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Bob Andelman Articles
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24-Hour Radio Programming
Profile By Bob Andelman
(Originally published in The Pulse of Radio, 1990)
Is it live or is it Memorex?
Is it local or is it satellite-delivered?
An estimated 20 percent of all radio stations in the United States
are now programming all or part of their days with product created
off-premises and delivered by reel-to-reel tape, compact discs
(CDs), digital audio tape (DAT) or satellite.
That's not news. What is news is that stations across
the country are scoring big numbers with music, personalities
and formats prepared in Los Angeles, New York, Arizona, Dallas
and Colorado and shared by hundreds of like-minded operators.
Easy access to satellite feeds via inexpensive ground dishes
is making national services more attractive than ever.
Automation, thy name is success.
"We have the number one rated station, with automated service,"
boasts Susan Piston Stephens, vice president of operations at
WVLK-FM K93 in Lexington, Ky. "We do have auto-assist in
the morning and afternoon drive, mainly because you have to have
jocks to do events, but we seem to do best when we're automated."
K93 runs reel-to-reel country music tapes provided by Broadcast
Programming and compact discs when jocks are live in-studio.
Local news and weather are inserted whether the station is live
or on tape.
"It has been so successful for us," says Stephens.
"Our billings are incredible. We bill more than anyone else
in the market, We have very good national and regional buys.
Our listeners obviously want to hear country music. They don't
want to hear all the talk. It's basically a jukebox station.
Why should I pay a jock when the listener doesn't want to hear
it?"
'Round-the-clock and overnight programming services were once
the reserve of beautiful music stations offering wall-to-wall
Mantovani and the 101 Strings. Categories have exploded in recent
years. Every conceivable format is now available as a 24-hour
service, from talk and heavy metal to religious and inspirational.
Satellites have allowed stations to go "live" via remote
pick-up, although many have stuck by reel-to-reel tape, PC-operated
carts, CDs and DAT.
There are other variations as well. Stations find programming
services as cost-effective filler for overnight and weekend periods
which they cannot sell. Some take music-only programming, using
a national service's music research and song selections but sticking
with local air talent. The variations appear endless.
"We literally have the ability to custom-tailor our product
to individual market needs," says Jim Opsitnik, president
of Bonneville Broadcasting System in Northbrook, Il., which serves
127 stations. "That's a distinction we can offer with our
CDs. With CD automation we can control everything by computer
and how many times it calls up a song. We have every song on-call
all the time."
Bonneville's system uses consumer playback gear typically, 22
stackable Pioneer CD players per beautiful music station, 12
for ACs tied to IBM XT computers. "The screen has up what
has played, what will play, how long and it's up before the operator
at all times," according to Opsitnik. CD stacks are pre-packaged,
coded and labeled by Bonneville so operators never handle the
discs.
Century 21 which claims 1,400 client stations in 13 formats works
in a similar way to Bonneville's CD music system, although Dave
Scott, president of the Dallas-based service, says his company
works with many stations interested in automated dayparts instead
of total auto formatting.
"Our CD formats are not only going to automated formats,
but to live formats," according to Scott. "We sell
our CDs to KISS in Los Angeles. The automated stations, I see
a lot of stations that say I don't want to automate but I don't
have any income from my overnight show, my Sunday show. The other
logical situation is the non-personality format. If you decide
you're going to have 10 hits in a row, those formats sound almost
the same automated as they do live. If you can't tell the difference,
why pay a guy $50,000 a year to push 16 buttons an hour? If he's
not going to be a personality either by talent or format why
pay for it? If the listener can't tell if it's live or pre-recorded,
why is it live?"
Who makes a likely candidate for a programming service?
"AMs," says Opsitnik. "They're looking for cost-effective
ways of operating a radio station. Automation provides that.
It's primarily your medium and small budgets, people who don't
have a big upside potential to generate income even if they become
number one. It's a matter of scale and economy. A full-blown
automation system 10 years ago cost $50,000. A CD system today,
on the outside, costs $25,000 tops. It's far more cost-effective
today to go automated."
"The majority of our stations are FMs, as a matter of fact,"
says Broadcast Programming VP/GM Edie Hilliard in Seattle. "But
you will find, in large markets, the FM will be live and the
AM automated. If you've got a strong FM and an AM in trouble,
probably the quickest way to cut costs is to automate."
