Posted on 01/25/2007 9:36:22 AM PST by raccoonradio
Bob Bittner coined the phrase “Easy as the breeze” serving up hits from the likes of Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin and the Beach Boys on WJIB.
But times are not so easy now for the tiny Cambridge station, as Bittner was recently hit with huge hikes in the monthly fees he pays to play old-style hits over the air.
Though WJIB-AM (740) has always turned a small profit, Bittner said, the fee hikes from music-licensing groups BMI and ASCAP have him looking for a new way to keep the station running.
WJIB previously paid about $260 a month to BMI and $175 to ASCAP, Bittner said. But Bittner was startled when the bills came in January and BMI demanded over $1,600 and ASCAP wanted about $1,150.
The increased fees stem from recently signed industrywide contracts with BMI and ASCAP, which were negotiated by the Radio Music License Committee.
In the past, the licensing groups collected a percentage of a radio station’s revenues. But under the the new contracts, the groups issue fees based upon stations’ ratings.
Despite the increased fees, Bittner, who usually brokers airtime to keep the station running, bristles at the idea of running ads. “I know I could compromise myself and put on some trash,” Bittner said.
Under the new contracts, ASCAP and BMI collect smaller fees for talk-radio stations and stations with a cumulative audience smaller than 5,000 listeners.
BMI said it still receives the same amount of money overall from the radio industry every month, but individual stations now pay their share based on ratings. And WJIB’s ratings recently tipped the scale.
“His audience was less than 5,000 in previous years,” said Keith Meehan, executive director of the Radio Music License Committee. “That’s why he’s seeing such a tremendous increase.”
Typically, radio stations can raise their price tag to advertisers when their ratings rise. But Bittner resists the idea of sandwiching ads between the music.
Bittner said he gets lots of inquiries from advertisers, but wants nothing to do with them. “There’s lots of money to make” from get-rich-quick schemes and diet pills, he said.
The Radio Music Licensing Committee’s negotiations were centered around helping big radio conglomerates put the squeeze on small station owners in major metro markets, Bittner said - a claim Meehan rejected.
“It doesn’t benefit the largest station as compared to the smaller station,” Meehan said, adding the new method was intended to keep BMI and ASCAP out of stations’ revenues. He said Bittner has a few options: change to a talk radio format, attempt to renegotiate the contracts on his own or shed listeners.
But Bittner said he’s considering another alternative: going to a listener-supported model, an unusual move for a commercial station. Bittner said he’s checking with his attorney to see if it’s possible, but if it doesn’t work he’ll likely sell the station and move to Maine, where he owns WJTO-AM.
Bittner said he won’t air “beg-a-thons.” But if local residents want to keep hearing WJIB’s good vibrations, they might have to pony up some cash.
But AAR could actually be the answer to Bittner's problem; he could air the libtalk and actually make money (not much money, but he has a very low overhead...) with a signal so close to Harvard Square some people might pick it up on their fillings! (OK, it's near Fresh Pond Parkway, actually)
Bittner used to air a show called "Let's Talk About Radio" in which he talked about the radio industry locally and nationally. While his own political views are left of center, he did say that he didn't feel Air America put out a good product...but now faced with high music licensing fees you wonder if he'll change his mind...?
I remember "JIB" when it was FM. They played a lot of Mancini and Elevator music but the quality of their signal was so good that every audio store had all their systems tuned in.
reminds me of my salad days at Radio Shack...
Yes--they were owned by General Electric, and were at 96.9 FM with a very good signal. 96.9 later went to formats like
smooth jazz, country, back to smooth jazz and finally talk
(Imus, Barnicle, Severin, Ingraham, Eagan and Bruade)
Wish there was a American-Standard type station in Chicagoland. Used to be. Same phenomenon in other towns, too. Listener-sponsored and commercial-free (or, perhaps more accurately, pre-recorded-commercial-free) would be preferred, at least by me. Very pleasant driving music. Alas, like so much else....
WJIB is a rare bird--I think Bittner may be the sole employee and he runs music he likes which he thinks other people will like, too, along with those "brokered time" shows, but no real ads. Once I literally heard him say on the air, "Cut up your
credit cards. Most of the companies are evil." I'm not
kidding...this on a station which as far as the FCC is concerned is of the "Commercial" variety.
a reply Bob Bittner sent to a radio board (at the start
he talks about the poss. some people brought up of
him renting out cell phone antenna space on his tower):
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