Radio Disney Selling 23 of 24 Stations

There aren't many. Bob Bittner owns 250 w WJIB 740 in Boston and some stations in Maine that are classified as commercial but he doesn't run ads. He plays standards and fundraises from his listeners. Doesn't streamcast--his stations are considered commercial even he doesn't run ads, so fees are priced at comm. station rates. Hobby? Break even? Maybe, but he's the exception that proves the rule, as radio is a business.

raccoonradio said:

There aren't many. Bob Bittner owns 250 w WJIB 740 in Boston and some stations in Maine that are classified as commercial but he doesn't run ads. He plays standards and fundraises from his listeners. Doesn't streamcast--his stations are considered commercial even he doesn't run ads, so fees are priced at comm. station rates. Hobby? Break even? Maybe, but he's the exception that proves the rule, as radio is a business.

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Radio is a business in a constant state of change. The fact that things weren't done a certain way in the past is not evidence that they won't be done a new way in the future. There was a time, until recently, when running an AM radio station was a good business to be in. An entrepreneur looking for a good business to invest in might well consider an AM radio station as a smart investment. But times have changed. A standalone AM, with no FM attached, is no longer the kind of business that a sensible person would want to invest in if judged solely on its merits as a means of generating a good return on investment. To invest in a standalone AM radio station in 2014, someone would have to have some personal desire to operate a radio station for a reason other than making the best return on investment. That means someone like the fictional Charles Foster Kane, who operated a newspaper that lost money because he enjoyed it, and had enough money that he could afford to indulge in his personal whims.

Running a radio station as a hobby doesn't mean that it isn't run to generate at least some revenue. Radio is a business, but there are many businesses today that were once profitable enterprises that are now operated as hobbies. Take the movie theater business as an example. Once upon a time, all movie theaters were single-screen operations. Then, the multiplex cinemas came a long and turned the single-screen theater into the movie business equivalent of AM radio. There are still big, profitable businesses operating multiplexes (though they are facing an uncertain future as well now). But many of the few single-screen movie theaters still operating are "hobby" operations. Not all of them, but chances are that when you hear of a single-screen movie theater reopening under a new owner, that new owner is someone who loves movies and is willing to spend his own money operating the old-school movie palace on a business plan of just breaking even.

That's not to say that there aren't entrepreneurs with bad judgement who might want to buy a standalone AM station under the deluded idea that they can compete head-to-head against the major chain broadcasters. P. T. Barnum was right about the birth rate of suckers. But what's more likely is that someone who is retired from broadcasting who has deep enough pockets to buy a standalone AM station so that he can revive a musical genre that no other station is playing, and operate it on a shoestring, will decide to keep himself busy operating that old, standalone AM station.

Personally, I'd like to see someone buy 1250, change the calls back to WCAE, and program nothing but re-broadcasts of old radio shows from the Golden Age of radio, when stations like WCAE, WWSW, WJAS, and KDKA dominated all family home entertainment in Pittsburgh, especially if they'd stream it online. A whole new generation of people could learn the answer to, "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?"

Personally, I'd like to see someone buy 1250, change the calls back to WCAE, and program nothing but re-broadcasts of old radio shows from the Golden Age of radio, when stations like WCAE, WWSW, WJAS, and KDKA dominated all family home entertainment in Pittsburgh, especially if they'd stream it online. A whole new generation of people could learn the answer to, "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?"

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You and 18 others. Seriously, how long would this "labor of love" last. No disrespect intended.

Element9 said:

You and 18 others. Seriously, how long would this "labor of love" last. No disrespect intended.

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As long as the "Charles Foster Kane" running the station as a hobby kept it running. And, to be realistic, such programming would probably be limited to a certain daypart, like maybe evenings. Daytimes might be devoted to old-school music programming, similar to what WJAS used to air, but maybe with more vintage and brand new big band and swing music. Understand, I don't have the kind of money it would take to make a bid on 1250. I'm throwing out some programming ideas. That's more than the professional corporate suits are suggesting.

There's two different kinds of thinking to come up with programming ideas. One is using imagination, the other is using memory. The real question is whether listeners want a station where ideas are prepared on a word processor or a Xerox machine.

Avid Listener said:

There's two different kinds of thinking to come up with programming ideas. One is using imagination, the other is using memory. The real question is whether listeners want a station where ideas are prepared on a word processor or a Xerox machine.

