Development of Radio Consultants

     Radio consulting as a profession had its beginnings at the end of the 19 50s. By that time, commercial radio had evolved to the point of encompassing distinct programming formats. Rock and roll music changed the radio landscape: formats aimed at specific audiences came into being, notably Top 40, middle of the road, country, and beautiful music. According to Michael C. Keith (1987), radio consulting began in the U.S. Midwest. The first radio consultant, Mike Joseph, decided to start his own business after achieving success as a radio station program director. WMAX-AM in Grand Rapids, Michigan, was Joseph's first client; it found ratings success thanks to Joseph's expertise. More clients soon followed, including WROK in Rockford, Illinois; WKZO in Kalamazoo, Michi­ gan; KDAL in Duluth, Minnesota; and WKBW in Buffalo, New York. Joseph's successive clients each achieved larger audiences, and the business of radio consulting took hold.

     As a new subpart of the radio business, consultants initially faced a limited market. However, prospects for those who went into the radio consulting business, usually former station program directors, increased dramatically during the 1960s. During that decade, genre programming blossomed as the number and styles of music programming expanded to meet the needs of specific audiences. Consequently, the resulting fragmentation of formats increased the need for consultants.

     Consultants worked at both the individual and agency level; one could work freelance as a one-person operation or at a consulting firm. In addition to these "hired guns" stations brought in to improve their ratings and on-air presentation, program syndicators and station rep companies started to enter the consulting side of the business. Indeed, for the next several decades, many program syndicators would provide their client stations with both the advice and the programming to increase ratings in one convenient package.

     The 1960s saw station management in larger markets searching for even larger audiences to attract big advertisers and thus big profits. "Numbers became the name of the game," with a station's goal in any given market to increase listenership: "To be number one was to be king of the hill" (Keith, 1987). With the number-one rating status serving as "the holy grail" of radio stations during that period of "frag­ out" in programming formats, stations experiencing poor numbers for several ratings periods sought the advice of consultants. The importance of consultants in maintaining a modicum of ratings success became apparent. As Keith notes, '"Call a consultant' became a cry commonly heard when a station stood at the edge of the abyss" (1987).

     Although the growth in radio as big business had expanded in the 1960s, the industry saw even more expansion with the rise in popularity of FM during the 1970s. FM contributed to the doubling in the number of stations and the tripling of programming formats-and, of course, to the expansion of consulting opportunities. One particular new format served as a notable example of the significance of the need for and power of the radio consultant: album-oriented rock (AOR). Prominent radio consultant Donna Halper, in Radio Music Directing (1991), relates the power given to consultants by station owners trying out the new format. She quotes Kent Burkhart, one of the industry's best-known consultants and the one-time partner of Lee Abrams, an AOR expert:

Back in the 1970s, AOR was still a fairly new format, so owners wanted us to have total control. They didn't want to leave anything to chance In fact, in those early days of Album Rock, many of the stations didn't even have a music director. They just had a PD [program director] who often guessed what music should be played.

With clients nationwide, Burkhart and Abrams' partnership, Burkhart/Abrams and Associates, became the most powerful consulting firm of the decade. Burkhart and Abrams provided  their AOR clients with a playlist based on research, adding new albums each week. Their influence became such that record promoters could count on sales of albums they approved because as many as 100 stations could potentially play them.

     Whereas the ascent of FM and the proliferation of format and music genres during the 1970s provided increased employment for consultants, another development-audience research-provided consultants with more complicated tasks. Keith (1987) points out that stations began to rely more on results of surveys, notably those conducted by the Arbitron Company. As FM began luring away AM listeners, smaller AM stations trying to increase listener shares posed a major challenge to consultants, a "Herculean" task that "only a few master consultants were up to."

     Ironically, whereas stations had called on consultants to help them during FM's "infancy," the AM market was fertile for the consulting industry in the 1980s. With FM's dominance firmly established by then, the field expanded now to AM: "Radio consultants, who found themselves an integral part of FM's bid for prominence in the 1960s and 1970s, worked on the AM side with as much fervor in the 1980s in an attempt to reverse the misfortunes that befell the one-time ratings leader" (Keith, 1987).

     By the mid-198os, some three decades after Mike Joseph's initial foray into the consulting business, about a third of all radio stations used consultants. There were about 50 individual consultants in 1986; though that number held constant, the consulting business involves a degree of turnaround in that consultants must show positive results in order to remain in business. This number remained constant into the 1990s; of the more than 100 broadcasting consultants listed in various media directories in the United States, more than half specialized in radio (Keith, 1987).

