Late Night - Early AM on WBZ-AM is now Mr. Computer

[Ron Bello]

Prices of radio stations went up until the internet drained ad $$ from
radio, newspapers and other traditional media

Listeners across the country never generated ad $$ for WBZ.  As margins
have narrowed, the luxuries of  old time radio can no longer be paid for.
Even in Larry Glick’s day the volume of advertising was small in the over
night.  The world has and will continue to evolve.



On Friday, January 17, 2020, A Joseph Ross <joe@attorneyross.com> wrote:

> Funny, I thought the price of radio stations was getting higher and higher
> after the Telecommunications Act.
>
> On 1/17/2020 1:28 AM, Ron wrote:
>
>> but up until about 1980 the focus in such companies used to be the long
>>>>
>>> term.
>>
>> And it was in radio as long as the value of radio properties was going up.
>>
>> But when the value of radio stations started to drop, and advertising
>> revenue dropped, people become more focused on the "short term" (and
>> survival).
>>
>> That is true, but the pressure on Congress and the FCC to change those
>>>>
>>> laws and regulations was applied by Wall Street.
>>
>> And it was up to our elected leader to read the bill, a bill that most of
>> them thought was all about cell-phones.
>>
>> (This appeared to be one of those:  " "We have to pass the bill so that
>> you
>> can find out what is in it" moments.)
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Rob Landry <011010001@interpring.com>
>> Sent: Thursday, January 16, 2020 2:21 PM
>> To: Ron <obrienron2@gmail.com>
>> Cc: 'Kevin Vahey' <kvahey@gmail.com>; 'bri' <BRI@bostonradio.org>
>> Subject: RE: Late Night - Early AM on WBZ-AM is now Mr. Computer
>>
>>
>>
>> On Thu, 16 Jan 2020, Ron wrote:
>>
>> Wasn't Gannett, Westinghouse, Hearst, CBS, NBC, ABC, Metromedia and
>>> the rest "publicly held companies driven, as usual, by short-term
>>>
>> financial goals"?
>>
>> They were publicly held companies, sure enough, but up until about 1980
>> the
>> focus in such companies used to be the long term. Remember when AT&T had
>> Bell Labs, and other companies like IBM had similar divisions,
>> experimenting
>> with new technologies and the like?
>>
>> I'm sure stock price, dividends and such drove all those companies as
>>> well, yet somehow they were able to service their communities, right?
>>>
>> The narrow focus on "maximizing shareholder value" was originally
>> proposed,
>> if I remember right, at Harvard Business School in the mid seventies. It
>> didn't catch on generally until about a decade later, and the deregulation
>> of the radio industry during the 80s and 90s allowed it free reign in our
>> industry.
>>
>> Smaller, privately owned stations aren't doing much better.
>>>
>> We are all blown by the same economic winds.
>>
>> I think this has to do with the realities of the financial world,
>>> where once valuable properties (assets) are now worth a pittance of
>>> what they were purchased for.  Blaming "publicly held companies"
>>> driven by their fiduciary responsibilities is an easy excuse.
>>>
>> Publicly held companies have obligations that privately held companies
>> don't
>> have; everything they do has to be reationalized in terms of shareholder
>> value. A publicly held company can't, for instance, build a big rocket and
>> send its CEO's car to Mars, as Elon Musk's privately-held SpaceX can. Nor
>> can it employ people for their own sake, the sake of the communites they
>> live in, or anyone else's sake but shareholders.
>>
>> I think when the FCC allowed and Congress removed the ownership caps
>>> (through the "Omnibus Telecommunications Act") set the stage.  (Always
>>> watch out for anything with the adjective "Omnibus" attached.)
>>>
>> That is true, but the pressure on Congress and the FCC to change those
>> laws
>> and regulations was applied by Wall Street.
>>
>>
>> Rob
>>
>>
> --
> A. Joseph Ross, J.D. · 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 · Newton, MA 02459
> 617.367.0468 · Fax:617.507.7856 · http://www.attorneyross.com
>


-- 
Ron Bello
160 Speen St - Suite 303
Framingham, MA. 01701
508.820.1100