What’s Wrong With The Clock?
This past week the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), along with owners and operators of AM radio stations, were all taking bows when the Ford Motor Company reversed its decision to remove AM radio from ALL of its vehicles in 2024.
I don’t mean to rain on AM radio’s parade but something just doesn’t feel right about this quick change of heart. Let’s review the last five weeks.
April 1, 2023
News broke in the Detroit Free Press that Ford Motor Company planned to stop putting AM radio in both new gas-powered vehicles as well as electric vehicles beginning in 2024.
This sounded like it was an April Fool’s joke. However, Ford executives explained that “a majority of U.S. AM stations, as well as a number of countries and automakers globally, are modernizing radio by offering internet streaming through mobile apps, FM, digital and satellite radio options.” Ford said they planned to offer all of these alternatives for their vehicle owners so they could continue to hear their favorite AM radio station stations.
The Push-back
Alex Siciliano, senior vice president for communication at the NAB quickly responded to the news by saying, “we are certain that Ford does not want to alienate the nearly 48 million Americans who listen to AM radio, and we’ll continue to work closely with the Alliance for Automotive Innovation and individual manufacturers to keep this important service in cars.”
The NAB was joined by Massachusetts Senator Edward Markey and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioner Nathan Simington in urging automakers to keep AM radio in all vehicles, whether they be gas-powered or electric.
Then seven former administrators of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) wrote a letter to the Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg, about how the removal of AM radio from cars will represent a grave threat to future local, state, and federal disaster response and relief efforts.
Ford Is Not The First OEM Who Thinks AM is Past Its Use-By Date
Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) around the world are always looking towards the future, building cars and trucks equipped with what demands will be three to five years from now.
BMW, Mazda, Polestar, Rivian, Telsa, Volkswagen and Volvo have all removed AM radio from their electric vehicles.
FM vs AM Listening
AM (Amplitude Modulation) radio was invented the early 1900s. FM (Frequency Modulation) radio was invented in the 1930s. The shift in listening from AM to FM started in the early 1960s and by the late 70s, FM radio listenership eclipsed AM.
In June 2015, I wrote on this blog about AM Radio & Streaming Radio. I completed a 3,000 mile road trip consisting of listening to AM radio for the first 1,500 miles, and streaming radio the second 1,500 miles. I wrote:
Small signal AM radio stations primarily identify themselves with their FM translator dial position (How’s that saving AM radio?). The “pups” are mostly syndicated, automated, religious, sports or Spanish. They aren’t very engaging, which is probably a good thing if you’re driving usually because you don’t care when you lose the signal. Oh, and just try to hear their translator FM signal; forgetaboutit.
The 50,000 watt signals on AM, like WOWO in Ft Wayne, Indiana, WJR in Detroit, Michigan, WLW in Cincinnati, Ohio and KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania are in another universe when it comes to radio programming.
While listening to WOWO, I heard a powerful morning show that was fun, engaging and tuned into the Ft Wayne area. WJR told me about Frankenmuth, Michigan while their midday show was broadcasting live from this unique resort town on the great lakes. WLW was talking about how the Cincinnati police were getting body cameras and how they were loaning them to the news folks in Cincinnati to wear and learn how they work. It was fascinating radio. And KDKA was a potpourri of information about all things Pittsburgh; thoroughly engaging and very enjoyable.
I rode each of these big signal radio stations for hundreds of miles and enjoyed listening to them every minute. Each was different, unique, fun, engaging LIVE and LOCAL.
The observation I made was that maybe the AM band should be reserved for these high power AM signals that have the bench strength to do great radio.
On my drive home I decided to see how easy it is to listen to streaming radio. Here’s what I wrote about that experience six years ago:
The day of my 15-hour drive home allowed me to listen to a streaming radio station through my iPhone4S, fed into my car’s audio system with no dropout, no buffering, and no disruption of any kind. The audio fidelity beats anything coming out of AM or FM terrestrial radio, and even SiriusXM.
On day two of my drive, I again streamed the Radio Tunes’ Smooth Jazz channel knowing that Jimi King and Stephanie Sales would be hosting a LIVE 3-hour Smooth Jazz show (they do this every Sunday). This turns Radio Tunes into a real live radio station, and I will admit that I love the channel mainly because of all the things it doesn’t do the other 165 hours a week. However, for three of the 7-hours of my second day’s drive, the companionship was really nice.