Cost-effectiveness has long been a primary explanation of a station's
switch to automation. But a growing number of outlets are turning
to satellite and pre-recorded services because they deliver consistency
in their format.
"The songs you play have to be consistent," says Hilliard.
"It can't rely on an individual person's taste. So stations
are depending upon syndicators to be sure the product is right."
Another selling point for the syndicators is the research, marketing
and promotion they provide to local affiliates. "When we
put on our programs, we help our affiliates sell them,"
says Don Emanuel, president of the Albany-based American Radio
Network.
Unistar Radio Network provides nine different satellite services
from its Los Angeles studios to 1,250 subscriber affiliates.
The network added 256 new stations in 1989 alone.
"We're like a high-quality restaurant," says Unistar
President Gary Fries, "You walk in and choose what you want.
And while we're providing programming, we're also providing logistical
help. We do a tremendous amount of research so the stations can
focus on advertising sales and other things in the market. We
look at our affiliation as a team effort with the local station."
Unistar has a nine-person affiliate relations support staff.
"If you don't get success for your client stations, you're
not going to continue to grow. It's a partnership feeling. It's
not so simple as we plug in the satellite and you walk away and
we walk away. It's a continuing relationship."
Fries says Unistar's "AM Only" format of music aimed
at an "older" demo is "part of the solution we've
tried to put together for stations that have been struggling
with the question of what do I do with AM?
"We have stations that switch to our country format for
two reasons," he continues. "One is cost savings. Another
is that a company that has an AM/FM combination may say let's
put the AM on satellite to give us a slightly different product
and audience. Country accomplishes that."
Satellite Music Network (SMN) in Dallas is another successful
programming service, having grown from two formats and three
affiliates in 1981 to 1000-plus stations and ten formats in 1990.
Each format is a radio station onto itself with its own marketing,
promotion, research and minimum of 10 air personalities.
Roy Simpson is general sales manager at SMN. He sales that of
all its formats, "Pure Gold" and "Kool Gold"
are the hottest.
"We've done real well with them recently," he says.
"Across the country, oldies are doing well in market after
market and everybody wants to jump on the bandwagon. Kool Gold
is number one in Sante Fe, for example."
SMN's exposure of its heavy metal "Z-Rock" format on
AM in New York City has expanded interest in that particular
network, although Simpson says he is pressing for more FM affiliates.
American Radio (ARN) bills itself as the nation's only 24-hour
live talk network. Begun in 1988 with 23 affiliates, the network
has grown to 270 stations representing all top 100 markets which
carry all or part of its programming. The average affiliate carries
four hours of ARN shows.
"Our whole idea is that talk is the only growth format in
AM radio today and we're providing it," says ARN's Emanuel.
ARN lacks TalkNet star power but that hasn't kept it from getting
ahead. A trio of hosts anchor its dayparts out of a Baltimore
studio and the network switches to Tom Star's "Sports Overnight"
in Boston from 11 p.m.-6 a.m.
Business Radio Network (BRN) offers a different form of talk
than ARN's. It is styled as a news wheel not unlike that of the
Cable News Network, providing business news and features, international
and national reports, sports and consumer features throughout
the day, from 5 a.m. EST to 9 p.m. EST. Weekends are filled with
specialty programs such as "Omniverse" and "The
Home Office Show."
"Our network can be done a lot of ways," according
to Dave Rose, chief operating officer for the Colorado Springs-based
network. "You can run the whole network or do a lot of interactive.
One of the reasons we went into the flexibility business is we
wanted broadcasters to assess what's needed in their market."
BRN is overwhelmingly an AM service, with 67 AM affiliates and
just three FMs. "The fidelity and technical quality of AM
is perfectly acceptable for talk. In some ways, it's better,"
says Rose. "I think AM will be going more and more to talk,
sports and programming like ours."
Like ARN, BRN found a demographic link between its business listeners
and sports fans. That's why it launched a sports business program
called "Sports Club" on Aug. 1 to air in the wee hours.
"Sports Club" is being offered on a right of first
refusal to BRN affiliates and then it will be available to other
stations.
