SABO SEZ: Reflections on the Death of Sears and “Mass Appeal” Radio
By Walter Sabo
Consultant, Sabo Media Implementers
A.K.A. Walter Sterling
Radio Host, “Sterling On Sunday”
Talk Media Network
Sears used to sell everything. Tractors, tires, insurance, investments, chickens. In 2004, Sears was the dominant retailer in America. By the end of the decade, it was feverishly closing stores and dying.
Marketers blame the failure on aging store decor, failure to support the brand online, and merchandise offerings that were too broad. Circuit City, CompUSA, Firestone and other highly targeted stores were super-serving specific product lines and diminishing the appeal of Sears’ profit leaders.
Nope. If a broad product line was the problem, Walmart would be a very small business. Operationally, Sears died from within by centralizing all buying and selling decisions. Local stores had zero autonomy and therefore were unable to stay ahead of customer preference trends. The bureaucracy was poison. Financially, Sears was a publicly traded company managed in the end by Wall Street speculators who probably wanted it to fail for their own gain.
SHOCKING WALMART NEWS: Walmart is the highest grossing company in the world. Larger than Chinese oil refineries, General Motors, Volkswagen, and Microsoft. It is the highest grossing company in the world.
Walmart’s decision strategy is surprisingly decentralized. It learned from Sears’ mistake. The employees you see working in Walmart are in charge. Each employee is assigned to a department. They see the profit and loss for their department and for each item they are selling. Employees are shown those numbers from day one. Walmart associates are expected to keep shelves stocked and to stay ahead of demand by ordering from distribution centers on their handheld computers.
No checking with corporate or clearing adds.
In times of crisis, such as hurricanes, Walmart colleagues can donate food, water, and other supplies to rescue workers without chain of command approval. Just do it. After one local disaster, a Walmart corporate type commented on the vast amount of donations made by a local store: “That’s a good use of autonomy.”
Walmart also learned from Sears how not to finance their company: 50% of Walmart is held by founder Sam Walton’s dependents and the Waltons control the board of directors.
So… what does this mean to you?
Walter Sabo was a founding architect of SiriusXM and began the recruitment of Howard Stern. He has consulted RKO General, PARADE magazine, Hearst Broadcasting, Press Broadcasting, and other premium brands. He launched the first company to engage online video influencers, Hitviews. As an executive, he was EVP of NBC FM RADIO giving Dr. Ruth Westheimer her first media job and fostering the creation of adult contemporary. As VP ABC Radio Networks, Sabo hired Ringo Starr to be a DJ for a 24-hour special.
Let’s take a minute to welcome back an old reliable that has been part of our sales and marketing world since Adam pitched Eve and got the first “yes” on the original cold call. No telling how cold that call really was.
TALKERS founder Michael Harrison will talk about 
The United Nations and its specialized agency, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) have given the radio industry all around the globe an invaluable gift. It’s called “World Radio Day 2024.” Now in its 13th installment, WRD takes place annually on February 13 with the purpose of spotlighting the accomplishments, importance, and ongoing relevance of the radio medium as it evolves deeper into the 21st century. This year’s WRD theme is “Radio: A Century Informing, Educating and Entertaining.” By officially designating the platform as worthy of its own officially sanctioned UN International Day, the august world body has recognized, spotlighted, and endorsed radio’s continuing relevance and potential for being a vital force for the betterment of humanity.
stating the Walters was accused of embezzling funds from the Second Amendment Foundation defamed him. No such accusation ever actually took place. In its Motion to Dismiss, Open AI argued several points, including that Georgia is not the proper jurisdiction, but it summarized its argument that Walters’ claims didn’t meet the burden of defamation when it said, “Even more fundamentally, Riehl’s use of ChatGPT did not cause a ‘publication’ of the outputs. OpenAI’s Terms of Use make clear that ChatGPT is a tool that assists the user in the writing or creation of draft content and that the user owns the content they generate with ChatGPT. Riehl agreed to abide by these Terms of Use, including the requirement that users ‘verify’ and ‘take ultimate responsibility for the content being published.’ As a matter of law, this creation of draft content for the user’s internal benefit is not ‘publication.’” 
had begun switching off automatic downloads for users who haven’t listened to five episodes of a show in the last two weeks. But while few users noticed the shift, some of the biggest podcasts in the world saw their official listener numbers drop dramatically. Long-running shows that publish frequently were hit particularly hard. A user who listened to a show like The New York Times’ ‘The Daily’ a few times, subscribed, but stopped listening would continue to count as a download indefinitely. Even better under the old rules: For people who listened to a show, dropped off for a while, but started listening again later, Apple would automatically download every show in between. The arrangement drove big download numbers, a crucial metric for ad sales and a sign of the vast reach of podcasts as a medium.” 
Take a day off. You get one free this year.
“News Talk 1050” and two music brands. Townsquare regional vice president Robert Wawrzyniec says, “Mike is the ideal executive to lead Townsquare’s broadcast and digital operations in West Central Missouri. Most important, he knows the Sedalia market and what resonates with its listeners and advertisers. His expertise in creating, developing and executing exceptional local multi-platform solutions for advertising and marketing clients, as well as driving new business opportunities and forging important community partnerships, has resulted in deep client relationships and a strong commitment to listeners. I am looking forward to working with him in his new role.”
