I'm back from a much needed vacation where I spend a lot of time with my family. That included a great 3 day trip with my wife to the White Mountains of New Hampshire and I posted some of the photos from our trip.
See my vacation photos hereIn the Thursday May 10th edition of the Courier Gazette, an editorial, titled "Radio Daze" was printed. This is my response to that editorial.
It’s always interesting to me that many people are quick to jump on “out-of-state” radio ownership without really know all the facts.
Several years ago, a gentleman at the Courier Gazette told me that he missed the news coverage that the radio stations (WRKD/WMCM) provided in the 1970’s and 1980’s. In those days, WRKD and WMCM employed 2 full time and 3 part time news reporters, and WRKD always presented a 15-minute end of the day newscast at 11 PM. It’s always been a standard practice for everyone in the media to read, see and/or hear what the other news media outlet had for stories. However, in the late 1980’s, the radio industry as a whole determined that it was not cost effective to have a full news staff. In the late 1980’s, when the Passamaquoddy Indians owned the stations, they began to lose money and among the cuts, was the news department, eliminating 2 part timers. When Rockland Radio purchased the stations, the staff was first trimmed to 1 full timer and 1 part timer, to cut expenses, and then to just 1 full time news person. I held that job for 8 years and know the difficulties I faced, so it is unfair to say that these cuts were force by Clear Channel. Like many newspapers, including the Courier Gazette, have gotten thinner over the years, radio has gone to a headline only, quick hit style of news. For the most part, only larger cities with a News Talk station format, continue to provide in-depth local news.
Do we record weather? YES. Do we do it days in advance? NO, except during holidays like Christmas. We record weathers to get us through the nighttime and overnight hours, and on stations like Fox Sports Maine, which includes WRKD, we do record all of our weathers, but they are updated daily. When I started in radio 1979, one of my duties was to record the weather that ran in our automation system. When I came to WMCM in 1985, one of my duties was to record the weather that ran in our automation system. So you can see this isn’t something that’s new.
How many people even knew that for 12 years, WMCM was part of the Real Country Network, and only our morning show and local remotes were in fact LOCAL! Kris Wilson, Richard Lee, Mark Andrews and many of the Real Country DJs were either located in Phoenix and/or Dallas. That didn’t seem to be an issue when WRKD/WMCM were locally owned.
If it wasn’t for syndicated programs, many radio stations couldn’t afford to stay on the air. When WRKD went away from the Adult Standards format in the 1990s to first News Talk and then Sports Talk, it was because advertisers didn’t want to spend money on that format. While we know many people enjoy Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, ect, not enough people do to make a profit. When WRKD switched to Sports Talk and then created the Fox Sports Maine Network with Madison’s WIGY and Gardiner’s WFAU, the plan was to take 3 stations that were losing money and create a network that would make them profitable, but more importantly SAVE LOCAL PROGRAMMING. If these stations had continued to lose money, the High School Sports that has been enjoyed since 1952 in the Rockland area, would have been lost. During the 2006-07 school year, Fox Sports Maine presented 170 High School Games, many featuring Midcoast Teams.
I’m very proud of the local coverage we have provided through High School Sports, and Clear Channel has NOT shut off any Maine Radio Station, which some companies have done, especially to small AM signals.
The letter claims that the stations aren’t doing anything locally. This past November WMCM gave 50 Thanksgiving Baskets, complete with Turkey, Potatoes, Squash and several canned items to the Rockland Salvation Army to go to needy families in the greater Knox County Area. On that same drive, we were approached by a Central Maine organization to assist 20 teenage moms with food baskets. They may have not been from Knox County, but they were from our listening area.
For a second straight year, our Fuel for Families program, again working with the Rockland Salvation Army, as released thousands of dollars to assist needy families with home heating oil.
When Hurricane Katrina hit, WMCM collected more than $16,000 and filled half of tractor-trailer truck to send to Mississippi to help out those who lost everything.
And just recently after the Patriots Day Storm, WMCM staff and listeners cleaned up the lawns of 4 families from Midcoast Maine, all families given to us as needing a helping hand.
And this doesn’t even include the thousands of dollars our stations give to local organizations every month in free air time to promote their events, groups like Trekkers, The Salvation Army and the Literacy Volunteers of Knox County.
Finally, is the parent company of the Courier Gazette an out-of-state company? Has your parent company shutdown any of its local newspapers? (I believe the answers to both are yes). And what have your newspapers truly given back to the local Knox County Community recently?
© 2008