Two Small Groups Go Under

[gr8oldies]

Looks like there's now a third with Mapleton Communications in CA being taken over by their lender.

 

[Stewy]

Hey folks! Y'all well? Haven't the time to stay, certainly not to interact with differing opinions and nuances but will jump in briefly.
Things we know to be factual now;
1) Non-radio people don't understand the business
2) Bean counters are terrible managers of entertainment businesses
3) The Cheap Channel model doesn't work
4) Radio can be saved (by radio people)
5) XM/Sat radio is not much more than MUZAK with a different delivery system
6) Old Radio people understand the true valuation of properties and will stay out until prices are realistic
7) If you are a real "radio operator/owner" in a market with CC or Crumu now then you're ad rev is screwed
8) The newbies on air are completely clueless (make the old college radio sound Big Market)
9) Promotion is a fantasy from the past
Hope you folks have a nice day. I've got to go back to selling lemonade here on the court house steps.

 

[DavidEduardo]

Looks like there's now a third with Mapleton Communications in CA being taken over by their lender.

And they are leaving current management in place. The change is that the lender is taking equity in place of debt, so management no longer controls the ownership..

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Hey folks! Y'all well? Haven't the time to stay, certainly not to interact with differing opinions and nuances but will jump in briefly.
Things we know to be factual now;
1) Non-radio people don't understand the business
2) Bean counters are terrible managers of entertainment businesses
3) The Cheap Channel model doesn't work
4) Radio can be saved (by radio people)
5) XM/Sat radio is not much more than MUZAK with a different delivery system
6) Old Radio people understand the true valuation of properties and will stay out until prices are realistic
7) If you are a real "radio operator/owner" in a market with CC or Crumu now then you're ad rev is screwed
8) The newbies on air are completely clueless (make the old college radio sound Big Market)
9) Promotion is a fantasy from the past
Hope you folks have a nice day. I've got to go back to selling lemonade here on the court house steps.

Nice wishful thinking in some cases. The jury is still out on some of your suppositions.
1. Business people understand business. Not all radio people understand business. Some non-radio people don't understand radio. Some non-radio people can do a better job than a lot of radio hackers.
2. Can you back this statement up? Bean counters normally count the beans which ownership/management asks them to count. I have worked with some bean counters who very good. I have worked with some bean counters that I would like to have shot. Bean counters are just people. Some are smart and sharp. Some are dull and bull-headed.
3. Many of us DON'T LIKE the Cheap Channel model. We don't know yet what are cheap channel failures and what are just radio model failures.
4. Some radio people are very good managers. Some radio people are just plain immoral bums. Radio can be saved. Some of it will happen at the hands of some very gifted radio people. Some of it will happen at the hands of some very gifted business people who don't bring a bunch of old radio bad-habits with them.
5. You are ignoring the parts of satellite radio that makes use of talented, smart people like Bob Edwards and others.
6. Some of the fools who bet the ranch on unreasonable multipliers of cash flow ARE old radio people. Some of the people now sitting pretty and running smooth, profitable radio stations are old radio people.
7. Name some markets where the good operators have revenue screwed up at the hands of CC and Cumulus.
8. We were all newbies at one time. In our memory we were a lot more talented than we really were. If all the ills of radio is the fault of bean counters, cheap channel model, etc., how can we know if the newbies are cluless, or are they just reflecting the light that shines from the rear-ends of all the clueless managers and bean counters.
9. Maybe promotions have always been a fantasy.

It's really impolite to come here and drop a bunch of stink-bombs and not stay around to defend them. Are you sure you are not a management person with cheap channel or one of the others we all love to hate? You have demonstrated a behavior that qualifies you to join them if you are not already one.

 

[oaktree]

He's spot-on correct.

 

[gr8oldies]

Think there are now a total of four. Does anyone really suggest a better way would be to not count the beans at all? "We didn't know we were past due on the BMI bill. We don't believe in accountants!".

 

[radioray]

Don't be intentionally difficult. No-one is suggesting not counting the beans at all.

