After hearing that the FCC is considering upping the limits on radio ownership again, my brother Reg and I have been going back and forth on what it would or could do to radio as we know it.
After all, isn’t it because of consolidation that we’re in this mess?
Yes, but that was yesterday. What if you could own all the radio stations in a Market? What would you do with them?
Maybe you’d be forced to finally realize that radio is an entity that needs to compete with all other media, not just radio.
Hey, here’s a thought: how about someone owning all the local radio stations?
Consider this: If there were only one owner in every market, that person could stop looking over their shoulders and concentrate on creating a compelling local product that delivers results.
This would force the product to, once again, become the thing that would allow us to get back to broadcasting instead of narrowcasting.
Whoever gets to own these radio stations could stop worrying about the rate-cutting antics of competitors and get on with the chasing of real money.
If you were the one and only in town, how would you rethink radio?
Below are some of the thoughts Reg and I are musing. What say ye?
How many formats would you need?
Where would we get the content?
How many on-air people would be needed?
How many sales folks? How many promotion people?
How much promotion should we do?
Should the promotions be sales, programming, or a combination of both?
Would we need different owners than what we have?
Because of AI’s emergence, my brother Reg and I (Pictured on top) are having fun figuring out how to best use it. Wish you were here to help.
When someone claims they know the “why of it,” it’s only their opinion.
Winners always surround themselves with winners.
If creating something worthwhile was easy, someone would have done it already.
From the ashes of chaos rises genius.
Who the hell wants to be the wealthiest person in the cemetery?
It only takes five to seven like-minded people to change the world.
Unfortunately, most of our origins are lost in the mist of time.
Let’s check and see if anything has changed. Nope, men are still known for their success and women for their beauty.
Those who adapt usually win.
I wonder if Morgan Freeman ever encountered racism during his illustrious career.
Competition drives evolution.
Without integrity, your destiny won’t be worth much.
99% of what existed no longer does.
I wonder why God or whoever only gave humans less than a hundred years for an individual to come up with something worthwhile, whereas the dinosaurs had millions.
It doesn’t matter what anyone else is doing. All that matters is what you’re doing.
Even though I think the NFL players, for the most part, are overpaid, I think the owners are, too.
I wonder why people with money think they have more rights than the rest of us.
Even though our planet is being ravaged by climate change, there is still ten times more vegetation on Earth now than there’s ever been.
Hey, DC, life ain’t tough; war’s tough.
Science can’t heal the world until the world wants to be healed.
Has the CIA ever done anything good besides their so-called greater good?
When I walk away, I don’t do it to hurt someone; I do it to stop my hurt.
COMMENTS
Jed Duval: Now, this sounds like an idea from the mind of one Jimmy Darin! In the 1970s, the morning guy at WNBF-AM, Binghampton, did something like this, which also drew attention to the station and Arbitron. (The Greatest Promotion Ever)
Geo: This promotion was done before Jim’s era at CKY, Jed, and perhaps he was hired because they didn’t know what the hell to do next.
Bill Gardner: Interesting statement on Mel Karmazin and the fall of KVIL.
I learned TWO times that, like him or not, Mel is a bottom-line businessman.
First, while I was the top-rated afternoon drive personality on KVIL in ’89 or ’90 with two-to-one shares over number two, I heard Mel was coming to Dallas for a visit. After his departure, a staff member asked me how I enjoyed meeting him. I told them, “He never came to see me….he seemed just to like the sales department.” I figured they’re income to him; I’m purely an expense. I’m no one that he needs to talk to or meet. 🙂
The second time was even more interesting and surprising. My teammate “Shotgun Tom” Kelly was leading the drive for a standing monument to the legendary Top 40 KCBQ-AM along Mission Gorge Road in Santee with all our names on it, where the studio and towers once stood. These days, it was no longer a huge vacant field. A large strip center with several big businesses and restaurants was on the once-vacant land. Tom told me he had to get permission from the landlord to erect the monument. Even though their stores were where the proposed monument stood, the landlord wasn’t Lowe’s, Kohl, In-N-Out Burger, or Chick-fil-A; the landowner was Mel Karmazin! So he may have sold KCBQ’s license, but he kept that once barren LAND for himself, hoping for development, and boy, did he win! (Miss Kay Ville)
Geo: What I find most interesting about Mel is you always hear about his successes but little about his failures, Bill.
Robert Olson: George, how do I buy your shirt? (Miss Kay Ville)
Geo: you’ll have to ask my daughter Cami, Robert, she dresses me.
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Ivan Braiker: I think most of the ownership is now in the hands of owners that haven’t a creative bone in their body. No idea how to actually take advantage of the creative tools that could help them available today. Not optimist further expansion of ownership rules would accomplish anything. Sorry to not be more optimistic! (To AI or Not to AI)
Geo: Wow, you were on this while I was still writing it, Ivan. I hear ya, though, tough to be optimistic about much these days.
Well then, first order of business, CANCEL RATINGS estimates services. With 100% reach in a market, the only remaining advertiser question will be CPM, just like false flag digital media CTR s, leveling the playing field against the Digital juggernaut.
Second, MEASURE RESPONSE to advertising, at the POS, establishing true ROI to any business, based on the actual ad schedules day time rates. Prove the quality of the audience reached and that responded through a audience universe customer database , tied to actual purchases.
Third, CAPITALIZE RATES – integrate supply and demand rates, just like the stock market. Unlimited inventory due to 100% ownership gives the marketplace control over the rates NOT a greedy accounting bean counter.
George, financial freedom has always been the lynchpin in the success or failure of a radio show aka The Prize Catalog. Which leads to effective risk taking in publicity stunts aka blowing up a phone circuit and having the TV news out to report on it as you beg forgiveness. Unlimited financial freedom paves the way for creative geniuses like George and Reg Johns to deliver compelling entertainment ON REAL LIFE. (AI)
Geo: Great Insights Mr. Donohue.
Well said Mr. Donohue. Thanks for the response..
Jed Duval: A couple of years ago, fed up with Indianapolis-area radio and 22-minutes of commercials every hour between the pods of entertainment, hours -old weather, incomplete traffic and spotty, biased news, I broke down and took a five-year offer from SiriusXM. (Yes, when WIBC-AM owned the Indianapolis radio market, the station had a heavy spot load, but the spots were evenly distributed in two-minute pods around the hours, even during election seasons.) Between SiriusXM and terrestrial N.P.R.-member stations, I am ALMOST completely informed and musically entertained. WFYI Public Radio, WFIU Public Radio (Bloomington), Indiana Public Radio (Ball State) and 580/WILL-AM (University of Illinois) all have small news departments, so the local news that used to be provided by WIBC-AM and Fred Heckman’s news team is gone, replaced with biased, pro-right-wing propaganda and incomplete news that only serves that political point-of-view. Even WLW-AM, Cincinnati and WHAS-AM, Louisville, have had their news departments decimated by iHeart budget cuts. There are only a handful of stations, AM or FM, worth saving. What is more telling is that local terrestrial digital television and network television are now having the same sales issues that has plagued radio for the last 20-years. Where are the Dick Yancey’s and Jerry Bobo’s ? George, you still have the magic formula for programming balance: Great programming with the best talent on a good signal should still garner big ratings and with a motivated sales effort is the only forward. It may be too late! (AI)
Geo: I think you’re right Jed, without radical changes, it is too late.
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