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Gloom and doom: Clear Channel’s dark future begins today

Posted in Robert Feder | Chicago Media blog by Robert Feder on Oct 26, 2011 at 9:00am

John Hogan

When the largest radio company in America assembles its major market general managers in Chicago today, it won’t be to tell them what a swell job they’re doing.

Instead, if knowledgeable industry reports are correct, Clear Channel Radio will set in motion massive cutbacks that could lead to what one analyst called “a new form of local radio.” By the time the plans are implemented, the company could be operating with far fewer employees and virtually no local involvement in what goes out over the air and online.

“Our Chicago meetings are for our largest markets and will focus on our revenue opportunities and strategies for 2012,” John Hogan, president and chief executive officer of Clear Channel Radio, told me Tuesday. “We have an incredible array of offerings for advertisers starting with iHeartRadio [digital service] and Clear Channel’s unique ability to provide national reach and local activation for advertisers. We’ll be working with our market managers and DOS (sales managers) as well as ops managers (programmers) to share with them our latest and greatest advertiser opportunities.”

Hogan declined to address reports by Inside Music Media and Radio-Info.com that Clear Channel plans to overhaul the structure of local programming and substitute its Premium Choice national content in place of local talent throughout its 850 radio stations in 150 cities.

At its most drastic, according to Inside Music Media’s Jerry Del Colliano, Clear Channel could see the elimination of all program directors and become a company “operated by robotics with nothing local, little live and everything cheap.” It’s all designed to shed expenses as the company faces $18 billion in debt that it cannot repay.

“The plan is to make local radio not much different from an app,” Del Colliano wrote. “Cheap programming — but instead of streaming it online, it is broadcast on-air. Then mix it in with customizable radio — not exactly a hit in and of itself — and you’ve got what seems to investors to be the future of radio. What it really is is the end of local radio. Today, one of the largest purges of local radio talent commences and nobody is home to stop it.”

In Chicago, Clear Channel owns five of the 15 top-rated stations in the market, including urban adult-contemporary WVAZ-FM (102.7), adult contemporary WLIT-FM (93.9), contemporary hit WKSC-FM (103.5), urban contemporary WGCI-FM (107.5), and Spanish pop WNUA-FM (95.5). It also owns gospel WGRB-AM (1390).

