Tag: Walter Sabo

Industry Views

SABO SEZ: Look at the Actual Numbers

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Walter Sabo
A.K.A Walter Sterling
Host, The Other Side of Midnight
WABC, New York / Red Apple Audio Networks

imgBillionaires make predominantly good investments, which is why they are billionaires.

John Malone saved Sirius with a $500 million investment just days from the company missing payroll. He remains the controlling shareholder.

Warren Buffett just made a significant investment in highly profitable SiriusXM.

George Soros owns Audacy. Audacy’s robust list of major market radio stations are jewels that require a better financial structure. Soros Fund Management bought $400,000,000 of the company’s debt and controlling ownership. Note that Soros now owns all but one of the country’s all-news stations.

Apollo Advisor’s billionaire CEO Marc Rowan – a former candidate for Secretary of the U.S. Treasury – owns Cox Radio and Television. Apollo was an original investor in Sirius.

John Catsimatidis wrote a check for WABC-AM and is buying more properties. Radio properties. Cats owns an oil refinery, land, and the Gristedes supermarket chain, but his focus is on WABC Radio.

The health of radio? The future? Those sharp investors, brutal businesspeople, determine the business future of radio, and they are apparently very optimistic!

Failing industries don’t expand

In 1970, there were 2,126 commercial stations in the U.S.

Today there are:

  • AM stations: 4,342
  • FM commercial stations: 6,589
  • FM noncommercial (educational) stations: 4,755

Sell the biggest number

Cable channels are investor valued by “Homes Passed.” Not audience or cash flow. How many people who can see the programming rather than how many people actually see the programming.  Now apply that logic to radio station values.

BILLBOARDS sell impressions. Impressions represent the total number of people who could potentially see a billboard ad.  That is the biggest number by which billboard can be measured, so that’s what they sell.

DIRECT MAIL is the number one local ad medium. It is data driven beyond your wildest dreams. Direct mail automation uses real-time signals and integrated data to deliver mail at the most meaningful point in the customer journey. For example, when someone abandons a shopping cart or repeatedly views a product online, you can design a programmatic mailing campaign to automatically send print pieces in response to that specific consumer behavior.

Rather than pushing the biggest, stable number – CUME – radio sells the smallest measurements. Radio’s 100+ years of success, astonishing outlet growth, 92% penetration of American homes, 65% daily population usage deserve has earned a much higher commercial unit price.

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. His nightly show “The Other Side of Midnight” is heard on WABC, New York and the Red Apple Audio Network 1:00 am – 5:00 am. His syndicated show, “Sterling On Sunday,” from Talk Media Network, airs 10:00 pm-1:00 am ET, and is now in its 10th year of success. He can be reached by email at sabowalter@gmail.com.  He can be phoned at 646-678-1110.

Industry Views

SABO SEZ: Jay Clark, A Real Program Director

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Walter Sabo
A.K.A Walter Sterling
Host, The Other Side of Midnight
WABC, New York / Red Apple Audio Networks

imgJay Clark was the first program director of WABC as a talk station. He set the tone and path for modern talk radio. This week I had Jay on as a special guest on the Red Apple Audio Networks all night show, “The Other Side of Midnight.” We celebrated the anniversary, May 10, (1982) of WABC’s switch from music to talk on the giant signal at 770 AM.

There could not have been a better owner at launch: ABC Inc. Facts about ABC Inc (that’s it, it was just ABC Ink):

  • ABC Inc. had launched KABC, Los Angeles and KGO, San Francisco in the mid 1960s. By 1982, when WABC switched to talk, those two stations were golden businesses. KABC was the highest grossing station in any imgformat in America. KGO was the killer biller in San Francisco. The execs who ran them were mighty proud: Ben Hoberman, Ed McLaughlin, Al Racco, Chuck Debere. Yes, they ran those stations, but they also invented the caller-driven talk format. There were other winning talk stations, but they were guest centric rather than listener centric (i.e. WOR, WGN). At the time, there were 43 stations listed as “talk” stations. 43. Not many models.
  • Clark explained that KABC and KGO took 10 years to turn a profit. The business assumption was that WABC would also take 10 years to achieve that goal. Audience research, which came back after the switch, showed it would take 10 years to win a viable audience. 10 years was fine with ABC management. That’s what it would take. It took 11.
  • WABC launched primarily as live and local. Upper radio management was passionate about the talk format, they freakin’ loved everything about it. They understood its prestige. It was and is a sales format. Management nurtured talk radio and evolved it. They were committed to talk and understood the key fact for growth: YOU CAN’T SAVE YOUR WAY TO SUCCESS. At the time management’s love was essential to success because New York’s feelings for WABC as a rocker ran deep, and not many citizens or clients were in a hurry to witness its end. They were, however, in a hurry to tune to the FM band.

When walking the halls of WABC during the first talk year, one could feel the excitement and the pride. Those feelings permeated the airwaves and propelled success. One can’t find feelings on a spreadsheet, one can’t find success on a spread sheet either.

The return of feelings

When John Catsimitidis bought WABC, pride and passion returned to the halls and to the air. John and bride Margo love the station, the staff, the format, and the potential. “Cats” and station president Chad Lopez have a simple goal: “We want it to be number one.” You would be shocked at how many managers I’ve met who will never be number one – of any format – because they don’t want to be. They actually say they don’t want to be number one… or can’t.

As of today, as it was at launch, WABC’s owner is proud and passionate and will be number one. PD Kevin Droesch is very much in the Jay Clark school of understanding talent and winning.

Sure, sure you could be a cynic and assume I’m writing this because I work for Red Apple Media. But I don’t assume that you’ve met me.

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. His nightly show “The Other Side of Midnight” is heard on WABC, New York and the Red Apple Audio Network 1:00 am – 5:00 am. His syndicated show, “Sterling On Sunday,” from Talk Media Network, airs 10:00 pm-1:00 am ET, and is now in its 10th year of success. He can be reached by email at sabowalter@gmail.com.  He can be phoned at 646-678-1110.

Industry Views

SABO SEZ: Common Sense is Always the Solution

By Editor | by Editor

By Walter Sabo
A.K.A. Walter M Sterling
WPHT, Philadelphia
Sterling Every Damn Night
Sterling on Sunday Syndicated, TMN
Another Side of Midnight, WABC, New York

imgIn 1952, the success formula for today’s radio was discovered and put into practice by two hungry entrepreneurs:  Todd Storz and Gordon McLendon. Both men owned dying radio stations in medium and major markets. The industry was suffering from a lack of purpose or solutions due to the advent of television which drove the migration of hit network radio shows to television. Lucille Ball, Bob Hope, and Gertrude Berg were on radio first.

Storz and McLendon developed “Top 40” with their own brains and money. Top 40 was research and focus group based, as well as. Storz tried it first in Omaha, then Kansas City and Miami. McLendon in Dallas, Houston, Minneapolis, and New Orleans. The formula was simple but not obvious. Their common-sense solution worked in all formats: music and talk.

Ruth Meyer was Storz’s PD in Kansas City and I worked with her at ABC. She was very clear when outlining the Storz history, “It was all Todd.”

Success ingredients

The formula: Target one demographic. Play their hits – often. Call out the names of as many people in the audience as possible – make the listener a star.  Present with enthusiasm. Promote at every local crowd event possible. Repeat.

All of the McLendon and Storz stations grew instantly, usually to number one.

That ingredient list works repeatedly for station after station for decades. But, and here’s the but, all of those ingredients have to be in the recipe. Leave out promotion, for example, or research, and it doesn’t work. But the full ingredient list does work for every single format.

I asked Mickey Luckoff, who ran talker KGO as the number one station in San Francisco for most of our lives, how he selected his on air talk hosts to which he replied, “They all come from top 40 because I can teach them talk but I can’t teach them radio.” His promotions were non-stop and smart, TV campaigns were non-stop and research, yes, research – non-stop!

When Adult Contemporary was evolving, my team was responsible for the NBC FM properties. Corporate finance people who went to Wharton urged me to go slow, layer in expenses when launching this odd new format. I knew layering was a recipe – for failure!!! All the ingredients had to be rolled out at once. In 1981, WYNY in New York had a $2 million dollar cash and a $2 million barter promotion budget. Result, a $3 million profit and a 5 share.  Thanks to PD Pete Salant and GM Al Brady Law. We used the Storz/McLendon recipe with AC music and Dr. Ruth, it obviously works.

WGMS-FM was a classical station in Washington, DC. When it was owned by RKO and run by visionary Jerry Lyman, it applied the Storz/McLendon recipe to classical music. Their promos announced that WGMS played “Real Oldies – Your favorites from the 1600s, 1700s and 1800s!” WGMS aired a tight playlist of hits. Special weekends were popular, such as a “Beethoven Weekend” with t-shirt giveaways. The station was a profit monster, top 10 in Washington DC.

Five years ago, WABC-AM was about 28th in NYC as a result of cutting costs, by god the cost cutting was epic and so was the failure. Today, John Catsimatidis, the owner, and Chad Lopez, the president, have grown the station to a 4 share and number eight in New York. An AM talk station, number eight and growing. What? How? They put in all the ingredients. The station is data driven. The talent is live. External paid ads run for WABC almost every single day. The air team goes to local events to meet the crowds. WABC airs live listener music requests and dedications on the weekend with Cousin Bruce Morrow and Joe Piscopo – live. Did I mention live?

Today not history

The team is happy. They are making radio. This isn’t nostalgia. Mr. Cats is a very current based businessman who expects results. Like Storz and McLendon he is an entrepreneur, a private owner deploying common sense. He’s doing what is proven, what works. Bravo.

Conclusion: There is nothing wrong with radio. Just stop. Include every ingredient in the proven recipe; expect stunning results.

Walter Sabo has been a C-Suite action partner for companies such as SiriusXM, Hearst, Press Broadcasting, Gannett, RKO General, and many others. His nightly show “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night” is heard on WPHT, Philadelphia. His syndicated show, “Sterling On Sunday,” from Talk Media Network, airs 10:00 pm-1:00 am ET, and is now in its 10th year of success. He recently began hosting “Another Side of Midnight” weekends on WABC, New York. He can be reached by email at sabowalter@gmail.com or phoned at 646-678-1110.

Industry Views

SABO SEZ: What Happened to Sex?

