AM - FM - XM

An essay of opinion by Larry Shannon
Published May 2002

One day, a curious fellow walked up to him and said, "Standing out here every day like you do, I’ll bet you’ve seen a lot of changes in your lifetime, old timer."

"Yep!" the old timer said. "And I was against ever dang one of ‘em!"

You probably know folks like him. They were the ones who said that the musket would never replace the bow and arrow. These are the experts who argued that the automobile was just a passing fad – that the horse and buggy were good enough for them. One of them may have been your uncle who was the last one in the family to get a color TV … And then, only when he couldn’t buy vacuum tubes for the black and white set.

They’re the ones who still change their oil, spending $20 in parts and equipment when the local oil and lube shop will do it for $15. Why? Just because they’ve " … always done it that way."

They are uncomfortable with change. You may have known secretaries and office workers who feared that computers would replace them and their typewriters. Later they found that their skills and experience made them even more valuable in this exploding electronic age of communications that has brought us the fax, the cell phone, the computer, digital hand held communicators like the Palm and Handspring, as well as cable and satellite TV, and the Internet.

And now, the agents of change are walking the hallways of radio stations from coast to coast. XM and Sirius satellite have made AM and FM broadcasters uncomfortable.

From an unscientific survey of those with whom I have communicated, most tend to say that satellite radio won’t last. "The numbers aren’t there," they exclaim. "Who would pay ten bucks for what they can get for free?"

I wonder if they say that from the fear of change, a fear of losing their jobs or just because they’re against change like the old timer who stood on the courthouse lawn?  Do they have some magic, inside track on Wall Street that the rest of us don't have?

Do they pay for cable or satellite TV? Or do they just have an antenna on the rooftop that pulls in the UHF and VHF stations?

Maybe you’re a broadcaster who’s smarter than I am and have some infinite wisdom that Wall Street and Miss Cleo would love to have. But, I have been down too many roads and in too many situations where I was afraid of change or encountered those who were.  I have learned to adapt and accept new things.  Not without question, of course.  But, the curiosity in me is sometimes a better guide than my instinct.

Frankly, I am excited about change, innovation and technological advances. I welcome them. I want to find out how I can use these to benefit my life and myself.

In the early 1970’s I worked at Fort Worth-Dallas’ KFJZ, a top rated AM Top 40 radio station. We had a FM station, KWXI, that played beautiful music. It just sat there, automated, generating little income. I’d walk by the FM studios on my trips to the snack bar and watch the big reel to reel tapes turn, cranking out lifeless, middle of the road music, song after song. And I’d wish that I could just flip a switch and simulcast our AM on KWXI

The jocks tried to convince management to simulcast our AM programming on our FM station. "No," was the reply. They reasoned that they wanted to keep the ratings up on the AM. To simulcast would dilute the AM’s ratings. Their rates would have to be lowered on AM if the FM started cutting into the AM’s numbers. A few years later, KWXI had become Z-97 and now is The Eagle 97.1.

I’ve heard the story of how KLIF 1190 in Dallas was sold in the early 70’s for a then astonishing amount of money. Gordon McLendon wanted to sell the FM to the buyers, too, and offered to do so. His price tag was a bargain basement $150,000. But, the buyers said that they wanted only "the cash cow -- the AM" and declined. It was almost exactly 18 months later that McLendon’s KNUS FM --the station that they declined to buy for $150,000 -- hammered KLIF 1190 and others in the ratings wars. The moo of a once mighty and proud cash cow was heard no more.

On the walk back to the McLendon Building from the Statler-Hilton Hotel on Commerce Street in Dallas, the idea was seeded to reprogram KNUS FM. The next day, a one and a half page memo from Ken Dowe to Gordon McLendon was the outline that changed KNUS FM programming and Dallas-Fort Worth radio forever.

Today, Gary Parsons, Hugh Panero, Greg Cole, Stephen Cook, Steven Gavenas, Lee Abrams and Dave Logan have teamed up with other programming people and financial partners to create XM Satellite Radio. (www.xmradio.com).

