Luck, Flips & Success

[John FL]

Last year I announced the annual “Reflections” seasonal post had run its course. I’m grateful that it remained a popular tradition for a good number of years.

And so what to do? “Fl Ratings & More” turned out to be hugely popular string in 2020 on the Florida board. It was a big undertaking to research and report on every single Florida radio market, including the Keys that Nielsen doesn’t measure.

There was a good deal I learned. Hopefully you did too. There was info I didn’t share so as to stay specific with ratings. That leaves room for some subjects to replace "reflections." As I looked at each market, there was something that remained constant. There were some stations that had a history of flipping from one format to another. It wasn’t uncommon to see variations of an AC format, for example, tried again and again.

This is certainly not unique to Florida. It’s also not unique to find that in virtually any market whether it’s Florida or anywhere else, there are bottom-tiered stations that appear mired in quicksand. They are perpetually stuck there.

Inadequate market signal penetration can be a valid reason. While those David vs. Goliath triumphs do happen, I’m comparing apples to apples. There’s a 100,000 watt signal that’s king of the world and another 100,000 watt signal that appears to be ne'er-do-well based on its ratings history and amounts of flips.

Let’s put radio aside for the moment. In both my professional career and in the business people I met as clients, acquaintances, and Chamber of Commerce members, I heard the world ‘luck’ mentioned in everyday conversation.

As a noun, Merriam-Webster defines luck as “a force that brings good fortune or adversity.” “The events or circumstances that operate for or against an individual.” As a verb, they define luck as “to prosper or succeed especially through chance or good fortune.” “To come upon something desirable by chance” such as 'lucked into a wonderful opportunity.'

No matter where you live, even before the Pandemic, I’m sure you’ve come upon either a traditional mall or strip shopping center that has a place or two that changes ownership often and no matter what goes in there, it fails. Yet, in that mall other places thrive. It can make you wonder.

When I lived in Jacksonville I became good friends with a mom & pop restaurant operator who was exceptional in what he did. He had it down to a science. One day he talked about expanding his operations. He was looking to adding another restaurant in a specific part of town. It just so happened I knew of a place that was available.

My restaurateur friend was aware of the place and talked about all the “bad luck” that location had. He wouldn’t touch it with a 10 foot pole. At the time, I was taken back thinking he was being irrational and superstitious. But as time has gone on, I can understand being cautious when making a major investment. Are some places simply jinxed? You can throw in certain radio stations in there too.

This string is off the ground. We’ll see how it goes. As I think about the number of flips some stations have done over the past 20 years, are they experiencing incredible bad luck or is it more about bad decisions? We’ll explore that and more.

 

[John FL]

Much has been discussed about the role of the consultant. I don’t think I can add any more to it except to say, a radio station that hires them are looking to improve performance and be more successful.

The first time I became aware of a consultants role was on the Classic TV program “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” The fictional TV station in Minneapolis, WJM, was always in last place with their news program. A consultant was brought in. Changes were made. Ratings began to rise.

But, the consultant wound up leaving abruptly saying he took the station as far as it could go. I’ve long wondered how realistic that was but perhaps it is. The inside joke, of course, was the zany Anchorman Ted Baxter should have been replaced by someone personable and competent.

Success is perhaps elusive to certain stations because they weren’t timely enough in being responsive to the market. In the case of the former Miami’s Classic Hits WMXJ when they were branded as “Magic 102.7,” they had an incredible several decades run. They may have been indeed “lucky” to have Jefferson Pilot and Lincoln Financial as owners. Those companies were great employers according to comments I have read from a number of airteam personnel.

Perhaps contractually, Magic aired the syndicated program “Beatle Brunch” for decades each Sunday morning. The host of that program was also on Magic’s airteam. With a market that is well over 50% Hispanic, my suspicions are The Fab 4 and factoids from 50 years ago did nothing to enhance Magic’s image, especially among the Hispanic community.

Eventually, Magic’s “luck ran out” when Entercom came along, music enhancements were made. The station was rebranded to “102.7 The Beach.” A new airteam was in place and Beatle Brunch was certainly gone. Personally, I thought highly of Jefferson Pilot and Lincoln Financial. I only wish they could have made the necessary changes over time that more reflected the soundtrack of South Florida. Their live and local elements were a plus but apparently it wasn’t enough.

