Sports Radio is a top 5 money maker

The Latest BIA list the top 10 revenue producing radio stations in the country.

2 are Sports Radio formatted and Boston’s WBZ ranks #5!

Who says we don’t need radio PBP???

$33M is a large haul for WBZ.

worcester wrote:$33M is a large haul for WBZ.

And that’s just the FM

Wowza. Most of that goes straight to the bottom line, after paying for the announcers, tech staff, and the 50,000 watts of electricity.

It's funny because you would think with the advancements made in technology in all of our lifetimes that radio would be dead like 8-track. But it keeps recreating itself.

Satellite Radio came along, now podcasts are all the rage. It's like power lines. As rudimentary (and ugly) as they are (and the cul-de-sac I live on has the power lines cutting through the periphery of our lot) you still have to get electrons all going in the same direction from the power plant to your home and via wire is the best way. Point to point. Radio is still the easiest, most reliable way to get the message out no matter how it is delivered.

db

Marconi's grandson lives in Sarasota and is a friend of mine. That is how recent radio is. Our world has transformed so much in 120 years

dbrown4 wrote:It's funny because you would think with the advancements made in technology in all of our lifetimes that radio would be dead like 8-track.  But it keeps recreating itself.  

Satellite Radio came along, now podcasts are all the rage.  It's like power lines.  As rudimentary (and ugly) as they are (and the cul-de-sac I live on has the power lines cutting through the periphery of our lot)  you still have to get electrons all going in the same direction from the power plant to your home and via wire is the best way.  Point to point.  Radio is still the easiest, most reliable way to get the message out no matter how it is delivered.

db  

Dbrown
Despite the above, Radio has lost a lot of traction. Young folks don't listen and many of the older folks that do are not attractive to advertisers because they're too old. They don’t target folks over 50 for the most part.
This is why the Top 40 type 60’s oldies station no longer exist terrestrial wise.
Radio has not reinvented itself in a timely manner. Technology got ahead of it and Radio is still trying to catch up.
Radio still has a big audience but its been shrinking for quite sometime. It may be the easiest way to get your message out depending on who you’re  trying to reach.

The telecom bill of 1996 changed the entire landscape of radio. Ownership Restrictions were lifted and the big boys came in and bought up damn near all of the smaller Ma and Pa radio stations to gain dominance in the market place.
Problem is is that they paid 15- 20 times multiples where  radio stations in the past were sold for 3-4 times cash flow.

The big boys unable to service the massive debt, laid off thousands of people and cut out most of the marketing budget. The air talent that survived the layoffs are now voice tracking (pre-recorded) for multiple stations within the company. I know of one person that voice tracks 14 shows per day for numerous stations. Studio’s are damn near empty.
Despite all of that, radio is still a force as you can see from the numbers above. How much of that goes toward debt is anybody's guess.
We still need radio. Its important that it survives. The stations above is a small snapshot. There are more stations limping and barely making it.

I still listen to sport talks shows but not as much as I did when I was working and driving.

I was in Boston few weeks back and they do not have a Jazz station.  Unlike the ATL.

dbrown4 wrote:It's funny because you would think with the advancements made in technology in all of our lifetimes that radio would be dead like 8-track.  But it keeps recreating itself.  

Satellite Radio came along, now podcasts are all the rage.  It's like power lines.  As rudimentary (and ugly) as they are (and the cul-de-sac I live on has the power lines cutting through the periphery of our lot)  you still have to get electrons all going in the same direction from the power plant to your home and via wire is the best way.  Point to point.  Radio is still the easiest, most reliable way to get the message out no matter how it is delivered.

db  

                           no tv in the car. depending on what part of the country you are driving through, the only alternative might be some country preacher calling down fire and brimstone

dboss wrote:I still listen to sport talks shows but not as much as I did when I was working and driving.

I was in Boston few weeks back and they do not have a Jazz station.  Unlike the ATL.

dboss,
Decades ago one would be hard pressed to find a straight ahead jazz station anywhere on terrestrial radio.
In the mid to late 80’s The “Smooth jazz” formats emerged and that was all she wrote.
Fast forward to the mid-2000’s and one would be hard pressed to find a “Smooth Jazz” station anywhere.
The mid 90’s was the height the SJ format’s popularity. It was a departure from mainstream jazz and a new genre of free form radio.
One of the problems with the format was that Pure jazz enthusiasts hated it. The SJ format included songs by Anita Baker, George Benson, Luther Vandross etc. Music that was very popular on adult leaning R&B stations.
In my opinion, Smooth Jazz became what we in the business would call “Beef Stew” or “Alphabet Cereal” radio.
Those formats try to cross demographics and appeal to a wider audience by mixing genres.
Ive never seen that work and it still doesn't today. You can’t be all things to everybody because thats is not how people use the radio.
If I wanted to hear Anita Baker etc I can fill up on it on the R&B stations. Listeners are not motivated to test taste a station that plays what they like but a lot less of it when the can get all they want elsewhere.
Pure Jazz enthusiasts were not listening to the format so the hard core SJ format loyalists were small in numbers. A Niche.
Then along came Arbitron’s (now Neilsen) PPM ratings system where participants wore a small device (portable people meter) to measure listening in real time. There are validated claims that PPM undercounted minority listeners which not only effected R&B but smooth Jazz as well. Some smaller markets still are in diary measurements where people write down daily listening on a Neilsen provided form. Some considered that to be more reliable but it really is not. Folks would usually fill them out the day before or the very day that they were to be sent back to Neilsen. Most couldn’t remember when and what they listened to because they didn’t document it daily so many of the dairies were not completely accurate and reflective of actual listening.

Also if you attend a smooth Jazz type concert as you recently did when Jeff Lorber was in Atlanta you probably saw a crowd of folks that was heavily mixed. You would think that this is exactly like it should be, appealing to a racially diverse audience made up of 50-50 white and black, male and female.
Unfortunately its the wrong recipe for radio sales. This type of audience does not appeal to focus based advertisers that buy radio.
There were several other factors with PPM that resulted in law suits but it wasn’t enough to save the format.
I was not aware that ATL still has a smooth jazz station. Most places nowadays to find Traditional or Smooth jazz is on public supported radio and SiriusXM.