Wednesday, November 16, 2011
One of the things that frustrates me about the pending sale of WBFO to WNED is that I believe that both current and prospective WBFO management underestimate the extent to which an audience exists for FM radio music programing. To be sure, I mostly listen to satellite radio in the car at this point, but that's mere anecdote. The EVP of Katz Media Group, a Clear Channel company, thinks different:
To be sure, Clear Channel is part of the problem with land-based radio, but they know what they are talking about. She continues: "With radio, as with any medium, it has always been and always will be about content. We are entertainers. Our content is local, personal and perishable – nearly all its usage is live, in real time." And that is the nub of it. At the WNED meeting held last month I raised Mark Scott's remarkable performance during the 2000 Thanksgiving week blizzard as evidence of the importance of WBFO remaining fully staffed; I believe the same argument applies to WBFO's cultural programing. When asked what land-based radio has done wrong in the last ten years Ms. Garber was blunt: "Consolidated hundreds of stations, went public and bowed to investor pressure by cutting spending on live personalities and local programming, thinking it would generate more profit. Reacted to PPM ratings by making DJs talk less (and thereby relate less to listeners). Not figure out how to make advertisers perceive radio as being as sexy as anything new that is on the internet." We are about to see public radio in Buffalo repeat those mistakes.
There is no direct competition to AM/FM radio for share of consumer media usage (nothing else has the ability to broadcast in geographically-specific areas with primarily locally-geared content and primarily live personalities, and, based on industry studies and Arbitron (ARB) ratings, nothing has had much, if any, impact on that usage).
To be sure, Clear Channel is part of the problem with land-based radio, but they know what they are talking about. She continues: "With radio, as with any medium, it has always been and always will be about content. We are entertainers. Our content is local, personal and perishable – nearly all its usage is live, in real time." And that is the nub of it. At the WNED meeting held last month I raised Mark Scott's remarkable performance during the 2000 Thanksgiving week blizzard as evidence of the importance of WBFO remaining fully staffed; I believe the same argument applies to WBFO's cultural programing. When asked what land-based radio has done wrong in the last ten years Ms. Garber was blunt: "Consolidated hundreds of stations, went public and bowed to investor pressure by cutting spending on live personalities and local programming, thinking it would generate more profit. Reacted to PPM ratings by making DJs talk less (and thereby relate less to listeners). Not figure out how to make advertisers perceive radio as being as sexy as anything new that is on the internet." We are about to see public radio in Buffalo repeat those mistakes.
// posted by Bill @ 8:10 AM 
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