Category Archives: Radio

“The Newspaper & Radio Bailout”

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I’m a little fuzzy on whether the following description of the newspaper business model should be attributed to Warren Buffett or Eric Rhoads (Radio Ink) but the point is the same:

“Write the news, cut down millions or trees for paper, build massive printing plants to print it overnight, have a distribution model that pays people to fold and bag hundreds of papers and burn thousands of gallons of gas to go house-to-house throwing papers out of their car windows so people can walk out into the cold or rain in order to read news that is 12-24 hours old.”

Well, if you put it that way… And I particularly liked the line: “Do they really believe the Internet generation can be convinced to sign up for home delivery?”

Ghost Studios

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When I got my first (and only) radio job in 1972, our FM station was mostly automated but the AM station was live from sign-on to sign-off. An "announcer" (or DJ if you prefer) was sitting at a control board, cuing up and "spinning" records, talking live into the microphone. It was the most fun I ever had and I'm grateful I didn't miss the opportunity.

This morning I'm wondering if there are still radio stations that operate this way. With 13,000+ stations, you'd think there would be at least one. Some hard-headed eccentric that just refuses to automate and cut staff.

If you know of such a station, leave us a comment.

Radio Rapture

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Jerry Del Colliano (Inside Music Media) on yesterday’s firing of 590 people by Clear Channel Communications and why radio “consolidation” turned into such a bad thing:

“I’m sorry that these virtual monopolies didn’t work, but the reason they failed is because their arrogant CEOs ran up the debt to buy stations at prices that were, frankly, never really worth what sellers pumped them up to. Now they can’t service that debt and even though they could probably survive an economic downturn (radio always used to in past recessions), the debt they ran up during the consolidation years is killing them.”

I think I might have run out of anything more to say about the challenges facing radio.

In my radio fantasy, everyone working in radio today is raptured up to heaven, leaving thousands of empty stations with the transmitters still on and records “chick” “chick” “chick’ing” on the still spinning-turntables. (Okay, I know they don’t use turntables anymore but it’s my fantasy.)

Listeners tip toe down deserted hallways, peeking into empty studios, wondering where Rush went.

Eventually, someone sits down at the microphone and figures out how to turn it on. What do they say? What would radio become? Would they hastily call a sales meeting and begin selling ads? Would they assemble a focus group and put together a tight playlist?

I have no idea. Maybe they’d just stick their ear buds in slip out quietly, locking the door behind them.

Radio needs to escape radio

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“Society needs the comfort of our favorite songs. We need the real-time connection to our community (however we define “community”). We need to know what to wear today and whether or not school is canceled.  We need to stay up to date or to revel in our past.  We need to be outraged and informed and soothed and amused.  We need to be told what to do in a crisis.  We need to know what’s on sale and where.  And we need these things wherever we are – at home, at work, in the car, and on our hip. As an industry, radio needs to recognize that its social currency is in what it provides, not in the manner it provides it.”

— Mark Ramsey

When listening was enough

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“I am terribly tired of broadcasters ranting about how many folks listen to the radio. I get it. Everybody listens to the radio.  That’s not the issue. The issue is why – or if – that matters to your clients.  The issue is how that usage translates directly into ROI.”  

— Mark Ramsey