Author Archives: Dick Taylor, CRMC/CDMC

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About Dick Taylor, CRMC/CDMC

I’ve been a “Radio Guy” all of my life. My earliest memories were of building a radio station out of tinker toys and pretending I was a disc jockey. Later I would build a radio station in the basement of my parent’s home and using AM & FM transmitters I bought at Radio Shack I would begin broadcasting to my neighborhood for about a three block radius. I began in commercial radio in the 10th grade in high school. A local radio station in my hometown of Pittsfield, Massachusetts decided to start a Junior Achievement company in radio. This was a really new concept in Junior Achievement as all JA companies at that time were production oriented and a radio station would be a service oriented JA company. I was a member of that first Junior Achievement radio company (WJAC) and it quickly led to a part-time job with that radio station (WBEC). Radio would pay for my college education and graduate degrees, both of which were in education. I loved college and could have very easily become a career student. When I graduated with my Masters Degree, there were no jobs in education to apply my earned degrees but there were radio jobs and I went into the radio business full-time as a program director, operations manager and air personality. Deciding what I’d really like to be is a radio station general manager, I knew that I would need to earn my chops in sales and so I quit my job on the product side of the business and started over at the bottom of the sales ladder as an account executive. I quickly rose to sales manager, station manager and general manager. For 27 years, I operated at the market manager level of the radio industry. I’m a Life Member of the New Jersey Broadcasters Association and Radio Ink Magazine has named me one of radio’s best managers. Former professor of broadcasting at the School of Journalism & Broadcasting at Western Kentucky University (WKU) in Bowling Green, Kentucky. I have a successful track record in sales and people development, growing top line revenues, achieving leading audience ratings, reducing expenses and meeting bottom line goals. I’m a recognized expert in radio and media regulations. I’m a turnaround specialist. I'm the founding director of the KBA WKU Radio Talent Institute coordinating a professional faculty of broadcasters who teach broadcast students who qualify and are accepted to attend a ten-day intensive program that trains tomorrow’s broadcasters in all aspects of radio station operations. My specialties include: dynamic public speaker/presenter and sales trainer. I currently teach classes in the Process & Effects of Mediated Communications, Broadcast/Internet Sales, Broadcast Performance/Production, Broadcast Management and the History of Broadcasting in America. I hold a BA in Physics/Education, an MS in Educational Communications, the Diamond CRMC (Certified Radio Marketing Consultant) and the CDMC (Certified Digital Marketing Consultant) from the Radio Advertising Bureau. I’m a graduate of Roy H. Williams Wizard Academy and Gitomer Sales Training. Note: The picture on my blog is when I was invited to do a guest disc jockey appearance on The Legend - 650AM - WSM in Nasvhille, Tennessee (July 2014). For this "Radio Guy" doing a four-hour air shift on this legendary clear channel signal radio station was a dream come true.
September 1, 2024 · 3:00 am

What If Every Radio Station in America Could Operate Like EMF?

At the beginning of 2024, I read an article from Rolling Stone.com that I can’t get out of my head. It was titled “Why Is the Radio Full of Christian Rock? Thank This Nonprofit.” It’s a long article, that I encourage you to read, but if you’re short on time, I will summarize its most important content for the commercial radio industry.

What is EMF?

EMF stands for the “Educational Media Foundation,” a name that does not immediately convey that they are a religious broadcaster.

On their website, the foundation states their mission this way:

“Educational Media Foundation (EMF) is a nonprofit, multi-platform media company on a mission to draw people closer to Christ. Founded in 1982 in Santa Rosa, CA, with a singular radio station, EMF today owns and operates the nation’s two largest Christian music radio networks (K-LOVE and Air1) with over 1,000 broadcast signals across all 50 states, streaming audio reaching around the world, and a growing family of media ministries including podcasts, books, films, concerts, and events. EMF employs nearly 500 team members between its offices in Nashville, TN, Rocklin, CA, and field locations around the country.”

Today, I believe, EMF is the largest radio station owner in America, with more radio signals in its control than iHeartRadio, estimating that it reaches a weekly audience numbering over 18-million listeners. It’s those listeners – and their donations – that fund EMF’s operations, much like the listeners support at public radio stations. EMF’s radio stations are licensed as non-commercial educational (NCE) radio stations and the foundation receives the majority of their donations during their twice annual pledge drives; usually held in the spring and fall.

What is iHeartRadio?

iHeartRadio is America’s largest commercial radio broadcaster and owned by iHeartMedia, which was rebranded by CEO Bob Pittman from Clear Channel Radio in 2014.

Full-disclosure, I worked for Clear Channel Communications from 2004-2010, a time when the company operated in a decentralized manner, allowing each of its radio station’s general managers to make their own decisions based on local market conditions and to deliver what was forecast by the radio station’s annual budget. That would change after I left the company to a centralized management model.

At its peak, Clear Channel owned and operated more than twelve hundred American radio stations. Today, the iHeartMedia website says:

“With over 860 live broadcast stations [with 781 employees] in 160 markets across America, there’s an iHeartRadio station where you live. Discover how our stations can deliver your message live and local to your community.”

