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WGMR A Sellout Against Local Radio

Pros or poetry, radio rates in State College are diving. At a recent lunch with some area advertisers radio rates were discussed. The concensus is that radio rates in this area are anything but stable. With a little negotiation an advertiser can get 15-20-25% rate cut. This is before the GMR sale impacts the market. What this means to radio employees I do not know. But advertisers are smelling blood in the water. All media is under pressure, but radio appears to be underwater.
 
The rate slide, suggested in the previous post, is just beginning. The local radio buyers have become fewer. Big box stores seldom buy local radio. As a matter of fact look around as big box retailers have moved into State College many local ma and pas have closed shop. They no longer need radio.

How does a station cover lower rates? By cutting costs. That usually means people.

As I said in previous posts, I believe the sale of GMR to Neverheads is harmful to local radio. But why should the seller-outer care, he's out. Let the survivors wring their hands.

Oh, by the way the Neverheads are also concerned. the extra station is extra overhead. Job security may be interupted for country cousins.
 
$4. spot rate with the bonuses?
Yes, competition is good, particularly for the buyer.
I just hope this round of "spot" deals does not push any competitors.
We need the various owners.
 
I find it hard to imagine that those low rates can be sustained and the station remain healthy.

Fryman what are rates like in the fry business?
 
The strong shall survive in a market like this. Even with these ad deals our company has decided to cut it's radio ad budget for this quarter.
 
:D I find this all kind of funny. There are a few people on here bashing people for selling a radio station and complaining about who bought it. Now lets all be honest and true to ourselves here. On either hand either the seller or the buyer, you and myself included would have done the same thing. From the sellers standpoint he himself gettin up there in the years has seen much more of radio than you or I will ever see. And im sure seeing what he has seen that id rather hand my kids and grandkids a large chunk of change instead of a mounting pile of bills and headaches. Free radio is great but on the other hand i sell a TON and i mean a TON of Sirrus and XM radios to customers. Where is "Free" radio goin to be in a few years? So yes be honest to yourself putting yourself in his shoes and weighing the options and the future you yourself would have made the same descision and took the money and ran. Right one? Maybe, maybe not. BUT hey...did you build it from the ground up and was your name on the station? Ahh nope. And as for the buyer...Tell me honestly..if you can....if you had the chance and the money to become a huge monopoly in the radio business that you wouldnt?? GET REAL...We ALL would run to that chance. Bottom line. I think the negative complaining and bad mouthing just comes from the fact that we cant, we dont, we will never have the chance to be in either of these parties shoes. And if we were....Would we make the right decision? And who would say that we did or didnt? Is it really anyones business? NOPE. As for the Simpson family, I have had the pleasure of knowing these people for a very short period of time and i myself cannot say that i have met a nicer family than theirs. My hats off to them. Good Luck.
 
I b eg to differ, Wonderboy. There are two kinds of radio people, those who think of it as a commodity and those who think of it as art and/or public service. Most of the former will do what they can to goop all the signals in an area and then put on junk. Most of the latter will have one or two or three sticks and try to serve the public interest and necessity.

Neither category is saintly. But a really good example of the latter will trump a really good example of the former every time.

The basic and original idea behind radio was to serve the small-d democratic principles of our democratic republic. Unfortunately, that has become passe. That's too bad. But if you're under 40, you will live to see how this will turn America into something you don't now recognize.

Heaven -- if there is one -- help you.
 
The Simpson often talked of the importance of "local" radio, his mistrust of certain regional radio groups. He had no intention of doing business with certain groups. And did I mention the importance of keeping radio local. Then along comes this offer.
Sell, sell, sell, let local radio ake care of itself.
Where's my check?
So did the Simpson never really care about local radio? Or was The Simpson only concerned when it served his purposed. The license exists so that a licensee can serve a community.
So there is the sellout of local radio. Sad but true.
 
Oh my god for someone who is on the outside looking in you seem to think you know an awful lot. So lets see how much you do know:

1. How long have offers been flying for GMR?
2. How many of those offers over the years have been turned down?
3. Were you a broker on the deal?
4. Do you even know The Simpson(s), it's plural not singular

Unless you can answer at least 2 of the questions with the right answer than I would say that you are not really qualified to be judging.

Also you keep bring up "local radio" in the years upon years that GMR was owned by the Simpsons it did more for the public than any other station in this market...for example: Herbie's Hometown Loop, Toys 4 Tots, American Red Cross, the little tiny fire companies across the region, AIDS Project, Penn State Paranormal Research Society, etc. So now I'm not really sure how this works, but since the license is now owned by Forever there may be different stipulations to the license. So you can sit here and say that it is a local sellout, but really look back at everything they have done...think about that the next time before you go and spout off about how local radio is dead because GMR is a sellout!
 
