The future of radio...

[onair91]

Will radio ever recover when the recession is over? Will stations hire full time personalities back even if they think they can get away with using part timers, voice tracks, and syndication? What do you think?

 

[MassMusicMan]

Cost-cutting measures existed long before any recession. Don't see why that would stop.

 

[Speaker of Truth]

The recession is one thing..the problem is the debt load that so many groups carry..and can't pay..the era of full staffing is over and will never return..you're going to see a reliance on part timers and interns like never before..and it will never change..its about being cost effective and hitting the financial goals..air sound took a back seat to that years ago..

 

[TheBigA]

I don't think this issue is restricted to big corporate radio stations.

I also think there are a lot of models people are looking at. The NPR one seems to be working in public radio. Have top notch first rate national product, build it as a brand, and support it with an online presence. That's an idea that could easily be applied to commercial radio.

Also, the cable TV model, where the transmitter and tower serves the local area, and they distribute content created by outside suppliers, some local and some national. The radio station doesn't "hire" people, but offers distribution for a fee. The content creator sells advertising.

A third model is some radio stations have unique and in-demand local programming. They will become content suppliers and syndicators. That's kind of what CC is doing with their web & spoke plan.

I think if you're an on-air talent, and if you think you're good, you focus your attention on building a fan base like a musician. Own an online presence, communicate with your "fans" and serve them with direct content. That system works for musicians, and it can work for talent. Once you have an audience, it will be easy to take your "show" to radio stations, either as an independent syndicator, or to an existing one.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is the future of radio. So get to work!

 

[Jay F]

The only way it will get back to fully staffed (or mostly staffed) is if stations are sold to smaller companies that can afford to fully operate them. The status quo of cost cutting/ automation/national programming only works if everyone is basically doing the same thing..which they mostly are..this creates an even playing field.

 

[BoredModerator]

There is a light at the end of the tunnel. When the economy turns around (soon) you will see "local programming" compete with corporate stations that syndicate or track after 10am. I believe in the end there will be a balance of corporate radio verus local ownership;and in the end things will improve; but technology has made it impossible for things to return to all stations live 24/7.

You may see stations like 93.7 and 92.9 rehire local talent to gain a competitive advantage if advertising demand picks up.

 

[TheBigA]

I think that may only be in big cities like Boston. I think it's also going to take bigger, not smaller, companies owning radio to afford more local staffs. Bigger, more diversified companies, who can absorb losses and ride out bad advertising periods.

 

[raccoonradio]

In an interview with the Globe, Michael Harrison of TALKERS says talk radio on AM and FM radio has about 4-5 yrs left --the Internet will be its future(he also says liberal talk radio is doing great--if you count NPR and shock jocks). He praises the "old" WRKO (and also has nice words about both Hannity and Colmes)

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/e...articles/2009/05/04/the_future_of_talk_radio/

 

[TheBigA]

AM and FM radio has about 4-5 yrs left --the Internet will be its future

I've often said in the future, every American will have his or her own talk show, each with an audience of one.

That's the problem with the internet: Lots of people talking and no one listening. And when you have a situation where supply is great and demand is not, you know that there won't be any money in it.

 

[FPB]

Will radio ever recover when the recession is over? Will stations hire full time personalities back even if they think they can get away with using part timers, voice tracks, and syndication? What do you think?

Radio WILL recover, after the current business model has exhausted itself. We see it happening already; Clear Channel is even cutting back its Marketing Dept. There's not much time left before the corporate house of cards that is Radio today completely caves in. In the dust will be alot of radio stations worth next to nothing; thus allowing the small local person interested in radio to buy cheap.

The local owner can take the pulse of the community and provide programming that is relevent. S/He can hire some local talent while using automation/syndication for most of the day. So while there will be a place for live radio, the local owner will still rely on syndication and automation for most of their programming - at least for the foreseeable future.

 

[TheBigA]

Unfortunately, anybody who buys a radio station "on the cheap" isn't going to have the resources to do what radio needs to make it competitive with all the other media. Newspapers are demonstrating that just being local and knowing the community simply isn't enough when the community is using other ways to get its information and entertainment.

 

[amfmxm]

1. The financial problems major groups are having are mostly debt problems, i.e., servicing highly-leveraged acquisition costs.
2. Radio stations are relatively inexpensive to operate. Beyond the basics, most of the costs are staffing & promotional costs, and therefore very flexible. As a result, adjusting operational costs to income fluctuations can be done in radio more easily than in many other businesses. Newspapers, for instance, are much less flexible.
3. Radio income is almost entirely advertising income, and ad income is directly related to retail business and the general economy. When the economy recovers, radio recovers.
4. New media have eroded a slice of radio's audience and a slice of radio's revenue--but only a slice. Like all media, the new media have strengths and weaknesses.
5. No, all is not rosy in the radio business right now, but compared with many other industries, life really isn't all that bad, either.

 

[Don Juan]

1. The financial problems major groups are having are mostly debt problems, i.e., servicing highly-leveraged acquisition costs.

Agreed.

2. Radio stations are relatively inexpensive to operate. Beyond the basics, most of the costs are staffing & promotional costs, and therefore very flexible. As a result, adjusting operational costs to income fluctuations can be done in radio more easily than in many other businesses.

Disagree. Radio is very labor intensive. Radio is created and sold by human beings.

As far as ease of adjusting operational cost...maybe, if you mean firing people. However, the more bodies you fire, the less radio you have. The less programming, the less sales.

3. Radio income is almost entirely advertising income, and ad income is directly related to retail business and the general economy. When the economy recovers, radio recovers.

While, yes, it is advertising income that sustains it....and, yes, with the economy in a downturn advertising budgets get whittled down.....however some of those ad budgets are going elsewhere. A good deal of the revenue that radio generated through ad revenue isn't coming back. It's the new reality that some haven't faced.

5. No, all is not rosy in the radio business right now, but compared with many other industries, life really isn't all that bad, either.

Radio is getting particularly whacked with a few other businesses such as newspapers, automobiles, etc. But unless you haven't been in a radio station in awhile, you know it's bad. Radio may not recover from this.

Many radio companies are basically bankrupt....and are trying to find a way not to lose their stations, and stay alive long enough with the hope there is some relief down the road. The only reason some of them are still operating is because the banks and financers don't want the properties.

Compared with most industries....radio is in the fight for it's life.