He Says 50 Years Is Enough

6-26-14

Long-time Salem General Manager Chuck Gratner is retiring from the radio business as of July 1, after serving the industry for 50 years. Gratner has worked for Salem for the last 23 years managing the company's cluster in Pittsburgh. Gratner has worked at some very big stations during his storied radio career including KRLD, KCBI, and KLTY in Dallas, and KCRA TV/Radio and KROY in Sacramento. He was also part owner of KCNO in Grass Valley, CA. His first job was on-air at KNJO in Thousand Oaks, CA. During his 50 years in radio, Gratner has been on the air, he sold radio, he's programmed stations, he was a  GM and also a part-owner.

Salem Radio Division President David Santrella said, "Salem is blessed to have so many outstanding general managers taking care of business in our markets around the country, and Chuck has been one of our strongest for all these years. Chuck has earned his reward for a job well done, and we wish him many more years of success, only this time with a fishing rod instead of a radio tower."

Gratner will be replaced by the stations' General Sales Manager Tom Lemmon who has been with Salem in Pittsburgh almost 12 years. Salem Regional Operations VP Linnae Young said, "We have been so fortunate to have Chuck's wisdom and expertise all these years managing our stations in Pittsburgh. While Chuck will be sorely missed, we are pleased to have Tom in place in the market who has been working alongside Chuck all these years and is ready to take on this new responsibility."

Gratner's last day will be July 1. Reach out to him to congratulate him on a retirement well deserved gratner@wordfm.com

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

(SALES) It's Not Enough To Be "Liked"

7-29-2013

There is a difference between traffic, and the perception of traffic.

At Luce Performance Group, we deal with many advertisers and their advertising challenges. Here is one that I personally took on who expressed his frustration with Facebook. He wanted to know why his competition had more "likes" than him. This wasn't just a few more likes. We are talking 50,000 versus 5,000. He also said his competition almost never posts on Facebook, while he is posting several times a day.

This client was convinced that more likes and more posts on Facebook would mean more sales. He went as far as to hire a guy to set up a dedicated Facebook presence for his product. Using an aggressive marketing and like-building campaign, he has done well to grow his Facebook page. He directs the traffic to a specific domain so we know the sales came from Facebook. Thus far it?s been two months, 5,138 likes later, and not a single sale.

It?s possible to pay companies to get you thousands of likes. But those likes don't mean anything if they are set up by fake profiles, and people who really have no interest in your product.

Even if you were to get 50K real likes from people truly interested in your product, you only have their attention while you are at the top of their newsfeed. Five seconds later, photos of someone's cat pushes your product post down.

Due to the way Facebook is constructed they don't allow direct third party graphics and links. On other sites you could use a beacon image to track your open rates. This is similar to how e-mail newsletters are tracked. Even with e-mail newsletters you are lucky to hit 20 percent open rates.

Just think how you would feel if you posted something on Facebook and realized that of the 100K likes you have only 50 people saw it. Your ability to reach new customers is based on those 50 people commenting or liking your post so that all their friends are potentially exposed to it. If no one likes or comments on your post, then nobody sees it. Plus, on Facebook various advertisements are trying to get visitors' attention on the right-side column of the page.

Instead of chasing likes on Facebook, focus on your own Internet properties. Focus on developing quality content that will engage your visitors. Facebook should only be used as a way to drive people back to your website where you DO CONTROL the advertising. When you do post to Facebook post something interesting. Simply showing your product and saying "Buy Today" doesn?t get you far.

Keep these things in mind next time a client has focused the majority of their advertising budget on Facebook. Has your client actually measured the return on investment, or are they just buying advertising for the perception of traffic? 

Some will say that branding is important, and that is true, but branding is also expensive and can take months, if not years, to start showing signs of progress. Don't use branding as the excuse for why advertising with your property costs more than it returns to the advertiser.

If an advertiser does not get a return on investment, they are unlikely to keep advertising. A good advertising mix where you dominate the ?air? and the ?ground? is always the most advantageous when it comes to dominating your competition.

Paul White is the Head of IT for Luce Performance Group and can be reached at Paul@luceperformancegroup.com or www.luceperformancegroup.com.

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

Enough "We Need A New Story" Talk

Your piece on 12/4 about the radio industry needing someone to tell its story compelled me to chime in. Every time I hear some radio executive say ?Radio needs to reinvent itself,? I just want to hurl. Radio needs to sell what it is proudly, and keep the emphasis on our audience and what they can buy.

Let?s get over being a hat-in-hand backup media and sell radio as a primary media. Since 1978, I?ve sold radio on that basis with one little phrase ? ?Dollar for dollar and time for time ? if those two are equal, radio gets results equal to ? OR BETTER THAN ? any other media.?

To solve a problem, you must first identify what?s causing it. In radio?s case, we?re famous for these five things:
1)      Stations battling each other for a ?share? of every ad buy.
2)      Telling clients competing station?s audiences are ?bad? ? but theirs are ?good.?
3)      Selling radio to ?back up? TV and print campaigns to help them work better.
4)      Owners and managers near total failure to understand the importance of pricing integrity.
5)      Buying into the ?Zero Sum Game? ? if the client buys my station, I win and my competitor loses.

Social media is the new darling of the ad world and a new Pew Research study says 50 percent of U.S. adults are on Facebook, MySpace or Linkedin, while Arbitron research tells us that 92 percent of U.S. adults use radio every week ? and something like 87 percent use radio every day! 

For an advertiser, the real difference between social media and radio, besides radio?s huge audience advantage, is people HATE ads on social media, while they welcome ads on the radio! The problem we have is agencies and clients are drinking the Kool-Aid of ?proven delivery? and ?intangible results? being pandered to them with online, as opposed to mass reach and frequency that?s available every day using radio.

