May 10, 2025 • 40 mins
Radio, and in particular AM radio, is a critical part of America’s emergency communication infrastructure. It’s a resource we use to inform the public about states of emergency and other vital information. The AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act was introduced to combat the automobile industry and their efforts to rid newly manufactured vehicles of having AM radio accessibility. Bruce Mittman, the General Partner, CEO of Community Broadcasters, will join us this evening to discuss the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act and the importance of protecting radio.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's night Side with Dan Ray. I'm Wbzy Coostin's me Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Thank you very much, Al Griffith. As we head into
the ten o'clock hour tonight, I am delighted to be
joined by a veteran, and I use that word very respectfully,
a veteran of the radio business. He has done it all,
he's seen it all. Bruce Mittman. Bruce, welcome to night Side.
(00:28):
You're the general partner in the CEO of Community Broadcasters
and we want to talk about AM radio. I want
to talk about radio generally, but particularly AM radio. How
did you get started in this career of viewers that
has now lasted at least four decades.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Well, first of all, thanks for having me on, and
I appreciate the intro.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Well, the inflo is the intro is only factual, that's all.
I stand in awe of everything that you've done. I've
been involved in the business a little bit, but ever
on the ownership side, never on the agency side, and
those are two of the most important sides of this business.
I've always been simply on the employee side. Go right ahead.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Well, so I started well, I started in advertising at Arnold,
a company and worked there in numerous years and had
an account called WRKO Radio and they were making a
switch from music to talk. This was back in the
early eighties and they started going into a talk format.
(01:37):
Bob Fish, who was a general manager at the time,
brought me into his office and made me a deal
I couldn't turned down. And I became general sales manager
and was in radio, and so I started on the
AM band. I started in talk and loved it, and
now I'm doing both, certainly Community Broadcasters which with thirty
(02:02):
four stations and five markets, and Mitcom, which is one
of Boston's twenty five largest agencies in the advertising side.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
So the ownership of stations. Okay, I've only worked at WBZ,
But people don't realize how many radio stations there are
around this country, of various types and various sizes. Give
us a little little perspective, give us the view from
thirty thousand feet of just the number of people and
(02:38):
the number of places where radio stations are found of
this country.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Well, I think, what FM, there are fifteen thousand stations
around the country. Wow, and AM probably about ten or
twelve thousand, So.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
We're talking in total over twenty five thousand radio st.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Yeah, I think so. I think that's accurate. It's up there.
Let's put it this way. There's thousands, and you know
they're owned in major markets predominantly by consolidators like your
own company, iHeart, and then you know Odyssey and Cumulus,
(03:20):
and then smaller secondary markets, which is where I've owned
my properties a lot of independence.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
How tough is is to own a radio station and
be successful in a radio station in a smaller market,
and you know, you can pick one of yours without
identifying it. But give me an example of Oh, I
don't know in terms of the market that you might
have a radio station in one hundred thousand people, fifty
(03:48):
thousand people. There's a rural areas in this country. Really,
the signal of the radio station does not have the
same strength as say a WBZ.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Yeah. Well, BZ is obviously one of the uh certainly
largest uh you know ams in the country. It's part
of the clear channel network of ams, not clear channel media,
but clear channel stations.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Explain to explain to the audience what that means. I
know what it means. Most stations have the signal is
directional north south east, west, northeast southwest whatever.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Clear cha AM you know as is uh, it's the
signal rises to the ionosphere and stops there and then
spreads out. So nighttime, most AM signals are are controlled,
meaning that they have to end at a certain place
because they'll interfere with other signals from other markets because
(04:49):
the signal tends to skip off the atmosphere. FM is
line of sight, meaning it radiates out from the height
of the tower until power dissipates. So it's a fifty
thousand WAT signal probably a sixty mile radius around the tower.
If it's a one hundred thousand, probably more like about
(05:10):
a seventy five mile radius, So very different signals. Yours
being a clear channel property is part of the defense
system in the United States, where a number of stations
on the amband don't have any other signals at night
on their channel, so that in case of a nuclear
(05:30):
war or disaster, people can pick your radio station up
throughout the Northeast.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Yeah, I think we have some two some signals in
some parts of the country far away on the other
side of the Mississippi River, smaller stations. I'm not even
sure if they were on twenty four hours as either,
but I think there's.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
One there are daytimers on your signal, or they're very
low power nighttime one hundred watts do you want to watts?
So they're not going to interfere with your signal, which
is a clear channel signal, which is grandfather. There's a
number of them around the country.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
So before we come back to that, I do want
to come back to pick how does a radio station,
A smaller radio station that somewhat limited in terms of
its wattage and its power, those radio stations survive and
they serve a really important purpose in their community. The
(06:35):
advertisers on those stations are often local advertisers. Just explained,
I mean, to people who have never lived in a
small market America, how important that radio station is, one
of those twenty five thousand radio stations is to that community.
The local newspapers are now going away, So the newspapers
(06:56):
are almost gone. You've got to keep the radio stations.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Well. You know, small market radio is a lot of
fun because you tend to be the medium that drives
the community, and your signals can be just as big
as any major market. We have fifty hundred thousand and
one fms. The difference is is that you know the
market tends to be not as city centric but more
(07:25):
county centric. So you might have two hundred and fifty
thousand people within your listing area, but they're not living
in a city a centralized place. They're living in hubs.
So you have to service lots of different hubs. And
you know, the way you compete effectively is you become
the voice of the community. So, for example, in Florence,
(07:45):
South Carolina, where I own property, I have a morning
news talk news talk network that goes over three markets
and we are pretty much the voice of that community.
I have a very former lieutenant governors, our morning personality,
and we have a sidekick. We have news segments, we
(08:08):
have producers. Like any major market station, it's just that
we're delivering regional, local, and national conversation to the rural communities.
So you're still fulfilling the same function, it's just in
a different way with different personalities.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
And what's the on air hours on a lot of
these stations. I'm sure this fluctuate. You may have some
stations at are twenty four hour stations, but a lot
of them can be watch five am in the morning
until seven o'clock at night.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Well, no, most of it. Most of our properties are
full time, really thirty four properties, twenty four to seven
ams are twenty four to seven FMS or twenty four
to seven. We have a lot of personalities, local personalities,
and then we augment that with indicated shows. It's no
(09:02):
different than you would say our KO which with runs
or your station which might run some syndicated shows and
or syndicated personalities or voices or so you try to
image it the same way and hopefully produce it as
qualitatively as a BZ is produced.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
So that as a matter of fact, I don't think
at this point, to the best of my knowledge, that
BZ has any syndicated shows. I do know they have
some shows on.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Weekends, weekends, I was thinking, yeah, certainly not Monday through
I'm sorry, not Monday through Friday, say to midnight. You're
you're all live and local. So I apologize if that
was no.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
No, no, no no, I just want to make sure
that that's perfect.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
I don't want to send any of your listeners away,
So let me let.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Me take a quick break. My guest is Bruce Mittman. Bruce,
longtime radio guy, owner, sales guy. Do you ever do
any on air stuff Bruce along the way. Other than interviews, well,
you know, I was on.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
A competitive station every Monday talking talking media.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Okay, fair enough, you don't have to we don't have
to publicize that. But you've never had your own show,
per se, right, no ahad Okay, that's fine, that's fine.
It's part of the it's part of the process, just
like you when you I always analogize everything to professional sports.
