borg Sends Letter To Rally Troops

[Force Commander]

From http://www.allaccess.com

Just ahead of the upcoming CLEAR CHANNEL management meetings in DALLAS (1/6-1/8), CC CEO MARK MAYS sent out this letter to the company, which is steeped in reality, but gives an assessment and game plan for moving forward.

Good morning:

Beginnings are a gift. They are an opportunity to put past disappointments behind us. They are a chance to tap new resolve. They allow us the prospect for renewal.

As we head into 2009, we will need to take advantage of all of this and more.

There are two generations now in the workforce that have yet to feel the effects of a significant recession in their working lives. While there certainly have been recessions in specific business sectors over the past 20 years, what we are looking at in 2009 is broad, deep and sustained.

These types of recessions can be brutal things. They force tough decisions every day. The demand focus and clarity all the time. And they test our resolve ... regularly.

So what’s the best strategy for this environment? Well, it's three-fold.

1. Focus. Our ability to focus as a company and as individuals on our most productive priorities will define our success in 2009. Because focus is the ability to spot change -- whether a new opportunity or a potentially negative change in customer behaviors -- and respond to it rapidly. Focus is the ability to get the job done amidst the uncertainty and distraction that a recession can bring. And ultimately, focus gives us the opportunity to succeed when others fail.

2. Resilience. The next year may well see once-strong competitors disappear. Recessions also upend cherished ways of doing business. And as we've already seen throughout the industry, recessions drive change that is fast and hard. Through all of this, it will be the ability to see the glass half full -- to make the choice to focus on the opportunities instead of the losses -- to keep coming back until interest is converted into action, that will define the winners in 2009. We will face continued challenges in the new year -- and our ability to handle them with grace and resilience has never been more important.

3. Determination. This recession will beat many. There will be obstacles that competitors and colleagues alike will find insurmountable. That, simply, cannot be us. We have always been the company that leads our industries out of the difficulties. We have always been the company that outperforms the pack. In 2009, that same determination that has historically made us strong must sustain us again.

So as we celebrate this new beginning, please also know that you have the focus and resilience and determination of the entire executive team alongside you. You have the best resources in the industry at your disposal. You have the confidence and the support of everyone in this organization.

And you have my personal confidence that we will succeed together.

[Lester]

A poster on the NC board hints that massive death and destruction will follow this memo, once the managers are back from the meeting at the mothership.

[Arp2]

For well over two years, I've had a thought -- a prediction, if you will -- that I've dared not speak.

I still dare not speak it, but, if I someday say "this is exactly what I've feared,"....

[Lester]

From a thread on the NC board... am I close?

Jean got fired at CC? bummer. I liked her.

I was under the impression she left on her own... but with the CC hiring freeze on, they can't replace her.

(A hiring freeze adds ammo to the argument they're about to waylay an assload of people.)

What happens if: instead of out of town voicetracking, they just switch to an in-house satellite delivered product to all stations within a format? Sort of like the CC Format Lab (where Pride Radio comes from), but on steroids? Not even trying anymore, every shift sounds like a variation of Seacrest's CC show, but for various formats.

I believe that would be the final nail in CC's coffin, and maybe even terrestrial radio.

[genlock]

So during the satellite show, Clear-Channel could send a series of bits
and Stephen Hawking could
say This is Wkee, Huntington, West Virginia.
Brilliant!

Make it so.

[The Interpreter]

If true, good thing Mr. Rotten is a salesperson extraordinaire.

[Ace Purple]

This past Friday's "Taylor on Radio" daily e-mail from radio-info.com had details about the upcoming meetings, and they didn't sound promising.

-----
Clear Channel summons its GMs to a meeting in Dallas next Tuesday and Wednesday.

<snip>

There won’t be the usual presentations and opportunity to defend their local decisions. Because – from what I hear, decisionmaking will be handled by corporate. The advance word is that San Antonio has crunched the statistics down to the lowest-possible level. High-priced talent which isn’t delivering what Bain/Lee and the Mays-family management have decided is an appropriate return on investment may not be around for long.

[sportsvoice]

Sounds like it's heading for the K-Love plan...satellite radio via terrestrial. Hey, why not eliminate that bothersome talent cost in the budget and just run ABC and Dial Global 24/7 formats on all the stations!

[Hoosier Daddy]

Sounds like it's heading for the K-Love plan...satellite radio via terrestrial. Hey, why not eliminate that bothersome talent cost in the budget and just run ABC and Dial Global 24/7 formats on all the stations!

Don't laugh. It's going that way now.

[cgarison]

A poster on the NC board hints that massive death and destruction will follow this memo, once the managers are back from the meeting at the mothership.

January is going to be a bloody month in many industries. Why should Clear Channel miss the opportunity to partake in a pastime that they perfected ages ago.

[Big Media]

Adding shit such as Ryan Seacrest to WKEE's mid-day line up is a prime example of how they can "make it work" with less local talent. Prepare yourselves for a blood bath. I would not be surprised to see some high-level station management getting the ax as well. If decisions are coming out of corporate, they need only be relayed through a regional manager to a local Sales Manager/Operations Manager... you get the idea. No need for GMs anymore. Period.

