Drastic times call for drastic measures and given the economic crisis our country has been mired in for the past nine months, there’s an absolute need for radio operators to equip themselves with resources that can provide leadership through these unstable times. But how can radio stock up when the market dictates they cut back? Guy Zapoleon has been consulting radio for almost two decades offering effective solutions. Sometimes the outside-in perspective is just what the doctor ordered.
Guy Zapoleon
After a decade of prosperity, radio groups have been faced with difficult decisions affecting the lives of many of its employees. There are no quick solutions and certainly no easy way out, especially when the economy remains sluggish. However, there is hope in the guise of some constants that have endured through the various challenges presented to radio over four decades. One of these stabilizers is Zapoleon Media Strategies, run by long time radio fundamentalist and strategist Guy Zapoleon, who along with his associates Steve Davis and Mark St. John, have long been committed to effective solutions and decision making for their clients.
eQB presents excerpts from the July FMQB magazine Cover Story with
Guy Zapoleon, President, Zapoleon Media Strategies
“National content on multiple radio stations like the Premium Choice platform for Clear Channel was obvious to me a decade ago because in many cases, with the perfect storm of a devastated economy and tough times for radio advertising revenue, the business had to make these hard choices just to survive. These issues didn’t start last year. They’ve been over a decade in the making.”
“At the root of radio’s issues today is the primary focus of the choices the major consolidators made about making huge profits with minimal investment in bringing in talent and teaching them the basics and letting them loose to create compelling content for our medium. In fairness, it’s important to note that this was a natural result of the ever increasing need to bring in big quarterly results to satisfy Wall Street.”
“More jobs were cut with programming and new technologies weren’t receiving the funding and attention needed to capture radio’s evaporating audience and an entire generation of teens grew up without radio being a significant part of their lives.”
“I believe it’s entirely possible, given the new world order I’ve been talking about for ten years, we’ll likely see more and more syndicated/network content on local stations. It’s also obvious to me that this medium has the opportunity to continue to be the primary medium consumed on the go relative to all technology and cellular platforms with a bright future and a chance for a big economic boom for our business.
“Many great new content ideas and future talent for our business will be coming from smaller companies willing to take risks on creative employees. Managers, programmers and talent who are the rebels of our business and who dare to be different and creative will allow the medium to prosper.”
“Even great quality networks like Premium Choice are eventually going to have to find the next Ryan Seacrest or Elvis Duran, and all the little Ryan’s and Elvis’ came out of the old model of talent development. A thousand little labs called radio stations hired young fresh talent that experimented and took risks but were always listener driven. The same must be true today where the big personality programming of tomorrow will depend on the new radio labs that are being constructed right now by existing and new radio companies.”
“You need to look at the history of great radio stations and how they were run and how that operational strategy needs to be in place for the future. You need the basics. This is what young programmers and managers fail to understand. They think it’s a new world. It’s not a new world.”
“No matter how good you are, every successful radio station is built by a great team, not one individual. As you go down the levels from some of the group VPs, the talent level and skill sets begin to severely drop off. The difficult thing for any group PD is designing the strategy and maintaining all the details of every single station’s plan. They need help and must depend on their team to execute the details of the blueprint plan.”
“Many broadcasters think research is the answer, and while good research is critical the interpretation of research findings is just as vital. I’ve been in many rooms where the research interpretation was 100% wrong, and that’s where the wisdom of a radio consultant becomes essential so your station doesn’t make a $50 million mistake, the one that kills your radio station.”
“The ‘hard truth’ is one premium component you get when you hire the right consultant that you probably won’t get from layers of management, because of the politics of justifying and protecting one’s job or others in the company. A good consultant’s reputation depends on giving winning advice and a company CEO needs great wisdom, experience and especially the hard truth, to run a successful company.”
** QB Content by Fred Deane **