There are there are people who are coaches, people who
(10:32):
are players, managers and different positions, and it's the same
principle everybody. We're going to come back and I want
to talk about the importance the importance of radio, and
I also want to invite people to give us a
call six one, seven, two, five, four ten thirty six
one seven, nine three one ten thirty. If you have
(10:53):
any question about radio in any way, shape or form,
this is the guy to ask that question of Back
on Nightside, feel free to bring your conversation to us.
This Friday night, we're going to head towards the twentieth
hour at eleven o'clock and we're going to do our
annual Mother's Day tribute back on Nightside right after this,
(11:16):
It's Night Side with.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Dan Ray, Hey, DANBZ Boston's News Radio. You're on Night
Side with Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Joined this hour by Bruce Mittman. He's the general partner
and CEO of Community Broadcasters. He is his ownership of
about thirty four radio station around the country, primarily in
New York State and in South Carolina, which is a
full time job and of itself, and he also runs
an advertising agency, so he knows this business from a
(11:51):
different perspective that I know the business. He's been in
it a long time as well. And if you have
any questions about the radio business, feel free let me
ask you this. What is the health of the radio
business right now? Obviously, the economy goes up and down,
and we now have fortunately or unfortunately digital and podcasting
(12:21):
and of course the Internet. There are a lot of
other ways people can get their information than what people
would get their information from radio, television and newspapers. It's
had a tremendous impact on newspapers. What's the condition of
radio generally at this point.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
Well, you know, radio took a bit of a hit
when COVID came and part of the reason is because
the majority of radio listening is in the car. So
when commuting stopped, obviously listening slowed down, and you know
qume meaning a number of different people, listening was reduced,
(13:04):
and time spent was reduced. Well. As people started to
come back to work, radio listening has improved, time spent
has improved, and reach has improved. I frankly, you know
it's interesting, you know, because I also own midcom and
so we spend millions of dollars in media, and you know,
more and more clients are getting more comfortable again with
(13:27):
radio as part of the media strategy for some of
the branding or sales efforts. And you know, Boston's got
some great radio stations, great personalities, yourself included in that mix,
and then people believe in what you say and they
have an affinity for that radio station. And so the
(13:49):
radio still has a very strong position in the marketplace.
I think that part of the challenge radio has is
its sales teams have to it out and sell it more.
They seem they seem to have relied on years of
not having to sell it as strongly because now people
(14:11):
didn't have as many options. But now with digital and
social and other media strategies, you've got to go out
and show people why radio is still viable in a
great reach and targeting media.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Yeah, the pie remains kind of the same. It's just
that there are more slices in the pie, which is really,
I think, very very, very frustrating.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Yeah, but you know, if you think about it, radio
has got streaming. I mean you're streaming, your show is
on a podcast, you have your show itself, you have
promos on your show, you have social media connected with
your show, and you have some digital support for the show.
So you're in as many places as any other medium.
(14:59):
The miss A lot of the radio salespeople haven't really
sold that effectively. I believe haven't demonstrated to advertises how
many different places they can be with one media buy.
And I think radio still is a very viable option.
And I can tell you we're very effective in small markets.
(15:19):
We're still i think even more effective because we are
such a strong medium for that region.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Very interesting, and again you put it in perspective that
people will understand that if folks want to join the
conversation and throw their ideas that we just got a
couple of minutes left here before the break. I want
to get to an area that I think is important
and many people aware of it. A lot of people
aren't aware of it. And what I'm talking about is
(15:49):
there's an effort in Congress to make sure that AM
radio remains in newly manufactured automobile.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Can you explain to my audience, Uh, why this is
even a problem. I kind of imagine. Now again, I'm
someone who's a radio guy. Obviously, I kind of imagine
having a car without radio.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Yeah, no, I agree. You know, a lot of those,
a lot of these dashboard there's there's been a battle
for the dashboard in the last five years, you know,
uh uh, streaming companies, digital companies, UH, podcasts, UH, audio companies,
satellite radio. Everybody's you know, looking for prominence in the dashboard,
(16:41):
and so AM has sort of lost some of the
luster it's had. Saying that AM fits and fills a
very important void in the marketplace because it provides a
lot of content for ethnic programming UH Asian speaking programming,
(17:02):
Hispanic and Spanish speaking program Portuguese, uh, other forms of
formats on the AM that you won't hear on an FM.
So AM is still a really critical part of the landscape.
There's it's really a cost factor. You just have to
add another chip, and I think the manufacturers just don't
(17:25):
want to add that chip. I'm not sure how it
interfaces with EV cars, because that seems to be the
biggest complaint. But you know, saying that, I still think
AM is very viable, very important, and I know the NAB,
which represents radio and broadcasters, has been a lobby in Congress,
(17:48):
and there's a bill going through Congress shortly that Frankly,
seven Marque has been a very big proponent of to
make sure that A is always in cars, on the
radio and available.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Yeah, I mean I want my AM radio, I want
my FM radio. There are other options. I want more options,
not fewer options. And what I don't need in my
car is the equivalent of what I have on my
television at home. I have like literally almost five hundred
channels that you buy on television and you use.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
Probably the only local medium. I mean, if you really
think about it, all these other options, they're not talking
to the marketplace. They're not in the marketplace. They're not
reflecting on activities that are going in the marketplace. News
that's in the marketplace, traffic, weather, sports, information, interactivity, conversation,
(18:55):
it's still vibrant, very critical, and a lot of this
is on the A band and eliminating that eliminates a
lot of access. You know, a lot of people feel
that the Democrats want to get rid of AM because
there's so much conservative talk on the A M band.
You know, that's that's a debatable point, but it's certainly
(19:17):
one that that is discussed often.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Yeah, I've heard that, but I mean that swings back
and forth. That's like like anything else, there will come
a day when maybe so called liberal talk will be
more more dominant. But I just think again, it's it's
it's it's it's it's a it's a frightening idea, my guess,
(19:41):
Bruce bit Mittman, and we are talking about radio, and
by the way, that piece of legislation, if that would
which would basically say to cars that we look at
radio similarly to a lot of other features of a car.
You want want to have a review mirror, you want
(20:01):
to have side mirrors, you want to have good breaks,
don't you know, if you're going to produce a car,
produce a car which provides everything that a driver needs.
And as you mentioned when you're talking about you know,
things like what we have, traffic on the threes or
weather forecast. Those are all very important to be available
inside a car, particularly if you're driving away from home.
(20:22):
That passed Congress, and I think it died in the Senate.
If I'm not mistaken. It just never got to a
vote in the Senate. A.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
Yes, it's supposed to be brought up again. I know
it keeps going. I don't think it's gotten out of
committee in Congress yet. I think that's been the challenge.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Yeah, what happens is once it dies, there's a new
session and it has to start all over again. But
back a year ago it could be impacted. You had
a Republican House and a Democratic Senator. And my suspicion
is that the Democrats who were running the Senate didn't
want to bring it up, even though Eddie Markey has
done a good job on it as a leading Democrat.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
I think he's been demponent of radio and broadcasting, you know, deregulation.
He was really the key driver of deregulation back in
the eighties and nineties. Finally when consolidation started to become
part of the landscape.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Yeah, but as they say, I think now that the
Republicans have both houses. The ball is in their court
and they need to make sure this gets done during
this session.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
I agree. We have Michael Klarr, the FCC Commissioner, is
a very big supporter of AM as well as the
ability for people smaller markets to buy and own more properties.
So they're very open to change in the industry and
(21:53):
hopefully they'll take this on.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Let us hope. So we got to take a quick
break for news. I do have a couple of lines
still open. We have callers. We're going to get to
the callers. I promise all of you stay right there.
