plymouth Valiant. Yet, there are men and women like Bob Savage-WYSL, Dick Greene-WLVL, Lou Schriver-WXRL and Dan Fischer-WBTA who make small market radio work quite well.

Why can't some of the barons of broadcasting devise a plan that would make stations like KB work in tandem with their co-owned market leaders?

Going back to your pizza joint analogy, the only thing that might make that pizza worse would be imported cheese from China. "Try our new lead topping pizza... ummmmm deliscious!"

There is nothing wrong with a '65 Valiant. In 15 minutes I will be driving home in my '65 Dart. Notice that they are still
running, can be repaired, and are trustworthy, unlike many cars that have come and gone.
You should see how much my Darts have paid me back over the years. Sometimes they're worn looking but function is much easier
to maintain than looks. Not sure if you're dissing such stations, or marveling at their durability.
Good radio can come out of less than ideal situations.

 

[Steven21]

The beginning of the end, ironically, started in Buffalo in the early 90s when 97FM and 103FM became the first LSA in the industry. A friend and I talked about what an awful idea that was, because it openned the door to the joining of many other departments and/or tasks between stations.

As the Telecom Act of '96 started to take shape, I knew that the majority of people in this business were woefully ignorant of not only the potential for this Act to harm the industry, but even ignorant of the Act itself being considered.

This was probably one of those crucial moments in radio history where the disorganization and overall lack of academic requirement came home to roost. Most other business's would have made a lot more noise to stop this from ever going through, but not the half-wits staffing much of our industry.

Clinton did what most people do where radio is concerned: he didn't give it much of a thought. He more or less admits that now. The radio provision of the Telecom Act was not terribly significant in the scope of the Act, an afterthought really---but not of course to the creativity robber barrons who new exactly what it meant.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Beginning of the End?

It seems to me that the beginning of the end began with the "Fake Drake" stations in the late '60s that devalued jocks and turned them into liner-card readers. Some consultants continued the slide with their "my format will win if the jocks don't get in the way" mantra, preached to managers who came out of sales and wouldn't know talent if it bit them in the a$$.

The "less talk, more music" mantra promoted heavily by so many radio stations spawned on-air juke boxes, and a lot of listeners found it easy to switch to MP3 players because there was no relationship between the radio station and the listener anyway. All the listener lost was the commercial content.

Radio abdicated its role as the most flexible and immediate source of news, sports, and entertaintment content. Some of the old folks around here remember when radio was "cool". How long has it been since that was a reality? Corporate saved money in the short run, but the long run hasn't turned out so well.

 

[Radknowski]

Not sure if you're dissing such stations, or marveling at their durability.

My intent was to praise those stations that make it work, along the way noting those small market stations which appear to serve their communities of license and turn a profit. Perhaps I need to work on clarity of thought.

Secondly, the '65 Valiant was a workhorse with a slant six that would not quit. I prefered standard transmission, classic inverted "h" on the column, BTW. I chose this vehicle to create the analogy that even the toughest, most durable vehicles can be driven to death as a result of continued abuse. WKBW, once the almighty and durable, now near death.

C'mon! Work with me here. It wasn't all that hard, was it?

Clinton did what most people do where radio is concerned: he didn't give it much of a thought. He more or less admits that now. The radio provision of the Telecom Act was not terribly significant in the scope of the Act, an afterthought really---but not of course to the creativity robber barrons who new exactly what it meant.

The Telecom Act of '96 addressed many issues relative to telephony, the Internet, carriage issues and cellular. Terrestrial broadcasting wasn't so much an afterthought as it was a critically important and well-crafted addendum, written and influenced largely by the radio lobby and the NAB.

Years after the Telecom Act was approved and all hell had broken loose with large broadcasters gorging themselves on abundant servings of buyouts and consolidations (anybody remember Pryamid-Evergreen or AM/FM-Capstar-Clear Channel?), I remember reading a detailed inteview with President Clinton. On the topic of the Telecom Act, he said he "thought it was legislation that would have greater impact on the cellular and telephone companies than it would on the broadcasting sector."

I found this amusing, for William Jefferson Clinton is (regardless of anybody's political opinion) one of the most articulate, adroit and thorough political and legal minds of our time. Clinton's most ardent detractors readily admit that he possesses a keen mind and the ability to grasp the most complex of issues and digest them to the smallest measure.

So when I read his comments, I laughed, because I'm sure he knew damn well what that bill was all about and quite likely what its result would be to broadcasters.

It is not my intent to paint a bleak picture here, lest alw "open a(nother) vein." There always will be opportunities for those who seek them out and those smart enough to adapt to change.

