Interesting way Radio can help a dying business

Saw this in All Access and found it very interesting. Simon is actually going to help PAY for the move! Win-win for both brick & mortar shopping and for viability for radio.

Alpha Media Stations Moving into Chicagoland Mall
After almost two years of negotiations, the local village board in Gurnee, Illinois (near the Illinois-Wisconsin border) has voted to pay Alpha Media $200,000 to assist in the cost of moving its four north suburban stations – news/talk WLIP-AM, Spanish sports talk WKRS-AM, rock WIIL-FM, and hot AC WXLC-FM – into space at the Gurnee Mills mall complex. According to a report in the DailyHerald, mall owner Simon Property Group is paying Alpha $600,000 to help with the cost of the estimated $847,000 renovation project. In return, Alpha will produce at least 32 public events at the mall to drive foot traffic and will air ads for the mall.

I assume at least some of the studios will be behind glass and visible from the mall. The question is, will there be actual people on the air? I hope they won't be voice tracked.

Sounds like it COULD be a "Positive" for all parties!!
Ah.....Glass-front studios....hearkens to the days of "Thoroughly Modern 1260" WEZE in Park Square, Boston...
They finally had to put up drapes....to much distraction/noise from people banging on the glass...
And.....yes.....drunks actually relieving themselves in front of the on-air person(s)!!
The latter scenario not as likely to occur at an INside venue....!!

The fact that Simon Malls have them $600K worth of Tenant Improvement credits makes the move that much better.

Radio stations do lots of public events, so basing them at this mall gives them a steady location. That's what their marketing & promo staff does. Normally they are remotes at concerts or parks or car dealerships. Hopefully the place isn't completely dead. But it saves the Mall staff from coming up with various events themselves.

A 78-year-old man was evicted from his building so a strip mall could be built. That strip mall was torn down for a road 30 years later. Now why the old man thought he could continue his radio station, with really old music, from the enclosed mall across the street, I don't know. He was going to do it. We would have been able to see him and any employees he might have had on the air. But it never happened.