Cumulus Q3 Revenue Flat. Q4 Looking Better

11-1-14

Cumulus' net revenues for July, August and September were $313.9 million compared to $314 million in 2013. Broadcast advertising revenue decreased by $12.5 million. Cumulus executives say that decrease was due to "ongoing weakness in several large local markets that began in the second quarter of 2014 (see next story). Local revenue was down 3.2%, national was up 2.8% and network revenue was flat. Q4 is pacing up for Cumulus with national pacing up double digits and local up in the low single digits. 2014 Political revenue should come in at about $19 million for Cumulus. The strongest categories were auto parts and auto after market. Weak categories included retail and financial services.

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Is Cumulus Looking to Grow in DC?

8-11-14

That's what DCRTV.com is reporting and the target may be Redskins owner Dan Snyder's Red Zebra Broadcasting. If it ever happens, that deal would eventually give Cumulus four additional signals in DC (WTEM's 980 AM, 92.7 FM, and 94.3 FM, and WSPZ's 570 AM). Cumulus now owns news talker WMAL, 105.9 FM and 630 AM, and CHR WRQX, 107.3 FM. Of course Cumulus would love to expand NASH into the DC market and DCRTV.com says Red Zebra's FM signals might be perfect for that.

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Broadcasters Foundation Looking For Guardians

12-4-2012

One of the most important organizations in broadcasting is reaching out for a few "guardians." The Broadcasters Foundation of America has helped so many of our colleagues during a critical time of their lives, some have fallen on very hard times. The organization couldn't be there for those broadcasters in need without the generous donations of so many of you.

Some broadcasters now being helped by the Broadcasters Foundation have had illustrious and successful careers until they were overtaken in the prime of their lives by sudden catastrophic illness or a debilitating stroke for which their families were ill-prepared. Incredibly and sadly, many were without health insurance or government assistance of any kind. Some almost destitute. Your support also helps assist widows struggling to hold shattered families together following the untimely death of a spouse.

If you can, please support the work of the Broadcasters Foundation so they can keep doing the incredible work they do for our colleagues by making a donation today.

Please send whatever you can to the national office in New York City c/o our President Jim Thompson.
Here is the address:

THE BROADCASTERS FOUNDATION of AMERICA
Guardian Fund
125 W# 55th Street
New York, NY  10019
#Individual and Corporate contributions are fully deductible and may be made to the Guardian Fund of the Broadcasters Foundation of America, the broadcasting industry's officially certified and registered 501#c# 3 national Public Charity.#

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Report: Auto Sales Looking Strong in August

8-26-2012

The Detroit Free Press reports there's a lot of optimism around Detroit for the second half of 2012. It appeared as if auto sales were tapering off but the paper has several optimistic quotes about the auto market. J.D. Power and Associates Senior V.P. John Humphrey said, "August continues this summer's trend of healthy growth in retail sales as dealers work to sell down inventory in time to make room for 2013 models."

Ron MacEachern is a GM for several dealerships. He's quoted as saying, "The market growth is very, very steady." The paper says U.S. consumers are on track to buy 1.3 million vehicles in August, or 16 percent more than a year ago. That would translate to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 14.5 million -- the strongest pace for any month this year. Automotive website Edmunds.com also is projecting a selling rate of 14.5 million.

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Ryvicker: Radio Looking "Flattish" in Q2

7-26-2012

It wasn't too long ago the industry was hopeful a big political year would start a revenue resurgence for radio. It appears, buoyed by the Olympics and Political spending, TV is getting more of a lift than radio. We'll soon get a good feel for the first half of 2012 as earnings season is now upon us. Journal reports today, Beasley tomorrow, followed by Clear Channel, Radio One and Entercom next week. Early indications have the month of June looking like a downer.

Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker says from her conversations with operators they saw "deep deceleration toward the end of June, bringing their revenue down year over year." In a recent research report, Ryvicker added, "we heard very divergent pacings from radio groups - but almost all would agree that June felt a slowdown. The stocks appear cheap and we think there is room for shareholder returns but the macro is an overhang."