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10/26/2011
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Didn't we all kind of know this was coming? Or at least a possibility? Radio just isn't what it used to be and these companies have to scramble now to survive. Not unlike many other industries that have been affected by technology and resulting lifestyle changes. Maybe this formula will make radio better?? Is there a chance?
By Steve L (not verified) on 10/26/2011 at 9:18 am
It hits me that since the top two stations are "urban" one couldn't substitute homogenized national pap for them. I also wonder if there is homogenized Spanish pop pap, either, given the competition with various other supposedly different Spanish radio stations. The two other "contemporary" stations are probably fungible, however.
By jack (not verified) on 10/26/2011 at 9:24 am
Sadly this is just one more step forward in the death of on-air radio. Much like the LP, CD, and the 8-Track tape before it, radio is dying a slow and painful death. The big corporations that were allowed to swallow up local stations and then program them from bunkers in Arizona brought this upon themselves.
By Anonymous (not verified) on 10/26/2011 at 9:28 am
With the golden aspect of local radio removed; the connection to the audience by the super human DJ, (we are human, right?), this decision blends station's right into the background of their markets. While consumers like choice at the the grocery store for cereal brands or types of toilet paper... The human connection cannot be discounted when local radio stations are in play. DJ's make recommendations, apply thier flavors that expand your pallete, tell you what the nuances were about the recording sessions of the song that was just played, who the influencers when the artist wrote the lyrics, set trends and have followers. To remove the local connection is a tragedy!
By Anonymous (not verified) on 10/26/2011 at 9:44 am
No. This is NOT the death of radio. This may be the death of corporate radio and as a radio person, it's about time. In its inception radio was all about public service. Getting vital information and emergency services to the community in times of need. Hopefully, this move by CC will get the industry overall back to that. It breaks my heart for the CC employees that are getting cut though. These are good people, good at what they do, been doing it for decades, and tomorrow they won't have a job.
By Anonymous (not verified) on 10/26/2011 at 9:44 am
This is Satellite Music Radio all over again. Program origination sent via satellite to stations nationwide. "Just play the music", keep the talk short, eliminate local personalities, sell national spots with local spot avails. Think of the cost savings by getting rid of all those people. Another reason for listeners to enjoy their ipods and radio will never again be what it was. Sad.
By Anonymous (not verified) on 10/26/2011 at 9:50 am
As corporate radio dies of self-inflicted wounds, Chicago's music lovers should take a moment to try out CHIRPradio.org, a listener-supported music and arts focused community radio station in Chicago staffed by more than 150 volunteers. -- MrJM P.S. You can also listen to CHIRP on your smartphone: http://chirpradio.org/phones
By MrJM (not verified) on 10/26/2011 at 10:02 am
This is just "new" here. In other cities, radio has been homogenized for a long time. One radio station provides news for three in Kansas City. In some smaller cities, stations play music or national talk while tornado sirens sound outside. In some TV markets, stations hundreds of miles away in other states provide "local" 6 and 10pm newscasts (take note Channel 2---CBS New York might be thinking of doing the same thing). Here in Chicago, every station except ABC-7 makes use of generic, co-op video; sometimes the photogs arrive while news is actually happening but, look close and you'll notice most of what they get is shots of crime scene tape flapping in the wind and firefighters putting away their gear. So I'm not surprised at John Hogan's double speak. I'm not shocked that robot radio is coming to Chicago. I just feel badly for the people he and the other suits could care less about.
By James Dvorak (not verified) on 10/26/2011 at 10:10 am
Oh hell, this massive purge wouldn't even be necessary if Lowery Mays and Randy Michael et al hadn't gone on a massive ego trip buying every damn station on the air in the heady days of the late 90s. This is all about debt service and a time when they bought every rimshot FM anywhere near a sizable market and idiotically thought the golden goose would keep sh#tting golden eggs. Idiots, all of them.
By Mikey Mann (not verified) on 10/26/2011 at 10:12 am
I don't mind "corporate rock" or "robot DJs" or "remotely programmed music". What I mind is the lack of local investigative reporting into fraud and corruption by local officials. Why do you think Chicago is the most corrupt city in America? Why is the state of Illinois bankrupt? No journalists!
By Not Tony (not verified) on 10/26/2011 at 10:16 am
Isn't Donny Wad and Rush Vicodin your idea of "journalist," wingnut teabagger moron? And would you be calling Chicago "corrupt" and the state "bankrupt" if the mayor and governor were Republicans? Huh, moron?
By Anonymous (not verified) on 10/26/2011 at 10:41 am
Photo shows Hogan with three microphones. Is he gonna take an on-air shift? (Multi-tasking is a big part of radio these days, y' know.)
By Dave (not verified) on 10/26/2011 at 11:03 am
