T
The Sigon
Guest
BaltimoreJack said:
Not sure how long you've been out of the picture in NEPA, had to have been awhile if you think there are no personalities on the radio today who are making 80k. There are a few making more.
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Not sure how long you've been out of the picture in NEPA, had to have been awhile if you think there are no personalities on the radio today who are making 80k. There are a few making more.
B
BaltimoreJack
Guest
I never said I didn't think there were any.....I said it was FOOLISH to PAY 80K for an air talent..ANY air talent in NEPA.
N
Nokmo True
Guest
warmland said:
Baltimore Jack, 80k for air talent in nepa sounds foolish to you. I submit that only you know your circumstances past and present and what the reason for it sounding foolish to you may be. It is, your opinion notwithstanding, what the market will bear. It's foolish to pay grown men anything at all to play baseball but grown men get rich doing exactly that. Neither baseball or being a DJ is rocket science or in the big picture matters a whit, but paying someone who can put the proverbial "asses in the seats" is what it's about. And so if you pay a lot of money for someone who can do a particular circus trick, one that people want to see (or hear) and by so doing can make BIG money for an owner, there is no limit except again, what the market will bear. It's relative. Your opinion is something you're entitled to but is, no offense, naive at best. I don't think you're naive so I'm left wondering why you don't think anyone is worth 80k in nepa. I won't be unable to fall asleep wondering about it, not asking for an explanation, just wondering what motivates you to say as much.
Part two, Harry didn't get the ratings at those other stations because they were not WARM. It was his so-called perfect storm. Right place, right time. The stations he worked at after WARM were counting on name recognition alone. "Here's Harry! (What, spend money on promotion? Program something people can listen to?)" Regardless, name recognition is better than no name recognition.
And in the end, WARM will never amount to anything ever again and frankly I'm wondering how far this pipe dream thread will continue.
BaltimoreJack said:
Baltimore:
I see you're "under fire" here, so let me throw you a hand...
If you can find one personality who can bring in 5-6 figures of advertising per month based on his/her name or his past (I don't live in your area so I don't know who's who), hire him/her as morning host and pay them 80 grand. Everyone else, depending on ability and experience gets between 25-50.
Folks...that's radio these days. I, too...once worked for a "legendary" AM...we actually brought the ratings up in an oldies format. Me? I was the 7-12 midnight jock making $15,200 a year. (In what was, then a top 50 market) When I was promoted to what was (then) market 34...I was still making $15,200...probably the worst-paid jock in that city's history. That was in 1990. It got better a few years later, but those of you thinking any station can afford a staff of jocks making 80K? You don't understand the metrics of what's going on in radio sales today. Please...for the benefit of us still working in the business, get a clue...
Way back when...many of those guys were making about $250-450 a week...granted, that was 1960's money, but I think you can see my point...
B
BaltimoreJack
Guest
I'm sorry I couldn't get back to the board sooner, so I apologize in advance for keeping you up last night. There are a number of reasons why I think this, but I'll give just a couple.Nokmo True said:
No matter what way you cut it, 80K is a pretty fair salary in many communities, not just NEPA. Let's take up your "asses in the seats" comparison. Several years ago there was an on air talent at Citadel's 97-9 named Freddie. He may be one of the most talented people I have ever heard anywhere. For a time he was everywhere. No matter what was going on Freddie was popping up all over. His show was outrageous, and generated a lot of attention. I would say a good portion of radio listeners of any stripe had at least heard about Freddie. Then, for whatever reasons, Citadel sent him to the showers. Via your "asses in the seats" theory, the "X" should have taken a serious nose-dive in it's ratings. Freddie was replaced by Jim Bone. While Bone is competant he is certainly no Freddie. There is no talk-on-the-street with Bone, like their was about Freddie's Morning Freak Show. Yet, there was almost no variation in 97-9's ratings. So who then put the "asses in the seats"? Did Freddie put them there, and then Bone managed to maintain them..or were the butts already there because of the music, and it didn't matter who was on?
