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I heard from an old friend last week.
She’s super-talented, experienced, a real pro and an absolute joy inside the building.
She reached out to let me know about massive cuts at her Los Angeles radio station.
Yes, right before the holidays.
Corporate couldn’t even justify it by bemoaning poor ratings. This is a really successful radio station!
So, when someone emailed me with the post you’re about to read, I knew I had to share it.
I can’t put the name of the author on it, for obvious reasons, but I hope someone finds a way to put it in front of Bob Pittman’s eyes this week:
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By now, we’ve all digested Bob Pittman’s infamous quote: “There’s not a slot for everyone.”
Yes, an industry ‘leader’ (a term used loosely) who depends on people to generate the content and information directly responsible for attracting the audience that drives revenue has decided that one of its least valuable assets is…its people!
None of this is surprising as it merely acknowledges a trend that has been growing since deregulation.
Like clockwork, we see the fall season as the time of Radio RIFFs.
We are no longer surprised to read that major radio companies slash their staff right before the holidays.
It all makes sense, right? After all, why hire live and local content providers in a market when you can pipe in a ‘great’ (another word used loosely) show from a central location?
Radio continues to prop up this meme, especially for morning drive. This despite the fact that, at least in most PPM markets, there is more available PUMM in the 3-6pm block than the 7-9am segment.
Look at your market and you’ll likely see that this disparity is even greater with Radio’s lost 18-44 generation.
But it saves money, so the system is sound right? Right.
What about those other day parts? Those spaces that are dominated by syndicated Talk programming or piped in voice tracking. How does that address Radio’s touted “lIve and local” mantra?
We all know the answer to that: It doesn’t.
This is not to cast aspersion on the legions of talents who are voice tracking every day. I am happy they still have gigs. I’m sure many – if not most – take their roles seriously. They research their local markets and try to sound relevant in the moment.
However, as anyone who has ever been on the air can tell you – nothing beats being in the studio in real time and working without a net.
There are no “take twos” in live radio.
I don’t care how good you are: trying to produce voice breaks for 10 stations a day is a nearly impossible task. Can anyone really generate ten separate, locally focused, pithy, cogent and/or sticky breaks at that level?
Sure, they may only allow you three breaks an hour (and one is likely cluttered with a promo for the app) but that means over a 5-hour shift you have to generate 10-15 pieces of content – times 10 (or more)!
This may satisfy your corporate overlord’s need to fill in the boxes but what does it do for the end consumer: our listeners?
You know, the people corporate needs to generate ad revenue.
Perhaps there should not be a slot for so many stations being controlled by so few companies.
Rather than cutting scores of human beings every year, maybe behemoths like iHeart should divest themselves of smaller and medium market stations.
Let’s face it: Those properties primarily exist to extend national reach for ad campaigns and syndicated programming.
They are NOT about serving local communities!
iHeart could cut overhead and earn income by selling those vestigial properties to local or regional owners.
People who live in and care about their local markets. People who will turn these stations into revenue-generating local institutions.
Or, we can continue to watch the recession of Radio’s relevance.
Your choice, Bob.
Signed: Anonymous, for survival purposes.
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Oh, and Happy Holidays, Bob. See you in Aspen getting off your personal private jet…