Wow. I remember WGMR when it was good. Before AJ got involved. When Matthew Haywood was running one of the best Alternative stations in the country. I worked there briefly and spent a lot of time working for the Simpsons in a much smaller NE PA town. The good thing about the old WGMR was that while everyone else was running automation they stayed live 24/7 and played cds!!! Then they found some make shift way to have some sort of junk operating system run a bad chr led by AJ.

Ted is a great guy and Cary is a great radio man, who has became increasingly aware that the longer that WGMR stayed in the downward spiral, that was spinning out of control, that the less money the station would be worth. He has had offers upon offers over the years from companies that saw potential from a huge signal, but always turned them down to try and continue to salvage something for his once legendary call letters. The call letters are not worth a damn thing now due to all the format changes, really bad programming and a complete lack of any decent local personalities. All that anyone wanted to purchase was the signal.

If what I am reading about 5 dollar spots is true then anyone who is in that market should go running. WGMR had been in a bad spot for a long long time as far as budgets are concerned and that is why someone with no radio experience (AJ) winds up making 30,000 dollars a year, if that, to run it into the ground with no staff and a bunch of piss poor syndication.

I wish Ted and Cary and the whole Simpson family the best in their retirment... Good guys and yes I am glad to have started out my radio career with them and am very thankful for the chance.

AJ I am not afraid to put my name on here. And yep I am an outsider looking in and it is sad to see what has happened to what was once a great radio station.
 
Matt,

Nice thoughts on the Simpsons, on radio and on the fun of doing it live when it was live. I know that at a time when all the other stations were still playing carts or doing full automation I toured the Revolution and WOW you are right they changed the market. All brand new nice stuff and the staff was all cool too.

I really dont get the personal, very personal attacks on AJ. I asked a few people who YOU were and it took some digging to get my answer.

AJ has been in radio in Indiana, State College and Lancaster. I do know him. I do know he works had. I also was friends with a lot of the WGMR people in the Revolution days. It was common knowledge that MH was a nice guy and well known in State College radio but did NO programing at all. Never did. All by the two Teds. MH was in the spot by title only.

So- when I asked who is Matt Stone? I was told "its the air name for Matt Anis, the real short kid that worked at WKBI in Saint Marys and smoked way to much dope, he is a DJ down south now" I dont know you but I am asking a simple question. If you had two jobs ever both in radio and now you are the expert?

I said Anis....that would of been a hard name to grow up with and might make a person of slight stature bitter.
 
BlueEyes, I don't know you & I wouldn't want to make assumptions. I do know Matt (and worked with him at WKBI) when he got his start in radio...and while he traveled to & fro from St. Marys to State College to pursue his dream. He is now in CA doing what he loves. He was a darn good DJ then & most likely has gotten better now. To make a personal swipe at his name was bad form IMHO. I wouldn't know what smoking too much dope would be like, but I think it's fair to say that practice is all too common in this field...

Matt, don't let these guys get to you. It's typical on this forum when you're in the minority.
 
Thanks Erik. I don't worry about someone who has the time to go out of their way and research where I have been then comes up with false statements to defend a station that was bad. Maybe I did smoke too much then maybe I never smoked at all. But you know what? If I did it hasn't clouded my judgement enough to not know bad radio when I hear it and that is what it was.

Wow, for my opinion to matter that much to you, you must have some serious self esteem issues. Seek help my friend.

PS. Blueeyes, get spell check and grammer lessons.
 
Hey guys,


We never met. I doubt either of you met AJ. You get huffy when I repeat what was said about you but it was posted in a hope that you might learn from it. You attacked a friend of mine and reading what you said it was far from accurate. I repeated what someone said about you and hoped you might see that your attack was not fair. I understand you are young and hope you learn this. I will always, always have time to address small minded attacks on my friend.

Matt: My spell check works and my grammar is spot on so lets get topical. You seem to digress to personal attacks often. I simply put what was said about you in my post in the hope that you might see how very unfair things can be. I did no research. I did do a simple "who is this guy" and well, you can see that what people say can be hurtful. BTW, it was not AJ or either Simpson who I asked.

