What really runs radio

Posted on July 6, 2012 by Fred Stiening

According to one of the radio news letters, Clear Channel has converted their stations to use the software from this company’

http://www.rcsworks.com/en/default.aspx

and significant new layoffs are about to happen at Clear Channel with improved computer automation – shutting down now even the regional offices – and stripping more and more employees out of the radio stations and replacing them with mindless computer automation  Clear Channel still owes somewhere between $16 and $20 billion to banks and others in the Private Equity transaction put together by Bain Capital and Thomas F Lee in 2007.

Clear Channel CEO Bob Pittman has been busy building business relationships over in Cannes, flying there on the official Clear Channel private plane that was part of his contract

http://www.radio-info.com/news/cc-ceo-bob-pittman-wines-dines-cannes-audience-on-yacht

So Cumulus and Clear Channel are both going down the same path – if you are up to your eyeballs in debt, the way to take a profitable business and make it better is to cut costs to the bone, fire your employees, destroy the product and chase your customers away – and have a big party to build morale.

I wonder who is going to pick up the pieces when this comes to its inevitable end.   Apple?  AT&T?  GEICO insurance?    President Obama’s minions?  Who has the cash and desire to take over the radio business when these guys finish destroying it?

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One Response to What really runs radio

  1. Parrott says:
    July 10, 2012 at 8:01 am

    Oh yes, just what they need is another piece of software that plays two songs at once or three commercials over the music.
    The local cumulus station does this crap every weekend. Nobody is listening cause it will go on whole saturday evenings.
    My brother knows the manager of the Cu-mo-loid station and will call his home phone sometimes and disguise his voice, leaving messages that the
    radio station is ‘eFFF’ d up again’ .
    The manager is a drone, I don’t think he knows how to fix it. So I’m sure this new software will help. Not.
    “have a big party to build morale.” Hmmmm,, sounds errily like the current company I work for, right after we have a layoff.
    Parrott

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