It will be interesting to hear what Radio One CEO Alfred Liggins has to say when he reports one week from today. When he last reported to Wall Street, Liggins said May revenue was pacing "off the charts." But in June he told all Radio One employees there would be no raises for the year. Radio One changed several formats in 2011 and Liggins, who took over the Radio division when Barry Mayo left, is expecting those formats to produce this year.  Radio One reports second quarter results, Thursday August 2nd at 10AM.

In addition to the Journal conference call today at 10AM, here are when other public companies will be hosting earnings conference calls.
Beasley reports Friday, August 27th at 11AM
Clear Channel reports Wednesday, August 1st at 4:30PM
Entercom reports Friday August 3rd at 10AM
Salem reports Monday, August 6th at 5PM
Saga reports Tuesday, August 7th at 2PM

Emmis has already reported. Revenue was up slightly for the company.

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(DIGITAL) Looking At Radio From The Digital Side

7-16-2012

By Chris Miller

Going on vacation is a great chance to think about things from a new perspective. I've been on vacation for two weeks, so I've been doing a LOT of thinking!  Here are a few thought-starters from a former PD who's been on the digital side for a couple of years.

WE'RE STILL HUNG UP ON DELIVERY

Radio comes from the day when each medium got delivered in a different way. You turned on a radio receiver to hear a station. You cranked up your phonograph to play a record. You went to the theater to see a movie. Eventually, you turned on a television to watch a program. Now, you just need your phone.

This means you compete not only with other local broadcasters, you compete with media from all over the world for time on people's phone. Radio's advantage is that we have established quality brands with heritage and fans that like us. We have professional programmers and entertainers. I still hear a lot of radio people put their heads in the sand and say that Pandora, Stitcher, Spotify, and other new forms of audio entertainment aren't radio. News flash: They're radio if our fans are using them like radio. It doesn't matter if they have a transmitter or not. It also doesn't seem to matter if they have the usual trappings of radio or not.

NEW MEDIA MOVES VERY FAST

Almost every new form of online entertainment is working in a world where dramatic change is a constant. To thrive in the new media world, you can't be unfocused, unmemorable, or under-capitalized.

If online forms of entertainment cause listeners' expectations or needs to change, that would affect our industry. I'm not sure we're thinking about that. There's a saying, "Don't fall in love with your tools."  We risk being left behind if we define ourselves by established practices rather than by super-serving the changing, brand-relevant entertainment needs of our fans.

THE MOMENT OF TUNE-IN

If I turn on any commercial radio station, there's a 15-20 percent chance that I'll be in time to hear commercials, and that often means minutes of content that has nothing to do with why I tuned in in the first place. Once upon a time, that was the way of the world with any entertainment, and I would just wait patiently. Now ? not so much. Online services I listen to, like Stitcher and Pandora, have changed my expectations of how long I need to wait before being satisfied.

This is an example of what I mean about new media changing the world. If I've come to realize that I don't have to wait to enjoy other forms of entertainment.  I might just get on my phone and start checking voicemail instead of listening to five minutes of commercials.

I don't know what the solution is for this one. How we pay for our product is based on habits of the past, a world that was less time-pressured and media-segmented than the one we live in now. We know from PPM numbers that listening does drop when commercials come on. We don't know how much listening we lose from folks who don't hang around long enough to be measured. Our industry has a lot of great brands, but we have to figure out how to win the Battle of the Moment of Tune-In.

Chris Miller has been a major-market PD in Atlanta, Portland and Cleveland. He now operates Chris Miller Digital, which he launched. Visit his website at www.chrismillerdigital.com.
Contact Chris via e-mail, chris@chrismillerdigital.com or 216-236-3955.

For more articles from Chris Miller go HERE.

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Miami Sports Station Looking for New PD

7-8-12

Beasley Market Manager Joe Bell confirms that WQAM Program Director Lee Feldman is leaving the station in two weeks and he's looking for a replacement. Until a permanent PD is hired Andy King will be filling in.