We have one line at six one seven, two, five,
four to ten thirty and one line at six one seven,
nine three one ten thirty. Your questions about radio Those
of you who are listening tonight obviously are radio files.
(22:16):
People who like this concept of news and or talk.
Whether it's political talk, whether it's general talk, whether it's
sports talk. There's a whole variety of information that is available,
and you want to make sure it remains available. That's
why we're doing this hour with Bruce Mittman, and we'll
(22:36):
be back right after the news break here on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Night Side with Dan ray On WBZ with Boston's News Radio.
You're on night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's
News Radio.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Let's get to the phones, my guest, Bruce Mittman. Bruce
is the general partner and CEO of Community Broadcasters. He
has been in this business for forty years as the
owner of an advertising agency, has been involved in management
and ownership. Owns about thirty four radio stations around the country,
(23:14):
focused in South Carolina and New York. Has owned stations
in other states, including Florida. So let's let's just get
to phone calls and see what people have to say.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
Here.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
We have full lines, Bruce, which is which is great.
I know my audience is interested in radio, So let
me start it off with Jolene from Beverly. Joleene, you
are first is out with Bruce Mittman. Go right ahead, Jolene.
Speaker 5 (23:41):
Hi Dan, and Hi to Bruce, your guest. And I
am an am radio lover. I don't know what I'd
do without it. I'm in my pitchen all evening and
listen to the radio, probably starting around seven thirty or
eight and listening right through one a m. And I
(24:04):
have a question about saturation advertising. My husband and I
we have to laugh every time we hear a certain commercial,
and I won't say which one it is.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Thank you very much for that, Jolie, because it might
be one of mine.
Speaker 5 (24:20):
Go ahead, Yeah, but I'm doing I sometimes depends on
the mood I'm in, But as soon as that comes on,
my mood definitely goes down. And sometimes I get so
mad I just want to throw the radio if I
hear oh no, no no? Does them.
Speaker 6 (24:39):
Harm? I believe? And why do they do that?
Speaker 5 (24:44):
Who who determines how many times they're going to play that?
Does the sponsor or the program director?
Speaker 2 (24:53):
How do Bruce has the answer for you? Are you
going to do? Is listen? Bruce going to give the
answer right between the go ahead, prove well.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
First of all, thank you for listening to radio. Because
it's listeners like you that keep us in business. We
appreciate it. So advertisers determine the number of spots unless
it gets to a point that it's so aggravating that
a program director as station might step in and say, hey,
(25:22):
we're gonna limit you to X amount of spots an hour. Now,
the reason you do a lot of frequency is because
it moves the needle. It impacts the listener and they
actually react when they hear it more often. So advertisers
tend to buy a lot of frequency. The key though,
(25:45):
is not running the same spot, is running multiple spots.
If you're going to have a lot of frequency, so
you have different messages so you don't bore the listener,
and you also give the listener a lot more information
so that they can be more educated to consumers and
relate a little bit more to the commercials. But I
know what you mean. Sometimes it gets obnoxious, Jolie.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
I think a lot of people understand what you're saying.
But remember this, Without advertising, we go dark exactly.
Speaker 5 (26:18):
So that's that's an important harming them. But I supposed
to say, uh, focus on people who just tune in
and out randomly.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
Yeah, that's true. If you're listening, if you're as loyal
to listen as you suggested, you're gonna you're gonna hear
them all, that's for sure. Hey, Jolie, thanks so much
for calling. I'm glad you're at That was a great
question to ask. Thank you so much.
Speaker 7 (26:41):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
Have a great night and enjoy the weekend and stay
dry for hoever long. If his reign is gonna last
let's keep rolling here. We're gonna go next to Gene
from Ever Gene, You're next to Night Side. You're on,
Bruce Mittman, Goretta.
Speaker 4 (26:53):
Edd Jene, Hi, Jane, Hi, Bruce, thank you for being on.
So I love it Am Radio.
Speaker 6 (26:59):
Jan.
Speaker 4 (26:59):
I love your show and listen all the time. It's
great and very informative and.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
Hopefully too hopefully entw dating too. What's your what's your
question for Bruce? Go ahead?
Speaker 4 (27:13):
So I also listened in the morning. I need to
catch the weather. I'm a caretaker for several elderly family
members and I'm always running, run and running. Okay, I
need to know what the weather is. I need to
know what the traffic is. I listen for all that
and yeah, and what's good also is that I can
(27:33):
listen to the radio while I'm doing my laundry, while
I'm house cleaning, while I'm in my car. I can
catch it everywhere. Sure, you know, so that's great. I
can't sit here in front of a TV very long.
I don't watch it as much. I don't have time.
So I do love the radio. And what I also
want to know is where can I buy a radio nowadays?
Speaker 2 (27:53):
With any questions?
Speaker 4 (27:55):
Very hard to find.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
That's a great question, my sister. Okay, hold on says.
Speaker 4 (28:01):
Watch the radio.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Hold on, Jane, hold On, We got your questions. Go ahead.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
Well, you know, I believe you still can buy radios
at best Buy. I think you can, certainly. You know,
it's it's not that easy. You can buy them online. Certainly. Amazon,
uh sells radios online, and so does Walmart online. It's
not as easy to buy a radio because, uh, people
(28:26):
do you know, listen a lot through their computers.
Speaker 6 (28:29):
You know.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
The good part about radio nar is you can stream
it or you can listen, you know, if you have
a a streaming receiver in your kitchen, like a Google
device that that plays radio. Yeah, so you you can
(28:52):
find radio in a lot of different places, and a
lot of people now if they're outside the car, tend
to stream it because it's so e to get through
an app. iHeart has an app with all the radio
stations as well as all their podcasts, and so they
make it easy for you to listen as well. So
radio is pretty ubiquitous now.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
Is BO still Is BO still in business?
Speaker 3 (29:16):
Bose is still in business. Yeah, both is a very
big company and and uh they still make radios.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
So so there's a few ideas, Gene, there's no reason.
All right, Gene, thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (29:31):
I got packed, Daniel. Let us know if this comes
up again in Congress.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
Oh you bet you, you bet you. I may be
over your house knocking on your door, Jean with a petition.
You never know. We'll talk. So okay, all right, let
me get one more in here before we got to
go to break. We're going to go to Lola in
San Diego. Lola, you are on with Bruce. Going right ahead, Lola, Gruth.
Speaker 6 (29:57):
I'm going to give you my experience driving driving with
the internet streaming through my tablets. There's no there's no towers.
There's no towers. So now, so I love conspiracy theory,
and this isn't a conspiracy theory, this is facts. No
(30:18):
am radio, you can't hear what's going on, so they
need to stay in the car. So the second next
thing is to buy a portable radio that you can
keep with you because I'm in traffic. I'm not even
that fire, but it's between towers and the streaming drops
(30:38):
and it makes me upset. Now I'm in the car,
and you know everybody else is upset too.
Speaker 8 (30:44):
Because they're all streaming this.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
No, this is not with you, little I'm not laughing
at you. I'm laughing with you. And it's absolutely true
what you're saying.
Speaker 6 (30:54):
So, you know, has good things, but it's got a
lot of bad things, and people don't see that. They
really don't.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
Well, am is am is an important medium that needs
to stay in the car and I agree with you,
and and radio is still a very vibrant medium and
it needs to be supported. So you know, all this
benefit from all the good programming. I mean it's free, right,
you know, in today's world when things costs are getting
(31:24):
higher and higher, certainly that's one of the few free
mediums still out there that you can get supported by advertisers.
