austin radio stuff

[AUS-97HORN 11823]

So I guess that means another station gets to play the cowboys games on the radio?

 

guess that makes Craig Way another free agent.

[Deej 76913]

So, 102.7 becomes the Longhorn flagship station? 

[hayden_horn 11365]

1 minute ago, AUS-97HORN said:

So I guess that means another station gets to play the cowboys games on the radio?

 

guess that makes Craig Way another free agent.

it's beyond weird how this seems to always end up. this ain't dallas or philly, but this is a sports town. how we can't get a fucking decent sports radio station in the 10th largest city in the country is beyond me, but it's far from the only growing up austin has left to do.

[MAUFRAIS 6633]

Go back to KVET. Bring back that cool on field microphone.

[South Austin 52600]

20 minutes ago, hayden_horn said:

i just don't understand the radio business, i guess. maybe it's the cost of living and rent for studio space has gone through the roof, and from what i understand, they were using some prime real estate.

104.9 has a huge footprint in a building on 360 in the West Lake Hills area, so I imagine the rent was a huge nut to cover, on top of salary and other overhead expenses in the face of declining revenue. 

[AUS-97HORN 11823]

6 minutes ago, hayden_horn said:

it's beyond weird how this seems to always end up. this ain't dallas or philly, but this is a sports town. how we can't get a fucking decent sports radio station in the 10th largest city in the country is beyond me, but it's far from the only growing up austin has left to do.

its been a while since this happened, right? 

1300  fell apart in 2007/2008, which is why they all moved to 104.9 once Erin left.  Then a few, Sean (RIP) and Chip, come to mind, switched back to 1300 in 2016ish?

is 1300 still doing local broadcasts?

[jimmyjazz 46128]

What's behind the "shutdown"?  Will it be exclusively national sports shows or a completely different business model?

I absolutely loathe those betting shows.  Two goombahs yapping about jumping on Raptors-Knicks in the 2nd half with Raptors +6 is like aural hemorrhoids.

Austin is a college sports town + soccer.  I agree with @hayden_horn, it's crazy how difficult it seems to build a decent sports station in this city.

[bschoolprof 6272]

Wags has a new home.

 

[Wally Pryor 5262]

37 minutes ago, AUS-97HORN said:

So I guess that means another station gets to play the cowboys games on the radio?

 

guess that makes Craig Way another free agent.

His only gig needs to be with IMG doing pxp. 

That's it. 

[Gourmand 7774]

1 hour ago, hayden_horn said:

it's beyond weird how this seems to always end up. this ain't dallas or philly, but this is a sports town. how we can't get a fucking decent sports radio station in the 10th largest city in the country is beyond me, but it's far from the only growing up austin has left to do.

the fact is that most listeners here don't want wall to wall talk about the Texas Longhorns. 

The Horn absolutely sucked.

[Deej 76913]

6 minutes ago, Gourmand said:

the fact is that most listeners here don't want wall to wall talk about the Texas Longhorns. 

The Horn absolutely sucked.

I felt like we got more talk about Central Texas High School football than we did the Longhorns. 

[SizzleChest 8284]

17 minutes ago, Deej said:

I felt like we got more talk about Central Texas High School football than we did the Longhorns. 

[AUS-97HORN 11823]

24 minutes ago, Deej said:

I felt like we got more talk about Central Texas High School football than we did the Longhorns. 

weirdly enough, thats what got Trey fired from the Horn, he refused to do the FLX ATX bullshit on site calls and visits every Friday.   Dude clearly hated doing HS sports at all.

[South Austin 52600]

38 minutes ago, Deej said:

I felt like we got more talk about Central Texas High School football than we did the Longhorns. 

I'd like to see the marketing data they got showing them that devoting substantially more time to Central Texas high school sports would result in increased revenue.

[hayden_horn 11365]

that's what i don't get, though. like the longhorn network, there is tons of fucking content out there, just waiting for eyes and ears, but they left most of it out there on the table.

but even so, the math should be able to work out.

the fuck does an ad spot cost these days?

why are we still doing traditional noise pollution advertising in the first place?

[bschoolprof 6272]

4 minutes ago, South Austin said:

I'd like to see the marketing data they got showing them that devoting substantially more time to Central Texas high school sports would result in increased revenue.