Again, I experienced no disruption to my listening as I proceeded from Maryland and through the state of West Virginia and into Kentucky. I carried Radio Tunes all the way into Lexington, Kentucky where I stopped to have some lunch.
While eating lunch it occurred to me how well my reception to streaming radio through my smartphone was. It offers excellent fidelity, no dropout, buffering or other disruptions.
Ford Decides to Keep AM Radio on All Its Vehicles
On May 23, just about five weeks after announcing that Ford would remove AM radio on all its vehicles in 2024, it reversed course and said it would not only continue to offer AM on both its gas-powered lineup but also its electric powered fleet as well.
That was an incredibly fast change of heart, but what really left people scratching their heads was that Ford also said it would restore AM radio to other Ford vehicles, via a software update, that never had AM radio in them to begin with.
About that clock…
I titled this blog article “What’s Wrong With The Clock?” and here’s why, Herb Cohen was called the world’s best negotiator and he wrote a New York Times bestseller called “You Can Negotiate Anything.” At a conference, I remember hearing Herb speak about his book and telling the story about a couple buying a grandfather clock.
As I remember it, Herb said this couple always wanted to own a grandfather clock but they were too expensive, until one day they found a grandfather clock in a store priced at $1,000. The couple had not seen a grandfather clock priced that low before and were planning to buy it at that price, when the husband thought he’d try and see if he could negotiate the price down a little. So, he said to the merchant behind the counter, “I will give you $500 for that grandfather clock.” The merchant quickly responded with “SOLD!”
The couple then wondered, what was wrong with the clock.
Negotiation is a process, that involves some back and forth, however when the process, as in the clock story, gets short-circuited, it’s human nature to wonder about your victory. That’s how I feel about the Ford reversal decision.
Moral Victory
What AM broadcasters have won in their battle with the Ford Motor Company is a moral victory. AM radio listening is in decline and there’s nothing in the cards that will change that.
If you say that someone has won a moral victory,
you mean that although they have officially lost
a contest or dispute,
they have succeeded in showing they are right about something.
-Collins Dictionary
Color me skeptical, but I sense that Ford has decided that with every AM radio station in America working to obtain an FM translator and then identifying ALL of their programming with their FM dial position, AM radio will put themselves out of business.
It’s not a beachhead Ford wishes to defend.
I also wonder how listenable AM radio will be in vehicles that don’t have the antenna systems and electrical shielding to insure good reception.
“It is much better to lose a battle and win the war
than to win a battle and lose the war.
Resolve to keep your eyes on the big ball.
-David J. Schwartz, The Magic of Thinking Big
Radio’s Disappearing Act
Is AM radio disappearing from new cars the issue the radio industry should be focused on?
I think not and here’s why I say that.
WBZ 1030AM
I grew up listening to WBZ AM out of Boston on my daily college commute in Western Massachusetts. Carl DeSuze, Dave Maynard, Larry Justice, Mean Joe Green in the BZ Copter with Boston traffic reports and Gary LaPierre with the news. It was truly “The Spirit of New England.”
So, when Sue and I were headed to Boston for the graduation of our son-in-law from Berklee College of Music, I put on WBZ as we left our hotel in Spring Valley, New York, and we listened to this station on our three hour drive into Boston, we didn’t listen to it on 1030AM, but via its stream on the StreamS application (App). The station, which is now an all-news operation, sounded fabulous.
The fidelity was of higher quality than FM and there was no buffering or dropout of the signal.
Once in Boston, I tried listening to WBZ over my car’s AM radio and the quality was poor, with noise and interference emanating from our surroundings.
What Does a Radio Look Like?
Back in June of 2017, I wrote a blog article asking what a radio looks like today and the most likely answer to that question was a smartphone. I also addressed in that article of six years ago, I was noticing that hotels were replacing those cheap AM/FM radios with charging stations containing a digital clock, perfect for charging smartphones, tablets and laptops.
Car Radios & The Future
Then in September of 2020, I wrote about how radios first came to be an option for buyers of new cars in June of 1930. But today’s new car buyer wants Bluetooth capabilities more than they want an FM radio; AM radio is not a must-have in 2023 according to the latest Jacob’s Media Techsurvey. What do people connect in the car with that Bluetooth, their smartphones.
