Inside the Media Solutions Lab

By Jerry Del Colliano

$200 Preregistration Discount -- Some seats have been designated for a $200 discount while they last in the "preregistration category" category until they are sold (includes registration, breakfast, lunch and breaks). Register now to claim the $200 discount seats. Lock it in here.

Happy New Year to all of my readers with the wish and hope that you will be able to take advantage of the many major changes that are coming in the new year.

Many of you have asked me to say more about my upcoming Media Solutions Lab at the Westin Kierland in Scottsdale, January 28th -- where we will spend an entire day focusing on these challenges and opportunities.

You already know that my Media Lab is about the future -- we've talked about it from time to time. And there are 14 modules of content -- and yes, we'll cover all 14 in seven exhilarating hours. You can take a peek at the learning modules right here.

But the real magic of this format is built around you and me.

You are obviously not like other people in that you come here regularly to get the straight scoop on both the mistakes being made by traditional media companies and the promise of new media as it emerges in its early stages.

Sitting on the sidelines is not an option.

Record labels and radio groups are fighting to defend the status quo but they are fighting a losing battle. The Media Solutions Lab is for smarter radio people who are willing to take a fresh look at what's ahead and most specially for radio people, music execs, traditional media professionals of all types.

So let's see if I can take a moment to paint some vivid word pictures about an event the nature of which you probably have not seen before.

You will likely arrive in Scottsdale the night before the January 28th (Thursday) Lab. The WestinKierland is a great property and worthy of even a longer stay, but if you're on a budget I've found a list of other nearby hotels that may be better options -- compare hotel rates here. You'll be just around the corner but you'll love the meeting space, I promise.

The next morning, we'll have a continental breakfast waiting for attendees at the Westin so put your credit card away -- and if you've ever attended one of my old Inside Radio conferences you know this will be first class. In addition, we'll have lunch for you as well as breaks, refreshments and snacks -- it's all included.

I want to meet each one of you personally before the day is done -- and I know some of my friends will want to follow up with me after the event once you put together your own personal action plan.

We'll start no later than 9 am and work in an atmosphere of approval and acceptance. You'll tell me "you look better in person than in your pictures" and I'll probably give you an additional discount and you'll add, "your wife is so sweet, why did she marry you?" Okay, I'm lying about the discount part. My wife is sweet - that part is true.

I'll start with a look into the next 12 months -- what will happen, what is unexpected, what opportunities exist. We'll talk.

Remember, this event is not being recorded (you will not be permitted to record it as well) nor will it be available in any other form after the event. It's face to face, interactive. You've got to be there. You'll know why after just a few minutes.

Then, we'll hit on a number of topics that I've planned for you.

Here's a sample of a few topics (only a few) right here:

Reinventing Radio

I've got some surprises for you. There is a way to prolong the life of terrestrial radio but few operators are doing it. No consultant can tell you what you're going to learn here but you will see how to revitalize your fan base. You'll learn about the misinformation that is being put out about how to program to the People Meter by consultants and researchers who want your business, but the real answer will become apparent and you will learn how to put your best programming foot forward. You'll also learn if and under what circumstances a terrestrial brand can be ported to the digital world.

Think Like Apple

Why is the media business thinking like label execs and radio consolidators? They don't really understand what happened to their businesses. In fact, they are failures not worthy of following. Apple CEO Steve Jobs understands the changing media market. He's no kid and you don't have to be one either to acquire the skills he has and you'll need to operate in the digital future. We'll have some fun together learning how to let go of the less useful tools we've been accustomed to using and grasp a chance to acquire new age tools with people, ideas and marketing.

Earn Podcasting Revenue in 30 Days

I always wonder why some of my talented on-air friends are not running toward podcasting. They should be. It is the future for talent, personality and information. You can be your own Clear Channel -- I'm sorry, I just insulted you. I mean, you can be your own company. And don't think podcasting is radio on a mobile device. It isn't. And if you don't believe me -- why do you think so many podcasters have a fan following and no revenue stream. We'll fix that for you.

Avoid The Webcasting Trap

I know ... I know ... royalty fees are killing webcasts. No, actually radio groups are killing it. They dump terrestrial programming online -- pick up a mere 1-3% more at-work listeners and call it a success. No wonder WBEB, Philadelphia owner Jerry Lee pulled the plug on streaming B-101.1. But wait -- there is a better use for webcasting. I'll set up a few parameters and then you'll brainstorm with me. While we're at it, I'll show you the brainstorming format I developed when I was a professor at the University of Southern California. I'm sure you'll use it with your people once you get the hang of it. Oh yes, you'll come away with ideas -- so many -- that it will be hard to keep you in your seat.

A Growth Alert -- Advertisers Are Going Direct to Consumers

Advertisers have figured this out -- but somehow broadcasters have not. Of course advertisers aren't going to abandon traditional media all of a sudden but what you can expect them to do is spend increasing amounts of money building promotions, websites, podcasts, social networking outreaches and other mobile things without the middleman. And if you think this is just about the youth market, you would be wrong. This is about all ages, all markets. And I'm going to show you a way to be the one who creates the content for advertisers without traditional media. I'll bet I won't be able to get a word in edgewise once I light this fire.

New Media Businesses You Can Start

I can't think of any better red meat to throw in front of my attendees -- after all, they care about their future and want to be part of the media revolution ahead. I'll start with a few ideas and you'll build on them. Only the people in my meeting room will have the advantage of seeing a future for businesses that require little to no investment other than sweat equity -- and who works harder than media people?

How To Start a Business for the Apple Tablet

We're going to devote some time to this topic because I believe the Apple tablet is going to be the iPod/iPhone of the decade to come. A mobile commerce platform through the iTunes store that Apple is revamping right now. I'll give you the latest on what the device is, what it can be and how you can start businesses for it whether you are running a radio station, group or you are currently at liberty. Steve Jobs may make his announcement two days before the Media Lab -- you'll be at the right place at the right time to get a leg up on this important mobile platform.

The New Publishing

While newspapers fret over lost circulation, you'll use those skills you picked up in an earlier session thinking like Apple. Did you see where even newspaper websites are now losing readers? Publishers can't seem do anything right, but they could. And you can as well. Look, you're not going to go buy a distressed newspaper -- let Sam Zell do that. But I'll show you a zip-code inspired way to create your first, second, third (and so on) cash flow stream. Your expenses will be in content -- not delivery. Perfect for ex-radio execs who want to use their programming and marketing skills. Hint: the new publishing will be inhaled, heard, seen and read. That's it, more to come.

How to Get Paid for Being You

I'll tell you how I'm going to do it -- and I've been quite an innovative entrepreneur over the years. There is a debate that is relevant about free vs paid. Rupert Murdoch thinks he can get paid for the online content of his newspaper empire and I agree with him. Chris Anderson ("Long Tail" and "Free") says the best you can do is give it all away for free and then charge for paid additional content. I disagree (I never much liked his long tail theory of the music industry, either). So how does this affect you? Got an idea, a talent, a skill, a topic -- if it is good enough someone may pay a fair price to access it. It's happening now. This flies in the face of everything we know about young people and the Internet. Then again, buying Apple apps flies in the face of ... well, you get it. And so does the monthly TV package Apple is reportedly considering. This could be a business for you or your company.

Mobile Content

There is nothing bigger than the cell phone/smart phone business. It can't be about just texting and applications forever. Over the next ten years content will be integrated more and more into mobile devices but that doesn't mean radio or newspapers. I'll frame the discussion and we'll have at it. Hint: without understanding the sociology of mobile media, there is little chance to create thriving businesses based on it.

Social Networking Beyond Facebook

In fact, people are getting pissed off at the blatant commercial uses of Facebook and Twitter. Facebook has tightened its controls for users to keep out unwanted riff raff. Hey, social networking is being redefined and I'll show you some of the ways you can use it. In fact, this is one area you had better be skilled in for over the next ten years social networking will drive everything.

Reinventing You

Look, you can't believe that the media business is ready for monumental change without acknowledging that you need to change as well. Acquire new skill sets, discard less useful tools. I am writing a book about this topic so you will be getting an advanced look at some of the ways we can reinvent our careers -- even before the book is available for purchase on -- The Apple tablet!

