Where else can they cut at CBS?

[dyeingeye]

Corporations and radio don't mix.

This is silly, juvenile thinking. A corporation is nothing but a legal form of organizing a business. It in no way drives how someone or something acts. It does not have the ability to act on its own. It is run by people. Maybe you mean publicly traded corporations.

 

[Tom Wells]

Not juvenile thinking, idealistic thinking. Corporations do not behave like natural persons, as they have been given
(by Congresss) rights that exceed those of individuals.

I'm not say corporations are bad, I'm saying they will excercise every economic advantage offered them, regardless of
any other considerations. This particularly frees a corporation from any moral quandaries.

To say corporate status does not behave how something acts is wishful thinking, lack of attention, immaturity,
or perhaps spoken from a place where someone personally enjoys economically the advantage of corporate status.


If CBS wants to cut some waste, they could turn off the HD.
Imagine if you were a CBS person let go, while how many? HD FM losser loads dump pure waste heat into the
air for the 1% injection rate.

I'm not crying any tears for CBS, they are among the biggest supporters of HD.

 

[Steele1080]

WOW! A real listener here who doesn't understand contesting?!?! I thought every one on these boards were disgruntled radio folk who knew the insides of prize pig blocking etc? NO the F.C.C. doesn't care who wins since nobody is paying for anything. Paying to win a prize is yes, a lottery and "tainted programming". To avoid this GIVE ALL YOUR STUFF AWAY FOR FREE, then the station sets the rules. Contest rules from the lawyers are just so nobody thinks about suing. They don't really protect you if they do.
BIG Prize move the arbitron needle' prizes should always be pre picked from pre qualifiers that fit your intended audience. The key is PRE qualifying from a larger list of everyone who enters. It still "random" but from a pre qualified list. I will say we have slipped up. A couple of summers ago a 81 year old woman won a jet ski. Man, did I catch holy sh@#^%&!*t for that one! But I'm still amazed there are real listeners who have found these boards. Bet you hope I don't get that job at the Mass. Lottery!?

 

[mistermicrophone]

"Gives a shit" = Somebody who's in radio to serve the community and make a modest living, not somebody looking to be a billionaire like Sumner Redstone.

Corporations and radio don't mix.

Translation - someone who gives a #2 they way YOU give #2. Weak argument articulated with such elegance.

 

[dumber than a box of hair]

NO the F.C.C. doesn't care who wins since nobody is paying for anything. Paying to win a prize is yes, a lottery and "tainted programming". To avoid this GIVE ALL YOUR STUFF AWAY FOR FREE, then the station sets the rules. Contest rules from the lawyers are just so nobody thinks about suing. They don't really protect you if they do.

That would be 100% WRONG. Whether or not a prize is paid for is not the issue. FCC regulations are very strict on the matter: Contests must be run substantially as advertised. The relevant rule is 47 CFR §73.1216:

"A licensee that broadcasts or advertises information about a contest it conducts shall fully and accurately disclose the material terms of the contest, and shall conduct the contest substantially as announced or
advertised. No contest description shall be false, misleading or deceptive with respect to any material term."

So, in the previous post, we had someone who was instructed not to award prizes to listeners outside his station's metro. Unless that restriction is disclosed on the air at the time the contest is initiated, that's a violation of the rule.

 

[radiorama1]

I compared the WBZ Radio photos Greater Boston used in their piece on media cutbacks with the staff pics on the WBZ website and if Greater Boston is right, then Bob McMahon and Alan Segel are out or on their way.

Re: WBZ 1030 -- Wonder if that is why they had Bill Watson (I believe) doing morning sports this a.m., and then Mary Blake doing the sports report this afternoon? I thought it was odd when I heard Bill Watson doing the sports at 5:15 A.M., but thought that perhaps their sports person was maybe running late. Then when I heard Mary Blake doing the sports report at 4:15 this afternoon I figured something must be up.

It seems as if that assumption is correct. Over the weekend the anchors were reading the sports and Bob McMahon was M.I.A. (I believe he is usually on on Saturdays)...

Does this mean no more "... ...Dorble-do-Bee-Zee"? ???

 

[MassMusicMan]

Translation - someone who gives a #2 they way YOU give #2. Weak argument articulated with such elegance.

I assume you mean "eloquence."

You're right, it was a weak argument. Small companies and radio don't mix either.

