Working in Radio through the recession of the late ’70′s and various minor economic downturns over the decades, a pattern started to emerge. Somehow, local retailers managed to sense a slowdown in business long before it revealed itself in national statistics. They responded to their perceptions by cutting back on their advertising budgets. Our stations [...]

A sales consultant I know was recently telling me about one of his clients. He said the stations were experiencing a rough period — this is unusual? — and some days as much as 69% of the available inventory was going unsold. The stations were only selling 31% of their ad time. I asked if [...]

In an earlier post, we talked about the fact that your Radio clients don’t require everyone to respond to their ad message; it is necessary only for enough people to react to the ad to produce a return on investment for the advertiser. Unfortunately, most Radio sales reps can’t or won’t convince the advertiser to [...]

If your stations are like mine, sales are horrible. We’re down for the year and it’s getting worse, with the average sale WAY down. The problem is not store closures or empty strip centers. It is confidence and spending. I think Radio as a whole is fine. The latest RADAR study shows 92% of the [...]

The numbers don’t lie: Radio revenue is taking a nosedive. The economy — sluggish at best in 2008 — looks dismal for 2009. More layoffs are ahead as Chrysler and GM reorganize and downsize, with the ripples of their ordeal affecting thousands of suppliers and hundreds of thousands of workers. And yet… As unemployment approaches [...]

As the drumbeat grows for re-instatement of the “Fairness” Doctrine, it is becoming ever more obvious that most of the lawmakers in Washington have a great deal of ignorance about the free market. In the legislators’ opinion, talk Radio listeners must be required to listen to certain programs — whether they want to listen or [...]

Why is it that Radio and TV sales people sell “spots” and newspaper people sell “ads”? Does what you call a thing make a difference? A lot of people on Madison Avenue certainly think so. It’s my position that one Radio ad is equal to one newspaper ad. We demean our product by referring to [...]

Clear Channel’s recent layoffs are merely the latest in a continuing series of employment cutbacks in Radio, and certainly more reductions are coming in the days ahead. However, the elimination of sales positions is a double-edged sword. One very successful market manager I know believed in hiring as many salespeople as possible. He felt a [...]

As of midnight tonight, we bid farewell to a troubled year. There’s no need to recount the issues that face our country and our industry; if you’re in Radio you probably go to sleep at night worrying about poor sales, cutbacks, and what the future may bring. It might make you feel better to know [...]

Two travelers met in an airport terminal. “Where are you going?” asked the first. “Don’t know,” replied the second. “I just buy a ticket and get on a plane.” “Well, if you don’t know where you’re going, how will you know when you’ve arrived?” Most advertising campaigns are not much different. We sell a client [...]