What would happen during a “radio shutdown?”
The federal government has been shutdown for nearly a month. This has forced 800,000 federal employees all across the country to either be furloughed or to have to work without pay. This includes TSA Agents, federal food inspectors, the FBI, Secret Service and other important workers. My point isn’t to get political or even talk anymore about the shutdown of the federal government. I wanted to apply a “shut down” scenario to your radio station.
Now the federal government isn’t going to cause a shutdown-like situation in radio, but an economic crisis like what we had in 2008 could certainly force any radio company to make tough decisions with regard to employees, budgets, and programming. Today we’re going to look at the key questions and situations to be prepared for when a situation like this arises.
Shutdown Staff: Essential vs. Non-Essential
Take a good, hard look at your staff. Here are the questions to ask yourself:
- Who do you need to keep to survive as a sports radio station?
- Know all your talent contracts inside and out. Which contracts give you flexibility to either furlough the host or lay them off immediately with little to no severance? Also, is there flexibility for pay-cuts especially for high-priced hosts?
- Which producers could produce multiple shows if needed?
- Who on the staff is most versatile and can fill both on-air and off-air roles?
- Can you survive with one producer in the studio at a time? (Meaning no board-op or call-screener)
- Can you at least temporarily live without sports updates and the update anchors?
- What on-air and on-line features (that cost $$) can you live without?
Retooling The Budget For The Rest Of The Year
- Take a hard look at any ancillary programming costs for the remainder of the year. Cut out any non-essential travel, remotes or costs.
- What are you paying for play by play rights? Can you get out of the play by play contracts due to serious economic issues short of bankruptcy?
- Is there any cost savings to be had in your station cluster? (Not overly likely as most radio companies are running as lean as possible!)
- Are there any costs that are on this year’s budget that can be pushed until next year?
- Can you open up opportunities for paid programming on the weekends?
Programming: Maintaining Your Strengths While Cutting Costs
- Where can you add syndication without hurting yourself M-F 6a-6p?
- Can you outsource your imaging to save money?
- Can multiple host shows survive with one host? Which host?
- Can you at least temporarily live without sports updates and the update anchors?
- What on-air and on-line features and contributors(that cost $$) can you live without?
Conclusion
A scenario like this may seem far-fetched right now, but anyone who was working in radio during the financial crisis of 2008 knows that it is possible. Better to do your thinking and planning ahead of time and hoping to never have to put your plan into action.