Wikipedia says ”iHeartRadio’s main radio competitors are Audacy, TuneIn and SiriusXM,” which I found interesting in that TuneIn owns no radio stations, and while SiriusXM is licensed to operate by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and does employ land-based transmitter sites in addition to its satellites, it is basically a subscription service.

Its real competitor, like that of the rest of the commercial/public radio industry, is flying under the radar.

EMF versus Commercial/Public Radio

Rolling Stone writes: The big difference between EMF and other commercial broadcasters is that it operates without a local presence and unmanned transmitters.  

“Almost every new EMF station operates as a repeater

with no local voices, few local jobs and barely any overhead.”

Rolling Stone says that as of 2022, this “little-known organization had just shy of a billion dollars in net assets (a number that grows steadily year after year), with an annual revenue of nearly a quarter billion. (National Public Radio, by comparison, had net assets of less than $150 million and operated near the break-even mark.)”

The EMF business model has few operating costs – unlike commercial and public broadcasters – where every new radio station they acquire becomes a new source for donations. It’s estimated that about ninety-seven cents of every dollar comes from listener donations.

“Nonprofit EMF has built an unassuming money-making machine.”

-Rolling Stone

The genius of the EMF business model is that it exploits loopholes that the FCC created to help small nonprofits.

“in my own heart, I know God was involved

[in the decision to form a 501(c)(3)]

because being a not-for-profit has paid off for us

many, many times.”

Mike Novak, EMF CEO

The decision to incorporate as a “not-for-profit” entity allows EMF to enjoy many benefits:

  • Avoid paying taxes
  • Waves FCC applications costs and other fees
  • No requirement to maintain a local broadcast studio
  • Legally accept tax-deductible donations from their listeners (a revenue stream not available to commercial broadcasters)
  • The acquisition of translators* that are made more easily available to entities such as religious broadcasters
  • Access to lower FM band frequencies (88.1 – 91.9) that the FCC reserved for use by colleges, community and public-radio organizations and tribes; entities that the FCC envisioned would have limited funds to acquire these frequencies, and  commercial broadcasters were banned from bidding on, but didn’t exclude a not-for-profit giant like EMF from buying up.

Sadly, true community broadcasters find this unlevel playing field almost impossible to compete with, when EMF’s billion-dollar foundation can offer iHeart-level prices for neighborhood radio stations. It’s something I personally witnessed happen in my city of Winchester, Virginia when EMF bought 50,000-watt WINC-FM. All local community programming vanished, along with its employees and building.

While the FCC still maintains a policy of not allowing a single radio broadcaster from owning more than five AM or five FM stations in any one city, it left open a loophole for noncommercial broadcasters by never applying its ownership cap to nonprofits. There’s also no ownership cap on the number of translators a nonprofit may own in a single radio market.

Soft Conservatism

While nonprofits can’t legally engage in any political campaign activity, don’t think EMF isn’t using its fortunes to influence its point-of-view; through lobbying and legislation. Those in the Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) industry know that the genre is a punchline for most Americans; it’s something that actually works to EMF’s advantage, by keeping them low profile.

Unfortunately, this unlevel playing field is negatively impacting local commercial and public radio stations to profitably operate, which impacts the communities these stations once served with vital local news, sports, weather and community information.

*Translators are small FM radio signals that rebroadcast a parent radio station into an area the original signal couldn’t reach.

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August 18, 2024 · 3:00 am

A Life Changing Observation

When we’re in school, we often begin to think that the most important things in life are what we read in our textbooks, or hear in our professor’s lectures, and that getting the best grades are very important. But really, how much of anything you learned in school, do you remember today?

Use It or Lose It

Being a physics major in college, most of what I studied, including the use of a slide rule, are today a very distant memory. Why? Because I don’t use most of what I studied back then, in my daily life today.

When I entered radio sales, I would use Newton’s 3rd Law of Motion from my physics education:

“For every action, there’s an equal and opposite reaction.”

That simple statement can be found in the Bible expressed this way:

“As you sow, so shall you reap.”

And one of my sales mentor’s, Zig Ziglar, put it this way:

“You can get anything in life you want,

 if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”

In sales, I used this universal principle on a daily basis to help my advertising clients grow their business, and later in my career as a market manager of radio station clusters to grow my people.

As a university professor, I not only taught my students this important life principle, but lived it as an example of its power.

Habit & Repetition

The lessons we learn best, are the ones we use daily. Through habit and repetition, we grow confidence in our ability to do whatever we put our minds to accomplishing. Drawing on our experiences better enables us to deal with life’s questions, confusions, and problems, making them less overwhelming.

Growth in your career – and in life – is a gradual process. It takes consistently working at what you want to achieve, day after day.

You form the habits of success through daily repetition, but it’s important that you’re doing the right things, and, doing them correctly.

I had a roller skating coach that put it this way:

Practice doesn’t make perfect.

Perfect practice makes perfect.

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August 11, 2024 · 3:00 am

Ad-Supported SiriusXM Requires No Paid Subscription

Eight years ago, I wrote an article for this blog titled “SiriusXM Radio is Now Free.” At the time I was speculating on what might happen to over-the-air commercial radio if the satellite company were to turn on their ad-supported channels in every vehicle equipped with a SiriusXM radio.