And so it's an important part of the community and
it needs to stay where it is.
Speaker 6 (31:41):
And NPR. Trump just cut all the funding for public radio, like.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
Well, it's the reality is public radio only gets two
percent of its funding from the federal government.
Speaker 6 (31:55):
So it's not you know what two percent. I like
the two percent.
Speaker 9 (32:00):
Send it to me.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Okay, we'll try to work on that. Rolla lola, I
get you in here the break man.
Speaker 6 (32:05):
I know what your strategy, Dan, I'd be talking all night.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Thanks Lola, You'll be well. Okay, I guarantee you whether
it's better in San Diego right now that it is
in Boston. Okay.
Speaker 6 (32:18):
Thanks, Yes for one day, we had a lot of
rain and clouds. We take great rain.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Nothing but thanks Lola. Have a great weekend.
Speaker 6 (32:26):
Droughtsover now the droughts sob good, have a great have
a great weekend. Right, Happy Mother's Day weekend, Thank you
every Mother's Day.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
A good night. Okay, we'll take a break, Bruce, let's
keep rolling here. We got I'm sure more calls and
we got a few more minutes. And I really appreciate, Bruce,
you're taking the time tonight because I appreciate you having me.
Speaker 3 (32:46):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
I didn't realize that the that NPR was just two percent.
Speaker 3 (32:52):
I forget about it's only two percent. You know, it's
you know, I'll tell you one thing before the break.
You know, I was on I was on one of
the boards at PBS locally, and you know I used
to go in their newsroom and say to myself, they
had more equipment, Oh yeah in their newsroom than I
had in my thirty four radio stations.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Yeah. Well, also, I can tell you that a lot
of the folks who are on air on PBS are
killing it financially. I mean, oh yeah, you know, and
if you look at some of those salaries, it's unbelievable,
absolutely unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (33:29):
And none of it not BZ nor My company can run,
has to run much more leaned in order to stay profitable.
They don't.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
You got it, you got it. We'll take a quick
break back with Bruce Mittman. More phone calls. I got
Darryln and New Brunswick, Michael and Boston, and if you
want to try, I'm trying to get another one or
two more in, but then that will be it. We'll
be back and this is we should do this more often.
We'll be back on Nightside right after.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
This Night Side with Dan Ray, Boston News Radio. Night
Side with Dan Ray on WBS, Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
All right, let's try to get everybody in here. Let
me start it off with Darryl in New Brunswick, New Hampshire,
once again our international broadcast. Daryl, you are with Bruce Mittman.
What's your question of comment? Darryl?
Speaker 9 (34:21):
Hey, Dan, Bruce, Darryl from New Brunswick, Canada. Welcome and
welcome this might be relevance to AM radio. You guys
have the signal, right, and you guys have long reaches, right,
we do it. And the benefit being reference to the automobile.
(34:43):
Even people are asking where they can get radios. Just
go to home depot or whatever stores you have and
buy construction radio and you can pick it up for miles.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
All right. Well that's good to know, Darryl, and hopefully
Gene is still listening. Okay.
Speaker 9 (35:02):
Well, it also goes back to if you guys have
incidents where your disasters and whatnot, it also keeps the
truck drivers involved and they can listen and whatnot. Even
homeless people, they can stay in touch with what's going on.
And the main benefit is you guys allowed the conversation
(35:24):
with the people as opposed to other media.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
Right, you got it. You got it, Darrell, I got
pack lines. So I'm gonna let you run. Have a
great weekend. Stay warm up there in New Brunswick. Summer
is coming. Don't worry.
Speaker 9 (35:36):
Hey, it's only going down to zero tonight.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
How about that? Yeah, well your zero's thirty two, so
it's not quite what our zero is. Thanks, thanks, Darrel,
I'll talk to you later. By vine. Let's keep rolling.
Here're gonna go to Michael in Boston. Michael, you next
time nights. I want to get you in a couple
more in Go ahead, Michael.
Speaker 7 (35:52):
Yes, let's get to the meet here. The meaty questions,
what mister Mittman on your programming throughout the number of
radio stations that you have, is the programming standard format
that you use or do you study the demographics and
the competition before you program to that market.
Speaker 3 (36:14):
That's a good question. So yes, demographics play a big
role in how you program. Lifestyle plays a big role.
You know, in the South, country is is a is
a very strong format. Country music, political conversation, conservative political
(36:34):
conversation in the South is an important part of the lifestyle.
And so all those issues come to play up north,
you know. And I was in Florida. We were playing
much more sort of ac meaning more pop music, contemporary music,
(36:58):
softer sounds for people on the beaches, because that's what
they needed. So every market gets served based on its population.
It's demographics and it's lifestyle.
Speaker 7 (37:10):
Okay, thank you. I had one more comment real quick
on a small radio station. I've worked for a lot
of them that had no agency business at all nothing
because they have no ratings, they have nothing to sell,
so all of the business was direct. Am I still
(37:32):
right on that. When you have a small market radio station,
everything is dependent on the strength of your sales force.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
Well, yes, predominantly your preponderance of sales probably eighty sorry
say ninety percent is going to be direct, you know,
or eighty percent will be direct, and then maybe another
ten percent might be agencies, and then maybe ten might
be national. And in these days ten is you and
(38:02):
high on the national side. So you do have some
agency business, but predominantly you're you're calling on on businesses direct.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
Yes, yeah, that's what Michael, it is, Michael, great questions,
great questions. I had a roll here because they got
to get a couple more in.
Speaker 7 (38:18):
Okay, thank you, Michael, listen, Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
H You're welcome. Thank you. Let me go to Andrew
and Hyde Park Andrew, you are next on nice side
with Bruce Mitt mcgaret.
Speaker 8 (38:27):
Heead Andrew, Hi, Dan, Hi, Bruce, thank you for for
my call. I've been a radio listener since I was
a kid, and my parents will put me to bed
and it would either.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
Be a joke.
Speaker 8 (38:37):
Signey owned or David Brudnoy uh, who are supposed to
be putting me to sleep, but I would be up
until one am listening regardless. But thank you both for
your continued contributions. My question is with podcasting, uh, you know,
really really taking off of the past, you know, decade
or so, how does the AM radio stay ahead of
(38:58):
the curve moving forward?
Speaker 3 (39:00):
Well, I think am radio that's a good question, by
the way, And you know a lot of shows like
this show for example, I think I believe it will
be in a podcast tomorrow. So you can use a
podcasts to sort of echo your show. You can use
podcasts to extend your personalities, so a Dan can do
(39:21):
his own podcast, so he can use the show to
drive listening and then get much deeper into a conversation
with some of his guests. And a podcast So podcasts
and AM still work together. It's about how you use
the medium and how creative you want to be. There's
no limits, there's no rules, and I think the more
(39:44):
you expand your thinking and try new options, you'll find
you can be successful. So I think radio will continue
in its frame. News talk on the am will still
be live talk, interactive talk, I think is the strength
of AM and certainly ethnic programming because it's there's a
(40:07):
lot of it's an opportunity for a lot of people
to access it that don't have any other place to go,
and there are a lot of AM signals. So it
still contributes to the well being of the community, the listening,
the interest, and the creativity of the community. So I
think radio has a future and it'll continue to have.
Speaker 2 (40:30):
One gentlemen on that very positive point right here and
our thanks Andrew. It is a great question. Keep listening
to Night Side, okay, and train your children as well,
Thanks Andrew. To the callers in the line, I apologize
this was a great hour. Bruce Mitt mean, thank you
very much.
