Boycott - Buy Local

[firepoint525]

funny you'd mention that live and local ain't coming back when the longest running top rated station just ADDED a LIVE AND AT THE STUDIO THOSE HOURS LOCAL AIR PERSONALITY less than 24 HOURS ago, after 14.5 years of running the canned Delilah show that almost every poster on here rallied against (because we guys ain't supposed to listen) and yet hardly anyone on this board has even said anything about it. Maybe this is a first shot in the future of realizing that VT and national syn-sin is really HURTING potential ratings and profits more than it is saving. Cheap radio = bad radio = underperforming industry = washed up in a decade. uh-oh.... To be honest, MIX has always been yanked on here for never making any changes, but now they have and Kronic actually had the thought that Premiere dropped MIX??? Not a chance. Delilah has been tanking for a few years in many markets. Why would they drop what was, until the ratings at night, pretty much tanked the top rated station?

Huh?  We've got a whole 'nother thread going on about that! 

[firepoint525]

Why would some DJ in a music show give a street name?  That's what advertisers do.  They want you to come to their store.  Get the advertiser to host the show.  Then he can give street names all day long.  Who needs a DJ?  The listeners want to know how to meet the stars.  They don't care about relating to some DJ.  That's creepy.  Shut up and play the music.Advertisers buy numbers, not shows.  All they want to know is what's the CPM.  Nothing else.  Period.  Advertisers are the reason why radio sounds the way it does.  Sit in a meeting with them someday. 

Okay, well that explains why some advertiser (on TV, no less) told me that they were located in Mur-FREEZE-boro!     Stick to what you know, big a.

[TheBigA]

Dear A....once upon a time...long long ago, stations had news departments which would give you info on where a wreck was, where a storm hit...and which part of OLB you needed to avoid.

It's not the 60s any more.  At one time, radio was the only place to get traffic and weather information.  Now, I have lots of choices.  Once upon a time, you had full service AM stations.  Heck, there once was a time when TV stations did local kids and entertainment shows.  When was the last time anyone did that? Everything has changed.  And it's not going back to the old days regardless of boycotts.  The more reasons you give advertisers to leave radio, the more people will get fired. 

[firepoint525]

  The more reasons you give advertisers to leave radio, the more people will get fired. 

Big deal, they're going to get fired, anyway.  My last station has probably less than half the staff that they had in 1996, when I first started there.  By hook or by crook, stations will get rid of staffers.  My last station did so on a wholesale basis in 2005-2007.  Everyone who left either got fired, or left to avoid getting fired.  Wasn't fair, but that was the nature of the beast. 

[TheBigA]

My last station has probably less than half the staff that they had in 1996, when I first started there. 

And if I remember correctly, that station is locally owned.  So just because a station is local doesn't mean they're going to hire local staff.

The other thing about this discussion is I've learned that living in a town doesn't guarantee you know how to pronounce the streets or towns correctly.  Nor is living someplace else an excuse for getting names wrong.  Somehow, Brian Williams finds out how to pronounce names of foreign places for his news casts.  It's just laziness on the part of the person when they get the names wrong. 

And where does that dope live who does the furniture commercials where he says bedroom suites are "bedroom soots?"  He must live in Arkansas.  Because if he's from Nashville, he's an idiot.

[firepoint525]

My last station has probably less than half the staff that they had in 1996, when I first started there. 

And if I remember correctly, that station is locally owned.  So just because a station is local doesn't mean they're going to hire local staff.

You must have me confused with someone else.  I haven't knowingly disclosed what my last station was (for security reasons).  But suffice it to say that it is NOT locally owned, although it might seem local to a casual listener.  (I don't think they are even locally managed anymore!)

I no longer subscribe to the "when the station wins, we all win" philosophy, because it has too often proven NOT to be true, unless you are a shareholder, of course.  It definitely does not apply to employees.  I remember putting in unpaid overtime ("salaried," *groan*) producing spots for an earlier station that I formerly worked for.  They were selling ads out the wazoo.  But it never translated into any material increase in my pay.  And it certainly didn't put an end to the unpaid overtime.  That station "made money" by NOT paying for "overtime." 

[PirateJohnny]

Why would some DJ in a music show give a street name?  That's what advertisers do.  They want you to come to their store.  Get the advertiser to host the show.  Then he can give street names all day long.  Who needs a DJ?  The listeners want to know how to meet the stars.  They don't care about relating to some DJ.  That's creepy.  Shut up and play the music.Advertisers buy numbers, not shows.  All they want to know is what's the CPM.  Nothing else.  Period.  Advertisers are the reason why radio sounds the way it does.  Sit in a meeting with them someday. 

Okay, well that explains why some advertiser (on TV, no less) told me that they were located in Mur-FREEZE-boro!     Stick to what you know, big a.

Well, it certainly isn't MUR-feez-buh-ro.

On her first newscast on Channel 4 a new-to-this-town anchor said something was happening on DE-mun-brew-en street.

It's probably true that the average listener today can't tell the difference between live vs VT or local vs out-of-town air talent.  And it probably doesn't matter to them.  If they see a tornado out the window, it's up to the news department to break in with life-saving information.  The DJ should go on like nothing life threatening is happening, keeping the tunes spinning.  And that's a shame in my book.  I have lived and breathed broadcasting since 1974.  I'm still earning a paycheck in the business, even though I'm doing what it used to take three people to do (while being paid one paycheck).

[PirateJohnny]

...Advertisers buy numbers, not shows.  All they want to know is what's the CPM.  Nothing else.  Period.  Advertisers are the reason why radio sounds the way it does.  Sit in a meeting with them someday. 

I could also say the LACK of advertisers is why radio sounds the way it does.  No ads means no money.  No money means staff cuts.  Do something with your station that will attract listeners.  An increase in listeners will eventually mean an increase in advertisers.

I have explained to outsiders many times that "the business of broadcasting is providing an audience for the advertisers message".  That's what it is.  You do something to attract an audience and advertisers will want to reach that audience.  That's what Hippie is trying do - actively attract an audience.  Most other broadcasters are passively attracting an audience.  That's just airing something/anything because people will turn on the radio for background noise.  And they spend as little as possible because the ad revenue keeps declining.  Smart business people have always said you must spend money to make money.  In years past they were willing to wait for their investment to pay off.  Today, if they can't see a profit instantly, they have failed.

If we want Hippie, or any local owned/staffed station to succeed, we should be casually asking businesses whey they aren't advertising on these stations.  It's probably the first time in years someone off the street has mentioned a station to the business.  Then they might wonder why they are they spending money on a station that nobody talks about.  If nobody talks about a station, does anybody hear their spots?  See where I'm going with this?

[TheBigA]

Most other broadcasters are passively attracting an audience.  That's just airing something/anything because people will turn on the radio for background noise. 

Keep in mind that Nashville is a PPM market, and PPM measures audience regardless if it's active or passive.  In other words, background noise counts as much as foreground content.  When those are the rules, who can blame broadcasters who do what they do?  And those rules were made by advertisers, not programmers.

[Tibbs2]

A) Thanks for letting all of us know that we're a PPM market.
B) I agree with you as to why it must be so tough to always be having to sit in a meeting with those scummy advertisers you mention. Why would anyone in their right mind ever want to sit in such a meeting with any advertisers when they are the ones that make all these stations sound as bad as they do?