from the Toledo Blade
January 10, 2000
Chris Borrelli column
Howard Stern is no more. Enter Pablo and Mo.
WBUZ-FM (106.5), looking for a less expensive, locally based morning show, has picked two of its own DJs to team up and replace the recently dropped Howard Stern Show. That is Pablo, the station's afternoon DJ since last February, and Brian Mo, WBUZ's resident wacky stunt guy and weekend nighttime DJ.
(Yes, those are their air names, and no, they will not release their real names.)
"It's going to be a music-intensive show with some local comedy," said Tim Roberts, the Toledo operations manager for Cumulus Media.
Stern wasn't local, and despite much hype, a decent amount of promotion, a feature-length movie, and a tie-in TV show, the New York city-based radio show, which WBUZ picked up in 1996, never took off in Toledo.
--snips--
from the Toledo Blade
Chris Borrelli column
January 3, 2000
Quietly, with the holiday bustle in full swing, WBUZ-FM (106.7) dropped The Howard Stern Show from its schedule, abruptly ending the New York City radio superstar's rocky three-year Toledo stay.
"We just felt it would be more in the community interest to have a local morning show," said Tim Roberts, Toledo operations manager for Cumulus Media, which runs WBUZ. "We want to be the one rock station in town playing music in the morning," he went on, adding that WXKR-FM (94.5), which Cumulus also runs, plays classic rock in the morning, as opposed to WBUZ's alternative-rock format.
He said an announcement about a replacement will come soon.
Stern's office referred any questions to his agent and producer Don Buchwald, who didn't return calls.
What remains unclear is if Cumulus Media bought out the rest of its contract with Stern, or how the radio group managed to drop Stern. Roberts said he hasn't heard a peep of protest from Stern's camp. "We still have to live up to whatever terms there are in the contract.
"By not having a local morning show you can't broadcast live or help charities or talk about things that are important locally," Roberts said. "It greatly limits your ability to interact with the audience - the content of Stern's program doesn't relate to the community. He's in New York."
During the past few years, some of the most popular and controversial morning shows in Toledo radio have been talk-heavy, local-issue-oriented programming at WVKS-FM (92.5) and WSPD-AM (1370). Stern, meanwhile, who deals with celebrities, sex and, uh, more sex, had a hard time fitting into Toledo's talk-radio landscape, where tax abatement, religion, and debates over the construction of a new Toledo Mud Hens stadium can fill two hours.
Roberts said that the decision is in no way a reaction to the recent media storms that have spun around WVKS and WSPD after local black leaders cried foul at comments made by radio hosts Denny Schaffer and Scott Sloan.
He suggested, instead, that the decision to drop the expensive show - which previous WBUZ management paid about $200,000 a year to carry - had more to do with ratings, which started strong, then dipped significantly and never recovered.
"How do you pay for Howard Stern when you can't get your advertisers to pay for him?" asked Ellen Fruchtman of Fruchtman Marketing, which buys advertising time in Toledo. "[WBUZ] could never generate the kind of revenue it takes to pay for what he charges to carry his show. Morning personalities don't get paid that kind of money in Toledo, and even if Stern were No. 1, [considering what advertising costs] it still wouldn't make financial sense to carry the show."
As of the last few Arbitron ratings reports, Stern has been floating around the bottom half of the top 10 most-listened-to morning radio shows in Toledo, while WBUZ, in general, is resting currently at No. 12.
"If you look at the story of WBUZ," Roberts said, "it was a contender in the ratings when it was a music station [in the morning]. We just feel we can take it to another level playing a lot of music. I have not seen Stern do all that well nationally. [In New York City, the show is still a "must-listen" .] And I doubt we can do a thing for the community when we are carrying Howard Stern."
from the Toledo Blade
November 22, 1999
Chris Borrelli:
As for the ratings, here are a few highlights from last summer:
Compared to spring, WKKO is down a bit in the overall ratings, from a 13.2 per cent share of the audience to a 12.8 share, but it hung onto No. 1. WVKS-FM (92.5) is up a point to a 10.9 share. WRVF-FM (101.5), the easy-listening station that every office building downtown pipes through its halls, went from an already-sweet 8.6 share to a 9.4, putting the station in place to potentially take the No. 2 slot sometime soon.
