Peter: Thanks for the compliment. I just write what is on my heart. No formal training.

Excuse me? I dont pimp expensive art. If youre referring to the fact that our company also produces art magazines. Yes. Im not sure what that has to do with the argument above. Seems like good business to have diversity in this uncertain world. Im not ashamed of myself nor am I a sell out, which would infer that Im being paid for my comments or that Im sucking up, neither of which are true. If youve followed anything Ive written you can find numerous instances where Ive challenged these companies for many of their previous practices. That has little to do with this specific article which is about them broadening their focus. Clear Channel is becoming a media company? Not sure why that is a bad thing? Probably smart because they know their growth has to come from areas where growth is occurring, which leverages their assets. I can appreciate your anger over things not being the same as they used to be. Its not pretty but its reality and pining for the past isnt productive. Seems that some people are so angry, so bitter, so closed minded that they cannot allow any of these companies any slack if they do something right. Perhaps you disagree with the way this company operated in the past, most of that was a previous administration. Maybe a brilliant executive like Pittman with a great track record can put radio on the map again in a way never before done. Only time will tell but to blame him for the last 10 years of Clear Channel, is well, just silly.

You may want to join our marketing boot camp at the plein air convention ....http://www.pleinairconvention.com

Dear Edge of Idaho: Im not at all thrilled by the job cuts either but as one who owns his own business I know the pressure of business and the realities that when business is bad I cannot spend at the level I was spending... thus cuts are sometimes necessary. Sometimes cuts are necessary to raise the $ needed to invest in new technology or innovation. And yes, its all about stockholders. Every radio job that exists (other than public radio) in America was created by people who were willing to invest their money in a business in hopes of receiving a return for taking the risk. Stockholders create pretty much every non-government job in America. To think that they are the enemy is naive. Im not sure that targeting your anger for Wall Street should be necessarily targeted to stockholders. In the cases of many a public company the stockholders you seem to hate are often regular people like you and me who invest in a company in hopes of making slight increase on our money. Sometimes the risk means we loose and other times we might gain. Though Wall Street has its problems, which I too am frustrated about, and though those need to be addressed and these scams stopped, its not necessarily the stockholders. There is nothing wrong with wanting to make more money. Regarding radio stocks. Have you looked at them lately? Have you seen the profits or lack thereof? Have you seen the dividends of people who invested their hard earned money a few years ago who may never see a return? I dont think stockholders of radio companies are getting rich in general. Perhaps a few unscrupulous scoundrels like a former radio CEO who recently made millions on a bankruptcy doing financial engineering are, and targeting your anger at them seems perfectly acceptable. This is not the norm but its easy to throw rocks, isnt it. You may not like corporate radio and may not think that they know radio, and I agree a few may not and are in it only for the potential of profitability, but most of the top corporations in radio ARE operated by broadcasters who love this business. Bob Pittman, CEO of Clear Channel started out on the air and became a program director and spent much of his life in radio. John Hogan spent his life in radio as a sales guy and GM. No neither of these guys own the company but they run it and set policy and they have to balance what they feel is best for the health of the company and the station ratings and advertisers. Sometimes that requires unpopular decisions. Lew Dickey at Cumulus grew up in a radio family working at his dads radio station on weekends. Dan Mason of CBS spent his life on the air, programming and managing stations. David Field at Entercom did the same. The point being these people love radio and though you and others may not agree with their direction or decisions because you prefer the way things used to be, (which is fine if you want to do this) but the biggest radio companies are being run by people who do have radio passion. I too am passionate about radio. I often disagree with the direction some of these people in radio are going but I have not had to walk in their shoes and live the pressures. Who knows the story behind the decisions? Firing people is never fun for anyone including these people. I know many of them who loose sleep over these decisions but they also understand that if the company isnt healty then more people will loose their jobs if they fail. The old ways of doing radio dont work for their economics because their debt is do deep they have to be efficient. Just reality. The other issue, which those living in the past dont wish to face is national talent taking over local morning shows and local slots, thus jobs lost. TV figured out long ago that they get better ratings and revenues with Letterman or Carson or Leno than they do with a local talent who does not have access to a team of writers, musicians and top guests. Viewers prefer the network shows. Now radio is going in that direction. Frankly Im surprised it did not happen to radio more than it has. Talk radio has done it but music radio is just getting into it. Though I feel its important to make listeners feel as though there is a local feel and interest the reality is that Ryan Seacrest is pretty appealing and probably gives local listeners a great experience (though the person loosing his or her job wont agree). I know there are loads of talented people out there displaced, which is unfortunate. But it IS the reality of radio today and harping on negatives and the past is a fools game. We need to move forward and make radio the best it can be. But if you wish to shout... go for it, get it out of your system.

The first thing to remember is that you can market OUTSIDE your local market too. Its a good insurance policy in the event local art sales die. Keep your name visible at every turn and every place you can by doing interesting and unique things which generate PR. Stay visible on social media. But if you cannot afford a lot...dont spread it out. REPETITION is more important than reach, so repeat, repeat, repeat to build awareness and brand and trust. One impression in 3 places is less valuable than 3 impressions in one place.

