RADIO NEWS---9-17-08
August continues the parade of potholes (9-17-08)
CL King analyst Jim Boyle thinks that when the Radio Advertising Bureau releases its revenue results for month of August, it'll be talking about a decline of -8% or -9%. That actually would come in at or better than the Wall Street consensus for the beleaguered industry which Boyle says is caught in the grip of simultaneous secular and cyclical challenges. It'll certainly be the 16th red month in a row. Boyle expects publicly-traded groups will beat these numbers by 3%-4%. The pace for Q3 seems to be -6%, matching Q2 results. He notes that small market groups are still doing much better than their large-market colleagues, which he attributes to their old-time business values. "When we listen to radio veterans, they often describe the small market successes as simply 'old radio,'" said Boyle. "Before the groups built unwieldy giant platforms that had corporate/regional management too far removed from the local pulse, distant from local audience and Main Street clients, there was local 'Old Radio' and it used to grow sales 6%-8%.
RADIO NEWS --- 9-18-08
Radio's red plague continues
Who woulda thunk that CL King's Jim Boyle was overly optimistic the other day when he predicted that radio was going to drop 8%-9% year-over-year for August? Well, he was. The gruesome numbers from the Radio Advertising Bureau and Miller Kaplan Arase & Co. included double digits in all categories. Local was down -11%. National was down -14%, for a total spot loss of -12%. Off air, the category formerly known as non-spot, enjoyed a positive double digit gain of +10%, but due to its relatively low volume, it was only able to shave 1% off of radio's total loss, bringing the month home at -11%.
RBR observation:
We remember back when we were just children. In the market where we grew up, Washington DC, WMAL-AM owned our dad. Owned him. From Harden and Weaver during AM drive through Bill Mayhugh overnight, and in every daypart in between - and he was awake at one time or another through all these dayparts - the radio was tuned to WMAL. Us kids were probably around for enough of this to qualify as very young P1s ourselves. You'd think Washington would be one of the toughest places to do this, with so many people coming in and out of town with the ever shifting political winds. Is anybody out there building this kind of a radio community anywhere these days? Or is it a relic to be put in the museum next to the town crier?
RICK'S OBSERVATION:
Jim Boyle continues to hit the problem squarely on the head with his brilliant observations. Let's read between the lines when he says, "...small market groups are doing much better..." and "...listen to radio veterans, they often describe the small market successes as simply 'old radio," and ..."groups built unwieldy giant platforms that had corporate/regional management too far removed from the local pulse, distant from local audience and Main Street clients, there was local 'Old Radio' and it used to grow sales 6%-8%."
Is Mr. Boyle saying history repeats itself? If anything, we can learn from history and the history of broadcasting certainly took a turn for the worse when huge corporate entities took the local out of local radio!
So what now, fellow broadcasters? Are we going to wring our hands and wonder how low it will go or shall we take some local steps to find new ways to bring in those local dollars. The DollarSaver Program is working for those stations that have taken on this promotion. Selling certificates to your audience from your local merchants at a discount through the station's website is bringing in new money, getting new clients to believe that radio works, and turning those "no's" into a close! What would $100,000 per year mean to your bottom line? What could you do with an extra $5-10,000 per month? Just imagine that money coming in, through your website, with no extra work or time spent! Yeah, I know, sounds too good to be true. Any of our stations will tell you how quickly money came in the first day! Let your counterparts from Maine to Arizona tell you their success stories. The DollarSaver Program is a Dollar Maker from the day you launch. Email me for more information.
Rick Snyder
General Manager, Florida
The DollarSaver Program
www.dollarsaverprogram.com
561-635-0413
rickdollarsaver@bellsouth.net
Monday, September 29, 2008
Friday, September 26, 2008
AD AGE MEDIA WORKS ARTICLE---Radio CEOs See Blazingly Hot Business and RICK'S RESPONSE---SEPTEMBER '08
_____________________________________
Radio CEOs See Blazingly Hot Business
But Advertisers View Medium as Cold Dinosaur
By Andrew Hampp Published: September 25, 2008
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Radio has achieved what few other traditional media can claim -- audience growth, to the tune of some 4 million new listeners in the past three years, with more than 235 million people tuning in to AM or FM radio each week. But as Jeff Smulyan, president-CEO of Emmis Radio, said at the New York Market Radio CEO Summit yesterday, "The radio business is on fire. But on Madison Avenue, we may be considered a dinosaur."
