Industry Views

Sabo Sez: Five Predictions

By Walter Sabo
Consultant, Sabo Media Implementers
A.K.A. Walter Sterling
Radio Host, “Sterling On Sunday”
Talk Media Network

im1. Financial solvency laws. Consolidation is not the problem; it actually saved the radio industry. The problem is the 1986 rule change that dropped financial solvency requirements for station ownership. Prior to 1986, stations could not be purchased with debt. A potential owner had to prove that they could meet the expenses of a station through the duration of its license. Once the financial efficacy rule was dropped and stations could be purchased with debt, the industry was financially decimated. Prediction: Financial solvency laws will be re-instated.

2. Ratings change. Ratings giant Nielsen will change its system of measurement of audio. The PPM was created over 20 years ago by a company that no longer exists. For a station to earn proper audience levels, Nielsen must measure all audio distribution platforms including radio sets, in car, cell phone streaming, computer streaming, satellite, public address systems and ear pods and whatever comes next. Now you choose one – over the air or the stream. This will change or more companies will follow the recent lead of Good Karma Brands radio which just cancelled Nielsen.

3. New leadership. Who’s in charge? Most radio companies are run by very sharp and very senior CEOs and Boards. The Boca effect — I don’t want trouble, just get me to my retirement and condo on Boca. The primary reason FM grew from 10% household usage in 1968 to 60% in 1981 was the “kids” were put in charge – and caused “trouble.” Allen Shaw at ABC FM, Walter Sabo at NBC FM (forgive me), Jerry Lyman at RKO FM and the sons and daughters of the owners of thriving AMs paired with orphaned FMs (think Beau Woods at WEBN, Cincinnati and Bart McClendon in Dallas) were given free range to create and implement brand new formats. While the AM management played golf, those 20-somethings aired daring, new, shocking, amazing radio that drew listeners to FM. No, not stereo or low commercials, it was the FM package of subversiveness. For radio to level up and serve the joy of an audience born with iPhones in their cribs, it will be led by today’s 20-somethings without suffering interference by bosses sharing really interesting stories about their time at CBGBs.  The essential leadership will come from younger programmers and executives who have only known a world with online video stars, a thousand cable channels, and on-demand video and audio entertainment.

4. New sales paradigm. Digital entertainment companies – audio and video – are fueled by stupid money. Venture capitalists launch new businesses with the goal of claiming a stake and then selling the business for their ROI. VCs have no interest in operating profit. Really. That means start-up media companies pay much more for sales executives than radio companies. Start-ups are shinier goals than radio stations to a media advertising seller. There will be a revolution in the way salespeople are identified, recruited, managed, and paid or the decline in radio revenue will accelerate.

5. Renovated voice tracking. Voice tracking is not horrible, it’s an opportunity that has not been realized. Today voice tracking is a poor imitation of being live – without benefits. No time, temp, urgent news. Here’s the miss: Every station has a stunning, amazing production library. Don’t have one? Swipe from YouTube. Rather than pretending to be live, admit to being recorded. Use that production freedom to produce. Tap the production library to create a running drama, comedy, mood, listening environment. Make the show between the songs to be as compelling as Taylor Swift. That’s the future of music radio.

Walter Sabo has been a C Suite action partner for companies such as SiriusXM, Hearst, Press Broadcasting, Gannett, RKO General and many other leading media outlets. His company HITVIEWS, in 2007, was the first to identify and monetize video influencers. HITVIEWS clients included Pepsi, FOX TV, Timberland, Microsoft, and CBS Television. He can be reached at walter@sabomedia.com www.waltersterlingshow.com

Industry Views

SABO SEZ: Here are Five Original Ideas Worth Stealing

By Walter Sabo
Consultant, Sabo Media Implementers
A.K.A. Walter Sterling
Radio Host, “Sterling On Sunday”
Talk Media Network

imOriginal ideas are golden and rare. Here are five ideas worth stealing because of their novelty, success and oh-wow factor!

THE SECRET OF A GREAT TALK STATION – Tom Bigby founding program director of WIP Philadelphia.  Tom turned up a large black knob to his left and it fed the phone screeners doing their work. He could monitor all calls coming in and how they were screened. He recorded all screener conversations and “I do air check sessions with the screeners.” declared Mr. Bigby.