Hudson hosted “The Morning Answer” on former Salem property WGTK, Greenville, South Carolina for close to a decade. In addition to providing live updates during “The Mike Gallagher Show,” Hudson will also report throughout the day on SRN News and TOWNHALL News. SRN VP of news & talk programming Tom Tradup says, “Joey Hudson’s unique background in Republican party politics as well as his impressive media credentials makes him the ideal person to provide eye-level coverage of today’s important caucuses.”
Travis and Buck Sexton. The show debuted yesterday (1/14) and will be available as part of The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Podcast Network. Premiere says, “‘24’ is a highlight reel of that week’s most important election news from ‘The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show’ – one of the leading talk radio shows in America reaching millions of listeners on more than 470 stations nationwide. Whether it’s astute political analysis or candidate interviews, ‘24’ is a curated sampling of Travis and Sexton’s comprehensive coverage of the week in politics.”
44 years. Ken Squier passed away in November and his daughter Ashley tells WCAX-TV, Burlington that the station that’s provided local sports, news, commentary, and more will be in good hands. “I feel that this is a very good day and a very good development. Dad loved community radio.” The station says that former Republican U.S. Senate candidate and former Ethan Allen Institute leader Myers Mermel will serve as owner-operator. Mermel tells WCAX-TV he wants the station to remain local. “We want to look at different ideas and new ideas in order to increase our ability to discover and identify and bring in content.” 
at Wingate University’s Batte Fine Arts Center. The event will be moderated by personalities Bo Thompson and Beth Troutman and will feature questions for the candidates presented by the station’s late morning host Vince Coakley, afternoon host Brett Winterble, evening host Brett Jensen, and news director Mark Garrison. It will also include a 30-minute lead-in show hosted by Thompson and Troutman. All six registered candidates for the seat have accepted invitations to take part in the commercial-free broadcast. 
reach to more than 350 affiliates nationwide. DeMuro hosts the “Rich On Tech” segment on KTLA-TV, Los Angeles and hosts a podcast of the same name. He says, “Doing this show is so much fun. The secret is really the listeners. They are my inside track to what the everyday tech user is curious about. It’s my goal to ensure listeners are ahead of the curve – all in a way that’s easy to understand.” Premiere Networks president Julie Talbott states, “We’re so proud of the continued growth and success of ‘Rich On Tech.’ We partnered with Rich DeMuro to create a fresh, intelligent and entertaining program covering the world of technology, and we couldn’t be happier with the result. We look forward to celebrating many more milestones together.”
Week” coverage, will be staged before a live audience – February 5 through 9 on the Fontainebleau Las Vegas third floor Oasis Pool Deck. Patrick says, “Every year when we plan where to take the show for this week – the biggest week in sports – we look to try something new, something fresh and the Fontainebleau is the newest and freshest spot in Las Vegas. The coolest part of this partnership is that over the past few months the people at the Fontainebleau have sent us pictures and videos of the final stages of development. We got a sneak peek. This place is cutting edge with a big nod to old school Vegas throughout. We can’t wait to get out there to do the show, see the fans and enjoy the property.”
national news and entertainment. The station will play host to nationally syndicated programs like “The Ramsey Show,” “The Michael Berry Show,” “The Joe Pags Show,” “Armstrong & Getty” and “Michael DelGiorno” as well as “Bloomberg Radio.” iHeartMedia Tampa Bay SVP of programming Tommy Chuck adds, “Tampa Bay is one of the fastest-growing communities in the United States. As the region’s economy continues to grow, we are pleased to offer programming tailored to the people making that happen. Around the clock, the programming will keep listeners informed on issues affecting their everyday lives and pocketbooks.”
can advance their mission and enable them to better-serve communities with quicker alerts and more local news, he shared broadcasters’ concerns about AI without appropriate guardrails in place. He presented three primary concerns; 1) that the use of broadcasters’ news content in AI models, without authorization, diminishes their audience trust and their reinvestment in local news; 2) the use of AI to doctor, manipulate or misappropriate the likeness of trusted radio or television personalities risks spreading misinformation or even perpetrating fraud; and 3) the rising prevalence of deepfakes make it increasingly burdensome for both newsrooms and users to identify and distinguish legitimate, copyrighted broadcast content, from the unvetted and potentially inaccurate content being generated by AI.
The program is also being produced for national syndication on terrestrial radio as well as being available on the FOX News YouTube channel. The program will tackle the latest headlines from Cain’s unique perspective along with thought-provoking longform interviews with leading figures and live calls from viewers and listeners. Cain comments, “This is it! This is what I want to be a part of in our national conversation. More. More engagement, more debate, more dangerous conversations, more free thinking, more fun.”
After 4G enabled Uber and other apps now-common, inventors are flexing 5G. And grab-the-armrest for what 6G and 7G will bring. Just when we’re blasé about Wi-Fi, we are told that Li-Fi will use light to transmit data.
company’s existing $75 million accounts receivables financing facility to $100 million. The DIP financing, the upsize of the accounts receivables financing facility and the company’s cash from operations and available reserves will enable Audacy to fulfill commitments to employees, advertisers, partners and vendors. The court also authorizes Audacy to continue to pay employee wages, salaries and benefits without interruption and to pay vendors and suppliers. This latest news comes after the company entered into a restructuring support agreement (“RSA”) with a supermajority of its debtholders. Under the terms of the RSA, the debtholders committed to vote in favor of a plan of reorganization that, when consummated, will equitize approximately $1.6 billion of funded debt, a reduction of 80% from approximately $1.9 billion to approximately $350 million. Audacy says it does not expect any operational impact from the restructuring, and trade and other unsecured creditors will not be impaired.