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/SandyImmaculateChital-mobile.mp4

Edited July 10, 2023 by bschoolprof

[Deej 76913]

4 minutes ago, South Austin said:

I'd like to see the marketing data they got showing them that devoting substantially more time to Central Texas high school sports would result in increased revenue.

I'd like to see how long it took the market research company to come up with enough listeners to question. 

[Deej 76913]

And having such a shitty signal really didn't help them. If a flock of birds flew anywhere within a quarter of a mile of my car, I'd lose signal and end up listening to some Mexican gibberish. 

[hayden_horn 11365]

3 minutes ago, South Austin said:

I'd like to see the marketing data they got showing them that devoting substantially more time to Central Texas high school sports would result in increased revenue.

i feel like they had to misinterpreting what market data they were getting, or i'm clearly not the center of the universe that i think i am.

high school sports probably has its place on local sports radio. at 9am on a Saturday morning. or 7pm on a thursday night. not all over the station at all hours, unless the story is exceptional in some way. otherwise, if you cannot fill a day's worth of work with content featuring, in no particular order, the longhorns, austin fc (which, by extension, i guess, means some coverage of dallas and houston clubs also), the texas rangers, the houston astros, the dallas cowboys, the houston texans, the dallas mavericks, the houston rockets, the san antonio spurs, texas a&m shit, texas tech shit, and now new sec bullshit?

fuck's sake. content isn't the problem. it's either the buisiness model, or someone is stealing.

and, i guess, terrestrial radio and local tv is broken and no one seems to know how to fix it by trying to crowbar in as many low cost ads as possible.

[Pam Cummings 9658]

I'm not sure anyone listens to the morning drive shows anymore. I'd just put nationally syndicated shows like DP and Cowherd on for the first part of the day. Then put your best talent on in the 3pm slot when the national guys are all done with. And by "best talent" i definitely dont mean Hardge and Babers.

Edited July 10, 2023 by Pam Cummings

[Updawg 2286]

I'm not sure anyone listens to the morning drive shows anymore. I'd just put nationally syndicated shows like DP and Cowherd on for the first part of the day. Then put your best talent on in the 3pm slot when the national guys are all done with. And by "best talent" i definitely dont mean Hardge and Babers.

I agree with this

And their rent had to be way too much for them

[South Austin 52600]

3 minutes ago, Pam Cummings said:

I'm not sure anyone listens to the morning drive shows anymore.

I used to listen to B&E on my way to work in the morning or if I was on a longer drive to San Antonio or somewhere else for work.  But gotdam Bucky has become such a beating over the last few years that I recently abandoned sports radio altogether.  Now I listen to NPR and can feel my IQ level rising a few points.

[HRSchenker 2273]

2 hours ago, hayden_horn said:

i just don't understand the radio business, i guess. maybe it's the cost of living and rent for studio space has gone through the roof, and from what i understand, they were using some prime real estate. 

but there has got to be a way to balance the books on a sports content terrestrial radio show in austin fucking texas, even if the general consensus is that the medium is supposedly dying. dying like newspapers, in the race to the bottom and the inability to figure out a revenue model not based in the 18th century, it's always the content. you make good content and people will consume it. find a way to make terrestrial radio work without 20 minutes of commercials an hour. that's 1/3 of your listener's time, when there are podcasts and spotify out there.

fuck's sake, get it together, radio. shorter breaks, charge more for ads, fuck i dunno. think differently. oh, and pay talent, stop paying admin. but that's everywhere.

Radio is a dying medium ran by companies drowning in debt. Personalities are too expensive for most markets. In 2009 KLSX in Los Angeles flipped from hot talk to top 40 despite the fact that all of their shows were number one in the highest paying ad demographic (men 25-54). I think that says everything you need to know about radio. 