What I Recently Witnessed About Radio Use
After COVID began to fade, Sue and I took a trip out to the west coast to visit our children and grand children in that part of the country. What we noticed in every hotel room we stayed was a giant flat screen TV, but no radios, just more of those charging stations with digital clocks.
This prompted another article that same year titled, “Is Radio Up Schitt’s Creek?” Sue and I became big fans of this series out of Canada, that takes place in a fictional town called “Schitt’s Creek,” and takes place primarily in The Rosebud Motel, where the shows characters use televisions, computers and smartphones, but never use a radio.
When watching movies and TV shows, I often look to see if there’s a radio in sight, noticing in British productions they often are, but not in American ones.
Once It Was Radio
When Sue and I stayed in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania we visited the museum inside the Hotel Bethlehem and found that fifty years ago, a hotel having a radio in your room was cutting edge.
The Hotel Bethlehem opened in 1922, two years after the birth of commercial radio in the United States and in 1953, it announced that patrons would enjoy a brand new AM alarm clock radio in every room.
Now seventy years later, Hotel Bethlehem features fiber optic WiFi.
Where Are the Radios?
Last year, Sue and I took a road trip through Atlantic Canada. We stayed in hotels and Bed & Breakfasts (B&Bs) throughout our trip, and found WiFi has totally replaced the AM/FM clock radios.
In Montreal, our room at the Hôtel William Gray, had a Bang & Olufsen (B&O) Bluetooth speaker that easily connected to my iPhone. The fidelity of B&O equipment is legendary and it was a joy to be able to connect any of audio Apps on my phone during our stay.
Radio Set Ownership in the Home
In American homes today, 39% don’t have a single radio set in them, and radio set ownership gets worse for young Americans age 12 to 34, where that number grows to 57% according to Edison Research.
To put this into perspective, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), says only 6% of the population still lacks access to fixed broadband service at threshold speeds. Meaning, the internet is more accessible than broadcast radio.
Are Broadcasters in Denial?
Valerie Geller, who wrote the excellent book “Beyond Powerful Radio,” recently said
“You can sit down with a broadcaster who rails against podcasting and digital audio and artificial intelligence (AI). Then you get in the car with them, they’re using GPS, they’re listening to a podcast, they’ve got SiriusXM, they’ve got Spotify. Podcasting and radio co-exist now. That’s our truth.
Radio is its own worst enemy. We have not spent or invested in developing talent. Every other business has research and development (R&D) and they spend on it because they are investing in the future. I love radio, but I hate the state it’s in.
A lot of the voice-tracking I’ve heard already sounds like AI. There’s nothing human about it. It’s just a broadcaster playing an actor playing a broadcaster. AI is just as good as those voice-tracks because there’s nothing real being said.”
AM Radio Leaving the Dashboard
Automobile manufacturers removing AM radio from the dashboard ought to be alerting the radio industry to BIGGER PROBLEMS. The AM situation is a symptom of what we should be focused on, and that’s creating GREAT RADIO.
If you think it won’t happen to FM next, you haven’t been paying attention.
AM/FM radio sets are vanishing from hotels, B&Bs, American homes and big box retailers.
If your listeners aren’t up in arms about that, then losing AM radio in their dashboard won’t be a big deal to them either.
To paraphrase the great sales trainer Don Beverage:
Make your radio station so valuable to a listener,
that they want to hear your programming more
than you want to broadcast it to them.
Congratulations Shawn Smith
Sue & I are in Boston this weekend for our son-in-law Shawn Smith’s graduation from Berklee College of Music.
This degree has been earned while working full-time and providing for his family as a computer expert working with Uncle Sam.
A very accomplished musician already, Shawn created and leads his own band, The Sons of Liberty that play throughout the Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and DC area.
Your beautiful and talented wife Katie, son Jameson, daughter Charlie, along with Sue, I and your entire family have come together to celebrate your latest accomplishment.
We are so very proud of you.
Filed under Uncategorized
Where People Today Get Their Music Fix
As a boy, if I wanted to hear music, there were two choices: AM Radio & a phonograph player. Seven decades later, I can’t count the number of choices I have to listen to music, but most of them have something to do with the internet.
More than 64% of individuals primarily choose to play music
over the internet.