In fact, I would say with almost 100% certainty they would get MORE productivity out of their local people if they DON'T have a Judy Jennings-Rife-Cornet-Gregory-Music-Miller breathing down their neck.

[Bob Campbell]

CC GM here got axed last week.

[Lester]

http://gormanmediablog.blogspot.com/

I’m inclined to accept that the majority of rumors – the 15 nationally-programmed formats; further staff reductions, and a discernible increase in voice tracking and syndicated personalities – are true.

It’s also likely that all but the top ten markets one programmer will be accountable to facilitate corporate commands for each multi-station market operation.

[AmpedNow]

This is unbelievable. If only that damn satellite radio and wi-fi didn't come along...



Seriously, how is this going to bring the listeners who left back, and retain the ones they still have?

Why is talent considered the most expendable commodity in the biz? Aren't these the guys who bring listeners in?

I'd like to see some of you fucking suits and bean counters do an airshift. Why don't you all volunteer to roll your sleeves up and save your company? Ryan "I shit liquid gold" Seacrest can't do all of this single-handedly...

[genlock]

It is not going to bring anybody back.
Too late for that. iPod has them.
It will, in the short run, improve bottom line profits.
It might help C-C dump a lot of their lower and middle tier stations.
It could also send C-C into the dumper.
Maybe take the rest of radio with it.

[Lester]

Too late for that. iPod has them.

Not true. Radio is currently going through a resurgence... unfortunately 1200 CC radio stations won't be manned to capitalize on it.

It will, in the short run, improve bottom line profits.
It might help C-C dump a lot of their lower and middle tier stations.

I was thinking the same thing. This is a panic measure to clear some of the outrageous prices they paid.

It could also send C-C into the dumper.
Maybe take the rest of radio with it.

The likely end result... except, maybe, in the smaller CC-less markets.

[genlock]

Talked to a teenager the other day.
She has an iPod and has all her music on it.
When I mentioned radio, she just turned her nose up.
She said all he music is on the iPod.
All her friends have their music on iPods.
No interest in radio.
None at all.

[Hoosier Daddy]

My 11 year old son has an iPod.
All his music is there and he listens to it constantly.
After reading genlock's post, I tried a small test.
I set Dad's old "boom box" down on the kitchen table.
I asked him if he knew the difference between AM and FM radio.
Answer = No.
I asked if he ever heard of "HD Radio"
Answer = No.
I asked him to find a rock station.
He couldn't do it from memory, but had to tune the entire dial.
I asked him to find a country station.
He couldn't do it from memory, but had to tune the entire dial.
I asked him to tell me what his favorite radio station was.
He waved his iPod, smiled, and asked if he could play his XBOX now.

Radio is fucked.

[Lester]

Teens Are Checking Out Radio Again
A PARAGON study, featured in a NEW YORK TIMES article, may just be the best news to come along for radio in some time.

By most estimates, teenagers and young adults have abandoned radio listening in droves over the last decade. Teenagers on average spent three fewer hours listing to the radio in 2007 than they did in 1998, according to ARBITRON, and listening had declined more steeply among adults 18-24.

ARBITRON has not published comparable numbers for 2008, but a new study by PARAGON MEDIA STRATEGIES suggests that the trend is changing. PARAGON reports that 14-24-year-olds mostly say their radio listening has increased over the last year or two, while they said the opposite last year. PARAGON recruited the respondents and conducted the study online.

"Radio stations may be doing a better job at connecting with those people," said LARRY JOHNSON, the study’s author. "The music may also simply be more interesting. There tends to be a cycle."

The study suggests that portable mp3 players are not as dangerous to radio as they once were thought to be. Those surveyed had roughly the same median number of songs on their devices as last year (about 400), and fewer respondents said the mp3 and other devices cut their radio listening time.

October 20th All Access.

[cgarison]

My 11 year old son has an iPod.
All his music is there and he listens to it constantly.
After reading genlock's post, I tried a small test.
I set Dad's old "boom box" down on the kitchen table.
I asked him if he knew the difference between AM and FM radio.
Answer = No.
I asked if he ever heard of "HD Radio"
Answer = No.
I asked him to find a rock station.
He couldn't do it from memory, but had to tune the entire dial.
I asked him to find a country station.
He couldn't do it from memory, but had to tune the entire dial.
I asked him to tell me what his favorite radio station was.
He waved his iPod, smiled, and asked if he could play his XBOX now.

Radio is fucked.

I pulled a similar stunt with a group of interns in my department last summer.
All had iPods.
None could talk about AM Radio.
A couple knew Q102 and some other hip-hop stations.
The oldest (who had an MBA) could name oldies and rock/classic rock stations.
The one with the MBA also preferred Pandora to radio.

Yep. HD said it best. Radio is screwed.

Oh, I just got an iPod touch over Thanksgiving and with the WiFi connection and the Pandora App, I have turned off all but a couple of radio stations in Philly. When I was home in KY for the last 2 weeks, I did not even turn on the radio. No KEE-FM. No WTCR. No WLGC. No Magic 97.9. Just Pandora streaming through my iPod and playing through my iHome dock.

Lord. I am now as bad as interns in the office.