Now for another reason that I think 80K is excessive. This is simple supply & demand. Following the consolidation brought on by Telecom '96 there were and continue to be a great many talented people who have been left behind. Earlier this year, Citadel was even firing or not renewing contracts on major market personalities. Main reason..cost of the person employed. Now, while I would not suggest that any decisions be made based on choices made by Citadel, the bottom line is that there is a glut in the talent market right now. There are plenty of proven & well-known personalities who are searching for jobs. Now I do NOT support or agree with trying to steal these people for poverty wages, but based on the size of the talent pool vs. the number of available positions, a very good talent can be had for a reasonable price. So if you then try to decide what a person is worth in the NEPA market and you look at what a decent salary would be based on cost of living, a decent base wage would be reasonable somewhere between 35-52K as I have said previously. 80K is excessive, and unless the talent becomes PROVEN in the job they have been hired for..and I am talking about a long-term success record..it is more than unreasonable.
Now as far as football, baseball, hockey and such. I am not in any sense a sports fan, and as far as I'm concerned, these people are not worthy of anything higher than minimum wage..EVER.
I hope you can sleep peacefully now.
XO
Baltimore Jack
Jack,
I agree with you 100% regarding Freddie. Absolutely the most original, entertaining, buzz-producing morning show I had heard in some time. The spark that he created for that station was incredible. I had such admiration for the powers that be who put him on the air. It was a real stab in the dark and I thought it was a home run. The 'Sunny Side Up or Scrambled' billboards with Magic were like milk and honey to radio geeks...if not the general public.
However, I also agree that the ratings didn't really suffer when he left. But the buzz did.
Worth $80k (or whatever)? Maybe, maybe not. But what a play it was...
I agree with you 100% regarding Freddie. Absolutely the most original, entertaining, buzz-producing morning show I had heard in some time. The spark that he created for that station was incredible. I had such admiration for the powers that be who put him on the air. It was a real stab in the dark and I thought it was a home run. The 'Sunny Side Up or Scrambled' billboards with Magic were like milk and honey to radio geeks...if not the general public.
However, I also agree that the ratings didn't really suffer when he left. But the buzz did.
Worth $80k (or whatever)? Maybe, maybe not. But what a play it was...
This thread is like a magnet and I'm Jason Steel. Good, hard working, productive air personalities deserve to be paid well. But who's making the decsions these days and what are the factors that affect decision making? The economy is in the tank; the radio-media business is suffering major bleeding (we'll forego the reasons why, they've been discussed); consolidation has taken an ugly toll. It's about supply and demand. Making 80g's would be a dream come true to every jock on the beach looking for a gig these days. But the cold, hard, brutal, nasty ass reality is IT'S A BUYER'S MARKET. The station has an opening. It pays 42 a year. Six days a week. PM drive. Non-negotiable. You in? Welcome aboard. If not, there are eight guys in line behind you who want the job. You have 30 seconds to decide. If you think you'll be missed and irreplacable, put your hand into a bucket of water as deep as it can go. Pull out your hand. Look at the impression or hole that you've left. It sucks. But it is what it is.
I agree on all points about how amazing Freddie was, from the morning show, to his Saturday night metal show "Freddie's Closet", he connected with audiences in a way that's been lost by many stations. If my memory serves me well, he said or did something on the air he shouldn't have, and ended up being fired for it. I think Freddie also had a part in the selection of music the station played. Not sure if he was the music director, assistant music director or even APD. He was also involved in concert promotion and bringing live rock and metal acts to the area.
Element9 said:
The median (half above/half below) salary for all jobs in the U.S. is about $40,000--a little more for guys & a little less for women. The average is slightly higher, but remember that folks like LeBron James & Brad Pitt throw averages off (What's the old joke? Whenever Bill Gates enters a bar, every customer in the bar becomes a millionaire, on average--but the median stays at about $40K).
And, yeah, it's a buyer's market for jocks. The supply far outweighs the demand--at least for run-of-the-mill talents.
