Eric Thomas

The Death of Radio Part 2... Out come the idiots.

    I intentionally did not update this site for a week so everyone who got linked over from Radio-Info had a chance to read my blog. The response has been nothing short of phenomenal. I have been contacted by people who I really respect, and people whom I have never met. I have also had comments posted by exactly the people who are rooting for radio's downfall, and its exactly who we think it is.
    Radio is an industry that is boundlessly fun to work in. If you are good at radio, it will afford you opportunities that you would never have otherwise. I have stood onstage in front of thousands of people with a microphone, I have laughed until my sides hurt in a studio, broadcast from the Superbowl, signed baseballs at the MLB All Star Game, and countless other "I will never forget" moments and that is all because I am damn good at being on the radio. If you are not good at radio, you can get my coffee and watch me enjoy all these moments.
    These people have always been the same. The board ops. The surly interns. The guys that have the 4 day beard, acne and an attitude. They got into radio because they wanted the spotlight so they could lose that pesky virginity and maybe drown out ghostly echoes of the ridicule they received in high school for working in the A/V dept. I personally understand where these guys are coming from, but the difference is that I am good at radio and they are not. So I had a very much different experience than they did. Yes, I am out of work, but I feel like the business did well by me and I still have an unquenchable passion for it. These guys want to burn the house down because they didn't live in it, and the internet has given them newfound voice because they can post anonymously.
    So when I wrote my mostly upbeat, positive note about radio as a media, this was setting up the proverbial bright white light for the dumb little moths to come bump into. My post was largely about how radio as a media isn't dead, regardless of our state of affairs. Even the most staunch supporter of consolidation would probably agree that it didn't go well, and these companies are too large to turn a profit. I didn't really argue the business model because I think that is a settled point.
    So out come the idiots. These guys of course have never met optimism that they didn't dismiss or nuance that didn't confuse.
    First up is Nick. He commented a bunch of things early last week, and I deleted them. It was pure drivel from someone who clearly has never even been in a programming meeting and doesnt even know how Arbitron measures ratings. If you know nothing about radio, I don't respect your opinion. He wrote back yesterday:

I posted extensive comments here the other day on why your commentary is hogwash, and you deleted them.

If you had any balls, you'd put the comments back up and debate me.

    Yep. Not going to post them, because I know that makes you mad. Ha ha.

    I will however, debate Alan Zarek:

"Radio doesn't ask you to stop what you are doing, commanding your full attention and patience. Radio can be with you when you drive around, do housework, play video games or exercise and its the only media that can do all of that"

Wrong Mr. Thomas..

Ever hear of an I-Pod?

I can put whatever music I want on it, in whatever order I choose and listen to it whenever I want.

    AN IPOD IS NOT A FORM OF MEDIA, STUPID!!! Its a device. Pizza Hut doesn't compete against ovens! When the iPod first launched, they were sent to every radio station in the country. My PD and MD had no idea how to use it, so they gave it to me and I loved it. Radio is filled with old men that don't understand that iPod technology only helps radio. The phenomena called "iPod fatigue" is real and something that Apple is fighting to the point where they are slowly phasing out of iPods, focusing on phones (which I also have and love) and the games functions of the touch (which also recieves email). The problem with people like Allen and a lot of people in radio, is they have no idea how to use this new technology. They just have an arousal of a fear lobe and yell "iPod" and act like its the death of radio.

"you need a subscription or a website account to view periodicals".

Ever hear of the Drudge Report?  Look to the left hand side of the webpage..you can read pretty much whatever you want..for free..

    But it isn't a proven advertising media. You can download software that blocks their ads. Cable systems provide a free service to fast forward through their commercials. The only one that gives you the most impact is radio. Ads on the internet get lost in the shuffle, but not on radio. Besides, there are plenty of people who are listening to their free radio web stream WHILE they look at Drudge. Until 2007, Drudge had... a radio show. If that show would have gotten any traction, he would still be there. But alas. you have to attract a dramatically larger audience on the radio than you do on the internet.

"Our industry is not hurting, it is thriving"

You are so completely and totally full of [balderdash!] that I can't believe you wrote that scentence with a straight face..the vast majority of the radio stocks that are trading now are penny stocks..which means you can buy thousands of shares of a dead cat stock for pennies..

This industry is dying a slow death..many of my friends are now out of work..and at the New England AM I work in now, we openly talk about how we can get out of here as fast as we can.