This method of operation violates the spirit, and possibly the letter, of the terms under which the licenses to use the public airwaves were granted. The airwaves belong to the public, not to the licensees. Time for some license challenges?
By The Nudnik (not verified) on 10/26/2011 at 11:37 am
Who listens to music on the radio anyway???
By MY I-POD (not verified) on 10/26/2011 at 11:43 am
Hogan has to be the most dumbest of the dumb. He couldnt hold Steve Jobs jock strap. How in gods creation did this goof get a job in any field. he looks like a guy u would find working the floor at a furniture store. Every single thing he has ever done has failed. Less is more, etc. He couldnt punch his way out of a paper bag with help. When is these companies boards gonna hold losers like this accountable for their constant bad decisions??
By Anonymous (not verified) on 10/26/2011 at 12:08 pm
It seems fair to ask why some have failed to learn the lessons of Equity’s and Sam Zell’s failed takeover of Tribune Company and WGN-AM. As anyone who reads Mr. Feder’s blog readily knows, the Zell strategy at WGN needlessly erased decades of proud culture and listener loyalty by stepping away from uniquely local content. While the station’s ratings seem to be holding at this moment, it is impossible to measure the nature of the missed opportunity to build on a strong legacy audience by carefully attracting new listeners. And now Mr. Feder reports – in two successive articles – that two of the nation’s largest broadcast companies are planning to follow the Zell playbook, but to new extremes. To the fine people at Cumulus and Clear Channel, allow me this opportunity to offer some free advice: good radio is about people. That’s it. Chicago’s broadcast legends – from Bobby Collins to Steve Dahl (insert scowl) – built careers and ratings by knowing their listeners and adding local perspective to issues of common interest. The notion that this formula is outdated is wrongheaded at best and dangerous at worst. In 2011, vast majorities of consumers already have access to iPods, internet sites or other mediums that offer the mindless comfort of self-programmed content. The correct way to position traditional radio against these alternatives is to strengthen, not diminish, its local identity. Doing so will take local producers, local sales people and local broadcasters. Like Illinois’s outdated electric grid, will it take financial investment to elevate and update an old system? Yes. Might this investment mute short term profitability? Yes, it might. But is the end product worth it? Yes. Will listeners return? Yes. Will it be a profitable business for future generations? Yes. As a first step, take a page from news Cubs executive Theo Epstein (note: local example). Mr. Epstein wants a return to fundamentals to build success on the North Side. I suggest the same for your radio stations.
By Wally Phillips (not verified) on 10/26/2011 at 12:16 pm
The mom and pop radio stations of days gone by were not very good either. Radio only had a handful of well programmed, local radio stations. There were many examples in those days of radio stations that ignored what was going on around them because they had some high school kid loading the automation tapes making $1.40 an hour. Today, there are so many more radio stations and the "Clear Channels" bought way too many of them. Clear Channel should start selling off manyof these stations. Smaller groups could afford to program them with local content. However, keep in mind, a market can support only so many stations that are live and local. It is not the end, but it is an opportunity.
By Robert Weed (not verified) on 10/26/2011 at 12:42 pm
It's all about the money and the public be damned! Local radio still exists in the Chicago market it is just not on the big powerhouse stations like WLS and their ilk. In my neighboorhood, I have WJOB 1230AM www.wjob1230.com & the Radio One Communications in Valpo. www.radiooneindiana.com Some else alluded to the fact that The FCC allowed Clear Channel & Cumulus to buy too many stations in the market. That is the real sad fact but when money comes callin' people listen. Now we see where that gets us. Greed & avarice will always thwart the dreams of those who care about what they do. Maybe Occupy has it right, it is time to lessen our dependency on money only to the top 1%!! I only wish for enough to provide for myself & family. Any excess I would give to those who are less fortunate than I. For he that gives of himself to aid his fellow man is one that is richer in spirit & joy.
By The Mikado (not verified) on 10/26/2011 at 12:45 pm
Robot radio is nothing new. A few years ago while on vacation driving through northern Florida a hurricane was headed toward the state. Local sirens were blasting, the wind was blowing, the sky was dark during the middle of the day. I scanned my car radio dial...all I heard was "10-in-a-row" "Commercial Free Music" "Florida's Best Station", etc. as one song after another played on. Finally found a scratchy little AM station with some young voice reading the weather warnings! One station! Radio no longer is your immediate source for information. Sad.
By Anonymous (not verified) on 10/26/2011 at 12:51 pm
The Clear Channel Bloodbath has started. People in small and medium markets all over the country are getting "downsized" today. All the carnage is covered at www.allaccess.com. The bigger markets won't feel the pain until next week, but even Chicago will see people getting whacked. And, Cumulus is doing the same thing across the country. Tis not a good time to be in radio.