93.9 WMIA-FM in Miami is also worth a mention. This station has a reputation of making lots of changes over the years. That is true. That frequency was once home to “Love 94” that offered a mix of soft hits with jazz vocals. It was a unique sound and I thought it was an incredibly good format for South Florida.

Despite South Florida being home to jazz enthusiasts, based on all he local concerts etc., we saw jazz-oriented formats fall by the wayside. When WMIA was born in 2008, jazz was replaced with rhythmic elements. They were a Rhythmic AC for a while. Today they are doing an all 90s format and of course there are rhythmic elements in the mix.

WMIA is not a top tier station and it’s because of formidable competition. There’s powerhouse ACs such as WLYF and WFEZ. There’s also Spanish AC WAMR that has been a ratings leader for many years. How do you overcome that?

WMIA is an iHeartMedia station. In the wrong hands, WMIA would have seen many flips all over the map. Perhaps a consultant would have the same opinion as the example I gave earlier. Given the market situation, there’s not much more that can be done. Still, a 90s themed format with rhythmic elements to it will attract desirable and sellable demos. If that complements the cluster, it’s a winner.

More on the way including a company that had a track record of constant format flipping.

 

[John FL]

For those of you who had or have a career in radio, you may have experienced firsthand the launching of a new format. There has to be a rush, especially when all those efforts pay off in a big way. To get listeners to set a station preset, pull you in and keep listening takes extraordinary effort. It’s happened many times.

My own perceptions recall format flips as being bigger than life. 10,000 songs in a row at launch. A full roster of jocks dedicated to winning, big contests, TV ads, billboards, you name it. “Radio Wars” were a modus operandi. It was like money was no object, at least it appeared so to the receiver at the end of the speaker.

Then again, format flips did not always translate into great results. The reasons for that are numerous, varied, and are unique as the station itself. If we talk about luck, I suppose good luck was involved with a successful launch and bad luck with something that didn’t work out.

As I mentioned earlier, researching all Florida markets for the “Fl Ratings & More” string revealed some stations had a history of being in constant flux. There were flips that like clockwork happened at least every 2 years or less, new ownership, and change in calls were a part of that history as well. You have to wonder how all this even happens but it’s not very uncommon.

For the record, hard work, skills, knowledge of the market, and great teamwork are at the very least the requirements needed to increase the odds for success. If luck is involved, it’s that the right person making the right decisions especially in hiring and conceptualizing lead all the efforts.

When Classic Hip-Hop became the latest “format du jour,” I recall reading about a station owner, I believe in the Midwest, flipping a 3 month old Classic Hits format to Classic Hip Hop. He talked of all the great demos and revenue that would result. In my view, this person was not a radio pro. Obviously, there was no regard for the listeners and even the advertisers. One of the radio pros on R.D. talked about the considerable length of time it takes for the advertising community to come onboard with a new format. Format flips are serious business. They have always been costly.

In the Jacksonville area, there are two frequencies, 105.3 and 105.5. Back in the late 90s and into the early 21[SUP]st[/SUP] century a company known as “Tama Broadcasting” owned the two stations. Because Jacksonville is such a huge land mass, neither station alone was able to cover a good portion of the market. So, formats usually were simulcast on both.

The company eventually went bankrupt and no wonder. Those two frequencies saw more format changes over time than you can imagine, including calls changes. Some formats were quite good. They weren’t given time. Some lasted only a few months. To me, that made absolutely no sense. I would think these stations relied on advertising directly from the community and not agency. Who in their right mind would spend money with that kind of track record?

Today, stability has returned to both signals. 105.3 is now WYKB. They have been doing a classic country format since 2017. Since the Class A 3900 watt stick reaches north of Jacksonville, they focus on Nassau County, the county to the north of Jacksonville’s Duval. That makes sense.

105.5 is a Class C3, 16,000 watt signal. WBHU is owned by Flagler Broadcasting. That station features Adult Hits and they’ve been doing it since 2014. My understanding is the station does very well super serving St. John’s County/St. Augustine, the area to the south of Jacksonville. The signal does reach the Southside of Jacksonville as well.