    Good. Get out because you can't hack it. You are part of the problem and not part of the solution. In fact, quit now because I want your job. I want to work on the East coast, and your position is the perfect platform to jump off from. Go announce your two weeks and send me an email. Works for both of us, you want out and I want back in. Its people like you who have jobs and gripe about it that I absolutely hate. I'll be happy not to work with you.
    Our industry is thriving because radio listeners went up in 2008. People are deciding whether or not they want to keep paying for cable or newspaper, they continue to listen to radio. This idiot doesn't even understand what I wrote in the first place.
    I got one criticism that I thought was pretty sage, tho. I am not sure if he wants me to name check him, but I will say he is a big name programmer from NYC. He writes:

Unfortunately, radio's champions and defenders are pretty much preaching to the converted. The pigs who currently own/run most station groups won't even go into the church, much less hear the sermon.

 

FYI, radio listening has indeed decreased over the years, starting around 10 years ago, as measured by time-spent-listening. It's not a big drop, but Arbitron has documented it. Nonetheless, nearly 90% of Americans still listen to radio at least on occasion.

Yes. That is the problem. What we do need to carefully consider the product that we are putting on the air, because status quo is they don't like it. We can turn that around instantly with better programming but...

The Death of Radio? Stop it.

    I am really disgusted by the radio industry's latest bout of self loathing. I will never understand why there are so many in our industry that think we are on the brink of collapse, regardless of the fact that the amount of radio listening has never decreased. I have been in radio for 12 years now, and every single one of those years I have heard the latest expert reading radio's last rites. But since the latest economic downturn, it seems that those in the actual industry have started to believe them! Layoffs have gone into the double digits, slashing long lists of sales and programming. Every trade publication and consultant firm has created special web pages, erecting walls to the fallen. Its not just those who are under performing. Its people who have large ratings and bring in buckets of revenue. Radio companies just slash without any consideration for the quality of the product, insane with panic because the industry will never be the same.

    Stop it! Are you people serious? The most puzzling thing about the radio industry in general is its own insecurities. The people who are in radio seem convinced that we are the "other" media. We aren't as solvent as television or print, that we are on the brink of collapse at any time. Have any of these people actually done some research? Study after study shows that Americans consume more radio than ever before. Of course the faces on television and print belittle the radio industry, they have motive to! They are competing for the same advertising dollars that we are! Yet when President Obama identified his voice of opposition, was it a blogger, columnist, or pundit? Nope, Rush Limbaugh because he is the biggest name in conservative media. He arguably created conservative media, but we set that aside. Has this industry been going out of its way to create the next Rush who created a format that didn't exist before he started? Of course not. Part of radio self loathing is as soon as a star is born, we think there can never be another. So we slash, eliminating the up and comers to make sure there will be no more profitable stars.

    Radio is a media unlike the others. Its the only one that is completely one dimensional, and the easiest to consume. Radio doesn't ask you to stop what you are doing, commanding your full attention and patience. Radio can be with you when you drive around, do housework, play video games or exercise and its the only media that can do all of that. Radio is designed to be enjoyed however you like, and however much commitment you give it is how much enjoyment you get out of it. If you leave a station on in the background, you will have noise to distract you. If you wear headphones, you will hear a produced quarter hour of carefully selected music that a professional stressed hours over. If they did it right, the mix will give you a better experience than any random internet stream will give you. If you are listening to a talk show, you can also leave it on for noise, but you can also get up to twenty minutes of free wheeling discussion that will either make you laugh, think or make you angry. No other media at all gives you twenty commercial free minutes of entertainment, and there are thousands of radio stations that are doing it right now 24 hours a day with absolutely no cost to the listener.

    Yes, ad revenue is down. Of course it is, we are in a recession. But we still have a huge audience that we can give to our advertisers. Now is the time to cultivate relationships with advertisers and we can't do that when we are radically changing the product that we are selling. Remember, its not the 60 second spots we are selling, its the airtime. Radically changing the product does not help at all in getting revenue up.

    But yet we slash. We try to figure out how to cut corners, assuming that the industry will never be the same. Network TV numbers are way down, so they are cutting costs. Newspapers are cutting like crazy, because less people read newspapers. The number of radio listeners actually went up in 2008, but..

    Why are we looking to other media whose numbers are declining for leadership? Why don't we point out that you must pay for digital TV boxes, you must subscribe to cable, you need a subscription or a website account to view periodicals. Why can't we point out that we are the industry that thrived during the real great depression, and we have the audience that has never gone away. Why don't we point out that the rise of the Internet actually adds to radio, because it the one media that you can enjoy at the same time as surfing the web? We don't point that out, we just slash. We assume that if television and newspapers are doing it, we should too. These are the same outlets that excoriate our business, calling us "shock talk" and look down their noses at us. They shame us, call us names, put labels on us, have less of an audience than we do, compete for the same advertising dollars that we do, and yet we follow their lead.

    Don't you see that now is the time to act? Our industry is not hurting, it is thriving. The Internet has given us the one thing we never had: a visual element. We can take this one dimensional media and our listeners can enhance their experience if they choose to. Plus, we can save huge amounts of money on promotions cost by using free Web 2.0 services like Facebook, Twitter and Plurk. We can reach listeners now and remind them to listen in ways we never had before, and we think this industry is in trouble?