The big winner overall is WIOT-FM (104.7), which rocketed nearly 3 share points to fourth place, going from a 5.8 last spring to an 8.7 share. Rounding out the top five is WWWM, with a 6.3 share. The biggest loser looks like WSPD-AM (1370), which fell out of the top five, going from a 7.4 to a 5 share.
In the morning, radio's prime time, Mitch and Mary Beth at WKKO took first place again with a 14.2 share, and Denny Schaffer's Breakfast Club on WVKS is at No. 2 again, up slightly with a 11.7 share.
WRVF held steady at No. 3, while again the biggest hit was taken by WSPD, which dropped out of the top five, going from a 7.6 share of the morning audience to a 5.2 share. That cleared the way for WIOT, which went from a 6.4 to a 7, and for a new visitor to the top five, WRQN, which dropped slightly from a 6.3 to a 5.5 share, but still finished at No. 5.
The above numbers are based on the widest-possible audience segment that Arbitron measures - anyone listening who is older than 12. To sell themselves to advertisers, radio stations use more specific demographic breakdowns, such as adults 25-54, etc.
--snips--
from the Toledo Blade
November 7, 1999
Toledo's WIOT-FM rock station and WRQN-FM oldies station each has had four owners in the past five years, while country station WKKO-FM and contemporary music WVKS-FM each has had three.
Money has been the reason - making it, not losing it.
WKKO and WVKS are the area's No. 1 and No. 2-rated radio stations, permitting them to charge $160 and $120, respectively, for a 60-second commercial during the prime 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. Monday-Friday drive-time period, according to industry advertising rate estimates.
Seven radio stations in the Toledo market last year each had advertising revenues in excess of $1 million, and six others each pulled in more than $240,000, industry estimates show.
Cumulus Media, Inc., of Milwaukee, which owns WKKO and seven other area stations, will control 50 per cent of the Toledo radio advertising revenue by year's end, while Clear Channel Communications, Inc., of San Antonio, Tex., which owns WKVS and four other area stations, will control about 45 per cent, according to estimates by Duncan's Radio Market Guide, an industry publication. It uses information from accounting services, broadcasters, and historical market data.
Radio advertising revenues for the Toledo market topped $27 million last year and are projected to exceed $35 million by 2003, according to Duncan's. It projects revenues based on a market's annual growth rate in the last six years.
Nationally, radio advertising revenues jumped to $15.4 billion last year from $6.7 billion in 1985, according to the Radio Advertising Bureau. Clear Channel's stations nationally averaged $2.8 million each in ad revenue last year, and Cumulus's averaged $710,000, according to Duncan's.
In the Toledo market, Clear Channel's stations averaged $2.5 million each in ad revenue last year, and Cumulus's top stations averaged $2.3 million, according to Duncan's.
Such lucrative revenues and subsequent profits have produced an onslaught of consolidation in the nation's top 100 markets in recent years. Radio corporate giants frequently have bought and sold stations that as recently as five years ago were independent and ignored as part of a low-profit industry.
The Toledo area alone - the nation's 67th-largest market in ad revenues - has had 19 sales involving one or more radio stations in the last five years. Another deal is pending regulatory approval.
The radio-dial shuffle has been fueled by an easing of federal ownership restrictions three years ago and by moves of giants like Clear Channel, Cumulus, and CBS, Inc., of New York, to trim production costs yet yield bigger market penetration - and thus improve profits from owning many nearby stations.
"You're lucky if you've got two different owners in your area now," said Alan Albarran, editor of the Journal of Media Economics and a professor of electronic media at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
Some stations have significantly improved profits by cutting clerical, news, and technical staffs and adding more automated programming, he said.
"With any organization, the biggest expense is the people," he said. "So, if you can consolidate, eliminate, or combine payrolls, increase your cash flow through other merged operations, you suddenly go from an operation that has a profit margin of 15 per cent to one that has a margin of 50 or 60 per cent or more."
