Would you ever operate a radio station with a talk radio format?

I love talk radio.  It's a super viable format.  It can be expensive though and most important - you need a sales team that understands the value of foreground programming.

I love AM radio - but in our company we have avoided AM mostly because the hydro bills can get nuts and our market sizes mean music on FM is a better business model.

We did run a News and Sports mix in Peterbough with EXTRA 90.5 and we were just hitting our stride when the pandemic wiped it out.  Frankly, we learned that we didn't like depending on the CBS programming and couldn't afford to do 24/7 local.

I loved being on CJAD 800 and Newstalk 1010 and AM 800 CKLW as a talk show host - a real career highlight for a radio nerd like me!

Last edited by JON POLE (February 10, 2024 12:50 pm)

Why do oldie and classic rock  stations play the same 300 songs over and over?

cash wrote:

Why do oldie and classic rock  stations play the same 300 songs over and over?

 
The very short answer is that you never get hurt playing the hits.

When a station plays a wider variety the listener research always comes back as " you play too many unfamiliar songs".

JON POLE wrote:

paterson1 wrote:

I have noticed that voice tracking is really inconsistent on some stations.  Lousy mix between voice and music and sometimes the announcer tracks are way too loud, overemodulated and sound terrible.  Also why do some announcers only do about five breaks per hour when they voice track.  I have heard some say goodbye over 20 minutes before their program is over.  

Seems odd to me how radio stations can claim to be the best music mix, or playing today's favourites when they don't even mention who they have played or what the song was.  All this emphasis on music and never talking about it.  Another reason why VT is hurting what is going out on air. 
 

 

Voice tracks are garbage in, garbage out. Good jocks make it a show live or VT'd. I suspect your audio issue is caused by jocks using home studios and hoping the processor fixes the issue.

Our average clock is 4 breaks an hour. We use PlayoutOne which allows jocks to do some pretty cool stuff.

Wow 4 breaks per hour is pretty light on announcing.  Thanks for your answer Jon and continued success.  Good luck with the new stations in Kingston and Brockville.
 

Jon, I've listened to several of your stations, and appreciate what you're doing.

Of course you'll likely prefer not to answer this one but, have you ever been approached by some deep pockets to sell? Would you rule out such a sale in the next few years?

Well done on what you've achieved.

Why did you stop your podcast.

The 12 of us that listened loved it

Plus, I’m still game to buy that property in Florida

Long time listener first time caller here. With the new stations you are getting I saw last night there is no job cuts coming, which is good. Will there be any format changes there or elsewhere, maybe to streamline formats or brandings you have? Mainly I am looking to see if there will be any more FREQ stations elsewhere. I understand if you cannot answer yet but I am just curious. As a listener that is what I am curious about the most. 
I appreciate you as an owner of a station coming on and discuss things here. I cannot remember a time when a radio station owner actually listened to what people have to say and wanted to address what is being said. 
As for FREQ, I tell everyone I can about it and have even got friends from BC and Alberta tuning in because of the sound and mixshows. I would love hearing this format at more stations. If I recall one of the stations you are buying in Kingston had a format similar to FREQ previously and was a good station. 

Thank you for what you are doing with local radio and keep up the good work

brian451 wrote:

Long time listener first time caller here. With the new stations you are getting I saw last night there is no job cuts coming, which is good. Will there be any format changes there or elsewhere, maybe to streamline formats or brandings you have? Mainly I am looking to see if there will be any more FREQ stations elsewhere. I understand if you cannot answer yet but I am just curious. As a listener that is what I am curious about the most. 
I appreciate you as an owner of a station coming on and discuss things here. I cannot remember a time when a radio station owner actually listened to what people have to say and wanted to address what is being said. 
As for FREQ, I tell everyone I can about it and have even got friends from BC and Alberta tuning in because of the sound and mixshows. I would love hearing this format at more stations. If I recall one of the stations you are buying in Kingston had a format similar to FREQ previously and was a good station. 

Thank you for what you are doing with local radio and keep up the good work

 
Thank you.   I love Freq.   Our team does an incredible job.  Graham and Emily get all the credit.  Bill Porter is the king of the mixed shows.  I would love to have more.  We have some really cool ideas on where it should go.

As for Kingston and Brockville - our process is pretty simple, we don't break what isn't broke and we research and fix what is.  They have incredible local teams - so we will start with supporting and listening to them and build from there.

I have a follow up question.
Why don’t any of your stations list the on air staff on the websites? I enjoy going to station sites and seeing who works there. In my opinion it gives a personal connection to the talent that entertains us.

brian451 wrote:

I have a follow up question.
Why don’t any of your stations list the on air staff on the websites? I enjoy going to station sites and seeing who works there. In my opinion it gives a personal connection to the talent that entertains us.

Good question.   The answer is two-fold.

1.  Personally, I hate when radio stations put meaning less stuff on their website.   I don't really care which 5 albums someone is taking to a desert island.   More important - the return on the time and effort is not there to "do it right".  We only have so much time.

2.   And this should probably be #1 - our websites are about the user.  They're not focused on "the station" but rather what the user wants.  All of our research shows that is local news which is why we make that the priority. (And ads to pay the bills)  We're building our websites as "second stations" so we have more inventory and reach non-radio users too.

I understand your point, never hurts to go back to the drawing board either.  I appreciate the feedback.  The way we're doing is not "the way", just the best way so far.

Question - looking at ads for a number of small market radio stations recently, it seems that many companies want employees to be a jack/jill-of-all-trades. Host an airshift, read newscasts on occasion, attend community events as a reporter, post stories on social media, even do some sales from time-to-time. Does My Broadcasting have this expectation of its employees?

My first radio job at 18 was a jack of all type. I did hourly  newscasts, although primarily rip and read from the  wire machine, spun records, and at midnight, changed the master log tape, emptied the waste  baskets, swept the floors and refilled the toilet paper rolls as needed . Also had to lock up, and then take the door key to the GM's house on my way home and leave it under the mat. This was 1974, I made $2.50 an hour for a 6-12 shift . I thought I was in heaven. 

Dial Twister wrote:

Jon, based on your offer to answer questions, plus the manner in which you answer them, tells me that you're a better-than-average boss. I'm betting the majority of your staff appreciates the leadership team they work with.

Keep on truckin'.
 

Thank you.  I appreciate the kind words. I'm sure, like anyone - I have good days and bad   There is no question, it's our people who make the difference.

In Phase wrote:

I'm happily retired and don't need a job, but I can't help but feel a desire to work for Jon Pole 
 

Ditto (although not a Limbaugh ditto). 😁