Managment Skills Essay, Research Paper

Johnny Doelacker

December 8, 2000

Broadcast Management

1. The “classical” management theory leans toward the administrative, bureaucratic and scientific approaches to management. The “behavioral” theory emphasizes employee needs and their motivation. The ”behavioral” approach is best suited for media management because the employees play a huge role in the business. The employees could include actors or radio personalities that draw huge interest and revenue based on their talent. It is very important to keep these people happy and motivated because so much is depending on their performances.

2. The four factors influencing programming on all stations are the audience, the broadcaster, the advertiser, and the regulator. The audience listens to a station for the particular programs, and it’s important to keep them interested and listening because listeners generate advertisers, which generates revenue. The broadcasters are important because he/she selects the programming and is in charge of targeting an audience. The advertiser plays an important role because this person pays for airtime to promote a particular product. If there is a strong audience then you will always find advertisers who are willing to pay for spots to get their product advertised. The regulator is in charge of making sure the station is running in a way that serves the public interest.

3. The format is the most important part in radio, television and the Internet. The format determines who listens, watches and views your station or website. There are a lot of factors in determining a format for radio. The market size, community location, competition, audience, technical equipment and finances. This is important because the owner must try to reach a certain demographic and hope his format appeals to the masses.

In television the format must be versatile because the demographics change multiple times during the day. Television is also competing against more stations and with cable and satellite. The programmer also must decide which syndicated, local and national shows to carry each and every day. The strength and weakness of other stations, audience flow, available audience, audience interest, advertisers, budget, program inventory and local capabilities are the factors that will determine the program scheduling for television.

The Internet has a simple approach because it does not depend on advertisers as much and has one format everyday and all day.

4. A) A local television station network affiliate makes its money through the stations personalities and advertisements. Local advertisements will determine the success of the station. If the local station has a news team that has chemistry and has the best equipment to bring precise and accurate weather it should rise above the other stations sharing the same market.

b) The role of promotion and marketing in local stations is very critical to the station success. The station must find a promotion plan that will move them to the head of the pack. An example of a good promotion plan would be to have aggressive, knowledgeable, and creative account executive that can convince potential advertisers the advantages of television ads. The promotion department is also responsible for marketing the station and its programs to the public also.

5. Prime Access-is a rule that restricted what could be shown between 7-8pm. The rule changed in 1996 and stations are free to air whatever they feel will work towards their advantage. This opened the door for news magazine shows that have gossip that lead right into prime time.

Needs assessments- an assessment of what the station needs to maintain a competitive edge. This is important to address these needs to keep the station competitive.

Public Broadcasting Act-opened the door for non-commercial educational programs.

This act brought PBS and NPR into the picture.

Public interest, convenience and necessity- explain how important it is for a station to keep the interest of the public while being accessible.

Westwood One-provides 150 news, sports, music, talk, entertainment programs that feature live events and 24 hour formats. Westwood One serves more than 7,500 radio stations.

Cable franchise- the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984 required cable operators obtain a franchise. This changed the face of television because cable has multiple formats for every demographic.

FM-Frequency Modulated stations that have the best sound and is usually for music.

Station Rep- A company that represents a radio or television station in the sale of time to national and regional advertisers and advises the station on the purchase, scheduling, and promotion of programs. The station rep is very important because he is the middle man between the station and the national sales manager.

Rating- Rating is the estimate of the percentage of the public listening or viewing a program. The rating is very important because it informs the station how many people are actually watching or listening. It is as accurate of a source available, there really is no way to tell exactly how many people are watching or listening.

“must carry”- FCC rule providing that television stations may demand carriage on cable systems within their designed market area. For TV stations, a statement of the stations election with respect to either must carry or retransmission consent. In case of noncommercial stations, a copy of any request for mandatory carriage on an cable system and related correspondence. These are retained for the duration of the period for which the statement or request replies.

syndication- to sell a series of television programs directly to local stations. syndication is where actors and producers receive big royalty checks from each and every time their show airs across the world.

Arbitron & Nielsen- Arbitron delivers measures of consumers behavioral for retail shopping and media usage in most of the markets it surveys.

Nielsen provides details of diary keepers’ shopping and product purchases, dining out, leisure activities, and use of media other than television.

6. 1)My offer for the three station group would be $500,000 because it earned $100,000 and in a normal investment it would take around seven years to actually make your money back. Because these guys do not have a clue how to manage their station I’d inform them each additional year they keep the station they would lose money due to mismanagement. I would then buy the station and sell the shares or 49% of the ownership to a partnership. Another way I could buy it with out using my money is setting up an IPO because the net worth is more than $100,000.

2) I would first check out the area of the country and see what is popular in that region. An example for the sports station would be if its is a southern rural community Nascar would be more of a success than it would be in a metropolis say, in the northeast. I would professionals for each station and the best on air talents I buy at a reasonable price.

3)I would take a gamble and spend big money on the latest equipment. I would give the old equipment to a high school or local college as a gift for a tax write off. I would broadcast my station on the Internet so people across the country or world can log in to hear the stations. I would target a certain demographic for each different station. The country western stations demographics are evident. The classical station will appeal towards an older crowd, while the sports station could reach a broad range of age groups and financial backgrounds. I would have young new school hip personalities for the young sports fans. Then I would have an older personality for the die hard old school fan.

4) My philosophy on human resources would be straight forward and to the point. There will be zero tolerance for sexual harassment and action will be taken if a case is brought to my attention. My main goal would be to keep my employees happy. I would beat out all my local competitors salaries and even let my employees form a union. If I treat them right and they really enjoy coming to work everyday the workers union should not be a factor in anything. I’d also make my workplace a mixing pot of races. But if the most qualified employees are Hispanic I would hire the people best suited for my company regardless of race.

Bibliography

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