New initiatives
That's why the radio industry's biggest initiatives in recent months have been all about embracing new media, from building their own music-recommendation products such as Clear Channel's eRockster and CBS Radio's Play.It to a new partnership with Microsoft's Zune that enables radio listeners to purchase songs they hear on more than 450 radio stations from their Zune FM tuner. Mr. Smulyan is also spearheading the industry's next big distribution initiative -- to make radio available on all cell phones.
"It's not a performance problem, it's a perception problem," Mr. Smulyan said of radio's current role in the overall media landscape. "There's a disconnect between what we are able to do and advertisers, agencies and buyers. Broadcasters are every bit as passionate as they used to be. But we don't have much leverage because of the perception that radio is dated."
As recently as five years ago, the radio industry tended to view digital music stores and streaming radio sites as threats, Clear Channel Radio CEO John Hogan said. "It's extremely important for us to recognize these platforms as opportunities. We're looking at partnerships with all kinds of people."
CBS Radio CEO Dan Mason said he has already seen incremental benefits of streaming with some of his top stations online. "For a company that didn't stream a radio station five years ago, we're getting over 200,000 listeners every day. The interesting thing about this audience is you can watch them tune in on a minute-by-minute, hour-by-hour basis."
Creatives tune out
Radio has also suffered from a disconnect with the creative community, as less and less agencies are equipped to produce audio commercials. Peter Smyth, president-CEO of Greater Media, said, "The problem with creatives is they don't see radio as something they want to write for. It's important and we really have to tap into those people."
Mr. Hogan added, "The worst thing radio can do is expect people can come to the medium. Radio people have developed a sense of entitlement. The phone's not ringing as frequently as it used to. We have to get back to focusing on great ideas. We want radio to get seven or eight pieces of the pie."
Your Opinion...Published: September 25, 2008
Radio CEOs See Blazingly Hot Business
Rick's Comments:
Come on, you guys. Let's look at us, not them. Jeff Smulyan says, "The radio business is on fire, but Madison Avenue says we're a dinosaur. It's a perception problem, a disconnect between radio and agencies...."we're passionate but we don't have leverage because they think we're dated." As a radio "lifer" the passion that I knew came from local management competing with other local management. From local dj's out performing their competition. Local salespeople battling for dollars from their local merchants.
Today, corporate ownership has lost sight of "local" what with "regional managers" overlooking stations that get their programming "off the bird." I recently worked for a 4 station cluster that had 3 live announcers for all 4 stations. How can you have passion when you're working so hard for so many stations, you don't have time to return phone calls. Where's the competitive fire when you're competing with yourself? And corporate ownership, so focused on making a profit, has killed the creativity by cutting staffing to a minimum. Peter Smyth says that we need to tap into the "creative community because they don't want to write for radio." We should be creating our own excitement and not looking outside the business for a handout. John Hogan said the phones don't ring like they used to. That's because there are no hot local jocks to promote the phone number, to relate to the local audience. The phones not ringing, John, because we're burning thru sales people by the hundreds. Hiring more and more inexperienced rookies for no money hoping they'll get it and then not training them properly and watching them fail time and time again. Hiring competent sales people should mean paying a good wage for their experience, not giving them a draw and hoping they succeed. We do have to get back to focusing on great ideas. But we'll need more idea people in our buildings to put that kind of energy into motion.
I'm now a partner in a broadcasting consulting company that creates a revenue stream thru stations websites. Our product absolutely brings dollars in and we work on straight commission so if we don't work out it doesn't cost the radio station a dime. I can't reach station managers because they don't have time to talk to me. How is that possible that I'm offering to work for free, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, and they don't return calls because, as they all say, "I don't have the time!!" Radio's death was predicted in the 40's when TV went on the air, AM stations were going to die because of FM, and terrestrial radio was doomed when satellite radio signed on. None of that happened because broadcasters fought hard to stay alive. Where are the passionate broadcasters that want to win today? Let's look again at the fundamental basics of radio and reconnect with what makes radio really great!
Rick Snyder General Manager, Florida
561-635-0413
The DollarSaver Program
www.dollarsaverprogram.com
Radio CEOs See Blazingly Hot Business
But Advertisers View Medium as Cold Dinosaur
By Andrew Hampp Published: September 25, 2008
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Radio has achieved what few other traditional media can claim -- audience growth, to the tune of some 4 million new listeners in the past three years, with more than 235 million people tuning in to AM or FM radio each week. But as Jeff Smulyan, president-CEO of Emmis Radio, said at the New York Market Radio CEO Summit yesterday, "The radio business is on fire. But on Madison Avenue, we may be considered a dinosaur."
