RANDOM RADIO READINGS

 I spent the past week or so reading various sources to find anything that speaks well
of Radio's future. Alas, I could find very little that was positive. I offer some edited
content from several media writings. In case you missed any of them, here's a brief
sampling of what I read. Let's start with these:

RADIO JOBS NOSE DIVE If you are presently on the air at a radio station you a member of an increasingly exclusive club. RadioWorld cites recent data on employment trends show job shrinkage in the industry over the past quarter century. The Telcom Law of 1996 causes considerable consolidation which means fewer jobs. From 1990 through early this year, the number of radio broadcasting jobs drop about 27 percent. There are 118,700 radio broadcasting jobs in 1990 compared to 86,800 through March 2016.

NEW RADIO CRISIS AHEAD Along with the current generation of engineers who move ever-closer to retirement, at this year’s NAB, the coming crisis in broadcasting is the lack of qualified people interested in getting into broadcast engineering. Without someone who knows the current broadcast technology and equipment and how to install, configure, maintain, and repair it, can your broadcast facility and operation stay on the air for very long? No one seems to appear to replace the retiring engineers.

From a recent Doug Schoen's article in Forbes:

 You wouldn’t know it from all the media coverage focused on streaming video and streaming music, but recent Nielsen data shows radio actually has the most reach among American media consumers. 93% of adults listen to the radio each week as compared to 87% who watch TV, a substantive difference. In terms of the American population, this means that 243 million people over the age of 12 are listening to old-fashioned broadcast AM/FM radio every week. It may all come down to the fact that as long as we have cars, we’ll be listening to the radio. And since I can’t see a time coming when that won’t be the case, it’s quite clear that radio – and its tremendous reach – is here to stay.

I found this interesting article in Media Life Magazine...it's sort of "Roots" for Radio:
http://www.medialifemagazine.com/understanding-roots-american-radio/

Here is that excerpt from Media Life Magazine's ongoing series about the state of Radio:

Talk to old radio people and they’ll tell you that the Telecommunications Act of 1996 destroyed radio. If it didn’t destroy radio, the law certainly changed it forever, and none of it for the good.
It’s done no good for anyone, not the industry, not listeners, not advertisers.
The only people who ever stood to come out ahead were the fast-money people, the folks who financed the explosive growth of giants like iHeartMedia. In end they too may take a hosing.
The problems radio faces today trace directly back to 1996. Indeed, 1996 is the great divide in the history of radio—radio before 1996 and radio after.
The irony of the 1996 law—and all great disasters have their ironies—is that the act’s intended purpose was to open up whole areas of the telecom industry to competition, such as cable and long-distance service.
But radio, though just a small part of the legislation, was already a highly competitive industry, and had been one since the creation of the Federal Communications Commission in 1934, which capped the number of radio stations any one company could own.
The aims of the 1934 legislation were two. One was to ensure competition in local radio markets. The other was to ensure that radio served the public. It was a time when many markets were dominated by newspapers controlled by political machines. Radio was intended to be independent, above politics and on the side of the listener.
Against that history, think of the 1996 legislation as a case study in the law of unintended consequences hard at work.
Here’s what the law did. Prior to 1996, a company could own one AM station and one FM station in any market.
The new law allowed ownership of up to eight stations in larger markets and put no cap on total number of stations.
The impact was immediate. Clear Channel, among others, went on a buying spree, amassing some 1,200 stations, up from just 43, financed by outside capital.
And just as quickly the slashing began. Stations that before might have employed 20 had payrolls cut to just several people as the new radio giants merged station operations in their markets. On-air talent was let go, replaced by syndicated feeds of anonymous DJs recorded in far off places.
By one count, 10,000 radio people lost their jobs in those first several years. Longtime radio people were replaced by managers who knew little about radio but were willing to make the cuts ordered by headquarters.

It's great reading and contains many truths we knew to be self evident.
And from Billboard comes this:

On the final day of the American Association of Independent Music's (A2IM) indie week convention -- held at the Marriot Hotel on the east side of middle Manhattan -- independent label executives discussed, with varying levels of optimism, how the music industry is changing through streaming, but also reminded attendees that old school radio is still an important element in promoting music.

"Radio still matters," Razor & Tie co-owner Cliff Chenfeld said. In the new digital world, "its not like the old days. If you had a record on the radio, you sold some records," Chenfeld said -- and then it was over.

The longer a song is on the radio, the better results in the streaming world.

