Nebraska Broadcasting Pioneer John Mitchell Dies

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The former owner of Mitchell Broadcasting died at the age of 89 on Friday while dining with family and friends. While attending college in 1924, Mitchell worked as an announcer for KGFW and would up purchasing the station in 1953. He moved to Omaha in 1968 and later purchased KRCB in Council Bluffs and other stations through the years. Mitchell was inducted into the Nebraska Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 1996 and in 2013 was honored with the Broadcast Pioneer Award from the University of Nebraska College of Journalism and Mass Communications and the Nebraska Broadcasters Association. Read more HERE. (Picture courtesy Nebraska Broadcasters Association.)

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Armada Media Purchases Eight in Nebraska

5-3-13

Armada Media announced the acquisition of eight stations in Nebraska, two FM?s in North Platte market (KZTL & KRNP) and six stations in the Scottsbluff market (KMOR-FM, KETT-FM, KOZY-FM, KHYY-FM, KOAQ-AM & KOLT-AM).  Armada is acquiring the stations from GI Hometown Family / Legacy Broadcasting. 

Included in the transaction GI is acquiring Armada?s two stations (KMTY-FM &  KUVR-AM) in Holdrege, NE.  Armada Media President and CEO Chris Bernier said, ?This is a perfect fit for Armada, with the addition of two FM?s to our cluster in North Platte we now have five stations in the market (Four FM?s and an AM) and gives us the dominate position we?ve been striving for.  Also, we add a market we?ve been looking at for a long time in Scottsbluff, we?ve believe there is tremendous growth potential in the market.?  An LMA began on the stations immediately.  Armada now operates 37 radio stations in 7 states in the Midwest.

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Nebraska Cluster Generates $250K in Digital Revenue

by Carl Magnuson

Fast Facts:
4 stations in Lincoln, Nebraska (#171)
Been streaming for 9 months
$250,000 in streaming revenue on the books for 2011
55% local direct / 45% agency
80% of clients resign 6 month minimum contracts

I wander the digital streets (or wilderness depending on your perspective) daily and I have not found a radio group that is as progressively minded and as successful than NRG?s Lincoln Nebraska cluster helmed by GM Andy Ruback. I asked Andy two questions, ?How did you do it?? and ?What?s next??

Andy is a pragmatic GM. His answer was the following questions?
- How do I make these streams a profit center?
- How do I create a compelling experience for listeners?
- How do I do it with my current staff?
First he rallied the entire staff. Programming, traffic, promotions, production and sales all were brought in and made to understand what was at stake, what each department?s responsibilities were and what the overall team objective was. Second he made the decision that if this is going to work it has to be similar to what the group?s established sales reps are used to selling and what their clients are used to buying - namely high frequency over a long period of time. He also made the decision that the relationships his sales people had with clients were too valuable and that if selling digital was going to work it couldn?t be with a dedicated digital rep - his current reps HAD to be the ones to make it move. So it had to be an easy and attractive package for them to take to clients. Having a single package available to clients also eased things for traffic and production.

Thirdly the streams couldn?t have PSA?s, bonus spots or anything that might turn a listener off. In response programming created unique :30, :60 and 2:00 content vignettes. They included bits from DJ?s, shorter versions of songs, interviews with artists, etc? That unique content not only keeps listeners from leaving during breaks but incentivizes them to tune in. It adds value to the stream where a standard rebroad doesn?t.

?9 months into your streaming strategy and it?s clearly worked.? I then ask, ?So what?s next? How do you grow from here?? Andy states confidently, ?More streams. More formats. More unique local content available online and via mobile.?

At Convergence in 2009 I overheard a table saying, ?This is the wild west. There is a land grab happening. There are no rules.? I would agree that there are no/few rules (may the performance fee rules burn). However I would say the most fertile land lies beyond our industry?s current staked territory. If we had it Pandora wouldn?t be beating our ASS ? I mean AAS ? so bad.

NRG though is an example of a heritage broadcaster that has ventured out and successfully grabbed a piece of digital frontier and put up some real revenue.  But they know that there is even better and more resource rich land just a bit farther out. NRG is ahead of you and they aren?t stopping to look back. What are you going to do to catch them and compete?

Andy is happy to share his strategy with you. Email him at AndyR@BroadcastHouse.com

Carl Magnuson is a blogger for Radioink.com and Co-Creator and Director of Sales, Social Radio LLC. He can be reached via e-mail at thevoiceofcarl@gmail.com

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