While I don’t like speaking in generalities, what I noticed in researching “Fl Ratings & More” was that the incidence of constant flips, flux, and management/ownership changes occurred in the small mom & pop operators. The larger companies tend to be more prudent and cautious when making significant changes.

Format flips are required at times. But some didn’t have a clue.

Next: Personal career decisions and luck

 

[John FL]

Radio Discussions has a nice new look. It’s a great site and I’m sure it pleases many of us that enhancements are being made. It shows a future and that’s wonderful. Hopefully, many of you didn't have trouble getting to this board. It appears the "U.S. Radio by State" hyperlink is not working resulting in this message: 404 Not Found. I found it by keyword. I'm sure all will be back to normal soon.

One decision can change the course of your life dramatically. Some decisions prove to be great ones. Others becomes life’s lessons learned. Among the biggest decisions we ever make is accepting or even rejecting a new job opportunity.

When a person lands a great position, he/she will sometimes site being in the right place at the right time or knowing the right people. I’ve read accounts of a number of highly successful “DJs” and “PDs.” It’s pretty amazing how many got their start in the most unusual set of circumstances.

Earlier this year, there was an interesting discussion on the New York City board regarding the well-known jock “Cousin Brucie’s” return to WABC Radio for a weekend gig, a station that earned Bruce Morrow incredible notoriety.

In Bruce’s younger years, he got a job as a producer at New York City’s WINS. Eventually, there was an AFTRA strike and all the broadcasters walked out. Besides management, Bruce was also given an air shift and he made the most of it. Soon, he got his own show. As the story goes, WINS allowed visitors into the station after passing some kind of security clearance.

An elderly black lady came in to the studio. She just wanted to sit down for a while. She needed subway money to get back home and Bruce obliged. She wound up talking about how we are all related and called Bruce “cousin.” On his way home, Bruce realized that name would be relatable to listeners. It was what he was looking for. He would be known as Cousin Brucie. Management nixed the idea but he convinced them to give it a shot.

I find this to be an incredibly inspiring story and it’s one of many. Bruce actually didn’t last long at WINS. He wound up at WINZ in Miami. Bruce didn’t care for Miami, got out of his contract and returned to the Big Apple when WABC was a low-rated new Top 40 station. It was a gutsy move that not everyone would have done. Luck, chance, whatever. Had Bruce remained in Miami to play it safe, it’s doubtful his radio career would have been as successful. Perhaps it would have led to something else. That’s life!

When people talk success, words and phrases such as luck, being in the right place at the right time, and chain of events may help get you in the door, but ultimate success is what you do with that opportunity. Bruce Morrow is a radio success story. There’s many more. Many of you reading this can probably think of that one break that put you on the road to success.

Of course, there’s a flip side to good luck. That’s upcoming.

 

[John FL]

Someone who used to post regularly on the North Florida board would often say, “No radio station is ever better than the G.M.” Actually, that can apply to any place, not only radio.

All of us, at one time or another, worked in a challenging environment. I’ve read and heard about AM drive personalities, in particular, who would be critiqued to excess. Each week, the show took a different direction and focus. That’s not a recipe for success. I’ve often wondered why bad management doesn’t even realize they are doing more harm than good.

At one time or another in our career, we’ve had the misfortune to report to someone who made us feel inadequate. It’s not a good place to be. Speaking from experience, your self-esteem and confidence not only get chipped away, but you become paralyzed not knowing what to do. For anyone on the air who gets to the point that they don’t know what to do on their show, it’s pretty much over.

Earlier when I talked about excessive flips, especially in the smaller mom & pop operations, perhaps bad luck isn’t the sole culprit. The owner/manager who micro-manages everything and everyone may have had the $$ to put a radio station together, but also doesn’t have a clue how to build a true winning team.

For any professional broadcaster who is miserable at their current gig, they rarely wear their emotions on their sleeve while they are on the air. I came to this conclusion based on all I’ve read and heard from those I came to know in the radio world.

But the listeners can sense when something is off. If a jock is constantly changing their style and content, listeners are the first to get uneasy. You’d think those who manage people would understand Radio 101. But then when you look at all the flips at some stations including all the management and personnel changes, it’s a dysfunctional mess. It exists and no wonder some lose their shirts.

