Posted by carlvanorden on June 14, 2006 at 09:14:59:
In Reply to: Re: Re: The Dumbing Down Of Radio posted by Allan Sniffen on June 14, 2006 at 06:40:02:
Nearly every week, I get an opportunity to read about a (as an example) small town 1,000 watt AM that still has a large airstaff. Every one of those stations claim to make money, but nearly all of them are privately owned. The station and it's staff are "like a family" and those staffs stay together from start to retirement.
Your first thought might be, "how does a little station in a small town make it?"
It starts with a committment from a station owner to superserve it's community. Given that nearly every business in town will advertise on it, and most of the townspeople most likely listen to it, it survives like the ecosystem. These staffs usually make very good money, and have no reason to leave. Generally these are full service stations with lots of local news and commentary, and a MOR format that is family friendly. As they say, give em what they want and they will listen.
My point here is that small stations can indeed have large staffs, and make money, or they can automate, fire their staffs and make money. Somehow I still think that the stations' that come off on the air as a "friendly place to be" are the most successful.....look at Z-100 and WPLJ as examples of this......and WHLI.