Leave with an Action Plan

Once you decide what you want to take from this day, I want you to leave with a plan of action to make changes, explore new opportunities, acquire useful and additional skills. Leave with this and you'll want to pay double for admission -- okay, I lied again. But I think you'll agree you got more than your moneys worth.

If you want conventional industry meetings, you've got many choices.

Want to hear Lew Dickey again or another Wall Street banker imitate a funeral director -- well, we're not going there.

My abilities and yours together is what makes this day special and rewarding.

One more thing.

I know it isn't easy for the people who need this day the most to afford it. But please consider that sitting out the future even for another year is not an option.

If you register today before it expires in 2 days, you'll save $300 off the regular price and lock in the discounted early bird savings -- the lowest price the registration will ever be. Divide the "early bird" price of $495 by my seven hours of working with you and you're paying $70 an hour -- and that's before meeting space, breakfast, lunch, refreshments and breaks are considered. And you can pigeonhole me in the hallway and talk one-on-one about your ideas and plans.

I am so excited about this I hope you will accept my invitation and meet me in person January 28th at the Westin Kierland for my Media Solutions Lab.

Here's how to register.

Inside the Media Solutions Lab

By Jerry Del Colliano

Today is the FINAL DAY to save $300 off the registration price for my January 28th Media Solutions Lab. Lock it in here.

Happy New Year to all of my readers with the wish and hope that you will be able to take advantage of the many major changes that are coming in the new year.

Many of you have asked me to say more about my upcoming Media Solutions Lab at the Westin Kierland in Scottsdale, January 28th -- where we will spend an entire day focusing on these challenges and opportunities.

You already know that my Media Lab is about the future -- we've talked about it from time to time. And there are 14 modules of content -- and yes, we'll cover all 14 in seven exhilarating hours. You can take a peek at the learning modules right here.

But the real magic of this format is built around you and me.

You are obviously not like other people in that you come here regularly to get the straight scoop on both the mistakes being made by traditional media companies and the promise of new media as it emerges in its early stages.

Sitting on the sidelines is not an option.

Record labels and radio groups are fighting to defend the status quo but they are fighting a losing battle. The Media Solutions Lab is for smarter radio people who are willing to take a fresh look at what's ahead and most specially for radio people, music execs, traditional media professionals of all types.

So let's see if I can take a moment to paint some vivid word pictures about an event the nature of which you probably have not seen before.

You will likely arrive in Scottsdale the night before the January 28th (Thursday) Lab. The WestinKierland is a great property and worthy of even a longer stay, but if you're on a budget I've found a list of other nearby hotels that may be better options -- compare hotel rates here. You'll be just around the corner but you'll love the meeting space, I promise.

The next morning, we'll have a continental breakfast waiting for attendees at the Westin so put your credit card away -- and if you've ever attended one of my old Inside Radio conferences you know this will be first class. In addition, we'll have lunch for you as well as breaks, refreshments and snacks -- it's all included.

I want to meet each one of you personally before the day is done -- and I know some of my friends will want to follow up with me after the event once you put together your own personal action plan.

We'll start no later than 9 am and work in an atmosphere of approval and acceptance. You'll tell me "you look better in person than in your pictures" and I'll probably give you an additional discount and you'll add, "your wife is so sweet, why did she marry you?" Okay, I'm lying about the discount part. My wife is sweet - that part is true.

I'll start with a look into the next 12 months -- what will happen, what is unexpected, what opportunities exist. We'll talk.

Remember, this event is not being recorded (you will not be permitted to record it as well) nor will it be available in any other form after the event. It's face to face, interactive. You've got to be there. You'll know why after just a few minutes.

Then, we'll hit on a number of topics that I've planned for you.

Here's a sample of a few topics (only a few) right here:

Reinventing Radio

I've got some surprises for you. There is a way to prolong the life of terrestrial radio but few operators are doing it. No consultant can tell you what you're going to learn here but you will see how to revitalize your fan base. You'll learn about the misinformation that is being put out about how to program to the People Meter by consultants and researchers who want your business, but the real answer will become apparent and you will learn how to put your best programming foot forward. You'll also learn if and under what circumstances a terrestrial brand can be ported to the digital world.

Think Like Apple

Why is the media business thinking like label execs and radio consolidators? They don't really understand what happened to their businesses. In fact, they are failures not worthy of following. Apple CEO Steve Jobs understands the changing media market. He's no kid and you don't have to be one either to acquire the skills he has and you'll need to operate in the digital future. We'll have some fun together learning how to let go of the less useful tools we've been accustomed to using and grasp a chance to acquire new age tools with people, ideas and marketing.

Earn Podcasting Revenue in 30 Days

I always wonder why some of my talented on-air friends are not running toward podcasting. They should be. It is the future for talent, personality and information. You can be your own Clear Channel -- I'm sorry, I just insulted you. I mean, you can be your own company. And don't think podcasting is radio on a mobile device. It isn't. And if you don't believe me -- why do you think so many podcasters have a fan following and no revenue stream. We'll fix that for you.

Avoid The Webcasting Trap

I know ... I know ... royalty fees are killing webcasts. No, actually radio groups are killing it. They dump terrestrial programming online -- pick up a mere 1-3% more at-work listeners and call it a success. No wonder WBEB, Philadelphia owner Jerry Lee pulled the plug on streaming B-101.1. But wait -- there is a better use for webcasting. I'll set up a few parameters and then you'll brainstorm with me. While we're at it, I'll show you the brainstorming format I developed when I was a professor at the University of Southern California. I'm sure you'll use it with your people once you get the hang of it. Oh yes, you'll come away with ideas -- so many -- that it will be hard to keep you in your seat.

A Growth Alert -- Advertisers Are Going Direct to Consumers

Advertisers have figured this out -- but somehow broadcasters have not. Of course advertisers aren't going to abandon traditional media all of a sudden but what you can expect them to do is spend increasing amounts of money building promotions, websites, podcasts, social networking outreaches and other mobile things without the middleman. And if you think this is just about the youth market, you would be wrong. This is about all ages, all markets. And I'm going to show you a way to be the one who creates the content for advertisers without traditional media. I'll bet I won't be able to get a word in edgewise once I light this fire.

New Media Businesses You Can Start

I can't think of any better red meat to throw in front of my attendees -- after all, they care about their future and want to be part of the media revolution ahead. I'll start with a few ideas and you'll build on them. Only the people in my meeting room will have the advantage of seeing a future for businesses that require little to no investment other than sweat equity -- and who works harder than media people?

How To Start a Business for the Apple Tablet

We're going to devote some time to this topic because I believe the Apple tablet is going to be the iPod/iPhone of the decade to come. A mobile commerce platform through the iTunes store that Apple is revamping right now. I'll give you the latest on what the device is, what it can be and how you can start businesses for it whether you are running a radio station, group or you are currently at liberty. Steve Jobs may make his announcement two days before the Media Lab -- you'll be at the right place at the right time to get a leg up on this important mobile platform.

The New Publishing

While newspapers fret over lost circulation, you'll use those skills you picked up in an earlier session thinking like Apple. Did you see where even newspaper websites are now losing readers? Publishers can't seem do anything right, but they could. And you can as well. Look, you're not going to go buy a distressed newspaper -- let Sam Zell do that. But I'll show you a zip-code inspired way to create your first, second, third (and so on) cash flow stream. Your expenses will be in content -- not delivery. Perfect for ex-radio execs who want to use their programming and marketing skills. Hint: the new publishing will be inhaled, heard, seen and read. That's it, more to come.

How to Get Paid for Being You

I'll tell you how I'm going to do it -- and I've been quite an innovative entrepreneur over the years. There is a debate that is relevant about free vs paid. Rupert Murdoch thinks he can get paid for the online content of his newspaper empire and I agree with him. Chris Anderson ("Long Tail" and "Free") says the best you can do is give it all away for free and then charge for paid additional content. I disagree (I never much liked his long tail theory of the music industry, either). So how does this affect you? Got an idea, a talent, a skill, a topic -- if it is good enough someone may pay a fair price to access it. It's happening now. This flies in the face of everything we know about young people and the Internet. Then again, buying Apple apps flies in the face of ... well, you get it. And so does the monthly TV package Apple is reportedly considering. This could be a business for you or your company.