Well, it looks like that is finally coming to pass.

SiriusXM’s Growth Has Stalled

Fred Jacob’s wrote in his blog on Friday that…

SiriusXM, increasingly frustrated by their inability to grow their subscriber base.  Looking at the Netflix model, the satcaster earlier this week unveiled their own ad-supported tier for no fee.

Obviously, this is a radical departure from SXM’s legacy subscriber-driven platform.  Radio Ink reported that no matter how you look at the in-car battlefield, satellite lags far behind traditional radio listening.  SiriusXM, however, performs much better in luxury brand, such as Mercedes-Benz and Audio, as well as in newer vehicles.

Inside Radio says there are other hoops for drivers to jump through.  While SXM CEO Jennifer Witz says the new plan is all about “repositioning our business for the future,”  the story goes onto say the free service is only available to owners of vehicles with the company’s  360L receivers.   Additionally, eligibility is limited to those whose free trials runs out and can only be activated by one vehicle per customer.

But it’s a start.  While the company acknowledges it will take time to amp up the platform’s commercial options for advertisers, you can see that’s where they’re headed.  SiriusXM needs to jumpstart its user base, while cashing in on inventory sales.

Will it work?  Can a radical move to offer a “free” version of satellite radio actually be a game-changer for SXM.

We can all speculate about the wisdom of this risky move by SiriusXM, but like the growth of [other ad-upported] channels, it attempts to cash in on the notion of not paying cash for any media content.

Pay & Free

It doesn’t take a whole lot of imagination to understand why satellite radio is deciding to have the best of both worlds. Offer the premium pay channels to those willing to pay for them and at the same time create a free tier of channels that could be ad supported by national advertisers.

What history shows us are things that happen in other industries and services – eventually making their way around to virtually all of them.

NOW – It’s only a matter of time.

Link to my 2016 blog article: https://dicktaylorblog.com/2016/07/17/siriusxm-radio-is-now-free/

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August 4, 2024 · 3:00 am

Have a Cup of Coffee

The last article I wrote for this blog was in June. Since then, life for this grandfather has been very busy. Who knew that life in retirement could be so full?

Work & Life Stress

As I watch the world go streaming past me, I see a lot of stress on people’s faces. Often their stress is self-induced, by the way they live their lives.

So, this week, I’d like you to sit down and pour yourself a cup of coffee while you read this story I heard while teaching at the university years ago.

+++++++++++++++++++++++

Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups – porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain-looking, some expensive, and some exquisite – telling them to help themselves to the coffee.

After all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: “If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.

Be assured that the cup itself adds not quality to the coffee. In most cases, it’s just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups and then began eyeing each other’s cups.

Now consider this: Life is the coffee, and jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life, and the type of cup we have does not define nor change the quality of the life we live. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us.”

God brews the coffee, not the cups. Enjoy your coffee.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Secret of Living a Good Life

Happy people enjoy the things they already have, instead of focusing on getting more things. Learning to appreciate what you already have may be the most vital ingredient to living a less stressful life.

What Does This Have To Do With Broadcasting?

At each moment, in both my broadcast career and that of a university professor, I always made time to pause and savor the moment. To be grateful for all the things I had.

I’ve been retired since 2017, and when people ask me how I am doing, my answer is always the same:

I’m living my BEST Life!

The Bottom Line

In the end, there are really only two ways to be happy in life.

  1. You can get what you want.
  2. You can want what you already have.

Spoiler Alert: Only 1 of these two strategies actually works. It’s called GRATITUDE.

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June 16, 2024 · 3:00 am

Gone In a Wink

Barry Lee & Dick Taylor

On June 26, 1941, at 6:57am, a new local radio station, WINC -1400AM began serving the Winchester, Virginia community. It was the city’s first radio station, and it brought Virginia Senator Harry F. Byrd and Virginia Governor James Hubert Price to town for the ribbon cutting ceremonies signing on this new radio service.

The radio station’s offices, studios, transmitter and tower were located at 520 Pleasant Valley Road in Winchester.

It would broadcast live descriptions of the attack on Pearl Harbor and FDR’s famous “Infamy Speech” only six months after signing on-the-air.

In 1947 a radio contest on WINC (known locally as Wink) would take down the entire telephone system for the City of Winchester, as female listeners tried to win a free pair of nylon stockings and a $10 handbag.

Virginia Hensley

Winchester’s most famous resident is Virginia Hensley, better known to the world as Patsy Cline.

When Ginny was just fourteen years old, she walked into WINC and asked if she could sing on one the station’s live music shows, . The leader of the band, told her to come back next week and maybe he’d let her sing on the radio. Ginny returned the following weekend and made her broadcast debut on WINC in 1948.

Other stars to visit the station included, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Paul Harvey, who would broadcast his national News & Commentary over the ABC Radio Network on April 14, 1962.

Local Radio

WINC provided residents of Frederick County Virginia with news, entertainment and advertisements from local retailers. Those ads must have been popular with the business community because the radio station ran into trouble with the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) when trying to renew its broadcast license in 1971. At that time, the FCC allowed no more than 18-minutes of commercials per hour and WINC was airing 22-minutes of ads. It was reported that the FCC’s Broadcast Bureau Chief felt the excessive number of commercials were not in the best interests of Winchester community, but in the end renewed the station’s broadcast license.