Speaker 3 (40:47):
Thanks thanks for having me us. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (40:50):
Dan, it was a lot of fun, pous, great fun,
and we'll do it. Was good radio and we'll do
it again
It's night Side with Dan Ray. I'm Wbzy Coostin's me Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Thank you very much, Al Griffith. As we head into
the ten o'clock hour tonight, I am delighted to be
joined by a veteran, and I use that word very respectfully,
a veteran of the radio business. He has done it all,
he's seen it all. Bruce Mittman. Bruce, welcome to night Side.
(00:28):
You're the general partner in the CEO of Community Broadcasters
and we want to talk about AM radio. I want
to talk about radio generally, but particularly AM radio. How
did you get started in this career of viewers that
has now lasted at least four decades.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Well, first of all, thanks for having me on, and
I appreciate the intro.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Well, the inflo is the intro is only factual, that's all.
I stand in awe of everything that you've done. I've
been involved in the business a little bit, but ever
on the ownership side, never on the agency side, and
those are two of the most important sides of this business.
I've always been simply on the employee side. Go right ahead.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Well, so I started well, I started in advertising at Arnold,
a company and worked there in numerous years and had
an account called WRKO Radio and they were making a
switch from music to talk. This was back in the
early eighties and they started going into a talk format.
(01:37):
Bob Fish, who was a general manager at the time,
brought me into his office and made me a deal
I couldn't turned down. And I became general sales manager
and was in radio, and so I started on the
AM band. I started in talk and loved it, and
now I'm doing both, certainly Community Broadcasters which with thirty
(02:02):
four stations and five markets, and Mitcom, which is one
of Boston's twenty five largest agencies in the advertising side.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
So the ownership of stations. Okay, I've only worked at WBZ,
But people don't realize how many radio stations there are
around this country, of various types and various sizes. Give
us a little little perspective, give us the view from
thirty thousand feet of just the number of people and
(02:38):
the number of places where radio stations are found of
this country.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Well, I think, what FM, there are fifteen thousand stations
around the country. Wow, and AM probably about ten or
twelve thousand, So.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
We're talking in total over twenty five thousand radio st.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Yeah, I think so. I think that's accurate. It's up there.
Let's put it this way. There's thousands, and you know
they're owned in major markets predominantly by consolidators like your
own company, iHeart, and then you know Odyssey and Cumulus,
(03:20):
and then smaller secondary markets, which is where I've owned
my properties a lot of independence.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
How tough is is to own a radio station and
be successful in a radio station in a smaller market,
and you know, you can pick one of yours without
identifying it. But give me an example of Oh, I
don't know in terms of the market that you might
have a radio station in one hundred thousand people, fifty
(03:48):
thousand people. There's a rural areas in this country. Really,
the signal of the radio station does not have the
same strength as say a WBZ.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Yeah. Well, BZ is obviously one of the uh certainly
largest uh you know ams in the country. It's part
of the clear channel network of ams, not clear channel media,
but clear channel stations.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Explain to explain to the audience what that means. I
know what it means. Most stations have the signal is
directional north south east, west, northeast southwest whatever.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Clear cha AM you know as is uh, it's the
signal rises to the ionosphere and stops there and then
spreads out. So nighttime, most AM signals are are controlled,
meaning that they have to end at a certain place
because they'll interfere with other signals from other markets because
(04:49):
the signal tends to skip off the atmosphere. FM is
line of sight, meaning it radiates out from the height
of the tower until power dissipates. So it's a fifty
thousand WAT signal probably a sixty mile radius around the tower.
If it's a one hundred thousand, probably more like about
(05:10):
a seventy five mile radius, So very different signals. Yours
being a clear channel property is part of the defense
system in the United States, where a number of stations
on the amband don't have any other signals at night
on their channel, so that in case of a nuclear
(05:30):
war or disaster, people can pick your radio station up
throughout the Northeast.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Yeah, I think we have some two some signals in
some parts of the country far away on the other
side of the Mississippi River, smaller stations. I'm not even
sure if they were on twenty four hours as either,
but I think there's.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
One there are daytimers on your signal, or they're very
low power nighttime one hundred watts do you want to watts?
So they're not going to interfere with your signal, which
is a clear channel signal, which is grandfather. There's a
number of them around the country.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
So before we come back to that, I do want
to come back to pick how does a radio station,
A smaller radio station that somewhat limited in terms of
its wattage and its power, those radio stations survive and
they serve a really important purpose in their community. The
(06:35):
advertisers on those stations are often local advertisers. Just explained,
I mean, to people who have never lived in a
small market America, how important that radio station is, one
of those twenty five thousand radio stations is to that community.
The local newspapers are now going away, So the newspapers
(06:56):
are almost gone. You've got to keep the radio stations.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Well. You know, small market radio is a lot of
fun because you tend to be the medium that drives
the community, and your signals can be just as big
as any major market. We have fifty hundred thousand and
one fms. The difference is is that you know the
market tends to be not as city centric but more
(07:25):
county centric. So you might have two hundred and fifty
thousand people within your listing area, but they're not living
in a city a centralized place. They're living in hubs.
So you have to service lots of different hubs. And
you know, the way you compete effectively is you become
the voice of the community. So, for example, in Florence,
(07:45):
South Carolina, where I own property, I have a morning
news talk news talk network that goes over three markets
and we are pretty much the voice of that community.
I have a very former lieutenant governors, our morning personality,
and we have a sidekick. We have news segments, we
(08:08):
have producers. Like any major market station, it's just that
we're delivering regional, local, and national conversation to the rural communities.
So you're still fulfilling the same function, it's just in
a different way with different personalities.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
And what's the on air hours on a lot of
these stations. I'm sure this fluctuate. You may have some
stations at are twenty four hour stations, but a lot
of them can be watch five am in the morning
until seven o'clock at night.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Well, no, most of it. Most of our properties are
full time, really thirty four properties, twenty four to seven
ams are twenty four to seven FMS or twenty four
to seven. We have a lot of personalities, local personalities,
and then we augment that with indicated shows. It's no
(09:02):
different than you would say our KO which with runs
or your station which might run some syndicated shows and
or syndicated personalities or voices or so you try to
image it the same way and hopefully produce it as
qualitatively as a BZ is produced.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
So that as a matter of fact, I don't think
at this point, to the best of my knowledge, that
BZ has any syndicated shows. I do know they have
some shows on.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Weekends, weekends, I was thinking, yeah, certainly not Monday through
I'm sorry, not Monday through Friday, say to midnight. You're
you're all live and local. So I apologize if that
was no.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
No, no, no no, I just want to make sure
that that's perfect.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
I don't want to send any of your listeners away,
So let me let.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Me take a quick break. My guest is Bruce Mittman. Bruce,
longtime radio guy, owner, sales guy. Do you ever do
any on air stuff Bruce along the way. Other than interviews, well,
you know, I was on.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
A competitive station every Monday talking talking media.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Okay, fair enough, you don't have to we don't have
to publicize that. But you've never had your own show,
per se, right, no ahad Okay, that's fine, that's fine.
It's part of the it's part of the process, just
like you when you I always analogize everything to professional sports.
There are there are people who are coaches, people who
(10:32):
are players, managers and different positions, and it's the same
principle everybody. We're going to come back and I want
to talk about the importance the importance of radio, and
I also want to invite people to give us a
call six one, seven, two, five, four ten thirty six
one seven, nine three one ten thirty. If you have
(10:53):
any question about radio in any way, shape or form,
this is the guy to ask that question of Back
on Nightside, feel free to bring your conversation to us.