Rather, I prefer to offer a realistic appraisal of what's occured.

Here it is 10+ years later, and we see the mess that has been wrought. The broadcasting business isn't the Little Sisters of the Poor to be sure, but it has seen better times and is frought with uncertainty and increased competition from sectors it may not have expected as little as five years ago.

Those in the business today are right to ask "where will I/we be in ten years?" afterall, it was a mere ten years ago that the business began to undergo radical changes. I'd presume that there are those who ten years ago couldn't imagine that they'd be where they are today, in ways both good and bad.

 

[Steven21]

Re: Beginning of the End?

It seems to me that the beginning of the end began with the "Fake Drake" stations in the late '60s that devalued jocks and turned them into liner-card readers.

Disagree.

While that may have been a wrong turn programming-wise, it did not change the dynamic of the beast. The Telecom Act did do that. The idea that some want to see further relaxing of ownership rules would be laughable, if it weren't for the fact that the powers that be are apparently all ears.

However, it should be noted that Clearchannel gave a clinic on the statistical phenomena known as the point of diminishing returns---which is why they basically halved their radio portfolio.

Of course, given the rampant ingenuity in this biz, history will be ignored, and repeated.

 

[Bob1370]

Bill Clinton once said that signing the 1996 Telecommunications Act was the second biggest mistake he made during his presidency (that interlude with Monica in the side office being #1 on his list). He didn't see the effects of concentrated ownership (from corporate choice-killing monopoly to politicized programming) coming...if he had, he says he'd never have signed it.

Some folks DID see trouble coming, of course. Too bad none of them had any power to match their wisdom.

 

[T_Magoo]

The beginning of the end, ironically, started in Buffalo in the early 90s when 97FM and 103FM became the first LSA in the industry. A friend and I talked about what an awful idea that was, because it openned the door to the joining of many other departments and/or tasks between stations.

I was at ground zero for two catastrophic events in Buffalo broadcasting, next time I'm in town I'll show you the shrapnel wounds.

Regarding the event that Steven mentions...the day we had the meeting in the conference room was tough, because we knew who was leaving immediately, but had no idea what was in store for those of us who remained. What a great airstaff in that building; all run by wunderkind, Ralph Cipolla. He went on to program WCSX, the classic rock station in Detroit, and then to take a position with one of the most respected consulting agencies in the country, Jacobs Media.

Bearman, Shredd, DD, Mike Bensson...and Opie was our overnight guy. I hope that someone who was in a decision-making postition at Rich Communications looks back on the dismantling of that staff as almost as bad a move as Ralph hiring Mike Mularkey. Bunch of talent there. But I guess someone thought there wasn't room for two great rock radio stations in Buffalo.

However, IMHO I believe that the downward spiral began in the 1980's when the ownership requirements were dropped. It brought a ton of finance folks and carpetbaggers into the business. If I remember correctly, prior to them changing the law, you had to own a signal for 3 years before you could sell it. The upside for Buffalo was 1077 The Bear coming online in 1986; the downside was Chris Devine, who wanted to turn his money around in about 18 months.

Someday if you get JP liquored up enough, ask him about Niagara Mohawk turning our tower off on a Friday just before PM drive...the phone company turning off the request lines...having the front door padlocked by someone from Snyder Corp ( I was the only one in the building...played "You Can't Always Get What You Want" turned off the tower at 9:41 and went and got drunk)...having the van repoed from in front of my south Buffalo apartment. I used to bolt out of there on payday to be the first in line at the bank so that my payroll check wouldn't bounce.

Folks will say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

Sometimes the love for radio is unrequited.

 

[JustPastBuffalo]

Ahhh Magoo, you've done it again. Another page from a best selling book you have to write some day. Just to clarify, the "JP" at The Bear is the 97 Rock "JP", the guy who still has the good looks... and the big ratings (#1, Persons 25-54.)

As to the demise of The Fox in the 90's, I was on the other side of Franklin Street and obseved from the distance and confines of my Production Bunker. It was one of the first LSA's in America and there was a lot to learn for everybody involved, in more ways than one. Little did we know how it would affect us. Sure, it was better if you had a job, I'll grant you that. Remember traffic and production pulling their hair out, especially on Friday afternoons? Two separate buildings and we were still doing analogue back then... 5" tape boxes all over the joint and more dubs and production orders than anybody would care to remember. In '95, I saw the sequel to the movie when WGR was spun off to Keymarket-River City-Sinclair. In 2000, sold to Entercom.

Well Magoo, we both survived. Be well. Mazeltov!

 

[Mark Giardina]

Since we are sharing our experiences down Memory Lane and what happened as the result of deregulation and Billy Clinton signing the Telecommunications Act, allow me to add my 2 cents.

