Radio Aid
Two things directly contributed to the rise of radio consultants: more stations – from 2000 in the 1950s to 12,000 in 2000 – and more formats – from a half dozen to several dozen during the same period. Broadcast consultants have been around almost from the start, but it was not until the medium set a new course following the advent of television that the field grew to real prominence. By the 1960s, consultants were directing the programming efforts of hundreds of stations. In the 1970s, over a third of the nation’s stations enlisted the services of consultants. Today, the field of radio consultancy has shrunk substantially due to the corporatization of the radio industry.
The ranks have dwindled to half of its former number. Says former top radio consultant Kent Burkhart, “Since consolidation many of the small consulting companies have shut their doors. Most of the large consulting companies with lots of assets (meaning an exclusive format, research partners, marketing connections, etc.) have done well financially…but not as well as before. Prior to consolidation our company (Burkhart/ Abrams) was charging a certain fee for each station in a group. However, since consolidation many groups have hired one chief programming executive for a lot less money than the aforementioned fee per station. I thought consolidation would change the face, operations, and efficiency our consulting company and others. It didn’t sound like fun to me, so prior to the consolidation rollout I sold our consulting company in 1995.
Consultant Donna Halper shares a similar view of the impact of consolidation on her profession, “It’s certainly affected radio consulting. With fewer independent stations that means radio conglomerates are relying more on voice-tracking and syndication. It used to be that consultants trained and developed talent in small and medium markets, but these days a company might simulcast the same programs on two or more of their stations or use voice-tracking from another city to give the impression that a live and local personality is on the air.
They may also have an in-house person who oversees the stations. Yet, this saves the companies money on hiring talent (and also saves them from hiring a consultant), but it also presents a problem. Many of these companies are not planning for the future. Rush Limbaugh and Howard Stern will not live forever, and without developing new talent, who will take their place? As we witnessed during the 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina crises, people DO want live and local radio, yet in many markets, there are no local personalities at all. Sooner or later somebody will have to start developing talent again and creating radio stations that are unique. We are already raising a generation of young adults who don’t rely on radio the way their parents did. To get these people back (and I do believe it can be done) radio needs to return to its roots and get involved with the community again. As a consultant and someone who loves radio, I hope we will see more local personalities and more local programming. Radio needs to get back to being a friend again.”
Echoing Halper’s sentiments, consultant Doug Erickson says, “The biggest challenge for radio consultants today is the corporate resistance to new ideas. As radio has become a consolidated industry, it has become more conservative in many ways. General managers (GM) and program directors (PDs) feel more pressure to make the ‘right’ choice and this often leads to making the ‘safest’ choice – which is not always in the best interest of the station. As a consultant I try to make station management aware of the risks of doing nothing innovative. If terrestrial radio is to continue to be a part of the daily lives of most people, it must find a new way to remain personal and relevant, and it must do as much to touch the hearts of listeners as it does their ears.” Meanwhile, consultant Gary Berkowicz says that consolidation has not impacted his business greatly but admits it has taken its toll on the field, “I still fly over 100,000 miles a year, so I’d say things are pretty good. In all seriousness, there is no doubt that it has changed.
There are fewer consultants today, and somewhat fewer opportunities and stations to work for.” Also, from the perspective of Juan Carlos Hidalgo, who consults Spanish radio, the market for his services is strong. “It’s been a fascinating experience working for stations in major markets, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco, where you have all the tools, like research and marketing budgets to compliment programming efforts. At the same time in the smaller markets that I consult, I have to rely more on creativity due to the limited budgets and tools. The dynamic of these two different situations keeps me on the cutting edge of doing new and exciting things to improve the performance of my client radio stations. Consolidation hasn’t impacted my business. Maybe in the future.”
Whether the radio consultancy function will be completely absorbed by corporations remains to be seen. However, consultants continue to play an important role in the shaping and management of the medium today. Observes prominent radio consultant George Burns, “The principal role of radio consultants has evolved considerably since Mike Joseph started the whole thing in the 1950s. We began by being very specifically task oriented. A consultant was assumed to have greater expertise at the job
than anyone that the station could afford fulltime. Currently consultants serve primarily as outside (and, it is hoped, impartial) monitors of station progress. The job is to assure management that everything possible is being done to maximize the station’s potential. If something is not functioning properly or needs to be changed, consultants are expected to give voice to these concerns. Over the years, the job has become infinitely more complex. Musical and nonmusical aspects of programming have spread widely apart. Research has become a separate discipline. And lately, the marketing side of radio has achieved a ‘life of its own.’ Different consultants approach each station’s progress from varying points of view. Specialization was inevitable.”
Stations use consultants for various reasons, says Fred Jacobs, president of Jacob’s Media: “Stations realize that they need an experienced, objective ear to make intelligent evaluations. Consultants are also exposed to ideas and innovations from around the country that they can bring to their client stations. As radio has become more competitive, stations understand that their need for up-to-date information about current trends in programming and marketing has increased.”
Dave Scott, former president of Century 21 Programming (now TM Century), Dallas, Texas, adds that a lack of research expertise on the local station level prompts many stations to use consultants. “We’re well into the information age, the age of highly sophisticated research techniques and computerized data. It takes a lot of resources to assess a market and prescribe a course of action. Most stations do not have the wherewithal. At the former Century 21 Programming, each of our consultants went through more ratings surveys and research data than most station owners, managers, or program directors did in a lifetime. The way the marketplace is today, using a consultant generally is a wise move. Radio stations that attempt to find their niche by trial and error make costly mistakes. A veteran consultant can accelerate a station’s move on the road to success.”
Donna Halper agrees with Scott and adds, “Consultants give their client stations an objective viewpoint and another experienced person’s input. Consultants are support people, resource people, who bring to a situation a broader vision rather than the purely local perspective. Consultants, and not just out-of-work PDs who call themselves consultants but in reality aren’t, have a lot of research, information, and expertise they can make available to a client with an ailing station.”
Mikel Hunter of Mikel Hunter Broadcast Services, Las Vegas, says consultants’ help stations develop a distinctiveness that they need to succeed. “Unfortunately most station PDs are bandwagon riders. Many watch what other stations do around the country and clone them in their markets. Sometimes this works. Often it doesn’t. It likely was a consultant who helped design the programming of that successful station being copied, and the consultant did so based on what was germane to that particular market, not one a thousand miles away. Therein lies the problem. Simply because a station in Denver is doing great book by programming a certain way does not guarantee that a station in Maryland can duplicate that success. A good consultant brings originality and creativity to each new situation, in addition to the knowledge and experience he possesses. The follow-the-leader method so prevalent among programmers actually creates a lot of the problems that consultants are called on to remedy.”
Fewer than 100 broadcast consultants are listed in the various media directories around the country. More than half of this number specializes in radio. Says Ed Shane, “I remember a time when there were 250 programming consultants listed in the R&R directory. The number has tumbled since consolidation. One-man shops that couldn’t make it as clients were swallowed by competing companies. Some consulting firms merged (Holland Cooke and McVay Media, for example). Others folded to go in-house at major companies (Jack Taddeo to Capstar, for instance).”
In general, consultancy companies average around 20–30 employees but may be composed of as few as two or three and in some cases are a one-person operation. Many successful program directors also provide consultancy to stations in other markets in addition to their regular programming duties. A growing number of station rep companies provide their client stations consultancy services for an additional fee.Again, in the age of station consolidation and massive radio groups, consultancy often originates in-house