But in the scenario we've been discussing--a fantasy resuscitation of WARM--the task would require more than run-of-the-mill jocks. It would require entertaining, engaging, relatable, funny, smart, interesting personalities. And that turns the tables on the negotiating process. Those kind of folks cost a little more.
$80,000 a year? Maybe. Maybe a bit less than that, since few-if-any Wilkes Barre/Scranton radio stations seem to be seeking those people. Maybe a bit more, since those people may need a strong incentive to quit doing whatever it is they're doing now.
But going back to Baltimore Jack's unscientific operating budget, the precise numbers may be flexible but it is safe to say that the task of bringing WARM back to life would cost more than the typically stripped-down cluster tagalong. But it is important to note that as part of a larger cluster, WARM's operating expenses would not need to be excessive--since most overhead would be shared with the other stations. Yes, as a standalone, it would be tough--and would require deep pockets and three or four years of patience.
But if all we're talking about is a few hundred grand a year in on-air talent and a few hundred grand a year in on-air and other-media promotion, the WARM facility is perfectly capable of turning that into comfortable cash flow by year number three.
"Fantasy formats" are lots of fun, and I'd guess we've all daydreamed about how we'd run a station, what we'd do, all those thoughts of it exploding with success. And I'd also guess that by now most of us know those formats will never happen because of the extraordinary transformation and evolution of radio, even over the last ten years.
My "fantasy format" was always heavily dependent on talent. Good, solid people who can entertain each and ever time they open a microphone. Those whose voice alone can be entertaining, engaging, amusing. We've all known personalities like that. Presence is the word, presence. It may be an acquired skill, meaning your candidates would all be older.
It seems to me that 80k was initially tossed out there as a number necessary to induce certain people to come on back to radio again.
I wonder if it's even possible to get them to do so, whether you have the money or not.
Can you anticipate anyone making a respectable living walking away from it and rolling the bones on an iffy successful resurrection of WARM? Somehow, I doubt it.
Suppose, for the sake of discussion, there is a known name working at P&G making 50-55k+ with OT, maybe more. Great benefits, excellent pension, doing well, quite happy. Does anyone here believe that the prospect of working for an AM in death's grip, in a world where AM is already largely dead, is strong enough a draw for someone to toss everything they have aside and come running? Hardly.
If, and that is one big IF, you had the resources to put this staff together, pay them properly including benefits, why would you want to send them to oblivion on a loser like WARM?
Oh, if you did come up with the money, even it was more like 50-60k, you'd be looking at a four-and-out-the-door proposition. You're not going to find established and "mature" personalities who are willing to be at the station's beckon call, working six-day weeks, running out to promotions every weekend, or a couple nights a week, or whatever. For many, those days are long over. Being "married" to your radio station is a young man's game. And while there would be rare exceptions, the type of people you're looking to attract would most assuredly be older, 40+ and beyond.
As others have noted well, it is a buyers' market. Sadder still, that is unlikely to change ever.
My "fantasy format" was always heavily dependent on talent. Good, solid people who can entertain each and ever time they open a microphone. Those whose voice alone can be entertaining, engaging, amusing. We've all known personalities like that. Presence is the word, presence. It may be an acquired skill, meaning your candidates would all be older.
It seems to me that 80k was initially tossed out there as a number necessary to induce certain people to come on back to radio again.
I wonder if it's even possible to get them to do so, whether you have the money or not.
Can you anticipate anyone making a respectable living walking away from it and rolling the bones on an iffy successful resurrection of WARM? Somehow, I doubt it.
Suppose, for the sake of discussion, there is a known name working at P&G making 50-55k+ with OT, maybe more. Great benefits, excellent pension, doing well, quite happy. Does anyone here believe that the prospect of working for an AM in death's grip, in a world where AM is already largely dead, is strong enough a draw for someone to toss everything they have aside and come running? Hardly.
If, and that is one big IF, you had the resources to put this staff together, pay them properly including benefits, why would you want to send them to oblivion on a loser like WARM?
