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iHeartLayoffs

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by TheSportsPredictor, Jan 15, 2020.

  1. LanceyHoward

    LanceyHoward Well-Known Member

    Most AM radio stations draw an audience of about .1 or .2. People are refusing to listen to AM radio. In Washington DC, the all news station WTOP transferred all of its programming to an FM station. How do the AM stations stay on the air?
     
    Last edited: Jan 18, 2020
    Liut likes this.
  2. maumann

    maumann Well-Known Member

    Terrestrial radio on the AM dial is a dead medium just waiting for someone to pull the life support plug.

    Amazingly, the FCC fees to own an AM station are surprisingly low: less than $1,000 a year for a rural station, slightly more than $15,000 for a 50,000-watt blowtorch.

    FCC Approves Lower Annual Fees For Most AM/FM Stations.

    The local Catholic Church owns the Florida AM station where we won state AP awards for our Challenger coverage. The California AM station where I did reporting for Loma Prieta simulcasts a low-watt Spanish language FM from San Francisco into the Sacramento Valley. KFRC, a San Francisco institution and Radio & Records' station of the year in 1974, is part of a chain of Christian AM stations.

    Terrestrial FM stations still serve enough of a purpose to have survived, for now. But I would never, ever let anyone with half a brain consider radio as a career now. It was barely viable in 1979.
     
    I Should Coco, HanSenSE and Liut like this.
  3. Liut

    Liut Well-Known Member

    Wish I had realized that in 1979.
     
    Batman and maumann like this.
  4. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    Does the average podcast make enough money to stand on its own? Is there a breakpoint in downloads to be able to make money off the thing?


    And what happens in a natural disaster when we're all supposed to hunker down and grab our radio to listen for instructions? Static? How many stations even have news departments? Or does everything just go to the EAS and we finally get a payoff from all those beeps interrupting programming.
     
    maumann likes this.
  5. HanSenSE

    HanSenSE Well-Known Member

    I'm sure the guys who offer hot takes on everything from the 49ers' offense to the best cheerleader racks in the NFL will be an excellent source of "news and official information." [//bluefont]
     
    Liut likes this.
  6. maumann

    maumann Well-Known Member

    Seconded. But it was a fun way to make barely minimum wage, until it wasn't.
     
    Liut likes this.
  7. Liut

    Liut Well-Known Member

    LOL! Could not have put it better.

    I was a dreamer in 1979, but had not gotten a gig. My father, local fire chief, greased my skids later.

    Shortly afterward, the first big event to happen on my watch was the bombing of the Marines in Lebanon. It was middle of the night, central time.

    CBS alert was sent. I went bonkers trying to get the CBS feed on the air. Fun times ... like radio used to be.
     
    maumann likes this.
  8. wicked

    wicked Well-Known Member

    Everyone will get the alert on their smartphone, and that alert tone is 100 times worse than any EBS alert on the radio.
     
  9. TheSportsPredictor

    TheSportsPredictor Well-Known Member

    This isn't promising:

    Could iHeart layoffs be the beginning of local radio’s endgame?

     
  10. Chef2

    Chef2 Well-Known Member

  11. Chef2

    Chef2 Well-Known Member

    Yeah.....Logan is going nowhere. People would revolt and Altitude would snap him up in a blur. You would see sales reps calling their lawyers to try and get out of their non-competes if they dump the Broncos. I still remember Logan/Hastings together on The Sports Zoo during the week, Broncos on Sunday when their sideline guy was Roach. Now, THAT was a helluva broadcast for just a couple of years.

    CU hired Johnson for themselves and is the Director Of Broadcasting. He is very very good.
     
    Liut and MileHigh like this.
  12. LanceyHoward

    LanceyHoward Well-Known Member

    Very interesting article. I did not realize that a licensee no longer had to have a physical presence in a city, just a local telephone. The article said that on-air talent may telecommute and do their shows from home (I am sure that is already happening).

    My takeaway is that local talent may still be used in drive time but at that in lower revenue in other time periods it is more profitable to just pay for syndicated programming.

    Which leads to my question. Are the fees local stations pay professional sports teams for rights dropping?
     
    Last edited: Jan 29, 2020
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