In 2012 Radio Ink is celebrating its 20th anniversary. For those of you that subscribe to the magazine you'll notice one page in each issue reflecting back through the years on some of the people we interviewed and some of the topics we wrote about. As we go back to research previous issues we've been able to dig up a few quotes we believe you'll find interesting. After finding the quotes, we track down the person that made them and ask them about those quotes today. Our first quote is from Bob Fuller who appeared on our cover as President/CEO of
Fuller-Jeffrey Broadcasting in July of 1994. Here's what he said back then...
"I'm hoping the craziness of the 80's was an aberration, even if it did put a lot of good broadcasters out of business and ruined the lives of many people. Bankers and investors have a spreadsheet mentality and what we've seen is an over-correction."
And his thoughts today?
That statement was a long time ago and a lot of water under the bridge since then, let alone my memory of those days.
I think I was saying that during the depth of the 1990-1994 recession and credit crunch is that banks and some, but not all, investors over-reacted both when things were booming and then during the bust. Sort of like todays housing crisis, the banks approved loans when there was no clear evidence that the debt could be serviced. In the banks defense, the Fed beat them up so bad and it was our own government that made that crisis worse, just like today. So good people suffer. Thank God I had secondary lenders, Brian McNeill and Bill Egan, who stuck with me during that crisis.
I sold my company, Fuller-Jeffrey, in 1999, to my good friend Larry Wilson at Citadel. I was living in Newburyport, Massachusetts then, my wife and I were helping take care of my elderly parents, so in 1998 I bought the local radio station, WNBP. I started my career as a 16 year old DJ at WNBP the day the station went on the are, March 10, 1957. I sold it in 2004 and we moved back to Portland, Maine and Palm Springs, California. You can guess the seasons.
After my non compete was up with Citadel, my friend and former business partner, the great JJ JEFFREY, invited me to come back into Portland, Maine radio, so this time I became the 49% owner of his Atlantic Coast Radio, which owns 3 FM's and 2 AM's. I am not involved in day to day or any management of JJ's stations however. This is his turn to do what he wants, for 25 years he listened to my BS when I was in control of Fuller-Jeffrey, now it's his turn, and he deserves it.
I still believe in radio and I think it will be the centerpiece, the foundation, the control center for all the other stuff that is here and on the way. However, Wall Street pressure has eliminated so many promotion budgets (when did you see your last bumper strip, tv ad, billboard, etc) that it is a factor that takes radio out of peoples minds, and then there is a negative snowball effect.
I miss the people in the radio business, one of the reasons I still go to most NAB conventions, but I gotta keep up on what's going on and The Broadcasters Foundation breakfast in Las Vegas is always a must do. It's a great organization that has helped so many of our brothers and sisters in the Radio-TV biz, people who are really in need.
Bob Fuller can be reached at bob@bobfuller.us
Here's a flashback quiz for you. Who do you think was on the first ever cover of Radio Ink magazine in 1992? Was it:
Lowry Mays
Reed Hundt
Jimmy DeCastro
Bill Clark
E-mail your guess to edryan@radioink.com or leave your guess below...
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