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SABO SEZ: Move or Die!

By TALKERS | October 22, 2024October 22, 2024 by TALKERS

By Walter Sabo
A.K.A. Walter Sterling, Host
Sterling Every Damn Night, WPHT, Philadelphia
Sterling On Sunday, TMN

Walter M. Sterling If a shark doesn’t swim, it dies. Radio is just fine, thank you, but it’s not swimming. Water, check. Tank, check, Sharks, check. Swimming to the next meal, nope. For the past 10 years at least, the radio show in every city is stuck in place and that sound in the distance that wakes you up at night is a death rattle.

The public perceives radio to be live, current, and local. Those three ingredients are the foundation of radio’s hundred years of success and the envy of all other media. That’s right – ALL. OTHER. MEDIA. Radio was born with the characteristics envied by newspapers, magazines, streaming, TV… name it.

The savior of the AM band was not a three-hour-a-day-host. The savior is all-news and local live. The FM formats that thrive and grow put up a live mirror to a city’s needs and tastes. Stations that sound like their city, and no other city, do not just win – they dominate. The radio shark is the forward momentum of urgent local information, new ideas, new jokes.

When asked, most people will say, “I don’t think I listen to the radio much…” But they do. The problem is radio is not top of mind. Why not? Because radio must demand listener attention with urgent, new ideas, entertainment, and information. “Your favorites from the 90s and today” isn’t doing that. Listen to air checks of the double-digit share legends of top 40 night-time radio. They weren’t so great. BUT in every single break they announced the names of local schools, listeners, events – every break with urgency. The more listener names, the higher their shares. Radio math. The more listener names, the more live local points of reference, the higher the audience share.

Consider the stunning ratings of too many NPR stations. What accounts for their growth trajectory? Clock the percentage of time your local NPR station spends presenting local news, local information, and new ideas.

Compare that with any other station in the city. In its own dreary way, most NPR stations deliver on the presumed benefits of the medium of radio: Local, live, urgent ideas. Yes, many commercial stations command major ratings for the same reason: All-news stations, and hybrids such as WSB, Atlanta; KRLD, Dallas; New Jersey 101.5, WABC, New York; KFI, Los Angeles; WTAM, Cleveland; WPHT Philadelphia.

It’s sacred geometry: The more often a listener hears about their local, daily life, the higher go the ratings.

Consultant Walter Sabo A.K.A. Walter M Sterling has a nightly show “Sterling Every Damn Night” heard on WPHT, Philadelphia 9:00 pm – 12:00 midnight. His syndicated show, “Sterling On Sunday,” from Talk Media Network, airs Sundays 10:00 pm – 1:00 am ET, and is now in its 10th year of success. He can be reached by email at waltermsterling@gmail.com or Sabowalter@gmail.com.

Industry Views

MONDAY MEMO: Bleep?

By TALKERS | October 21, 2024August 7, 2026 by TALKERS

By Holland Cooke
Consultant

As the Dodgers celebrated the win that advanced them to the National League Championship Series, a FOX Sports TV reporter asked LA’s Enrique Hernandez what made this team so special.

First checking “Are we live?” Hernandez replied, “The fact that we don’t give a f**k!” (which was not bleeped).

Earlier that day vice presidential candidate Tim Walz campaigned in Michigan. Reacting to disparaging remarks Donald Trump had made ABOUT Detroit IN Detroit, Walz quipped “All’s they know about manufacturing is manufacturing bullshit.”

Later that evening, Bill Maher delivered the amusingly plainspoken experience his HBO viewers paid to opt-into. Next day, his uncensored vocabulary jumped to basic cable, via CNN’s free-with-commercials rebroadcast. I’ve heard a CNN talking head say “asshole;” and panelists on other cable news channels now say “bullshit” nonchalantly.

Call me a prude, but I make my living improving the results businesses get by advertising on radio stations I consult…because listeners keep listening. Lotsa luck if they don’t hear the commercial…because they tuned out…because they have kids in the car.

Admittedly, by simply uttering a term as antique as “prude,” I risk seeming late.