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Walter Sabo
A.K.A. Walter M Sterling
WPHT, Philadelphia
Sterling Every Damn Night
Sterling on Sunday Syndicated, TMN

imgTalk radio has a long incredibly successful run of shows about sex.

SEX SELLS. What happened to shows on radio that talk about sex? In the olden days, numerous shows focused on sex and relationships. Traditionally, time liberates cultural tolerance of conversations about sexual intimacy. Television, films and print have progressed to broaden the variety of subjects welcomed by the audiences.

Our history was lusty:

Dr. Ruth Westheimer launched on WYNY-FM, New York in 1980 on Sunday nights for 15 minutes. She read letters on the air. Quickly the show progressed to one, then two hours taking live phone calls. GM Dan Griffin never blinked. The station was owned by NBC/RCA, which housed the original standards and practices department, a department, not a deeply disliked single corporate attorney. Every week NBC Standards visited my office (I was the EVP in charge of the division not some hack from finance) and Dan Griffin’s office. We invited Standards to share their concerns with Dr. Ruth directly. She was 4’11”, had two bullet wounds in her legs from fighting for the Israeli Army, and two PhDs. That suggestion sent the censors back to their martinis.

After one year, Dr. Ruth, a radio star, was on the cover of PEOPLE and represented by William Morris Talent.

To this day, no one has achieved a higher share of 18–34-year-olds than Dr. Ruth on WYNY. Dr. Ruth was brought to WYNY by Betty Elam and Mitch Lebe. We told Dr. Ruth to say “blow jobs” and “vagina” as often as possible.

Sally Jesse Raphael hosted a show on NBC Talknet for 14 years. Sally’s was a national show about personal relationships and sex. Previously, she had won audience shares on local stations, WMCA, New York and WIOD, Miami. Then she launched 19 years of success on TV talking about relationships and sex!

Dr. Judy Kurianski, Dr. Toni Grant, and Dr. Laura Schlesinger were major, highly paid stars from discussing sex and relationships in highly entertaining shows.

Many top talk stations added relationship shows to their schedule hosted by skilled broadcasters such as on WRKO, Boston’s “Two Chicks Dishing,” Mary Walter on New Jersey 101.5, and Erin Sommers on WTKS, Orlando… “A lot of my friends who don’t like anal sex really enjoy rimming.” Number 1 men 18-34 first book. And, of course, the legendary morning stars such as Bubba the Love Sponge, Steve Dahl, Stevens and Pruitt, and the king, Howard Stern.

Oh, and please no nonsense about advertiser sensitivity to sex talk. Brands are spending billions on “influencers” whose videos run next to images of extreme sex acts and TV shows celebrating drugs, nudity and other good stuff.

Sex talk equals women ratings, younger ratings, engaged listens.  This one’s easy.

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. His nightly show “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night” is heard on WPHT, Philadelphia. His syndicated show, “Sterling On Sunday,” from Talk Media Network, airs 10:00 pm-1:00 am ET, and is now in its 10th year of success. He can be reached by email at sabowalter@gmail.com.  He can be phoned at 646-678-1110.

Industry Views

SABO SEZ: Anarchy Wins in Radio

By Editor | by Editor

By Walter Sabo
A.K.A. Walter M Sterling
WPHT, Philadelphia
Sterling Every Damn Night
Sterling on Sunday Syndicated, TMN

imgI am pleased to be speaking this weekend at the IBS New York 2026 conference in New York City. Thank you, TALKERS magazine, for being the presenting sponsor of this important, timely annual event along with the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System (IBS).

Attention college students. I will help you get a job in radio because radio wants you and needs you. Call me any time at the number below but read this first:

You got a job and are now going to work at a radio station. You have an idea for a promotion or a promo or a new… anything.

You arrive at the station, and your idea goes on the air. Then get yourself coffee. All before 10:00 am.

No, that would not happen in any other medium. Local TV is the medium that could be spontaneous, filled with local audiences and hosts and entertainment programs but… it’s not! Local TV does local news. The cameras on set don’t move, the format for the newscast is determined by corporate. After the news, the prime-time schedule is determined by corporate. There will be no surprises, no ideas from you at all. “Hey, could you get me a coffee,” says the anchorman to you.

All before 10:00 am.

Movies? Great. You have an idea. You start writing a script.  Great idea. Send it to studio after studio. Rejection, rejection.

You get depressed. You start drinking. Rejection. Finally, you get a meeting with a studio. You’ve been in LA six years, finally a meeting. It goes ok. You drink more. Then you find an AA meeting in the Valley. Any Valley, it’s LA. After seven years, you get on-set to see every word you wrote changed by idiots who don’t get you. All before 10:00 am.

Radio gives you the most control of your creativity and your hard work. Idea? Yes, please. Get a job at a radio station and cause trouble. Challenge everything. Demand change. Many, many of the elements you hear on the radio are ideas I brought to life with co-workers. I rarely point that out, but it’s true. Your turn. Here’s the torch.

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. His nightly show “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night” is heard on WPHT, Philadelphia. His syndicated show, “Sterling On Sunday,” from Talk Media Network, airs 10:00 pm-1:00 am ET, and is now in its 10th year of success. He can be reached by email at sabowalter@gmail.com.  He can be phoned at 646-678-1110.

Industry Views

SABO SEZ: Bad AM Shows Don’t “Get Good” on FM

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Walter Sabo
A.K.A. Walter M Sterling
WPHT, Philadelphia
Sterling Every Damn Night
Sterling on Sunday Syndicated, TMN

img“Darn, if we were on FM everything would get better.” Not true. This writer launched many of the successful talk formats on FM stations in the early 1990s. The ones that worked, such as KLSX, Los Angeles; WTKS, Orlando; and New Jersey 101.5 in Trenton, were produced for the unique demands of FM. Then and today, the FM band cume utilized the radio in a completely different manner than AM audiences. The competition on FM isn’t another talk show. It’s Chapelle Roan and Taylor Swift. Ya know, billion-dollar Taylor Swift. The production values of FM music stations set the expectations of “the sound.” “Let’s pay some bills…” Followed by bumper music! Followed by eight minutes of commercials for Med Alert is just not what FMers are used to hearing on Elvis Duran. (Elvis is doing a talk show.)

FM music stations are laser focused on precise demographics and marketing goals 

Every moment of a music station is heavily considered for its ability to capture and hold a listener. Nothing is left to chance. Compare that reality with the odd feature of, “Let’s open the phones for whatever is on your mind!” The ancient demographics delivered by most talk shows are not an accident; it’s the net result of a product that appeals to people who need companionship, a voice talking, a voice to soothe them to sleep. Put that weary product on FM and get the same result.

FM Requirements, the short list

Every city is unique and an FM talk station that will succeed has some key ingredients:

  • Well-defined target listener. Everyone at the station has to buy in to this target. Including the sales department.
  • A production format. Each show should “sound” the same. That helps the cume flow show to show rather than starting and stopping show to show.  Rules for call length, stop sets, and other elements should be the same at 10:00 am and 10:00 pm.
  • Topic playlist.  Each host should have a clear understanding of which topics make the meters bounce, and which don’t. That’s right, there are some you just shouldn’t do.
  • Audio processing. If your chief thinks “those settings” will result in listener fatigueuse them.
  • Music on the weekends. No infomercials. The music should be super-tight appealing to your target listener. Music blows off chronic talk radio listeners and brings in young cume for Monday morning.

Happy to share more success strategies for FM at 646-678-1110.

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. His nightly show “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night” is heard on WPHT, Philadelphia. His syndicated show, “Sterling On Sunday,” from Talk Media Network, airs 10:00 pm-1:00 am ET, and is now in its 10th year of success. He can be reached by email at sabowalter@gmail.com.

Industry Views

SABO SEZ: Mr. Wonderful Thinks Radio is Wonderful

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Walter Sabo
a.k.a. Walter Sterling, Host
WPHT, Philadelphia, “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night”
TMN syndicated, “Sterling on Sunday”

imgThe plague of pessimism about the future of radio is fueled internally by radio employees. Doomsayers are logically found in the sales department. All day, salespeople meet with buyers. A buyer’s job is to negotiate a lower price by arguing radio’s negatives. The wall of negativity thrives within the work environment of a seller. Tough.  But there is little or no reason for pessimism.

Kevin O’ Leary (a.k.a. “Mr. Wonderful” on TV’s Shark Tank) is a pragmatic investor. When asked about AI’s impact on radio, he says, “It’s the same phobia we had when television hit radio. ‘Oh, it’s going to decimate radio!’ No, it’s not. The art form exists today, even bigger, terrestrial, and in space. To me, AI is just a tool.” (Variety. January 5, 2026)

Surprising to many, radio’s audience numbers today are virtually the same as they were in 1970.

Radio Listenership Today (2020s)

Weekly Reach: As of 2022–2023, approximately 82% to 88% of Americans aged 12 and older listen to terrestrial (AM/FM) radio in a given week.

Monthly Reach: Nielsen data indicates that AM/FM radio reaches 91% of U.S. adults each month.

Daily Listening: Approximately 66% of U.S. adults listen to broadcast or streaming AM/FM radio on a daily basis.

Resiliency: Despite the rise of podcasts and music streaming, 55% of Gen Z in the U.S. still listen to AM/FM radio every day, and it remains the top reach medium, even exceeding social media.

1970s: The era of AM to FM transition and the peak of top-40 terrestrial radio, with 25 million CB radios also becoming popular in the mid-70s.

Today: While reach is still high, the amount of time spent listening is more fragmented, with radio facing competition from streaming (Spotify/Apple Music) and podcasts, although it remains the dominant ad-supported audio choice in cars.

CB radio, cassettes, 8-tracks, CDs, DVDs, Walkman, iTunes, iPhones, SiriusXM, Spotify, podcasts, Pandora… all terminators of radio. None of them made a dent. The killer of radio will be radio’s odd internal pessimism that while predicting doom that never comes drives actions that are suicidal: Elimination of audience qualitative research. Tracking. More Tracking. (Radio Fracking!) No external marketing. Endless talent cuts. No contests. (A $1,000 national contest WOW!) None of those cuts are good business because they cut potential revenues.

And yet there is a relentless, funded determination to end all FCC ownership caps allowing companies to buy more radio stations to operate with great Panglossian efficiency!

