EZvoiceworks Blog

Recent news in Inside Radio reads…

Station sales down 25% last year

There were 747 deal closings in 2008 according to the Inside Radio database, compared to 995 in 2007.

This got me to wondering what other radio, marketing and music business pros had to say about the year ahead. I dropped an e-mail to some of my Facebook contacts asking for their comments and here are a few of the responses

Beginnings are a gift. They are an opportunity to put past disappointments behind us. They are a chance to tap new resolve. They allow us the prospect for renewal.

As we head into 2009, we will need to take advantage of all of this and more.

There are two generations now in the workforce that have yet to feel the effects of a significant recession in their working lives. While there certainly have been recessions in specific business sectors over the past 20 years, what we are looking at in 2009 is broad, deep and sustained.

These types of recessions can be brutal things. They force tough decisions every day. The demand focus and clarity all the time. And they test our resolve … regularly.

So what’s the best strategy for this environment? Well, it’s three-fold.

1. Focus. Our ability to focus as a company and as individuals on our most productive priorities will define our success in 2009. Because focus is the ability to spot change – whether a new opportunity or a potentially negative change in customer behaviors – and respond to it rapidly. Focus is the ability to get the job done amidst the uncertainty and distraction that a recession can bring. And ultimately, focus gives us the opportunity to succeed when others fail.
2. Resilience. The next year may well see once-strong competitors disappear. Recessions also upend cherished ways of doing business. And as we’ve already seen throughout the industry, recessions drive change that is fast and hard. Through all of this, it will be the ability to see the glass half full – to make the choice to focus on the opportunities instead of the losses – to keep coming back until interest is converted into action, that will define the winners in 2009. We will face continued challenges in the new year – and our ability to handle them with grace and resilience has never been more important.
3. Determination. This recession will beat many. There will be obstacles that competitors and colleagues alike will find insurmountable. That, simply, cannot be us. We have always been the company that leads our industries out of the difficulties. We have always been the company that outperforms the pack. In 2009, that same determination that has historically made us strong must sustain us again.

So as we celebrate this new beginning, please also know that you have the focus and resilience and determination of the entire executive team alongside you. You have the best resources in the industry at your disposal. You have the confidence and the support of everyone in this organization.

And you have my personal confidence that we will succeed together.

Mark Mays
Chief Executive Officer
Clear Channel
http://www.clearchannel.com/

For disclosure – you should know I work for the Clear Channel Little Rock, Arkansas cluster. Joe

There is always room for negativity. Have you noticed that? There’s always room to “pile on.” That is true on Wall Street and Main Street. That’s because of our human nature. People are drawn to negativity. If you don’t believe me, pop on line and look for positive news stories or watch CNN. Look for positive stories. Count both positive and negative stories.

Now remember FDR (since everyone is bringing him up anyway). What did he say? “All we have to fear is fear itself.” He showed us that we could turn to something other than fear, and that is what I am saying, too.

I urge us to always look at the history of cycles. What goes up does come down, and what goes down will return to the upright position.

We live in a time where a lot of people have questioned television and radio as “old and tired.” That’s okay. Why? Because over 90% of Americans spend time with radio. Most of us watch television. If I were “new media,” I would say bad things about “old media” too.

While there is always “new” and people are compelled to be negative (especially in something like an economic downturn), the underlying truth especially in the radio business is that it is:

1. Local.
2. And it works.

We have seen advertisers pull and run to new media only to return because of these important factors that set us apart. Radio gets results.

You’ve seen the same thing at Wall Street. Remember all the dot com companies and how they were killing the old companies (that made something called “profit”).

Sometimes the truth is just…the truth.

The sky is not falling. People listen to radio. The economy will get better.

Some broadcast companies think more consolidation is on the way, but you might be encouraged to find that the political wind is shifting.

Consolidating power into only a few hands is about to fall out-of-favor.

Economic disaster is the only thing that could keep consolidation on the path it has been on. And….Wall Street has fallen out of love with broadcasters. This puts more pressure on the broadcasters who are public. But…

Two things are taking place that will potentially HELP employees at radio and encourage radio going forward.

1. Economic issues are stressing broadcasters. If they are stressed enough, they will sell property (we are seeing this happen on a case by case basis). Once they sell, this creates new broadcasters focused on being local and being real.
2. The political environment is changing toward more regulation and less “cruise control” for business. That means accountability. Less rubber-stamping. More investigation.