David Margolese, Joseph Clayton, John Scelfo, Guy Johnson and Patrick Donnelly are the key people at Sirius Satellite Radio. (www.siriusradio.com)

XM is the first such service to cover the continental United States. Sirius Satellite is not far behind. They’ve just announced that they are operating in eleven states. By July, Sirius will be satelcasting to all 48 states as well.

There are both big money and great minds behind XM and Sirius. These are "serious" investors and "serious" hands-on people who are the backbones of the two companies.

Yesterday, at the urging of and through the generosity of Bill Mack, XM’s Satellite Cowboy, and his wife, Cindy, an XM Satellite radio was installed in my car. While it was being installed at the Best Buy store, I wandered down the shopping mall’s sidewalk to a PetsMart store.

A young clerk, who couldn’t have been older than18 or 19, asked if I needed any help. I told him that I was just browsing, killing time while a radio was being installed in my car.

"Are you getting an XM radio?" he blurted, excitedly, with an almost envious look in his eyes.

When I nodded to indicate that it was, indeed, an XM radio that I was getting, he volunteered an impulsive, "Wow! Those are great! My father’s got one and I’m getting one next week. A lot of my friends at school have them in their cars."

At that moment, I felt a little bit like Todd Storz must have felt when he, as legend has it, sat in that bar in Omaha, writing down the songs that were being played over and over again on the juke box, and sketched out the beginnings of a format that would become Top 40 Radio.

Folks, a natural progression is upon us. AM beget FM. Network and local television beget cable and satellite TV. The age of communications technology has begot XM and Sirius Satellite.

Fear it, fight it or find a way to deal with it. Satellite radio is here to stay.

Satellite radio won't replace AM or FM. But, rather, it will complement them both and add new dimensions and choices to your audio life.

For those of you who want to believe that satellite radio will not be around a year from now, keep believing it if you wish.

There are many naysayers and yeasayers, evenly divided, on Wall Street. But, remember, these are the same guys who advised you about investing your money in Enron and kept you in stocks that are now worthless. Their well-paid rear ends are buckled into the plush seats on Wall Street and in the studios of Fox, CNNfn and CNBC.

I’ve never seen Maria Bartiromo or Neil Cavuto in a Best Buy or Circuit City store aisle. But, I have seen the excitement and anticipation in the eyes of a young clerk who works at PetsMart.  And, I have learned over the years that the younger generation almost always discovers the "next things" long before we older folks do.

Do you want proof that to hear is to believe? About an hour after the XM radio was installed in my car, I met a few radio friends for after work beverages. I told them about and showed them the XM radio in my car. While we sat in the car, they punched up channel after channel and listened. It wasn’t long before one of them, who shall remain nameless for the time being, turned to me and told me that he was going to ask his wife if he could spend the money to get an XM unit in his car.

The surprising thing was that, only minutes before, he had told me that if folks wanted to hear music without commercials in their cars, they could just burn some songs on their CD recorders.

I heard from him today via e-mail. He is still excited about getting an XM Satellite Radio in his car and, together, we’ll figure out a way to get permission from his lovely wife to do so. However, he told me that everyone in his radio station’s hallways with whom he spoke about satellite radio said that satellite radio wouldn’t last.

Wait’ll he gets his XM Satellite radio installed and takes them down to the parking garage to listen. I expect that there’ll be an exodus to the nearest Best Buy or Circuit City store.

Punching the channel selector buttons and listening to the great variety of entertainment is all it will probably take for you, too, to experience something that you’ll probably be purchasing for yourself -- sooner or later.

Don’t be afraid to take a test drive of the channels. If you’re hesitant to do so, it may be because you’ve been misinformed about what exactly XM and Sirius Satellite radio programming is composed of.

It’s not just commercial-free music, it’s a variety of music, talk, comedy and sports.

Just think of satellite radio as being cable or satellite TV on the radio.

