Meanwhile, at the other end of the scale…
What if you combined several like-format stations into a regional super-station?
I’ve spent a good chunk of my career in a couple areas of the country that just might be logical places to do exactly that: the Carolinas and California’s central valley…and I’m sure there are lots of others.
For those companies with a laser-like focus on the bottom line (hey, just fishing where the fish are), what if you took your stations in Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh, Greenville/Spartanburg, and Columbia…and you did mornings on all five stations from Charlotte, middays on all five out of the station in Greensboro, afternoons from Raleigh, etc? California might do Sacramento, Modesto, Fresno, Bakersfield.
You won’t have to try to fool anyone that your programs are “live.” They are “live!” All you need is one very good personality/host at each station to contribute that station’s simulcast daypart for the entire network. That’s it. I’d even have the jocks talk about where they are located as they go through a broadcast day. How about live on-air contests pitting the five cities against each other?
What about commercials, and the necessity to run different local spots in the different markets? That technology’s already here. Same way you run one set of spots on your FM signal and another on your web stream!
A geographically wide regional service bringing listeners a better AC station, or a better Country station, or a better Classic Rock than many companies are giving their individual markets now, and with less expense to boot.
Am I nuts?
on March 18, 2008 on 2:35 pm
As a former radio person, I like your idea of going “back to the future” (to steal a phrase) and making radio better by making it the way it used to be…sort of…obviously, it cannot really be the way it used to be– the world, and radio’s competitive landscape, has changed too much. But, yes– why not build on what was the strength of classic radio (maybe the mid 70s thru the late 80s) and improve it with an updated awareness that addresses both the operational side of the business AND the “content” (consumer experience) side of the biz? Your idea about a local network (as in a San Joaquin Valley hook-up) has merit Mike!
on March 20, 2008 on 11:29 am
I think you are ahead of your time, and radio is behind the times. Ted Turner did this with WTBS and created the first Super (TV) Station so long ago, so why is radio so slow to adopt when there are similar owners in each market?
For radio the opportunity is smaller clusters of close cities banded together under a “local network.” Just like you said, Mike, break up the on-air duties with a key personality, per market in different dayparts and shift broadcast duties to the next market when the daypart switches. The costs could be kept low and the benefit extends to the listeners.
We know our listeners are not static – and many do not sit behind the desk all day. We are movers, and commuters, and traveling sales types that easily cover 60-100 miles daily. Especially in the regions that you mentioned in your post. I have spent a lot of time in the Sac/Modesto/Fresno/Bay Area and I recognize a lot of the cross pollination of people who move daily – commute – place to place within the region who could benefit from a network. On my commute from Antioch CA into SF I could listen to the Sacramento stations until I was in the shadow of Mt. Diablo or until the Oakland tunnels. Those signals go forever on those flat fields of the valley.
In Raleigh, that 85/40 corridor is jammed packed with commuters everyday back and forth between Greensboro and Raleigh, and even out 264 towards Greenville and the coast.
Now, living in Raleigh I have learned: 1) Most people I know here are mobile during the day – and have regions (territories for their jobs) extending into close by Greensboro, Charlotte, Wilson and Greensville. 2) Radio listening in the car is King and Bob and the Showgram is fantastic! 3) The Pittsburgh Steeler nation is alive and well as evidenced by the countless bumper/window stickers all the way from Raleigh to Charlotte. Cosmic coincidence or regionally minded phenomena?