Mobile Content

There is nothing bigger than the cell phone/smart phone business. It can't be about just texting and applications forever. Over the next ten years content will be integrated more and more into mobile devices but that doesn't mean radio or newspapers. I'll frame the discussion and we'll have at it. Hint: without understanding the sociology of mobile media, there is little chance to create thriving businesses based on it.

Social Networking Beyond Facebook

In fact, people are getting pissed off at the blatant commercial uses of Facebook and Twitter. Facebook has tightened its controls for users to keep out unwanted riff raff. Hey, social networking is being redefined and I'll show you some of the ways you can use it. In fact, this is one area you had better be skilled in for over the next ten years social networking will drive everything.

Reinventing You

Look, you can't believe that the media business is ready for monumental change without acknowledging that you need to change as well. Acquire new skill sets, discard less useful tools. I am writing a book about this topic so you will be getting an advanced look at some of the ways we can reinvent our careers -- even before the book is available for purchase on -- The Apple tablet!

Leave with an Action Plan

Once you decide what you want to take from this day, I want you to leave with a plan of action to make changes, explore new opportunities, acquire useful and additional skills. Leave with this and you'll want to pay double for admission -- okay, I lied again. But I think you'll agree you got more than your moneys worth.

If you want conventional industry meetings, you've got many choices.

Want to hear Lew Dickey again or another Wall Street banker imitate a funeral director -- well, we're not going there.

My abilities and yours together is what makes this day special and rewarding.

One more thing.

I know it isn't easy for the people who need this day the most to afford it. But please consider that sitting out the future even for another year is not an option.

If you register today before it expires in 2 days, you'll save $300 off the regular price and lock in the discounted early bird savings -- the lowest price the registration will ever be. Divide the "early bird" price of $495 by my seven hours of working with you and you're paying $70 an hour -- and that's before meeting space, breakfast, lunch, refreshments and breaks are considered. And you can pigeonhole me in the hallway and talk one-on-one about your ideas and plans.

I am so excited about this I hope you will accept my invitation and meet me in person January 28th at the Westin Kierland for my Media Solutions Lab.

Here's how to register.

The Big Media Trend of NEXT Year

At the end of the year – not to mention another decade – attention seems to be directed to what changes have happened over that time span.

But today, I’d rather look ahead to next year, the next three years – I doubt anyone could accurately see through the entire next decade.

We are about to enter a time of great change in the media business -- yes, even bigger than anything we have seen to date in the tumultuous first decade of this new century.

The Internet thing has happened.

Social networking has taken root – even if in the primitive form of Facebook and Twitter.

Traditional media has been increasingly on the ropes.

The music industry has locked itself out of the digital future – no one else did it to them.

And the radio industry is a mere shadow of its former self as consolidation, greed, mismanagement and too much debt service has taken its toll.

But having said all of this, the next few years will not be about radio or records. These businesses have left themselves in harm’s way. I can prove it.

Putting everything else aside, how much money does a record label or radio group budget for new media development?

Three percent would be a high guess.

It should be over 33%.

The future is about mobile devices – the ones we’ve seen and the ones we have yet to see.

Smart phones and media players are already in the hands of consumers. Now, we’re seeing mobile content choices migrate seamlessly into the entertainment system of cars that used to be the sole domain of a simple radio.

But the big story of NEXT year is the Apple tablet that I have been telling you about for some time now.

Steve Jobs, the Apple magician, is going to wave his magic wand again – perhaps as early as the first quarter of this year – to introduce a game changer like no other. It will be the Apple tablet – likely a ten inch screen that will serve as a book, a television, an iPod and a link to the Internet.

And that's just for starters.

As the radio industry smugly likes to point out, iPhones represent only five percent of the media market – and if that makes them feel good, knock yourself out.

What media companies don’t do well is know their audiences – the sociology of why they do the things they do. Many of you know what I am speaking of. Young people like to watch their laptops and order TV shows. They don’t like to pay for things. Don’t much like commercials. No longer look to radio to tell them what type of music they like.

They have information that is channeled to them to get news and entertainment – they don’t go to a channel to get this content. In other words, the content is invited onto their mobile devices on an increasing basis.

Keep in mind they create their own content when they text and mobile users spend a lot of time texting (even texting while driving – they all do it).

The mobile audience we all covet is bound together by Facebook and slightly older folks tend to be your Twitter users.

Now, this one device -- the Apple tablet -- will revolutionize everything. A TV tower will be less valuable. Radio stations less important. Newspapers in print are done and must reinvent themselves for this new ten inch monster and by that I don’t mean just slapping up the kind of websites they’ve been doing.

Newspaper websites are declining in readership – see some late intelligence here.

But when details come out about the new Apple tablet, let the learning begin.

It’s not the fact that a handheld entertainment and information device will exist. It’s how consumers will use it and that’s where I am interested. There may be many new opportunities for talented people (especially the ones fired from traditional media companies) to set up shop and get access to this emerging market.

I’m going to get into this at my upcoming Media Solutions Lab in January.

But one thing is for sure – if the Apple tablet is programmed like traditional media, you can forget the future. My bet is that everything will have to be reinvented to fit the sociology of the Apple tablet to have a chance. And by that I don't mean giving lip service to the sociology of technology but rather a new appreciation and approach to looking at media and audiences.

Here’s what I hear:

1. Apple could announce this device as early as the first quarter, but be warned – with Steve Jobs, it is really anyone’s guess. All this talk is pumping up interest. Apple stock is at $211 a share and climbing. There is talk that an Apple announcement is in the wind for January 26th – two days before my Media Solutions Lab which is why I am going to deal with this issue in person with you.

2. It will be larger than an iPod Touch – about ten inches with higher resolution as far as we can determine.

3. Apple is supposedly talking to TV networks about a subscription plan that would kick cable where it hurts by allowing consumers to prepare their own agenda of what they want to watch and pay a monthly fee. Details here.

4. The iTunes store is being revamped as we speak – it’s a major reinvention from what I hear and I believe the iTunes store is getting ready for books, newspapers, blogs both video and audio as well as television.

5. You may be able to read PDFs on this device making it a boon for school districts to save on the cost of buying textbooks and make it useful to businesses such as the legal and medical professions.

6. There is a high probability that Jobs will be looking to kill the Kindle with this device and some cool applications are likely to make a ten inch reader the last device anyone will ever need to read books. The publishing industry is already in trouble dealing with the Kindle and competing readers from Sony and Barnes and Noble. It is Jobs who will be able to dictate price points if this device takes hold.

7. The Apple tablet is likely to function as an iPod but there is also information that Apple is looking to the paid subscription model for streaming music “stations” the model the record industry has long coveted. Apple could pull it off although the debate of free vs. paid (Chris Anderson vs. Rupert Murdoch) is still raging which is why we’re going to address it at my Media Solutions Lab in January. I personally believe paid is coming. This site will likely be a paid site in the future for those who want to keep reading it – making micropayments along the way. But all information and entertainment will be monetized like this because --- well, because – the infrastructure will be enabled once Apple melds the tablet with the new iTunes store commerce component. More importantly, this new business infrastructure provides you and your businesses with real growth potential. We'll talk more in person.

This is all too exciting for words.

True, the radio industry will continue to shoot itself in the foot in the year ahead and we’ll follow it – because there is a lot we can learn from other people’s mistakes.

But get ready to roll up your sleeves. It’s back to school – not so much to learn about technology but to take sociology 101 again.

Much money will be wasted in the years ahead by companies and entrepreneurs guessing what consumers want.

That’s not what I’m into.

Become the master of sociology and you’ll know your market better than you ever have before.

In the past, you bought a radio station and set up shop. If you failed, you hired a consultant or programmer to find the hole in the market and then you program to that audience. Choices for listeners were very limited. Competition sparse.

Today, anyone can program to an audience and soon Apple will make the platform available that will make it all work in a boom environment.

Are you betting on Lew Dickey or Steve Jobs?

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Final 3 Days To Save $300 on Jerry's Media Solutions Lab in January.