Because I have listened to XM’s channels, I can tell you about some of the choices that XM offers. Remember, though, that Sirius has similar programming on its 100 channels.

For news junkies, you’ll find the same Fox News, CNBC, CNN Headline News channels that you watch on cable and satellite TV on satellite radio. There’s CNET, USA Today and XM News channels to boot. If you have found yourself rushing home to catch Hannity and Colmes, Bill O’Reilly or Maria Bartiromo on Fox or CNBC TV, you don’t have to do so anymore. You can listen to those shows in your car on satellite radio.

Hannity’s there on ABC Talk channel, too. You don’t have to listen to the delayed broadcast of his show on the local stations. You can hear it live on the ABC Talk channel.

On the country side of the channel selections, you’ll hear the America channel from XM’s Nashville studios. Nashville’s WSIX is featured, too. The Open Road channel offers talk and on-the-road music with Bill Mack (The Satellite Cowboy), Dale Sommers (The Truckin’ Bozo) and Dave Nemo. Drop by X Country, Bluegrass Junction or Hank’s Place.

Want to hear some current contemporary hits? It’s not just commercial free channels you can punch up. Listen to Channel 21 and you’ll hear KISS FM 102.7 from Los Angeles. XM’s Channel 22 is KHMX 96.5 from Houston.

Got a funny bone? Tickle it with the XM Comedy Channel, Laugh USA or Extreme XM.

I could go on. But, heck, I’ve come up with an excuse to drive to the 7 Eleven store so I can listen to more of those channels on my XM Satellite radio and I want to go jump into my car.

Take a look and listen to XM's programming line up (click here) and the Sirius programming (click here).

One of the key points that I want to make and I hope that you’ll take from this essay is this. Satellite radio makes radio fun, refreshing, interesting and exciting to listen to -- again.

Quit thinking just "local," radio people. The audience thinks "national" and has been thinking "national" ever since cable and satellite TV gave them a larger view of the world and more choices. Local will always be there. But, the audience is fickle.  We've become a mobile society and have less allegiance to the cities that we live in.

Most AM’s and FM’s will be around for a long time. But, welcome the new neighbors on the radio block -- XM and Sirius. Recognize them, compete with them. But, quit denying their existence. They’re here. Get used to it. Satellite Radio will never replace AM and FM local radio. But, there is an audience for satellite radio. Believe it.

When I was fifteen and first beginning a career in radio, someone told me that a good rule to remember was to, "Be funny, be informative or be quiet."

Radio minutes are precious quantities. They should be filled with quality, not just quantity programming.  Don't practice your show live on the air -- perform it, professionally.  You only get one chance to get it right.

Somewhere along the way, it could be that a lot of radio station owners have forgotten the simple rules. The "funny" on a lot of radio stations is, sometimes, just not funny.  Much of the information being broadcast is not that "informative."  The "quiet" that you may be hearing in the future could be the empty sound of radio stations that go dark because, first, there are too many local frequencies in most markets that can’t be financially sustained and, secondly, because radio may not have the sense to quit listening to some of the financial folks in the corporate offices who have just become too greedy and shortsighted.

The audience is always smarter than a lot of radio people give them credit for being. They’re quickly discovering that they have other choices. If they haven’t yet, they’ll soon discover XM and Sirius Satellite Radios.

If you’re one of those who keeps walking down the hallways of the radio station muttering that satellite radio won’t last, let me issue you a challenge. Put your money where your mutter is and invest in an XM or Sirius Satellite Radio.  But, you'd better hurry ... They're selling the satellite radio units as quickly as they can stock them in retail stores!

With all that foresight, wisdom and acumen that you possess, surely you have a spare $300 that you can spend.  $10 a month for the programming is not going to break you.  That young kid I met at PetsMart has found the money and he may be having his XM Satellite radio installed while you continue to mutter. You wouldn’t want folks to think that a kid who’s probably making just a little above minimum wage is way ahead of you on this "next thing," would you?

Comments?

Larry Shannon               
Publisher
RadioDailyNews.com