– International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI)
Growth In The Recorded Music Market
The IFPI Global Music Report discovered that the recorded music market grew globally by 9.0% in 2022, driven primarily by paid subscription streaming.
Subscription audio streaming grew by 10.3%.
And yes, Sue and I are among the folks who pay for streaming music subscriptions. Why do we pay to hear our music streamed? Well, for one thing, the musical genres we enjoy can no longer be heard on over-the-air (OTA) broadcast radio. Paying a small fee eliminates annoying content while allowing access to an infinite music library.
CD 101.9 FM – Smooth Jazz
What originally sent me to the internet to find a music streaming station was when WQCD, better known as Smooth Jazz CD 101.9, ceased programming this genre of music.
From August 22, 1988 until February 5, 2008, this radio station had been the greater New York City metro’s place to relax; till it wasn’t.
In fact, the smooth jazz format has basically vanished from broadcast radio in the United States but thrives quite well on the internet. My favorite streaming stations for this genre are curated by Radio Tunes.
Broadcast Radio’s Challenge
While broadcasters are getting themselves all in a lather about “saving AM radio” and whether or not AI (Artificial Intelligence) can replace live personalities, maybe what the radio industry should be focused on is where people are getting their music in a 21st Century World. This graph really tells the story of today’s music consumer.
64% play their music over the internet.
17% listen to music on the radio.
Smooth Jazz CD 101.9 Returns
If you pine to hear Smooth Jazz CD 101.9, it’s back, but only as a streaming radio station. You can listen here: https://smoothjazzcd1019.com/ or you can just say “Alexa, play Smooth Jazz CD 101 9” like I do, when I stream music from the internet.
Music is personal and the internet allows all of us the ability to hear what we want, when we want to hear it. Knowing this, broadcast radio – now more than ever – needs engaging personalities that make an emotional connection with listeners beyond the music they play.
“Without music, life would be a mistake.”
-Friedrich Nietzsche
Radio Has a Passion Problem
This past week, a post from Bridge Ratings President, Dave Van Dyke, has stuck with me as I’ve read all the various news articles about trying to “Save AM Radio.” What the radio industry seems to be missing, the problem is more than AM, it’s about broadcast radio in general.
Houston, We Have a Problem
Apollo 13 had just experienced an explosion and astronaut Jim Lovell called mission control in Houston to report the problem. I think that’s exactly what Dave Van Dyke was doing when he wrote:
“With so much competition for ears over the last 22 years, radio has felt the brunt of all that new tech resulting in severe passion erosion for media that once had the playing field all to itself. Radio’s saving grace are aging boomers unless somehow, radio reinvents itself.”
And with those comments, Dave posted this chart:
CES2023
At the beginning of every new year, Las Vegas is the focus for what’s coming with the Consumer Electronics Show, known simply as CES.
Fred Jacobs shared his visit to the DTS AUTOSTAGE booth and when he asked the booth’s presenter to demonstrate the radio, the person said, “you mean satellite radio?” And then, still confused by the question, started naming different streaming services.
For me, that snippet was both, very telling, and at the same time, sad.
Maybe It’s Time to Give Away Radios, Again
Back when AM radio ruled the airwaves, Jerry Lee was trying to build an audience to his Philadelphia FM radio station, he began giving away high quality FM only radios that were tuned to WEAZ 101.1 FM.
Working in Iowa, I remember KZIA 102.9 FM was one of the first stations to begin digitally broadcasting and promoting their new service by giving away HD Radios that could pick up the broadcasts.
Last week, Maynard Meyer, owner/operator of KLQP 92.1 FM in Madison, Minnesota wrote in the comments section of this blog:
“Perhaps if radio stations made actual radios available, people would know what they were! We sell them in the lobby at the radio station and we can’t get them in fast enough. The last time I got a half-dozen in, I posted it on our Facebook page…sold them all and had 28 more people asking for one. I sell basic little pocket size AM/FM/Weather band portables about the size of a pack of cigarettes for $20. Believe it or not, there is a demand for a basic radio receiver but they’re rarely available in local stores (one local hardware store actually has a couple on the shelf at all times. Newspapers sell subscriptions, radio stations should sell radios! Come on people, think outside the box! When you need prizes to give away…get some radios! When people come in looking for prize donations…give them radios! Ask your local stores to stock a couple of radios. If people don’t know what radios are…it’s radio’s own damn fault!”