We've just discussed how the Apple tablet will change everything, but few people understand the sociology of marketing. That’s a recurrent theme in my January 28th Media Solutions Lab in Scottsdale, AZ.

More money will likely be wasted by companies and entrepreneurs guessing that their next big idea will work in the new media world.

More radio stations will squander a chance to move their brands (not their formats) to a digital marketplace.

Record labels will fall behind again because big egos know what audiences want – that’s how it always used to be, right?

The publishing business will be a boom business but not the one you’re looking at on newspaper websites.

Webcasting has laid an egg when done by radio broadcasters but I’ll show you an affordable model that you can do even without a major investor.

Podcasting can start bringing in money within months – and add video in a year or so and tell me the difference between video podcasting and short form TV?

All this comes to those who are willing to go back to school and learn a new way. That’s exactly what I have in mind for those folks attending my January event.

You’ll see why I am so excited – so upbeat – about the future of digital media not only for smart traditional broadcasters but for those individuals who have been “laid off” by consolidators. But it isn’t going to come to you. You have to go get it. Scottsdale, January 28th is where it starts in a big way.

And the "early bird" price now posted at our events site is available for just 3 more days -- until December 31st.

The Media Solutions Lab will be held January 28th at the Westin Kierland in Scottsdale, AZ. But there's lots of hotel options for every budget on the events site.

It is a teaching/learning format. Interactive -- which is why we won't be making it available on webcasting or audio at a later date. Trust me, you won't want to sit this out and watch it -- you'll want to be part of it.

Check it out:

• What type of terrestrial radio will actually survive -- not what you're listening to now in most cases. The plan for radio reinvention will be revealed and be ready to have an open mind so you can be the first to know. And if the big groups don't want to listen, I'll show you a way to have them for lunch.
  
• Think like Apple CEO Steve Jobs -- I say this often but now I'll tell those who gather in our lab session how they can start changing the way they innovate and succeed at bringing new ideas to the marketplace.
  
• Podcasting makes money from day one if you have a plan. And if you have a brand already, you'll want to know how to implement this plan. I'll show you the blueprint.
  
• Webcasting done by terrestrial broadcasters has failed miserably -- it's only an add-on to terrestrial listening a small one at that. I've got another approach and you don't have to have Wall Street's money to launch it.
  
• A big business next year will emerge in helping advertisers go directly to consumers. It's happening now and it's efficient, agencies love it. They cut out the middle man. You can be in this business. Want to know how?
  
• I'll show you 3 new businesses you can start the day after your return home from the Media Solutions Lab -- hobbies or future careers. You decide.
  
• Why I'm so high on publishing in advance of the new Apple tablet. Find the market, deliver the content and make money from -- of all things -- subscription micropayments. I'm going to do it. I'll share my plan for you to do it as well.
  
• Free vs. paid -- Is Rupert Murdoch right or is Chris Anderson's "Free" the future? This is a topic you want to be an expert on -- and we'll frame the debate January 28th.
  
• The free cash flow business you'll wish you had gotten into ten years from now is mobile content -- so why wait. See why and how and if you're suited to operating in this mobile space.
  
• Social networking is being misunderstood to be basically Facebook and Twitter. Wrong. I'll wet your appetite for what social networking is destine to become and don't follow big media companies -- they're all wet on this one.
  
• If the digital future sounds promising to you -- stop! You'll have to acquire new skill sets to succeed with a new generation, new technology and new sociology. Think it can't be done? Look at Steve Jobs, the baby boomer, who does it flawlessly every day. Let's just say we'll borrow a few of his skills.
  
• If you sign up and attend, you'll leave The Media Solutions Lab with an "Action Plan" as you brainstorm the next media growth business -- if you're not there, you miss it.

I wish I could make this event available for free, but it is not possible. The venue at the Westin Kierland is awesome -- great meeting rooms, location and climate. The "early bird" pricing that is available for only 3 more days means you're getting your "professor" for $70 an hour -- and that's before meeting room, breakfast, lunch and break expenses.

I've assembled a list of budget hotel options -- access it here.

You've got to decide whether you are going to invest in you -- even if it hurts a bit -- or sit this one out for the next 12 months. There may be no other option and I respect that, but if there's a way invest in your future by registering for my Media Solutions Lab.

This lab will not be conducted in any other location.

There are 14 learning modules -- we cover all 14 in a format tht is unlike anything you've ever participated in -- motivating, fascinating and strategically exciting. There are no sponsors. No bragging industry execs. No pitchmen or skewed agendas bought and paid for by money.

You always ask me to show you the future.

Now's your chance.

Register here.

What George Michael Could Teach Lew Dickey

George Michael died Christmas eve.

The dynamo who was a top-rated teen dj at WFIL, Philadelphia and WABC, New York also made a big name for himself as sports anchor at WRC-TV in Washington. George is credited with developing the News Center sports format that would become ESPN.

Those of you who know him do not need an introduction.

For anyone who did not, I am paying him the highest compliment by saying that no matter how good he was as an entertainer and sportscaster, he was even better at being a human being.

I worked at WFIL the day George Michael arrived in The City of Brotherly Love. Mike Joseph, the consultant who hired George and the very talented staff of a station that would go on to iconic status in the heyday of top 40, knew what he was doing. Michael, Jay Cook, Chuck Browning, Dave Parks, Jim Nettleton, John Wade and Frank Kingston Smith -- were among the original hires.

Michael was the hardest working, hardest driving perfectionist I have ever seen. He willed his way to beat his competitors at WIBG. And although WFIL had the superior signal, WIBG had the identity of being the rock and roll station. Michael went out to local schools and made more appearances than I have ever seen a jock make. He set the standard. He recorded school reports, sports updates, interviewed high school stars and cheerleaders. He was relentless.

Believe me, I know. Because in addition to working at the same station with George Michael, I also programmed a station that competed against him. He was unbeatable.

He left Philadelphia undefeated to borrow a sports term.

Went to then top 40 giant WABC, New York -- the only place he could advance his career -- and won again. Left undefeated as he migrated into sports.

I also lived -- as we say back east -- "up the street" from George in Voorhees, NJ. Within one block we also had Arthur Field, the colorful and fantastic Capitol Record promotion pro.

I could go on and on, but you can read about George here if you'd like to know more.

Why I mention him this morning is because George Michael could teach consolidators like Lew Dickey, Fagreed Suleman and John Slogan Hogan a thing or two.

For example, when NBC canceled his popular "Sports Machine", Michael did something Suleman, Hogan and Dickey would never do.

Here's what John McDonnell said in The Washington Post:

"Michael rejected a new contract in 2006 after he learned that some of his staff members would be laid off as part of larger moves by parent company NBC Universal. 'NBC made me an extremely, extremely beyond-my-wildest-dreams offer to stay and sign a new deal,' Michael told the Washington Post at the time, adding: 'If I have to lay somebody off . . . I have to take the first bullet. It's that simple."

There it is.

This is where the radio industry has gone so wrong.

It isn't just about failed consolidation, too much executive compensation, too much debt, not enough corporate governance or just plain greed.

Radio has turned into a mean industry where fools run it and these fools think that by advancing their interests at the expense of others it makes them indispensable.

I can assure you no tribute to Dickey, Hogan or Suleman will ever be as heartfelt as any one you read about George Michael.

George took the hit when NBC cut costs that prohibited him from retaining the staff to produce "Sports Machine" to his excellent standards. He worked his people hard, but they will tell you that he fought for their best interests. It wasn't all about George Michael -- as big a persona as he was on radio and TV. It was about having a big heart and caring for others.

Need proof of how important heart really is?

Clear Channel forced the firing of two integral and long term members of Gerry House's talented morning team. At least House fought to the bitter end for his partners (see more). But just before Christmas -- that's right, Christmas -- Slogan Hogan did what was right for him to suck up to his bosses by sacrificing more talented and valuable people.

It happens all the time now in radio.

Lew Dickey who presides over perhaps the meanest and most employee unfriendly radio company rationalizes every cutback as he continues to line his pockets with money. The one thing that my readers say over and over again in their private emails to me is, "how does this man sleep at night".

