Can radio survive in "The Delta"? Seems to me that stations in Cleveland, Clarksdale, Greenville, Indianola, and Greenwood are just there! I do feel that Larry Fuss is trying to put some real "radio spin" on his group of stations in the area but am not sure it is enough. Low rates, untrained sellers, so so management, and jocks that are unprofessional seem to be the norm in the region. Some really good radio folks have come out of this area and it is a shame to see there are no "stars" on the radio and from what I can gather no real street level promotions.
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The Delta
- Thread starter nuffsaid
- Start date
Y
yeabutt
Guest
So do they just roll over and take it? Seems to me that stations that offer good music, local community involvement, and the normal stuff should produce revenue. Are the markets just that soft that revenue cannot keep up with the stations or is it vise versa? I will admit that some of these Delta towns look like a bomb went off down town. Is there a solution?
I can't speak for every town you listed but they all have the some of the same problems with Cleveland possibly fairing better than the others.
The boom days in the delta are no more. Drive through the downtown areas and look at the types of businesses left. Pawn shops and discount dollar stores is about all you will find. The retail stores are now national chains who rarely buy local ads and are all located near Wal Mart.
There is almost nothing left in downtown Clarksdale for example. The downtown business district in Clarksdale was where almost all the advertising dollars came from. High School sports and MS State/Ole Miss are possibly the best things any delta station has left in their arsenal to really make it.
The Delta was once a great place but by the early 90's I can tell you things really started taking a fast dive.
Why do you need a bunch of local stores when Wal Mart sales everything for less. Wal Mart doesn't support the communities where they are located. Local businesses always had always done this in the past. That money just leaves town forever now that the mom and pop business have been replaced.
/end rant
I wish there was a way I could put a positive spin on it but radio is tough in the Delta. Ask someone like Larry Fuss or Clint Webster who still have a vested interest in the Delta. JBoyd knows for sure since he has operated stations in the Delta and still has 3 covering a large chunk of the Delta.
The boom days in the delta are no more. Drive through the downtown areas and look at the types of businesses left. Pawn shops and discount dollar stores is about all you will find. The retail stores are now national chains who rarely buy local ads and are all located near Wal Mart.
There is almost nothing left in downtown Clarksdale for example. The downtown business district in Clarksdale was where almost all the advertising dollars came from. High School sports and MS State/Ole Miss are possibly the best things any delta station has left in their arsenal to really make it.
The Delta was once a great place but by the early 90's I can tell you things really started taking a fast dive.
Why do you need a bunch of local stores when Wal Mart sales everything for less. Wal Mart doesn't support the communities where they are located. Local businesses always had always done this in the past. That money just leaves town forever now that the mom and pop business have been replaced.
/end rant
I wish there was a way I could put a positive spin on it but radio is tough in the Delta. Ask someone like Larry Fuss or Clint Webster who still have a vested interest in the Delta. JBoyd knows for sure since he has operated stations in the Delta and still has 3 covering a large chunk of the Delta.
“If I owned the Delta and hell, I would rent out the Delta and live in hell.” - Paraphrasing Civil War General Philip Sheridan, who made the original comment about Texas. The General probably never visited the Delta.
“When the end of the world comes, I want to be in the Delta. It’s at least 50 years behind everywhere else.” - Paraphrasing Mark Twain, who said something similar about Cincinnati.
J. Boyd got it right when he said the problems are many. The biggest problem is the rampant complacency and apathy in the Delta. Any idiot can rent a building and open a business. In fact, many of them do. Most have no business plan and no business knowledge, but they open up a store and are off to the races. A friend once told me that many of these folks would never survive if they were in a city that had “real” businesses, but most locally-owned competitors in the Delta are no real threat. (The only serious threat is Wal-Mart, which the locally owned businesses ignore, like an ostrich sticking its head in the sand).
Cleveland, for example, has three jewelry stores. None of the three do much of anything when it comes to marketing and advertising. They just sit in the stores, hoping people come in. I suppose each of them gets a slice of the jewelry purchases in the market, but imagine what would happen if one of them suddenly became an aggressive advertiser? They’d not only take market share from the other two, but they probably increase the amount of jewelry purchases in the market. But you can’t explain that to business people in the Delta. They don’t have the mental capacity to comprehend it.
If I were younger and had the money, I’d open my own jewelry store, my own used car lot, my own clothing store, perhaps a fast food restaurant and maybe even a furniture store. I’d use what I know about advertising and marketing to blow the competitors off the map. Alas, I’m too old for that now, but I’d be happy to help anyone else who wants to do it. There is still business in the Delta – and as pointed out above, the competition is weak.
My radio stations are as good as they can be with what I have to work with. Yes, they could certainly be better, but I have to have the advertising revenue to support it. If you’ve heard any of the other radio stations in the Delta, you know that they have fallen into the same complacency and apathy trap that all the other businesses are in.
I don’t know why I even hang in the Delta. I suppose I should have learned my lesson. But I’ve always enjoyed a challenge and I like creating good radio.