    But still we slash. We devalue how important we are to the audience. We forget that our industry is still a dominant media, and people on TV have every reason to say we are less than that. Yet still we slash, as if the radio side of the economic downturn will never end, regardless of the fact that the audience still wants and needs us. The death of radio? As with the most tragic cases of self loathing, we're committing suicide.

R&R Cheers You Up

Chuck Taylor has written an article for R&R that as enjoyable to read as dragging a serrated blade between your toes this weekend. Its called Career 2.0. I suppose its for people who are considering leaving the radio industry and need to be reassured that their years spent in the business were completely in vain. My favorite:

A recent article on Careerbuilder.com points out how the evolution of technology is profoundly impacting specific careers: "Thanks to the advent of technology like computers, automated machines, voice recognition systems and cell phones, many jobs once deemed essential to the work force are on the decline." Among its top 10 endangered careers is "radio and television announcers" at No. 8: "New technology and advancement of other media sources like satellite radio and syndicated programming means less need for radio and TV announcers."

Leave it to radio trade publications to cite as experts a website that makes its money on job turnover, rather than trusting ourselves in the industry that WE WORK IN. Lets just ignore that satellite radio is on the brink of bankruptcy without ever turning a profit. Lets also ignore the industry secret that syndicated shows are actually more expensive than local talent, and that syndicated shows (outside of political talk) have been dying off after big debuts.

Internet killed the television star, but radio marches on. Study after study shows people watching less and less TV, but daily consumption of radio has never waned. While readers of daily publications have dwindled and network prime time television has fallen off, radio actually increased listeners. The only thing that has ever faltered is the radio industry's own self confidence. iPhones have two media that you can access: internet and RADIO. Why do we feel like we are the dinosaurs rumbling toward a tar pit?

Sirius eyes bankruptcy

Great Googly Moogly!

With CEO MEL KARMAZIN trying to raise or refinance $175 million in debt by FEBRUARY 17th, the company's choices could include Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which would allow it to drop some of its more expensive contracts, and the WALL STREET JOURNAL speculates that one of those contracts could be HOWARD STERN's $500 million, five year deal. STERN said THURSDAY that "I just need to know who I'm working for on any given day."

Perhaps Opie and Anthony as well. I am not one of those radio people who are excited about the impending death of Satrad. I don't think its a business that can survive without big personalities, tho. Satellite radio is going to have to evolve, just like the rest of the business, or die. But if you just stream music, they don't have a prayer.

Radio companies need to understand that you will be insolvent unless you have personalities that can deliver your message. Seeing as how most GMs are sales managers anyway, look at it like this: You must have the best possible person getting your message out there, or its not going to work. Just having someone on the air is not enough to get people's attention. Radio is not like bilboards. It must be sought out before people can listen to the advertising.

Can Bruce fans mix with Morning Jacket fans?

No. But goddammit they are gonna try.

The tickets will be brisk, the show will be seen as a success, the industry will over react, and it will collapse into a gigantic mess. 

Echostar is eating Sirius.

Swell.

EchoStar Corp. has reportedly acquired a large amount of Sirius XM Radio's debts, leading to speculation that the satellite TV company is plotting a takeover of the troubled satcaster. The Wall Street Journal's sources say that EchoStar owner Charles Ergen has acquired part of $300 million in Sirius debt, which will mature on February 17

This is terrific. Out of curiosity, is there any radio people that are actually going to be running radio companies anymore? As I said in another post, this industry is doomed every time the TV people intervene. Its a different media, pure and simple.

Peter Smyth Column

I really like Greater Media. It seems like they are a company that does things right and has some very strong properties. I live near Detroit, Greater Media has ALL of the cards here. CEO Peter Smyth even writes a column on the company website called "From the Corner Office". He sounds the alarm bell:

There is another battle that will be played out in Washington in the coming weeks and months, although it may not receive the front page treatment.  But for you and for me, it is a battle that is as important as any other we are facing today.

Yikes. Sounds scary!! What is it?

The Performance Tax.

Its just Hitler with another name!! Flee for your lives!

The Performance Tax has once again reared its ugly head and the RIAA and its allies are preparing to introduce legislation in Congress that could, realistically, cost the radio industry between $400 million and $7 billion per year.

Yeah. You have to pay to play music. If you are not in the industry this may come as a shock, but it has always been true. I imagine there has been at least a couple of General Managers in the history of radio that didn't realize this until some lawyers showed up at the office.

There will be claims that this is a question of fairness and the money is needed to help recording artists.  The fact is that the record companies – not individual artists – will be the primary beneficiaries of a performance tax on radio.

They both can take the long walk. I don't care if this tax is going directly into the bands' pockets and no to the record companies, they both can go to hell. How much have they helped this industry when we needed it? Answer: Not at all.