Oh, if you did come up with the money, even it was more like 50-60k, you'd be looking at a four-and-out-the-door proposition. You're not going to find established and "mature" personalities who are willing to be at the station's beckon call, working six-day weeks, running out to promotions every weekend, or a couple nights a week, or whatever. For many, those days are long over. Being "married" to your radio station is a young man's game. And while there would be rare exceptions, the type of people you're looking to attract would most assuredly be older, 40+ and beyond.
As others have noted well, it is a buyers' market. Sadder still, that is unlikely to change ever.
masterg said:
"Ever"--as in "forever"--is a long, long time. We've been in a very long period in which radio has de-emphasized "personality," and there are many on these boards (as well as in the general listening audience) who would suggest that it hasn't worked terribly well. Don't be shocked if--as part of a logical effort to reinvigorate radio--the cycle flips to one in which "personality" is emphasized, again. Maybe fairly soon. At that point, those jocks/air-talents with compelling personalities will have the leverage they've been lacking the past 20 years-or-so.
Long before "forever" gets here.
It's hard at times to make a point here without offending someone, which is not now, nor ever has been, my intent.
That said, here are a few things that are not on the verge of a comeback:
*Personality-driven AM radio.
*AM Radio
*Big paying AM radio jobs
*Big paying FM radio jobs in any abundance
*Privately held radio stations
*Film cameras
*Local TV news
*My TV career
*Vince Said It Would Be Like this...
*Pong
*45 RPM records
*WARM in any reincarnation whatsoever
*The Pocono Snow Bunny
*Operation Snowflake
*Rocky Glen
*Streetcars in Scranton
*Sans Souci Park
*The Pick Hit of The Week
It's been beyond twenty years since radio personalities held the cards, since they could sit at the table and negotiate. Add that to the list, too. Those days are not coming back...ever. Not in radio as we know it.
That said, here are a few things that are not on the verge of a comeback:
*Personality-driven AM radio.
*AM Radio
*Big paying AM radio jobs
*Big paying FM radio jobs in any abundance
*Privately held radio stations
*Film cameras
*Local TV news
*My TV career
*Vince Said It Would Be Like this...
*Pong
*45 RPM records
*WARM in any reincarnation whatsoever
*The Pocono Snow Bunny
*Operation Snowflake
*Rocky Glen
*Streetcars in Scranton
*Sans Souci Park
*The Pick Hit of The Week
It's been beyond twenty years since radio personalities held the cards, since they could sit at the table and negotiate. Add that to the list, too. Those days are not coming back...ever. Not in radio as we know it.
Pong????
C'mon, Vince! With the right staffing...
;D
C'mon, Vince! With the right staffing...
;D
Vince Sweeney said:
Vince is dead on target. How many of you on these boards ever worked for WARM? I dont mean lately..I mean the old WARM when almost everyone listened to the station and the ratings were through the roof. I will not talk about this anymore on these boards. I was not upset when WARM went off the air. It was not WARM I miss..It's the people I worked with that have now passed away. The older I get the more I appreciate what I have now and what I'm doing now and how I feel now and who my friends are now...The past is gone. Over!!!!!!
Jeff.....
I must admit, the very last comment about PONG (with the right staffing....) made me laugh out loud....and there's a bit of coffee on the keyboard....that was funny!
A couple of comments, Vince...you're right on the money with most everything on your list....except, in my humble opinion....
Privately held radio stations.
Part of the "sunny side up" side of the argument about major corporations that over bought and are hanging on to radio stations with their fingernails, is that soon, people are going to have the opportunity to GET BACK INTO RADIO OWNERSHIP AGAIN, and at a decent price. Nothing compares to having an owner of a radio station on site....(or at least in the same state) as the radio station(s) they are trying to run. This seems to be what everyone (here on the board, public in general, FCC) wants, and it's already happened to some extent....Citadel and Clear Channel have sold off stations, and most large companies have publicly stated their intentions to do this as well, but are now waiting til the economy improves....and people are getting back into the radio business again! Great!