This Friday night, we're going to head towards the twentieth
hour at eleven o'clock and we're going to do our
annual Mother's Day tribute back on Nightside right after this,
(11:16):
It's Night Side with.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Dan Ray, Hey, DANBZ Boston's News Radio. You're on Night
Side with Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Joined this hour by Bruce Mittman. He's the general partner
and CEO of Community Broadcasters. He is his ownership of
about thirty four radio station around the country, primarily in
New York State and in South Carolina, which is a
full time job and of itself, and he also runs
an advertising agency, so he knows this business from a
(11:51):
different perspective that I know the business. He's been in
it a long time as well. And if you have
any questions about the radio business, feel free let me
ask you this. What is the health of the radio
business right now? Obviously, the economy goes up and down,
and we now have fortunately or unfortunately digital and podcasting
(12:21):
and of course the Internet. There are a lot of
other ways people can get their information than what people
would get their information from radio, television and newspapers. It's
had a tremendous impact on newspapers. What's the condition of
radio generally at this point.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
Well, you know, radio took a bit of a hit
when COVID came and part of the reason is because
the majority of radio listening is in the car. So
when commuting stopped, obviously listening slowed down, and you know
qume meaning a number of different people, listening was reduced,
(13:04):
and time spent was reduced. Well. As people started to
come back to work, radio listening has improved, time spent
has improved, and reach has improved. I frankly, you know
it's interesting, you know, because I also own midcom and
so we spend millions of dollars in media, and you know,
more and more clients are getting more comfortable again with
(13:27):
radio as part of the media strategy for some of
the branding or sales efforts. And you know, Boston's got
some great radio stations, great personalities, yourself included in that mix,
and then people believe in what you say and they
have an affinity for that radio station. And so the
(13:49):
radio still has a very strong position in the marketplace.
I think that part of the challenge radio has is
its sales teams have to it out and sell it more.
They seem they seem to have relied on years of
not having to sell it as strongly because now people
(14:11):
didn't have as many options. But now with digital and
social and other media strategies, you've got to go out
and show people why radio is still viable in a
great reach and targeting media.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Yeah, the pie remains kind of the same. It's just
that there are more slices in the pie, which is really,
I think, very very, very frustrating.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Yeah, but you know, if you think about it, radio
has got streaming. I mean you're streaming, your show is
on a podcast, you have your show itself, you have
promos on your show, you have social media connected with
your show, and you have some digital support for the show.
So you're in as many places as any other medium.
(14:59):
The miss A lot of the radio salespeople haven't really
sold that effectively. I believe haven't demonstrated to advertises how
many different places they can be with one media buy.
And I think radio still is a very viable option.
And I can tell you we're very effective in small markets.
(15:19):
We're still i think even more effective because we are
such a strong medium for that region.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Very interesting, and again you put it in perspective that
people will understand that if folks want to join the
conversation and throw their ideas that we just got a
couple of minutes left here before the break. I want
to get to an area that I think is important
and many people aware of it. A lot of people
aren't aware of it. And what I'm talking about is
(15:49):
there's an effort in Congress to make sure that AM
radio remains in newly manufactured automobile.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Can you explain to my audience, Uh, why this is
even a problem. I kind of imagine. Now again, I'm
someone who's a radio guy. Obviously, I kind of imagine
having a car without radio.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Yeah, no, I agree. You know, a lot of those,
a lot of these dashboard there's there's been a battle
for the dashboard in the last five years, you know,
uh uh, streaming companies, digital companies, UH, podcasts, UH, audio companies,
satellite radio. Everybody's you know, looking for prominence in the dashboard,
(16:41):
and so AM has sort of lost some of the
luster it's had. Saying that AM fits and fills a
very important void in the marketplace because it provides a
lot of content for ethnic programming UH Asian speaking programming,
(17:02):
Hispanic and Spanish speaking program Portuguese, uh, other forms of
formats on the AM that you won't hear on an FM.
So AM is still a really critical part of the landscape.
There's it's really a cost factor. You just have to
add another chip, and I think the manufacturers just don't
(17:25):
want to add that chip. I'm not sure how it
interfaces with EV cars, because that seems to be the
biggest complaint. But you know, saying that, I still think
AM is very viable, very important, and I know the NAB,
which represents radio and broadcasters, has been a lobby in Congress,
(17:48):
and there's a bill going through Congress shortly that Frankly,
seven Marque has been a very big proponent of to
make sure that A is always in cars, on the
radio and available.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Yeah, I mean I want my AM radio, I want
my FM radio. There are other options. I want more options,
not fewer options. And what I don't need in my
car is the equivalent of what I have on my
television at home. I have like literally almost five hundred
channels that you buy on television and you use.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
Probably the only local medium. I mean, if you really
think about it, all these other options, they're not talking
to the marketplace. They're not in the marketplace. They're not
reflecting on activities that are going in the marketplace. News
that's in the marketplace, traffic, weather, sports, information, interactivity, conversation,
(18:55):
it's still vibrant, very critical, and a lot of this
is on the A band and eliminating that eliminates a
lot of access. You know, a lot of people feel
that the Democrats want to get rid of AM because
there's so much conservative talk on the A M band.
You know, that's that's a debatable point, but it's certainly
(19:17):
one that that is discussed often.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Yeah, I've heard that, but I mean that swings back
and forth. That's like like anything else, there will come
a day when maybe so called liberal talk will be
more more dominant. But I just think again, it's it's
it's it's it's it's a it's a frightening idea, my guess,
(19:41):
Bruce bit Mittman, and we are talking about radio, and
by the way, that piece of legislation, if that would
which would basically say to cars that we look at
radio similarly to a lot of other features of a car.
You want want to have a review mirror, you want
(20:01):
to have side mirrors, you want to have good breaks,
don't you know, if you're going to produce a car,
produce a car which provides everything that a driver needs.
And as you mentioned when you're talking about you know,
things like what we have, traffic on the threes or
weather forecast. Those are all very important to be available
inside a car, particularly if you're driving away from home.
(20:22):
That passed Congress, and I think it died in the Senate.
If I'm not mistaken. It just never got to a
vote in the Senate. A.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
Yes, it's supposed to be brought up again. I know
it keeps going. I don't think it's gotten out of
committee in Congress yet. I think that's been the challenge.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Yeah, what happens is once it dies, there's a new
session and it has to start all over again. But
back a year ago it could be impacted. You had
a Republican House and a Democratic Senator. And my suspicion
is that the Democrats who were running the Senate didn't
want to bring it up, even though Eddie Markey has
done a good job on it as a leading Democrat.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
I think he's been demponent of radio and broadcasting, you know, deregulation.
He was really the key driver of deregulation back in
the eighties and nineties. Finally when consolidation started to become
part of the landscape.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Yeah, but as they say, I think now that the
Republicans have both houses. The ball is in their court
and they need to make sure this gets done during
this session.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
I agree. We have Michael Klarr, the FCC Commissioner, is
a very big supporter of AM as well as the
ability for people smaller markets to buy and own more properties.
So they're very open to change in the industry and
(21:53):
hopefully they'll take this on.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Let us hope. So we got to take a quick
break for news. I do have a couple of lines
still open. We have callers. We're going to get to
the callers. I promise all of you stay right there.
We have one line at six one seven, two, five,
four to ten thirty and one line at six one seven,
nine three one ten thirty. Your questions about radio Those
of you who are listening tonight obviously are radio files.