Andy Stuart, vice president/market manager for Clear Channel in Toledo, said his company is building new facilities to soon have its five Toledo stations under one roof, thereby saving on rent, utilities, and insurance.
It has increased profits locally by buying new equipment and paying for on-air personalities, which in turn resulted in increased ad revenues, he said. Such investments might not have happened without deregulation in the industry, he added.
Officials at Cumulus were repeatedly unavailable to comment. Max Smith, Jr., owner of the small company that owns and operates WMTR-FM in Archbold, is amazed at what the radio giants are paying for stations. For example, a firm since gobbled up by Clear Channel bought WDFM-FM and low- power station WDFM-TV in Defiance last year for nearly $4 million.
"If they're paying $3.9 million for WDFM in Defiance, that makes WMTR pretty valuable," Mr. Smith said. "We have been approached, but we don't intend on selling."
Soaring prices contribute to the consolidation, however, because smaller firms can't afford to grow. "We've looked into buying other stations, and it's up to around $5 million," Mr. Smith said. "It's just too expensive for us."
After the 1996 Telecommunications Act eliminated most regulatory restrictions on owning many stations in an area, 75 to 80 medium-sized radio companies folded into four, which this year became three, Mr. Albarran, of SMU, said. Clear Channel, which this year bought Jacor Communications and AMFM, Inc., has 830 stations, and Cumulus has 231. The third big player is CBS, Inc., which has nearly 165 stations, including some of the nation's most profitable, he said.
Of the Toledo area's top 13 stations in terms of revenues, the only independents are WJUC-FM, owned by Welch Communications, and WIMX-FM, owned by Riverside Broadcasting.
A station's financial performance is based on listenership, ad rates, and expenses. Key to the bottom line are gross revenues, stemming from selling advertisements. Duncan's estimated ad revenues last year for Toledo stations are as follows:
WKKO, $6.5 million; WVKS, $4.1 million; WRVF-FM, $3.3 million; WWWM-FM, $3.2 million; WIOT, $3.1 million; WRQN, $1.9 million; WSPD-AM, $1.6 million; WXKR-FM, $810,000; WBUZ-FM, $780,000; WJUC-FM, $500,000; WLQR-AM, $330,000; WIMX-FM, $270,000, and WCWA-AM, $240,000.
Just as a department store chain can save money per location with one warehouse, one centralized computer system, and joint buyers, the radio giants are able to buy several stations and pinch expenses and boost profits by eliminating duplicate costs.
Mr. Albarran said owners can cluster engineering and sales staffs and coordinate marketing, trimming costs and potentially boosting revenue by selling advertisements on several stations at a discount.
Mike Wheeler, former head of programming for five Toledo stations now owned by Clear Channel, said, "What's happened is now we can take [stations] that have never done well and have them do well because there's a larger company behind them."
Mr. Wheeler, now program director for a Clear Channel St. Louis radio station, cited as an example Toledo's WRVF-FM, known as "The River." He said it was "old and irrelevant" under its former life as WLQR-FM, but when Jacor purchased it the company was able to invest in the station and turn it around. It's the area's third highest ad revenue station, according to Duncan's.
Multistation radio advertising has been an outcome of the station ownership consolidation, said Michael Fruchtman, a partner in and media advertising buyer for Toledo's Fruchtman Marketing. He said one representative at Clear Channel can sell him ad time on stations in Toledo, Cleveland, Dayton, and Youngstown.
Each station has similar basic expenses, said Charles "Chuck" Welch, owner of WJUC, or "The Juice," as well as one of its on-air personalities. For example, it may cost $1,000 to fire up a generator overnight, plus the station must pay for lights, other utilities, and office rent, he said.
Still, some costs have come down.
Mr. Smith, owner of Novco, Inc., which owns and operates WMTR-FM in Archbold, said computers have eliminated the need for huge studios with turntables and tape machines. "It's all on a [computer] digital hard drive. You can run the whole show from that."
That makes radio considerably less labor-intensive than it was 10 years ago, except that in some markets the announcers, program directors, and on-air morning personalities can command salaries up to $100,000 a year or more, local station owners said.
