Ratings Up: Revenue Down

Broadcast media is now getting hit with the same economic tidal wave that has been pushing newspapers and magazines under water. But it’s not just due to the internet turning consumers from couch potatoes into keyboard clickers. It’s also advertising dollars now disappearing from all forms of traditional media.

Here is a case in point.

The other day I played golf with a long-time friend of mine who is also in the media business. He anchors a very popular morning radio show in the San Francisco Bay Area. When I asked how things were going for him given the always tenuous nature of careers in broadcasting, he said, “Ratings for my show are through the roof. We have no problem getting listeners. The problem is we have no buyers.”

That is a statement I never thought I would hear in broadcasting. For decades, running a television or radio station was like printing money. And the better the ratings the more money you made, as advertisers flocked to your doors to buy time for eager clients. Not anymore.

Many of those eager clients were: car companies, banks, real estate companies, retailers and airlines. Get my drift? Every one of those industries is under water from that same economic tidal wave washing over virtually every business that advertises in the country.

The long-term trend here is not good. Stations now say they can no longer afford to keep paying the best and the brightest to give you the news and information vital to an educated and involved society. The New York Times reported earlier this week that local TV stations all across the country are getting rid of highly paid long-time anchors who brought you the news with experience and insight.

Now, according to a New York news producer friend of mine, “your local newscast highlights a young and attractive blonde standing in front of a burning building.” To which I add sadly, it also leads the newscast.

(Brian Banmiller is a national Business Correspondent for CBS News Radio, free lance writer and public speaker. The former television business news anchor in San Francisco can be reached at brian@banmilleronbusiness.com .)