THE FUTURE?

[Bob Oshea]

Until you've had to meet a payroll in a small town, you have absolutely no idea why so many small market stations are forced to use networks or voice-tracking.

I don't consider myself a cheap bastard. The few people we are able to afford are being paid $15-20 per hour, have a generous and complete medical plan, YMCA family memberships, 401K, staff parties, holiday bonuses, etc.

My payroll is a substantial percentage of revenues. We can't afford one more person. We maintain live/local morning shows; that's all the money there is.

Major markets are another story. A station grossing $20 million can certainly afford 24/7 live. Larger markets are often paying less than we do.

I would love to run my stations live/local 24/7. The cost of doing this, unfortunately, would far exceed our gross billing, and we still have other expenses, like electricity, BMI, ASCAP, Sesac, studio rent, phones, tower rent, transmitter maintenance, etc.

Meet a payroll a few times and you'll understand. We don't like it, but is it better to be on the air with the ability to break in for emergencies, or go silent?

Bill-
Nothing personal intended.....however, radio is and has been notoriously low paying. Having stated that, there is always the argument that the DJ chose the career path. In any event, I feel for everybody in radio right now. This is the worst economy in my life and I know advertising is down everywhere in every medium. Newspapers are tendering massive layoffs, television the same from the network level down, magazines are showing as much as a 73% revenue loss compared to the same time last year, don't even get me started on real estate. The automakers are re-tooling the plants for cars that will run on hydrogen only or electric. Hell, they can't even sell the '09. I mean DUDE, we're in the soup. I agree with Radio 55, it's time for survival mode. I went the direction of voice-over stuff and the rental business and haven't looked back. I will always love radio and broadcasting in general. The people I met along the way are like no others, unless I had run away and joined the circus instead. I wouldn't trade any of it for a million bucks. But I wouldn't go back into it to get off the gallows. Good Luck Bill and I hope things keep on keepin' on for you and your biz.

The Lyin' King
Bob O'Shea

 

[Radio55]

I think I found Bill's station. KBKW, Aberdeen, Washington. God bless 'um.. they've had the SAME CALL LETTERS SINCE 1949!! What a heritage.
Nice website and they stream online. kbkw.com.

 

[Bob Oshea]

Until you've had to meet a payroll in a small town, you have absolutely no idea why so many small market stations are forced to use networks or voice-tracking.

I don't consider myself a cheap bastard. The few people we are able to afford are being paid $15-20 per hour, have a generous and complete medical plan, YMCA family memberships, 401K, staff parties, holiday bonuses, etc.

My payroll is a substantial percentage of revenues. We can't afford one more person. We maintain live/local morning shows; that's all the money there is.

Major markets are another story. A station grossing $20 million can certainly afford 24/7 live. Larger markets are often paying less than we do.

I would love to run my stations live/local 24/7. The cost of doing this, unfortunately, would far exceed our gross billing, and we still have other expenses, like electricity, BMI, ASCAP, Sesac, studio rent, phones, tower rent, transmitter maintenance, etc.

Meet a payroll a few times and you'll understand. We don't like it, but is it better to be on the air with the ability to break in for emergencies, or go silent?

Bill-
In Chicago on all of the music stations, they're almost completely voice tracked with the exception of the morning shows. Market size really doesn't mean much. It's all relative and from the bottom line stand point it's a matter of perspective.
$600.00 a week and $800.00 a week is barely making it if you've got a family to raise. Deduct the Soc. Sec., fica and state witholdings AND the generous health insurance share and it's still not enough to get by on. Now it's noteworthy that you seem to be paying far more than much larger markets are paying for the same help. Detroit, top 10 market pays minimum wage for a board op and $10 bucks an hour for weekend air work. KC, Mo. the same. It's the same in most large and Major markets. I'm sure there are exceptions to the rule. While I agree, you're no cheap bastard, you are definitely one of the exceptions to the rule.

O'Shea