What is radio?
Radio is sound communication by radio waves,
usually through the transmission of music, news,
and other types of programs
from single broadcast stations
to multitudes of individual listeners
equipped with radio receivers.
-Encyclopedia Britannica
What Is That?
One of my granddaughters, who’s 8 years old, was at our home the other evening, before heading off to dance class, when she looked into my curio grandfather clock and exclaimed, “What is that?” I walked over to her to see what she was pointing at, and saw it was one of my miniature radios. I said to my granddaughter, it’s a radio, to which she replied, “What’s a radio?”
What’s a Radio?
We’ve all probably seen the YouTube videos of young people trying to figure out what a rotary telephone is and how to use it, along with having a good chuckle along the way. But, if you’re a lifelong radio person, like me, having your granddaughter ask you what a radio is, can be rather disconcerting.
My grandkids are all connected to audio sources via their iPads, smartphones and smart speakers. The only place they may even be familiar with a radio is when they ride with their parents in the car.
Saving AM Radio
Last week’s blog was another in a series about the state of AM radio in America and if it could be saved. You can read that article HERE
As the latest monthly radio audience ratings get released, I can’t help but notice how most markets have one big AM radio station – maybe – that’s still a dominant force. In our nation’s capital, there is none.
Recently, seven former heads of FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) said “AM radio serves as a linchpin of the infrastructure behind the federal National Public Warning System, which provides emergency-alert and warning information from FEMA to the public during natural disasters and extreme weather events.” Which made me wonder if our nation’s capital is in severe peril, as AM radio listening is virtually non-existent.
However, fear not, as I’m sure that no one in Washington, DC doesn’t know that WTOP News Radio at 103.5 FM is fully staffed and ready to provide that emergency information 24/7.
AM Radio Formats
The real problem, it seems to me, is that people confuse the AM and FM broadcast bands with a particular format. The reality today is, both commercial broadcast bands are filled with music and news/talk/sports formats. What has been different, for many years now, is more people listen to FM radio stations than they do AM stations; and by a wide margin, with most of that listening taking place in people’s cars and trucks.
Car Radio Listening
Research presented this past week at the NAB Show in Las Vegas says 46% of radio listening by people over the age of 13 only takes place in the car; a number that jumps to 58% for teenagers, according to Edison Research.
The U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics says that most people’s car trips are only three miles or less, so they aren’t listening for any length of time.
When asked what they listen to on long car trips, streaming jumped to 68% and broadcast radio fell to 32%.
Today’s Youth & Car Ownership
If radio’s last beachhead is a vehicle dashboard, the future for the next generation and car ownership should also be concerning.
It was only about two decades ago that 80% of American youth (18 year olds) had a driver’s license; today that number has fallen to just 60%. Here’s some of the reasons for the drop:
- Lyft and Uber take them anywhere they want to go
- Cost of getting a driver’s license
- Cost of owning a car
- Fewer teenagers have jobs compared to past decades
- Having a car is no longer a “virtual necessity” (which the Supreme Court enshrined in law in 1977 for anyone living in America)
What Do Today’s Youth Do?
Today’s youth have their faces buried in apps and social media. It’s all about Instagram and Snapchat, YouTube and video games.
When you can easily access everything you want, from home on your digital devices, it’s easy to understand why teenagers today have little interest in getting a driver’s license and owning a car.
Digital interaction has replaced real social interaction for today’s youth.
And that’s another fly in the ointment of future radio listening by the next generation.
In my youth, there was nothing greater than putting down the top on my convertible, cranking up the radio and driving off to explore the world in my own car.
“On some nights, I still believe that a car
with the gas needle on empty can run about fifty more miles
if you have the right music very loud on the radio.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
Saving AM Radio
The radio trades have been full of headlines about saving AM radio, especially in the dashboard of America’s cars and trucks. Here’s some of the most recent ones I’ve seen:
NAB launches campaign for AM radio
State Broadcasters Group Ask AM Stations for Help
Can The Industry and Congress Keep AM Radio in the Dashboard?
Detroit Newspaper Looks at Loss of AM Radio in New Ford Vehicles
The National Alliance of State Broadcasters Associations (NASBA) even put out an online survey “to more accurately craft the AM broadcaster owner’s message and to develop actionable items to keep AM [radio] in the dash.”
