At Least You're Not in The Newspaper Business

11-27-2012

There's certainly a silver lining for a radio industry that experiences low single digit growth every year. It's not the newspaper industry. Over the Thanksgiving day holiday, the newspaper industry reported advertising revenue dropped 5.1% from $5.56 billion in the third quarter of 2011 to $5.27 billion in the third quarter of 2012. National was down 10.4%, retail was down 6% and classifieds slipped 4.8%. Online ad revenues increased 3.6% from $733 million to $759 million.This is the 25th consecutive quarter revenue has declined for the newspaper business.

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Thanks for The Memories And You're Fired

5-16-2012

Excluding Jerry Lee of course, life can be difficult for stand-alone stations in major markets when there are clusters up the road that can do more with less and cut expenses and still operate during recessions. Independently owned WFNX has been competing in the Boston market for nearly 30 years. Until yesterday that is, when Stephen Mindich notified his staff he was selling to Clear Channel. He then fired 17 of the 21 employees. Mindich said, "Despite its celebrated history, its cutting edge programming , its tradition of breaking new music, its ardent fans among listeners and advertisers, for some time it has been difficult to sustain the station  -- especially since the start of the Great Recession." Read the entire Mindich memo below.

Clear Channel owns four stations in the Greater Boston area, including WXKS-FM (KISS 108), WJMN-FM, WXKS-AM and WKOX-AM. Clear Channel CEO John Hogan said, "This was a great opportunity to expand our footprint and our listenership in Boston, a key market with millions of fans who love radio as much as we do. We look forward to adding 101.7 to our Boston broadcasting family." The purchase price between the two parties was not announced.

More coverage on the story HERE and HERE

Here is the memo Mindich putting an end to it all at WFNX-FM
Dear Members of the PM/CG Family:

Because this is an emotional announcement to make, let me cut right to the chase. This morning I met with the staff of WFNX  to announce the pending sale of the station to Clear Channel Communications.

Over the years, WFNX has done spectacular things. Since 1983 the station has played an historic role in bringing new music to audiences in and around Boston. We introduced Nirvana and Pearl Jam to wider audiences in 1991. Together with the Boston Phoenix we staged the notorious Green Day concert at the Hatch Shell in 1994. Three years later, FNX and the Phoenix organized a group reading and broadcast of Allen Ginsberg?s controversial poem Howl, featuring talents as varied as rocker Peter Wolf and Poet Lauriat Robert Pinsky, along with civil liberties attorney Harvey Silverglate and me. We?ve formed creative partnerships with local museums and many other important not-for-profit organizations such as the AIDS Action Committee. In addition, for years we broadcast One In Ten, the only program on a commercial radio station in the nation dedicated to the issues and lifestyles of the GLBT community. And throughout it all, FNX has continued to break new music, most recently the work of Foster the People, Fun, and Gotye -- to name just three. 

Here comes the catch....

Despite its celebrated history, its cutting edge programming , its tradition of breaking new music, its ardent fans among listeners and advertisers, for some time it has been difficult to sustain the station  -- especially since the start of the Great Recession.

And that is why the station is being sold.

The mechanics of the situation are this:

WFNX will the file the paperwork necessary to trigger the license transfer with the Federal Communication Commission later today.

WFNX will remain on the air during the time it takes to complete the FCC process.

Events and concerts -- such as the Best Music Poll (June 13th) and the Seaport Six (June 14th) -- will take place as scheduled. The best place to get news about the last round of FNX happenings will be to stay tuned to the station itself.

In closing, let me salute the scores of immensely talented and dedicated staff who sold the ads, promoted the events, programmed and played the music, and did so many other things that made WFNX a national force in modern rock and -- most important of all -- a force, an outlet, and a sponsor for the music that defined Boston for nearly 30 years. It was a great run and I will miss the station.

Thank you all,

Stephen M. Mindich

(5/18/2012 3:54:44 AM)
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(5/17/2012 12:14:52 PM)
I can't imagine such a short viewed person. The people on that station made it worth listening to, for those who did. If he had any decency, he would leave the stsation intact, even down to the janitor, as it was turned over to its new owners. Clear Channel would likely given them the boot, but maybe not. Point is, don't wreck it as you turn it over.