By the way, let me again re-iterate that the fact that people aren't listening to radio anymore is a sky-is-falling, patently false notion perpetrated by bitter ex-dj's, newspaper columnists and the I-pod advertising agency.
Another bit to chew for the board....should AM 590 change it's calls and try to start anew, being that the signal is (actually, could be with work) great, but the legacy is something that, I think, most everyone on the board agrees can't be lived up to? AM 590 doesn't need to sign off....it might need to "sign on" as a new station with new calls doing something new. Maybe no one will ever be able to do "full service AM radio like we all remember it" again, but something beneficial can be done with the huge coverage area of what is now W-A-R-M.
I'm sure I've shot a spit ball at the sacred cow here....so fire away!
Ben
I must admit, the very last comment about PONG (with the right staffing....) made me laugh out loud....and there's a bit of coffee on the keyboard....that was funny!
A couple of comments, Vince...you're right on the money with most everything on your list....except, in my humble opinion....
Privately held radio stations.
Part of the "sunny side up" side of the argument about major corporations that over bought and are hanging on to radio stations with their fingernails, is that soon, people are going to have the opportunity to GET BACK INTO RADIO OWNERSHIP AGAIN, and at a decent price. Nothing compares to having an owner of a radio station on site....(or at least in the same state) as the radio station(s) they are trying to run. This seems to be what everyone (here on the board, public in general, FCC) wants, and it's already happened to some extent....Citadel and Clear Channel have sold off stations, and most large companies have publicly stated their intentions to do this as well, but are now waiting til the economy improves....and people are getting back into the radio business again! Great!
By the way, let me again re-iterate that the fact that people aren't listening to radio anymore is a sky-is-falling, patently false notion perpetrated by bitter ex-dj's, newspaper columnists and the I-pod advertising agency.
Another bit to chew for the board....should AM 590 change it's calls and try to start anew, being that the signal is (actually, could be with work) great, but the legacy is something that, I think, most everyone on the board agrees can't be lived up to? AM 590 doesn't need to sign off....it might need to "sign on" as a new station with new calls doing something new. Maybe no one will ever be able to do "full service AM radio like we all remember it" again, but something beneficial can be done with the huge coverage area of what is now W-A-R-M.
I'm sure I've shot a spit ball at the sacred cow here....so fire away!
Ben
So many good points have been made on this thread. Vince, you must have been a helluva personality because your list made me laugh out loud, too. For the record, I'm an ex-Citadel employee who got cut in late January after spending nearly nine years in the Buffalo cluster (97 Rock, The Edge, Mix 104.1 WHTT, Bills Radio Network), the last four years doing middays on WHTT and production. I have nothing nasty to say about the company. The world is too small, if you know what I mean, and Buffalo is "the biggest small town in America." Everybody knows the story; "it is what it is." Besides, my termination was reasonably graceful (better than what happened with Clear Channel's purge) and I still visit the building if I need to get something I may need. IF ever I go back to work in this market, it's likely I'll work with some of the guys I worked with over the last twenty years.
I have a lot of respect for the NEPA market and the people who work in it. Ironic, Buffalo and NEPA share a lot in common. Seems "everybody knows everybody" and the market is home to so many people "who coulda left but chose to stay." You'd like to see The Mighty 590 rise from the ashes, but from my perspective, it's not likely to happen. In Buffalo, WWKB (once the legendary WKBW) made a valiant run at a return, only to log less than a 2 share doing Oldies with the legendary Jack Armstrong voice-tracking nights better than some jocks do it live and legendary KB morning man Dan Neaverth, live in morning drive. After a few years, KB dropped Oldies and flipped to progressive talk, where it now holds on with about a 1 share. Every once in a while, the Buffalo-Rochester board goes through the same rabid exchange of ideas about WWKB as this thread with WARM. And as usual, nothing comes of it, as is to be expected.
Entercom has the two healthiest AM's in Buffalo, WBEN doing news-talk, WGR (a station I once programmed when Keymarket-Sinclair owned it and it was also news-talk.) WGR now does sports-talk and is home to the NHL Sabres. It pulls about a 3-4 share 12+ while WBEN pulls about a 10 share. Both are big signal 5kW'ers. Outside of those two stations, the AM band is filled with low-rated stations and static.