But, George Michael actually took a stand against corporate consolidation and gave up something he built and was proud of because he felt he would have been forced to compromise it.

I sure as hell admire that.

But there is one other significant thing George Michael taught us -- although some of you may not have known about it. May I share?

George was an outsider -- who came in to a tough town, Philadelphia -- with the audacity to defeat the well established WIBG. Michaels and his team of new agers stormed the city and dealt a blow that was so great even Paul Drew and the Drake format, the rage at the time, couldn't put the station back together again.

In other words, generations mean change. The loser wait too long to understand that the audience had changed and therefore became vulnerable to challenge.

Fail to acknowledge it, fail to learn from it, fail to prepare for it and you have a date with the junk heap. We all do.

And that's what the radio industry is doing today.

They fail to get the message that the generations have changed and ironically that change is being led by a baby boomer named Steve Jobs who does get it.

The dying newspaper business, television industry and radio stations are in denial. Radio is busy instead pumping up that Nielsen b.s. about how great everything is for radio while a generation has already moved on.

George Michael was evidence that there is no denying the inevitable.

We lost a great man a few days ago.

Look at his resume and there is also no denying what he accomplished or how he will be remembered.

But consider what I have shared with you today -- compare it to the selfish and mean-spirited operators that have hijacked the media business and you appreciate George Michael even more.

He worked hard, was a perfectionist and when it came to making very difficult decisions, he did the right thing by the people who made him great.

The same cannot be said for the radio consolidators who by contrast have profited at the expense of the very people who made their franchises worth Wall Street's considerable financial investment in the first place.

Michael will be remembered with love and respect.

But even as they continue to plod along, the so-called "leaders" of radio's three biggest consolidators are looked at with disdain and ridicule.

They forgot how they got there unlike George Michael who in the end proved that he never did.

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Thanks and Happy New Year!

So, I reach the end of the first calendar year in which I've been doing this blog. I started it because I wanted to add to the rather slim ranks of musicians who write blogs, and write about the music in terms of the inner workings of the music as well as the social landscape in which it finds itself these days. This social aspect of the music is covered very well also by many non-musician bloggers - the NPR's "A Blog Supreme" is a particular favourite of mine in this respect - but I still think there's room for a bit more in-depth writing about the technical aspects of playing this music. I know I particularly enjoy reading musician's thoughts on all aspects of their profession, and I hope others will enjoy this blog for the same reason.

It's been an instructive seven months or so, some posts got amazing reaction in terms of comments, and others didn't - and I rarely know which subjects are going to provoke the most reaction - the massive response to the bass solos post was a case in point...........

I'd like to thank all who read the blog in 2009 and especially to those who took the time to write and respond - it's been a really interesting and stimulating experience for me and one I hope to continue into 2010. I'm off to Syria next week, where for reasons best known to themselves, the Government have banned Blogger, so my impressions of that trip, (I know it's not strictly music related, but the blog is call Mostly Music - my get-out clause for writing about other interests occasionally), will have to wait till I get back.

In the meantime I wish all of you a very Happy Christmas and peaceful and prosperous New Year.

Cumulus Reportedly Withholding Severance Checks

It’s Christmastime and information is leaking out of Cumulus Media that is very disturbing to its employees and ex-employees.

It is obvious that there is little to no holiday goodwill at radio’s top three consolidators. They are playing Scrooge and putting coal in the stockings of their overworked and often abused personnel.

Now this.

Cumulus – in a legally questionable move – is allegedly holding back money due employees who are leaving their employ and some accuse their former employer of shutting the door on transparency with regard to their final commission payments.

Here’s the story from an ex-Cumulus salesperson.

“I just quit Cumulus … and have a question, is it legal for them to hold my last paycheck for 90 days? This has happened to several of my friends that have left and I am told that by the end of 90 days they will have found a way to charge me back on all the money”.

So now if Cumulus fires you or if you quit, you may be screwed -- is that it?

Here are the details from an unhappy ex-Cumulus worker:

“I first became aware of this policy when a friend of mine resigned to take a position at a legitimate radio group right after the account movement and commission cut, they held his check for 90 days but paid him his draw and subsequently charged him back on the held dollars.”

I cannot imagine a good radio operator doing this. (See the Best & Worst Radio Groups according to the latest poll here).

Most legitimate operators don’t fool with severance or money due upon separation whether commission or other fees. It’s wrong and even if it is legal it is ethically undesirable.

The big three abusers – Clear Channel, Citadel and Cumulus – have run roughshod over their employees and because they own the majority of stations in desirable markets they are setting the template for other bottom feeders who use them as cover to employ the same tactics.

When you fire someone, you are creating more trouble with the people who remain – a lesson Cumulus has apparently not learned.

Even when that employee deserves to be fired (and that's not the case in downsizing) – the process conjures up fear in the psyche of the surviving employees who worry that there but for the grace of God go I – so to speak.

Listen to what happened to our aggrieved Cumulus ex:

“I secured a position elsewhere and was afraid they would do the same so rode the clock until (a later date) when my check hit the bank, I quit, I am still owed commissions … I have spoke with the comptroller and was told first that they held the final check to make sure that my a/r cleared.

I was next told that one of my clients checks bounced (this is true) and that I would be charged back on that, to which I argued that I had done my job and brought the check in, I called corporate and spoke with HR there and was told that it is up to the individual market comptroller as to how this is handled but that I should have gotten half of my commission and then the other half in 90 days.

The problem is, they are the only ones that can see the lockbox so I have no way of knowing if or when the checks hit. They will not reply to any of my emails, so there is nothing in writing from them. I am going to get an attorney”.

This ex-Cumulus employee and others fear being blackballed.

That would be low.

But somehow you can see them doing it.

In recent months Cumulus has threatened lawsuits against employees who have left for better radio jobs -- at least that's what high executives at competing radio companies who are in the know on this topic tell me.

Cumulus has – according to this ex-employee – played games with the money that is owed them as they go out the door.

That isn’t legal.

Not right.

Not smart.

Many employees from Clear Channel, Citadel and Cumulus are consulting lawyers. You'll see these lawsuits come forward in 2010. That doesn’t mean that all of them will eventually file suit, but some may.

And one will win and set a precedent – or a consolidator will have to pay through the nose to get them to drop their suit (This hits awfully close to home for me, as some of you know, because even The Evil Empire has been known to open the bank vault to make lawsuits go away).

The big story of 2009 in the radio industry isn’t the piss poor job Fagreed Suleman has done at Citadel as it ramps up to prepackaged bankruptcy.

No.

And it’s not the Clear Channel approach to ruining the business – that is, shrink it, turn it into every other investment model that Lee and Bain Capital owns – and wait out the recession hoping to sell the sum of its parts later for a profit.

Oh, and taking a giant write-down in the process.

No, not that.

And the big story of 2009 isn’t the dysfunctional family business known as Cumulus which has Shakespearean tragedy and comedy rolled up in one long, God-awful farce.

Nope.

The big news of 2009 is the mean-spirited treatment of the very talented radio people who could have saved their bacon in the first place.

Cumulus, Clear Channel and Citadel turned on their own people.

Firings, commission and salary cuts, forced days off with no pay, reduced benefits and perhaps the worst thing of all – heaping one job after another on the surviving employees making it impossible for even hard working loyal employees to do an adequate job.

Are you interested in my take on 2010?

Unfortunately, we’ll see more self-destruction on the part of the big boys, but somewhere during the year the tide will turn. Lawsuits will become public. More bankruptcies or at least more hands tied under the threat of bankruptcy.

Then, something amazing.

A redeployment of radio people to new media as it rolls out – podcasting, webcasting other than repeating terrestrial content, mobile content, businesses built around apps. Then Apple will introduce the media player of the future – its long-awaited tablet – and then even the deaf and blind in our industry will see the future.

And read and re-read this line please: the radio groups will have a hard time hiring people as talented as the ones they have fired.

We’re beginning to see consolidators advertise for local positions with the exact job description of the talents possessed by the very people they have fired.

No one will want to work for them.

It’s beyond whether abused radio people love radio. But they love their families, their futures and heck, themselves more.