Finally, the panel turned its attention to the one area where the indies stand tall against the majors efforts: vinyl. "Vinyl is the most reliable format we can forecast," said Secretly Group principle Darius Van Arman, who added that opinion that vinyl’s growth is not a bubble. "When the sea and temperature rises and we can no longer inhabit the planet, there will be two survivors, cockroaches and vinyl," he said.

Finally, the panel turned its attention to the one area where the indies stand tall against the majors efforts: vinyl. "Vinyl is the most reliable format we can forecast," said Secretly Group principle Darius Van Arman, who added that opinion that vinyl’s growth is not a bubble. "When the sea and temperature rises and we can no longer inhabit the planet, there will be two survivors, cockroaches and vinyl," he said.

More troubling Radio news comes from Jim Rose's fine newsletter: 


MASON CANNOT STAY AWAY FROM RADIO CBS chairman and CEO Leslie Moonves is in talks about selling CBS Radio’s 187 frequencies. Former longtime CBS Radio President Dan Mason retires from that position a year ago. Radio’s current largest member iHeartMedia’s 850 radio station’s fiances are in disarray. Time to call in reinforcement from veteran radio industry exec Dan Mason who sits on the sidelines. CEO and Chairman Bob Pittman and President, COO and CFO Rich Bressler send out the SOS to Dan Mason.
REDSTONE SAYS SELL CBS RADIO CBS chairman and CEO Leslie Moonves says that although CBS’s controlling shareholder Sumner Redstone opposes Viacom’s plans to sell a stake in Paramount Pictures, he is on board with plans to sell or spin off its 117-station CBS Radio group. During the Q&A portion of CBS’s 2016 shareholders meeting Thursday in New York, Moonves describes the CBS Radio sale: Our situation with radio has absolutely nothing to do with Viacom. 

I also caught this article in Ars Technica magazine about interference "radiators":

The US Federal Communications Commission is trying to figure out exactly how much trouble is being caused by radio noise.
Many devices emit radio frequency energy that could interfere with radio services and increase the "radio spectrum noise floor," essentially the sum of all unwanted signals. The FCC is planning to study changes to the noise floor from human-made sources over the past 20 years.
It's commonly believed that "the noise floor in the radio spectrum is rising as the number of devices in use that emit radio energy grows,"
"Radio spectrum noise is generated by many different types of devices. Devices that are not designed to generate or emit RF energy but do so as a result of their operation are called Incidental Radiators," the FCC said. "Most electric motors, light dimmers, switching power supplies, utility transformers and power lines are included in this category. There is little regulation governing the noise generated by these devices.
The FCC mentioned several other classes of devices that can increase the noise floor. One category is "unintentional radiators" such as computers, portable electronic devices, and high-efficiency lights, which "send RF signals by conduction to associated equipment via connected wiring, but are not intended to emit RF energy." There are regulations limiting the levels of RF energy that can be emitted from these devices.
There are also devices that are "designed to generate and emit RF energy by radiation or induction." Cellular phones and base stations, wireless routers, Bluetooth devices, broadcast TV and radio stations, radars, microwave ovens, arc welders, and fluorescent lighting all fall in this category.

That's just a few excerpts about the future state of the Radio business. I'm one who wants
to believe there IS a better day forthcoming...but i'm not terribly encouraged. For those
of us who "grew up" with so called "Golden Eras" in broadcasting, it's sort of like seeing
one of your children leave home with a college education, and years later find them
living on the streets! It appears that no one cares enough to get involved anymore...at least
enough to stop this perilous downward spiral of a once revered profession.
That's MY RadiOpinion...what's yours?


THIS JUST IN: (6/28/2016)

HUGE LAY OFFS AT GREATER MEDIA Greater Media undergoes restructuring with an unclear number of layoffs. On Friday, June 24, 2016 as many as nine full time employees receive pink slips from Greater Media Philadelphia, PA.