Somebody call the RAB. If they?re the ones charged with telling radio?s story, they need to replace ?the Optimum Effective Schedule? with ?dollar for dollar? before it?s too late!

Charlie Ferguson is the General Manager of Northern Broadcast and can be reached at charlie@wklt.com

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

Court Tells Broadcasters They Own Enough For Now

July 8, 2011

Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey says "Our goal is to become the industry's premier consolidator." For now that goal will have to be achieved under the current ownership rules in each local market. Yesterday, the  Third Circuit Court of Appeals voted to uphold the FCC's decision in late 2007 -- following its 2006 quadrennial rules review -- to retain the radio and TV ownership caps and subcaps. It's no secret the Cumulus team would like to see the government ownership rules loosened, and Dickey told Radio Ink last night ?The market for audio entertainment is more competitive than ever before with the addition of live streaming, satellite and podcasts. We remain optimistic that the rules governing ownership will evolve over time to more accurately reflect the new competitive landscape.?

CBS Broadcasting, Gannet and Clear Channel brought a suit arguing that the 2007 decision didn?t go far enough in eroding the cross-ownership ban and the FCC?s local media ownership rules. The Court sided against these parties, upholding the FCC?s existing local ownership limits on radio and TV stations.

The reaction from the NAB was tepid which indicates this is not a major priority for the trade organization. "There have been sweeping changes in the media landscape since most of the broadcast ownership rules were adopted decades ago," NAB EVP/Communications Dennis Wharton said in a statement. "NAB believes that modest reform of rules to allow free and local broadcasters to compete successfully in a universe of national pay TV and radio platforms is warranted." Many in radio would argue the opposite which is why the NAB statement is supportive of  more deregulation by not overly critical of the court ruling.

The court also rejected a loosening of the newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership ban approved by the commission,.saying then-FCC Chairman Kevin Martin did not allow enough time for public comment. The commission voted on the proposal about a month after Martin announced it in a New York Times editorial. The rule change would have allowed broadcast-newspaper combinations in the largest markets if certain conditions were met, but the new regulation was stayed by the Third Circuit shortly after it was adopted. The court has now remanded the matter back to the FCC.

"The commission is currently engaged in a statutorily mandated further review of its media ownership rules," FCC General  Counsel Austin Schlick said in a statement. "With an updated record and this supportive decision, the agency should be able to take appropriate steps to ensure that the nation's media marketplace remains healthy and vibrant."

The FCC is required by law to review media-ownership rules every four years. The 2010 review is still underway.

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

14 Years As A Sports PD In Atlanta Is Long Enough

After 14 years as the Program Director of Sports Talk 790 the Zone (WQXI) in Atlanta Matt Edgar turned in his gloves and spikes and called it a day. Edgar started out as a producer at the station and worked his up to program director. He's been replaced by Bob Richards. Our Atlanta Blogger Chadd Scott caught up with Edgar about his time in Atlanta. Here's Chadd's latest Blog Post.

In your 14 years with 790, what is the biggest change you've noticed at the station? 
Matt Edgar: Being bought out by a much larger radio company, Lincoln Financial Media, is by far the biggest change.  I don't think people truly realize what Steak Shapiro, Andrew Saltzman and Beau Bock did back in 1997.  They started a radio station from scratch...and in a large market!  It will never be duplicated again. 

How about with sports talk radio in general? 
Edgar: I started in this business 17 years ago I would have laughed at you if had told me how big FM sports talk would become. 

What are you most proud of having accomplished at 790? 
Edgar: Our annual Camp Twin Lakes Radiothon which is in its 5th year.  Our listeners have helped us raise over a million dollars and the awareness we've created has been sensational.  And how my guys handle it every year is the amazing part.  This is not your typical radio or TV fundraiser with sappy stories and boring time fillers. 
What do you wish you'd been able to accomplish that you were not? 
Edgar: Ratings!  790 The Zone never received the ratings it deserved.  We sold tens of millions of dollars in advertising, brought hundreds of thousands of our listeners out to events, BUT we never had much in the ratings column to show for it.  Very frustrating! 
RI: What is your favorite memory from your time there? 
Edgar: It seems silly and idealistic but that's easy.....the people.  We were a family and it is one of those special places, truly special places in the world.  My favorite memory is the people of 790 The Zone.   
RI: Why are you leaving now? 
Edgar: The past year I have commuted 130 miles round trip each day and I just couldn't do it anymore.  I now live in the country community of Sonoraville and love it!    
RI: What do you think should be the top priority for your replacement? 
Edgar: Giving the station some new sizzle.  My message started falling on deaf ears, much a like a coach who's been there too long.  Bob Richards will do a sensational job and I look forward to listening each and every day! 
RI: What do you see as the biggest coming trend in sports talk radio? 
Edgar: FM, FM, FM!  It is where sports talk belongs and as the results have shown, it works.  790 The Zone belongs on the FM dial as well. 
RI: What most concerns you about the industry? 
Edgar: Too much syndication and conglomeration.  This is not an original answer for sure but being in a big market for well over a decade I see it all the time.  No one wants to swing and miss anymore.  That was one of the fantastic things about Big League Broadcasting, the willingness to not be too afraid to try something new.  There is nothing wrong with failing.   
RI: What are your plans for the future? 
Edgar: I'm starting a website to cover the local sports scene up here in Sonoraville.  It is called SonoravilleSports.com.  We may be a smaller town but our high school sports appetite is as big as anyone's. 

 Chadd Scott is a blogger for Radio Ink from Atlanta. Follow him on Twitter @ChaddScott
or on Facebook

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here