Let me tell you why everything I’ve read in the broadcasting newsletters, magazines and websites seems to be focused 180-degrees in the wrong direction.
What Features Do New Car Buyers Want?
Keeping AM or FM radio in vehicle dashboards has nothing to do with what broadcasters want, it has everything to do with what car buyers want. The lists from various sources I’ve found are all pretty much the same, though ranking positions may vary a little from publication to publication. Here is what car buyers want:
- Proximity Key – a key fob that allows you to unlock (and lock) your vehicle’s doors and start it without having a physical key in your hand
- Apple CarPlay and Android Auto – smartphone connectivity is as important as a steering wheel to today’s car buyers*
- USB Outlets – lots of places to charge or run tablets, laptops and other electronic equipment
- Blind-Spot Monitoring and Rear-Cross-Traffic Alert – to keep you informed of what’s going on around your car while you’re driving
- Adaptive Cruise Control – systems that adjust your car’s speed while maintaining a safe distance from the vehicle in front of you.
- Surround-View Camera Suite – this puts the backup camera on steroids and allows a driver to see a 360-degree view of everything around their vehicle
- Wireless Smartphone Charging – a place you can put your cellphone to charge while you’re driving
- Rain-Sensing Windshield Wipers – a step-up from intermittent wipers, these blades automatically adjust to the amount of road spray or rainfall coming at you to keep your windshield clean
- Automatic High Beams – No need to raise and lower your headlight power manually, these systems do it automatically for you, so you always have the most light your vehicle is capable of producing shining on the road in front of you
- Heated, Ventilated Seats and a Heated Steering Wheel
What you don’t find on any of these lists are people asking for a radio, let alone an AM radio to be in their next vehicle.
What Features Do New Car Buyers Feel They Can Skip?
It surprised me to find that ‘Navigation’ topped lists, but then when Sue & I rented a car a couple of years ago, I learned that rental cars no longer offer a navigation system option. What they do offer is Apple CarPlay and Android Audio that automatically connects to your smartphone and displays the navigation software you enjoy using to the car’s video screen. (And yes, that arrangement worked for us perfectly, while driving cross-country.)
So, let’s look at the features car buyers don’t mind not having:
- Navigation
- Premium Audio System – most feel the hefty costs to upgrade the standard audio system the car comes with is not worth the money
- Onboard WiFi Hotspot – like Satellite Radio (which most new car buyers are also OK with skipping) WiFi Hotspots require a monthly subscription fee and are deemed not worth the added expense
Your Baby’s Ugly
The real problem the radio industry has is that it lives in a reality distortion field that has it thinking it’s still 1960s/70s. In other words, it needs to put on a pair of headphones and hear it for what it is.
John Frost’s most recent Frost Advisory email, told the story of a small AM radio station that broadcast a financial talk show that he occasionally tunes into hear. John says “it’s terrible radio, but the guys are really smart, they cough a lot, have lots of room noise and give insightful advice.”
On Good Friday, the show was a repeat of Thursday’s show and so what the listener heard on Friday were invitations to call in (which they could not because the show wasn’t live), announcements that Friday’s show would be a repeat of Thursdays show (but this was Friday) and commentary about the current day’s stock market prices (the market was closed on Good Friday) and nothing is more meaningless than yesterday’s stock prices.
Sadly, this kind of thing isn’t an isolated incident, but standard operating procedure on both AM and FM radio stations across America.
No one wants to hear their baby is ugly,
but for today’s radio industry, that’s the truth.
What Should Be The Focus of the Radio Industry
What keeps running through my mind is,
if the radio industry spent as much time, money and effort on producing a great product on AM radio stations across America, might their radio listeners be leading the charge with the auto industry to keep AM radio in the dashboard?
Let’s look at what fans make happen when a favorite TV show gets cancelled. The first television program to be saved by its fans was Star Trek in 1968. The franchise began in 1966 and 57 years later, it is still going strong.
More recently, fans of the FOX series Friday Night Lights organized a Facebook group with online petitions to show the network their support for this show, having it continue for five seasons despite its less than stellar audience ratings.
In both cases, it was not a television network that tried to convince an audience to watch a program, it was the audience that convinced a network NOT to cancel a program. That’s how it’s suppose to work.