That's where the sales forces earn their pay by keeping the ad revenues rolling in. "Some stations are making $6 million a year, of that I have no doubt," said Mr. Welch, of WJUC.
Mr. Smith, who does his station's morning show, said on-air personalities can be expensive. "If you're looking for cost savings, you go for automation and no labor," he said.
Eliminating on-air talent and using satellite networks or syndicated shows to fill programming will save money, just as local broadcast talent can generate listeners and increase ad revenue, SMU's Mr. Albarran said.
Toledo listeners want local personalities, Mr. Welch said, which is why the two top-rated stations use that format extensively.
Mr. Fruchtman agreed. "Just look at Howard Stern. He's big nationally, but when WBUZ began airing his show, he didn't win his time spot," he said.
But paying for successful local talent is expensive, and with debt growing from purchases and mergers, radio chains are increasing pressure on their salespeople to enhance revenue, Mr. Albarran said.
Said Mr. Fruchtman: "Radio is now pushing huge overhead, huge sales machines they've got to feed. And they're really pushing it hard, so they want to take the money from anywhere they can get it. They're trying to get ads from the phone book, TV, print, anybody."
from: FMQB
February 21, 1999
With Cumulus LMAing Active Rock WBUZ/Toledo and installing PD Chris Ammel (fmqb 2/5), the changes at the station are just beginning. On Monday (2/22), 'BUZ's moniker "The Buzz" will bite the dust, replaced by "Rock 106 -- Toledo's Pure Rock."
The entire airstaff will be overhauled, too. Following the syndicated Howard Stern in mornings is Ammel. Joining the station for afternoons is former WKRK (Extreme Radio)/Detroit night stalker Murphy who has also been named Music Director. Lighting-up Rock 106 nights is Pablo, who segues from the same position at Cumulus sister WIQB/Ann Arbor. Current MD/night jock Marielle Salas now covers overnights and assumes the Promotion Director title.
The station continues to simulcast its format on crosstown WJZE. Earlier, Cumulus/Toledo GM Tom Klein said that he wasn't sure what format would eventually occupy the 'JZE signal (fmqb 1/22).
--snips--
from: The Toledo Blade
February 8, 1999
by: Chris Borrelli
In fact, if it weren’t for the perennially No. 1 WKKO-FM (99.9), you might say Wheeler owns Toledo radio. His stations perfectly complement each other. For example, with mornings at WSPD feeling less local, WVKS’s Denny Schaffer has picked up that baton, which, in turn, gives Wheeler an opportunity to develop Scott Sloan’s WSPD afternoon show. Meanwhile, employees who work on air at one station -- for instance, Mickey Morgret -- will "cross pollinate" and do double time on another Jacor station, carrying their name between stations. The whole thing is just savvy.
Wheeler, 37, didn’t go to college. He went into the restaurant business instead. ("The only thing it taught me was not to go into restaurants.") His first radio job was in Detroit as an intern. He worked at WTWR-FM (98.3) in Monroe after it dropped its country format, then came to Toledo radio about 10 years ago. With Jacor, he went from programming at WVKS-FM to programming every station Jacor bought, including WCWA-AM (1230) and WRVF-FM (101.5).
I haven’t really wanted to write about Mike Wheeler. When he thinks I’m full of it, he has been known to call my answering machine and swear like the cast of Goodfellas.
But I can’t avoid him.
There is Cumulus Media, which owns, among others, WKKO, WWWM-FM (105.5), and WXKR-FM (94.5), but the fall Arbitron radio ratings are in and it wouldn’t be out of order to say Jacor’s stable dominates.
The Kentucky-based radio group controls the No. 2 (WVKS), No. 3 (WRVF), No. 4 (WIOT), and No. 5 (WSPD) slots in town, both overall and in radio’s prime time, the morning. "From a standpoint of a company that wants to make money -- we have never had a better [ratings] book," Wheeler said. "All the stars lined up this time.
"I’m proud that within the Jacor organization -- and Jacor is a company that has grown very, very quickly, so as a result there are a lot of growing pains -- Toledo is one of their examples of how a market is supposed to be run."