Another variation on programming services might be found in Albuquerque,
N.M.-based Drake-Chenault. With 30 years of experience, Drake-Chenault
has weathered and adapted to many changes in the business. As
commercial satellite networks have come into vogue, it remains
a fee-based programming service, offering its nine formats via
tape, reel-to-reel or satellite delivery to 60 stations. "Have
it your way," says VP/GM T.J. Lambert. "We're not a
commercial network."
As at other companies, country is a popular format for Drake-Chenault.
"Oh, yeah," enthuses Lambert. "It's American music.
We're a success in obvious places like the south, but we're also
a success in unlikely places like Hartford, where our country
format is number three."
One more option offered by Drake-Chenault: the Winners News Network,
which has 12 affiliates. "It's 24 hours of Zig Ziglar and
Tom Petersen," says Lambert. "They've got lifestyle
news, gardening tips. You don't need ratings to sell it. It's
the ultimate conceptual sell."
Is too much of a good satellite or pre-recorded program bad for
local stations and air talent?
"It's no longer a concern," according to Simpson. "With
the advent of satellite dishes, it's just a common occurance.
Who cares what city Dan Rather does the evening news in? People
don't care where the programming comes from as long as it's programming
they enjoy. Ten years ago there were some concerns. But that's
been overcome."
"A DJ that is talented, extemporaneous and today's show
is different than yesterday's is going to have a job for a long
time," says Scott. "Rick Dees is not in any danger
of someone taking his shift."
The real coming of age for the satellite networks will be the
day when enough markets around the country carry a common format
and the first live via satellite star DJ is created.
Leaders in 24-hour programming syndication services see a decade
of booming opportunity before them.
"We may get a ruling that you can't simulcast," says
ARN's Emanuel. "If that happens, we're golden. Two-thousand
to 5,000 AM stations are not going to go away because people
say you can't play music on AM."
SMN's Simpson agrees that the future is rosy for 'round-the-clock
programming services.
"We feel our next goal is 2,000 (affiliates)." he says.
"We feel it's within reach. We see more and more major market
stations who are in a crunch right now. That's where we see our
growth in the next 12 months. Our (long-term) goal is to have
20 percent of the stations in the country programming one of
our 10 formats."
Sidebar
National Supervisory
Network
Automation has taken another
giant step forward with the National Supervisory Network (NSN),
"the world's first centralized dedicated command and control
system, capable of the monitoring and control of hundreds of
broadcast facilities across the country at one time" according
to company literature.
The concept of NSN is quite simple.
From its remote, high-tech location in Eagle-Vail, Co., NSN will
handle every technical and operational detail of running a radio
station via a duplex satellite network. Equipment readings are
logged every 30 minutes; alarms and EBS tests are logged as they
occur. Stations that need to reduce power at night, activate
a security system or test back-up power can all be accomodated
from thousands of miles away. The system is designed to comply
with all federal regulations.
"We allow you to legally lock your doors and walk away.
Our operators are standing by," according to General Manager
Muffy Montemayor. "We're the perfect complement to 24-hour
programming. It's a niche to be filled. If you're operating with
a programming service, there's probably some time of day it's
more cost-effective for you to run unattended. We take care of
all the technical specs according to the engineers."
NSN provides and installs all the equipment necessary for it
to take charge. The fee is $875 per month plus an equipment deposit.
The network has 20 stations currently on-line and is signing
up new outlets on an average of one per week. It takes 45 to
60 days to deliver equipment and get it turned on.
"It's working great," says Vic Garrett, operations
manager, program and music director of KSNO AM/FM in Aspen. "It
monitors our on-air performance, our EBS performance, whether
we're live or locked up. So far, it's worked flawlessly. Not
only do they watch our transmitter and notify us (of problems)
ahead of time, they also give us a lot of weather and tell us
about lightning strikes."
KSNO is live during the day with a new adult contemporary format
and carries The Breeze via satellite at night. Having NSN look
after his shop in the automated off-hours gives Garrett piece
of mind.
"They're pros," he says. "There are times we get
hit by powersurges or something and they get us started faster
than I can get in the station myself."
©2000, All rights reserved. No portion
may be reproduced without the express written permission of the
author.
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