Why I wince when I hear “pissed off” on the air? That’s grown-up talk Homer and Marge Listener might use when Bart and Lisa and Maggie aren’t around. And my clients can recite my spiel about how “parents with children of any age still living at home are the super-spenders local retailers want to meet.” So, wouldn’t “irked” or “chagrined” or “miffed” do?

I asked around…

Bleep Task Force

Salem Media Group CEO David Santrella: “I couldn’t agree more. I’ve never been asked why I DIDN’T use foul language, but a few times, on the occasion that I did, I have been asked why I chose those words. That’s always ended with me needing to apologize.”

Consultant Mike McVay hears “a continual downgrading generation-to-generation of what’s acceptable.” He recalls, “When I was eight years old, some older kids were laughing about the ‘F Word’ being written in chalk on a sidewalk. I asked my mother what it meant. She was horrified. Today it is used in off-air conversation casually. It’s used in many songs” radio plays.

Evolution? Devolution?

TALKERS publisher Michael Harrison observes how “the potency of these words has changed over the years. Words like ‘hell,’ ‘damn,’ or even ‘bitch’ were no-no’s.” Now, political correctness has us on the verge of saying what we allude to with initials, “the ‘N’ word, the ‘R’ word, and the ‘F’ word.”

Veteran network radio and TV anchor Ted David reckons that “language is a dynamic thing. ‘Scumbag’ — which meant a condom — is now universally accepted. ‘Sucks’ used to mean fellatio. And in Europe the ‘C’ word is frequently uttered in public. How long till here?”

McVay recalls: “One of my adult children recently used the phrase ‘pissed off’ in a public setting. I said, ‘Not appropriate.’ She said, ‘I didn’t think of it as profanity’ and apologized.”

Is it just a matter of time?

Among Mike’s daughter’s demographic cohort, WJNK VP and Jessamine County Living Magazine president Brittany Moses: “With the changing media landscape, listeners are more conditioned to hearing language we would have gasped at even 5-10 years ago. I do think that while there should be some limitations for the ‘family’ stations, I could see the broadcast community getting more lax on language. I think it’ll be inevitable. SXM, podcasts, etc. are already moving that direction.”

Even as Bill Maher‘s vocabulary leaks from HBO to CNN, Arkansas Broadcasters Association executive director Neal Gladner draws a line: “Where someone is paying to listen to a specific program, I presume they know what they’re going to get and those are not advertiser-based offerings. It’s a different set of concerns.” For broadcasters? “Whether it’s a morning talk show or news on a cable network, I think the best rule to apply is would you use that language in front of your grandmother?”

WABC’s Joe Connolly is among dozens of WDRC/Hartford alumni who advanced to major market success. He recalls venerable PD Charlie Parker‘s advice to “imagine the people listening as a family watching a parade – grandparents, parents and kids.” Joe says “I’ve followed that advice ever since. It hasn’t hurt my career one bit.”

How did we get here?

Lisa Gache has advised Oscar-winning celebrities, and high-profile brands such as Mattel, Tiffany & Co., Burberry, TJX Companies, American Girl, Beverly Wilshire and the Hotel Bel-Air.

“People are negative. They’re angry, they’re fed up, they’re impatient, they’re right and they’re not taking it anymore. And this is what we’re hearing reflected in our vocabulary. It’s everywhere, it’s crass and it’s uncomfortable. But it did not begin with Trump.”

Her advice? “Managing the cringe can only occur through leading by example. This is why I always try to clean up my side of the street first and be the role model I’d like to see in the world. I never tell anyone what to do (including offering advice), unless you’re my kid or you’ve hired me to instruct you.” Gache adds, “And while we’re on the subject of foul language, I have to admit I started watching VEEP again, and the expletive-laden analogies they spew, one after the other, is some of the smartest dialogue I’ve ever encountered! I cannot stop laughing because it’s too good and it works. But this is the celluloid world and in the real word, you just can’t do that!”

Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. He is the author of “The Local Radio Advantage: Your 4-Week Tune-In Tune-Up” and “Close Like Crazy: Local Direct Leads, Pitches & Specs That Earned the Benjamins” and “Confidential: Negotiation Checklist for Weekend Talk Radio.” Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke and connect on LinkedIn