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There's really only one way of thinking about programming ideas, and that is to come up with something that an audience wants to hear -- an audience sizeable enough for the station to be profitable. The answer to your question is that it doesn't matter if programming ideas are prepared on a word processor, a Xerox machine, a typewriter, or an Etch-A-Sketch. What matters is whether or not a reasonably-sized audience wants to hear whatever it is you're doing.

There's a pretty good dose of old-time radio shows on KQV and WEDO, if you know when to listen. The shows are primarily used as filler. The audience for them no longer exists, nor, to be honest, has it existed since TV supplanted radio as the dominant mass medium. I can appreciate old-time radio (you're talking to someone who collects kinescope recordngs from the DuMont network, for crying out loud), but I don't kid myself that it's popular enough to be a format.

Time rarely flows backwards. I know what I'd do with 1250 if I had it. That seems highly unlikely, but if I happen to get my hands on it, you'll find out.

C.

cingram said:

There's really only one way of thinking about programming ideas, and that is to come up with something that an audience wants to hear -- an audience sizeable enough for the station to be profitable. The answer to your question is that it doesn't matter if programming ideas are prepared on a word processor, a Xerox machine, a typewriter, or an Etch-A-Sketch. What matters is whether or not a reasonably-sized audience wants to hear whatever it is you're doing.

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The thing is, if all the old ideas have been tried, and they didn't resonate with the audience, isn't it time to try something different? I don't pretend to know every possible new idea that hasn't been tried yet, or that if tried was done badly. Too often, the only way to know if the audience wants to hear something it put it on the air, spend some money to let the audience know what it is and where and when to find it, and hope for the best.

Before TV tried the show "Survivor", did anyone know if it would work or not? How many TV shows that seem like good ideas fail, while others succeed? Radio programming has some similarity to TV shows. No one really knows what will work until they try it. And even then, if it fails, they won't know if it failed because it was a terrible idea, or if it was just executed poorly.

Take "The Man Station" that they tried on one of the Pittsburgh FM's sometime around 2007. The concept was a non-political, humorous talk format, aimed at men. I think the idea was great, but then they hired John McIntyre to do one of the local shows, and he just flat out sucked. To me, that's a classic example of a good radio idea executed badly. And to this day, no one else would consider doing anything like that, even if they had access to actual talented talent, because that earlier attempt failed due to poor execution.

I had this discussion with a client of mine. He's in the 25-44 demo. Smart small businessman who operates a machine shop with two full time employees other than himself and two part time employees. I tried to be open ended in my questioning, having some experience years ago in radio sales and research. "How much time do you spend listening to radio each day?" Answer: "A few hours at work and in the car." What stations do you listen to? Answer: "Is this a test?" Me: Laughing. No, I'm just curious.

He listened primarily to the Active Rock station's local two man morning show (FM) and the AM sports station's local two man local on the way to work. When he arrived at work, whatever radio listening was done in his company shop was FM: the classic rock station and sometimes the country station. Though he hated country, his two employees, a few years older, liked it. Though he and his employees are sports fans, they didn't listen to the AM sports station at work because the heavy machinery and computers created too much interference. Nothing on the AM band cut through the interference. Additionally, he noted without prompting, "talk radio on AM or FM is a distraction in a work environment that requires critical thought and attention to detail."

So there you have it. Small sample, very few questions, but nonetheless telling. AM radio, no matter what the product/format, is challenged. What could you put on 1250? Sports and reasonably presented guy talk might have a chance, but given the FM alternatives and the type of market, it's a nearly insurmountable challenge, especially if the target is 18-54.

The former WJAS Oldies-Standards format might again find its niche, but the clock is ticking and the format drastically ages with the passing of each year. As a former Stiller once said in his induction to the NFL Hall Of Fame, "Begin with the end in mind." What's the exit strategy for a 5kw stand alone AM in Pittsburgh?

Element9 said:

AM radio, no matter what the product/format, is challenged.

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WZUM is at the top of the AM dial, only 1KW day, and 4 mighty watts at night. I think we understand AM is a challenge. We are more challenged than other AMs in the area. We do not have a perfect solution but Internet streaming has helped many of our listeners. The bonus is the stream is in stereo. This works in a noisy machine shop.

DavidEduardo said:

Bob's model... and his refusal to even consider himself a part of the radio industry... is more of a crusade than a hobby. But however he creates revenue, I think that the station is more than a hobby to him.

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Insane Broadcasting's cluster of AMs in St. Louis - KZQZ, KQQZ, and WQQX. Its just a hobby for Bob Romanik who owns the stations, and a way for him to use the stations as his political mouthpiece.