By Clean Up Woman (not verified) on 10/26/2011 at 1:01 pm
How else do you think Clear Channel can afford perks like a plane for CEO Bob Pittman? From his contract: CC Media “will make an aircraft (which, to the extent available, will be a Dassault-Breguet Mystere Falcon 900) available to Mr. Pittman for his business and personal use and will pay all costs associated with the provision of the aircraft. If a company aircraft is not available due to service or maintenance issues, CCMH will charter a private aircraft for Mr. Pittman's business and personal use.” http://www.rbr.com/radio/cc-media-spells-out-employment-deal-for-bob-pittman.html
By Anonymous (not verified) on 10/26/2011 at 1:10 pm
Ho-hum. I do almost all of my radio listening , except for some local talk and news radio, with my XM Raadio and internet stations. Over the air music stations?? Never!
By Paul (not verified) on 10/26/2011 at 1:50 pm
280 million Americans are happy with radio just the way it is, ivory tower intellectual elitist snob who hates ordinary people who work for a living. What part of "majority rule" don't you understand?
By Anonymous (not verified) on 10/26/2011 at 2:16 pm
Geez..what a biz! What happenned to the "LIVE AND LOCAL" concept of actual local personalities making appearances and talking about all the town gossip. The talent should be local like the old town criers. If Clear Channel has their way, we will all be hearing the exact same thing anywhere in the U.S.A. with website only local info---if that! Check out these local radio/internet radio options: http://chirpradio.org/phones, http://www.vocalo.org/, http://www.slaminternetradio.com/ (Friday 5-7 show is cool!)
By MARIO DEEJAYE (not verified) on 10/26/2011 at 2:21 pm
Nothing beats radio with personality. It adds to the music in a way that auto/self-programmed solutions can't. Thanks to Federal deregulation in the '90s, good radio talent began disproportionately filling the unemployment lines (until the WTA sent all our manufacturing and call support overseas). This is the damn bursting on phase I. I too look forward to the opportunity that will come about after this epic Phase II meltdown runs its course.
By ex-vvx Paul (not verified) on 10/26/2011 at 2:24 pm
OH....one other thing I forgot to address. Why should we have to pay for our media access anyway??? I hear commercials on Sirius,Comcast channels,all the local paers have ads, so why are we now being required to pay to hear or see or read stuff? Radio was one of the last truly free media....but now? I say it is one way for us to be controlled as to what we hear and see like in the Middle East countries! Just food for thought people.
By MARIO DEEJAYE (not verified) on 10/26/2011 at 2:27 pm
Now maybe WLIT will be able to afford to expand their playlist. They keep playing the same songs over and over and over. Anhd come Xmas they only play 12 songs over and over and over and over...ad nauseum!
By vaysmeer (not verified) on 10/26/2011 at 3:39 pm
listening to music on the radio is like listening to someone else's MP3 with commercials.
By turkeydance (not verified) on 10/26/2011 at 3:58 pm
Chicago radio sounds better online! www.chicagoradioonline.com that's what I listen to with Chicago personalities I have known and listened to for years!
By Anonymous (not verified) on 10/26/2011 at 4:01 pm
CC started down this road years ago even including national contests with odds longer than Hogan's schnozz. John's next order of business should be unloading the person who took that shot. Probably will be among the unwashed masses that will be jettisoned anyway. Terrestrial radio will be around for years and people will continue to listen to formats they like. I don't see many internet-linked cars on the road so either load up your car CD changer or get ready for Delilah clones 24/7 on CC. I doubt you'll hear much difference in the months to come. There will still be locally produced content for those who want it. Just how do you get to a point where you owe $18B with the cash flow these guys must throw off. Financial idiocy - a far greater concern for CC than dumbing down the programming.
By Crustywalt (not verified) on 10/26/2011 at 4:48 pm
Meh...if radio station fell in the woods and nobody was listening... I'm happily paying $10 a month for an hour or two a day of local entertainment from Mr. Dahl supplemented by a little WBBM news and Bears and don't need much else.
By Anonymous (not verified) on 10/26/2011 at 5:29 pm
Anonymous at 9:50 a.m. was correct. It's Satellite Music Network all over again. I was part of that. We took over local jobs, but we helped stations stay on the air that had money issues. Many of them kept critical day parts local and most of those stations were in small markets. Too many sides to this to turn it into a comment nugget.
By Barb (not verified) on 10/26/2011 at 8:01 pm
Ridiculous! I will never listen to a radio station that doesn't have an on-air personality link to the local community. I know that some of them just put on a good face to get people to listen but Tom Becka is a great guy and KFAB is going to suffer big-time now that CC decided to drop him. I'll say it again. Ridiculous!!
By Pat in Omaha (not verified) on 10/26/2011 at 8:46 pm
Can't help but see that this resembles the broadcast equivalent of the housing boom that went bust in 2008. It may result in a lot of radio stations across the country being shuttered totally: You think the Government has the TARP-like money to rescue this disaster? Think again, Chester!
