The Rise of Clear Channel and the Fall of Commercial Radio

[jabba17]

I hate to break it to you... but EVERY radio group that is publicly traded is "addicted to pleasing Wall Street." That's the very definition of what you must do when you decide to go public.

I would say that fact is the single biggest reason for the overall decline in broadcast radio in general. And it's certainly not limited to LA, Atlanta or any other market. It's systemic from the very largest markets to the very smallest.

Is Cumulus closely held? I know they're public, but how much do the Dickeys and their buds own?

I know Inside will vehemently disagree, but they seem to be the only large radio group in the ATL (besides Cox, Salem and R1) that has their act together.

R1 and Salem are niche companies that do their respective niches (urban and conservative/Christian) very well. R1 could get a 2 share out of someone yakking on a CB radio.

And Cox Radio is closely held, with most of CXR owned by Cox Enterprises, which is of course owned by Anne Cox Chambers and the rest of the Cox family.

It's a lot more difficult to plan long-term when you have ANALysts breathing down your neck to make sure you make your numbers each quarter, and when there's no one at the top with skin in the game to make sure you don't hock yourself into bankruptcy (as CC and Citadel may do).

The only dumb thing I ever saw Cox do was obsessively try to own the ATL urban market by toppling V-103 a few years back. Once they gave up on that, WALR did quite well.

 

[OutOfTheBiz]

The only dumb thing I ever saw Cox do was obsessively try to own the ATL urban market by toppling V-103 a few years back. Once they gave up on that, WALR did quite well.

Cox today (nationwide) is a shell of the radio group it was before they went public. It changed everything about how they do business. Closely held or no, every quarterly report brings a wave of "corrective action."

 

[jabba17]

The only dumb thing I ever saw Cox do was obsessively try to own the ATL urban market by toppling V-103 a few years back. Once they gave up on that, WALR did quite well.

Cox today (nationwide) is a shell of the radio group it was before they went public. It changed everything about how they do business. Closely held or no, every quarterly report brings a wave of "corrective action."

There's been some talk about Cox Enterprises taking Cox Radio private (again), with the market being down and the stock being cheap.

 

[OutOfTheBiz]

[

There's been some talk about Cox Enterprises taking Cox Radio private (again), with the market being down and the stock being cheap.

I've heard that as well. Hopefully that will become a new trend. IMO that is one of the very few hopeful things that could keep radio from dying even more than it already has.

 

[Marv-L.A.]

Another reason to despise Congress, who tends to listen to anybody with a fat paycheck and an army of lobbyists.

From the Telecom Act of 1996 to the current ethanol con job/hoax/scandal/fiasco...they can't stop screwing up either---just like CC and all the rest.

 

[Inside your head]

Is Cumulus closely held? I know they're public, but how much do the Dickeys and their buds own?

I know Inside will vehemently disagree, but they seem to be the only large radio group in the ATL (besides Cox, Salem and R1) that has their act together.

u got that rite i disagree. they blew up a heritage station so they could bring back another heritage station to play the same music u can find anywhere else. all u people who love trg and rock 100, jst wait till they cant get the ratings either and they flip it again to oldies or country or something else we dont need. cumlus dont care about the listeners they got, they just want more money. u know what they shouldve done? IF they really had to kill 99x they shouldve had a contest or something and given away hd radios. or every freeloader gets $99 off a hd radio something like that. AND they shouldve kept it the same. same jocks on hd and internet. they didnt do anything for all of us xcpet say FU, we're taking them off the air and firing the jocks.
theres alot of other alt stations u can listen online now and hate to say it but they all blow 99x away. saddest part is most of them are ALSO on the air. if onlines all 99x got they shouldve made it kick ass.
to say cumuls has it all together is a joke.

 

[Tibbs4]

Crumulus has managed to make lemonade from lemons created by the demise of CC's ability to manage
their business. Crumulus, in general, is as inept as CC. LF seemed to have it together when they were
running Star 94 like they had and look ... new version --- imploding. Project is a huge disaster and if
I were running that clusterfx I'd rather be programming NOTHING than loosing $$$$ like they are.

Inside, you're really getting this stuff a lot better than you were. You could do better than a lot of
the self-professed experts (CONsultants) that have ruined this hallowed industry. I have to say,
96 Rock could have been re-tooled and updated not destroyed. 99X really should have never gotten
on life support. The format, while not always a top performer, still works in many markets.

I never agree with most of the crap Crumy does. They have made a smart move with Q-100's move.
They have basically sucker punched Star and anyone who thinks Star has a chance after July 1 is
out of touch. They'll be billing 50% of what they did in the day. Truth is Q will not get all those dollars.

