For this week’s Programming To Win, Richard Harker takes a look back at the centralization of radio programming in the ‘70s. How did the “formats in a box” from over 30 years ago differ from the nationally programmed stations of today? And how does radio ownership consolidation play a role?
By Richard Harker
Richard Harker
Often radio critics complain that broadcast radio leaders are timid and unwilling to take chances, but the latest daring experiment proves otherwise.
Broadcast leaders are rolling the dice, taking an enormous risk.
Radio groups are moving programming command and control from the local level to the regional and even national level.
As a result, often the most important programming and marketing decisions are handed down from corporate with little input from the local programming people.
The ultimate goal seems to be to “standardize” radio stations, to create a consistent radio product across stations in the same way McDonald’s makes Big Macs and Starbucks makes Frappuccinos.
Voice tracking combined with corporate music logs means that stations across the country may differ only in the spots they run.
We call this process the nationalization the radio.
This is not the first time radio groups have tried to enforce consistency in their products. Radio has a history of trying to centralize programming decisions…and failing.
The last major attempt was in the 1970s.
National programmers like Jim Schulke in Beautiful Music and Paul Drew in Top 40 called the programming shots for dozens of stations insisting on a consistent product across all stations within a format.
Music was chosen, liners written and produced, and air staff hires approved by the national PD. Local stations had input, but most major decisions came from corporate.
Corporate also controlled local radio programming through automation. Entire air staffs were replaced with machines. (Sound familiar?)
It was a period when syndicators gained enormous power. Companies like Drake Chanault and TM Productions created “formats in a box” entire formats on reel-to-reel tapes.
No air staff, no Program Director, just people to change the tapes.(This writer’s first job in radio was changing 14″ reels of tape on a bank of Scully tape machines for a Beautiful Music station.)
Ironically in the 1970s, the dictatorial manner in which corporate decisions were handed down didn’t raise an eyebrow. Perhaps because it produced winners.
Jim Schulke stations were consistent ratings winners, more often than not ranked number one in their market. RKO under Paul Drew’s direction had the leading Top 40 station in virtually every major market in which they competed (during a time when all markets had at least two Top 40 stations).
But radio prior to consolidation was very different. Radio groups could only own seven AMs and seven FMs.
RKO’s success may have heavily influenced the direction of Top 40 at the time, but there were proportionately far more independent Top 40 stations that didn’t have to follow Paul Drew’s instructions.
Consultants like Jim Schulke and Bill Drake programmed dozens of stations, but there were far more independent stations competing against them that continued to be programmed at the local level.
Today’s much larger groups may seem to be following in the path of the 1970s centalized programming command and control. However, today’s consolidation has changed everything.
Consolidation has reduced the number of independent broadcasters creating fewer more powerful groups with many more stations.
As a result, never have so few people had such an influence on the programming of such a large proportion of radio stations.
So this new move towards centralizing programming decisions puts radio in new uncharted territory.
Corporate programming control died out in the 1980s and local programmers regained their power when it was found that local stations programmed locally were beating better funded nationally programmed stations.
Local people were much more opportunistic quickly capitalizing on marketing opportunities. They might make mistakes, but they could quickly regroup.
Ponderous corporate structures couldn’t act fast enough across markets to defend against decentralized groups who let local people make the important decisions.
There’s a reason that radio no longer has a Paul Drew or Bill Drake. As brilliant as these legends were, they couldn’t complete with hundreds of continually innovating local programmers.
In a way, radio is like the military.
The military relies an enormous and complex command and control structure. Yet on the battlefield, winning depends on the decisions of the commander on the ground. He makes the critical battle decisions, because he understands the battle, not the generals at headquarters.
Radio found that the people on the ground, the local programming staff, understood the radio battle better than the corporate people at headquarters.
Local radio people may not be intrinsically smarter than corporate broadcasters, but they have the ability to learn quickly, act quickly, and respond quickly.
Of course, today’s large groups have better tools to coordinate the programming of hundreds of stations. Perhaps this time, centralized programming will work better.
Perhaps what radio needs today is greater consistency.
But success will require that just a handful of corporate programmers make right decisions by the thousands.
If one local Program Director makes a bad call, it hurts one station. If one national Program Director makes a bad call, it hurts dozens if not hundreds of stations.
It’s like putting all your money on one roll of the dice. If you win, you win big. If you lose, you lose everything.
The outcome has enormous consequences for radio. With digital alternatives gunning for broadcast radio’s dollars, the fate of radio may rest on that single roll.
Richard Harker is President of Harker Research, a company providing a wide range of research services to radio stations in North America and Europe. Twenty-years of research experience combined with Richard’s 15 years as a programmer and general manager helps Harker Research provide practical actionable solutions to ratings problems. Visit www.harkerresearch or contact Richard at (919) 954-8300.