New initiatives
That's why the radio industry's biggest initiatives in recent months have been all about embracing new media, from building their own music-recommendation products such as Clear Channel's eRockster and CBS Radio's Play.It to a new partnership with Microsoft's Zune that enables radio listeners to purchase songs they hear on more than 450 radio stations from their Zune FM tuner. Mr. Smulyan is also spearheading the industry's next big distribution initiative -- to make radio available on all cell phones.
"It's not a performance problem, it's a perception problem," Mr. Smulyan said of radio's current role in the overall media landscape. "There's a disconnect between what we are able to do and advertisers, agencies and buyers. Broadcasters are every bit as passionate as they used to be. But we don't have much leverage because of the perception that radio is dated."
As recently as five years ago, the radio industry tended to view digital music stores and streaming radio sites as threats, Clear Channel Radio CEO John Hogan said. "It's extremely important for us to recognize these platforms as opportunities. We're looking at partnerships with all kinds of people."
CBS Radio CEO Dan Mason said he has already seen incremental benefits of streaming with some of his top stations online. "For a company that didn't stream a radio station five years ago, we're getting over 200,000 listeners every day. The interesting thing about this audience is you can watch them tune in on a minute-by-minute, hour-by-hour basis."
Creatives tune out
Radio has also suffered from a disconnect with the creative community, as less and less agencies are equipped to produce audio commercials. Peter Smyth, president-CEO of Greater Media, said, "The problem with creatives is they don't see radio as something they want to write for. It's important and we really have to tap into those people."
Mr. Hogan added, "The worst thing radio can do is expect people can come to the medium. Radio people have developed a sense of entitlement. The phone's not ringing as frequently as it used to. We have to get back to focusing on great ideas. We want radio to get seven or eight pieces of the pie."
Your Opinion...Published: September 25, 2008
Radio CEOs See Blazingly Hot Business
Rick's Comments:
Come on, you guys. Let's look at us, not them. Jeff Smulyan says, "The radio business is on fire, but Madison Avenue says we're a dinosaur. It's a perception problem, a disconnect between radio and agencies...."we're passionate but we don't have leverage because they think we're dated." As a radio "lifer" the passion that I knew came from local management competing with other local management. From local dj's out performing their competition. Local salespeople battling for dollars from their local merchants.
Today, corporate ownership has lost sight of "local" what with "regional managers" overlooking stations that get their programming "off the bird." I recently worked for a 4 station cluster that had 3 live announcers for all 4 stations. How can you have passion when you're working so hard for so many stations, you don't have time to return phone calls. Where's the competitive fire when you're competing with yourself? And corporate ownership, so focused on making a profit, has killed the creativity by cutting staffing to a minimum. Peter Smyth says that we need to tap into the "creative community because they don't want to write for radio." We should be creating our own excitement and not looking outside the business for a handout. John Hogan said the phones don't ring like they used to. That's because there are no hot local jocks to promote the phone number, to relate to the local audience. The phones not ringing, John, because we're burning thru sales people by the hundreds. Hiring more and more inexperienced rookies for no money hoping they'll get it and then not training them properly and watching them fail time and time again. Hiring competent sales people should mean paying a good wage for their experience, not giving them a draw and hoping they succeed. We do have to get back to focusing on great ideas. But we'll need more idea people in our buildings to put that kind of energy into motion.
I'm now a partner in a broadcasting consulting company that creates a revenue stream thru stations websites. Our product absolutely brings dollars in and we work on straight commission so if we don't work out it doesn't cost the radio station a dime. I can't reach station managers because they don't have time to talk to me. How is that possible that I'm offering to work for free, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, and they don't return calls because, as they all say, "I don't have the time!!" Radio's death was predicted in the 40's when TV went on the air, AM stations were going to die because of FM, and terrestrial radio was doomed when satellite radio signed on. None of that happened because broadcasters fought hard to stay alive. Where are the passionate broadcasters that want to win today? Let's look again at the fundamental basics of radio and reconnect with what makes radio really great!
Rick Snyder General Manager, Florida
561-635-0413
The DollarSaver Program
www.dollarsaverprogram.com
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