By Bob Y. (not verified) on 10/26/2011 at 9:58 pm
who can dance to a freakin Pepsi commercial??? another stab in the ribs of the culture of music as we once knew it...brought to you by the evil empire ! ! ! FU Clear Channel ! ! !
By FLOG (not verified) on 10/27/2011 at 1:27 am
In 2006, I walked away - on my own - from a great radio paycheck with CC...all because I saw the handwriting on the wall. These cutbacks have been happening since 2005 (maybe earlier). In fact, the guy who replaced me in PM drive was dumped about a year later and replaced by an out of market voice-tracker!!!! PM Drive in a large market...NOT local. CC set the trend that Cumulus and others are following. Who needs local radio! Plug in a national show and then just add local traffic (to make it SOUND like a local show). I'm surprised that there are still people left to be fired at CC. What a damn shame. I feel terribly for the few I know who've decided to stay with CC.
By Bob Bateman (not verified) on 10/27/2011 at 8:04 am
When A radio station renews it's license..we run a diclaimer that starts with "To serve the public interest" Not to fill our investers pockets. The heads of Cleachannel have no idea of what they are doing. It's going to be great to watch them crash and burn. Bankruptcy in 6 months tops!
By veteran jock (not verified) on 10/27/2011 at 8:07 am
It just shows u what clear channel has done to local radio, keep buying those station u cant afford and the c.o keep getting richer. Generic satellite radio. I hope they fail after the lite got rid of mellisa forman I dont listen to them they can go down the tube.
By jack (not verified) on 10/27/2011 at 8:49 am
Is this how the rich 1% are creating jobs for the rest of us?
By Dave (not verified) on 10/27/2011 at 10:02 am
It may be professionally reprehensible to take any pleasure in Clear Channel's reduced circumstances, but as Ann Landers used to say, "Time wounds all heels." The bloodletting began yesterday in the Cleveland market.
By anonymous (not verified) on 10/27/2011 at 10:43 am
I had been a loyal listener with WNUA when it started up. When I moved away from Chicago to Raleigh, the station was online to continue my listening pleasure. After Clear Channel dumped Smooth Jazz from WNUA, ChiTownSmoothJazz.com started up and I listen to all the streams that they provide. I do miss the local DJ chatter.
By HAWKER (not verified) on 10/27/2011 at 1:26 pm
I knew this was coming...when automation technology started really improving, national ads were outnumbering local ads, GMs started bitching about ad dollars dwindling, programmers hours increased (but pay stayed the same) and "assistants" were getting axed and/or knocked down to part-time...the signs were there. I saw them. I love and miss being apart of radio - but, face it, the days of a programming "staff" are over. Look what Mel Karmazin's kid is doing with Good Karma Broadcasting...they buy AM ESPN stations - get the great majority of your content from the "Mothership" (ESPN) and maaaaybe have one local show. Just attach to the giant ESPN teet and you don't have to worry about investing/risking any money in your own local production(s)...they have a PD who operates one of their ESPN stations from ANOTHER STATE, for cryin' out loud. Just hire a few board ops (even they'll be obsolete soon enough) and pay them minimum wage, that's all.
By Anonymous (not verified) on 10/27/2011 at 4:08 pm
So what's the difference between a Clear Channel radio station and XM/Sirius? Local car dealer and Empire ads?
By I found Dick Biondi's meatball (not verified) on 10/27/2011 at 5:34 pm
So no suprise here. Hogan and others could care less about "Local programming.This latest move to cut dj's is just another nail in the corporate radio coffin. Why listen to CC stations when they provide no local flavor. Satellite Radio, and voicetrack radio, it's all the same.What ever happened to "A Licence to serve the community" The FCC has continued to hand out more frequencies and for what? so CC can buy them up and plug them in. In hindsite it looks like Corporate radio has become the death of a once great business.Who in the world would buy Big Corporate Radio Stock?
By Anonymous (not verified) on 10/28/2011 at 6:45 am
Dear Wally Phillips, I am looking forward to your interview with Theo Epstein. I cannot wait for your first question: "Don't you think your hiring was a Hendry-like move by the Cubs? That is, they went for the guy who's peaked? Like Soriano. The Red Sox script for success is to find a 28-year-old wunderkind, n'est-ce pas? Sorry for mixing German and French." Oh, I forgot, Wally. You've been dead since about 1977.
By bruce wolf (not verified) on 10/29/2011 at 6:45 am
Check out Mr. Frizo! http://www.mrfrizo.com
By Hip_Hop_Man (not verified) on 10/31/2011 at 2:24 pm
Get it over it people. Move on. They don't care. Radio is now run like Pizza Huts. Same thing different town.
By Radar (not verified) on 11/07/2011 at 4:07 pm
Have an Opinion? Let's hear it
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About Robert Feder
Robert Feder has been keeping tabs on the media for more than three decades, including 28 years as a reporter and television/radio columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times. He's a lifelong Chicagoan and graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. At age 14, he founded the first and only Walter Cronkite Fan Club.
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