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. His nightly show “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night” is heard on WPHT, Philadelphia. His syndicated show, “Sterling On Sunday,” from Talk Media Network, airs 10:00 pm-1:00 am ET, and is now in its 10th year of success. He can be reached by email at sabowalter@gmail.com.

Industry Views

SABO SEZ: The Fine Art of Talking with Talent

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Walter Sabo
a.k.a. Walter Sterling, Host
WPHT, Philadelphia, “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night”
TMN syndicated, “Sterling on Sunday”

imgTalk show hosts are not motivated or driven like disk jockeys or salespeople. Most general managers have never managed talk show hosts. Few program directors have managed talk show hosts. My career has been blessed with daily exchanges with the best talk show hosts in history. Here are some suggestions I would like to share on how to have a superior relationship with talk stars.

• Listen to the show. Talk hosts are performers committing an unnatural act. They are on a stage with no audience. They hear no applause, little immediate feedback, and this leads to paranoia. Was that topic good? Was the joke funny? You’re the audience.

• Give one “note” at a time. Whatever method you use to motivate a salesperson, do the opposite with on-air talent. Talk talent cannot work harder. They are working as hard as they possibly can every moment. You don’t have to motivate them to go on more sales calls. The motivation comes from telling a host what you enjoyed – what you thought was fun or funny. Compliments won’t make them take it easy; it will make them want more compliments – applause. Applause is the motivation.

You may hear several elements on a show that could be improved. Keep the list to yourself. Select the most urgent item that could be improved and share that one and only that one.  Bring up another suggestion next week. Offering more than one “repair” can be devastating. Surround all suggestions with many compliments.  It works.

• Unless a talent posts under your station’s actual social media account, their social media posts are frankly none of your business. Facebook is just not as important – not as your station. Let it go.

• No other entertainer has as hard a job as a radio talk show host.  Talk show hosts have to create multiple hours from scratch. Actors on a sitcom need to learn 22 minutes of script – script they didn’t write; 11 writers did that for them. How much are you paying for writers for your talk shows? Oh! Entertainers in other media have production assistants, interns, writers, coaches, dressers, rehearsals. How much support staff do your hosts have? Oh! Talk show hosts perform a daily miracle for your company. Lunch barter isn’t enough.

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. His nightly show “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night” is heard on WPHT, Philadelphia. His syndicated show, “Sterling On Sunday,” from Talk Media Network, airs 10:00 pm-1:00 am ET, and is now in its 10th year of success. He can be reached by email at sabowalter@gmail.com.

Industry Views

SABO SEZ: The Myth of Mentorship

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Walter Sabo
a.k.a. Walter Sterling, Host
WPHT, Philadelphia, “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night”
TMN syndicated, “Sterling on Sunday”

imgAdvice columns blanketing sites like LinkedIn, the Skimm, and Forbes 2.0 – aimed at recent graduates – encourage their readers to seek and bond with an at-work mentor.  After years of skimming “5 bullet” articles, I have reached the tipping point and I’m not going to take it anymore: Seeking a mentor as a career strategy is horrible advice. Just horrible.

Here’s what I experienced. My first job out of Syracuse University was at RKO Radio in Manhattan. An FM. OMG. The job was promotional support and a weekend talk show. After that, NBC local, ABC network, NBC corporate, ABC corporate… all before I was 30. No mentor.

Seek-a-mentor articles are usually aimed at women. It is even worse advice for women. Here’s why:

1. No one wants to be your mentor out of kindness and heavenly points. They only want to be your mentor if you are wired to someone powerful. Someone you can tell how wonderful they are to you

2. Your mentor’s reputation becomes yours! If your mentor is thought a jerk or is fired out of general hatred, you will be fired pretty soon. At NBC, the perception was that NBC CEO Fred Silverman was my mentor. I was terminated about a week after Fred left the building. The reason I was given by my direct report was, “You were too closely associated with Fred.” Fact: I spoke to Fred once during my three-year NBC tenure. (Much later Fred and I became close friends and how lucky I was!)

3. The mentee’s expectations are always too broad. Each of us is good at one or two skills. “mentor” implies a much wider menu of advice than is realistic.

4. One day, the mentor will be proven wrong on a key issue and the mentee will be very confused.

Best advice ever: You have no friends at work. Co-workers, yes. Work-wife? Work-husband? No, no, no!

The greatest gift you can give a co-worker is a request for advice. Each co-worker has strengths. Identify those strengths and tap into those. One request of a colleague is flattering. Ten requests for help is a sign of weakness and you will be eaten.

In any business, especially “glamour” businesses, your goal is to not be eaten by people jealous of you.  You could be eaten for any reason because the jobs are sparse and security is mercurial.

Obviously, a job is a job. It is not a social club. Early in a person’s work life, it is tempting to make the workplace a surrogate family. That could get you eaten. Do your job. Go home.

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. His nightly show “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night” is heard on WPHT, Philadelphia. His syndicated show, “Sterling On Sunday,” from Talk Media Network, airs 10:00 pm-1:00 am ET, and is now in its 10th year of success. He can be reached by email at sabowalter@gmail.com.

Industry Views

SABO SEZ: The Earth Moved

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Walter Sabo
a.k.a. Walter Sterling, Host
WPHT, Philadelphia, “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night”
TMN syndicated, “Sterling on Sunday”

imgNetwork TV often delivers Nielsen hashmarks. No viewers! The no numbers reports started coming in over 20 years ago and they met with silence. Often on Holiday nights, long weekends, NBC, CBS, ABC or FOX delivered no measurable audience. Simultaneously, online video stars were attracting millions of views. In 2007, the media world witnessed the audience shift from broadcast TV to online video. In the following years, media buyers made the definition of a bad investment: Between the time a buy was placed on network TV to the day of air, the audience diminished. Every month. Year after year.

Marketing types refer to the adoption rate of new ideas in stages:

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Last week, YouTube entered the golden phase: Laggards. There has been a misperception that YouTube viewers skewed young. That was never true. Their viewership demographic has always matched the demographic spread of America. That means month after month for 20 years, YouTube has been embraced by all demographics at higher and higher rates. Now YouTube has scored the final 10% of adopters: Laggards.

YouTube Wins the Oscars

The Oscars. A major ratings-generating, newsworthy event on YouTube. In Variety, questions were asked. The wrong questions: How will advertising be handled? Will there be a new category for Influencers? On demand? Wrong questions.

The answer is: The Oscars are on YouTube!  Game over for ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX. The final segment of the population that frequented broadcast TV will now come to YouTube. The Oscars were the most efficient way to appeal to the laggards.

BONUS: The Oscars announcement just mentioned a key part of the deal: The entire library of the Academy of Arts and Sciences will be uploaded to YouTube. Hundreds of thousands of films from around the world, of all genres coming to YouTube.

And what was the deal? How much did Google pay? It doesn’t matter. Google’s challenge is how to get rid of all of their cash!

The Oscars will be on YouTube. Mark the date. The media landscape has changed forever.

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. His nightly show “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night” is heard on WPHT, Philadelphia. His syndicated show, “Sterling On Sunday,” from Talk Media Network, airs 10:00 pm-1:00 am ET, and is now in its 10th year of success. He can be reached by email at sabowalter@gmail.com.

Industry Views

SABO SEZ: A Long History – Do Not Fear AI

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Walter Sabo
a.k.a. Walter Sterling, Host
WPHT, Philadelphia, “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night”
TMN syndicated, “Sterling on Sunday”

imgAndy Economos, the founder of Radio Computing Systems (RCS), was a leader in bringing digital tech into the radio industry. In 1980, he was leaving his position as head of technology for NBC Inc. to start his own company. I was EVP of the NBC FM stations. Andy and I were walking to lunch, crossing Sixth Avenue at 49th street and he asked me, “Is there any software your radio stations could use?”

I said, “Yes, we could use software that programs music.” He was interested. I said, “When you invent that, NBC will buy your first products.”

Andy went forth and invented “Selector,” the first viable, almost easy-to-understand, user-friendly music programming software. Prior to “Selector,” music was programmed in a wide variety of homemade processes such as rotating songs against back timing photo lab clocks (WABC) to RKO’s “Gold Book” mess requiring jocks to use many colored pens to log off played songs. Or the wooden spike technique: Jocks took the 45s off one spike after it was played and stacked it on a different spike – really.

The adoption of “Selector” didn’t go as planned. First, most of the industry was terrified that what little freedom jocks had to select songs would be lost. My favorite cry from jocks, “But when it’s raining, I’ve got to play a song that sings about rain.”

My hope for computerizing the organization of songs was that it would free up programmers to program! The desired end game was that programmers would have more time to talk with their talent, create bigger promotions and upgrade overall production.

What happened, however, was most programmers devoted more time to programming music! Throughout the country programmers pored over the output from “Selector” and manually, hour by hour by hour and edited every song.

When discussing the virtue of precision music selection, WABC midday talent Ron Lundy said, “It don’t mean nothinnnnn.”

AI is just like “Selector.” First, it strikes fear. But it will be used in every radio station very soon. How it will be used and its impact on you will be different than we can imagine. The more a person learns about AI’s capabilities and how to use its fresh options, the more control they will have of it.

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. His nightly show “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night” is heard on WPHT, Philadelphia. His syndicated show, “Sterling On Sunday,” from Talk Media Network, airs 10:00 pm-1:00 am ET, and is now in its 10th year of success. He can be reached by email at sabowalter@gmail.com.

Industry News

Like Father, Like Daughter

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

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Pictured above is Syracuse University student Dorothy Sabo (right) with CBS News reporter, producer and event organizer Sara Kugel (left) showing off her first place JANY Award as Executive Producer best regularly scheduled TV student newscast at the Journalists Association of New York awards ceremony at SU’s Newhouse School of Communication. Pictured below are John Mullen (left) professor and general manager of Hofstra University’s WRHU-FM, winner of several JANY Awards this year, and Newhouse School alumnus Walter Sabo (right).

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Industry Views

SABO SEZ: I Was Banned by WBIR-TV

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Walter Sabo
a.k.a. Walter Sterling, Host
WPHT, Philadelphia, “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night”
TMN syndicated, “Sterling on Sunday”

imgFinally. Not by Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, nope; I was banned from a WBIR anchor’s video live stream.

Background:

Throughout the country, bored local TV anchors and radio hosts set up their phone on their desk and stream their newscasts. During their breaks, they address the Live Stream with actual news, real news, top-of-minders that are far more compelling than the accident at 5th and Piedmont that gets on the air.

