[SBE] Discussion topics

[Mike Langner]

OK, one final comment from the old retired guy,
before I fall silent.

(My, that sounds ominous, doesn't it!)

We are in business. Business, business, business!

We used to be in the radio/TV business.
Now, we are simply in the business of being in
business!

We built the sound and video that made our industries.

But, a couple of degrees of separation from what we did
lo these many years, is today now the simple and sole 
generation of business profits.

Technology has removed many of the layers that were
between us as technologists and the "suits."

Sure, we were engineers.

We built facilities and signals that would serve our
communities and make a reasonable profit for our
owners.

No longer.

Today, we are either expense items, or contributions to
a profit center. Generally, a profit center owned by
persons who are not in our communities, and care not
one whit about them.

Exactly what we technically do doesn't matter.

The only question is. . .

Does management/ownership make more money from
what we do?

Forget public service.  It died long ago.
It continues to get lip service, because it tells
a good public service story. We pretend to serve
the public interest, and the FCC pretends to 
believe that our pretense at public interest
warrants the renewal of our broadcast licenses.

But when our ownerships will only do a remote from
a blood drive if our ownership can find a sponsor,
the death of public service is confirmed.

So, my young friends -- to succeed in today's
business environment, "Ask not what you can
do to improve your Radio/TV stations' engineering,
ask what you can do for your owner's bottom line.

Nothing else, in the big picture matters.

It is neither bad nor good (with apologies to
Shakespeare.)  Today, it is just 
"the way it is!"

I, a member of the older generation of broadcasters
whose views are no longer relevant, salute you.

We sought first to serve our communities, then
to figure out how to generate enough income to
preserve our service.

We, two families, my wife and I and another
family were "mom-and-pop" owners in our market.
When consolidation came in 1996, we knew we'd
better sell to one of the "big guys" or we'd
be killed.  We sold.  We made a big pot of
money. We didn't like it then, and we don't
like it now.  If we could turn back the clock,
we'd do so in a heartbeat.

Our two families split (not 50/50) five and
a half million dollars.

But this wasn't why we got into the business.
Our two families would have preferred that
the FCC not allow "consolidation," and that
we continue to make a modest living, make
a real contribution to our communities, and
feel really, really good about our contributions
to the citizens of our market.

It was not to be.

And now for a moment or "real world."

Over-the-air broadcasting once controlled the
program material delivery conduit.  As we see
with I-pods, the Internet, and the like, when
listeners/viewers have a choice, they may well
not choose what our advertisers dictate we should
be doing.

Welcome to a mature market.

Plus ce change, rien ne change plus!
(I speak only very bad tourist French!)

The future is yours.  And, my young friends,
the future is not in the hands of those who
have been successful only because they have
had a monopoly on the distribution channels
of what you want to hear/see for your 
entertainment, education, and information.

My market over-the-air TV stations once
united years ago to fight cable TV coming
to our market.  They lost.  We as consumers
are driven by what we want to hear/see in
our media providers. We won!

Now that we have lots of choices, this
bodes not well for those media outlets that
have prospered only because they have had
a near exclusive license to reach us.

We, the consumers, win again!

Ladies and Gentlemen, for those in the 
(legacy) over-the-air broadcast business, 
it is indeed. . 

A "Brave New World!!"

And now, indeed, this old retired guy
falls silent.  The future is yours!

Good night!

Mike Langner, CPBE
Albuquerque, NM