One of the most annoying things about the radio industry is the warbling cries of "but what about the bands"? I hate the artists. They are a necessary evil in the music radio industry. It is a mutually beneficial relationship, but artists will never give us their due. They just stand with their hand out, reminding us that without them, we would not exist. Music did not become profitable until a medium for advertising was developed, so the artists can shove it. The constant coddling and slurping of artists is one of my major pet peeve in the radio industry.

For each of us who are working daily in radio, this is a direct economic threat that can be more damaging to our future than anything the economy has handed us so far.  A direct tax on radio’s already-suffering profitability would force a wholesale rethinking of our station’s formats, our staffing, our ability to contribute to our communities, and how we run our business.  It is a disruption that should never be considered, especially in this time of economic uncertainty.

Every person who is lucky enough to have a job in radio needs to start re-thinking formats, staffing and business NOW. The days of just throwing a bunch of songs together and slapping some jingles on it is over. Radio should never have to compete with iPods, SatRad, and internet streams. We should be developing personality radio in every market NOW. One of the reasons these entitled babies called "artists" even feel like they can get away with a performance tax is because we have let them. We need to stop (as an industry) rising and falling on the whims of the music industry. When they release garbage, our ratings plunge. We need to develop radio between the records, so that we can do without them if these bastards continue to fleece us.

Hat tip: Radio-Info (Taylor on Radio rules)

Amen, Joe

Way to go Joe Schwartz, CEO of Cherry Creek Broadcasting. I like it.

In today's Taylor on Radio (a fine publication which I recommend everyone look at), the CEO Cherry Creek Radio says that slashing rates never works:

Giving away free stuff, and doing nonsensical promotions that drive audience away from your stations won't work in this or any other environment There's no doubt that we are in incredibly challenging times and everyone thinks that they must do anything and everything to get the business regardless of rate, as well as the station's ability to deliver customers for their clients. It has always been about selling the value of radio and teaching clients how to get great results from strategic placement, buying the station(s) that deliver your audience, creating great copy, and running your client’s spot with a minimum frequency of 3.

The man running the most down home named radio company ever is abosoluetly right. FREE STUFF HAS NO VALUE. Its like the flyer that someone hands you on the way out of the concert. You drop it two steps later. If you think your product has no value, the client won't either.

This is the problem with having people who don't believe in radio running radio companies right now. They see what we do as inherently valueless. That's why my former company is actually doing the "Best Burger in the Mid-Michigan Area" contest (actual name). They have no ideas, no respect for listeners, and think that they are ripping off every client that gives them money. Its the perscription for death every time.

National Radio

Sean Ross wrote a blog on his company web site about national radio and how it is still a viable form of media. He argues that national radio can really blow your skirt up if it is done correctly. Quote:

To say that national radio could be better isn't to be against great local radio, or in favor of the elimination of local jobs. Rather, it is to demand a better tradeoff for the local programming that's being lost. Whether it was voice tracking a decade ago or syndicated shows now, the rationale we've been offered has always been that non-local radio could provide something different and better. So it's time for broadcasters to ante up. With so many in the business having grown up with national music programming in some form, we have the collective brainpower to make national music radio something more than a placeholder.

I don't disagree. But what he is saying could be said about ANY form of radio! Radio done well is radio done well. The problem is that the people who have been picking the shows to nationally syndicate have lately been rolling snake eyes. I love Opie and Anthony, but only having them on for 3 hours a day on terrestrial was a mistake (Stern went until 11AM in his heyday). I am sitting here racking my brain to come up with another show that was syndicated in the last 5 years that had even a modicum of success. I am really trying here. I like Adam Corolla, but he hasn't had consistent success. Um. Uh..

But where you get into trouble is national FORMATS, and that is a horrible idea. I can sell "Opie and Anthony mornings, Detroit's best rock all day." but piping in "X-Rock" is going to flop every time. It seems like every time you see a statement from a General Manager that name checks MTV or VH-1, that same GM is going to be out of there in a couple of months, with the PD and part time staff riding shotgun.

Every time a radio station attempts an impersonation of a TV station, it gets KILLED. Examples being Blink 102.7 in New York and the Free FM debacle. I worked at an FM talk station in Detroit that one day became Free FM, and trust me it was awkward as hell. The concept was decent: Edgy talk shows that give voice to those who aren't usually on radio. The bad idea: Hour long shows by celebrities. It was a train wreck and really difficult to sell on the air and as it turned out very difficult to sell to advertisers. At one point CBS corporate had our midday show take an hour off in the middle of their show so that they could make way for Jim Cramer to bore audience talking stocks for an hour. Boo-yah indeed.

Good radio in the morning is always a good idea, and sometimes stations need a big name. National Radio is not a bad idea. National formats are a disaster every time.