Week of March 9, 2009

If you are in a market with a high Hispanic/African American percent of the population you might notice that lily white formatted stations that usually perform under the market percentage (Rock, Country) have been (with exceptions) slipping over the past few years. Every Fall Book, Arbitron adjusts the in-tab to the match the projected population based on the 2000 censes. With 2010 just around the corner, it's a pretty good bet that many markets in Texas, Florida, and California are in for a major adjustment. These formats are either going to adjust to the new population, or start figuring a way to attract a more representative audience to match the population. The country isn't getting much whiter. Successful, number one stations rarely are without attracting the entire population no matter the ethnicity. Have a great weekend.

If I were allowed to hire one person in the radio station, no questions asked, who would it be? Answer; I would hire a copywriter. For a business that relies on the written word to sell its products, in most stations, it is written by the sales people. Aren't they supposed to sell? Can you imagine a car salesman also servicing your car?

I believe PD's of multiple stations is a bad idea. Before consolidation, one PD managed to fill 40 (ok 50, 60) hours a week working on just one product or station. Now, there is no way they can provide the quality necessary to make the station sound great or even good. A PD, no matter how good, can't devote the time to excellence if they are spending all their time in meetings. I think many have so little time they spend less listening to the station than the P1s. Result? _________(you answer the question.)

When Coke and Pepsi fight you sell more soda. ("Pop" in certain areas of the country.) For the life of me, I can't understand selling clusters with LESS sales people? Having more sales people selling individual stations instead of "bundling" allows each station to stand on its own, even weaker ones. Sales people tend to gravitate to the easiest sell. The lesser station usually gets the shaft, or the no charges, or the cheaper spots. If big companies owned every station in the market, what do you think would happen to rates? (Even before the recession.) tomorrow we will examine the same with PD's.

Good Morning. As a manager, I have no time to focus on the new deal regarding the streaming rates set by the NAB and the Copyright Royalty Board for the next few years; I am too focused on making March. But does it occur to anyone that the more we pay for music being played on the radio, the more attractive spoken word formats will be? How many stations in your market are playing the same core artists? Being different musically is getting harder. Selling the differences (even in good times) will continue to become a challenge.