Some of the live streams are truly entertaining and would pull 20 shares if aired. While watching the featured TikTok WBIR-TV stream, the anchor at the desk was having her nails done. A co-worker showed off her spectacular, exotic, eccentric nails. Any father of daughters could appreciate her next level of nail art. It was news. In the live stream comments, I typed… show the nails on the air. They are fantastic. Of course, that never happened. Instead, the anchor ran with the story of a Casey’s chain store open for a third shift. “It’s kind of like a store that never sleeps,” center store manager Kimberly Hunley said.

The nails were stunning, but the passion of the anchor and her co-workers was the actual news. The team’s focus on the nails was compelling. Their passion was the news. News belongs on the air.

BANNED!  Saturday morning. After my third polite comment urging the WBIR team to show the nails on the air, I was banned from commenting on the stream. A first. Finally, I said something so offensive, so contrary to the news narrative that I was banned.

[EDITOR’S NOTE:  What the heck did you say, Walter?]

Get Your New Playlist at Thanksgiving

This holiday the rule at dinner will be, don’t talk about politics. Pay close attention to what is discussed. Make notes. If your station wants younger demos, FM music-type demos, trust that the Thanksgiving conversation is an all-hits conversation. Hosts that aren’t afraid to air the hits get ratings.

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. His nightly show “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night” is heard on WPHT, Philadelphia. His syndicated show, “Sterling On Sunday,” from Talk Media Network, airs 10:00 pm-1:00 am ET, and is now in its 10th year of success. He can be reached by email at sabowalter@gmail.com.

Industry Views

SABO SEZ: P1s and Meters are Not Your Friends

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Walter Sabo
a.k.a. Walter Sterling, Host
WPHT, Philadelphia, “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night”
TMN syndicated, “Sterling on Sunday”

imgOne of my first jobs out of college was working in the marketing department of WNBC-AM, New York. Yes, “Imus In The Morning” (Don Imus – not nice), Cousin Brucie (Bruce Morrow – nicest star who ever lived). One of my tasks was to pull ratings numbers from the computer for the sales department. I was fascinated by TIME SPENT LISTENING (TSL) and CUME numbers. I’d rank them, compare, trend them every way imaginable.

The station with the longest TIME SPENT LISTENING (TSL): The Greek language station. The station with the shortest TSL, WABC – a Top 40 rocker. The station with the highest cume, WABC.

Legendary WABC programmer Rick Sklar explained, “We wanted to be everybody’s second favorite station. Everybody’s!” WABC had a 5 million cume. Listeners always came back to WABC. That was the plan.

Regardless of the genre, building a station that everyone comes back to has been the successful tactic of all of my programming work: AC, urban, oldies and yes, talk. New Jersey 101.5, WTKS-FM, Orlando and others were designed to appeal to many listeners over and over rather than just a small group of people who never leave. What’s a more stable, predictable business?  One that counts on a single listener for one hour of listening or four listeners for fifteen minutes each?

A deep, profound study of P1s and TSL can only have one result: Declining cume. It is a fatal myth that talk is a “low cume, high TSL format.” It can be, and it will die.  Or it can be and has been a high cume, low TSL business that grows, is stable, and predictable. The key is careful rotation of topics, urgency, top-of-mind subjects, no theory, and lots of weather.

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.. His nightly show “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night” is heard on WPHT, Philadelphia. His syndicated show, “Sterling On Sunday,” from Talk Media Network, airs 10:00 pm-1:00 am ET, and is now in its 10th year of success. He can be reached by email at sabowalter@gmail.com.

Industry Views

SABO SEZ: There is a Need for New

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Walter Sabo
a.k.a. Walter Sterling, Host
WPHT, Philadelphia, “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night”
TMN syndicated, “Sterling on Sunday”

imgThe groaning and moaning that “radio is losing younger demos and will die tomorrow” misses the point. What attracts younger audiences? What has always attracted younger audiences? NEW STUFF. New clothes, shows, slang, ideas… NEW. When you “found” radio, you found a top 40 station that was saturated in the latest music, events and ATTITUDE. Radio remains vital by presenting and celebrating new, shocking, contest prizes, revolutionary ideas, hosts, jocks… NEW.

Radio is good at “new.” “New” is hard for other media. A key advantage of radio over other media is the ability for a programmer or host to think of a new idea on the way to work and air that idea that day. TV, print, outdoor can’t do that.

When radio fails to present “new” it sinks lower into the media landscape. Radio is ubiquitous and only rises in the community’s consciousness when it presents “new.” When radio broadcasts predictable, consistent content hour after hour it suffers a grim listener review, “Oh I don’t listen to the radio.” Or, worse, “I don’t listen to the radio much.” 

Word of mouth is not generated by playing “10 in a row” or yelling at the Democrats. Expected content cannot cause a listener to say to a friend, “Did you hear…?” Only surprises, outrageous POV and the unexpected claim precious top of mind awareness.

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.. His nightly show “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night” is heard on WPHT, Philadelphia. His syndicated show, “Sterling On Sunday,” from Talk Media Network, airs 10:00 pm-1:00 am ET, and is now in its 10th year of success. He can be reached by email at sabowalter@gmail.com.

Industry Views

SABO SEZ: MTV Closes?

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Walter Sabo
a.k.a. Walter Sterling, Host
WPHT, Philadelphia, “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night”
TMN syndicated, “Sterling on Sunday”

imgThe world of blogs and vlogs has been loaded with largely erroneous news of MTV closing. New owner, Paramount Global, is searching for divisions showing no growth. If MTV is now a liability, it may be a target for a shutdown.

Yes, MTV is closing five of its music channels in the UK and Ireland: MTV Music, MTV 80s, MTV 90s, Club MTV, and MTV Live. The channels will cease broadcasting at the end of 2025, with the final day of transmission being December 31. This decision is due to shifting viewing habits towards streaming platforms and cost-cutting measures by the parent company, Paramount Global. MTV HD will remain on air but will shift focus from music videos to reality programming.

However, MTV U.S. is not closing. MTV in the United Kingdom IS. It is closing by December 31, 2025. They also run MTV HD in the UK, that channel remains open. Two missing letters, U and K, caused an explosion of misinformation.

Punctuation causes similar mistakes.

As a talk media person, you are well aware of Erich von Daniken. His stunning book, Chariotsimg of the Gods has powered thousands of hours of programming fun. Recently, I saw the latest edition of his book.

imgLike many of you, I love “Ancient Aliens” on the History Channel narrated by the formidable Robert Clotworthy. Robert is a great guest on my show, “Sterling Every Damn Night” and he puts up with whatever nonsense that gets tossed at him. Thank you, Robert.

Since von Daniken’s book is so vital to the “Ancient Alien” landscape, I’m curious when was the title of the book changed from the first edition? Next time he’s on the show I’ve got to ask Mr. Clotworthy when did a transporter beam carry away the question mark!?

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.. His nightly show “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night” is heard on WPHT, Philadelphia. His syndicated show, “Sterling On Sunday,” from Talk Media Network, airs 10:00 pm-1:00 am ET, and is now in its 10th year of success. He can be reached by email at sabowalter@gmail.com.

Industry Views

SABO SEZ: Learn the Habits of Power and Success

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Walter Sabo
a.k.a. Walter Sterling, Host
WPHT, Philadelphia, “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night”
TMN syndicated, “Sterling on Sunday”

imgAs a media consultant, my team has had the privilege of being engaged extensively by members of the C-Suite. Becoming a member of the C-Suite is a common goal. To get into any group, acceptance often depends on acting and appearing like established members. Here are some of the actions observed of business masters whom we consulted:

Arrive First

Let’s start with Walter Anderson, CEO PARADE magazine. PARADE was then owned by Newhouse and was the most-read publication in the English language with 30-million-plus readers. Walter Anderson was a rock star. For years he was an award-winning editor and proud of his publication. He was a gifted leader. Smart writers and graphic designers want to work for Anderson. He’s that guy! It was an honor to have lunch with him… always at the Four Seasons.

Lunch at 12:30 pm. I’d arrive at 12:25 pm – Anderson was well seated. Lunch at 12:30, I’d arrive at 12:15 pm and Anderson was well seated. I had to arrive at 11:30 am to “beat” him to the 12:30 pm table. When I finally arrived at 11:30, he was startled that I arrived first. Score! I shared this story with the manager of the Four Seasons, Julian Niccolini. Julian smiled and said, “The most powerful person always arrives first.”

Arriving first is control, preemptive and, yes, powerful. Arrive first in all actions. The first one in a room can rearrange the chairs and name plates. Arriving first for a meeting gives a person a moral upper hand!

Answer Emails Fast

Our clients have included a long list of CEOs, presidents, and CBOs. Who answers their emails first? The most powerful: Bob Pittman, CEO, iHeartMedia; Julie Talbott, president, Premiere Networks; Kelli Turner, CEO, Audacy; Bob McAllan, CEO, Press Broadcasting; Joe Clayton (deceased), CEO Sirius; Scott Greenstein, president, SiriusXM; Kraig Kitchin, CEO, Soundmind; Tim McCarthy, CEO, Broadcasters Foundation; Alan Shaw, CEO, Centennial Broadcasting; and Chris Oliviero, CBO, Audacy all answer their email super fast. (There are other contacts who answer fast, but this is the CEO/president list.) Most of the other CEOs and presidents who answer late or not at all are bankrupt.

Thank You First

Powerful people send thank you notes – fast. After an event, they send thank you to the host before going to bed. Powerful execs study when people in their industry get an award or promotion and then write notes of congratulations – and stamp it. No emails. Those real letters are saved – forever. Thank you, Cathy Black!

 Know Thy Numbers

Powerful executives are never vague about numbers. Vagueness invites suspicion and erodes confidence. BUT, the powerful are not driven by the numbers. The numbers are not front and center in conversations.

RKO chairman Tom O’Neil hired my company to consult all of their radio stations. Tom was charming, in charge, and larger than life. RKO owned Frontier Airlines. Over lunch, he casually mentioned the passenger load on Frontier that day. He knew those numbers and the ratings for WOR midday. Pass the bread.

