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Smaller Market Community Radio Stations Dead?

L

lilburncommunityradio

Is there any reason we keep losing smaller market Fm stations to spanish?
Is it only because of Money? Ratings? of just sheer lack of caring to provide
a local radio station that serves the community informed? Does the English Speaking population not matter anymore in the game? Do the owners really think that with a spanish format, the ratings will be there?
After all Viva, El Patron, Will surely eat thier lunch.. What happens to all the rest who want a smaller hometown station?
 
That it happened most acutely in Gwinnett - the place where 'white flight' took its name - is most ironic. In 1993, WPLO was a Lawrenceville station that carried 22 minutes of inventory because they couldnt get more than $20 a throw. However, Len Anthony and Bobby Johnson sold the dogsh*t out of that tin can, managed to beat attrition and it made a little money with live jocks and a respectable staff. Then the owner sold it to the Hispanics.

That left 102.3 "lake 102" which also, against all odds, sold well to the local business community. The jocks were credible, the signal in Gwinnett was ok...it sounded fine. They had High School sports and that was always sold out. Then, the owner sold it to the Hispanics.

What can you say? It truly is a free country, but that freedom isn't necessarily spoken in English. How can you, in a capitalist society, tell descendants of legal immigrants that they can't program Spanish? All you - as a believer in community radio - can do is A) Buy them out or B) Hope they fail.

To me, there are still opportunites for community radio in Atlanta. WGUN could do it - and go bankrupt in the process trying to program it and sell it.

I'm sympathetic but community radio is what you find in Athens, Carrollton and Valdosta - places in which Cumulus and Clear Channel have no interest.
 
As somebody currently building a group of small town stations across the country as a part of multi-media approach I understand your concerns - you have to look to truly small towns outside the signal reach of major or medium market stations to have viable community radio that can try to cover all the bases.

In small towns living in the shadow of Atlanta radio, it's a much harder row to hoe... you have to consider the viability of niche programming instead and that's where Hispanic programming kicks in whether it's Tejano, Conjuncto, Norteno, etc. Having moved from Atlanta ten years ago to Austin, Texas, it's wall to wall Hispanic programming out this way and almost every small market has a dedicated AM or FM to some form of border radio...

Everybody has to keep in mind, it's not "show art"... it's "show business"... at the end of the day if it isn't a non-com where its operation is supported by a school or church or some listener supporter base, then it comes down to the bottom line. While a group like Clear Channel has taken that philosophy to an extreme from whence they may never recover, the simple reality is that it is still a business and businesses don't get to hang around for long unless the bottom line is filled with black ink...

You can have successful small town radio in Georgia - you just have to be about 100 to 150 miles away from Atlanta to make it work...
 
Dain said:
You can have successful small town radio in Georgia - you just have to be about 100 to 150 miles away from Atlanta to make it work...
Click to expand...

You also need to have a long heritage of doing "community" radio. While I suppose it's possible to build a station like that from scratch I've never seen it done.
 
My guess is that comparatively, a lot fewer Spanish speakers in the states own satellite radios, iPods, and other various MP3 players, which is where too many former radio listeners get their music now.
 
Smaller market radio can be successful even in the shadow of a major market! My family has owned and operated a 1kw AM in Central PA in the shadow of Pittsburgh and a half dozen medium sized markets with strong competition and large national groups Clear Channel, CBS, etc. We purchased our station 7 years ago. Step one was programming the station to compete, but also to address the needs of the communities that we served. We also invested a great deal in the equipment, brand new tower site, brand new transmitter, processing, studios, etc- so that the overall sound of the station could compete. 3rd, we advertised and promoted our stations aggressively in the markets we serve. We contest daily, we do live remotes weekly (paid and unpaid for community events). It took a while, but we developed a good audience, a good customer base and a good reputation with area businesses. You don't have to cover a major market to compete against the major market stations that pound a signal into your area. You just have to sound at least as good as they do, and make an effort.
 
You're exactly right - that's what it takes to be successful in any small market setting.

Where near Pittsburgh is your station? I used to consult Ray Gusky when he owned that FM in Blairsville. We've been looking at stations in Western Pennsylvania.
 
Smaller Market Community Radio can survive, but you need to know how to do it right, from programming..to on air personalities to sales and management. If any of that falls outta place, the whole cookie crumbles.

ibeleive it can be successfull, but you have to work hard!
 
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