Pending Business: Good News Bad News
By Steve Lapa
Lapcom Communications Corp
President
Survey says, the good news is, 49% of local direct advertisers use AM/FM radio.
The bad news is, the same survey says, 65% of that same group uses social media advertising. Advantage +16% for the digital team. The good news is, you are comfortable selling/managing digital and social media vehicles because like it or not your local advertiser is leaning in on the digital/social media advertising opportunity.
Survey says, more bad news, 54% of the local direct advertiser group is buying event-sponsorships. The good news is, you are comfortable selling/managing event-sponsorships because like it or not your local advertiser is leaning in on the event-sponsorship advertising opportunity.
Now for the closer, survey says, over 50% of these local advertisers are now budgeting only 2% of gross revenues on advertising. Thank you Borrell for the researched eye-opener and thank you pandemic for shrinking the local advertiser’s marketing dollar.
Show of hands, please, anyone reading this totally surprised? The online digital/social media advertising world has been on a double-digit growth tear as long as anyone can remember. The growth continues as AM/FM sellers stand by and watch the parade go by, sorry guys. The facts are… there are roughly 310 million smartphones in the U.S. According to the last Edison survey, 68% of U.S. homes own 1.5 radios. In round numbers 338 million radios at home. Wait, what? Are there almost as many smartphones as AM/FM radios at home? Anyone own more than one smartphone? I thought there was a radio in almost every room in your home. Not anymore, you say? Quite different from the average five radios per household when many reading this column earned their first double digit commission check as a member of that fun loving sales team. The times are a changin’ and I hope you are changing with the times. Let us start here:
Update your value proposition for “Why Radio?” Make it current and relevant to today’s media ecosystem.
Sharpen your new selling skills. Get ahead of the curve and leave your competitors in the dust.
Ask yourself, “What happened?” The numbers of smartphone users are growing. Maybe not as fast as in the past but growing. The number of AM/FM radios in the home is shrinking. Look to your leadership for some answers.
When the trend is NOT your friend, it’s time to think like the great leaders who built our country and media empires, “Lead, follow, or get out of the way.”
Steve Lapa is the president of Lapcom Communications Corp. based in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. Lapcom is a media sales, marketing, and development consultancy. Contact Steve Lapa via email at: Steve@Lapcomventures.com.
programming and spoken-word radio. Energy, enthusiasm, and experience within the genre is a must. You will be responsible for all aspects of programming including managing on-air staff, imaging, station strategy, developing and executing revenue generating sales & programming promotions, website & social media, digital content and have a strong understanding of the core audience(s). 
Westchester Radio, Inc to religious broadcaster Hope Media Group for $8.15 million. WVIP-FM has been airing programming brokered to Caribbean broadcasters. The O’Shaughnessy family still owns the company’s other station – news/talk WVOX-AM. O’Shaughnessy died in May of 2022 at the age of 84.
Congratulations! You’ve made to the halfway point this year.
dedicated to talk (Monday through Thursday as Friday nights belong to 
networking and mostly music. As the Latino community grows in Suffolk County, we found that they have no full-time news and information source, no outlet for them to express their thoughts or hear the talk radio that they want. We knew that we needed a sister station to ‘LaFiesta’ that was dedicated to the community and was their ‘LI News Radio’ or WINS. Ana developed the concept of live, local, community talk radio for this demo and named it ‘En Vivo’ — or ‘Live,’ now all I had to do was find an outlet for this amazing concept she developed. When WLIM 1440 and 93.3 became available we knew we had to make the move and bring them into the JVC cluster.” Carbalo adds, “Long Island ‘En Vivo’ knows today’s decisions affect our community tomorrow and the best tool to drive us to a better future is information. News, politics, finance, sports, entertainment, health & lifestyle – we cover it all. Long Island has a huge Hispanic population that continues to be underserved. That was made abundantly clear during the pandemic. Long Island needed information in Spanish… So now we have a dedicated source that will not only deliver relevant information about what happens in our area but also educates and creates opportunities for the Hispanic population to prosper by providing the tools and resources they need.”
Ciorciari says, “Taking a legacy AM radio station and re-imagining it into an additional radio format in a local market is an exciting expansion of Bold Gold’s local broadcast portfolio, and is a testament to an incredible team of local broadcast professionals, a supportive community, and the importance that local radio continues to have to provide local news, talk and information.” Bold Gold Media New York director of programming Chase Daniels comments, “The launch of ‘Catskills News Talk’ marks another BOLD move in our New York market as we expand our programming offerings and bring back the heritage ‘Voice of Sullivan.’ Putting this station together required a lot of well-thought-out decisions and I’m honored to have had the opportunity to bring it all together.” Beyond morning drive, the company has not revealed programming details other than to say, “Popular radio shows covering a variety of topics including financial market updates, investing, lifestyle, health, politics, sports and others will round out the station’s programming.”
program two legendary news/talk stations. Energy, enthusiasm, attention to detail and experience in news writing/delivering and talk show hosting is a necessity. You must have the ability to interact with listeners and handle multiple phone calls at one time. You will be responsible for all aspects of programming including managing and motivating on-air staff, imaging, station strategy, developing and executing revenue generating sales & programming promotions, website & social media, digital content and have a strong understanding of the core audience of a news/talk format. The position also requires a daily AM drive air-shift, along with live appearances and live broadcasts! 