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(AUDIO) New Company Gives Salespeople Exactly What They've Been Looking For

12-14-2011

Part of radio's problem has always been that we can never be totally sure an ad we played drove a specific consumer to purchase a specific product. Sure we try to produce anecdotal survey information or ask an advertiser if sales increased month over month. But how many times have you heard the story of a consumer who purchased a product after hearing a TV ad yet the ads only ran on radio. Serial entrepreneur Tom Burgess (pictured), with VC backing, has launched a company that gives radio salespeople specific data that shows advertisers exactly how many consumers respond to an ad. It's the information salespeople have always wanted, solid proof that radio advertising works. Of course the ad still has to be well produced and the offer from the advertiser has to move the consumer to action.

Here's how the new technology works. When an ad runs on your station, if the listener is interested in the product he or she interacts with that ad, for example by sending a text or short code. The offer or discount made in the ad is automatically added to the consumers credit card once your listener goes shopping. It's an instant rebate, without the mailing, without any paper to fill out and without any coupon scanning. It's the listener interacting with the ad.

Burgess has solidified relationships with all the major banks and credit card companies. Nothing needs to be done by anyone at the checkout counter. Once the campaign is over linkablenetworks provides you with the data of how the campaign worked, which you can then show the advertiser. Private information such as credit card information is never shared. You can take that data to the advertiser and say 50 people or 100 people or 1,000 responded directly to your ad this week. Of course, this also puts a little pressure on you to make sure the ads are well done, make a great offer and move people to action.

Bain is a financial backer of the 2-year old company. And, just an FYI, there is no cost to you to use the technology.

Here's our interview with Burgess who explains in more detail how the technology works.
Read more about Linkablenetworks.com HERE

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MIW Mentoring Program Looking For 3 Motivated Women

After witnessing what the MIW mentoring program does, at the Radio show in Chicago, women interested in advancing in radio should not waste another minute reaching out to this organization. We would advise any women interested in advancing in radio to take apply for this program as soon as possible. Only 3 candidates will be chosen. There is no doubt women who enter the mentoring program will have access to some of the most successful minds in our industry. It's a rare opportunity to learn from radio executives who have paid their dues, made mistakes and gained success. They will provide 3 very lucky individuals with insight that can never be learned in any textbook.

This is the 11th year of the mentoring program, which matches up-and-coming women in the radio industry with female professionals who are leaders in all aspects of radio. "This is a wonderful opportunity for mentees to gain valuable insight, knowledge and access to some of the most influential women in radio," said Lindsay Cerajewski, Chair of the 2012 MIW Radio Group's Mentoring committee and General Sales Manager at CBS Radio?s WUSN-FM in Chicago. ?We look forward to another outstanding program in 2012."

Three candidates from the radio broadcasting industry will be selected for the 2012 program.  For mentee criteria and instructions on how to apply, please go to www.radiomiw.com. The deadline is Friday, October 28th. The program is named in the memory of Mildred Carter (pictured), who, along with her husband, Andrew "Skip" Carter, founded the first African American owned radio station in the U.S. in 1950, when they turned on KPRS Kansas City, Missouri.  Mrs. Carter ran the Carter Broadcast Group for many years after the death of Skip Carter, before turning over control of the company to her grandson, Michael Carter in 1987.

The Mentoring and Inspiring Women in Radio Group (MIW) is dedicated to using its influence and resources to support women in radio to develop strong management and leadership skills. The MIWs are equally committed to advocating the advancement of women to senior positions in radio companies and corporations.

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Looking to Advance Your Radio Career?

When a GM or a PD tells an applicant that the radio station has received "hundreds of resumes and packages," that may well be true. But it did NOT hear from hundreds of potential employees. What that station did receive was hundreds of terribly crafted resumes, awful audio, and cover letters filled with poor grammar, bad spelling, deceptive statements, and outright lies.

I recently advertised for two separate positions. We were looking for a staff member on our FM and a staff member on our AM. These were two different positions, with completely different job descriptions.

I received 73 packages for one of those positions and 66 for the other. Nineteen of those were duplicates. The same person applying for both positions, never realizing that they were applying to the same company. Despite the fact that the job descriptions were vastly different, these 19 people sent exactly the same package for both jobs.