[hayden_horn 11365]

1 minute ago, HRSchenker said:

Radio is a dying medium ran by companies drowning in debt. Personalities are too expensive for most markets. In 2009 KLSX in Los Angeles flipped from hot talk to top 40 despite the fact that all of their shows were number one in the highest paying ad demographic (men 25-54). I think that says everything you need to know about radio. 

i'm just trying to understand why. keep in mind, i'm an old guy who listened to b&e basically my entire adult life when i commuted to work. i still listen to the mornings with matt and bob show on podcast, because i want all the content without the wrappings or music and commercials. how they haven't been able to monetize that is beyond me.

but i'm also a market analyst whose job is to give advice on business models and strategies. i see failure everywhere. but i cannot seem to understand what the numbers for radio are, because no one really knows, because there are no accurate metrics.

but you've got to tell me you can't get someone who runs a taco truck selling $2 tacos and balances their books and a big time radio station (even a dying medium) can't figure out how to make money?

this is like sears failing because of a catalog mail order business has taken over their market sector. dude, you fucking invented that sector, how can you lose there?

[Pam Cummings 9658]

24 minutes ago, South Austin said:

I used to listen to B&E on my way to work in the morning or if I was on a longer drive to San Antonio or somewhere else for work.  But gotdam Bucky has become such a beating over the last few years that I recently abandoned sports radio altogether.  Now I listen to NPR and can feel my IQ level rising a few points.

I used to listen to them but DP is on at pretty much the same time and that show is the gold standard for sports talk radio IMO.

[Wally Pryor 5262]

Bucky was infinitely better on radio when his 2nd home was the Trudy's bar in Brodie Oaks. 

[South Austin 52600]

5 minutes ago, Wally Pryor said:

Bucky was infinitely better on radio when his 2nd home was the Trudy's bar in Brodie Oaks. 

He's also just gotten older.  It's like listening to my dad who's pushing 80.  I'll be having a conversation with him about one topic, and he'll interrupt me in the middle to make a comment about something completely different.

[Pam Cummings 9658]

3 minutes ago, South Austin said:

He's also just gotten older.  It's like listening to my dad who's pushing 80.  I'll be having a conversation with him about one topic, and he'll interrupt me in the middle to make a comment about something completely different.

I think Bucky doesn't care much about anything other than playing golf these days.

[South Austin 52600]

Just now, Pam Cummings said:

I think Bucky doesn't care much about anything other than playing golf these days.

And gardening.

[Snake Diggity 4627]

Erin Hogan, Craig Way, and Rob Babers should have a place in local sports radio.  But otherwise everything else on The Horn was trash.  
 

I too am clueless about the economics of radio but sure seems like there’s a market for the product of 4-6 hrs/day of local sports talk radio broadcast over FM in Austin, plus obviously a huge market for FM broadcast of UT football, basketball, and baseball games.

[jimmyjazz 46128]

The "economics of radio" probably shouldn't include a massive spread in some of the most prime real estate in central Texas.  Put 'em in a strip mall in Manor.

Beyond that, I'm not sure the FM/AM signal quality is that big a deal any more -- use the app.

From the massive jump in HS coverage to the terrible on-air personalities (Hardge) to the aging grandpop (Bucky) to guys that need to be pastured for poor performance (Hastings) to the young guys who just flat out suck (Zay) to the dork who just cannot ever shut up on the pod-broadcast (Matt), I mean, it's a laundry list of really terrible business decisions.  Good luck to Erin, Craig and Rod.  The rest of them?  Well, try selling cars or insurance.

 

 

 

Edited July 10, 2023 by jimmyjazz

[Hollywood 342]

Should just charge Treefiddy a month. I’d subscribe.

[Blotto 23574]

56 minutes ago, Snake Diggity said:

Erin Hogan, Craig Way, and Rob Babers should have a place in local sports radio.  But otherwise everything else on The Horn was trash.  
 

I too am clueless about the economics of radio but sure seems like there’s a market for the product of 4-6 hrs/day of local sports talk radio broadcast over FM in Austin, plus obviously a huge market for FM broadcast of UT football, basketball, and baseball games.

The problem I had with the Austin sports radio scene is that most of the "personalities" really had zero personality. Erin Hogan seems like a nice enough guy, and he's passable when focusing on  sports, but listening to him opine about life was a fucking beating. He's as bland as they come, and 10 minutes spent discussing whatever trivial bullshit he and his family were up to was 10 minutes wasted.  Craig Way is a pretty good PxP guy, but outside of that format the dude is boring as fuck. 