Once a year, PARADE and all Newhouse pubs presented their business plans to the Newhouse brothers directly. Participating in that meeting, I saw that the Newhouses expected the CEOs to know their numbers. The CEOs of their pubs presented the numbers. No CFOs, no accountants, and no business managers were allowed in the business plan meetings. CEO direct to owner.

C-Suite members show up first, answer emails fast, know their numbers cold and send thank you notes.

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.. His nightly show “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night” is heard on WPHT, Philadelphia. His syndicated show, “Sterling On Sunday,” from Talk Media Network, airs 10:00 pm-1:00 am ET, and is now in its 10th year of success. He can be reached by email at sabowalter@gmail.com.

Industry Views

SABO SEZ: Prescience from the Past

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Walter Sabo
a.k.a. Walter Sterling, Host
WPHT, Philadelphia, “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night”
TMN syndicated, “Sterling on Sunday”

imgHave you noticed a profile pattern for the mass shooters and political assassins? 20-30 years old. Living at home or close.

Here’s a deep dive, highly predictive profile that was written by a true radio GREAT:

“He’s a crown prince as a teenager. A crown prince when he suddenly finds his crown gone and he’s just a commoner and he must enter the next stage of life – well I’ll tell you what happens:  He generally doesn’t, that’s why you have a new generation of guys who have not taken on family or familiar responsibilities.

They are not about to give up the Crown Prince role and so we have a whole new generation of porn readers who will forever and ever and ever be catered to, and they get to the point where they cater to themselves. Many of them never grow up.

There is more than one guy who is 30 years old today who is totally, completely being supported by his mother and father. And as a matter of course, because he is after all a Crown Prince and a Crown Prince has prerogatives and one of them is to live off the family larder, he will continue to do this throughout most of his life.

This is a very new thing in America, and I say we have not seen the end of it. We’ve only seen the very beginning of it now. He who is really searching for identity.

I’m gonna make a suggestion here. I will suggest that this man is a dangerous man. Any man who has been suppressed, any man who has lost identity is a man who is prone to take up with wild, divergent, and often quite dangerous and irrational political crusades merrily to give himself his own identity, something, some charge that he can ride on.”

Jean Shepherd
WOR Radio Star
Author, A Christmas Story
from audiobook, LIFE IS, 1965

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.. His nightly show “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night” is heard on WPHT, Philadelphia. His syndicated show, “Sterling On Sunday,” from Talk Media Network, airs 10:00 pm-1:00 am ET, and is now in its 10th year of success. He can be reached by email at sabowalter@gmail.com.

Industry Views

SABO SEZ: Keep the Valuables

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Walter Sabo
a.k.a. Walter Sterling, Host
WPHT, Philadelphia, “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night”
TMN syndicated, “Sterling on Sunday”

imgAmazon learned that there are high volume sales for specific categories of products. High demand equals high value to the seller. Items such as diapers, printer ink, staplers, batteries, etc. Being brilliant, Amazon created “Amazon Basics.” Same products, white labeled. Amazon doesn’t manufacture batteries; they just slap their logos on what America needs most.  That’s why Mr. Bezos has a bigger boat than you.

Radio listeners have high demand for basic elements. The demand for these ingredients is often based on need rather than preference. Needed ingredients delivered by radio represent high value to the radio industry:

– Weather reports

– Traffic reports

– Is everything ok? News reports

– News bulletins

– Local news

– Closings

The first sign of trouble was when radio stations chose to promote a cable channel by presenting “Weather Channel Weather.” Tip: research shows the most respected source of weather is the National Weather Service and a station can pull that for free, any time. No disrespect to the Weather Channel but, can’t radio do weather? Giving away that position to TV is foolish.

Weather is even more important than one might think. Yes, a listener can get it from multiple online sources, but the listener is listening to the radio. The listener needs the weather NOW, live, local. Failing to do weather forces the listener to leave you. (That’s why, on the local and national “Sterling” show, we have meteorologist, Dr. Dave Eiser and Brad Your Grandma’s weatherman presenting the weather through the program.)

Do a Google trend search. Compare WEATHER, SEX, JESUS, TRUMP. Weather will win.

TRAFFIC. An argument I lost was with a 50kw station that had the traffic image because they had a traffic copter. To save $200,000 they were going to take it down. I said, “Fire me but don’t take down the copter.” They took it down. The reason to do traffic is not 100% to give traffic reports, it is – more importantly – to prove that the station is live, and to prove the station sees everything. Breaking news will compel listeners to check with the station that can report it from the air, live!

There is no reason to stop doing traffic and weather because an all-news station is doing it. Those are essential must-have elements for all listeners regardless of format. If we want to own the dashboard, it is best to present top-of-mind information to drivers. Live!

FOX News seems to present a “Bulletin” every few minutes… FOX NEWS ALERT. A radio station doesn’t have to follow the AP Style Guide to define “bulletin.” You can air a bulletin or an alert whenever you want. Urgent, compelling, turn up the radio. Pulling the listener in with sounders, big intros, all that stuff claims your position as the source of better-know-it information.

WHAT HAS HAPPENED. By stripping a station of the costs of bulletins, weather, traffic, and local news we have made radio less valuable. Those “costs” were/are investments in content valued by listeners.  Too many stations have trashed essential ingredients for the sake of a false economy. Radio revenues go down each quarter as stations cut costs each quarter.

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.. His nightly show “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night” is heard on WPHT, Philadelphia. His syndicated show, “Sterling On Sunday,” from Talk Media Network, airs 10:00 pm-1:00 am ET, and is now in its 10th year of success. He can be reached by email at sabowalter@gmail.com.

Industry Views

SABO SEZ: What You Need to Know About the “Law of 200”

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Walter Sabo
a.k.a. Walter Sterling, Host
WPHT, Philadelphia, “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night”
and TMN syndicated, “Sterling on Sunday”

imgThe risk is real. Suggesting that a technique used with great success in the recent past might be beneficial to the present is a perilous course. Is the idea out of touch with today’s reality? Is the author ignoring current trends?

A factual current event from which our industry and our lives suffer: Sales are down. Sales for the radio industry are down every quarter.

Hard research-and-math-people will point to the usual causes. Add to that list the fact that the same dollars that bought spots priced at X for the big morning show are being fed into podcasts for 10 percent of X. But podcasts are digital! Therefore, they are sexy to Wall Street. The result of that dollar transfer is quarterly investor calls featuring CEOs declaring that “digital is a sweet spot.” Actually, “digital” is a cheap whore but back to the topic:

Methods deployed to sell radio today are not working. Salespeople work hard, but the strategies they are given are weak. That’s why sales are down – every quarter. Spreadsheets, ROI, CPP, programmatic are elegant math-major systems. But our product is not math. Our product is emotion. Match sales techniques to the product. Tap the power of emotion.

Everything is ultimately purchased from our emotions. Everything.  Case in point: Joe Girard* understands cars better than anyone in history. No, no, don’t be dismissive of Joe because he was a car salesman; cars are very expensive. Cars have impacted you and your family for years. Cars make you feel great or awful. Powerful purchase.

Happy Birthday! One month a year, Joe would mail out a birthday card to all of his past customers and all of his prospects. All of them. In the same month. One out of 12 recipients were thrilled that Joe remembered their birthday! The other 11 would call Joe and tell him that he had their birthday date wrong. They called Joe. A car salesman.

Joe gave all of them information on the phone about the latest models and deals for… a new car. They called Joe.

The Law of 200. Catholic funeral masses hand out prayer cards featuring a photo of the deceased. Ask a priest how many cards are printed. The answer is 200. Caterers will tell you that the standard number of wedding guests is… 200!

Seems we know 200 people who will come to our wedding and our funeral. Major life events. Buying a car is a major, emotional life event. Joe realized that if he sold a good car, 200 people would learn that the customer was satisfied.

OR 200 were not happy. He gave all car buyers a box, a box of his business cards. 200 cards. He urged customers to hand out Joe’s cards to their friends.

Do those 22-year-old time buyers still want concert tickets, merchandise, meals, autographs, meet and greets? Before the power point presentation starts, book the good seats.

Yes, our product is emotion driven. How many arguments have you had about music repetition? New music? Controversial topics? Borderline morning show jokes? Those are emotional not intellectual discussions. There’s our power – in the center of the rink. Put the commercial on the mat.

* How to Sell Anything to Anybody by Joe Girard https://a.co/d/fTpuzoZ

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.. His nightly show “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night” is heard on WPHT, Philadelphia. His syndicated show, “Sterling On Sunday,” from Talk Media Network, airs 10:00 pm-1:00 am ET, and is now in its 10th year of success. He can be reached by email at sabowalter@gmail.com.

Industry Views

SABO SEZ: Top 40 is Always the Answer

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Walter Sabo
a.k.a. Walter Sterling, Host
WPHT, Philadelphia, “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night”
And TMN syndicated, “Sterling on Sunday”

imgReviewing radio’s challenges:

— Trouble attracting and growing younger demos
— Trouble appealing to youth-oriented advertisers
— Trouble generating excitement in our culture
— Trouble owning a seat in the news media
— Trouble attracting out of college/high school employees
in sales, management on air.

The answer is: Top 40 or, if you must, CHR. The answer has always been Top 40.

The brilliant Allen Shaw, president ABC FM Radio, CEO Beasley Broadcasting, CEO/owner Centennial, said, “And Top 40 will always have an important place in radio because it plays the most popular music therefore it will always have an audience.”

In reviewing Spring Nielsens, it is hard to find a Top 40 station that is #1 6+ in any city. Consider how odd that is. Since 1955 there have been hundreds of Top 40 stations that attracted dominant shares of audience.

No, not audience: fans. Passionate fans because music is passion. New music is more passion. Cultural pebbles between the songs dropped by passionate radio stars compel even more passion.

Big contests. Big promotions. Breaking music trends. Huge voices. Pounding jingles. Prizes: Trips to see Taylor Swift in the studio – in England. A week off from school, on us! Free pizza for 50 of your friends – for a year. A new red, customized Z-93 car in your driveway on your birthday. Ed Sheeran plays your prom! A limo to school on opening day. Big Time Rush sings at your street fair.

Alex Warren writes a song for you – and performs it for you. Gift certificates for CAMEO. The Apple package… an iPhone, iPad and MacBook Air.

Media Buyer: Hop on the station yacht this summer, let’s go for a sunset party cruise. One buyer wins this custom Mustang. Wherever you go on vacation, tab’s on us.