What people want is the industry to realize that not everything of value in a radio station or broadcast can be quantified numerically or through some kind of MBA formula that focuses only on the short term stock price and immediate bottom line. Even if I don't get, say, advertisers (or enough advertisers to make a randomly made up budget) to "make budget" for a Valentines Day evening love songs dedication show doesn't mean it didn't have intangible value for the station even if that did not show up numerically on a spreadsheet at the end of the month.

 

[Stewy]

Goat Herder;

In response to you, not working for CC or Crum, I'll agree with your response to 1, for 2 my statement has already been defended by others (thank you), 3 it is the CC failure, 4 won't argue your points, 5 I really like Bob (his morning show did have the second largest audience in the country when on NPR) but stand by my statement, 6 you supported my statement, 7 Huntsville AL Montgomery AL Valdosta GA (easy off the top of my head), 8 my point is the good mentors that I and you (hopefully) had when we broke in have generally been squeeze out by the bean counter's bottom line squeeze 9 perception is reality.

As for politeness, it was not my intention with the post to be impolite, really had to go (as I do now). As for ruffling your feathers and your perception of me and my posts I really couldn't care less, Sir. Have a great day.

 

[bossbill]

Is today's radio that much different from the retail consolidators? You know, the retailers that have taken a concept and cookie-cuttered it across the country in hundreds and hundreds of cookie-cutter malls, where every mall every twenty miles has some of or most of the identical stores as the last one and the next one, and when you walk into the store and buy something you end up on a list that sends you their offers via email that you can accept at not only the hundreds of locations but on-line as well?

I have for many years called what's happened to the retail community as the "malling of America". What might be the equivalent phrase for the radio and TV industries. (Unlike radio, which actually still gets most of its listeners by broadcasting a signal through an antenna to an antenna, most television viewing is now via hundreds of automated signals satellite-fed to cable and Dish and Direct head-ends and then distribute via another satellite or a giant fiber cable to the home).

While we lament what's happend to radio, we embrace the 200 Tv channels with the ShamWow commercials and the endless repeats of formerly popular shows, and accept the numerous commercials that often are missing the last couple of digits on the phone number one must call to order the ShamWow.

 

[jackandcoke]

Is today's radio that much different from the retail consolidators? You know, the retailers that have taken a concept and cookie-cuttered it across the country in hundreds and hundreds of cookie-cutter malls, where every mall every twenty miles has some of or most of the identical stores as the last one and the next one, and when you walk into the store and buy something you end up on a list that sends you their offers via email that you can accept at not only the hundreds of locations but on-line as well?

I have for many years called what's happened to the retail community as the "malling of America". What might be the equivalent phrase for the radio and TV industries. (Unlike radio, which actually still gets most of its listeners by broadcasting a signal through an antenna to an antenna, most television viewing is now via hundreds of automated signals satellite-fed to cable and Dish and Direct head-ends and then distribute via another satellite or a giant fiber cable to the home).

While we lament what's happend to radio, we embrace the 200 Tv channels with the ShamWow commercials and the endless repeats of formerly popular shows, and accept the numerous commercials that often are missing the last couple of digits on the phone number one must call to order the ShamWow.

And wait until you see what happens to local TV channels when the networks pull the plug on them within the next few years. While the media pundits are focused on the demise of newspapers and the wonders of the web, NBC is putting its best shows on USA... Fox is putting its best shows on FX... CBS is spreading its best stuff across its array of Viacom channels... and ABC is shifting its best sports programming to ESPN--and all of them are sticking the affiliates with cheap reality shows, stupid game shows, and copycat husband-kills-wife "mystery" shows.

Leno to a five-night-per-week strip series? A very inexpensive way to chew up five hours of primetime--and all for the 55+ demo (how many ED and heart-med commercials can they cram in?), while Conan tries to compete with Comedy Central (CBS) for the 18-49s.

The network position? "Why pay affiliates (the ones still getting comp) to run our spots? We don't need no stinking Channel 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.... "