For the most part when I was listening to it, Austin sports radio was devoid of anyone with an actual sense of humor yet they all felt obligated to sit around cracking shitty jokes all day. Did anybody ever laugh a single time at Chad Hasting's stupid Scottish Guy bullshit?  It was so bad I would immediately change the station or just turn the fucking radio off. Yet they would actually tease that shit like there were bunch of aggy getting all riled up in their overalls to hear it. "Coming up later this hour, you dont want to miss the Scottish Guy's zany takes." No actually, I do...he fucking sucks ass. 

But even with entertaining radio hosts in Austin, I don't know how you get around the ads issue. People historically listened to radio because it was free, available in your car where you had fuck all for options, and the trade off was you had to listen to ads. But the number of ads keeps increasing and now we have plenty of options. Pre covid, when I was stuck in my car, I listened to radio because that's what I had always done. Post covid, I'm in my car less and when I am driving around, I'm more likely to stream entertaining podcasts than risk another high school football discussion. I dont give a fuck about it, and this is a city of transplants that probably also give zero fucks about it. This isnt Tuscola TX.

Edited July 10, 2023 by Blotto

[Cousin Strawberry 1263]

38 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

The "economics of radio" probably shouldn't include a massive spread in some of the most prime real estate in central Texas. 

It's close to Nassour's house.

[MAUFRAIS 6633]

We come to bury the horn, not to praise it

[AUS-97HORN 11823]

2 hours ago, MAUFRAIS said:

We come to bury the horn, not to praise it

Marc Anthony making a visit to the Surl.

 

 

Spoiler

 

[LCHorn 2631]

I’ve opined earlier in the thread what a local DJ told me but will repeat it; terrestrial radio in general has had a catastrophic loss in ad revenue due to a graying consumer base.  Austin’s market, in particular, suffers for having a very strong NPR station that by itself grabs 60% of the listening audience.  
 

Essentially the Horn sucks because it doesn’t make any money.  It’s not content, shitty hosts, etc., they are just a symptom of it.  
 

This isn’t informed by the person who shared the details above, but I also wonder about sports consumerism in general beginning a descent.  The digital generation just has far more niche interests about which they can indulge and as they don’t begin the next generation of patronage the sports content production machine (teams, schools, broadcasters) look to make up the difference by increasing costs on the existing consumer base (thereby resulting in further fracturing as lower income fans shrink their consumption).  

[hayden_horn 11365]

1 hour ago, LCHorn said:

I’ve opined earlier in the thread what a local DJ told me but will repeat it; terrestrial radio in general has had a catastrophic loss in ad revenue due to a graying consumer base.  Austin’s market, in particular, suffers for having a very strong NPR station that by itself grabs 60% of the listening audience.  
 

Essentially the Horn sucks because it doesn’t make any money.  It’s not content, shitty hosts, etc., they are just a symptom of it.  
 

This isn’t informed by the person who shared the details above, but I also wonder about sports consumerism in general beginning a descent.  The digital generation just has far more niche interests about which they can indulge and as they don’t begin the next generation of patronage the sports content production machine (teams, schools, broadcasters) look to make up the difference by increasing costs on the existing consumer base (thereby resulting in further fracturing as lower income fans shrink their consumption).  

this is a good point. i'm not a sign of the times, necessarily, because i'm still a huge football fan and have season tickets this season again, but my kids couldn't give a shit, despite my best efforts. they are 16 and 15 boys now.  it's just different interests. 

even my fandom has waned - i used to be able to damn near name the two deep. now i can sometimes name the starters, sometimes. i don't die with the losses any longer - maybe i'm inured. who knows. my spend will probably continue to go down in the near future as well. 

i've listened to less talk radio generally since covid, and almost no sports radio unless there is a national story. 

but it still boggles my mind that you can't make the flagship station of the university of texas and the dallas cowboys broadcasts a profitable venture. 

[LTtxfan 49352]

8 hours ago, SizzleChest said:

wellbye.gif

 

Holy fuck, I had no idea that worthless Trey is now on 102.7 ESPN in Austin.  Gotta be BK's efforts that helped keep that Elling shit on the radio.