Programming

Through the years, WINC -1400AM would undergo various programming changes. From live musical performances, to playing records. Musically, the station went from playing middle-of-the-road music, to adult contemporary, to classic hits; finally changing to a news/talk format in 1996, because its sister station, WINC-FM 92.5 had become Winchester’s most popular music radio station.

75th Anniversary

In 2016, WINC-1400AM celebrated its 75th anniversary of broadcasting. During this period of time, the station had only two different owners, the Lewis family and Centennial Broadcasting.

Richard Field Lewis, Jr., a broadcast engineer filed the initial application for a new station in Winchester in November 1940 and six years later, he would launch sister station WINC-FM.

On October 18, 1957 Richard F. Lewis, Jr. died and control of the two stations would pass to the Lewis family and incorporated as Mid-Atlantic Network, Inc.

In May 2007, the Lewis family would sell WINC AM/FM to North Carolina-based Centennial Broadcasting for about $36 million.

The End of an Era

Centennial would begin divesting their Winchester radio properties, which now numbered  three FM stations and one AM radio station in 2020.

50,000-watt WINC-FM would be sold to the Educational Media Foundation (EMF) for $1.75 million, which would begin airing EMF’s Air1 network. Centennial’s other two FM stations would be sold to Fairfax, Virginia-based Metro Radio, Inc. for $225,000.

The future of WINC-1400AM was uncertain as the radio station celebrated its 80th anniversary in 2021. Ultimately, the station would find a buyer that paid $25,000 for the signal. The call letters WINC would be changed to WZFC upon completion of the sale in October 22, 2021.

How do you mark the end of a local radio station?

Was it when:

  • WINC-FM was sold to EMF and its call letters were changed to WAIW?
  • WINC-AM was sold and the call letters were changed to WZFC?*
  • The retirement of 37-year Wink Morning Man Barry Lee when the radio stations were sold?
  • The demolition of the building WINC AM/FM had broadcast from for over its 75-year existence?

Every day, communities across America are finding a once local radio station vanishing, sometimes they’re replaced by syndicated programming with little local service, other times the city of license is changed and the local radio service is moved to a larger population center and sometimes, the signals just go off-the-air.

Generations who grew up and lived in Winchester, Virginia depended on radio stations WINC AM/FM as they were a part of the fabric of the community. More importantly, the local radio personalities that were heard over Wink Radio for decades, were very much a part of these families lives.

And now, it’s gone.

In a wink.

*Paperwork filed with the FCC to change WZFC’s call sign back to WINC, was done on February 25, 2023.

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April 14, 2024 · 3:00 am

AM Radio in Retreat

While the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is still pursuing its goal of getting Congress to pass the “AM Radio in Every Vehicle Act*,” the number of AM radio stations on-the-air continues to shrink.

How Many Radio Stations Are There?

Inside Radio published the latest FCC radio station count and the number of AM radio stations on-the-air continues to shrink.

In 1968, I passed my 3rd Class Radiotelephone FCC License, Broadcast endorsed, it was also the year that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) began publishing its Broadcast Station Totals reports.

At that time the FCC said that 4,236 AM radio stations and 2,306 FM radio stations were on the air.

In December 1990, the next report the FCC published became available showing 4,987 AM radio stations and 5,832 full power FM radio stations were now on the air; plus, another 1,866 FM translator/boosters.

It’s worthy to note that the general public cannot tell the difference between a:

  • Full power FM
  • FM booster
  • FM translator signal

as to the FM listener they all are received on a standard AM/FM receiver. Only broadcasters, broadcast engineers and the FCC are concerned about such distinctions.

So, in just the first two decades of my radio career, FM signals outnumbered AM signals by 2,711.

Telecommunications Act of 1996

On February 8, 1996, President William Jefferson Clinton signed into law what is commonly referred to as “The Telcom Act of 96.” The intent of the legislation was to allow more companies to operate in the communications space, but what actually happened was a flurry of mergers and acquisitions as corporate media giants bought out small, local broadcasters.

The FCC reported that as of February 29, 1996 there were:

  • 4,906 AM stations
  • 7,151 FM stations
  • 2,527 FM translators/boosters on-the-air

almost two FM signals beating the airwaves to every AM signal.

A year after the Telcom Act of 96, the number of AM signals began its decline to:

  • 4,840 (a loss of 66 AM signals in one year)
  • full power FM signals increased to 7,295 (up 144 FM signals)
  • FM translator/booster signals grew to 2,744 (up 217 FM signals)

While AM radio signals were signing off, FM radio signals were growing by an additional 361.

Ten Years After Passage of the Telcom Act of 96

On March 31, 2006, ten years after the Telcom Act became law, and the consolidation of the radio industry began, the FCC Broadcast Station Totals report listed:

  • 4,759 AM signals
  • 8,989 full power FM signals
  • 4,049 FM translator/booster signals

and now something new began appearing, Low Power FM signals (LPFM) which numbered 712,  meaning the radio listening consumer could now access 13,750 FM signals versus 4,759 AM signals.