Erik: Its nice you are defending Matt, so respect that I am doing the same here. I have been friends with somebody who I feel did a great job at the AMN, CC, and everywhere he worked. I have worked with AJ at two places and am qualified to make the call. So my issue is that Matt attacked AJ which is wrong. Erik you should chide him too. Its the Cristian thing to do Erik.

Radio is a small, small community and it does not make sense to throw around these hurtful posts. We all might end up working together.
 
Matt and Erik, I have some things to say:

Matt I'll start with you...blue eyes stated that Matt Haywood was never PD, this statement is true, Matt is a phenomenal DJ and when he was PD at XLR he did a great job, but in the days of the Revolution it was Ted Swanson and Ted Simpson who made the programming decisions. Puckett would handle music calls and then talk with Ted and Ted and then choices were made. Anything that was on that station was not a call by Matt Haywood. Jill Gleason was let go and Matt was made PD for title sake only. When alternative died the choice was made to switch the format we played around a lot with it, but in the end I might add I pulled the numbers out of the can only to see them slip again under the recommendation that we hire a consultant. After the numbers nosedived 3 shares and then again another 1/2 a share in two books, we decided to disband the consultant and went back to what I knew was right the numbers came back up slowly...I met a lot of opposition with the direction I wanted to go and the way Ted wanted to go and the way Cary wanted to go, in the end no one could agree exactly what they wanted and that is why the station sounded like 2 totally different stations at times. So you can sit back and say whatever you want but I think I will let the stats speak for themselves...Again Ace and TJ another attack I took from all directions but hey...over 18,000 hits to their website from PA alone in less than 2 months...stats speak for themselves. Matt I remember you, you did the ARSN for like 2 months and then said that gas was too much and blah blah blah, and stopped coming down. There was always a place for you on the team, but you made the bed you sleep in and I will not sit back and go...it's ok he is bitter...I hope you landed your dream job you are a great DJ, but unless you are a PD or consultant somewhere you have no right telling me that my staff or myself was piss poor, my numbers speak for themselves and I have seen them...thanks

Erik...I don't know you from Joe Schmoe down the street, I have heard a lot about you...not just from the Simpsons but from people who worked at KBI with you. The fact is I am not going to sit here and judge you cause I never have had the chance to meet you...We got a lot of calls for your station...common mistake though. I can say that your look at Cary and Ted maybe somewhat bias, you seem to have had a falling out or butted heads at one time, but lets face it Cary and Ted are very opinionated people...they have a way they want things done and if you can show them an easier way they may agree with you, but you have to butt heads to make some progress sometime, so anyone who has ever worked for them will agree with that statement, you made the choice to leave, you have your own station now, come on really it's time to move on. Cary is a pioneer in radio and some former employees fail to see that and disregard the man cause he was "mean to me"!

My point is guys, you can bash me all you want...I know that the station was coming around and could have been something great, but the fact was there was no guidance and what little I got was so confusing that I just gave up and tried to do best with what I had, this is why other station led the way, they had a format we had a guideline...it would never work! BTW Matt...Piss poor syndication...show me

Ace and TJ - Goods Entertainment
Romeo's Playhouse - Superadio
The Show w/ DJ Goofeywhittekid - Tin Can & String
In The Mixx w/ Grooves - Tin Can & String
Open House Party (Saturday) - Superadio
MTV TRL Weekend Countdown - Westwood One
Fox All Access - Fox Broadcasting
Hollywood Hamilton Weekend Top 30 - United Stations
Open House Party (Sunday) - Superadio

Where is the piss poor syndication you speak of??????????
 
This is me.
I am him.
I miss the radio bizz like a bitch.
God Bless You All & The Simpsons as well.
I know Cary would give anything to have one more day with Betty.
Somebody here knows a little about me and I wish him all the best as well.
 
Could I have been any more correct on my "WGMR A Sellout Against Local Radio" thoughts.

Centre Couny lost a format and gained another worn out, un-creative, comfy country.
What a joke.

The Simpson sold out to mediocrity. Radio loses, again.
 
MOVED: Re: WGMR A Sellout Against Local Radio

Some posts have been moved to Take It Outside.

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Re: MOVED: Re: WGMR A Sellout Against Local Radio

Board Editor 3 said:
Some posts have been moved to Take It Outside.

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Click to expand...

I was wondering when that was going to happen!

Play nice, kids!
 
Oh yea
Check out the S.C. ratings. Look at the country, look at the country!
We got one country station.
We got two country stations.
We got three country stations.
And now thanks to the sell out we got even more country stations. Now if you look at the reaseach that Arbitron provides, behind the numbers, we find the country listeners tend to be less educated and they earn less money.
 
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