One of the best companies I worked for owned two radio stations and one TV operation in Rochester. The company was called Malrite and the General Managers were Murray Green and later Len Hart; two of the most generous, competent and decent fellows I had the pleasure to work for. Both knew the inner workings of broadcastings, and I mean on-air talent and sales. But the most important thing is that Murray and Len knew how to treat their staff like human beings and not cattle.

Of the nine years I worked at these two radio stations, the first four were the best in my professional and personal life. Then the stations were sold to another company; Grace Broadcasting. These people were not bad. But then after Grace sold out, the place descended into the pits of hell. The guy who brought our two stations managed to get his hands on several of radio properties that can best be described as “dogs.” In order to keep these “dogs” afloat, profits from our two stations were siphoned off. Meanwhile management changed and we went from people who cared about the staff to one person who only cared about lining her own pockets through trade-outs for a new car and a swimming pool for her home. This person by the way is now a top executive at Entercom.

Then in the mid 1980s came the ‘wunderkinds’ from Boston; a group of dot.com millionaires who wanted to play radio. They had no idea what broadcasting was about but decided instead to purchase our two stations and hire a group of the most incompetent consultants and managers. One of the GM’s hired by the Boston group, I will call him ‘Disco Jay’, because the guy always wore chains and thought he was back in the 1970s the way he dressed and acted, came in and proceeded to demoralize the stations. Thank goodness he was replaced within a year, but not before damage was done. After him a former sales person became GM and was the downward spiral continued until she and her PD turned a once profitable AM station into nothing but a shared signal for their struggling FM.

To make a long story short, all of this grief would not have happened had Reagan not signed on to deregulation and Clinton adding his support, and signature to the Telecommunications Act. Radio today wouldn’t be owned by just a handful of companies who have managed to destroy careers and broadcasting all within a decade or two.

I was lucky to get into the business back in the 70s when radio was still both an exciting career and going to work was fun. It is truly unfortunate what has happened since then.

Today my car radio is hardly ever on. Why bother? I’m not interested in hearing the same old songs repeated; people laughing at lame jokes until 9am; and especially, being a former newsman, hearing about the latest murders, vacant house fires, stabbings, and other tripe being passed along as news anymore.

Maybe some of the people in the business today still enjoy going to work. If so, then God less them. A few a making a decent living at it too, while most people are lucky to pay their bills. However the younger generation will ever know the experience of what it was like when working in broadcasting not only provided job opportunities and advancement, but it was damn fun just to go to work.

Who ever the next president will be hopefully can urge Congress to rescind deregulation and the Telecommunications Act. I’m not holding out any hope that will happen because we all know that big media giants lobby Congress and it’s no secret that a number of our elected representatives are in the pockets of the lobbyists.

 

[Tom Wells]

Didn't Len Hart own WLCL 107.1 Lowell, Indiana which became WZVN?
That name is so familiar.

 

[OldNumber7]

To make a long story short, all of this grief would not have happened had Reagan not signed on to deregulation and Clinton adding his support, and signature to the Telecommunications Act. Radio today wouldn’t be owned by just a handful of companies who have managed to destroy careers and broadcasting all within a decade or two.

Who ever the next president will be hopefully can urge Congress to rescind deregulation and the Telecommunications Act. I’m not holding out any hope that will happen because we all know that big media giants lobby Congress and it’s no secret that a number of our elected representatives are in the pockets of the lobbyists.

I couldn't disagree more. Dereg saved radio from an even quicker death. Without it, a bunch of owners would have been unable to pay the bills with their AM/FM pairs and would have resorted sooner either to automation or going dark. Like you, I don't like what the industry has become, but radio has been in trouble since the 70s. First, as FM grew, it added to the number of stations in each market trying to divide the available ad revenue. As cable TV grew, there were even more places for the ad revenue to go and more reasons for younger people to watch TV at night instead of listen to the radio. Then came the early 80s and the decision by the FCC to squeeze even more stations into the FM band. For too long, there have been too many stations chasing too few ad dollars and a shrinking number of ears. In short, the kind of radio we used to love is dying because it is the NATUAL EVOLUTION of the business. not because of dereg. Yes, it sucks, but I don't see any way it's gonna change. And reregulation would turn a sickness into a disaster.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Bursting Bubble

If deregulation hadn't allowed large corporations to buy large numbers of radio stations, the price of individual stations wouldn't have risen as astronomically as it did. If prices hadn't risen, the cost of debt service wouldn't have forced the draconian cuts in salaries and staffing. It's a case of supply and demand. Prior to deregulation, there was some balance because the supply of stations was limited, but ownership limits also limited demand.