AM radio isn’t coming back, so what the radio industry should instead be focused on is making FM radio the best that it can be and insuring that it won’t suffer the same fate befalling AM radio.
To win in today’s media marketplace, you must have a product that listeners want to hear;
today’s audio consumer has an infinite number of choices available.
When it comes to what new car buyers want in their next vehicle, broadcast radio is not on their list of wants, needs or desires.
That’s a real wake-up call,
if there ever was one.
*On April 1, 2023, General Motors plans to phase out widely used Apple (AAPL) CarPlay and Android Auto technologies that allow drivers to bypass a vehicle’s infotainment system, shifting instead to built-in infotainment systems developed with Google (GOOG) for future electric vehicles. It made me wonder if this was an April Fools prank, but apparently GM is that tone death.
Easter 2023
For 51 weeks out of the calendar year Dick writes this blog, and I journey with this incredible man weekly, suggesting commas, periods, paragraphs, and sometimes a different word or two to give a clearer perspective to the blog’s overall composition.
Once again, Dick has asked me to use his Dias and share my perspective of the most important of all holy days, the Easter season.
This past year I truly have become perplexed on why we all have turned a blind eye, and the perilous corner of being unkind. Yes, you know what I’m talking about as we have all experienced this, in people driving a vehicle, in public attitudes, in words and in the outside boundaries of entitlement. So much so that we feel the sting, the bite and the burn, finding ourselves contributing to this meanness.
I pray every day—many times a day, asking for understanding, asking for patience, asking for a way to distribute the love that is so needed in our world.
I believe we have been placed here from moment one as a perpetual student of our Father’s teachings. We have lessons placed in our path each and every day. Once these lessons are learned we can proceed to the next class, but sometimes we get stuck in the quicksand and have to keep repeating until we realize what’s holding us back and not letting us proceed.
So, in my lessons learned on how prayer works, I have found that when God answers a prayer, He is increasing my faith, If He delays an answer, He is increasing my patience, and if He doesn’t answer, He is preparing me for the best answer that will be a blessing for me. And I have also learned that when God is silent, I must pray to be still, and LISTEN.
I found this powerful poem sent to me years ago by my beautiful step-daughter and I wanted to share the content.
“Maybe – we were supposed to meet the wrong people before meeting the right one so that, when we finally meet the right person, we will know how to be grateful for that gift.
Maybe – when the door of happiness closes, another opens; but, often times, we look so long at the closed door, we don’t see the new one which has been opened for us.
Maybe – it is true that we don’t know what we have until we lose it, but it is also true that we don’t know what we have been missing until it arrives.
Maybe – the happiest of people don’t necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes their way.
Maybe – the brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; after all, you can’t go on successfully in life until you let go of your past mistakes, failures, and heartaches.
Maybe – you should dream what you want to dream; go where you want to go, be what you want to be, because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you’ve dreamt of, and want to do.
Maybe – there are moments in life when you miss someone – a parent – a spouse, a friend, a child, an animal —- so much, that you just want to pick them from your dreams and hug them one more time, appreciating those lost moments but turning them into beautiful memories.
Maybe – the best kind of friend is the kind you can sit on a porch and swing with, never saying a word, and then walk away feeling like it was the best conversation you’ve ever had.
Maybe – you should always try to put yourself in the others shoes. If you feel that something could hurt you, it probably will hurt the other person, too.
Maybe – you should do something nice for someone every single day, even if it is simply to leave them with a smile.
Maybe – giving someone all your love is never an assurance that they will love you back. Don’t expect love in return; just wait for it to grow in their heart; but if it doesn’t, be content that it grew in yours.
Maybe – happiness waits for all those who cry, all those who hurt, all those who have searched, and all those who have tried, for only they can appreciate the importance of all the people who have touched their lives.
Maybe – you shouldn’t go for looks; they can deceive; don’t go for wealth; even that fades away. Go for someone who makes your heart smile, making a dark day much brighter. “
–Author Unknown
Maybe – you should hope for enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep your blessings balanced, and enough faith to always know God is the great “I Am”.
Maybe – you should try to live the rest of your life to the fullest because when you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling, but when you die, you can be the one smiling as everyone around you is crying.