Excited? Radio is good at contesting, better than any other medium. Excitement in thin air is what radio does… well, used to do.

Of course radio is a low choice among fresh grads, 18-24s, and media buyers. Radio stopped making the best radio, stunning, pulsing, sexy, unpredictable. We stopped rolling out the red carpet: Hot, current, daring, dangerous… Top 40.

You were drawn to radio because of Top 40. Make that.

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.. His nightly show “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night” is heard on WPHT, Philadelphia. His syndicated show, “Sterling On Sunday,” from Talk Media Network, airs 10:00 pm-1:00 am ET, and is now in its 10th year of success. He can be reached by email at sabowalter@gmail.com.

Industry News

SABO SEZ: Star Search – They’re Out There!

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Walter Sabo
a.k.a. Walter Sterling, Host
WPHT, Philadelphia, “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night”
and TMN syndicated, “Sterling on Sunday”

imgConventional industry wisdom: “If our morning star leaves, we’re dead. How could we replace them?”

First, loosen up the criteria. There are actual conversations taking place right now at an AC station between executives afraid to hire a great country jock because she has never “done AC.” Let that nonsense go and pay attention to the qualities of a star.

Consulting work brought regular demands to find star talent. Disruptive. Audience builders. Talent can be found anywhere, everywhere when we put down the notion of an ideal resume.

FAVORITE STORY: I was on the 23rd Street bus a few years ago. It was packed. There was a woman on her cell phone giving advice to a caller about living with a man prior to marriage. She had a big personality, easy to hear. New Yorker after New Yorker listened to this intriguing conversation and then… passenger after passenger started to express their opinions to this passenger, on a New York City bus, at rush hour. By the time she had to get off, half the bus was participating with her in her private conversation.

I wrote her a note on my card and asked her to please get in touch with me.

She did. We had coffee for one hour. It seemed like five minutes. Her life story was intriguing, overwhelming, timeless.

Anna Smith. “Anna on the Bus.” I had her in the production room at Audacy in New York and tough big city radio people gathered around the studio and whispered to me, “She should have her own show.”

Anna tells compelling stories: Her father was an 18-wheeler. He would arrive first with his deliveries. Dispatchers usually sent him to the back of the line because he was Black. After waiting for hours to dock, he was fined for late deliveries.

Anna lost several of her seven children to disease and shootings. No anger. Just “the way of the world.” Stories like that. She’s been on my show many times. She’s a radio star.

“Anna on the Bus.”

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.. His nightly show “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night” is heard on WPHT, Philadelphia. His syndicated show, “Sterling On Sunday,” from Talk Media Network, airs 10:00 pm-1:00 am ET, and is now in its 10th year of success. He can be reached by email at sabowalter@gmail.com.

Industry News

SABO SEZ: Cash Comes from Ideas, Not Budgets

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Walter Sabo
a.k.a. Walter Sterling, Host
WPHT, Philadelphia, “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night”
and TMN syndicated, “Sterling on Sunday”

imgThere are two broad categories of thought: Task. Creative. When in creative mode, a person innovates, imagines, plans, and solves problems. An idea bank is a bank! Money grows from the results of imagination: new products, new music, new formats, new sales strategies. Business growth depends on new!

Task mode is focused on the past. Accounting, legal, sorting, painting, mowing, eating, surviving. Tasks are essential activities but financially break even, at best.

Your colleagues probably suffer from thoughts of radio industry consolidation and cutbacks. Personally, there was a moment in my career that still haunts me at this writing. A moment more profound than consolidation or repeal of FCC ownership financial requirements.

The crash moment in the history of radio was when a program director uttered these words:

“It’s not in the budget.”

The words were less shocking than the source. Owners and general managers had said, we don’t have the money, but never the program director. Program directors, in my experience, lived in a charged creative fantasy. They imagined better shows, contests, DJ patter, bigger, better, fun-er radio for bigger ratings. Programmers thrived in an environment of creative challenges rather than tasks. PDs were often not even shown their budgets.

Creative-mode results in breathtaking promotions (win a house, win your rent, win a six pack of Corvettes.) Audience-daring formats such as album-oriented rock and all sports. Exciting air talent: Howard Stern, Neil Rogers, Jake Fogelnest, John Kobylt.

Programmers heard general managers say, “A good salesman is one with a good product.” Or, “If you deliver ratings, the sales department will sell it.” Intuitively, general managers and owners knew that if they kept their programmers and talent on the creative side of their brains, the station could succeed.

There were conversations between general managers and program directors when the PD would have “suggestions” about sales and the GMs would say, “That’s the sales manager’s job” and shut down the PD! Therefore, PDs were kept on the creative side of their brains, the idea bank.

Driving a new idea, a new format, promotion, or on-air technique demands a programmer’s knowledge and passion. Without passion, few new strategies are launched. Birthing a new idea in radio is way too difficult to achieve with just logic. New ideas come to exist by fighting for budgets, fighting to win acceptance from staff.

New ideas are worth the fight because they can bring audience growth and fresh cash.

As the industry puzzles over declining sales, declining youth listening, and declining buzz, don’t blame consolidation and streaming. Blame owners that have given programmers the ultimate excuse to not try new ideas, not push new promotions, not embrace fresh talent, not take risks that lead to growth. “It’s not in the budget.” 

Shut the door on your way out. 

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.. His nightly show “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night” is heard on WPHT, Philadelphia. His syndicated show, “Sterling On Sunday,” from Talk Media Network, airs 10:00 pm-1:00 am ET, and is now in its 10th year of success. He can be reached by email at sabowalter@gmail.com.

Industry Views

SABO SEZ: Music on the Weekends Can Build Cume

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Walter Sabo
a.k.a. Walter Sterling, Host
WPHT, Philadelphia, “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night”
and TMN syndicated, “Sterling on Sunday”

imgMusic on the weekend provides multiple positive strategic weapons for talk stations. From launch, “New Jersey 101.5” (1,000,000+ cumer); WTKS-FM “Real Radio,” Orlando; WABC, New York; WPHT, Philadelphia; and other major market winners air music all weekend or on dayparted shows.

When launching WTKS, NJ101.5 and many others, Sabo Media researched talk stations throughout the country to find any facility that did as well or better on the weekend than during the week. Not one. KGO at the time was dominant in San Francisco, but its weekend audience share was HALF its weekday share. Then we studied music formats looking for genre that did better on the weekends than during the week.  Answer: oldies and alternative rock.

Music on the weekend works:

— Music prevents an outlet from suffering the negatives of being a “talk station.”Music blows off the chronic callers and people who need the station for companionship. You know who they are.
— A carefully chosen song list targets a specific cume. People sample radio on weekends. They have fewer utilitarian needs for radio listening and can indulge in entertainment. When they hear a song they like—they lock in the frequency. The station enjoys fresh sampling. WTKS FM plays alternative rock all weekend, the result is a very young overall cume base.
— Music is good for sales.  Clubs, concerts, festivals, and comic cons buy music radio. Music on the weekend keeps talk stations on those buys!
— Innovative execs replace infomercials with specialty music shows. They sell those shows to wedding venues, wedding suppliers, party stores, mobile DJs, boat and RV rentals, as well as home improvement retailers.
— Publisher Michael Harrison posits that genre and chronological segregation of songs is not as essential today as it was back in the day. 13-year-olds love the Beatles and Beach Boys. Hits are always absolute necessities but “Never My Love” by the Association, “Light My Fire” by the Doors and the #1 song today, “Ordinary,” are all hits and could be played back-to-back.

In most cities, the second highest audience daypart is midday Saturdays. Stations that recognize that fact by offering quality, local, live entertainment grow their cume.

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.. His nightly show “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night” is heard on WPHT, Philadelphia. His syndicated show, “Sterling On Sunday,” from Talk Media Network, airs 10:00 pm-1:00 am ET, and is now in its 10th year of success. He can be reached by email at sabowalter@gmail.com.

Industry Views

SABO SEZ: Do You Really Think the Back of Your Head is Worth Watching?

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Walter Sabo
a.k.a. Walter Sterling, Host
WPHT, Philadelphia, “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night”
and TMN syndicated, “Sterling on Sunday”

imgThe drive to stream video of radio shows has always been risky. Remember your shock when you first saw one of your radio heroes? Video streaming can present a constant disconnect between the show in the listener’s head and the show on the stream. Many stations make the disconnect worse by streaming terrible video images. Combine the trauma of how a host really looks with a dreary TV show and the package cannot benefit the relationship between station and listener/viewer.

Too many stations stream from one or two fixed cameras in the studio. That picture looks like a police interrogation room. Some stations embarrassingly use one camera on a two person show. The result is a shot of the face of one host and the back of the head of the other, for the entire show. OMG.

Done right, video should enhance the listening experience, it should make the hosts more attractive, more engaging, and more entertaining.

Mistake: Many radio hosts ignore the cameras during spot breaks. These hosts go silent during spots, giving a viewer absolutely no reason to stream. Obviously, if one sits in silence during the break the image presented is pure boredom. On the radio, the listener hears commercials. On their stream they see a silent radio host doing nothing. Double disappointment.

Producing video that enhances a radio show experience takes planning and commitment. One technically simple way to make video work for a host is to address the audience directly during commercial breaks. One on one. The moment a break starts, smart hosts and anchors address the camera and candidly speak with the viewer. Their conversation is topical, urgent and fun.

Engaging the viewer during radio commercial breaks provides added value to a stream and a reason to watch.

Some examples worth watching are found in these links:

— B-93, Grand Rapids morning host Aly Mac never stops talking with streaming viewers. She does itimg right, two shows… one on the radio, one on the stream. Seamless and fun.
— WPHT produces a TV show with switching, graphics that flows with the radio show.
— Baylee Martin is a TV anchor who could teach the industry how to conduct an on-air show enhanced by the stream.  Hearst should sell schedules in her stream content. Have a look, she’s a streaming savant.

When streaming, consider if the video stream is helping or hurting the radio show. If the “reveal” is the back of a head, hurting!

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.. His nightly show “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night” is heard on WPHT, Philadelphia. His syndicated show, “Sterling On Sunday,” from Talk Media Network, airs 10:00 pm-1:00 am ET, and is now in its 10th year of success. He can be reached by email at sabowalter@gmail.com.