“When the end of the world comes, I want to be in the Delta. It’s at least 50 years behind everywhere else.” - Paraphrasing Mark Twain, who said something similar about Cincinnati.
J. Boyd got it right when he said the problems are many. The biggest problem is the rampant complacency and apathy in the Delta. Any idiot can rent a building and open a business. In fact, many of them do. Most have no business plan and no business knowledge, but they open up a store and are off to the races. A friend once told me that many of these folks would never survive if they were in a city that had “real” businesses, but most locally-owned competitors in the Delta are no real threat. (The only serious threat is Wal-Mart, which the locally owned businesses ignore, like an ostrich sticking its head in the sand).
Cleveland, for example, has three jewelry stores. None of the three do much of anything when it comes to marketing and advertising. They just sit in the stores, hoping people come in. I suppose each of them gets a slice of the jewelry purchases in the market, but imagine what would happen if one of them suddenly became an aggressive advertiser? They’d not only take market share from the other two, but they probably increase the amount of jewelry purchases in the market. But you can’t explain that to business people in the Delta. They don’t have the mental capacity to comprehend it.
If I were younger and had the money, I’d open my own jewelry store, my own used car lot, my own clothing store, perhaps a fast food restaurant and maybe even a furniture store. I’d use what I know about advertising and marketing to blow the competitors off the map. Alas, I’m too old for that now, but I’d be happy to help anyone else who wants to do it. There is still business in the Delta – and as pointed out above, the competition is weak.
My radio stations are as good as they can be with what I have to work with. Yes, they could certainly be better, but I have to have the advertising revenue to support it. If you’ve heard any of the other radio stations in the Delta, you know that they have fallen into the same complacency and apathy trap that all the other businesses are in.
I don’t know why I even hang in the Delta. I suppose I should have learned my lesson. But I’ve always enjoyed a challenge and I like creating good radio.
Well i admire your tenacity and the Delta is a challenge.Kind of like last stop on the "Stephen King Horror Tour". Also like the Neville bros,you "Tell it like it is""..
Despite all the troubles, the Delta does have a certain charm to it. I'm not saying I miss it or the 60 mile drive just to get a decent bite to eat, but it was certainly a place I'm glad to have known for a short time.
It's definitely one of the more unique radio/TV markets I've observed.
It's definitely one of the more unique radio/TV markets I've observed.
Larry's story about the jewelry stores reminds me of my time at WJFL in Vicksburg working for Paul Meacham. Our station was a little upstart that came on with an aggressive format and an even more aggressive ad sales team. The station was exciting to listen to and advertisers who took a chance on us, soon found a nearly instant payback on their advertising investment.
One of our premier advertisers was a local jewelry store. The owner of the store did his own spots and did a remarkably good job, with the help and guidance of our salespeople.
Because of this win/win situation, the store saw a large increase in traffic and sales.
The funny part is that the wife of the man who owned a competing jewelry store was so offended that all she heard on the radio were ads for "that other jewelry store", she filed a complaint with the City and wrote a poorly-worded letter to editor of the paper.....which the Vicksburg Post printed. Created a lot of talk for the station and our advertiser.
Those were the days........
One of our premier advertisers was a local jewelry store. The owner of the store did his own spots and did a remarkably good job, with the help and guidance of our salespeople.
Because of this win/win situation, the store saw a large increase in traffic and sales.
The funny part is that the wife of the man who owned a competing jewelry store was so offended that all she heard on the radio were ads for "that other jewelry store", she filed a complaint with the City and wrote a poorly-worded letter to editor of the paper.....which the Vicksburg Post printed. Created a lot of talk for the station and our advertiser.
Those were the days........
When I went off to college years ago in Southern Arkansas, those of us who came from Northwest Arkansas tended to have small wardrobes and maybe one pair of shoes. My classmates who were from "The Delta" (Arkansas side) seemed to all have cars, and knew a life of affluence. I worked the Delta area in radio for about three years (Stuttgart and Brinkley). Back then one of the problems the merchants faced was farmers who would come into town with cash in hand (or in the bank) and tell the merchants what they would give them for the car or the refrigerator or the TV. Take my offer or I'll get it in Memphis. I suspect there were not that many push customers. There were still a lot of people working for wages that could do that kind of arm twisting. But it was an area of prosperity. (circa 1960).
I moved north to the Rust Belt but two and three times a years since then we have made the trek back to Northwest Arkansas. Oh, the changed we have seen through the years.
Now it's the kids from the land of Walmart, Tyson, Baldor, Rheem and other prominent businesses who show up for college with some funds available, and I suspect the children from the Delta are the ones who may only have one pair of shoes.
Why did I go north? I found a radio industry doing things we only talked about in the South at the time. News Department. News mobiles. Remote broadcasts with equipment that was not an embarrassment. And there was not a radio station on every corner. The rich corn-belt land had good ground conductivity which meant the A.M. radio stations were much farther apart. Towns of 20,000 population with ONLY ONE RADIO station. That was the good news.
The bad news? The stations were too expensive for a poor guy like me to make the move into equity and ownership.