With deregulation in the '80, radio stations started to trade like real estate. Corporate investors bought properties with the expectation that they would grow in value because of limited supply. Small operators saw the chance to cash in - selling their stations for enough money that a modestly successful investment would bring in more money annually than actually operating the stations.

The expansion of entertainment offerings to cable, satellite, and other media still hasn't reduced the revenue of radio. Revenue just hasn't grown as fast as corporations told their investors that it would when they promised them big returns on their cash.

If you have limited supply, you need to have a mechanism that limits demand. Ultimately, the market may reset the worth of radio stations. The recent sale of the Utica/Rome Clear Channel stations to Galaxy for the corporate equivalent of pocket lint indicates that the radio as real estate bubble may have burst - at least in some markets.

 

[Element9]

You two guys bring up some very good points regarding economics, spectrum space and the law of supply and demand.

Also for your consideration: The Docket 80-90 FMs which were supposedly established to give "smaller" and local broadcasters an opportunity and communities a voice. The Telecom Act essentially shot that theory to hell.

It can be argued that those retro-fitted 3kW (many of which became 6kW) signals had no chance against the Class B and C stations owned by the media barons and that allocating the Class A Docket 80-90's did nothing more than clutter up the FM band.

Actually, in some cases (e.g., Rochester's WDKX, which really wasn't an 80-90, but is a low power FM) the 3/6 kW signals gave opportunity to broadcasters who filled a void, excelled in their format, made money and served the community of license.

The Telecom Act also wreaked havoc on the lives of thousands of broadcasters, from on the air grunts, sales and traffic people to GMs who were assigned cluster management responsibilities, which then lead to diluting their focus and skills.

It also re-shaped the industry, turning it from a communications and service sector business to a speculator-investment business. In many cases, the sector is stinking mess. There are very few clusters in America where every station within the cluster is a success, witness CBS' FMs in New York.

The Cluster Philosophy which resulted from the Telecom Act tends to shackle creativity and reinforce protectionist policies which in turn lead to restrictive and un-creative programming, formats and product.

Why has no Buffalo group launched a AAA format? Could it be that it might hurt the AC, Active or Classic Rock format in their cluster? So what we wind up with are Jacks and Lakes, Mountains and Peaks.

Then there's Sen. John McCain's legacy, legislation which established a lottery in order to be elligible to file for an FCC broadcast license. To play this lottery, you have to have stacks of cash, which means only the wealthy and big corporations get a seat at the table. It stinks.

The Telecom Act, as it applies to broadcasting, sure as hell hasn't served the public well. Of course, Les Moonves, Farid Suleman and Lowry Mays don't seem to mind.

-9-

 

[Mark Giardina]

I couldn't disagree more. Dereg saved radio from an even quicker death. Without it, a bunch of owners would have been unable to pay the bills with their AM/FM pairs and would have resorted sooner either to automation or going dark. Like you, I don't like what the industry has become, but radio has been in trouble since the 70s. First, as FM grew, it added to the number of stations in each market trying to divide the available ad revenue. As cable TV grew, there were even more places for the ad revenue to go and more reasons for younger people to watch TV at night instead of listen to the radio. Then came the early 80s and the decision by the FCC to squeeze even more stations into the FM band. For too long, there have been too many stations chasing too few ad dollars and a shrinking number of ears. In short, the kind of radio we used to love is dying because it is the NATUAL EVOLUTION of the business. not because of dereg. Yes, it sucks, but I don't see any way it's gonna change. And reregulation would turn a sickness into a disaster.

Without deregulation these so-called media monsters would have never had the opportunity to come into a market and gobble up stations like a vacuum cleaner on a carpet; replacing personality radio with jukebox formats or syndicated talk shows.

Case in point, from the earlier post, I told you about the guy from the Midwest who came in and purchased the radio stations I worked for; he would have never been able to buy these stations had regulations been in place because under regulations a potential station owner had to prove they had the capital on hand to keep the station operating for at least three years. That rule went out the window in the 1980s.

As for radio being on its deathbed before deregulation, the two stations I worked for, and a few others here in Rochester, were doing just fine. Both morning and afternoon drive time was sold out plus our station’s FM was sold out all day long. I didn’t see any coffins being brought into our stations until the ‘dregs’ started owning the place. Then it was get rid of employees to make the bottom line look better because their philosophy of broadcasting alienated listeners to the point that advertisers were dropping like flies.

Sorry to disagree, but radio was doing just fine before deregulation and would have remained viable. Sure a few stations might have gone dark, but at least there would have been competition, and more importantly jobs available. That’s not the case anymore.