'My' station was done that way... Owner died, someone new took over, and got rid of everybody. She had no knowledge of broadcasting, but insisted she knew more than anybody there. The station is not being 'profitable'. But SHE got her way.

(5/17/2012 11:23:39 AM)
Don't know the station. Don't know the personalities. Don't know the market. Don't know the owner's circumstances.
I do wonder, however, if the station could deliver some decent Books and how well their ad-clients made out.
I mean, there's nothing like boxcar numbers and deliriously happy advertisers to keep an outfit trundling along quite nicely.
(5/17/2012 11:05:16 AM)
Stephen Mindf*ck does it again!
(5/17/2012 10:34:46 AM)
It is sad to see another great independent station sold off as well as talented people out of work. My prayers for everyone to be well. It was a great run! Thank you!

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(DIGITAL) Klout: Think You're So Important

Do you obsess over your Klout score as much as you do your PPM numbers?  It?s highly doubtful you do, and I?d be worried if you did.  But for many in the socially-savvy world, this number claiming to represent how much influence you have, how much of a rock star you are in your social circles, has become quite the game, if not an all-out obsession.

If you?re on a mission to figure out just how a Klout score is calculated, good luck.  That?s an ongoing head-scratcher within the social marketing industry and frankly, it?s been one reason this score is taken by many with a far above-average grain of salt.  The conundrum is, if you don?t know what this score is based on, how can you take action steps that will get your Klout number up? 

The best thing we know how to do is to a) focus on quality of fans and followers vs. quantity.  Inactive, spamming or non-engaged fans are going to hurt you, and can be weeded out with a variety of tools such as contaxio and TwerpScan.  b) We also know that if your tweets are retweeted and your posts are shared, your score goes up.  As always, good content is the baseline ingredient for that.  So there?s the ?magic? formula, get a lot of followers who are genuinely into you, and give them content that?s good enough to share.

All well and good, but what does a Klout score really mean?  According to a new report by Brian Solis of The Altimeter Group, not that much.  He says Klout and other tools like it, such as PeerIndex, don?t measure influence.  They only measure the capacity to influence.  Solis defines digital influence as ?causing effect, changing behavior, and driving measurable outcomes.?  He says these scoring tools don?t take into account how complex influence is or the nature of relationships within social networks.

PeerIndex responded to the study saying that?s just a matter of semantics, essentially asserting the capacity to influence IS influence.  Solis says there are 3 pillars of influence, reach, resonance and relevance that determine how a brand or person can affect their social network.  He doesn?t believe Klout scores address the subtleties of these three things.  The danger is that brands will go running down the rabbit hole chasing a Klout score, while at the same time missing the human relationship elements that actually drive one person to influence another person to take specific action?such as listen to your radio station.

So what are your takeaways?  Don?t worry about Klout or PeerIndex scores.  BUT?do worry about the things that make them go up or down.  The quality of a social network fan or follower is more important than the quantity.  This goes against our radio mindset in which a warm body is a warm body, and that?s all we need.  Social is not passive entertainment like radio listening, and your fans should be actively engaged with you.  If none of their friends ever see them interacting with or mentioning your station, they are of little value.  And, in order to get your fans to interact with and mention your station, they have to be getting really, really good content from you.  They?re not going to mention you out of charity. 

When you?ve earned and built a virtual army of deeply devoted fans ready to leap into action whenever you put out the call, that?s when you?ll have influence.

Mike Stiles is a brand content specialist with the social marketing tech platform, Vitrue. Check out his monologue blog, The Stiles Files & follow him @mikestiles

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SOCIAL Even If You're Still In...You're Not In Radio

1-19-2012

It?s getting hard to be a purist.  We all know them; the vaunted champions of pushing an audio signal out of a tall stick to a limited area.  I?ll bet some reading this blog right now remember getting physically excited, adrenaline racing, because they were able to pick up a Detroit AM in Charlotte in the middle of the night.

Radio.  So ingrained in us.  Such a significant part of our lives and who we are as professionals.  If someone on the other side of a crowded room utters the word, ?radio,? our ears perk up and we seek out the source.  That?s how much radio has meant to us.  And for a lot of us, myself included, we knew from a very young age radio is all we ever wanted to do.

