Radio For Sale: The End of Radio Station Super-Sizing
Labels: Acquisitions, Big Media, Consolidation, For Sale, Future of Radio, Media Trend Watching, merger, NAB, Post-Telecom, Privatization, Radio, Radio Stations, Sell, Super-sizing
Radio's been hot on the selling blocks lately, with more than two thousand station transactions in 2006 in the U.S. The last time that many stations were sold off was back in 1997.
The difference?
Then: consolidation merger mania. Now: The post-consolidation end of super-sizing.
Clear Channel leads the "For Sale" movement spinning off lesser market properties while trying to go private. Spanish-broadcasters Univision did go private last June for almost $13 billion. Infinity shed about 35 stations in the past 6 months. Bonneville station swapped with Entercom. And, most recently, Citadel completed its 18-month financial journey purchasing ABC Radio.
The last time radio saw this amount of selling action was right after the Telecom Bill of 1996, which changed all the owership limit rules, spurred fast merger and acquisition consolidation and created super-sized radio groups.
Back then, market values for stations soared as groups raced to get "big" as fast as possible...all in the name of increasing radio's competitive position for ad dollars against other media (or so we were told), damn the consequences.
Ten years later, stations are selling again...but the motivation is different this time around.
"Less is more" might really mean "cluster/group right-sizing".
Instead of station sales creating mega radio groups, radio is scaling back by selling off to smaller groups...or even to brand new small groups. This brings more competition back into radio and creates more-manageable operations, especially in the unrated, small-sized, and mid-sized markets.
Radio needs this retro trend of ownership diversfication, which hopefully can attract fresh creativity and innovative content ideas that work.
Meanwhile, station groups in Canada are being sold off, too...with Astral making a play for Standard and CHUM going to BellGlobal...but there's a difference between radio in Canada and the U.S.
Now that we've entered the post-consolidation phase, what did the last ten years bring to radio? There are a small few who made a ton of money, some who made a little and then there's the overwhelming majority -- people who lost gigs and careers (and money) as well as radio listeners who gave up, moving on to different (better) media choices (or, at least away from commercial radio and over to either NPR or new media forms of radio).
Radio remains important and profitable. This new active buy/sell phase is good for radio, leading to smaller major radio groups (as opposed to massive, complex-to-manage divisions).
With all these recent station sell-offs, what bodes for radio's future? Will it improve quality? Minimally, the gap between executive management and the content will shrink somewhat (that's good). Will radio reinvest in creativity and real (not just financial) innovation? Going private and having radio less beholden to Wall Street is also a good thing. But what about that elusive increase in radio's share of total advertising dollars?
And what about radio's issue fighting against the proposed XM/Sirius merger when radio is trying to get its own house in order?
The chart below shows the amount of station selling activity last year:
BIAfn reports:For the first time since 1997 radio station transactions reached levels above 2,000 in 2006, according to the first edition of BIA Financial Network’s quarterly Investing In Radio® Market Report. The breakdown of 1,544 station sales in radio markets (as defined by Arbitron) and 562 unrated areas last year (compared with 1,613 and 637, respectively, in 1997) [led by the proposed privatization of Clear Channel Communications]...demonstrate an interest in the purchase of small market stations as long term investments.
Is radio making a U-Turn? Is old school sanity returning to radio? Was the consolidation run-up just another merger mania cash grab? Did radio watch "Super Size Me" and decide it needed to reduce to "get healthy"?
Will former radio leaders run out of the industry due to consolidation find new opportunities to return and reinvest? Will Wall Street continue to downgrade radio? Is the unretirement of Dan Mason a sign of things to come for the industry?
So what is the future of radio? There will be lots to discuss at next week's NAB show in Las Vegas April 14-19.
posted by Unknown @ Sunday, April 08, 2007,
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How Radio Stations Can Be More Interactive: Permission Marketing Newsletters
Labels: 18-34, Get Digital, Interactivity, Internet, newsletters, opt-in, Permission-based Marketing, Q101, Radio, Radio Stations
Getting 18-34 year olds to listen to radio is tough. Getting digital = Getting traffic = Getting ratings.
Last Fall, the NY Times referenced an Arbitron study which asked different age groups how their radio consumption differs nowadays from 1999. In every single age group people were listening less to the radio, with 18-34 year olds devoting about 14% less of their daily time to the radio.
18-34 year olds are heavy digital consumers (especially men) every day...especially simultaneous media users.
That means they are on the Internet, probably looking for viral videos and social network interactivity. According to recent research, men aged 18-34 account for 41% of those who view video online on a daily basis and for over two-thirds of adults who view YouTube and other user-generated content daily.
Yes, the 18-34 year old is still habitually online but guess what...the radio can be used when other media is used.
In order for radio to adapt, getting digital is essential, especially for 18-34 year old target audiences.
This will be even more true when Arbitron fully-implements their PPM electronic ratings system.
What does "getting digital" mean for radio stations?
It means communicating and interacting digitally. As mentioned above, Getting digital = Getting traffic = Getting ratings.
Radio station fan newsletters are one way to build interaction opportunities with radio listeners. These are opt-in permission marketing emails allowing stations to communicate and interact with a listener's interests (click here for 10 good rules).
Most radio station newsletters disappoint and miss their chance to connect with their listeners.
Here's a great example of a radio station newsletter.
It's from Q101 in Chicago, a pioneer Alternative radio station making strong moves to digitally connect with their listeners while facing Arbitron ratings challenges.
Signing up for the newsletter is appealing and easy-to-do...and the information provided in the newsletter is useful (pre-sale concert tickets, inside scoop, behind-the-scene station news, encouraging web streaming, their HD channels, etc.) which should help build strong word-of-mouth potential. Q101 has built up quite a fan network since they first launched their email newsletters back in 2001.
Take a look at Q101's latest newsletter design...what do you think of it?
posted by Unknown @ Saturday, March 31, 2007,
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Most Popular Canadian Radio Stations Online
Labels: Airport Info, Alexa, Canada, CMW, Internet, Radio, Radio Stations, streaming, web traffic
Now that the Canadian Music Week Conference is wrapped up and the awards for "Best Stations" handed out, which stations get the most online traffic?
Interestingly, as of today March 12th, the #1 site is not a music format or your typical News/Talk format. It's Airport Talk All The Time on CFYZ 1280 AM and available through www.gtaa.com -- the voice of Canada's busiest international airport, Toronto's Pearson International. They broadcast arrivals, departures, traffic, weather, travel stories and aviation announcements.
In Canada, Alexa says it is ranked 1,138th in total traffic.
3/27 Update: RadioandRecords.com reports that "CFYZ-AM/Toronto -- the Greater Toronto Airports Authority's information station -- is flipping to business talk on April 9 as CFBN. The station will continue running airport traffic reports and travel programming."
#2 CKWX is ranked 3,469th -- with a substantial drop over the past 6 months.
According to Alexa.com's traffic ratings, here are the most visited Canadian radio station sites:1. CFYZ 1280 AM (Pearson International Airport/Toronto)
2. CKWX - News 1130 (Rogers/Vancouver)
3. CKOI FM 96.9 (Corus/Montreal)
4. VOCM Radio (VOCM/Newfoundland)
5. CHUM 104.5 FM (CHUM/Toronto)
6. Radio Énergie (Astral/Montreal)
7. CKNW 980 AM (Corus/Vancouver)
8. 102.1FM The Edge (Corus/Toronto)
9. Mix 96 (Standard/Montreal)
10. CFOX 93.3 - The Fox (Cous/Vancouver)
posted by Unknown @ Monday, March 12, 2007,
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