WKKO’s Mitch and Mary Beth had a very nice autumn, taking first place again by scoring a 14.6 per cent share of the morning audience, which is nearly two share points higher than their fall, 1997, share. The show was also boosted by two share points in the 25-to-54-year-old demographic. And WWWM received a small boost as well; after Mark Standriff was fired and replaced with program director Ron Finn, the show went from a 4.6 share to a 5.5 share in the morning.
The return of Mark Benson and Jeff Lamb to Toledo radio on WXKR so far has been uneventful. Although the station’s male morning audience has jumped a bit, the show is still getting swamped by WIOT and WBUZ’s Howard Stern.
At Jacor, Schaffer’s morning show on WVKS dropped almost 4 share points and still remained in second place with a 10.7 share, and WRVF, "The River," received a boost, sneaking into fourth place with a 7.5 share of the morning.
Even WSPD, which has seemed more of a shadow of itself lately, skipped from a 5.7 share in the morning to a 7.4, and WIOT’s Bob And Tom Showis one of the three most popular radio shows in Toledo.
"Still, I think we miss a lot of details," Wheeler said. "WCWA is completely underdeveloped. WSPD is about three-quarters a finished product. And I don’t think we have given many reasons, other than sports broadcasts, for someone to tune in on the weekend."
--snips --
from the: Toledo Blade
And then there was one?
Independent radio station in Toledo, that is.
Last week, word began to leak about an interesting, though not altogether surprising deal: WBUZ-FM (106.5) and WJZE-FM (97.3) -- aka "Toledo’s Rock Radio Network" and Toledo’s home of Howard Stern and heavy metal -- will soon become part of the Cumulus Media family, which already includes WKKO-FM (99.9), WXKR-FM (94.5), WWWM-FM (105.5), WTOD-AM (1560), WLQR-AM (1470), and WRQN-FM (93.5).
Jacor Broadcasting, of course, owns WVKS-FM (92.5), WRVF-FM (101.5), WSPD-AM (1370), WIOT-FM (104.7), and WCWA-AM (1230).
Which leaves us one independent Toledo-based station, not counting noncommercial stations such as WGTE-FM (91.3).
That station: WJUC-FM (107.3), "The Juice" -- the little soul station that could and that refuses to sell out to a big radio group, according to owner Charles Welch, better known to radio listeners as "Charlie Chuck."
"That’s just the way it is," he said last week, after hearing about the Cumulus deal. "It’s a fact of life. I will burn this station to the ground before I sell it."
WBUZ, however, is a different story. Owner Dan Dudley started "The BUZZ" in 1994 because he saw a niche to be filled: Toledo needed an alternative rock station.
"Dan was here to turn a profit on these stations," said Dan Bozyk, WBUZ’s program director. "I’m no big fan of corporate radio. [Being owned by a big radio company] does take a lot of latitude out of the programming department. Final say on songs would probably now come from the company and not the people playing the music. But I’m not surprised he sold."
Here are some details:
Pending FCC approval, Cumulus will be buying The BUZZ -- but only leasing WJZE, which means Cumulus won’t technically own WJZE, but it will run and sell time on the station. The price: Still unannounced.
According to Tom Klein, the general manager of Cumulus’s Toledo stations, WBUZ’s format will mostly likely not be affected by the sale. He added, however, that Cumulus is doing "field research" and will then decide what, if anything, about the station needs tweaking. In the meantime, WBUZ will continue to air The Howard Stern Show on weekday mornings. (The station’s contract with Stern has about 15 months to go.) None of the station’s DJs should be affected by the sale, Klein said.
WJZE, however, which is currently simulcasting WBUZ’s signal, probably won’t continue as is. "I’m not really sure what the simulcast is doing for it," Klein said. (What WJZE might become, of course, won’t be known "until the research comes back.")
What’s even less clear is if the FCC or the Justice Department will smile on this deal.
Broadcasters are allowed to own a certain number of stations within a market; that number, however, isn’t exactly set in stone and slides depending on a number of variables, including signal strength. Generally, though, the FCC has said that the number in cities this size is about six to eight stations. This sale would give Cumulus seven stations in Toledo, with control over an eighth. And that’s not including WTWR-FM (98.3) in Monroe.
