Author: Jim Feliciano

From the MCRFB news archive: 1963

NEW NBC RADIO VICE PRESIDENT POST WILL BE TOUGH ASSIGNMENT FOR MIKE JOSEPH

 

 

 

 

NEW YORK — Broadcasters did double-takes last week upon hearing of the appointment of Mike Joseph, former program consultant, to the newly-created post of vice-president, NBC-owned radio stations.

Joseph, long-associated with what is usually called swingin’ pop-music formatted stations, will be taking over the reins of one of the nation’s richest and most unsuccessful group of radio station operations owned by the network.

Joseph is fresh from Michigan where he doctored Dearborn’s WKNR (formerly WKMH) — where he instituted an up-to-the-minute pop music and news format. Prior to the WKNR assignment, he “modernized” WGR, Buffalo, New York, with a similar format. He also served as program director at WJEF, Grand Rapids, Michigan, and national program director for the Founders’ stations; WTAC, Flint, Michigan; WSBL, Syracuse, New York; WSMD. New Orleans, and KPOA, Honolulu.

At this juncture Joseph’s duties have not been spelled out. No matter what his duties, he will have his work cut out for him.

The six NBC-owned radio stations are perhaps — as a group — one of the best examples of a low audience appeal approach to broadcasting.

Bottom Of Heap

A thumbnail analysis of each station’s market position reveals the following:

WNBC, New York (50,000 watts): 10th place. One service gives it sixth position 7 a.m. to noon, and 11th, noon to 6 p.m.

WMAQ, Chicago (50,000 watts): Tied for fifth place, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. From 6 p.m. to midnight, ninth. Another service is much kinder, rating the station third in the morning and fourth in the afternoon.

KNBR, San Francisco (50,000 watts): Tied for fifth place in the morning and seventh in the afternoon. Another service rates it sixth in the a.m. and eighth in the p.m.

WRC, Washington D. C. (5,000 watts): Eighth place out of nine stations listed.

WRC, Washington D. C. (5,000 watts): Fourth in mornings and sixth in the afternoon and evening. This outlet tops all others in the NBC chain achieving first place in the morning and third in the afternoon on one rating service.

WJAS, Pittsburgh (5,000 watts): Tied for last place morning and night; last place in afternoons.

It is highly unlikely that four of the six stations could stand on their own financially without being carried by mother flagship network NBC.

Industry observers attribute the sorrowful rating picture of the NBC-owned radio stations mainly due to the fact that they are satellites for the financially successful NBC radio network. The family stations must carry all of the network’s programming, including the full load of “Monitor” Saturdays and Sundays no matter the effect on rating. Affiliates have a choice of scheduling and percentage of net shows carried.

What little there is left for the beleaguered six stations to program on their own is dictated from the sixth floor of 30 Rockefeller Plaza where the attitude had been: close down before playing rock and roll, no editorializing, no promotion, etc. The top echelon of NBC has persuaded itself that it is more in the public interest to sacrifice popularity and listeners for image. Apparently the image is fading as quickly as the listener audience in general, translating in poor ratings overall.

In sharp contrast to the NBC operation is the highly successful, aggressive, and modern, ABC-owned radio stations headed by Harold Neil. Each of the ABC stations are for the most part, operated independently with local management calling the shots as to how best serve their immediate communities. ABC places few taboos on their stations.

ABC advertising and promotion in behalf of its owned radio stations has been brilliant and outstanding. CBS has also followed a course of promoting their stations through ads in the consumer and trade press. Although there is a proliferation of other NBC advertising, promotion of its owned radio stations is a rarity.

Speculation has it that no vice-president — however talented and capable as Mike Joseph is successfully known for his brilliant approach in various radio consultations and changes he implemented during the course of this year alone — will be able to solve the dilemma of the NBC-owned radio stations without a complete change of thinking and approach by the two men who are presently calling the shots for NBC radio, Robert Kintner and Robert Sarnoff. END

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(Information and news source: Billboard; December 28, 1963)

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