ENTER AND YOU COULD WIN ALL THE CLOTHES – FOX FM Melbourne Australia. Every year FOX FM hosted the FOX FASHION SHOW at a mall. The event drove entries for a contest that awarded tickets to the show. Ok, normal.

Surprise: “And one listener will win all the clothes.” At the time, 2002, Brad March was the head of programming for owner, Austerio.

WE’LL BOOST SECURITY. When New Jersey 101.5 started, John and Ken hosted PM Drive – yes that John and Ken of KFI deserved fame. The hot topic was the station’s fantasy to eliminate tolls on the Jersey Turnpike. No one considered that eliminating tolls would mean firing unionized toll takers… in New Jersey.Somebody thought that was a bad idea and slashed the tires in the station’s parking lot. Lame owners would have shut down the topic. Bob McAllan, CEO of Press Broadcasting had no problems with the topic. His response:  Heavy investing in hurricane fencing and super-bright lights for the building’s exterior. Bob kept the staff fearless and that is why the station is a success to this minute.

SOMEBODY’S GOT TO BE IN THE BUILDING ALL NIGHT.  Thanks to the kindness of strangers, Sterling On Sunday and my guest host appearances for Westwood One have originated from great radio facilities throughout the northeast. Great empty facilities. After 10:00 pm clusters of stations housed in state of the art installations operate without one human body in the building. Not one, not a board op, or night editor, or anybody. It’s spooky and irresponsible. What if?? Dave LaBrozzi, Program Director of KDKA engaged a group of eager interns to work in the beautiful KDKA newsroom all night. Great training for the students and smart service to Pittsburgh.

WEBSITES ARE DIFFERENT. Radio 538 is the hot top 40 in the Netherlands. Dan Mason and I consulted them and learned that they recognized that a website is not a radio station. They built web content that had nothing to do with the radio station, except in spirit, but was very appealing to online consumers. Note that all of the stars on online video are native to the medium. Hollywood stars who tried to cross to digital, failed. Different medium. Build web-only content for traffic success.

Walter Sabo hosts “Sterling On Sunday” – a 10-year network success heard on stations such as KMOX, St Louis; WPHT, Philadelphia; KFBK, Sacramento; and KDKA, Pittsburgh. His company, Sabo Media has delivered audience growth for SiriusXM, Hearst, FOX Television and other media titans. He can be reached at walter@sabomedia.com www.waltersterlingshow.com

Industry Views

SABO SEZ: Stream to Success

By Walter Sabo
Consultant, Sabo Media Implementers
A.K.A. Walter Sterling
Radio Host, “Sterling On Sunday”
Talk Media Network

imIn May 2007, I was enjoying the brand-new app called YouTube. Still independently owned, still relatively unknown. Some of the videos pulled millions of viewers, more viewers than enjoyed by ESPN or any cable network. More interesting, the videos with high counts were not made by NBC or ESPN or any traditional video source. High view count videos were being made by people with no experience in traditional media, they were experimenters producing in their basements and bedrooms.

As these new performers were pulling major view counts, they revealed that they worked at Starbucks, were going to school and wanting to make enough money to get out of their parent’s house. Wait. Some video creators were winning more viewers than ESPN and they were broke? Simultaneously major brands like Pepsi and Budweiser knew they had to enter the online video space and each attempt was a disaster. BUD TV! Online video entertainment was a brand-new medium; USG User Generated Content.

I started a company called HITVIEWS. The goal was to placed brand messages in User Generated Content. The first company. No one had ever done it. We gathered the top video performers and started to marry them with brands like Pepsi, FOX TVTimberlandMTV,  CBS TelevisionIBMLogitech, many more. A TALKERS conference introduced the first Influencer (we called them “Web Stars”), Caitlin Hill, to radio executives.

From this pioneering initiative into online video, I can share a significant amount of information about the ingredients of a successful video campaign.