One of my readers summed up these boneheaded management practices we've seen so much of in the past two yers:

“Lew might make better decisions if instead of that 'large hard drive in his head', he had a microprocessor. As we all know, a hard drive is just a dumb storage device”.

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NextMedia Goes Belly Up – Here's Who Is Next

'Tis the season to be bankrupt.

The radio industry is weird – let’s face it. Their idea of a Christmas bonus is to give away controlling interest in their failing radio groups in return for the CEO keeping his job!

Ho! Ho! Ho!

And what is it with these pre-arranged bankruptcies? I know they are in but basically you’re handing over the company you ran into the ground to the people who gave you the loans you can't repay.

You lose.

They win.

Everyone who works for them gets screwed.

Sunday, Citadel filed its pre-arranged bankruptcy that will wipe out Forstmann Little’s 29% stake, leave shareholders with zero and give the equity holders operating control and ownership of the assets for resale later – presumably when they can make another profit.

Yesterday, NextMedia took gas.

You know, the small market radio group and outdoor company.

They did a pre-arranged bankruptcy. See how these radio consolidators all follow each other.

Reuters is reporting NextMedia's first lien debt and general unsecured claims will be paid in full while second lien debt will be converted into 95% equity in the reorganized company – reportedly according to a legal filing.

And once again you're hearing the usual – this will have no impact on everyday operations and if that’s what you want to believe, Santa Claus will be coming down your chimney in a few nights.

Of course everything will change.

These are piranhas – they prey on growth industries, feed their borrowers by reissuing loans at ever increasing rates of interest – loans that would make Tony Soprano’s family envious.

And as you heard in the Citadel bankruptcy you get the usual assurances that there will be no more cutbacks and I finally believe them – but I also believe in the Fairy God Mother (full disclosure).

Of course there will be more layoffs.

Think about it. How do you suspect the equity holders who are taking this hair cut are going to be made whole again?

Cut. Cut. Cut.

The debt will be all but gone. The free cash flow (even in a recession) will be significant. With salaries being reduced, what is there left to burden this businesses’ financial bottom line?

See why bankruptcy is the in-Christmas present this year?

Forget coal. This is pure gold. (And the consolidators deserve coal for what they’ve done to the radio industry).

If you’d like a little bullshit with your holiday, look at this quote in All Access from NextMedia President and CEO Steve Dinetz:

“As a result of this reorganization, we will bolster our financial position considerably, enhancing our ability to invest in our operations and execute our strategy.”

The hell you will.

Over your dead body. That windfall profit that is coming from erasing debt service goes directly to your new bosses, the equity owner/managers.

What a crock.

Dinetz continues:

“Over the past 18 months we have taken steps to reduce costs and increase efficiencies across our operations, while continuing to invest in our assets, content, sales, marketing and customer service. Today’s action puts us well ahead of the process in preparing NextMedia to fully capitalize on the recovery in the nation’s out-of-home advertising markets.”

Bullshit alert:

Look at the first line where Dinetz talks about how he reduced costs at the same time he continued to invest in “our” assets. Forgive me here but how do you reduce costs while spending investment money you don’t have?

Another crock.

Okay, we’re onto them now.

Rule #1 -- Bankruptcy is good especially when they get to define what the meaning of bankrupt is.

Rule #2 -- Bankruptcy means never having to say you’re sorry for ruining your industry, company, programming or your employees’ lives.

Rule #3 -- Bankruptcy means more hiring and no more firing (stop that laughing!!).

Rule #4 -- New owners who traded debt for equity appreciate the many contributions made by the CEOs who have shipwrecked their radio groups in the first place so they are rewarded with new contracts – that is, Fagreed Suleman stays on at Citadel and Dinetz is staying on at NextMedia.

Are you ready for a quiz?

If you didn’t like 2009, you won’t like 2010 any better as the main feature will be Revenge of the Equity Holders.

So, let’s look ahead and call out what is likely to happen next:

1. Most radio groups have two choices in the year ahead -- bankruptcy or refinancing debt with onerous terms. That is 9% or more in an environment where Treasury Bills are near zero. Companies like Entercom may avoid bankruptcy but they won’t avoid 9% interest to keep the wolf away from the door.

2. Regent could be toast within weeks. They have been saying their long goodbye to solvency.

3. Clear Channel has good PR people but bad karma – they are choking on the $17 billion in debt Lee and Bain were forced (by threat of legal action) to take on when they couldn’t walk away from their offer to take The Evil Empire private. To put it in perspective, $17 billion is far more than the radio industry generates in revenue every year together. There is talk of a Clear Channel default since they tried to use their outdoor company to refi debt. Lawyers are slobbering – that’s a bad sign. Avoid slobbering lawyers. By the way, the refi in question was for onerous terms like the ones I described in number 1 (above).

4. Emmis lost its European stations and is heavily impacted by what happens in three major markets -- New York, Chicago and LA. They’ve cut costs. Cut staff. They are basically a good bunch of people who may not survive without a break or more high interest loans.

5. Cumulus is not mentioned lately because they have almost a year to come up with a solution for their bad management. They can always buy more debt at high interest rates as Harvard educated CEO Lew Dickey likes to do or trade debt for equity as Citadel and NextMedia will do. The Dickeys are on their own self-destruct course. An avatar could run the company better at this point. Cumulus will have to pay the piper, too – even if the economy comes back – that’s how much Lew Dickey and his Mean Management has run this company into the ground.

There could be other victims sooner.

Once money dries up there are few options left.

But what I am about to say is important.

It isn’t the recession that is driving these radio groups into bankruptcy. It’s too much debt from day one – the day the assets were purchased by the consolidators. The high debt apparently didn’t scare anyone back then because the economy was booming, but over the years debt had to be refinanced at even higher interest rates.

It was only a matter of time.

And now the time has come.

Oh, one more thing.

These bankrupt and over leveraged radio operators can’t really become growth businesses again. True, they can cut costs and repay their equity holders for all the money they lost, but they have no hope being growth operators.

Not without new media – without podcasting, webcasting, mobile strategies in a year when Apple is about to change the rules again with the introduction of the Apple tablet.

So, I’m putting my money where my mouth is – in the hybrid of traditional broadcasting and new media that most companies don’t understand and still don’t budget for.

When my children were young they used to have one or two requests for Santa that they absolutely had to have. I ran all over the place trying to find these gifts – I’m sure you know exactly what I mean. Then on Christmas day they would open them with great excitement and play with them right away. As they grew up they used to say it was the unexpected presents – the surprises – that won the day.

My friends, the unexpected present in all of this is the digital future that we are most qualified to engage. Even if you won’t come to my Media Solutions Lab, just read the kinds of positive careers that are ahead for those willing to invest in themselves and grow new skill sets.

Farid, Lew, Hogan and the lemmings that look to them for a way out are not just bankrupt corporately but in skills to extend their careers to the digital beyond.

In this regard, you may have the advance in 2010.

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Final Days to Save $300 to Attend Jerry's Media Solutions Lab in January.

Want to be ready and skilled for what’s next beyond bankruptcy and failed traditional media strategies? This Lab is all over it.

And the "early bird" price now posted at our events site is available for only nine more days.

My Media Solutions Lab will be held January 28th at the Westin Kierland in Scottsdale, AZ.

It is a teaching/learning format. Interactive -- which is why we won't be making it available on webcasting or audio at a later date.

The biggest year in the history of the media industry is about to begin. Be ready.

• 14 modules in all -- preview a few:
• Reinventing radio in a digital world
• Read the next generation the way Steve Jobs does at Apple
• Earn podcasting revenue in 30 days and you'll get the blueprint
• Webcasting has changed -- you'll come away understanding what to do and what not to do
• The growth business of helping advertisers build their own future without traditional media by going direct to the consumer -- you can start this business and Jerry will tell you exactly how
• 3 new technology businesses you can start the day after your return home
• Growth ahead in publishing -- yes, publishing -- and how to navigate the challenges
• Free vs. paid -- what you can charge for and what you can get
• The biggest growth business of all mobile content doesn't need Clear Channel, it needs you -- Jerry will detail the game plan if you'd like to be a part of it
• Social Networking is more than Facebook and Twitter but do you know how? You will
• The media business is changing and you will have to reinvent yourself to be a part of it -- what you'll need to do and how to develop the necessary skill sets
• And you’ll leave with an "Action Plan" as you brainstorm the next media growth business -- if you're not there, you miss it.

