Re: [IRCA] economic downturn's effect on radio

[Tim Kridel <tim@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Some trivia: KFRU's alumni includes Chuck Roberts, now at CNN Headline News,
and Skip Caray. Jim Bohannon tried to get a job there back in the day but
was turned down.  

I wanted to go into radio from about age 12 but wound up in magazine
journalism instead.


> From: "R. F. Tetro" <rtetro@xxxxxxxxx>
> Reply-To: <rtetro@xxxxxxxxx>, Mailing list for the International Radio Club of
> America <irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2009 16:24:32 -0500
> To: 'Mailing list for the International Radio Club of America'
> <irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Re: [IRCA] economic downturn's effect on radio
> 
> Tim,
> 
> I think back on the first radio station I had connections with, WALL in
> Middletown, NY.  I spent a lot of time "hanging out" there when I was a
> young teenager in the 60s, and worked there in the 70s.
> 
> This was a small class IV 1kw-day/250watt-night station on 1340 in a
> city of about 22,000 and a county of under 100,000.  The station had a
> three person new department, plus a sports director.  And, of course,
> all local disc jockeys.  And the station made money hand over fist.  The
> joke was that all the station had to do to make money was remember to
> turn the transmitter on in the morning.  And in Orange County it had to
> directly compete with the big-guns in New York City (and even regularly
> beat WABC locally in the ratings).
> 
> WALL was owned by R. Peter Straus at the time, who also owned Top-40
> WMCA in New York City.  Later the station was sold to Oroco
> Communications, formed by Jim O'Grady who had been the general manager
> at WOR.  These were radio people who almost instinctively knew what
> worked and what didn't.  And, they new that a strong local identity was
> key.  Strong local personalities and local news presence drove the
> station.
> 
> What the current crop of radio corporations has forgotten is the
> audience.  I can remember a radio owner in the 70s, who cut his teeth
> writing copy for NBC in the 40s and 50s, telling me, "The station has to
> stick out like a sore thumb."  It has to be distinctive.   You have to
> give the audience a reason to want to listen.  As radio's "piece of the
> media pie" gets swallowed up by newer, "sexier" technologies, this is
> going be increasingly important to keep the industry viable.
> 
> When Mike Bloomberg bought WNEW in 1992 he gave an interview to the New
> York Times.  Something he said about the industry has always stuck with
> me.  He said, "Often people can't see the forest for the trees.  Radio
> people are definitely tree people."  He was right.
> 
> 73,
> Rene'
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: irca-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:irca-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Tim Kridel
> Sent: Saturday, February 07, 2009 12:42
> To: Mailing list for the International Radio Club of America
> Subject: Re: [IRCA] economic downturn's effect on radio
> 
> One of my locals, KFRU, just fired the rest of the news staff who hadn't
> already been let go, along with the meteorologist.
> 
> 
> 
> 
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