In 1997, you might recall, the FCC initially refused to grant Cumulus a license for WXKR, until Cumulus divested itself of one station.
Cumulus officials at the media group’s Chicago headquarters didn’t return phone calls. Dudley also didn’t return calls. Klein, meanwhile, said he doubts the company would go through with this deal if it didn’t feel it would receive clearance.
However, even if the number of stations is approved, there is still the question of advertising revenue; depending on the size of the market and signal strengths, one radiogroup isn’t allowed to control more than a certain percentage of the market’s ad revenue, a percentage limit even local radio executives aren’t completely sure of.
What does all this mean for you, Joe Radio Listener?
Less and less local feel. More syndicated shows. Even more predictable music programming (if that’s possible), and even fewer outlets now for local music. Less heart. Fewer quirks. Less variety. Radio geared only to people between the ages of 18 and 49. "I am still a fan of radio," The BUZZ’s Bozyk said. "But it will only be an art form to a certain degree."
Chris Borrelli is a columnist for the Toledo Blade.
© Copyright 1998 The Blade. All rights reserved.
from the: Toledo Blade
Q: How can you tell when your radio station is a dog?
A: When you give away T-shirts with your station's logo on the front and listeners ask for T-shirts with the logo of another station.
Last Fourth of July, classic rock WJZE-FM (97.3) was broadcasting live from the porch of the Round House Bar in Put-In Bay. DJs were giving out WJZE stickers and WJZE T-shirts, but passers-by kept asking, "Thanks, but do you have any WBUZ T-shirts too?"
WJZE and WBUZ-FM (106.7) are sister stations, advertised as "the Toledo Rock Radio Network," two of the last independently owned radio stations in Northwest Ohio. But only WBUZ has managed to carve a niche with its hard-rock format and Howard Stern's morning show. WJZE, meanwhile, was a good listen but its ratings were as pathetic as a new album from David Crosby. That measly 3,000-watt signal didn't help much either.
Then last winter, 50,000-watt WXKR-FM (94.5) became Toledo's second classic rock station. Fairly quickly, WXKR became a radio presence and WJZE became this little station on the East Side that a few people listened to. To make matters worse, a couple of weeks ago the formidable morning team of Jeff Lamb and Mark Benson moved to WXKR.
Something had to give.
Last week, Dan Dudley and Ashley Dressel, who run WBUZ and WJZE, fired WJZE's entire on-air staff - six DJs - then surprised Toledo radio by simulcasting WBUZ on WJZE. The new motto: "Double the Buzz."
"Toledo is just not big enough for two classic rock stations," Dudley said, conceding defeat to the better-funded WXKR.
For months, the rumor was that Dudley, WBUZ and WJZE's general manager, would dump classic rock for a "young country" format. Instead, Dudley figures he can double the size of WBUZ's audience by putting WBUZ's signal on a second station. (Dudley is paying Howard Stern additional fees to carry the show on two stations.)
"The only drawback to WBUZ until now was the signal," Dudley said: It tends to fade just east of the Maumee River. He said the FCC denied requests to increase the Buzz's watt signal. WBUZ's transmitter is in Swanton and covers the west side of Toledo. WJZE's transmitter is in Genoa and covers the east side.
"Ottawa County was a no-man's land for the Buzz," Dudley said. "I've met kids who have heard of the station and listen to the same kind of [heavy rock] music that we play, but they could never tune in."
He has also moved WBUZ's headquarters from Swanton to downtown Toledo, a few blocks from WIOT-FM, and plans to fly a 15-foot-long Buzz flag from the roof. Dudley said, "Maybe now I'm armed and dangerous."
--local tv stuff snipped--
Chris Borrelli is The Blade's media writer. He can be reached via e-mail at borrell@concentric.net.
Latest ratings show Howard up to a 8.2 market share.
Howard started on WBUZ on June 10, 1996.
Back to ratings.
This page © 1997-2000 by The Complete Howard Stern Links!