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Dickey, Haley, Morris and Garber Respond to Mel's Comments
There has often been a call for radio to stand up for itself, speak with one voice, and defend itself more firmly against these pesky competitors who are coming after listeners. Yesterday was one of those days where many executives did just that. They defended the industry they love and work hard to improve every day. We spoke with Cumulus Chairman/CEO Lew Dickey, Hubbard Radio Chair Ginny Morris, RAB CEO Jeff Haley and radio's biggest cheerleader Mary Beth Garber from Katz to see if they thought Mel was onto something. Are you wounded?
Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey, the 3rd most powerful person in the radio industry.
"Radio continues to be the clear market leader in audio services. Its future is extremely bright because it offers a superior value proposition for both listeners and advertisers . Radio is local, live, wireless, digital, ubiquitous and free. We own the most universal and efficient distribution system in all of media and we provide it for all Americans free of charge 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Moreover, only radio’s content is locally curated by professional broadcasters in most every city and town to reflect local tastes for music and local needs for information. As a result, 93% of all Americans consume free local broadcast radio each week – a continuing tradition for over four generations. Advertisers value radio’s unparalleled reach, unique ability to target, low cost of production and highly efficient cost per thousand to drive traffic and build brands. They vote with their checkbooks as they spend over 100 times the ad dollars with free, local broadcast radio as they do with pay satellite or streaming services."
Hubbard Radio Chair Ginny Morris. "I agree with Mel. Local radio is an 800 pound gorilla and continues to be where most radio listening takes place. As long as we continue to program things that entertain, inform and relate to our audiences we will maintain or grow our audiences and continue to move products for our clients. If we remain nimble and creative new competition for ears and advertisers will only help to make us better. The industry has more tools today than ever before to relate to both listener and client in new and exciting ways. Congratulations to Mel and his team on an encouraging report."
RAB CEO Jeff Haley. "Mel's comment speaks for itself, although his characterization of Radio as wounded is
clearly wrong. Radio revenue continues to grow as we’ve seen by first quarter’s +3% growth. This is a clear indication of the continued importance and relevance. Radio reaches 93% of Americans today - which equates to 241.8 million people. That is 11 million more listeners today than there were in 2008! The connection between listeners and their favorite broadcast radio brands remains strong. There have always been small ancillary audio activities but nothing compares to the live local impact of broadcast radio."
Katz Radio Group EVP/Radio Analysis and Insights, Mary Beth Garber. "This just proves once again that Mel is very creative, but doesn't always check his facts when making pronouncements to attract investors. The year is up in revenue, even though the economy has become very bumpy. Radio CPPs are up. Station innovations are bringing in new revenue streams and even more listeners. The number of people using radio is increasing and the time they spend with radio has remained consistent over the past 3 years since the introduction of PPM. Radio is healthy. And Mel, Radio is a 2,000 pound gorilla compared to Sirius/SM. "
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| - NY |
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(8/4/2011 3:44:48 PM) Ask Lew Dickey, Jr. how many talented radio people he's fired in the past 2 years? If radio is "healthy" you don't fire a 30 year veteran of Cumulus and it's predecessors (he worked for your Dad) without even a 'retirement show' - you simply showed him the door. That is without class. That is not healthy radio, and it is not healthy for all your remaining workers to feel like you'll pull the rug out from under them after you treated a dedicated employee like did. Radio is "unhealthy" at Cumulus/Midwestern Broadcasting. Your father started the company, and had a lot more class than his offspring, I'm sorry to say. |
| - Mojo Man |
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(8/3/2011 1:18:15 PM) I was a GM in Bakersfield in 1996, our local cable TV introduced a feature called Music Choice--and at first offered about 60 free music channels. After 6 mo. of promotion, they started to charge $5 for the service. A while later I was having lunch with the cable GM and I asked how many subs he had for Music Choice. He said, "We've grown 50% in the last month---we had 3 and now we have 6." The following month it became a free service. People won't pay for something they can get free! |
| - Davis Nathan |
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(8/3/2011 12:19:12 PM) Healthy sectors respond to competitive threats with creativity and offense - trying to out do those threats with something even better. Radio's leaders response is to trot out shopworn cliches and numbers taken out of context that mask its problems. If these comments are the best that radio's most powerful people can muster to defend their industry - you have all the info you need to conclude that their industry is wounded. |
| - Bob Bellin |
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(8/3/2011 9:41:14 AM) Sadly Brady, talent's opinions rarely matter. It's ALL about sales and suits... |
| - K |
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