Roy Williams, "The Wizard of Ads" audio commentary. Lower left corner area of the page.
http://www.mondaymorningmemo.com/?ShowM ... emoID=1748
Another radio big shot says local host are on the way out
Moderators: The People's DJ, David Paleg
-
Force Commander
- Member
- Posts: 707
- Joined: Wed Jul 25, 2007 11:19 am
Another radio big shot says local host are on the way out
"We are the CC Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your broadcast stations. We will add your biological and creative distinctiveness to our own. Your broadcast personality will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile."
-
ashton
- Member
- Posts: 296
- Joined: Thu Feb 28, 2002 11:09 pm
- Location: Grafton, WV
It's hard to respond to that, but I'll try.
I teach broadcasting on the middle school level. Using what they've learned about the business, the class has narrowed the business down to these basic truths:
1. It's all about the benjamins baby.
2. The benjamins come from selling ears to advertisers.
corrolary to #2: It matters which ears you are selling.
For most of us when we were young, local radio was magic. It was a way to interact with a "celebrity" on a nightly basis through our local top 40 station. This is a mass-appeal hamburger/hotdog crowd. We needed that, but I don't think we were as good for the advertisers. They have little use for teenagers.
To a certain extent, I believe there's room for both. WVAQ, Electric, J104, etc. would die a ratings death on the bird, but adult formats with a syndicated presence can work very well. How did 94 rock do in the upper demos in the Morgantown book? I'd imagine the profit from the advertisers who buy them because of their presence with 25-54 men would show that the satellite is the right way to go for them. Would the owner and sales staff be doing as well with 4 live salaries over their head? I can't say for sure.
I teach broadcasting on the middle school level. Using what they've learned about the business, the class has narrowed the business down to these basic truths:
1. It's all about the benjamins baby.
2. The benjamins come from selling ears to advertisers.
corrolary to #2: It matters which ears you are selling.
For most of us when we were young, local radio was magic. It was a way to interact with a "celebrity" on a nightly basis through our local top 40 station. This is a mass-appeal hamburger/hotdog crowd. We needed that, but I don't think we were as good for the advertisers. They have little use for teenagers.
To a certain extent, I believe there's room for both. WVAQ, Electric, J104, etc. would die a ratings death on the bird, but adult formats with a syndicated presence can work very well. How did 94 rock do in the upper demos in the Morgantown book? I'd imagine the profit from the advertisers who buy them because of their presence with 25-54 men would show that the satellite is the right way to go for them. Would the owner and sales staff be doing as well with 4 live salaries over their head? I can't say for sure.
-
genlock
- Moderator
- Posts: 5867
- Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2001 4:09 pm
- Location: OW
It all started with the cart.
Managers noticed that somehow, they could do away with the nighttime guy with tapes and cue tones and the cart. It worked. They saved 56 hour a week of minimum wage. Soon, the bastards started looking at other shifts.
Enter the satellite delivered morning show. Carts and cues from the bird did away with another 40 plus hours of wages. Somebody invented the computer and a way to record audio on it. The managers saw this as a way of reducing the on-air and production staff to minimum. The FCC then said that logging requirements were eliminated (except for eas and lights). New transmitters became very stable. and the old ones were ignored as stable. FCC then allowed stations to cluster. More jobs lost and wages saved. Remote production for commercials, remote production for imaging. only the sales staff, the big guy and the pretty receptionist are now employed in radio locally. Meanwhile, I-Pods and musical cell phones took over the duties of delivering music to the masses. Radio management now needs to cut more staff to keep the income up even with dwindling audiences. Debt service on many radio stations is so heavy than they cannot be sold yet profits are so low that the bills cannot be paid.
Some stations are OK. Big stations in big markets and small stations, locally owned and with low debt in small markets are ok, I guess.
It all started with the cart.
Damn cart.
Managers noticed that somehow, they could do away with the nighttime guy with tapes and cue tones and the cart. It worked. They saved 56 hour a week of minimum wage. Soon, the bastards started looking at other shifts.
Enter the satellite delivered morning show. Carts and cues from the bird did away with another 40 plus hours of wages. Somebody invented the computer and a way to record audio on it. The managers saw this as a way of reducing the on-air and production staff to minimum. The FCC then said that logging requirements were eliminated (except for eas and lights). New transmitters became very stable. and the old ones were ignored as stable. FCC then allowed stations to cluster. More jobs lost and wages saved. Remote production for commercials, remote production for imaging. only the sales staff, the big guy and the pretty receptionist are now employed in radio locally. Meanwhile, I-Pods and musical cell phones took over the duties of delivering music to the masses. Radio management now needs to cut more staff to keep the income up even with dwindling audiences. Debt service on many radio stations is so heavy than they cannot be sold yet profits are so low that the bills cannot be paid.
Some stations are OK. Big stations in big markets and small stations, locally owned and with low debt in small markets are ok, I guess.
It all started with the cart.
Damn cart.
"Everyone Should be aware that you're just a screen grab away from infamy."