Though I cannot speak for the Famous Radio Ranch youre welcome to edit out the Radio Ink if it makes you run it.

Im not sure Rick that is the only issue, though its a big one because not only is that a huge hit for small markets but you also need to purchase a lot of other equipment. We would all be better off if we could find a way to gain universal coverage in all markets (on AM and FM) before a big national push. I dont think we can do a national push and exclude some markets. Not right. I think the big difference in Aus. was a govt mandate.

Dear Segmation: Please reread. I did not say magazines/art magazines are not the way to go. Though I make my living from them, I am starting MORE, not getting away from it. These are very viable tools for building your brand and selling artwork. I am merely saying that ALL advertising is wasted until you are ready in all the steps suggested.

Mark is right. They are courting and getting them because they are grabbing radio listeners. My point (intended) is when broadcasters think they can compete as a music service they will loose. Radios strengths are local and entertainment. BUT they can also be weaknesses to those who do them badly or PRETEND to do them (voicetracking etal). Radio is handing a lot of audience away but it does not need to do so. Though much cannot be prevented much can. Sadly radio will not react until its too late.

Bravo for the push for programing centric content Barry. Its a giant issue and one, which will eventually lead to the dilution on audiences. At that point they will be much harder to get back.

Bob: First, let me reiterate that I love Pandora and it may be an evolution of how we listen to music, but my point is that radios strength is its entertainment and localism. There are clearly abuses at some stations. The assumption is that that people listen only for music. Some do. Others want to feel connected to their community, to an individual (personality) and to what is happening in their community. In spite of these abuses radio does not appear to be loosing market share, in fact it has gone up 1% since the 1970s and has not deteriorated statistically at all in spite of all the wonderful new media offerings. That does not mean radio should get overly confident. They must be aware of these offers, compete in every way and not get lazy or, as I said, they may awaken to find the audiences have left them. My primary point is that radio stations pretending to be juke boxes alone probably cannot compete with something like Pandora, who can do it in a commerical free environment. So they should perhaps rely on what they do well. AND I dont disagree about the spot loads on some stations. Regarding the repetition issue, its been a lifelong battle over what people say they want and what they actually do. They say they dont want repetition yet the stations with the highest ratings typically have the tightest repetition. Odd, huh. I think what people are really saying is dont repeat the songs I dont like but you can play my favorite songs all you want. Good comment, Thanks.

Lance: This is a very valid point. Much as been lost by cutting out the localism of many stations and the local talent. Thankfully not all stations have abandoned this strategy on music stations, though the trend is alarming. The great debate about national entertainment continues and I think if you were to ask Clear Channel they would tell you that their ratings in local markets meet or exceed those where local talent was replaced with someone like Ryan Seacrest, which of course makes it difficult to argue from a financial perspective. The proliferation of voice tracking, sameness, lacking localism is a huge concern and I agree that when consumers face the choice of a Pandora as a playlist service vs a semi-playlist with non-local/non-enertaining talent, it may be an obvious choice. The reality is that Pandora could easily implement a voice-tracking service, which would match what many stations are doing today. The only true protection for these stations is a return to truly being local and entertaining.

Danny: Perspective is a wonderful thing. Over time you see that nothing really matters other than your reputation. Deals come and go. Orders come and go but the clients you burn will never do business with you again and if you advise them to do things that you know are not good for them you deserve to not get business again. Ive made my share of mistakes but there is a big difference between mistaken problems vs knowing youre being deceptive. -Eric

James we are looking forward to your role and speech at our pre-Convergence conference Radio Tech Summit (www.radioink.com/techsummit)

Troy: I am every bit as much a believer in AM radio as FM radio. Indeed radio has been my life, my career and my primary interest. My role, as I see it, is to keep the industry focused on things that are attacking them on all sides and make them aware so they can take action. The reality is that streaming is huge, digital media is even bigger (28% of all ad dollars in media are now going to digital). If I can help AM radio, FM radio in any way, I intend to do so. But Im not the guy in control of what goes on cell phones. If I were and if it were feasible to get an antenna in the phones that would work AM would be there. Im happy to have you attack my role in the industry but accusing me of not being interested in the issues AM is facing is simply not true. Im not trying to single the AM folks out here. Just sayin that its unfortunate that the phones dont have AM too... and if they did Id be suggesting they buy a phone with an AM-FM but to my knowledge they dont exist. Still, I cannot avoid promoting FM on phones because they dont have AM on them. Better to promote R A D I O in any way possible. AM listening in streaming is high... and this provides a way to get ON to those phones for those who DO stream on cell phones. You should be there.

Commissioned song?

This is Eric Rhoads (not Adrian) but there are many vendors who do sell lead paint. I know Adrian got a lot of his paints from ROBERT DOAK in Brooklyn, NY though I dont know if this is still the case.