The format is unlike anything you've ever participated in -- motivating, fascinating and strategically exciting. There are no sponsors. No bragging industry execs. No pitchmen or skewed agendas bought and paid for by money.

Jerry's Media Solutions Lab is for you so you can get a good view of the future and prepare for it now. Here's your personal invitation to invest in your future in the last few days of "early bird" pricing. Register here.

The Brand New Citadel

It is truly fitting that Citadel Media filed for bankruptcy on a Sunday -- yesterday -- when the stock market was closed and people were either obsessed with the blizzard on the east coast or football.

Many of my readers have been writing over the weekend to find out more details on what the future of Citadel Media looks like so I'd like to give you a glimpse of the post-bankruptcy Citadel.

But first, keep in mind that in spite of what you may read in the next few days, this is a done deal.

As one source whose background is radio and the financial world reminds us, "It’s all pre-arranged, so it’s a rubber stamp at this point. It’s the step needed to validate the plans that had already been meticulously put in place".

All the talk about Citadel needing to win over their outstanding creditors is a mere formality. This deal is done -- put a fork in it.

Citadel went into court listing debt of more than $2.4 billion and assets of about $1.4 billion and once the judge approves this behind-the-scenes workaround, Citadel's debt will be reduced to a manageable $762.5 million.

Considering that Citadel's 224 stations still pile up some pretty good free cash flow in spite of the recession, it is a new day for the thieves at Citadel or as I like to put it, the grinches who stole Christmas.

Think of it like this. If you were in debt and filed for bankruptcy, you'd be able to pay less money to service outstanding loans and the rest -- well, you'd get to keep it.

Except in the Citadel deal, it is even better -- at least for the major equity holders.

They get to write down losses.

They steal the company from shareholders winning operational control and giving stockholders nothing -- not even the one penny a share that Citadel stock was worth on Friday.

Better yet, these hijackers get to keep the assets and resell them -- hopefully for a profit -- at realistic prices not the trumped up ones they used to purchase stations originally when consolidation began. And they still get to see another payday.

The Citadel bankruptcy is an example of how equity holders fail their way to success. It's right out of the Lowry Mays Clear Channel playbook.

Screw everybody.

Forstmann Little, the original investment firm that had eyes bigger than its stomach, winds up losing most of its 29% stake in Citadel.

Disney shareholders take it on the chin, don't forget them. After all, they got new Citadel shares as part of the reverse Morris Trust that Disney and Citadel did for ABC Radio. Their holdings are now wiped out.

But the mastermind of all this, Citadel CEO Farid "Fagreed" Suleman is chirping like a canary. The Wall Street Journal is quoting Fagreed as saying, "I feel totally relieved now that it's over and we can move on to the next chapter".

Tell me no!

The next chapter is what I want to warn you about. Suleman is pulling a Clear Channel saying that nothing will change. It's business as usual.

God forbid.

Citadel has only $24 million on hand for operations. New bosses run the show -- Suleman stays (no wonder he is so relieved). Fagreed ran his original employer (Forstmann Little) out of business, the shareholders got squat, the debt holders take control of his company -- Merry Christmas.

So let's take a look at the brand new Citadel.

1. In spite of Fagreed's assertion that everything will remain the same, do I have to tell you that it will be the exact opposite? Everything is going to change. Clear Channel pulled the same stunt when Lee & Bain took over. The press fell for it, but what really happened was yield managers were hired (not the 50 they promised), sales departments were trimmed, national repeater radio replaced local radio even as they dressed it up to sound like all syndication was local radio. Then they started cutting back their ad rates because they couldn't get their prices. More employees were fired and still more will be. Ditto for the brand new Citadel.

2. The new owners, greedy bastards that they are, will run the group like a bankrupt box company. That is, cut, cut, cut. Oh, did you notice the blood letting that was done just a few weeks ago at ABC Radio? That's nothing -- unless of course it was your job that got cut. Don't mistake equity holders for people who have a warm fuzzy feeling about radio as you and I do. They care about write-downs, markdowns and put downs.

3. From now on with debt under control, Citadel will look to repay the money they lost for the equity holders who are now the operating owners and this is going to come by reducing operating costs again and again. (Please re-read this line because this is their mission statement -- understand that and you understand everything).

4. Watch -- recession or not -- the banks that were stiffed on Citadel's loan will make it all back and then some on the sweat of their employees. In fact, I'll bet you they make a profit in the end now that everyone else took the hit. Is there precedent for this? How about the banks that were bailed out by the government. Now many are making a profit and expect to repay bailout loans.
Meanwhile, they will continue to generate more profits, high compensation and bonuses.

5. If you have any nostalgia for ABC radio stations or the ABC Radio Networks, you're going to have your heart broken again. ABC Radio will not be a viable business. It is going to generate cheap programming solutions for the 224 stations. If someone else wants to use ABC programming, the brand new Citadel will be happy to amortize their costs by distributing to these stations. In other words, ABC is dead in the water as an iconic radio network. Mark my words on that.

6. Unfortunately, there is only one way to save money and pay the owner/bosses back. Citadel can't sign 224 stations off-the-air to save electricity. It wouldn't be prudent. Can't sell all its real estate -- the market sucks. Can't raise its rates -- heck, they couldn't get what they deserved for advertising before the recession Citadel can't fire Fagreed Suleman's kitchen cabinet of yeah sayers. No, there's only one way -- fire more people. I wish I was wrong about this, but write down 4,200 employees now and by next year at this time that figure will be a lot less.

In the movie "The King and I" Anna sings a song called "Shall I Tell You What I Think of You?"
It has the perfect lyrics for the brand new Citadel theme song under the continued leadership of Fagreed Suleman:

Toads! Toads! All of your people are toads!
Yes, Your Majesty;
No, Your Majesty.
Tell us how low to go, Your Majesty

That's Suleman's job from now on -- tell us how low to go.

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Cox Radio’s New Sales Plan

Bob Neil, President and CEO of Cox Radio has been changing the sales structure of his radio group for about the past 12 months in an attempt to respond to changing times.

Most recently, the final piece of the puzzle was completed at the Atlanta cluster.

The revised sales strategy is significant and I thought you’d like to know more about it as so many radio CEOs are walking the plank even as the economy wallops their bottom lines.

At Cumulus, for example, CEO Lew Dickey has decided to centralize selling – conducting spy-in-the-sky camera meetings that local sales people hate. Cumulus also isolates which areas they want the local reps to pursue and the mothership forces its sellers to dial for dollars in the categories Atlanta decides is worth their time.

In addition, Cumulus has been taking away agency business and strategically placing it with an anointed rep who then leaves every other account exec short on commissions as they are related to sell direct. Selling direct in this economy and at the commissions being paid almost guarantees a huge pay cut for already hurting sellers.

Over at Cox, Bob Neil has taken a different approach.

He may not be the Harvard grad that Dickey is but Neil is no dummy. In fact, he's smarter. And to be fair, there has been some grumbling even within Cox about the changes Neil and his team have installed.

Grumbling – but no revolt – as salespeople (and everyone else) hate change. Especially change that might adversely impact their livings.

Back in February, 2008 Neil began to have conversations about what to do with sales in a time of great change. Cox wanted a shift in their sales department putting more focus on business they could control (i.e., based on ideas and solutions their sellers bring to agency or direct clients).

Then, as I have mentioned, Cox quietly rolled out its changes market by market taking the entire year to get it right and learn along the way. This is in stark contrast to Cumulus, for example, where it appears to be important to Dickey to show everyone he is the one changing things up.

So here’s how Cox is doing it – I’ll use Atlanta (the most recent cluster to switch as an example):

1. Changes have been made to the compensation schedule but according to a conversation Bob Neil and I had recently these changes did not put his sellers at risk of making less money. On the contrary, Neil is convinced they (and the company) can make more.