Radio isn't an easy road to travel these days, whether you own, manage, do news or jock at the stations. Will it come back? Unfortunately, as far as my realistic eyes and ears can tell, not soon. I'm looking for jobs in P-R and allied fields. Every cluster has downsized. If and when radio does come back, you'd like it to be personality driven, but the fact is, this is a new world. Technology leads the way. The listeners vote with their ears and their thumbs. I have two adult children. The way they use radio is nothing like the way I used radio when I was their age. iPods, the Internet, texting and cell phones rule their entertainment choices.
I'll hang up and listen to your response on the radio... while driving my Pontiac to my next job interview.
I have a lot of respect for the NEPA market and the people who work in it. Ironic, Buffalo and NEPA share a lot in common. Seems "everybody knows everybody" and the market is home to so many people "who coulda left but chose to stay." You'd like to see The Mighty 590 rise from the ashes, but from my perspective, it's not likely to happen. In Buffalo, WWKB (once the legendary WKBW) made a valiant run at a return, only to log less than a 2 share doing Oldies with the legendary Jack Armstrong voice-tracking nights better than some jocks do it live and legendary KB morning man Dan Neaverth, live in morning drive. After a few years, KB dropped Oldies and flipped to progressive talk, where it now holds on with about a 1 share. Every once in a while, the Buffalo-Rochester board goes through the same rabid exchange of ideas about WWKB as this thread with WARM. And as usual, nothing comes of it, as is to be expected.
Entercom has the two healthiest AM's in Buffalo, WBEN doing news-talk, WGR (a station I once programmed when Keymarket-Sinclair owned it and it was also news-talk.) WGR now does sports-talk and is home to the NHL Sabres. It pulls about a 3-4 share 12+ while WBEN pulls about a 10 share. Both are big signal 5kW'ers. Outside of those two stations, the AM band is filled with low-rated stations and static.
Radio isn't an easy road to travel these days, whether you own, manage, do news or jock at the stations. Will it come back? Unfortunately, as far as my realistic eyes and ears can tell, not soon. I'm looking for jobs in P-R and allied fields. Every cluster has downsized. If and when radio does come back, you'd like it to be personality driven, but the fact is, this is a new world. Technology leads the way. The listeners vote with their ears and their thumbs. I have two adult children. The way they use radio is nothing like the way I used radio when I was their age. iPods, the Internet, texting and cell phones rule their entertainment choices.
I'll hang up and listen to your response on the radio... while driving my Pontiac to my next job interview.
As Vince so diplomatically put it, the intention is not to offend anyone, but rather to discuss a particular view on what seems to be a very touchy subject.
Earlier in this thread Mr. Sweeney acknowledged that radio had been a "cruel mistress" that he'd left behind some 25 years ago... and I gather that others with very strong opinions have been out of radio for a long time. And others with strong opinions have not actually owned or operated radio companies, but rather have been fired-or-otherwise-abused by people who do. My perspective is a little different. Over a career extending back into the sixties (yeah, the nineteen-sixties!) I've owned a half-dozen stations in large & small markets and have been managing radio stations for 30 years--and continue to do so on a daily basis.
I've seen AM radio stations rebuilt into successful (profitable) operations a number of times over the past ten years. I won't embarrass the people involved by slapping their names or station call-letters up here to be scrutinized and critiqued by the (apparently) fairly large bunch whose own negative experiences have convinced them that IT CAN'T BE DONE. I'm sincerely sorry that things didn't work out for those folks, but my own personal experiences haven't been the same.
WARM is not a perfect property. It's best days were way, way back when most of the population in the Scranton-Wilkes Barre market actually lived in Scranton or Wilkes Barre. As the market expanded from two counties to three counties to five counties--and even with that big signal it still pulled zeros in one county (Columbia) and near zeroes in another (Monroe)--and people kept moving out of Scranton and WB... WARM lost its leadership position. And first Susquehanna, and then Citadel, responded by pretending the station didn't exist. Cut, cut, cut.
