Add to it the fact that in the 15 year history of Pandora, it's never turned a profit. That is a problem, and they know it.
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Terrestrial Radio......Future?
- Thread starter Roddybob
- Start date
Add to it the fact that in the 15 year history of Pandora, it's never turned a profit. That is a problem, and they know it.
A
AQH
Guest
And "the radio stations you work with" is supposed to be the gospel and how radio as a whole will operate?
iHeart, an eyelash away from defaulting on their notes already has national programming mandates for local stations; CBS/Entercom has been slashing big-money programmers and talent in a staggered fashion for the past several months to sweeten the books, and Cumulus can barely stay afloat. Do you really think they're going to keep up the costs of having a local studio, leases and other associated payments? Have you noticed ad revenue dropping and avails being more plentiful? Do you really think stations are turning away ad revenue in favor of doing those two or three hour blocks of commercial free music?
Stop kidding yourself, radio will do whatever it takes to trim costs wherever necessary. Main studio rule elimination gives them the license to take it all to the next level.
I keep asking you to show me where in the main studio rule it says anything about programming and staffing, and you haven't. That's because there's nothing in it that mandates any local programming or staffing. You say that companies have been mandating national programming already. That's because the main studio rule didn't prevent them from doing so. That's why eliminating it won't change a thing.
Radio stations are in the business to MAKE money, not SAVE money. Having a local operation makes them money. Over 70% of radio revenue comes from LOCAL sales. You can't sell advertising to local business if you're not actually there. Must be present to win. You don't need an FCC rule to mandate that.
AQH, thank you for your statement. Please source those statements. What position do you hold with what broadcaster to have such information and directive to release such information? IE: iHeart's national programming directive, etc. Might you be a financial officer in a national office?
I gather your statement can be summed up by saying: the radio business is acting like a business We know the big boys are struggling under massive debt and we know that as any business, keeping a tight reign on costs is crucial.
National programming? I see a bunch of it: Big numbers of stations subscribe to satellite delivered programs from formats (especially in small markets) to national shows ranging from NPR and PRI to talk shows.
You know nothing of the Main Studio rule as I explained earlier. The Main Studio rules has been loopholed for decades. I know this personally. To believe opponents is about like choosing to believe McDonald's will set up one 'cook station' in each state and use drones to deliver your order. There is just too much 'radio' that requires a market presence. Sure, you can voicetrack, set up regional news offices and such but you still need a local presence to make it work and I'm talking service area not city grade signal.
Is radio fighting for survival? Yes, just like every other business. It's when you quit fighting you begin to lose. Radio faces challenges and always has but it's how radio responds to those challenges that determines it's fate. Keeping a tight handle on costs, maximizing revenue and taking no prisoners is how business operates, including radio, but you can't make moves that destroy the ability to succeed. Radio makes some mistakes, as a whole, but then figures it out and corrects in much the same way other businesses have done. I used McDonald's as an example: they saw a bad decision and started all day breakfast. They dropped the dollar menu and now they're bringing it back. Overall, McDonald's is in no fear of going belly up tomorrow. They're, like always, in the fight of survival, battling to win the customer. Radio is doing the same. Walmart, GM and everybody else is in the same boat.
I gather your statement can be summed up by saying: the radio business is acting like a business We know the big boys are struggling under massive debt and we know that as any business, keeping a tight reign on costs is crucial.
National programming? I see a bunch of it: Big numbers of stations subscribe to satellite delivered programs from formats (especially in small markets) to national shows ranging from NPR and PRI to talk shows.
You know nothing of the Main Studio rule as I explained earlier. The Main Studio rules has been loopholed for decades. I know this personally. To believe opponents is about like choosing to believe McDonald's will set up one 'cook station' in each state and use drones to deliver your order. There is just too much 'radio' that requires a market presence. Sure, you can voicetrack, set up regional news offices and such but you still need a local presence to make it work and I'm talking service area not city grade signal.
Is radio fighting for survival? Yes, just like every other business. It's when you quit fighting you begin to lose. Radio faces challenges and always has but it's how radio responds to those challenges that determines it's fate. Keeping a tight handle on costs, maximizing revenue and taking no prisoners is how business operates, including radio, but you can't make moves that destroy the ability to succeed. Radio makes some mistakes, as a whole, but then figures it out and corrects in much the same way other businesses have done. I used McDonald's as an example: they saw a bad decision and started all day breakfast. They dropped the dollar menu and now they're bringing it back. Overall, McDonald's is in no fear of going belly up tomorrow. They're, like always, in the fight of survival, battling to win the customer. Radio is doing the same. Walmart, GM and everybody else is in the same boat.
FreddyE1977
Star Participant
Pandora may eventually be acquired by someone like Amazon or Walmart
strictly as a loss-leader to get you engaged for other things.
strictly as a loss-leader to get you engaged for other things.
The question is why do they need to acquire a platform they already have? That's the thing about the internet. Everyone has access.
The only people who benefit from streaming platforms are record labels. They're the only ones profiting.
About ten years ago I thought the same thing, but my view has changed. With the past two larger broadcast groups I worked for, I frequently lobbied my boss (the CEO) and the board of directors, the opportunity to use our existing tower sites for offering (at the time) WiMAX (802.16G), or other broadband to the Seattle to Portland markets. Ultimately the problem was how to monetize it. Sure, at the time there was a lot of build-it-and-they-will-come thinking, but nobody I worked with was interested in building it until the revenue stream was completely vetted and locked in. Right around that time, any available and worthwhile spectrum was being sucked up by cell and PCS carriers like a giant, nationwide shop vacuum.
Here we are, fifteen years later, and cell carriers plus the FCC (see: television repack fiasco) are still looking in every nook and cranny for spectrum to convert into more for-subscription bandwidth. And yes, that key word is subscription. As you pointed out Larry, even though OTA radio and television may not get you to Facebook, Instagram, or whatever streaming service, it still is free. Free still trumps subscription every time.
If they could prove financial difficulty in operating an office outside of their corporate headquarters location.
My biggest worry with this rule change is that stations will become satellite repeaters, even in top 10 radio markets. This change might turn the FM band into a OTA version of satellite radio, with each station in a market faithfully repeating a different nation-wide service form the bird. HD subchannels ends up making additional channel space available!
Sounds like what we had in the 1930s and 40s, when local stations were repeaters of the national networks. Radio historians consider it the Golden Age of Radio.
Having said that, as long as radio stations are funded by local advertisers, there will be a need for a local office to interact with the sponsors. The minute all local money is replaced by national chains, what you say may happen. Right now, local advertising makes up 70% of the revenue.
The main studio rule had a long-time exception in the "or transmitter location" provision. Stations with transmitters far outside the city of license could run 24/7 from the site and never originate anything in the licenced community.
And then with satellite formats began to appear... now well over 30 years ago, many of those transmitter site studios had a dish outside the back door, and the audio ran through the board and onto the air. The only thing local were the ads inserted in the stopsets.
So what has changed?
(The best point is that of BigA... a full circle back to the Golden Age of radio where everything of note came down the phone line from Red, Blue and Columbia. Or, if you were an independent, from transcription services).
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