2. Three sales people in Atlanta’s 5-station cluster are now responsible for most of a certain type of agency business. Yes, Cox took that business away from some reps because it felt this particular type of agency business (cost per point sensitive) would be better in the hands of a few people who are expert at it. Neil says it's about 20% of all agency business affected by this change

3. The remaining 80% stays with the salespeople that sold it – that is, their agency accounts remain with them.

4. There is a new compensation model where a sales person who has what Cox designates as Key Account Status ($100,000 or more per year) is now incentivized by extra commission to exceed the amount of dollars that account was bringing in to the cluster.

5. Cox has isolated Target Accounts but unlike Cumulus that dictates which categories these accounts will be in, Cox simply says any new business that is not on-the-air and can be converted to advertiser status gets an increase in commission (above the usual level) for six to 12 months before the commission structure reverts back. That is, a bonus for bringing in new business that salespeople can put in their pockets. Not the cockamamie Cumulus plan that reduces commissions and takes away local incentive to scout for new accounts.

6. Each Cox station still has separate sales staffs – a must, in my opinion to maximize sales efforts and counter to the current trend to reduce local sales staffs to save money.

7. No commissions were lowered to save money – period – and Cox is operating in the same recession as the desperate and bankruptcy trio of Clear Channel, Cumulus and Citadel.

So basically, Bob Neil is reallocating the commission paid for salespeople to work on key and target accounts without doing harm to their reps’ ability to make a living. In fact, they can make a better living.

How is the Cox plan working?

Bob Neil tells me that Cox radio stations have outperformed the market every month but one and this has – I don’t have to remind you – a miserable recessionary year.

And under the new management structure at Cox, Neil also has control over the company’s West Palm Beach newspaper. Again, Neil has made changes that are going to potentially be more painful to print salespeople.

The paper was paying its reps 75% salary and 25% commission or bonus.

Starting in 2010, the print sellers will get 25% draw and 75% commission.

Print salespeople have had it good – real good – even in the two decade decline of their industry. But Neil’s new program rewards industrious sellers with a large commission.

Neil recognizes the folly of short spotting – the Citadel and Clear Channel excuse for lowering rates and that could have an impact on even well-run companies such as Cox.

Advertisers and agencies can now buy short spots for huge discounts so it allows the desperate consolidators to save face in a way and buyers to bend them over a barrel and – well, you get the picture.

Many of these desperate consolidators can’t understand why they couldn’t sell out at any price.

The “any price” is too low and as I have been screaming over and over – the biggest threat to radio in the year ahead is the decision to downsize rate cards.

And, I can promise you that if consolidators continue to bump the rates downward, the inability to increase sales revenue will not just affect them, but will take even the good operators down with them.

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How to Get 35% More Radio Audience and Go Broke

Last week, Inside Radio reported that researcher John Snyder presented a new study at the Arbitron Fly-In that supposedly is everything you need to know about spot placement in a People Meter world.

It’s simple.

Put all your commercials at the top and bottom of the hour – or, in the alternative, at a quarter after and a quarter of.

Snyder apparently used October Personal People Meter (PPM) data from the top 15 stations in the top ten markets to arrive at this stroke of brilliance.

As most of you know, a radio station needs to win reported listening in at least five minutes of each quarter hour to win credit for the entire 15 minutes.

Snyder admits that more evenly placed stopsets reduce the defections but more commercial breaks drive listeners away.

We needed research for this?

Snyder was quoted in Inside Radio as saying, “Don’t assume that commercial time can be increased without impacting AQH,” and that he hoped broadcasters would cut commercial loads and make radio more listenable and help advertising be more in demand.

Now he’s talking.

If you wonder why CBS, Clear Channel and everyone else is running spots in large numbers at the same time, it is because they are betting their future on The People Meter.

I can respect this – even though I don’t agree with the strategy. After all, in radio’s world everyone is just the way they were before the Internet – or so it seems. But in the real world there is a lot of competition and listeners have shorter attention spans – even older ones. Therefore, more breaks are a good thing.

Great commercials would be better, but stations are not concerned about lots of things they should be concerned with:

1. Commercials on their air suck in general – poorly done, poorly written and worst of all not effective for their advertisers.

2. Getting the right duration for a commercial isn’t arbitrarily deciding on 10's, 15's, 30’s and 60's. It should be on selling what works. Too much focus on selling the price before the length of spot needed to be effective. If you bought a pair of jeans based on price only to find out they had only one leg, you would be experiencing false economy. You need two legs to make a good pair of jeans and advertisers need whatever time they need to make their commercials effective.

3. Running 6-8 spots in a stopset is ludicrous and I am speaking with a program director’s background here. No wonder radio is having trouble getting a good rate for ads when all commercials are thrown together in an unlistenable garbage pail of content. The only thing dumber than that is the advertiser that pays for it.

4. Limiting units to 12 per hour at the most (of any duration).

5. Running a spot then returning to content is actually more effective and cooperates with short attention spans if your goal is to train the listener not to leave (or certainly not to leave for long) because programming will resume quickly.

6. Spot and Run only works with one commercial – not mini-sets of several. That’s tantamount to an unlistenable cluster.

Synder’s study reports where radio stations now prefer to burden their listeners with their long stopsets.

The most popular junkyard for bloated commercial clusters is the fourth quarter hour (36%).

Next, the second (31%) followed by the third (23%) and lastly, the first quarter hour (9.5%).

And units and minutes don’t seem to matter. Listeners apparently perceive them as the same.

That's 35% more radio listening if you adopt Snyder’s guidelines.

That’s because the latest trend among desperate radio operators is to sell short spots for less money. This is a way to give buyers what they want by devaluing the rest of a station’s inventory. Citadel and Clear Channel are the market leaders in dropping rates under the guise of giving buyers less for less.

It’s pure lunacy – on one hand the stations are cramming all their commercials into two stopsets and then they are selling short spots for pennies on the dollar to buyers who are now demanding more and more discounts.

As far as the stopset issue is concerned, I’d counter program the competitor who wants to run two big stopsets with lots of short ones. Of course, I’d cut the inventory, drive up the rates and keep driving up the rates as demand increases.

I’d please my shareholders and win the adoration of my audience.

But, wait …

Radio exists for equity holders and whatever poor (and I mean poor) shareholders are left holding worthless radio stock. That’s why they are abusing Arbitron’s PPM to come up with artificial ratings (hearing as opposed to real listening).

And why even big ratings get lower rates as buyers start looking for other places to spend their carefully approved budgets.

How to get 35% more audience and go broke is exactly what management by bankruptcy is all about.

The problem is someone with guts had better come along soon and fix the spotload problem, reduce the inventory and protect the integrity of rates or as Cox Radio President and CEO Bob Neil said to me the other day – or we’re all in trouble.

There is a more serious problem.

Radio is misusing the People Meter ratings in making programming decisions and to purport that their stations actually has listeners instead of people wearing meters who wander into the range of a coded and recordable signal.

Want proof?

A friend of one of my readers is a People Meter family. The woman of the house carries her meter with her.

Her husband -- well, how can I put this?

Maybe a picture is worth a thousand words.

He attaches it to his dog and his dog wanders wherever he wants and some fool at a radio station thinks the man of the house likes Oldies 101 when it is actually the dog. And an even bigger fool -- advertisers -- are accepting hearing (as in somewhere near an encoded signal) instead of listening (as in fans of the radio station).

While I'll admit the Doggie Meter is likely an aberration, it dramatically demonstrates that man's best friend is not a People Meter unless it is understood for both its advantages and limitations. Instead, radio stations are making programming and sales assumptions that have them barking up the wrong tree.

Look -- radio has been underreported in the diary for years. PPM gives a truer read. Just as a dog can't fill out a diary and a PPM respondent cannot be counted on to report actual listening.

I suggest taking a few "safe" hours and programming stopsets with one unit and then right back to music -- check your PPM ratings to see how listener flow looks. You might be surprised to find that audiences have changed while programmers are stuck in the past.

And, if there are any stray dogs wearing a meter, you'll be number one in canines -- and I am sure Cumulus will find a way to have every salesperson speed dial kennels and pitch them for business.

It's a joke.

Ratings are a tool, but in the hands of today's radio groups they are going to be their downfall.

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