Industry Interviews

Many people have noted a minor renaissance in station trading, but according to broadcast financial expert John Brooks it still is not a great market and financing is still extremely hard to come by. As to the general health of the radio business, it could be better but some might be surprised it’s still even around. Strap in and click through for a financial reality check.

Veteran media broker Glenn Serafin has a lot to say about the current state of station trading and as well as analysis of where it is headed in the near future. But he has more than that to share – general financial and operational advice based on years in the biz, as well as a cordial invitation to entrepreneurs who would love to break into broadcast ownership. Check it out.

I got started in the media business 25 years ago with a firm that provided financial services to several broadcast groups and learned so much about what it takes to run a successful business.

Sun Broadcast Group launched the entertainment and lifestyle oriented “The Marilu Henner Show,” hosted by Marilu Henner

Moody’s Corporation analyst Carl Salas has been calling balls and strikes for publicly-traded companies for some time now, and in this fascinating interview, he discusses in some depth the criteria he uses when determining whether deem an outlook positive, stable or negative. If you want know what Moody’s is looking for in order to better provide it, this interview is both newsworthy and a must-read.

Townsquare Media Group has been one of the hottest topics in the radio business, especially after its landmark deal with Cumulus. The group’s Alex Berkett is in charge of M&A activity, among other things, and he tells us about the company’s plans for further acquisitions, its focus on local and its strategy of wedding radio, digital and live events. And if you’re looking for a job…

In between juggling multiple executive responsibilities, broadcast veteran John McConnell took time to share his thoughts on the current state of radio programming in America. Click through for ideas on mixing national, local and digital content, along with his nominations for the hottest current formats.

How can traditional media monetize social media? Like Mark Zuckerberg did with Facebook, media CEOs need to invest in building their social media audiences then monetizing them. I meet many CEOs who want to monetize while they build the audience. The best strategy is to get really good at engaging with your current audience across social media platforms, learn their patterns, then look for ways to monetize that audience in new ways.

Don Cheto (Juan Carlos Razo) is the host of Liberman Broadcasting's “El Show de Don Cheto,” a humor- and music-driven morning drive Spanish language variety show heard on 19 affiliates. With Piolin leaving Univision for SiriusXM recently, his previous affiliates are looking for a perfect replacement and finding it in Don Cheto. RBR-TVBR spoke to Don Cheto and Winter Horton, Liberman Broadcasting COO, to hear what makes the show such a hit in its markets:

With numerous new entities entering this space—including Google’s All Access Music, Apple’s iTunes Radio and MySpace’s My Radio—Pandora’s turf continues to be invaded. We spoke with Kritzman about the impact of that, as well as royalty structure deals; what makes Pandora unique; their sales structure, revenue models, apps, mobile ad sales, and more:

We recently asked Steve Willard, current head of the National Alliance of State Broadcasters Associations, what some of the key concerns are of his constituency, and the first thing he wanted to talk about was broadcast service during emergencies. Not favorable legislation, favorable deregulation, general economic issues. No, the first topic was public service. Impressive. Click through for more thoughts from Mr. Willard.

Media Services Group Managing Director wears a lot of hats (including a racing helmet), but in this session he mostly expounds on the current station trading environment. However, he also stresses that radio must place a high level of importance on a successful youth movement – and he’s not talking about young listeners. Check it out.

Join us as we present John Pelkey’s wide-ranging look at the broadcasting environment from his Washington communications lawyer perspective. Among many other things, Pelkey discusses the odd and still-disappointing transaction financing environment, the disparity between television and radio deals, and the chances of the Fairness Doctrine being exhumed. Enjoy!

Before moving over to Spotify, Brian cut his teeth in radio--most recently as President of Katz Radio Group’s Katz 360 Sales. The focus was on expanding the company’s digital efforts by offering national advertisers the ability to reach their target audiences through several different channels--on-air, online, HD and mobile. Katz 360 Sales capitalized on Katz Radio Group’s 2007 acquisition of Net Radio Sales (Jennifer Lane) by consolidating all of KRG’s digital assets into a single unit. Benedik was previously the President of KRG’s Christal Radio. Here, we asked Brian about working for the competition—Spotify.

Bill has been the Voice of Westchester County, NY and the Big Apple in general for decades with two stations that cover the market well. Untold numbers of local and national politicians, organizations and voices in general have aired behind the mic of WVOX and WVIP. He's now working on his fifth book, another in the line of the life and voices of NYC, based on the invaluable relationships he's made over the years in the business.