  1. Use video stars, influencers, to deliver your message. It’s a different medium and requires different stars.
  2. Engage every capability of the platform. The videos with the highest view counts demand the most interaction with the viewer. Click now. Comment below. Make a response video. Send a text back. THEN answer all responses. Every single viewer response must be answered by you or it is wasted.
  3. It’s not radio or TV. Don’t bother putting up videos at a fixed day and time. Put up as many videos as you possibly can. Two days is too old!
  4. Funny works best.

Online video success makes the medium the message. The touch screen, mouse, keyboard. Audio, video capabilities must all be integrated into the entertainment. If full functionality is not part of the show, the show is boring.

Walter Sabo has consulted the largest media companies worldwide in digital initiatives. He was the on-site consultant for SiriusXM Satellite Radio for nine years. He can be reached by email at walter@sabomedia.com and his network radio show can be discovered at  www.waltersterlingshow.com.

Industry Views

SABO SEZ: RECEPTIONISTS AND GROUND INTELLIGENCE – Be nice to the human at the front desk (if there is still one).

By Walter Sabo
Producer/Host
Sterling on Sunday
Media Consultant

When thinking about the changes in the radio industry I’ve seen during my career, I’m dragged to memories of the lobby of WXLO-FM in New York (WOR’s FM sister).  The station was on the second floor of 1440 Broadway. WOR-AM was on the 24th and 23rd floors.  In technical terms, the place was a dump. Dirty linoleum. Ancient office furniture.  The original ceiling was spray painted black to hide the fact that it was not an acoustic drop down ceiling. Not one window in the place. BUT the signal was the best on the FM band. WXLO was the first station to hire me almost out of college. I needed a summer job between my junior and senior year but WXLO did not have summer jobs.  The general manager, Arthur Adler offered me a full time job which I accepted immediately.

For my on-boarding process Arthur walked me to the fluorescent sales area and pointed to an empty cubicle.  Then, he vanished. Next his secretary escorted me to the personnel department many flights up.  I was seated next to an official person who was gathering many forms for me to fill out. These forms included the all-important TUITION REIMBURSEMENT form which compelled RKO General (the station’s then-owner) to pay for my last semester in college. (I attended Rutgers at night and had the credits transferred to my diploma school, Syracuse University.) On the official person’s desk sat a three-ring binder wide opened to the KHJ (Los Angeles) TALENT page.  Wide open. Staring at me, beckoning, teasing me to look. What could I do? Robert W Morgan, morning man, HIGH five figures a year.  The Real Don Steele, PM drive mid-five figures. Every other jock was paid AFTRA scale.  It was a crash course in radio economics and I wasn’t even a legal adult.  But I digress. Now for the point.

A few days later the front door on the second floor was banging. The receptionist, a kind, timid person, hit the intercom key and asked who was knocking?  Even back then, at 40th and Broadway visitors were a high security issue. That door was locked for about a million good reasons. Who was at the door?  A “menacing” man in a fancy suit and perfect hair said his name, but the receptionist did not recognize him or his name. He repeated,  “I’m THE PRESIDENT OF THE COMPANY.”  That’s what he said.  But he wasn’t. He was the vice president.  I learned a lot then too.

A receptionist is not just the gatekeeper to the business. He/she could be the gatekeeper to your career, or fortune. That is, of course, if the establishment you are visiting still has a receptionist.  My brother, the smart one, is a financial big shot. Highly respected, oddly humble. Companies come to him for funding. Executives seeking financial backing sit with his receptionist for an unusually long time. When the visitors are invited from the lobby to the conference room, they are ALL invited into the conference room – including the receptionist. The meeting starts with my brother asking the “receptionist” for her impressions of the guests.  Then it is revealed that the receptionist is actually a high ranking, decision-making executive.

The second floor receptionist at WXLO let her feelings about the boisterous vice president be known and said VP was not titled for long. Dumb companies have eliminated receptionists and instead greet visitors with touch tone wall phones and posted extensions directories.  The loss of ground intelligence is significant – especially if the station is located in a high-priced downtown office building designed to impress.

Plus a lot of executives waste time running to the door to get food orders. False economy.

Walter Sabo is a long-time radio industry consultant and thought leader.  He hosts and produces a network radio show titled “Sterling on Sunday” 10:00 pm-1:00 am ET.  www.waltersterlingshow.com.   walter@sabomedia.com