Some of you may have worked at a station that fired on all cylinders and delivered a really good product. But you just couldn’t get anywhere in the ratings. That has to be frustrating. In all my radio listening, I was saddened by a number of format fatalities. You can say the same for TV shows. The public is not always easy to read. They like what they like.

The demise of certain quality radio stations equates to the stores and restaurants, discussed earlier, that just don’t make it at certain locations despite being really good. If you don’t believe in luck, perhaps one or more of those ingredients necessary for success are missing and they aren’t always easy to spot.

I’ve come to believe bad luck does exist at times. I recall a station in Jacksonville that never seemed to catch a break. They didn’t even last two years, despite some good promotions, a decent playlist, and experienced jocks. It was one thing after another that kept them from reaching their true potential.

When their stick was hit by lightning, it took 4 months to return to full signal. Meanwhile the clock kept ticking to improve performance. You’d think the signal issue would have stopped the clock for a bit.

Success is not easy to achieve. It’s totally elusive to many despite their best efforts. It’s an interesting dynamic. There’s much that goes into a winning radio station. There’s a good deal of copycat radio out there. But when it comes to incorporating best practices of a successful radio station, it doesn’t happen as much as it should.

Luck and music upcoming…

 

[John FL]

It’s hard getting most people to agree on anything. Music is an exception. There’s all kinds of music genres to satisfy just about every taste. And then there’s radio. Hearing music on the radio has been a tradition and habit for a long time.

Much has been written and discussed about how difficult it is to get a song played on the radio. For contemporary music stations adding a new song, that process has to be totally different than what I recall. There were record promoters, some who worked for the stars themselves, whose job it was to influence/convince the biggest “PDs” of the day to add that song.

As time moved along, I believe ethics played an increasingly important role. While I don’t like to generalize, my impression of professional broadcasters is they didn’t want to be in the position of being bought. The “Payola” scandals of yesteryear were not a laughing matter. As more and radio consolidations occurred, playlists were more centrally created by individuals who may have been hundreds of miles from the radio station that would utilize them.

10-12 years ago, I was aware of a practice by the former Clear Channel that had some kind of voting system in place. The way it was explained to me is if a local PD felt there was a song/artist that was popular in the local market, it was discussed and voted on for “add” consideration. It was probably Regional Programmers and Senior Managers who were among the “voters” besides local PDs.

This all brings me to luck. At home we often have one of the cable TV nostalgic decades station playing in the background. Given these playlists have lots more liberty than radio, it’s easy to pick out the clunkers. There are songs and artists who didn’t make it and becomes obvious why.

Then there are those artists and bands that sounded pretty good but never went anywhere. Similarly to so many other things, surrounding yourself with the right promoters, record label, whatever makes a big difference. Like legendary radio broadcasters, many of the biggest music artists around have attributed good luck or being in the right place at the right time that got them their big break.

Success in music and other things is not always easy to define. Some artists, perhaps even some formats too, could simply be ahead of their time or not quite understood or appreciated yet by the masses. You can make comparisons to Classic TV. Shows such as “The Twilight Zone” and “Star Trek” were not hits during their original run. There’s dozens more examples. It makes for an interesting dynamic.

Music that’s featured on gold-based formats are not all the biggest hits, at least in how the charts reported them. The Top 40 hit music stations of yesterday never touched a number of songs that are power-rotated on classic hits formats today. Luck or good fortune can even happen posthumously. It happens with painters, writers, and of course singers and bands.

In researching the “Fl Ratings & More” string, I came upon syndicated programing that’s a huge success in one market and in virtually another market less than 100 miles away, it appears to struggle. There’s quite a lot of variables involved in success or failure. It’s not unrealistic, I believe, to think luck can manifest itself like a spoke in the wheel.

 

[John FL]

In some respects, this subject proved that the best laid plans don't always turn into success. Whether we are talking radio formats, restaurants, a retail store, and even discussion strings on this board, it's ultimately the public who determines success.

I thought the subject of luck was an interesting one, especially if our early career experiences are recalled and discussed. We carry on.

Something "special" is on the way to this board. Watch out for it. It surprised me that I even had this document. I'll share that with you probably later this week. It's all about the music!