Media Info Bureau

In this world of acronyms that we find ourselves living in, BEA (Broadcast Education Association) is one acronym broadcasters would be wise to become better acquainted with or, better yet, become a corporate associate member of.I’m honored to hold one of the two “Professional Representative”- designated seats on BEA’s board of directors (Christine H. Merritt, my esteemed colleague and President of the Ohio Association of Broadcasters, holds the other in her capacity as the Executive Committee’s “Vice-President for Industry Relations.”) Appreciatively, the BEA provides each of the NASBA-member state broadcasters association a complimentary associate membership in the BEA. Just yesterday, Ms. Merritt and I had the privilege of providing a BEA update at NASBA’s semi-annual meeting in Washington, DC, tasked with the responsibility of reminding each SAE (what do you know, another acronym, this time referencing State Association Executive) the tremendous value that BEA’s complimentary membership provides each of our associations, placing a wealth of resources and opportunities at our fingertips.

The State Leadership Conferences (SLC) for numerous state broadcaster associations are held in conjunction with the annual National Alliance of State Broadcasters Associations (NASBA) conference in DC. It’s a great opportunity for broadcasters and State Broadcaster Association execs to gather in our nation’s capital and share ideas and formulate solutions to the many pressing regulatory and legislative challenges facing the broadcast industry. They include:

Can you really blame people? Everyone is getting a little sales weary! From the second we get up in the morning until the moment our heads hit the pillow and our lids close we are getting pitched, asked, negotiated, told, closed, cold called, prospected, and so much more! I’m in media sales and I protect myself all of the time from it and I believe it is your right to protect yourself as well. Even though you are in media sales as well.

All Broadcast Associations are here to serve their members. We often need to react to what’s happening in our industry by providing new services that will help radio and television broadcasters navigate through concerns. In my recent visits with stations in Missouri, nearly every general manager voiced a common area of need; more sales people and good sales managers to lead them. The strength of a sales team and the revenue it produces is often dependent on the strength of its managers. This has led the Missouri Broadcasters Association to begin planning for an on-going sales manager training for our members. Stations must be able to attract good sales managers in order to hire good sales people. What does a good sales manager want in their place of employment?

The New Jersey Public Education Partnership (PEP) Program offers government agencies the opportunity

In the mid-1950s, the transistor revolutionized radio. Gone were the “portable” tube radios with bulky, expensive batteries

There is a fire that burns inside of me to help improve the community that I live in. I want to help make a difference in it. And while every single one of us can day in and day out by our actions and the way we carry ourselves I realized that perhaps by using sports marketing as a tool and the sports talk radio station I work at as a platform I could create even greater change. And not just that but I thought perhaps I could deliver some opportunities to my clients that would help their businesses, help our community, and help my relationships with them. This struck me as a win win.

How long is the to-do list today? It probably includes that you are going to hit your budget for the month, call one hundred prospects, offer them all great ideas, work on strategy with your great current accounts, and turn in all of the paperwork your manager is asking you to do. All of the sudden the day is over and you feel that you didn’t achieve your goals. Overwhelmed and frustrated the drive home begins and you think to yourself: If only I can get it all done tomorrow. We can’t and we won’t. We need to instead focus in on doing the three most important things that you need to get done that day that will have a BIG impact on what you are trying to get done at your media outlet.

Both Kantar Media and Rentrak conducted analyses that provide individual ratings of the Super Bowl commercials

The situation has become an all too familiar one. The station has been on the market for the last five years. Few offers have come in and none of those could be thought of as being remotely attractive or credible. In some cases, the proposed purchase price was laughably low. In other cases, the purchase price was attractive, but the buyer’s financing was suspect. The buyer even wanted the seller to finance a large portion of the deal by issuing seller paper. Finally, however, the seller receives an attractive offer. The proposed purchase price is a good one. The buyer supposedly has its financing in place. Nevertheless, the seller has a lingering doubt about the buyer. The buyer has no track record of closing broadcast deals. In fact, the buyer – having made most of its money in real estate transactions – is new to the broadcast industry. Given the length of time that the station has been on the market and the attractiveness of the proposed purchase price, however, the seller wants to explore the opportunity and see if the buyer’s proposal is for real.

Several state broadcast associations have made forays into law changes that would permit a more flexible and robust method of publishing notice ads. Our proposed model in Maine called for a centralized statewide website run by an independent third party, with rates deeply discounted from print-ad rates (no overhead or circulation costs, remember) to save some of the taxpayers’ hard-earned, and with a daily “snapshot” of site content delivered to the state archives as proof of publication. It also called for a widespread, ongoing mass media campaign (think radio and TV ads) to create awareness and drive people to the website. Unfortunately, despite support from our Governor, the idea ran up against the press juggernaut and was ultimately unsuccessful.