Hence this article.
Here are the five worst things you can do when trying to score that awesome radio gig.

1. Shotgun your package to dozens of openings, hoping something sticks. This is HUGE. I know it's tough out there, but sending the same package over and over to every advertised opening is not the way to get noticed. As hiring managers, we see through this, especially when we have seen your package before -- same letter, same audio -- same everything. This brings us to...

2. GENERIC PACKAGES. If I have an opening for a sports play-by-play person, I need to hear play-by-play audio. If you don't have it, you aren't going to get the job. It just isn't going to happen. And a generic cover letter isn't going to get it done, either. I judge EVERY package based on the cover letter first. So do most hiring managers I know. It is your first impression. This brings us to....

3. Badly written cover letters. If you have bad grammar, bad spelling, etc., that makes us think that you are lazy, and we won't hire you. If you do not know to whom you are sending the package, it's OK to address it to "Hiring Manager" or something generic. I would PREFER that you take the time to read the job announcement and do some research. If I put my name and e-mail address on the announcement, I expect a personalized letter. That doesn't mean I want you to stalk me. Which brings us to....

4. Friending me on Facebook. DO NOT DO THIS! This does not make you stand out, and it does NOT make us think that you have creativity and aggressive awesomeness. It makes us think that you are stalking us and won't leave us alone if we don't hire you. If I don't know you already and I get a friend request after seeing your name in the pile of resumes, it creeps me out. If your audio is no good, it won't help that you did this. And if your audio is awesome, I don't need you to do this. I will remember you. Which brings us to the worst thing you can do when looking for a job....

5. Sending bad or irrelevant audio. I am going to lay some truth on you. I know that we have all been hit by layoffs and firings and cutbacks. But it is my opinion that talented people will find something eventually -- and the vast majority of the packages that I and ALL of my PD and GM friends receive are rejected because the applicant is simply not talented. Do yourself a favor, send your audio to someone you trust who will tell you the TRUTH about your aircheck. Do this before you send your package to a potential employer. The first 30 seconds of your audio will tell me all I need to know. If I am still listening after one minute, it goes in the good pile.

Also, make sure your audio is relevant. As I said above, if the opening is for a PBP guy, then send PBP audio. If the opening is for a morning host, we need to hear you doing breaks that show that kind of skill. If the job is for a production director, we need to hear production! I know this seems simple, but I can tell you that more than 75 percent of the airchecks I received for these two openings had those issues and were rejected immediately.

Why did I write this article today? I want to help you. Also, I want to help all of the hiring managers out there who have to sift through e-mail after e-mail from applicants who will never be hired because of these simple issues.

Let me conclude with HARD numbers.

Of the 139 packages I received, I ended up with nine potential candidates who fit the criteria and had good, well designed packages with good audio. Of those nine, only three of them interviewed well. Which leads me to the next article: How to screw up a phone interview.

Good luck in your job search, but remember: Finding that right gig is 80 percent luck. GETTING that gig is all on you.

(8/17/2011 12:18:49 PM)
This is GREAT. I wish I could just respond to every candidate that sends me a resume/demo with your article! I fully AGREE with you.

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NAB Looking For HD Radio Nominees

On July 1st, The National Association of Broadcasters will open the nomination process for the NAB HD Radio Multicast Award, which recognizes creative and compelling digital programming. The deadline is July 31. Established in 2007, the award recognizes an HD Radio multicast station at the forefront of creating unique, innovative or groundbreaking programming. The award will be presented during the 2011 Radio Show, September 14-16, in Chicago.

Previous award recipients include KBCO-FM Denver's "The Studio C Channel;" WRIF-FM Detroit's "Riff2;" WHUR-WORLD, an extension of Howard University's WHUR-FM; WAMU-FM for its Bluegrass Country station, 88.5-2; and WSTW-FM in Delaware, MD for its 93.7-2 "Graffiti Radio" channel. Stations must submit their entry online at http://www.nab.org/hdaward/ beginning July 1 and may contact Melek Demir at mdemir@nab.org or 202-775-3511 for additional information.

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