Of course, economic issues can create terrible stresses for employees before it turns “better.” We are seeing a lot of layoffs and negative issues. However, the most important thing we can do is stay positive and make sure that our employers know that we have multiple values to their business while economic issues are creating stress upon them.

If you have a job in broadcasting today, think positively and look for ways to show you are valuable and open-minded. It will pay off for you.

The broadcast business will never return to what it once was. However, there is hope on the horizon that local communities will get focused radio that serves THEM more so than what happens now in different markets around the country.

I’m not saying that big companies don’t do things of the public interest. There are major broadcast companies committed to doing the right things. I am saying that when radio focuses on local, local, local, employees and local communities WIN. Always. More local companies or smaller (non-Wall Street) companies will make local more of the focus.

When many are focused on negativity about 2009, make a strong effort to REMAIN positive. Give the year a chance to develop into something positive. Stay “open.” After all, economy will shift up again. Radio is still the #1 way Americans come in contact with music. Radio is the #1 source for immediate impact. You can still believe in radio.

This could be the best year of your life. Look through those glasses and work to stay positive so we can build success upon success and prove the negative people wrong.

Happy New Year.

Loyd Ford
BoostMyRatings.com
StickyAsset.com

2009 maybe a tough year, but we will be successful if radio station owners/operators stop looking at their stock prices and running their stations like their is no tomorrow. They must operate like their IS a tomorrow.

With a focus on product and confidence in yourself and your team, radio on macro and micro level will not just survive, it will thrive.

Joel Denver
President/Publisher, AllAccess.com
AllAccess.com

Wheat And Chaff

2009 looks to be a pretty difficult year for the increasing numbers of unemployed in our business, but especially for the managers who will be hiring, knowing that they need nothing but the very best, most-productive workers more than ever right now.

People I have worked with in the past year they will encounter:

* The woman who was hired for one shift but even after two years in that shift kept trying to find ways to work different hours than the ones the shift requires.
* The person who still had an axe to grind for his termination from a previous employer and yet kept telling everyone in the halls of his current employer how much better it was on his old job.
* The major market talent who hired me as his coach and when I pointed out to him that he didn’t need a coach. He was plenty good enough exactly as is. He just needed to write original content every day rather than walking into the control room with nothing prepared, making it up as he went along. He fired me as his coach, hired another coach and now can’t understand why he was let go.
* The seller whose contract was not renewed because she hadn’t hit her goal for two years, and yet she now tells prospective employers “I can’t understand it; I was making ten calls every day.”
* The music director who didn’t like the direction the current music her format’s hits were going in, so she changed the current/gold balance of the station without telling her PD, who discovered the change in Mediabase and BDS after the bad ratings came out.
* That programmer is looking for a new job too.

Inside Radio’s “Keep Your Seats” (click here to read it) memo to us all at the New Year from Paul Harvey makes it all sound deceptively-simple after more than half a century of showing up at a radio studio in the wee small hours and working for at least three hours to write and create a five minute news and commentary, then staying around for another four to five hours to distill a 15 minute broadcast.

Eight hours of prep for 20 minutes on the air.

There’s a lesson in that.

Jaye Albright
http://www.albrightandomalley.com/
A 45-year broadcaster with experience in all areas of programming, research, sales and management. She is a partner with her longtime business associate Michael O’Malley in the world’s largest country consultancy, Albright & O’Malley.

I am expecting 2009 to be a great year for Black River Music Group. We are launching Sarah Darling, and continuing to work with Jeff Bates. Emma Jacobs is a talent that will be released in first quarter.

With all the negatives floating around about the industry, BRMG is trying many alternative ways to connect the consumer directly with the artist. We are looking to maximize our online presence, YouTube and other viral outlets. 2009 could be positive for all of those who use this time to re-evaluate the landscape of the industry and be willing to chance if necessary.

It isn’t your parent’s music biz.

Rick Baumgartner
Vice President of National Promotion
Black River Music Group

By Ed Salamon
Executive Director, Country Radio Broadcasters, Inc.
Nashville, TN

Radio “Kin’ Do It”

Dunkin’ Donuts announces a new $100 million ad campaign that will include radio as a key component. The ad features the tag line “You Kin’ Do It” and will feature motivational messages for dealing with the tough economy. The Hill Holiday campaign is scheduled to run through 2009.

I think the headline says it all. Radio can (and will) do it in 2009! This will be a good year.

Joe

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