The 100.5 Rock format will struggle because of the format. They could have let the ALT station be
on that stick and kept their small audience and it would have made little financial difference.

CC has to be thinking about trashing the Project in favor of bringing BACK the 96rock. But they will
not because it makes decision makers (mgmt) look like fools. They'd rather cost the company $$$
than look bad. And a sign of a badly run company is one that allows that to happen.

It's really just that the two companies are fighting for first place in the LCD category. Oh, wait LF
comes in as the current dumba$$ company of 2008.

 

[jabba17]

I don't think that LF has ever run their ATL stations well. JP did, but LF looks and acts like the disinterested owners they are. JP was all over broadcasting. LF is not.

Swapping Q100 and 99X would have been a good idea if CC had not killed 96Rock. Otherwise, there's too big of a hole to ignore. Alt is not doing as well as it once did (aging demo, limited new music, competition from AAA and active rock stations), and duplicating Project with active rock would have made no sense. So, skew older with a 70s/80s/90s AOR station. 96 Rock needed help...but euthanasia was not the answer. They needed to get rid of the B98.5 music (Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, etc.) and pick rock cuts from the 70s, 80s, and 90s...like Rock100.5 is doing.

I think that time will tell that getting rid of 96 Rock was a mistake. I think that the folks at CC must have been sniffing glue and gotten too much of a Buzz (I'll be here all week, don't forget to tip your servers...). They got the first part of the problem right (leveraging Buzz), but not the second (killing 96 Rock).

I agree that Q will not get all of Star's lost dollars...until Star goes belly up. Then I bet Q will see a 4-5+ share as the only mainstream CHR in town.

Want alt? Get Dave to move from AAA to a "classic alt/new alt" station, with new artists and deep cuts from old ones. Or, get CC to put alt on one of their Latino sticks.

 

[RTibbs]

Within a year Rock 100.5 will outperform 99x and within the first two books the Reg Guys will kick the New Morning X's rating, of course that would not be that hard. The Rock format will appeal to a larger more meterable audience and that is why the change occurred.

 

[Inside your head]

Inside, you're really getting this stuff a lot better than you were. You could do better than a lot of
the self-professed experts (CONsultants) that have ruined this hallowed industry. I have to say,
96 Rock could have been re-tooled and updated not destroyed. 99X really should have never gotten
on life support. The format, while not always a top performer, still works in many markets.

weird. theres 2 tibbs? and 1 of them agrees with me AND said something nice to me?
or is there just 1 tibbs and hes hittin the bong?
so f*in weird.

 

[Inside your head]

Within a year Rock 100.5 will outperform 99x and within the first two books the Reg Guys will kick the New Morning X's rating, of course that would not be that hard. The Rock format will appeal to a larger more meterable audience and that is why the change occurred.

in the begging for advertsers thread u said they dont expect rock100 to outbill 99x, so what is it. where u placing ur bet make up ur mind. r they gonna beat x in a yr or not.
i think they wont and they will get flipped to country or oldies and then u will be pissed off too like me.
unless u r also tibbs 2 then u already agree with me.

so f*n weird.

 

[jabba17]

Here's what Tom Taylor had to report about Arbitron on satellite (Sirius/XM):

Sirius:
1) Howard Stern’s “Howard 100”
2) “Hits 1” (CHR)
3) Howard Stern’s “Howard 101”
4) “New Country"
5) “Big 80s”
6) “Octane” (Active Rock)
7) “Classic Vinyl” (60s-70s classic rock)
8) “Classic Rewind” (70s-80s classic rock)
9) “The Pulse” (CHR)
10) “Totally 70s”

XM:
1) “Top 20 on 20" (CHR on steroids)
2) “Flight 26" (Hot AC)
3) “80s on 8”
4) “70s on 7"
5) “60s on 6"
6) “Highway 16" (New Country)
7) "Top Tracks" (60s-70s classic rock)
8) “The Blend” (Soft AC)
9) “The Heart” (love songs)
10) “Fox News”

What do I see in common? CHR, AC, active rock, and modern country--no surprise there-same slop you can get terrestrially. What IS surprising is 60s through the 80s classic rock (proving that classic rock is still viable if done right), 60s oldies and 70s AM gold (ditto), and 80s.

Yes, the "gimmick" format that everyone likes to laugh at and make fun of and say will never work (80s) is #5 on Sirius and #3 on XM.

I'll tell you what I DON'T see--alternative (regardless of decade, 70s, 80s, or 90s) or AAA. No Fred (70s/80s alt-one of my presets), Ethel (90s alt), Lucy (ditto), or XM Cafe (AAA). Sorry Inside.