(22:16):
People who like this concept of news and or talk.
Whether it's political talk, whether it's general talk, whether it's
sports talk. There's a whole variety of information that is available,
and you want to make sure it remains available. That's
why we're doing this hour with Bruce Mittman, and we'll
(22:36):
be back right after the news break here on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Night Side with Dan ray On WBZ with Boston's News Radio.
You're on night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's
News Radio.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Let's get to the phones, my guest, Bruce Mittman. Bruce
is the general partner and CEO of Community Broadcasters. He
has been in this business for forty years as the
owner of an advertising agency, has been involved in management
and ownership. Owns about thirty four radio stations around the country,
(23:14):
focused in South Carolina and New York. Has owned stations
in other states, including Florida. So let's let's just get
to phone calls and see what people have to say.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
Here.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
We have full lines, Bruce, which is which is great.
I know my audience is interested in radio, So let
me start it off with Jolene from Beverly. Joleene, you
are first is out with Bruce Mittman. Go right ahead, Jolene.
Speaker 5 (23:41):
Hi Dan, and Hi to Bruce, your guest. And I
am an am radio lover. I don't know what I'd
do without it. I'm in my pitchen all evening and
listen to the radio, probably starting around seven thirty or
eight and listening right through one a m. And I
(24:04):
have a question about saturation advertising. My husband and I
we have to laugh every time we hear a certain commercial,
and I won't say which one it is.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Thank you very much for that, Jolie, because it might
be one of mine.
Speaker 5 (24:20):
Go ahead, Yeah, but I'm doing I sometimes depends on
the mood I'm in, But as soon as that comes on,
my mood definitely goes down. And sometimes I get so
mad I just want to throw the radio if I
hear oh no, no no? Does them.
Speaker 6 (24:39):
Harm? I believe? And why do they do that?
Speaker 5 (24:44):
Who who determines how many times they're going to play that?
Does the sponsor or the program director?
Speaker 2 (24:53):
How do Bruce has the answer for you? Are you
going to do? Is listen? Bruce going to give the
answer right between the go ahead, prove well.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
First of all, thank you for listening to radio. Because
it's listeners like you that keep us in business. We
appreciate it. So advertisers determine the number of spots unless
it gets to a point that it's so aggravating that
a program director as station might step in and say, hey,
(25:22):
we're gonna limit you to X amount of spots an hour. Now,
the reason you do a lot of frequency is because
it moves the needle. It impacts the listener and they
actually react when they hear it more often. So advertisers
tend to buy a lot of frequency. The key though,
(25:45):
is not running the same spot, is running multiple spots.
If you're going to have a lot of frequency, so
you have different messages so you don't bore the listener,
and you also give the listener a lot more information
so that they can be more educated to consumers and
relate a little bit more to the commercials. But I
know what you mean. Sometimes it gets obnoxious, Jolie.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
I think a lot of people understand what you're saying.
But remember this, Without advertising, we go dark exactly.
Speaker 5 (26:18):
So that's that's an important harming them. But I supposed
to say, uh, focus on people who just tune in
and out randomly.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
Yeah, that's true. If you're listening, if you're as loyal
to listen as you suggested, you're gonna you're gonna hear
them all, that's for sure. Hey, Jolie, thanks so much
for calling. I'm glad you're at That was a great
question to ask. Thank you so much.
Speaker 7 (26:41):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
Have a great night and enjoy the weekend and stay
dry for hoever long. If his reign is gonna last
let's keep rolling here. We're gonna go next to Gene
from Ever Gene, You're next to Night Side. You're on,
Bruce Mittman, Goretta.
Speaker 4 (26:53):
Edd Jene, Hi, Jane, Hi, Bruce, thank you for being on.
So I love it Am Radio.
Speaker 6 (26:59):
Jan.
Speaker 4 (26:59):
I love your show and listen all the time. It's
great and very informative and.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
Hopefully too hopefully entw dating too. What's your what's your
question for Bruce? Go ahead?
Speaker 4 (27:13):
So I also listened in the morning. I need to
catch the weather. I'm a caretaker for several elderly family
members and I'm always running, run and running. Okay, I
need to know what the weather is. I need to
know what the traffic is. I listen for all that
and yeah, and what's good also is that I can
(27:33):
listen to the radio while I'm doing my laundry, while
I'm house cleaning, while I'm in my car. I can
catch it everywhere. Sure, you know, so that's great. I
can't sit here in front of a TV very long.
I don't watch it as much. I don't have time.
So I do love the radio. And what I also
want to know is where can I buy a radio nowadays?
Speaker 2 (27:53):
With any questions?
Speaker 4 (27:55):
Very hard to find.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
That's a great question, my sister. Okay, hold on says.
Speaker 4 (28:01):
Watch the radio.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Hold on, Jane, hold On, We got your questions. Go ahead.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
Well, you know, I believe you still can buy radios
at best Buy. I think you can, certainly. You know,
it's it's not that easy. You can buy them online. Certainly. Amazon,
uh sells radios online, and so does Walmart online. It's
not as easy to buy a radio because, uh, people
(28:26):
do you know, listen a lot through their computers.
Speaker 6 (28:29):
You know.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
The good part about radio nar is you can stream
it or you can listen, you know, if you have
a a streaming receiver in your kitchen, like a Google
device that that plays radio. Yeah, so you you can
(28:52):
find radio in a lot of different places, and a
lot of people now if they're outside the car, tend
to stream it because it's so e to get through
an app. iHeart has an app with all the radio
stations as well as all their podcasts, and so they
make it easy for you to listen as well. So
radio is pretty ubiquitous now.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
Is BO still Is BO still in business?
Speaker 3 (29:16):
Bose is still in business. Yeah, both is a very
big company and and uh they still make radios.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
So so there's a few ideas, Gene, there's no reason.
All right, Gene, thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (29:31):
I got packed, Daniel. Let us know if this comes
up again in Congress.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
Oh you bet you, you bet you. I may be
over your house knocking on your door, Jean with a petition.
You never know. We'll talk. So okay, all right, let
me get one more in here before we got to
go to break. We're going to go to Lola in
San Diego. Lola, you are on with Bruce. Going right ahead, Lola, Gruth.
Speaker 6 (29:57):
I'm going to give you my experience driving driving with
the internet streaming through my tablets. There's no there's no towers.
There's no towers. So now, so I love conspiracy theory,
and this isn't a conspiracy theory, this is facts. No
(30:18):
am radio, you can't hear what's going on, so they
need to stay in the car. So the second next
thing is to buy a portable radio that you can
keep with you because I'm in traffic. I'm not even
that fire, but it's between towers and the streaming drops
(30:38):
and it makes me upset. Now I'm in the car,
and you know everybody else is upset too.
Speaker 8 (30:44):
Because they're all streaming this.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
No, this is not with you, little I'm not laughing
at you. I'm laughing with you. And it's absolutely true
what you're saying.
Speaker 6 (30:54):
So, you know, has good things, but it's got a
lot of bad things, and people don't see that. They
really don't.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
Well, am is am is an important medium that needs
to stay in the car and I agree with you,
and and radio is still a very vibrant medium and
it needs to be supported. So you know, all this
benefit from all the good programming. I mean it's free, right,
you know, in today's world when things costs are getting
(31:24):
higher and higher, certainly that's one of the few free
mediums still out there that you can get supported by advertisers.
And so it's an important part of the community and
it needs to stay where it is.
Speaker 6 (31:41):
And NPR. Trump just cut all the funding for public radio, like.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
Well, it's the reality is public radio only gets two
percent of its funding from the federal government.