And, Maybe – with all the earthly turmoil, we think that God doesn’t care, well if we dig deep into our hearts and the very being of our soul -we will understand that God is sad but God is right here, holding us, comforting us. God may be silent, but our prayers are being heard, and we need to listen to his loving words. Learning what? Love sings to us in many voices and we need to spread His LOVE with every MAYBE , with every bit of HOPE, and with every ounce of FAITH we have been challenged with on our living journey.
Our warmest thoughts are being sent to you
and your treasured family.
Happy Easter
Sue & Dick
Susan is a graduate of Concordia University with a degree in Family Life Education
and is a Certified Grief Counselor. God joined us together in 2018.
Filed under Uncategorized
Out, damn’d spot! (Part 2)
Seven years ago, on this Sunday morning I wrote a blog article titled “Out, damn’d spot!” The title for the blog came from Lady Macbeth, Act 5, scene1, where the spot the Bard’s lady is talking about is the imaginary blood she sees on her hands from the murders and other crimes she and her husband have been involved in. (Not all that dissimilar to how too many spots are killing radio.)
The genesis for that article was born from a speech then CBS Radio President Dan Mason gave in 2016, about how many radio spots should run in a typical hour of radio programming; his answer was 8 to 10 units.
Well, more than half a decade later, the majority of operators in the radio industry, have made very little progress on putting themselves on a strict advertising unit diet.
Limiting Unit Loads in 2023
Radio Ink started the conversation about unit loads again, in an interview with One Putt Broadcasting’s owner, John Ostlund who says he limited the number of ads on his five radio stations to five minutes per hour. Before the reduction, Ostlund says his stations typically were running 10 to 12 minutes (or more) per hour of ads.
As I read the interview, I realized that everything One Putt Broadcasting’s doing, is how radio was back in the 60s and 70s; ‘everything that was old is new again.’
Then Radio Ink heard from Bill Lynch, General Manage at Momentum Broadcasting about how he’s been running short stopsets for a decade and it’s been financially beneficial to his radio stations. Bill doesn’t think “length” when it comes to the number of ads in each hour, he thinks “units.”
It’s About The Units
Radio Program Gary Berkowitz then authored an article for Radio Ink giving his perspective as a longtime radio programmer and consultant. Gary said:
“If going forward we expect to be relevant,
we simply must cut back on the number of commercials we run.
Argue with me, but listeners do not count minutes.
They count “messages” or units.”
Back in the 80s in Atlantic City, reducing the number of units on my radio stations, saw both audience numbers and revenue growth. So, it was a pleasure to read this still works in the 21st Century.
Radio & Casinos Have Something In Common
In the beginning, both the radio business and the casino business enjoyed scarcity. In the early days, there weren’t a lot of radio stations in America, and if you wanted to own a casino, you needed to be in Nevada (1931). For almost half a decade, Reno and Las Vegas had the monopoly on the casino business until 1978 when New Jersey would be the second state in America to legalize casino gambling.
Most communities were lucky if they had one radio station, it was a time in broadcasting that people would say, ‘owning a radio station is a license to print money.’
What changed for the casino industry was a wave of states legalizing casino gaming all across America quickly disrupting the business models for Nevada and Atlantic City casinos. No longer could they live off just their gambling handles.
Radio station ownership also exploded with multiple radio station signals filling up every available frequency in every populated area in the United States.
The Most Profitable Resort in Las Vegas
Seven years ago, when I wrote my original article, the most profitable casino in Las Vegas was Wynn Resorts and as of September 2022, it still is. What’s Wynn doing that’s different? Wynn Resorts are totally focused on the visitor or user experience.
Steve Wynn changed his casino business model to one less dependent on gambling, to a focus on non-gaming revenues and customer experiences, which now account for 67% of his company’s revenues.
What John Ostlund, Bill Lynch and Gary Berkowitz are telling the radio industry is much the same, that to not just survive, but thrive in the 21st Century, the radio industry must focus on its two main constituencies; the radio listener and the radio advertiser. Both, it turns out, want the same thing; a less cluttered advertising environment.
This should be the focus of the entire radio industry, as Bill Lynch puts it so well:
“It doesn’t matter if there’s one nice house
in a rundown neighborhood,
if most of the neighborhood is run down,
people don’t buy there.”
DickTaylorBlog 