I seldom travel through Mississippi so I can't comment on what radio is doing, but I have to hand it to the radio folks in Arkansas who seem to be making the best of what you can do in a highly over-populated station count.
I moved north to the Rust Belt but two and three times a years since then we have made the trek back to Northwest Arkansas. Oh, the changed we have seen through the years.
Now it's the kids from the land of Walmart, Tyson, Baldor, Rheem and other prominent businesses who show up for college with some funds available, and I suspect the children from the Delta are the ones who may only have one pair of shoes.
Why did I go north? I found a radio industry doing things we only talked about in the South at the time. News Department. News mobiles. Remote broadcasts with equipment that was not an embarrassment. And there was not a radio station on every corner. The rich corn-belt land had good ground conductivity which meant the A.M. radio stations were much farther apart. Towns of 20,000 population with ONLY ONE RADIO station. That was the good news.
The bad news? The stations were too expensive for a poor guy like me to make the move into equity and ownership.
I seldom travel through Mississippi so I can't comment on what radio is doing, but I have to hand it to the radio folks in Arkansas who seem to be making the best of what you can do in a highly over-populated station count.
lfuss said:
Well that's just it, Larry, I lived in Grenada, which called itself part of the Delta even though it was up in the hills. I had to drive the 60 miles to Cleveland or Oxford to eat good food. There is some good food in the Delta and I didn't mean to insinuate there wasn't. I'm already missing my beloved Delta tamales even though I only ever got 'em at one place the whole four years I lived there.
Your example of them not wanting to advertise is something I could never understand about that area. Word of mouth and drive-bys in Cleveland or Greenwood or even Greenville will only garner so much business. The ability of radio to reach beyond the city limits and into the adjacent counties means reaching people who might not ever know a business existed otherwise.
I guess it's part of a greater attitude of isolation and closed-mindedness that permeates much of the deep south small towns. I never quite got over the common belief that I came across often that there was no life outside the Delta. It was fruitless to try to explain to them that there's a whole world of experience beyond a once a month trip to Memphis, which is in itself not exactly one of America's great big cities. (I still like it, too, though.)
I'm a traveler. Radio helps me find things. Surely that applies to countless others, too? But those stubborn businesspeople just don't get it.
It took several generations to get it to this point. By that measure, it will take more generations to get out of it and there is no visible sign of a turnaround. Wasn't cotton, soybeans, catfish, gambling or government trying to level the playing field.
I honestly belive that Larry can pull The Delta out of this slump but it will take a strong on site manager and a group of sellers who deal with something more than the "package" of the day or "let's make a deal". That manager needs to be local or have local roots to the community for this is a small "Southern" community that views outsiders almost like carpet baggers! Not sure that person is around for Larry so it might just be fish or cut bait until he can get a well oiled machine in place. The competiton in Greenville is Country and from what I am told they'll sell anything for almost whatever the client want to pay. There have been some real shady chartacters in The Delta over the past ten / fifteen years so I agree this will not be a quick fix! Good luck to "The Delta".
Larry! This is a "family" board but I agree with you! If management places no value on their radio station and continues to chase the "deal" of the week nothing will ever change. Good luck, The Delta deserves something they can hang their hat on and growth and economic impovement does not seem to be working. Hang in there Mr. Fuss.
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yeabutt
Guest
Can it be fixed?
I'm ever the pessimist, but as the saying goes, "You can't fix stupid."
Serious theoretical question, though: if you run out the rate whores and get the local business people to buy in, will the listeners actually buy? It's not a question one would ask anywhere else, but the Delta is one part charm, three parts third world hell hole. Is there even a big enough money demo to make it work…
Serious theoretical question, though: if you run out the rate whores and get the local business people to buy in, will the listeners actually buy? It's not a question one would ask anywhere else, but the Delta is one part charm, three parts third world hell hole. Is there even a big enough money demo to make it work…
Zach said:
It is a question that you WOULD ask in a lot of places. And it is really two questions.
1. There are many markets where a large part of the population can be classified in some way by derogatory terms. It is easy to bqack off and say: Radio in the city that programs to the African American population can't possibly work because they have low paying jobs, they have a high drop-out rate in schools so they will not be radio listeners. Apply to any ethnic community in any large city. You can't possibly make radio work out the wheat-belt... the plains states... because farmers live out there where the nearest neighbor is a mile and a half away so they are anti-social and will not want their little cocoon punctured with the sound of radio. We can make up a lot of excuses why certain communities will not listen to radio. I think some good arguments could be made that the people of the Delta might be better than average radio listeners!
2. Money demo? By that, are you suggesting that only people in the upper echelon of earnings are radio listeners or will spend whatever money they have based on radio advertising? I think wome good argument could be made that through the years hometown radio even more than big city radio has made a living selling products and services to people from the most humble of financial backgrounds.
Are we talking about what maybe you and I want to listen to on the radio so we assume that is what radio should be, or are we going to talk about the people who show up at Piggly Wiggly and IGA and the automobile retailer to kick tires and talk cars?
When it comes to radio... including radio in the Delta... who is "The Money Demo" ?
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