The Next Chapter

It can all be true.

Bankruptcy can be a good thing for radio? Yeah.

Bankruptcy sends a bad message to the public that radio's dying? Yeah.

Chapter 11 wiping out all that debt is a fresh start that could lead to a bright future as a profitable industry? Yeah.

Clearing out debt does nothing for growth and leaves the people who failed to grow the business in charge? Yeah.

This could be the best thing for radio? Yeah.

This could be the worst thing for radio? Yeah.

You're seeing analysts, corporate types, investors, and trade reporters falling all over themselves trying to spin the bankruptcies of iHeartMedia and Cumulus in whatever way benefits them most. That's fine, but the rosy picture of operators finally unburdened of the debt that smothered the industry for over a decade doesn't address the most important issues moving forward, and I fear that lessons haven't been learned.

Okay, so, the Chapter 11 companies have cleared out most of that debt. Great. Frankly, I have no great sympathy for the private equity firms and hedge funds that will take a bath from this. Some of them are nothing more than strip-miners, looking to pull as much out of a business as possible while leaving nothing for the future of the operation (the newspaper business is getting pounded even worse than radio that way, and go read up on how Toys R Us ended up where it is today for a really sad story). Others, well, I'll just recall going to those financial sessions they hold at the Radio Show every Fall and hearing analysts put their most positive spin on the industry, with the suits all nodding in agreement, until, that is, they were all proven very wrong, at which time most of the analysts disappeared and most of the others suddenly acted as if they'd never recommended investing in radio in the first place. Never trust a Wall Street analyst, or their PowerPoints.

Whatever the effect crushing debt had on the business, radio hasn't been the kind of growth industry Wall Street would prefer it to be. Fine, so, investors are looking elsewhere. But growth is also important for job creation, and it's important for the creative process that spawns further growth.

It is not enough that radio companies are slowly realizing that, even if it's chasing "digital dimes" and the revenue isn't quite there yet, they are going to have to step up their activity in non-broadcast areas like podcasting, streaming, and even video. They're going to need to become much, much more creative and -- the excuses are gone now -- risk-friendly. The debt service burden is easing, people. You can try new things. Forget imitating Pandora, forget doing standardized websites with canned, brain-dead content, forget just slapping broadcast content onto Apple Podcasts and calling that your digital initiative. How about taking the lead in doing subscription content right, getting your most loyal fans to pay for special content of all kinds, from original podcasts to meet-and-greet events to exclusive merch? How about creating local podcast networks with content created by people outside the station who would love the promotion and sales help? How about creating new spoken word formats on those worst-performing FMs in your clusters to appeal to people younger than 70? How about taking some of those smaller-market stations and replacing at least some of the voice-tracking and syndication with new local talent so you get that "farm system," the passing of which you always lamented, going again?

Chapter 11 DOES offer opportunity. It CAN mean, finally, stimulating significant growth in an industry that hasn't yet risen to the challenges of a changed media landscape. It might also just mean business as usual and kicking the can down the road some more, just with less urgency now that the monthly nut doesn't carry those interest payments. Whatever happens now, it's you -- the managers, the programmers, the talent -- who have to grab the wheel and steer this thing in the right direction. It's you who have to take risks and come up with new ideas. No more excuses. It's showtime.

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Meanwhile, I'm not going anywhere; I'm still here plugging away, finding more stuff for hosts to talk about and posting it at Talk Topics, the show prep column at All Access News-Talk-Sports, which you'll find by clicking here and/or by following the Talk Topics Twitter feed at @talktopics with every story individually linked to the appropriate item. There's the Podcasting section at AllAccess.com/podcasts. And there's "10 Questions With..." Mary Walter, my old New Jersey 101.5 co-worker who is now co-hosting mornings at WMAL/Washington and, thus, talking to the most powerful people in government and politics, which is itself pretty powerful, isn't it?

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I just checked on the panel I'll be on at the Broadcast Education Association (BEA) Convention attached to the NAB Show in Las Vegas in April, and it's got Valerie Geller and Dan Vallie and the University of Cincinnati's Andy Curran on it talking abut preparing students to be on-air personalities, so it sounds great if you ignore my presence. It'll be moderated by David Crider and it's at 4:30 pm on April 9th at the Westgate, so if you're at the NAB Show or BEA Convention, come on by. After that, I'll be moderating a panel on the future of, well, YOU at the Worldwide Radio Summit in Hollywood May 2-4, featuring Tom Leykis, Steve Goldstein, Rob Greenlee, Doug Reed, and Gina Juliano; Register here, right now. And I'll be on a panel about podcasting with Seth Resler, Dave Beasing, Sheryl Worsley, and Michael Brandvold at The Conclave in July in Minneapolis, and I'll be at Podcast Movement in Philadelphia, also in July. Come to all of them. If I can show up at all of them, so can you.

Perry Michael Simon
Vice President/Editor, News-Talk-Sports and Podcast
AllAccess.com
psimon@allaccess.com
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