Wall Street investors were clearly showing more interest in FM signals than AM signals as their money poured into the radio industry.

Twenty Years After Passage of the Telcom Act of 96

Twenty years after President Clinton signed the Telcom Act and consolidation continued squeezing out the mom and pop broadcasters, the FCC Broadcast Station Totals report listed:

  • 4,680 AM signals (down 307 signals from the day I began my broadcast career)
  • 10,811 full power FM signals
  • 6,582 FM translator/booster signals
  • 1,516 LPFM signals

AM signals totaled 4,680 and FM signals totaled 18,908.

Radio Broadcast Signals 2024

Which brings us to the present day report, March 31, 2024. The FCC Broadcast Station Totals report now lists:

  • 4,427 AM signals
  • 10,983 full power FM signals
  • 8,913 FM translator/booster signals
  • 1,960 LPFM signals

Remember, the radio listening public DOES NOT distinguish between the different classifications of FM signals, as they all appear on the same FM radio receiver they are using.

To the radio listener, they have

4,427 AM signals compared to 21,856 FM signals

they can access. Almost 5 times as many FM signals as AM signals, and each year we witness those AM signals either reducing their power or just signing off-the-air and turning in their FCC broadcast license.

Radio Dominates in Vehicles

The latest research from Quu ( www.quureport.com ) shows that in 2023 model vehicles:

  • 100% of them have an FM radio
  • 98% of them have an AM radio
  • 98% of them have Android Audio
  • 98% of them have Apple CarPlay
  • 92% have SiriusXM
  • 70% have HD Radio

What surprised me about this research report, was that this was the first time I’ve ever seen separate AM and FM numbers listed. All reporting about radio usage should list AM and FM listening separately. I feel it is disingenuous to give the false impression that AM and FM broadcast signals contribute equally when that’s clearly NOT the case.

Having access to an audio service does not equate to usage.

Fred Jacobs in his TechSurvey 2023 for example, revealed how HD Radio was only listened to by 16% and SiriusXM was only listened to by 28%, which shows that despite their high availability numbers in vehicle dashboards, usage is still low. Unfortunately, AM/FM is never broken apart, but listed together so can they can garner 86% of the listening.

I’m thinking that both HD radio and SiriusXM usage might eclipse AM radio listening, if we were allowed to see AM and FM usage shown separately.

Vehicles On The Road in America Today

According to S&P Global Mobility, there are 284 million vehicles on our roadways and the average age of them continues to rise to a new record of 12.5 years. About 23% of all passenger cars now are 20 years or older with the bulk of them made between 2015 and 2019.

By 2050, when electric vehicles are projected to make up 60% of new sales, the majority of vehicles on America’s highways will still be powered by gasoline, because most vehicles today last twenty years meaning AM radio will still be in most cars, but the bigger question is how many AM radio stations will still be on-the-air.

Radio Needs To Look Forward

In ten to twenty years, AM radio will be at best a niche way to listen to audio.

Where the radio industry and the National Association of Broadcasters should be focusing their time is keeping FM radio viable, in all vehicles and FREE!

Sadly, the FM band is becoming overcrowded with signals and this, I believe, needs to be seriously addressed.

Finally, I would like to believe, as does Scott Shannon, that radio can still succeed in the 21st Century if it will just be “authentic, local, magical, and deliver an audio product with passion.” Or as radio programming consultant and author Valerie Geller puts it:

Great radio is interesting people communicating with listeners

by telling the truth, making it matter and never being boring.

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April 7, 2024 · 3:00 am

What Happened to the Gatekeepers?

While radio advertising is still being heard by radio listeners, the relevancy of those ads to listeners is low. In contrast, the audio ads heard by podcast listeners were deemed highly meaningful.*

The Radio Ad Disconnect

Once upon a time, radio stations employed gatekeepers. (Gatekeeping – “the process of controlling information as it moves through a gate.)

Let me give you a personal example of what I’m talking about. In the 80s, I was managing WFPG-FM in Atlantic City, New Jersey. WFPG-FM programmed a Bonneville Beautiful Music format and was the market leader in the Atlantic City-Cape May, New Jersey Metro. Walter Powers, Vice President of Operations at Bonneville Broadcasting System, was our music gatekeeper. But just as important as making sure that the music was well targeted, WFPG-FM’s program director was the gatekeeper of every other element of content that would be heard on the radio station. Every advertisement was reviewed to insure it was appropriate and relevant to our audience. We employed these same standards when it came to our promotions and air personalities too.

Paul Harvey

Paul Harvey News and Commentary on the ABC Radio Network was an advertising powerhouse. Paul considered himself to be a salesman first and a broadcaster second. Harvey wrote and voiced the radio copy for the products and services he told his listeners about and it was well-known he would not advertise a product or service he did not personally use.

Today, we see this happening with podcasters who likewise voice the ad copy for the company that sponsors their podcast. I believe this is why podcast ads resonate with podcast listeners versus radio advertising.

Howard Stern

When Howard Stern was the afternoon air personality on 66-WNBC in New York City, he often read live copy for his local advertisers.