 

[Bakers_Bookstore]

Quote from Dumber:

So, in the previous post, we had someone who was instructed not to award prizes to listeners outside his station's metro. Unless that restriction is disclosed on the air at the time the contest is initiated, that's a violation of the rule.

As I recall years ago some Boston stations got around this during major promotions by mailing the bulk of their "prize package" pamphets with "winning" codes only to zip codes where the majority of diaries were dropped.

 

[mistermicrophone]

Translation - someone who gives a #2 they way YOU give #2. Weak argument articulated with such elegance.

I assume you mean "eloquence."

No, elegance can be defined as: Tasteful opulence in form, decoration, or presentation in regards to composition. Eloquence would have worked, too. But you get my point.

 

[LA_Guy]

Well, if they run all their transmitters at half power they would save on their electric bill....

 

[dyeingeye]

Corporations are not established by Congress but by the states. The federal government is responsible for their tax structure and laws regarding corporate securities.

If someone goes out and buys a radio station, he can do it in many ways. He could form a corporation in which he is the sole shareholder. The benefit would be to insulate him from personal liability. But the fact that a corporation owns the station doesn't automatically change how he would run the company.

How does the choice of business entity affect how a business is run? What is the difference between a partnership, corporation, LLC, a d/b/a in how a radio station operates? When people say corporations are evil they don't realize that a corporation could be a single person just operating a business. I think people believe the issue is publicly traded corporations.

 

[johnster]

I think this is just that same silly thing we keep coming back to time and time again. The folks that don't think their tastes or interests are being served by the formats or programming offered today keep trying to use the "Public Service" obligation of licensees. But the FCC has never used this rule this way that way and has always stayed out of programming. EAS, EEO and the public service requirements are the only thing that is required to stay in compliance. This is commercial radio not public radio and these licenses are free to program however they like to serve their stockholders or owners. If their audience is not happy they will eventually loose enough money that they will change programming or sell the station. The market will dictate eventually who fails and who succeeds.

 

[WLYNWAZNgm]

Go back over broadcast history, and you will see that large corporations
have always been involved in commercial broadcasting. Yea, there were
more "mom and pop" stations back in the day, but alot of that has been
romanticized, through hindsight, as an ideal, much like the "family farm"...

When radio relied largely on network programming there was even less
local origination than there is now. Stations are allowed to program whatever
they like - again, you cannot "guilt" somebody into programming which you,
personally, like. Only if enough people feel the same way, will a station change
their programming, to what is best for their bottom line...

 

[rapking]

After reading this post, I love Pirate Radio even more than ever.As a R&B fan, Should I listen to W I L D ( Al Sharpton Racist Talk and Classic Soul Tape ) or Should I listen to Touch-FM ( Live D J's, plays Todays R&B and Classic soul, Station does alot for the people of Boston and News/info about the city of Boston ). Say what you want about Pirate radio breakin the law. Robin Hood is alway welcome on my radio. Big Radio Groups dont care about there listeners and they wonder why they are not making money like they used too. Legal Radio is DEAD ! THANK YOU ACT OF 96 and The Crappy FCC. The future of legal radio is at The Museum of Science ( Was living good but killed by big business ).

 

[Steele1080]

Thank you Mr. P Terrance Dactyl Regarding contests* ALL radio stations target their contests to their hot zips. THAT's where our juice comes from. That's where our ratings victories come from . NO doubt some Boston stations dumped all their mailers in their hot return areas according to Arbitron diary reports by zip code. Major brands send out their junk mail coupons the same way. Advertisers target the TV programs who attract their target listeners in the same way. Just put some goofy rapid-fire unintelligable disclaimer after your contest promo or bury it in the fine print on your website and then go do it the right way to target and reward the audience who'll hopefully pay you back with strong diary reports. I'm sure there are FCC laws blah, blah but unless your working for Eliot Spitzer er, oops, ah..nevermind.

 

[Garrett]

So it seems that Oldies has taken a brunt of the chopping from CBS over the past few days. Are there other cuts coming to Mix and BCN?

Does BCN really need all of those people on the afternoon show? Does Mix need an off air music director and a cast of characters in morning drive and afternoons while consisitantly losing to Kiss, Jamin' and sometimes Mike-FM?? Makes you wonder.

Hey, they can cut the top out of the "4" WBZ TV logo, then it will look just like the old logo, but more important, think of the money CBS will save on ink!

Oh wait, they don't use a "4" anymore, do they?
Awe shucks!