Industry Views

SABO SEZ: Managing the Meters is a Fatal Time Waster

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Walter Sabo
a.k.a. Walter Sterling, Host
WPHT, Philadelphia, “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night”
and TMN syndicated, “Sterling on Sunday”

imgAt first, I thought it was a joke. When I realized there were serious people having serious meetings about the joke, it became both horrific and symptomatic

The sitcom is called: MANAGING THE METERS. Note: As a suited consultant I was a prime mover to get Arbitron off diaries and onto meters.

Worldly success is often the result of being highly focused on what one can control versus imagining what can be controlled. Nielsen can manage their meters. You can’t.

Imagining what can be controlled has led to wasting time playing MANAGING THE METERS.  To participate one must learn where Nielsen meters are placed, which station has which meters, and who is carrying “your” meters. Yes, one can learn, for example, that a 19-year-old in Glendale listens to KIIS-FM for 17 hours a week. More than 17 hours in radio conference rooms will be spent playing whack-a-mole with that 19-year-old’s meter; where will it land next?

Playing MANAGING THE METERS is a major time waster and cume killer. Once upon a time many music stations embraced “request line call-in research.” Shudder. Stations would tally which songs were getting how-many requests and make on-air playlists based on those counts. Obviously call-in request playlists would appeal primarily to existing listeners and do nothing to reach new listeners. Sure, P1s are appeased but cume always dies.

And here we are: Super-serving meter holders who already listen to a station will appease P1s but cume will diminish every month. It is pure myth that “talk” is high TSL and low cume.  In fact, most current talking stations do everything possible to lower cume. Casual cuming is virtually impossible. (Who is talking? What’s the number? Thanks for holding on! Who has time to hold on?). The MANAGING THE METERS fantasy gives “science” to cume-killing actions and reactions.

MANAGING THE METERS, rather than making better, bigger shows has resulted in fear, indecision, and the crime of overthinking. Nothing could be worse for a medium that thrives on emotional wallops than turning feelings into math.

What to do when tempted to play MANAGING THE METERS:

— Go for a pleasant walk and imagine a better show, new promotions, fresh promos and surprising, possibly weird topics.
— Eat your favorite ice cream and imagine a better show, new promotions, fresh promos and surprising, possibly weird topics.
— Call your father and thank him and imagine a better show, new promotions, fresh promos and surprising, possibly weird topics.
— Remember that innovative programmers who CREATE – rather than copy – great stations give all of their attention to P2s and then imagine a better show, new promotions, fresh promos and surprising, possibly weird topics.

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.. His nightly show “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night” is heard on WPHT, Philadelphia. His syndicated show, “Sterling On Sunday,” from Talk Media Network, airs 10:00 pm-1:00 am ET, and is now in its 10th year of success. He can be reached by email at sabowalter@gmail.com.

Industry Views

SABO SEZ: They Want What You Have

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Walter Sabo
a.k.a. Walter M Sterling
Host, Sterling Every Damn Night
WPHT, Philadelphia
Sterling On Sunday, Syndicated, TMN

imgDozens of brand-new audio hardware and software companies have been launched during the past 20 years. These start-ups are usually funded by venture capital money. VC money is not invested to return a profit, it’s poured in to – pour it in. Their money is “different” than the cashflow that fuels your business. Start-up money buys time to profit.

Amazon lost money its first 10 years. Spotify launched in 2008 and turned a full year profit for the first time – last year.

MOST venture-backed start-ups do not make it to profit, they close.

With virtually unlimited funds and no deadlines, what are the strategic markers for success of most fresh, new audio businesses? Having performed due diligence for many start-ups, this is an informed summary of their goals:

— Significant distribution of the product.
— Robust, broad-appeal content offerings
— Proven metrics for securing advertising dollars
— Positive cultural impact
— Embraced by late-stage adopters
— Advertiser credibility

Hold radio to the above checklist.  92% of the population has a radio – more households than own a TV. Radio’s distribution is elegant, wireless, and free. Streaming? Yes, radio has streamed to the car since 1938. How’s UCONNECT or APPLE PLAY working in your KIA? Buffering now? Bluetooth pairing? At-home streams cost about $1,000 for a computer, $100 a month for WiFi, $150 for software upgrades and repairs. Radio distribution: turn it “ON.” No startup audio service will match radio’s distribution system.

Mature means predictable. Content offerings on radio are understood, accepted, and quickly adjusted if not appealing. Audio start-ups are rarely run by execs with audio entertainment experience. Their execs tend to be recruited from two groups: techs and discoverers. Techs because somebody has to make it work. Discoverers because you would be shocked at how many audio newcomers were funded on the wacky premise that AM/FM fails to see how badly Americans want to hear brand new music! Lurking among workers within the streaming and satellite communities is the harsh prejudice that pros with actual radio experience are satanic dinosaurs.

Most start-ups flirt with doing good for the country, ie; positive messaging, lots of jazz or world music. AM/FM has hardcore positive impact witnessed by the fact that most public radio stations enjoy ratings dominance. No other medium – none – raises more money for community charities than AM/FM.

Driving a new product past the innovators, early adopters, early majority to late majority is the path to success in any industry. AM/FM reached late majority when Bing Crosby had his own show. How’s mom doing with Spotify?

Advertiser credibility: Procter & Gamble returned to radio in the early 2000s. Last year P&G landed near the top of radio advertisers. Procter has no sense of humor or time for nonsense. If P&G buys a lot of radio, end of story. Again.

Not legacy media. Proven media.

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.. His nightly show “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night” is heard on WPHT, Philadelphia. His syndicated show, “Sterling On Sunday,” from Talk Media Network, airs 10:00 pm-1:00 am ET, and is now in its 10th year of success. He can be reached by email at sabowalter@gmail.com.

Industry Views

SABO SEZ: Give Credit

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Walter Sabo

a.k.a. Walter M. Sterling
Host, “Sterling Every Damn Night”
WPHT, Philadelphia
Host, “Sterling On Sunday,” TMN

imgRight now, dozens of well-suited, over-priced, unpleasant lawyers are fighting in Hollywood over the title credit their client should receive on a movie, TV show, or book cover. Placement within the credit roll at the end of a show is a battleground of egos and legalities. Part of the process of securing proper credit is governed by multiple union rules negotiated by multiple unions and corporate dictates of corporate masters. (You don’t get to be CEO of Paramount by being a nice guy.)

In most mass media, getting credit for the hard work of creating mass media is a very serious matter. What’s the “title slide” credit for you and your colleagues?

To your listener, you are a star. For no cost, you, your station, and our industry would benefit from building a credit roll at the end of each of your shows. Radio has a first class array of production software, processing and SFX libraries. Use those assets to create on air credit rolls for talent, PAs, anyone who touches a show.

The result: Credited employees will grow prouder of their work. They will be recognized by their friends. Advertisers will know their messages are part of a “big thing” and invest with confidence. Subliminally running credits for your station’s team puts radio on the same plateau as movies, TV, print. For free.

Consider every opportunity to elevate the stature of radio stars. When you have a substitute host or DJ please don’t say, “filling in for…” say, “guest starring.” How does your talent present themselves away from the station on remotes or appearances? KMART rack or Dress for Success? Fact: Management of other media say that radio executives and sales people “dress poorly.” Really, that’s their view of radio personnel. Lousy dressers. Easy fix.

Kudos to George Noory. At the end of each show, he credits his predecessors; all-night radio stars who, through the decades, explored UFO’s and non-traditional topics. George’s humble announcement celebrates radio’s robust history and places Noory in an all-hit lineup.

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. His nightly show “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night” is heard on WPHT, Philadelphia. His syndicated show, “Sterling On Sunday,” from Talk Media Network, airs 10:00 pm-1:00 am ET, and is now in its 10th year of success. He can be reached by email at sabowalter@gmail.com

Industry Views

SABO SEZ: Won’t Work on FM

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Walter Sabo
a.k.a. Walter M. Sterling
Host, “Sterling Every Damn Night”
WPHT, Philadelphia
Host, “Sterling On Sunday,” TMN

img“It won’t work on FM.” Country. Country was predicted to be a failing format for the FM band. At the dawn of FM proliferation in the 1970s, the future of the band was viewed with fear and skepticism. Why wouldn’t country music work on the FM band? The conventional chatter said that “country needs to be on AM because truckers drive long distances and AM signals cover long distances. FM does not.”

According to AM management, every music and talk format that thrived on AM was going to fail on FM. Obviously, all AM genres succeeded on FM, sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. The ones that succeeded quickly had common characteristics:

In the public’s mind, FM radio had specific, positive traits: Lower commercial load, cooler hosts and jocks, a subversive tone, fewer interruptions of every type. Talk on FM was absolutely going to fail. The first mother of talk hits on FM were “New Jersey 101.5” (which for decades had the largest FM talk cume in the world); WTKS-FM, Orlando; and WLUP, Chicago. GM Larry Wert, brilliant. In 1990 when those stations launched, the industry pundits ordered more drinks and pronounced their doom.

John Kobylt, of KFI, Los Angeles fame, was the first PM drive host on “New Jersey 101.5.” He explained to me the key difference in his work versus that of an AM talk show host: “My competition is 10 music stations playing hit songs. If Ken Chiampou and I don’t entertain this second, the audience is gone.”

Little noticed was that stations like WTKS-FM shared less than 8% of its cume with WDBO-AM (a very serious station!) WTKS sharing was with WMMO-FM and other alt rock and FM AC stations. While radio people think “talk is talk,” the audience perceives FM talk and AM talk to be very different formats. Completely different.

Today, to drive audience to an FM talk station the strategy proven to fail is to air AM shows on FM without making significant accommodations for the differences in the band. Profound differences.

QUICK NOTES:

— New 23-year-old, very good, control board operator for “Sterling Every Damn Night” asked me, “Who is Rush Limbaugh?”

— All-digital 18-year-olds today have no idea what you mean when you say, “The top of the hour.”

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. His nightly show “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night” is heard on WPHT, Philadelphia. His syndicated show, “Sterling On Sunday,” from Talk Media Network, airs 10:00 pm-1:00 am ET, and is now in its 10th year of success. He can be reached by email at sabowalter@gmail.com

Industry Views

SABO SEZ: 5 Books That Will Change Your Life

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Walter Sabo
a.k.a. Walter M. Sterling
Host, “Sterling Every Damn Night”
WPHT, Philadelphia
Host, “Sterling On Sunday,” TMN

imgThese books have helped me tell stories, prioritize programming initiatives and manage career strategies. If interested in a book the link connects to its page on Amazon.