Speaker 6 (31:55):
So it's not you know what two percent. I like
the two percent.
Speaker 9 (32:00):
Send it to me.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Okay, we'll try to work on that. Rolla lola, I
get you in here the break man.
Speaker 6 (32:05):
I know what your strategy, Dan, I'd be talking all night.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Thanks Lola, You'll be well. Okay, I guarantee you whether
it's better in San Diego right now that it is
in Boston. Okay.
Speaker 6 (32:18):
Thanks, Yes for one day, we had a lot of
rain and clouds. We take great rain.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Nothing but thanks Lola. Have a great weekend.
Speaker 6 (32:26):
Droughtsover now the droughts sob good, have a great have
a great weekend. Right, Happy Mother's Day weekend, Thank you
every Mother's Day.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
A good night. Okay, we'll take a break, Bruce, let's
keep rolling here. We got I'm sure more calls and
we got a few more minutes. And I really appreciate, Bruce,
you're taking the time tonight because I appreciate you having me.
Speaker 3 (32:46):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
I didn't realize that the that NPR was just two percent.
Speaker 3 (32:52):
I forget about it's only two percent. You know, it's
you know, I'll tell you one thing before the break.
You know, I was on I was on one of
the boards at PBS locally, and you know I used
to go in their newsroom and say to myself, they
had more equipment, Oh yeah in their newsroom than I
had in my thirty four radio stations.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Yeah. Well, also, I can tell you that a lot
of the folks who are on air on PBS are
killing it financially. I mean, oh yeah, you know, and
if you look at some of those salaries, it's unbelievable,
absolutely unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (33:29):
And none of it not BZ nor My company can run,
has to run much more leaned in order to stay profitable.
They don't.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
You got it, you got it. We'll take a quick
break back with Bruce Mittman. More phone calls. I got
Darryln and New Brunswick, Michael and Boston, and if you
want to try, I'm trying to get another one or
two more in, but then that will be it. We'll
be back and this is we should do this more often.
We'll be back on Nightside right after.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
This Night Side with Dan Ray, Boston News Radio. Night
Side with Dan Ray on WBS, Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
All right, let's try to get everybody in here. Let
me start it off with Darryl in New Brunswick, New Hampshire,
once again our international broadcast. Daryl, you are with Bruce Mittman.
What's your question of comment? Darryl?
Speaker 9 (34:21):
Hey, Dan, Bruce, Darryl from New Brunswick, Canada. Welcome and
welcome this might be relevance to AM radio. You guys
have the signal, right, and you guys have long reaches, right,
we do it. And the benefit being reference to the automobile.
(34:43):
Even people are asking where they can get radios. Just
go to home depot or whatever stores you have and
buy construction radio and you can pick it up for miles.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
All right. Well that's good to know, Darryl, and hopefully
Gene is still listening. Okay.
Speaker 9 (35:02):
Well, it also goes back to if you guys have
incidents where your disasters and whatnot, it also keeps the
truck drivers involved and they can listen and whatnot. Even
homeless people, they can stay in touch with what's going on.
And the main benefit is you guys allowed the conversation
(35:24):
with the people as opposed to other media.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
Right, you got it. You got it, Darrell, I got
pack lines. So I'm gonna let you run. Have a
great weekend. Stay warm up there in New Brunswick. Summer
is coming. Don't worry.
Speaker 9 (35:36):
Hey, it's only going down to zero tonight.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
How about that? Yeah, well your zero's thirty two, so
it's not quite what our zero is. Thanks, thanks, Darrel,
I'll talk to you later. By vine. Let's keep rolling.
Here're gonna go to Michael in Boston. Michael, you next
time nights. I want to get you in a couple
more in Go ahead, Michael.
Speaker 7 (35:52):
Yes, let's get to the meet here. The meaty questions,
what mister Mittman on your programming throughout the number of
radio stations that you have, is the programming standard format
that you use or do you study the demographics and
the competition before you program to that market.
Speaker 3 (36:14):
That's a good question. So yes, demographics play a big
role in how you program. Lifestyle plays a big role.
You know, in the South, country is is a is
a very strong format. Country music, political conversation, conservative political
(36:34):
conversation in the South is an important part of the lifestyle.
And so all those issues come to play up north,
you know. And I was in Florida. We were playing
much more sort of ac meaning more pop music, contemporary music,
(36:58):
softer sounds for people on the beaches, because that's what
they needed. So every market gets served based on its population.
It's demographics and it's lifestyle.
Speaker 7 (37:10):
Okay, thank you. I had one more comment real quick
on a small radio station. I've worked for a lot
of them that had no agency business at all nothing
because they have no ratings, they have nothing to sell,
so all of the business was direct. Am I still
(37:32):
right on that. When you have a small market radio station,
everything is dependent on the strength of your sales force.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
Well, yes, predominantly your preponderance of sales probably eighty sorry
say ninety percent is going to be direct, you know,
or eighty percent will be direct, and then maybe another
ten percent might be agencies, and then maybe ten might
be national. And in these days ten is you and
(38:02):
high on the national side. So you do have some
agency business, but predominantly you're you're calling on on businesses direct.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
Yes, yeah, that's what Michael, it is, Michael, great questions,
great questions. I had a roll here because they got
to get a couple more in.
Speaker 7 (38:18):
Okay, thank you, Michael, listen, Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
H You're welcome. Thank you. Let me go to Andrew
and Hyde Park Andrew, you are next on nice side
with Bruce Mitt mcgaret.
Speaker 8 (38:27):
Heead Andrew, Hi, Dan, Hi, Bruce, thank you for for
my call. I've been a radio listener since I was
a kid, and my parents will put me to bed
and it would either.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
Be a joke.
Speaker 8 (38:37):
Signey owned or David Brudnoy uh, who are supposed to
be putting me to sleep, but I would be up
until one am listening regardless. But thank you both for
your continued contributions. My question is with podcasting, uh, you know,
really really taking off of the past, you know, decade
or so, how does the AM radio stay ahead of
(38:58):
the curve moving forward?
Speaker 3 (39:00):
Well, I think am radio that's a good question, by
the way, And you know a lot of shows like
this show for example, I think I believe it will
be in a podcast tomorrow. So you can use a
podcasts to sort of echo your show. You can use
podcasts to extend your personalities, so a Dan can do
(39:21):
his own podcast, so he can use the show to
drive listening and then get much deeper into a conversation
with some of his guests. And a podcast So podcasts
and AM still work together. It's about how you use
the medium and how creative you want to be. There's
no limits, there's no rules, and I think the more
(39:44):
you expand your thinking and try new options, you'll find
you can be successful. So I think radio will continue
in its frame. News talk on the am will still
be live talk, interactive talk, I think is the strength
of AM and certainly ethnic programming because it's there's a
(40:07):
lot of it's an opportunity for a lot of people
to access it that don't have any other place to go,
and there are a lot of AM signals. So it
still contributes to the well being of the community, the listening,
the interest, and the creativity of the community. So I
think radio has a future and it'll continue to have.
Speaker 2 (40:30):
One gentlemen on that very positive point right here and
our thanks Andrew. It is a great question. Keep listening
to Night Side, okay, and train your children as well,
Thanks Andrew. To the callers in the line, I apologize
this was a great hour. Bruce Mitt mean, thank you
very much.
Speaker 3 (40:47):
Thanks thanks for having me us. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (40:50):
Dan, it was a lot of fun, pous, great fun,
and we'll do it. Was good radio and we'll do
it again
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