So what was your reaction when you heard Clear Channel is dropping the word ?radio? from its name?  They will now be ?Clear Channel Media and Entertainment.?  Is CC turning its back on our industry?  What does it mean when the largest radio company among us, one that still operates around 850 broadcast stations, drops the word ?radio??  And considering that despite all the griping about Clear Channel, radio groups have generally followed where Clear Channel has led (welcome aboard iHeartRadio Cumulus and Greater Media!)?is this the beginning of the end for ?radio?? 

CEO Bob Pittman said this, ''I've watched as Clear Channel Radio has pushed beyond the traditional boundaries of radio to reach more Americans every month than any other media company.  We are taking our brands and content wherever our listeners expect to find it."

How sad am I?  Not very.  I never got into radio because I was excited by a broadcast tower.  I got into radio because I wanted to make people laugh and feel better every day in whatever town I wanted to live in.  Radio was the only outlet that let me do that.  I?m grateful to it.  But like any child who must eventually leave the parent that raised them, entertainers must be willing to build on the medium where they honed their skills and embrace the worlds that lie ahead.

That doesn?t mean I don?t have concerns.  I think the concept of local advertisers being able to market on local shows hosted by trusted, local personalities was the root cause of radio?s success.  Sadly, it was the first concept radio ditched.  But God bless the new mediums, which sets the stage for the return of those personalities and shows.  If you?re a morning guy who?s always griping because you only get to talk over ramps, you can have your own talk show on the digital side, promoted via the station?s social streams.  If you?re not doing that, why not?

I?ve written often about how talent must explore what outlets in addition to radio are available to them.  And I?ve written often about allowing radio to evolve into whatever it?s going to be next.  Nothing stays the same, especially nothing dealing in technology.  I LIKE replacing radio with ?Media and Entertainment.?  It?s bigger.  Done right, it offers more opportunities, more innovation, more revenue, more talent, more youth, more energy?all good things. 

You are so much more than the limits of your stick.  Yes, if your game is playing wall-to-wall music over a broadcast tower that listeners can get anywhere else, and with no quality local talent, you?re staring into an abyss.  But for those who truly know how to engage, entertain and inform, radio is now limitless.

Mike Stiles is a writer/producer with the social marketing tech platform, Vitrue, and head of Sketchworks comedy theatre. Check out his monologue blog, The Stiles Files.

Find him on Facebook or on Twitter @mikestiles

(1/20/2012 6:45:50 AM)
"I’ll bet some reading this blog right now remember getting physically excited, adrenaline racing, because they were able to pick up a Detroit AM in Charlotte in the middle of the night."

It's much more difficult now, with Bob Struble and his cohorts destroying the nighttime coverage of a number of AM stations. Very sad what they have done to our glorious AM radio. WLW has always been a favorite, but WOR's hash destroys their coverage. So much for the truckers who once enjoyed Trucker Network from WLW around the country. This situation is criminal.

(1/19/2012 6:42:46 PM)
I think this is a big ado about nothing. How many radio conglomerates actually have the word "radio" in their official name? And I don't think anybody has ever considered Clear Channel a "purist".

When Eric Rhoads changes the name of his magazine to "Pandora Ink", then we'll have a problem!

(1/19/2012 4:24:22 PM)
There should be no question that watching the direction Clear Channel is choosing to move is very interesting. In fact, watching the differences between Clear Channel and Cumulus is very interesting as well. While these two companies don't represent all of radio, they are making choices for different reasons and have their specific strategy because they feel it will lead to success in the new future.

For rank and file employees, now IS the time to begin looking at additional opportunities or even alternative opportunities where you can grow and have successful ownership careers in forms of content that you create.

We are now entering a new era of change that will reward those personalities and content providers who can think beyond and work beyond the current falling away limits that some might affectionately call "old school media."

Consumers are being met with new choices every day. Your thoughts on what you love about radio should be dead-on for many of us. It is about being able to contribute. It's also about making a good living and getting ahead in the balance of your working years.

I applaud you for saying it. This is the time to review where you are going and make the most of your career. It is time to embrace change and opportunity that change will create.

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