being produced by the award-winning team of Steve Gregory and Jacob Gonzalez with associate producer Nick Pagliochini. KFI says, “Parents and protesters continue to gather at school board meetings around the country to express their frustration over districts’ that try to introduce books and language which address the transgender community and other LGBTQ+ issues. Faith-based leaders have also joined the protests along with advocacy groups that represent parents of public-school students. Critics say these issues should be addressed exclusively in the home while supporters say it is critical to be inclusive of all lifestyles to better prepare children for the real world. ‘He Said, She Said, They Said…’ features multiple sides of the issue. There is also a companion podcast with extended content that will be available immediately following the broadcast on the iHeartRadio App.”
an illustrious career in LA radio, from LOVELINE’s inception on KROQ through the show’s network syndication and MTV. We’re thrilled to have Ann joining our iHeart LA team.” Ingold was most recently serving as producer on ITV’s weekly live Facebook Watch program and consulted Los Angeles radio shows for Audacy and Meruelo Media. She comments, “I want to thank Robin and everyone at KFI for being so welcoming.”
May 2023 PPM Data – Information for the May 2023 ratings period has been released for Portland, Charlotte, San Antonio, Sacramento, Pittsburgh, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, Orlando, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Kansas City, and Columbus.
May 2023 PPM Data – Information for the May 2023 sweep has been released for Washington, Boston, Miami, Seattle, Detroit, Phoenix, Minneapolis, San Diego, Tampa, Denver, Baltimore, and St. Louis.
May 2023 PPM Data – Information for the May 2023 ratings period has been released for New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Nassau-Suffolk (Long Island), Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, San Jose, and Middlesex-Somerset-Union (New Jersey).
“During that time, he has guest-hosted statewide news/talk programs as well as a regular weekend show, produced their daily morning show, worked with clients in a creative variety of ways, and spent countless evenings and weekends announcing local soccer and baseball games.” KFAB program director Scott Voorhees adds, “Emery will continue KFAB’s nearly 100-year-old tradition of on-air personalities who are passionate about connecting with the community we serve. It’s not about hammering an agenda; it’s about entertaining and relevant conversations of interest to Omaha/Council Bluffs and the surrounding area.”
cable channel while speaking on WABC’s “Sid & Friends in the Morning” program. When asked by the Post about details of a bid for CNN, including how much he’d pay, he said, “It’s up to the investment bankers to come up with the numbers… We could always bring partners in, but I want to run the place. We are capable of putting down a substantial amount of money.” Catsimatidis added, “I’d go run the place tomorrow morning, and all I’d want is $1 per year and a piece of the upside,” saying he could “double the profits” in a brief period of time. 
within the realm of the company going forward?” “How can radio remain true to its roots and mission as an audio medium and theater-of-the-mind without missing the opportunities provided in a multiplatform environment?” plus more. Pittman says that this is a “golden moment” for both radio and the larger field of audio in which it is and will remain a major player. He pointed out that “25% of iHeart’s stations do not play music” and that more and more shows on the company’s music stations are “actually talk shows that play little or no music at all.” He reaffirmed the company’s awareness that personality plays an important role in the presentation of music and it is its intention to pivot back in that direction. He candidly addressed the divide between the coastal elites who influence the direction of national media but are largely out of touch with the heartland and the rest of real America. 
Orlando among numerous music outlets. iHeartMedia area president for Central Florida Barbara Latham says, “I’m thrilled to have Andrew join us in Central Florida and bring his tenure with iHeartMedia, along with his extensive digital experience, to our team. Hryciw was most recently division VP of digital sales in the company’s Portland, Oregon market.
47, James Norman Swank, 35, and Elizabeth Ann Caruso, 35, have been charged with burglary. The report goes on to note that Caruso and Swank admitted being at the station but denied stealing anything. While MacDowell admitted breaking into the station and stealing two demolition bags, sanitary wipes, and a fire extinguisher. They’ve each been released on $25,000 unsecured bail. 
at Hofstra University will be posted, beginning today with the panel discussion “Programming News/Talk Radio in the Digital Era – Part 1.” The session, sponsored by Premiere Networks, is introduced by Larry O’ Connor, morning host at WMAL, Washington, DC and moderated by Mike McVay (pictured at right), CEO of McVay Media Consulting. Panelists (pictured below from left to right) include Joe Thomas, program director/host, WCHV, Charlottesville, VA; Eric Stanger, SVP operations, Sean Hannity Show/Premiere Networks; Brett Winterble, host, WBT, Charlotte; Kevin DeLany, VP news & talk programming, Westwood One; and Tom Cuddy, program director, WOR, New York. (Note: Matt Meany, program director, WABC, New York who was originally scheduled to appear on this panel switched to the “Programming News/Talk Radio in the Digital Era – Part 2” session which will be posted tomorrow.) 
I’m sorry.
marrow transplant. On May 25, WCCO hosted a live auction with items and experiences provided by the station and sourced by on-air talent, sponsors, and partners. WCCO brand manager Brad Lane comments, “We are so humbled and grateful for our fans’ incredible generosity, the amazing financial support from our corporate partners, and the remarkable donation of ideas and time by our personalities. What a fun day auctioning off priceless, unique experiences for a cause so close and personal to us…in honor of our friend, teammate, and bone-marrow transplant recipient Jordana Green!”