 

What a terrible group including Ward & Clements

Hahahahahahahaha😂😂😂😂😂😂

[Deej 76913]

Ward and Clements are the best sports thing on Austin radio. Let that sink in. 

[MrBig 5439]

Kid Charlemagne will get The Horn back on the air

[demos 3011]

I mean they got locked out of their studio not long ago because the rent hadn’t been paid. Seems like they just don’t have the money to keep it going.

[Updawg 2286]

I’ve always been curious how much they actually make. Doesn’t seem like it can be that much. But I guess if you read a few good advertisers you get to pocket that?

I think people like Jeff ward had some good runs back in the day. But some of the mid tier staff I don’t understand

Erin probably did well since he was talent and manager I think. But someone like trey, chad etc? Seems like you’d need to move up to another market unless your spouse is the money maker

[LTtxfan 49352]

1 hour ago, Deej said:

Ward and Clements are the best sports thing on Austin radio. Let that sink in. 

 

[LCHorn 2631]

38 minutes ago, Updawg said:

I’ve always been curious how much they actually make. Doesn’t seem like it can be that much. But I guess if you read a few good advertisers you get to pocket that?

I think people like Jeff ward had some good runs back in the day. But some of the mid tier staff I don’t understand

Erin probably did well since he was talent and manager I think. But someone like trey, chad etc? Seems like you’d need to move up to another market unless your spouse is the money maker

I’m told that most of them make $60k-$75k annually.  If you’re making more you’d better  be bringing your own advertisers because you’re just additional overhead otherwise.  A decade ago pretty much anyone with their name on a show was making $100k+.  Dale was reputedly making $300k-$400k, JB and Sandy were at $500k each.  Hogan may be better if he’s still considered a station manager or whatever his title is.  
 

All these radio personalities that were high profile a decade ago (not named Bobby Bones) have watched their incomes fall or become a cost casualty.  

[closetohumping 17464]

2 hours ago, hayden_horn said:

this is a good point. i'm not a sign of the times, necessarily, because i'm still a huge football fan and have season tickets this season again, but my kids couldn't give a shit, despite my best efforts. they are 16 and 15 boys now.  it's just different interests. 

even my fandom has waned - i used to be able to damn near name the two deep. now i can sometimes name the starters, sometimes. i don't die with the losses any longer - maybe i'm inured. who knows. my spend will probably continue to go down in the near future as well. 

i've listened to less talk radio generally since covid, and almost no sports radio unless there is a national story. 

but it still boggles my mind that you can't make the flagship station of the university of texas and the dallas cowboys broadcasts a profitable venture. 

Somewhat related but I don’t follow recruiting as much anymore.  These kids can leave after a year.  Sign of the times

[tx 3 putt 77406]

https://rtf.utexas.edu/
 

the school should start up a station. Lot of talent has come out of that program 

[billfromlaketravis 11522]

Where is Craig Way’s show going if they’re shutting down The Horn? 2 hours of 6 man football talk isn’t my cup of tea, but I love that guy. 

Edited July 11, 2023 by billfromlaketravis

[Drifterwood 164]

I’ve been around Austin sports radio, stations, personalities, etc. my entire life. I grew up knowing all of those guys and have watched them all switch back and forth as the UT contract dictated which station had the pull to assemble a halfway decent lineup at one point or another. It’s hard to survive in any business with a fuckstick like Nassour running the show, much less an ever-buck-passing-corporate-consolidation clusterfuck like terrestrial radio has been for almost 30 years. Having Bob Cole involved at any point doesn’t help achieve a successful business either, despite what he might tell anyone listening. Then having your best guys who actually have a feel for radio bail (Kevin Dunn and BK) doesn’t help. That’s around the time I quit listening at all. E Hogan is just ok. Bucky was never great but has been downright embarrassing for years.

Even considering all of that, they still probably could’ve kept it going but they lost the UT contract, so that’s that. No way to keep that turd afloat without that contract. I have no insight into whether UT didn’t renew because of all of the above or just got better terms from the iHeartradio group, but either way, it’s done. I expect E Hogan and Craig Way to end up over there, although that’s not based on any inside info yet, not like anyone would actually give a shit about that palace intrigue at this point.

[Horn Under a Bad Sign 20487]

I like Rod Babers. I think he does a good job.