On one of my trips to New York City to meet with advertisers, I stopped into the broadcast facilities of WNBC and met with their local sales manager. I will never forget asking her this question: “What are fewest number of commercials you will sell an advertiser?” She answered: “one, if it’s on Howard Stern’s show.” One, I asked? Is that effective? She told me that Howard Stern was such a good communicator and had such a loyal audience, that if he promoted a product or business, even just once, they always got results. But then again, Howard had the authority to accept or reject any advertiser.

Both Paul Harvey and Howard Stern were gatekeepers for their radio programs.

Randy Kabrich

This past week, we learned of the passing of one of radio’s great CHR/Top40 programmers, Randy Kabrich.

In reading an article about his life, I couldn’t help but notice that the twice named Billboard magazine CHR/Top40 radio programmer of the year was a serious gatekeeper.

When Kabrich was Program Director at WROQ-AM/FM in Charlotte, North Carolina, the station management planned to accept an advertising buy from Planned Parenthood. Randy felt the ads were “too volatile and blatant” to appear on a “family” radio station. Inside Radio reported that Kabrich said “I’ve been trying to make WROQ a fun, family radio station – an escape from reality, from the conflicts in life – and I felt these spots were inappropriate for the station’s audience.” This resulted in Randy resigning.

Anything For a Buck

There was a time when radio operators employed gatekeepers that weren’t afraid to say “NO” to an advertiser and his money when their product, service or simply the way they wanted to deliver their message was not in concert to the goals of the radio station.

Those were the days when radio operators understood that EVERYTHING

that came out of the listener’s radio speaker mattered. Spoiler Alert:

 It still does!

*  https://soundsprofitable.com/research/the-ad-bargain/

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March 31, 2024 · 3:00 am

Easter 2024

My wife, Sue, is the editor for this blog. She is the person responsible for why what I write is actually readable, challenging things that are not clear for all readers and insuring that I don’t use jargon that might obscure what I’m trying to share.

Every year at Easter, I ask my wife to write an article about this sacred season for all Christians.

Here now is this year’s Easter message.

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As a Child, holidays always start with important firsts that go with them throughout their life, colors, smells, impressions, people, animals and music, the lists might, could, and should go on throughout our life span.

For me there were 4, Halloween, Birthdays, Christmas, Easter, and always in that order.

Halloween was candy, traveling the same neighborhood, the same ghost costume and the same container to collect the candy, always having to wear my winter clothes under that sheet, year after year, after year, and of course the sounds of squealing children echoing from the tallest trees with the smells of fall embracing your core.

Christmas wore the colors, red and green, the smell of evergreen, and cinnamon, family members everywhere, favorite gifts, of course the let down of having to wait another year once it was over, and “Here Comes Santa Claus, ringing in your ears continually.”

Birthdays were the excitement of a day “just for me to be celebrated,” a favorite birthday cake, gifts, parties and also knowing that Christmas was going to be just a few short weeks away.

Then there was, Easter, a new dress, new shoes, a bonnet that tied under my chin, a carnation corsage, a basket of goodies with a small stuffed animal, Church, and the smells of a fresh, new season- spring, trees and flowers blooming, (as well as the horrible smell of vinegar, the main ingredient to dying hard boiled eggs.)

As I grew these impressions stayed in the back of my mind, but new ones developed, Marriages happened, children and grandchildren arrived, new expensive costumes were made, as well as candy that had never been seen or tasted before, then traveling by car from neighborhood to neighborhood, experiencing the different sounds, screaming and frightening emotions.

Birthdays turned from just me, to everyone else and cake went from a great treat to extra pounds.

Growing Christmas traditions, large expensive fad gifts, and quite interesting yuletide songs.

Easter still has all it’s pomp and bunnies, but in my adult life,  I find the stories and narratives gathered in this once a year celebration, helps me to immerse myself, spanning the rest of the year in joyous prayer, encouraging me to find my daily solace, as well as settling into His daily word.

But, it’s also the music, the calming words, in beautiful hymns that have given me a legion of reasons to build new impressions for adult growth and year long gratitude with a deeper understanding of:

                                  Why We Were Put Here.

Hymns such as “The Strife is Over, the Battle Won,” “Christ the Lord has Risen Today; Alleluia, “Thine is the Glory,” and Handel’s Messiah,

For Christians, Easter commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and stands as the bedrock of Christian belief, embodying the promise of redemption, eternal life and the triumph of light over darkness.

“Let us all sing and shout with the armies of Heaven, Hosannah to God and the Lamb! Let glory to them in the highest be given, Henceforth and forever; Amen and Amen.”

We all have beautiful memories, impressions and blessings, you don’t need to count them, just live them. He will keep you safe and warm as the blessings keep coming for you to celebrate His world.

He is Light, He is Celebration, He is definitely LOVE,

He is…

The Great “I AM”

Happy “Year Round” Easter

Dick & Sue

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March 10, 2024 · 3:00 am

Are we helping or hurting by giving AM radio a piggyback ride on the power of FM radio?