But it is, in fact, a pretty good basic property. And it still does, in fact, cover more of the market population than most stations it competes with.
It needs some TLC, it needs some investment, and it needs some patience. So, despite those of you who are absolutely convinced otherwise, WARM is actually a good candidate for a comeback. No, not to 1968 levels, but to good, solid, profitable levels.
That's all I got. Back to running radio stations. Thanks!
Earlier in this thread Mr. Sweeney acknowledged that radio had been a "cruel mistress" that he'd left behind some 25 years ago... and I gather that others with very strong opinions have been out of radio for a long time. And others with strong opinions have not actually owned or operated radio companies, but rather have been fired-or-otherwise-abused by people who do. My perspective is a little different. Over a career extending back into the sixties (yeah, the nineteen-sixties!) I've owned a half-dozen stations in large & small markets and have been managing radio stations for 30 years--and continue to do so on a daily basis.
I've seen AM radio stations rebuilt into successful (profitable) operations a number of times over the past ten years. I won't embarrass the people involved by slapping their names or station call-letters up here to be scrutinized and critiqued by the (apparently) fairly large bunch whose own negative experiences have convinced them that IT CAN'T BE DONE. I'm sincerely sorry that things didn't work out for those folks, but my own personal experiences haven't been the same.
WARM is not a perfect property. It's best days were way, way back when most of the population in the Scranton-Wilkes Barre market actually lived in Scranton or Wilkes Barre. As the market expanded from two counties to three counties to five counties--and even with that big signal it still pulled zeros in one county (Columbia) and near zeroes in another (Monroe)--and people kept moving out of Scranton and WB... WARM lost its leadership position. And first Susquehanna, and then Citadel, responded by pretending the station didn't exist. Cut, cut, cut.
But it is, in fact, a pretty good basic property. And it still does, in fact, cover more of the market population than most stations it competes with.
It needs some TLC, it needs some investment, and it needs some patience. So, despite those of you who are absolutely convinced otherwise, WARM is actually a good candidate for a comeback. No, not to 1968 levels, but to good, solid, profitable levels.
That's all I got. Back to running radio stations. Thanks!
Back in the heady days of private ownership by mom & pop operators, WARM (in its current state) would by the type of station an operator would grab to get a foot in the marketplace if larger (read: more expensive) stations were out of reach or not for sale. The radio equivalent of buying a Nova when the Crown Vic is out of your price range.
As such, those operators would pour on the TLC and invest their heart and soul into the station. We see some of that early legacy lives on with the slim minority of AMs that remain relevant and profitable even today. At one time, those stations had owners who REALLY cared, and lived and breathed the station.
Alas, the M & P operators are all but gone, having sold their property to consolidated groups who run a half-dozen stations as one. That said, I would question any group that would sink money into a property like WARM when other stations in the cluster are enduring layoffs, budget cuts and swine flu. If there isn't enough money to go around, why spend it on red herrings? Or blue herrings, for that matter...
Having WARM be a stand-alone would certainly concentrate management attention, although the economics of scale would be lost. One could argue that the consolidated economies of scale may be the ONLY reason WARM continues to exist.
As such, those operators would pour on the TLC and invest their heart and soul into the station. We see some of that early legacy lives on with the slim minority of AMs that remain relevant and profitable even today. At one time, those stations had owners who REALLY cared, and lived and breathed the station.
Alas, the M & P operators are all but gone, having sold their property to consolidated groups who run a half-dozen stations as one. That said, I would question any group that would sink money into a property like WARM when other stations in the cluster are enduring layoffs, budget cuts and swine flu. If there isn't enough money to go around, why spend it on red herrings? Or blue herrings, for that matter...
Having WARM be a stand-alone would certainly concentrate management attention, although the economics of scale would be lost. One could argue that the consolidated economies of scale may be the ONLY reason WARM continues to exist.
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