The Death of Another Talk Network & Why FTL will stay alive.
i...@freetalklive.com
and go more often than they stick around. As a result of this
instability, many program directors are justified in their reticence
to embrace content from newer networks. Witness the case of
Greenstone Media, the female targeted talk network that closed its
doors last Friday after only one year of broadcasting.
I don't purport to know if their programming was any good, but
presuming that it was I have to wonder if their investors were
informed correctly about how difficult the process of acquiring new
affiliates can be. Did they think that they could just pick up the
phone, pitch their concept to a station and have the General Manager
get on his knees and thank them for offering him a new show/concept/
format?
Garnering new affiliates is a delicate process. It takes time. Dues
must be paid.
I remember when I first started making affiliate relations calls three
years ago for Free Talk Live. Having absolutely zero experience at
that time in syndicated radio, prior to picking up the phone to make
my first call I had hoped to acquire 50 affiliates in the first year.
It didn't take me very long to figure out that this was not going to
be the case. Reality Check: As we wrap up our third year in
syndication we are approaching 30 affiliates. Greenstone managed to
get eight affiliates in their first year - not enough to sustain their
top-heavy operations.
My inexperienced exuberance did not harm my program's future, as I did
not have any investors with millions of dollars at stake. Greenstone
did, and they pulled the plug.
As Free Talk Live approaches its fourth year in syndication we are
stronger fiscally today than we were when we started, and when we
started we did not start with any debt unlike the failed Greenstone,
the recently bailed out Air America, or all of the other now-defunct
talk networks / shows. All of our studio equipment was purchased with
my personal savings. The studio exists in my house, so there is no
rent to be paid. My cohost and sales manager Mark Edge is paid on a
generous commission-only basis, so I have no staff overhead. Our
other various costs of doing business are easily covered by advertiser
dollars and listener contributions.
On the network side, our syndicate the Genesis Communications Network
is a subsidiary of a successful gold dealership. GCN is currently
celebrating its 10th year of offering programming to radio
broadcasters. With a great credit rating from Dun & Bradstreet,
clearly their stability is not in question.
Free Talk Live is in this for the long haul. When you're ready for
us, we'll be here for you live six nights a week Mon - Sat 7-10p ET.
free, preemptible, we require no makegoods, and we're flexible. Take
as much as 18 hours per week to as little as one hour. Whatever works
best for your station is what we want. Don't forget about our Program
Director's website at http://pd.freetalklive.com . That's where
you'll find the latest show archives, promos, our clock and more.
Please note that I have one of those new spiffy Internet fax services
now where anything that is faxed to me is automatically turned into a
PDF file and delivered to my inbox. The new number is in my
signature.
Thanks for your continued consideration,
Ian Bernard
Host, "Free Talk Live"
603-513-2449 Office&Cell
815-550-1851 Fax