You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out, By Quentin Schultze. Not what I thought. It’s not about the goofy episodes in the “A Christmas Story” movie. Jean Shepherd, radio star, wrote and narrated the movie. This book deconstructs how Jean told stories. Shepherd was the greatest radio storyteller of all time. He told stories on WOR every single night for 27 years. His one-hour show had no guests, no phone calls, simply his astonishing stories. Author Schultze, a college professor, spent hundreds of hours with Jean discovering how he imagined, enacted and teased his stories. The book is an advanced course for today’s magic makers. https://a.co/d/fHXIBlt

It’s One O’Clock and Here is Mary Margaret McBride, by Susan Ware. We know but a little. The first national star of midday radio was Ms. McBride. She was so popular and powerful that she required seven secretaries to answer her mail. On her show’s 10th anniversary, she packed Madison Square Garden with listener fans and celebrities. Eleanor Roosevelt hosted McBride’s 15th anniversary at Yankee Stadium. Show prep was her life, that’s why her show sounded informal. https://a.co/d/5idc7TC

Dress for Success, By John Molloy. Yes, the book reveals Molloy’s research on success dress, but perhaps more importantly the book helps the reader think like a success. This guide to the C Suite explains how to reach the top of any business. On the air? When preparing for work, consider all the steps we take toward meeting the station’s biggest client and do that every day. On the plane? No sweat pants! If you want to join a club, look like you already belong to it.  https://a.co/d/99XI61d

Effective Frequency: The Relationship between Frequency and Advertising Effectiveness, Compiled by the ANA. The DNA of everything. 100 years of studies on how a listener’s memory works. How many spots actually cause burn? How often should the promo run? Do listeners remember the first or last spot best? How to rotate songs? And why did the original phone numbers have seven digits? This deceptively thin, rich book will startle!  https://a.co/d/foZUreI

The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, by Gertrude Stein. The author was the ambitious patron of the Cubist art movement in Paris. Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, and many others were inspired and sponsored by Stein. Alice was her lover. Stein understood that controversy is a possible result of great artwork. Picasso’s first show in Paris caused outrage within the crowd. Watching the gathering’s reaction from the show’s balcony, “Gertrude Stein smiled.” Remember Stein’s reaction to Picasso’s audience the next time “sales” gives a host a hard time! https://a.co/d/1IuU1pV

My life has been changed by these works. How to dress, prep for an interview, cope with controversy, and rotate promos are skills shaped by these classics. Please let me know how they impact you.

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. His nightly show “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night” is heard on WPHT, Philadelphia. His syndicated show, “Sterling On Sunday,” from Talk Media Network, airs 10:00 pm-1:00 am ET, and is now in its 10th year of success. He can be reached by email at sabowalter@gmail.com

Industry Views

SABO SEZ: Trying is the Real Win

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

Walter Sabo
a.k.a. Walter M. Sterling
Host, “Sterling Every Damn Night”
WPHT, Philadelphia
Host, “Sterling On Sunday,” TMN

imgSerious business coaches reveal that a common trait of successful people is their ability to immediately forget their failures and to move on. Next idea. Next project. Surrounded by seas of committees, forms, rules and mediocrity, effective leaders know that just trying something, regardless of the outcome, is the WIN.  

Strategic “forgetting” requires a unique worldview. An introvert’s worldview. To forget a failure means not caring what colleagues think of new ideas. Innovators do not consider if they are embraced, they care that their idea launched.

Television legend and programmer Fred Silverman recreated broadcast television. He was so successful he was recruited to helm CBS, ABC and NBC. After corporate leadership he was an independent producer commandeering four hours of prime time a week, earning… a lot.

All that mattered to him was getting it on the air. Like all programmers not everything he produced worked. One hit show is a miracle, he created dozens.

To Fred, he was proud of all his shows. He never bragged about the hits because to him, a hit was anything that got on the air. New was a hit.

Fred’s innovations can be seen on TV now. Before Fred, a TV show promo consisted of a slide and a VO. Starting at ABC, Silverman was the first to pull video from a show, edit it into a 30 second hook clip turning it into a fast-paced promo for the show. Each promo aired once. A staff of 150 people was hired to create a brand-new promo every time. Fred would often sit in the edit bays, producing fresh promos. He hated repeated promos. Finance hated him; engineering hated him; scheduling hated him. Nielsen did not hate him.

I sat many an all-nighter in edit bays as Fred’s production partner until what was on the screen matched what was in his head.

The radio greats have similar patterns of behavior: Tom Bigby, Greg Stockard, Ruth Meyer, Howard Stern, Greg Moceri, Rick Sklar, Skip Eskin, all the legends were/are focused and driven. There is no downtime. When one insists that their precise vision be implemented, they won’t have many friends, but they will have stunning results.

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. His nightly show “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night” is heard on WPHT, Philadelphia. His syndicated show, “Sterling On Sunday,” from Talk Media Network, airs 10:00 pm-1:00 am ET, and is now in its 10th year of success. He can be reached by email at sabowalter@gmail.com

Industry Views

How to Get a Media Job Right Out of College

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

Walter Sabo
a.k.a. Walter M. Sterling
Host, “Sterling Every Damn Night”
WPHT, Philadelphia
Host, “Sterling On Sunday,” TMN

imgThank you, TALKERS for placing me on two panels at the IBSNYC conference. All student conferences have one underlying goal: Attendees want to know how to land a starter job in media. Here’s the information I shared with the eager crowd.

1. Decide where you want to live. Until you have a strong, positive reputation in the industry, no company will sponsor a move. It’s not just the cost of moving, it’s the emotional responsibility. If the job doesn’t work out, the company has lost money plus it will have the added burden of taking the recruit from their homeland.

Hiring a local eliminates the risk of an on-air talent not “getting” the city. If, for example, a DJ in New York announces that the store is on “YOUS TON” street rather than HOUSE-TON street, there is all sorts of trouble. In-town candidates have established relationships that will benefit the sales, news and programming departments.

2. Don’t write a resume, you don’t have one. You have a college degree, stories, and opinions. Fresh, new opinions. A good employer will respect a graduate’s perspective on their on-air product or marketing plans. Study the station where you want to work. Listen to elements you hear that are great and those that you could improve. Write it down. Prepare a good-looking WHITE PAPER about what you think works and what could be better. You don’t have to be “right” you just have to demonstrate an understanding of the station and your willingness to do work. No one else is going to write a paper and present defensible ideas. You will win.

3. Flatter. Select the exact company you want to work for and learn every single thing you can about it. It is astonishing how many times I’ve interviewed a prospect and found out that they knew nothing about the company or the station. They just want a job. Needing a job is not a career path. The people whom you will meet have giant egos. Know what that person has accomplished for their company, express your admiration for it, express your deep desire to be a part of it. Signal that you have no desire to work for any other company in town.

Have your goals lined up in your head and be flexible. Your mission is to get in the door. An employee ID is the win. BUT when asked what you would like to do in your career have a thoughtful response. Aimless=mindless.

4. Avoid answering job postings. Companies are often legally obligated to post jobs and 95% of those jobs are already taken. Instead, search deep into your personal and student network to find any associate or friend who may have a pipeline to the higher-ups in your target company.  HR is a bad place to start. Let the CEO of the company send you to HR after they have been impressed by their conversation with you! A courtesy call to HR following the blessings of the CEO – that’s the best strategy.

5. Once you get the job, do anything, learn everything. Tips: Show up 15 minutes before your day starts, don’t leave until you ask your manager if they need you to do anything else. At first, you will be asked to wash the morning show’s dishes! Log recordings! Take in feeds! Respond to listener calls and emails! You will look for ways to showcase your skills and be given a chance to excel. Take your vacation, call in when really sick, but DO NOT take a “personal day.” Yes, that’s how it really works. Welcome to show business.

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. His nightly show “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night” is heard on WPHT, Philadelphia. His syndicated show, “Sterling On Sunday,” from Talk Media Network, airs 10:00 pm-1:00 am ET, and is now in its 10th year of success. He can be reached by email at sabowalter@gmail.com

Industry Views

Sabo Sez: The Actual Future of Radio

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Walter Sabo
a.k.a. Walter M. Sterling
Host, “Sterling Every Damn Night,”
WPHT, Philadelphia
Host, Sterling On Sunday, TM

imgThank you, TALKERS for having me on panels at the TALKERS Generations 2025 IBSNYC conference this past Saturday (3/8). Moderator and Philadelphia talk show god Dom Giordano asked us the inevitable: “What is the future of radio?”

You’ve likely had the experience of saying something funny or profound and been surprised.  “Where did that come from!??”

What’s the future of radio? I replied, “The next sentence out of your mouth. Radio will have a future if the next thing you say compels a listener to hear your next sentence.”

Where did that come from? The future is up to us. For over 100 years radio has engaged our listener to want to hear the next sentence. No wires, cable, laptop, computer. Distribution? No problem. Subscriptions? No. Technical challenges? No. Radio just works.

Your listener will want radio to just-work as long as the next sentence is our best. Ever.

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. His nightly show “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night” is heard on WPHT, Philadelphia. His syndicated show, “Sterling On Sunday,” from Talk Media Network, airs 10:00 pm-1:00 am ET, and is now in its 10th year of success. He can be reached by email at sabowalter@gmail.com

Industry News

More from TALKERS Generations 2025 at IBSNYC

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

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Pictured above is WABC, New York journalist and talk show host Dominic Carter giving a high-five to one of the students asking him career advice. Carter spoke on the “Radio’s Place in a Diverse, Digital World” panel.

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Pictured above is TALKERS VP and executive editor Kevin Casey showing off the new C. Crane WiFi 3 internet radio. TALKERS and C. Crane gave away five of these radios to college students who were eager to get them.

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Pictured above is consultant and WPHT, Philadelphia & nationally syndicated talk host Walter Sabo making a point during his panel discussion. A student asked for his advice about launching a career out of college and Sabo told her, “First, decide where you want to live. Once you’re in that city, you can begin to approach broadcasting companies about getting your foot in the door.”

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Pictured above is Salem Radio Network talk host Mike Gallagher speaking while taking part in the “Radio’s Place in a Diverse, Digital World” panel. All photos by Olivia Mannarino