In 1984, when I was hired as a general manager in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Pierre Bouvard was my first sales representative from the Arbitron Company. I’ve known Pierre for forty years and have great respect for him. But his latest research presentation “Nielsen: AM/FM Radio Expands Its Ratings Lead Over TV And Smashing AM/FM Radio’s Drive Time Myth” https://www.westwoodone.com/blog/2024/03/04/nielsen-am-fm-radio-expands-its-ratings-lead-over-tv-and-smashing-am-fm-radios-drive-time-myth/ does something that really troubles me. It combines AM listening with FM listening, as if they contributed equally to radio’s total listening pie. They don’t.

I first wrote about this uneasiness in an article six years ago titled “AM/FM or just FM?” I felt it was worth re-sharing what I wrote as this blog has now broken through the 300,000 views level. I think you will find what I wrote is even more pertinent in the 21st Century.

 AM/FM or just FM?

SPARC HD RADIO with FM, but no AM

There’s something that’s been troubling me for some time. It’s the radio industry’s habit of reporting radio listening results by calling it “AM/FM” versus what it really is, virtually all FM radio listening.

Nieman Lab

Who could not be buoyed by this headline from Nieman Lab: “AM/FM radio holds strong for American listeners.” ( http://www.niemanlab.org/2018/07/am-fm-radio-holds-strong-for-american-listeners/ )

But is it true?

When I read the ratings reports from both PPM and diary markets, I see an FM world.

Don’t get me wrong, I grew up on AM radio and recognize that almost every market has a heritage AM radio station that still garners a big audience. I’m not blind to the wonderful ratings of 1010 WINS in New York City for example.

But there are only 26 all-news terrestrial radio stations left in America according to Nieman. This popular format is missing from the majority of America’s radio markets.

WTOP

WTOP was built on AM radio. It moved its entire operation over to the FM band and grew its audience, revenues and lowered its listener demographic. People who never heard this radio station on its AM dial position were suddenly newly minted fans of their all news format.

The FCC Saves AM Radio

The FCC’s mission to save AM radio is to give these radio stations an FM dial position using a translator. What are we really saving? The AM band or a particular format that a radio operator created on the AM band and now, to survive, needs to move it, like WTOP, to the FM side of the dial.

WIP

From my blogging, I get lots of feedback about a variety of things concerning broadcasting. One reader wrote to me about his father, a sports fan, who turned on WIP-FM to hear the latest chatter. WIP-FM was broadcasting a game of no interest to his father, so his son said to him, why don’t you turn on WIP AM610. Sadly, this person wrote the audio was unlistenable. He wrote: “You’d think the FCC would mandate that AM have standards for audio quality in receivers.”

WSM

When I was living in Bowling Green, Kentucky, I couldn’t receive 650AM WSM in my office, even though my office looked south and my antenna was able to enjoy a full wall of windows. The noise floor both inside my university office as well as around town while driving in my car made the station unlistenable. WSM was once listened to all the way to Louisville in northern Kentucky. Instead, I downloaded WSM’s app and could enjoy the radio station in crystal clear stereo. (I see WSM has stopped subscribing to Nashville Nielsen Audio ratings.)

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) did a review of the range of services it offered on the AM band (called medium wave across the pond) and it included a financial review of all its services too. They concluded the ROI (return on investment) in AM was not there and announced they would be turning off some 13-AM radio stations in January 2018 according to Radio Business Reports.

WHVO

There’s a great radio operator in Cadiz, Kentucky by the name of Beth Mann. WHVO is her AM radio station at 1480, but if you go on her website, you won’t find any mention of this station being on the AM radio dial. It’s promoted as WHVO 96.5 & 100.9 FM. ( http://www.whvoradio.com/ )

Bottom Line

It’s time to face the fact that AM radio needs to be re-deployed for a new service. Current radio station owners should be given a viable FM dial position that replaces their AM service area, and doesn’t require multiple translators to attempt to accomplish this task. (Note: WHVO needs two translators to deliver the signal of its AM 1480.)

It’s time to allow those same dedicated radio broadcasters to sell off their expensive AM tower sites and turn off their AM stations that consume electrical power with no real ROI.

Ecclesiastes 3

“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven…”

AM radio’s time has come and gone as the mass communication delivery system it was from the 1920s to the 1970s, much as radio replaced vaudeville.

To put things in perspective, at a time in America’s radio history when the number of FM signals equaled the number of AM signals on the air, 75% of all radio listening was to FM. So, you can only imagine what it’s like today for AM radio listening.

That’s why I believe we do no service in promoting radio as “AM/FM” and not being honest about where virtually all of the radio listening is really taking place.

Sadly, AM radio is to broadcasting as coal is to power generation. ( https://dicktaylorblog.com/2017/08/20/coal-aint-coming-back-neither-is-am-radio/ ) It was the perfect solution in its day.

 

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March 3, 2024 · 3:00 am

Use It or Lose It

How important is it to have AM radio in cars if the majority of the people don’t listen to any AM radio stations?

I loved AM radio and my five decades plus career started on AM radio back in the 60s, but if I’m being honest, I can’t remember the last time I listened to any AM radio station, even though both of my older cars have decent AM radios in them – and I’m a “radio guy.”

Can we get real about AM radio’s problems? Mandating AM radio in all vehicles won’t cause more people to listen this radio service.

