R.I.P. Local Radio

Connoisseur Media is beginning the process of selling off some of the smaller Alpha Media stations they acquired. That makes sense; these stations just don’t fit the Connoisseur operating model.

In a statement about the two stations they have so far managed to sell, Connoisseur Media Founder and CEO Jeff Warshaw said that his group sought out local operators “that we felt have experience in these communities and could serve them best.” (Translation: we’re going to sell these suckers to anybody who comes up with the money.)

Good luck with that.

It just so happens that some of the stations that I owned and that subsequently became part of the Alpha portfolio are among those that Connoisseur is likely to get rid of. The stations are barely operating at all, with one full-time employee handling sales and the 100% satellite-delivered programming. The station is billing less than 10% of what it did during my tenure. (I’m not bragging about my tenure but rather pointing out what happens to good community radio stations when they are left to die.)

Those of us who are committed to those communities, residents and former residents alike, have tried to round up potential buyers with no success. The stations are broken, Perhaps Beyond repair, they are irrelevant to the community they serve, and to restore them to some degree of technical stability would require about a quarter of a million dollars on top of whatever fire-sale price tags Connoisseur hangs on them.

As Alpha and so many other groups that have focused on smaller market stations exclusively have proved, it is pretty much impossible to operate a large group of small market stations profitably without cutting the soul out of each station.

So what is to become of the stations that Connoisseur is going to shed? I see three possibilities:

1. Local ownership stands a chance, if it is well financed and prepared to make the investment necessary.
2. Group ownership may work if it is a small regional group, but not if it is a large outfit spanning many markets, regions, or states.
3. Turning in the frequency is, I am afraid, going to be the fate of many of these stations.
   In any event, these stations have been so badly run for so many years that savvy investors are going to shy away, and inexperienced investors who take the bait will fail spectacularly and make things worse.

It’s a sad time for local radio, and it gives “survival of the fittest” new meaning and new urgency.