                                               IT'S ABOUT TIME 

THERE'S NO DOUBT ABOUT IT, TIME IS THE ONE COMMON DENOMINATOR

WE ALL ARE INFLUENCED BY. IT KEEPS ON TICKING REGARDLESS OF WHO

WE ARE OR WHERE WE ARE. RADIO IS NO EXCEPTION. WE WHO HAVE BEEN

IN THE BUSINESS, ARE "SLAVES" TO TIME. NO WHERE IS IT MORE IMPORTANT

THAN THE HOUR-THE "SOUND HOUR" TO BE MORE EXACT. IN MY VIEW, NOT

ENOUGH ATTENTION IS PAID TO THIS BASIC ELEMENT OF TIME. THE HOUR IS

THE ONE DIVISION OF RADIO TIME THAT ALL STATION'S IN ANY MARKET OR

AREA HAVE IN COMMON. IT IS, HOWEVER, WHAT ONE DOES WITH THAT HOUR

WHICH MAKES A GOOD RADIO STATION, A GREAT ONE. IN RADIO, NOT EVERY

HOUR IS THE SAME, BUT THE SIXTY MINUTES WITHIN THAT HOUR IS WHERE

THE "SECRET" LIES. TO BE A GOOD PROGRAMMER, ONE MUST COMPARE HIS

OR HER "SOUND HOUR'S" TO THE COMPETITOR'S. EACH HOUR IN EACH 24

HOUR DAY MUST BE EVALUATED AGAINST A STATION'S MARKET COMPETITION

SEVEN DAYS A WEEK, 52 WEEKS A YEAR. WHEN STARTING TO PROGRAM A

SOUND HOUR, YOU MUST FIRST HAVE TO KNOW WHAT INGREDIENTS ARE TO

MAKE UP THAT HOUR. THE VERY FIRST INGREDIENT YOU MUST KNOW IS:

HOW MANY COMMERCIAL MINUTES ARE GOING TO MAKE UP THAT HOUR...

IN OTHER WORDS, HOW MUCH TIME WILL BE LEFT FOR ME TO PROGRAM

MY FORMAT..WHETHER IT BE MUSIC, NEWS OR INFORMATION. MANAGEMENT

MUST TELL YOU HOW MANY COMMERCIAL "UNITS" THEY WANT OR NEED IN

EACH DAY-PART(including sponsored news, weather, traffic etc.). AFTER YOU MINUS

THE NUMBER OF COMMERCIAL MINUTES IN EACH 60 MINUTE HOUR, YOU NOW

KNOW HOW MUCH REAL PROGRAM TIME YOU HAVE LEFT TO FILL. IF YOU'RE

A MUSIC STATION, YOU NEXT HAVE TO FIGURE WHAT THE AVERAGE LENGTH

OF THE SONGS YOU'RE GOING TO PLAY. THIS, OBVIOUSLY, WILL TELL YOU HOW

MANY OR HOW MUCH MUSIC YOUR LISTENERS WILL BE ABLE TO HEAR. ALL

OF THIS, BEFORE, SELECTING THE PERCENTAGE OF "HITS" TO "OLDIES"...OR

POWER SONGS TO OTHER SONG TYPES. EACH SOUND HOUR SHOULD BE AS

POWERFUL AS YOU CAN MAKE IT FOR THE DESIRED DAY-PART. TO ME, THERE

SHOULD NEVER BE A WEAK HOUR. I BELIEVE IN BALANCE. WHAT YOU DO IN

ONE HALF OF THE "SOUND HOUR", YOU SHOULD DUPLICATE AS MUCH AS YOU

CAN IN THE SECOND HALF OF THAT HOUR. PEOPLE TUNE IN AT ALL TIMES IN

AN HOUR, BUT BY BALANCING THE HOUR, MOST WILL HEAR WHAT YOU WANT

YOUR FORMAT TO "COMMUNICATE" TO THEM. IT'S NOT EASY PROGRAMMING

A "SOUND HOUR"...OR TO "MAINTAIN" IT CONSISTENTLY. ONE NEVER CAN 

"TWEAK" AN HOUR TOO MUCH IN MY MIND, THERE'S ALWAYS MORE THAT

CAN BE DONE TO KEEP EACH OF YOUR STATION'S  HOURS BETTER THAN ANY

ONE ELSE'S. THAT'S WHERE DEDICATION AND ATTENTION TO DETAIL COME IN.

THAT'S WHERE GREAT RADIO STATIONS SEPARATE THEMSELVES FROM THE

CROWD.  OF COURSE THERE'S MUCH MORE TO DISCUSS IN PROGRAMMING A

"SOUND HOUR"...BUT I FEEL THIS IS WHERE IT ALL STARTS...WITH TIME.  TO

ME, THIS IS WHAT IT'S ABOUT. DO BETTER WITH TIME, AND TIME WILL ALWAYS

DO BETTER BY YOU. THAT'S MY RADIOPINION...WHAT'S YOURS?