650AM – WSM

When I worked at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky, the only way I could listen to 650AM – WSM broadcasting from Nashville, Tennessee was via their stream. My office had a huge picture window that looked south towards the WSM tower site, but the interference from the fluorescent lights and the steel structure of the building made AM reception impossible.

Inviting radio professionals into my Capstone Class to talk about radio, one of those professionals was the program director of WSM who told my students that more people listened to his radio station via the WSM App & stream, than did via their AM 50,000-watt FCC licensed clear channel frequency on the AM radio dial in Nashville.

Monthly Radio Ratings

Every month, when the radio trades publish radio ratings, you’re lucky to find a single AM radio station listed; in market after market. Often you find no AM radio stations listed at all, and on rare occasions you might find two.

If you go deep into the weeds, you might find an all religious station or foreign language AM radio station with a small listener base.

WIIN – AM1450

Back in the early 80s, WIIN-AM1450 in Atlantic City had a news/talk format with a local news team, sports director and even a plane in the sky doing traffic reports during the busy summer tourist season. Its sister FM radio station was 50,000-watt WFPG that featured a beautiful music format. WFPG was rated #1 by Arbitron and WIIN never showed up in the ratings.

WFPG, on the FM band, was fully automated and made all the money. WIIN-AM was fully staffed and lost a great deal of money. The owners of WIIN once said it would be more cost effective to mail the station’s few listeners a news sheet than broadcast the news to them.

AM Radio or AM Programming

Every radio format, once only associated with AM radio – like news or sports programming –today can now be heard on an FM signal.

18-years ago WTOP-AM 1500 moved its excellent news format to FM and yet, do you recall anyone being up in arms that Washington, DC area residents had just been “unserved” with important news and information, because this format moved from the AM band to FM? Quite the opposite, many FM only listeners discovered WTOP for the very first time and became avid listeners.

Revenue wise, WTOP-FM has been the nation’s top billing radio station and has won all the major radio awards year after year. In fact, our nation’s capital is dominated by FM signals. The first AM radio station doesn’t show up until you get to #24 and it only managed a 0.4 audience rating – it also is connected to an FM translator where I’m guessing, the audience is listening.

The reason AM radio formats have moved to the FM radio band is that most people today only listen to FM radio.

I rob banks, because that’s where the money is.

-Willie Sutton, bank robber

Corollary:

We broadcast emergency information on FM, because that’s where the listeners are.

-Dick Taylor

The AM Exceptions

The Big One, 700AM-WLW in Cincinnati is just one of the notable exceptions to the problem with AM radio listening. It operates on what the FRC (Federal Radio Commission, which predated the FCC or Federal Communications Commission) called a clear channel frequency. It was in November 1928, under provisions of the FRC’s General Order 40, that 700kHz was one of 40 frequencies designated as “clear channels”, allowing WLW to operate exclusively on this frequency in both the United States and Canada.

Then in early 1933, WLW would begin building the largest broadcasting transmitter in the world with 500,000-watts of AM broadcast power, at a cost in today’s dollars of $11.3 million. It would sign-on its new half-million watt transmitter on May 2, 1934 with President Franklin D. Roosevelt pressing a golden telegraph key to ceremonially launch the new signal. WLW truly became “The Nation’s Station.”

Saving AM Radio

It seems to me that if AM radio is deemed such a critical service for the nation in times of emergency, maybe it’s time to re-think the entire AM radio band and once again establish a network of high powered AM radio stations that cover the entire continental United States, and are manned 24-hours a day, 7-days a week, providing all Americans with this type of radio service. There could even be a special circuit in all radios that would automatically switch the radio to these emergency channels when warranted; much as cellphones so effectively alert their owners of an impending emergency situation.

Likewise, current local AM stations should be allowed to sunset their AM signals and continue serving their communities via their FM signals (translators), just as they are currently doing, often with much better coverage than their original AM license permits.

Saving AM Radio via FM Translators

Giving AM radio stations an FM translator signal in order to save its AM signal – would be like trying to save Ford by giving everyone a Chevy. It was a ludicrous of an idea that the FCC never fully thought out before implementing.

The FCC was also derelict in its duties by not protecting the AM band from all kinds of noise interference, for example the kind generated by the electronic ballast in fluorescent lighting and by not standardizing AM stereo along with not setting audio quality standards for AM broadcasting.

The “AM Radio in Every Vehicle Act” currently before Congress says nothing about mandating a certain quality standard for AM radio in vehicles, leaving open the possibility that vehicle manufacturers will install the cheapest and lowest quality AM receivers, if such a law is passed?

Longtime agricultural broadcaster, Max Armstrong, loves AM radio, but admits that broadcasters are part of the blame for AM radio’s decline. Some examples are:

  • Sold the land that was needed for strong AM signals, and reduced power
  • Changed the format of their AM station, once they obtained an FM translator
  • Re-allocated resources for areas other than for AM broadcasting
  • Poorly maintained their AM transmitting facilities, in favor of their FM

“When the epitaph is written for AM radio, I think it will be

that AM radio killed itself. I think broadcasters have

neglected it to some extent.”

-Max Armstrong

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