     Just as stations had become specialists in certain program formats, with fragmentation and "narrowcasting" helping to stimulate the consulting industry in the 1970s, consultants themselves began to cater to stations' particular program needs in the mid-1990s. Perhaps as an indication of the successes some consultants had achieved by that time, some stations brought in "niche consultants" to help boost ratings during specific dayparts as well as in specific formats. Morning shows in particular served as prime targets for consultants' services (Keith, 1997).

     Although Keith (1987) had predicted that increased compe­tition resulting from deregulation all but guaranteed the future of radio consulting in the 1980s, Billboard reported a trend toward consolidation of consulting agencies beginning in 1995. For instance, Stark (1995) found that radio consultants started teaming up for long-term joint ventures and referred their clients to rival agencies. Consultant alliances became the product of individual agencies' desire to do whatever it took for a client to succeed. As stations downsized, the demand increased for highly specialized people from "the outside"­ consultants-that stations could rent rather than hire full-time. Consolidation among consultants continued into 1999, and increased competition for work resulted in a shakeout in the business, with some individual consultants being forced to join companies or take other jobs in programming. Media groups-broadcast companies owning several stations­ increasingly relied on their own in-house programmers, who effectively took the place of consultants. Additionally, those working for large companies specializing in one format have better long-term prospects than do individual consultants, who must cover several formats. Industry experts predict that those consultants who stay independent will have to provide their clients with expanded services.

Consultant Services

     Although radio consultants ultimately aim to improve station ratings, they also advise management on ways to implement a change in format, to gain higher visibility, and to achieve a higher quality of on-air presentation. As their nickname "radio doctors" implies, consultants "diagnose the problems that impair a station's growth and then prescribe a plan of action designed to remedy the ills" (Keith, 1997). Initially, consultants treated ailments in programming, especially those involving playlists. As the industry increased in complexity, so, too, have the services offered by consultants. These range from making specific observations and suggestions regarding the performance of on-air talent to audience research. The array of services offered depends on the type of consultant.

     There are two basic kinds of radio consultant: programming and full-service. Programming consultants focus primarily on the on-air aspect of a station's product-such as playlists and execution of format. Traditionally, they come from the programming side of the business; program directors get into consulting when they have achieved a record of ratings success. One can find consultants who specialize in particular formats, such as country and adult contemporary.

     Full-service consultants, in addition to providing clients with programming expertise, offer a "package" of services that covers virtually every aspect of radio station operations: staff training and motivation, music, audience and market trend research, drug and alcohol counseling, sales and management consulting, union and syndication, music suppliers, and record company negotiating. The range of full-service offerings also extends to the use of engineering consultants and advice regarding business operations. Some consulting companies provide clients with programming (program syndicators). Clients can use all the programming services, or just part, either as recorded material or via satellite in conjunction with live announcers (Keith, 1987).

     In some cases, station managers give consultants total control, such as when a station changes format or ownership. In other cases, consultants simply give objective advice regarding a station's performance. They also examine the competition and determine what other stations with the same format in a market present the best execution. Consultants also determine what call letters best reflect a station's desired image.

     With the consulting industry becoming more specialized, some agencies focus solely on research. Research consultants go through survey data, study a station's market and target audience in terms of socio-economic and financial statistics, and may conduct music research to determine what most appeals to an audience.

     Consultants also conduct research to discover what factors about a radio station the listening public likes and dislikes. To this end, consultants use three basic approaches: focus groups, callout research, and music testing. In focus group research, small groups of listeners or potential listeners serve as "sounding boards" regarding certain elements of programming. Researchers document the group's attitudes and emotions concerning a station's music, disc jockeys, news, and contests. Callout research refers to telephone surveys that measure respondents' opinions in empirical form. Music testing involves paying participants to listen to and evaluate songs, usually in an auditorium-like setting. A station then creates its playlist based on the results. Based on these types of research, consultants can make recommendations that have the greatest potential for success in a given market.

     Consultants' duties include making in-house visits and examining a station's physical plant. This includes technical assessment of the station's signal strength and clarity. If needed, engineering consultants are brought in to make recommendations regarding the station's equipment.

     Consultants usually research their client stations' performance and competition by listening to the station, either live or on tape. When a consultant arrives in the client's market city or town, he or she monitors the station, usually from a hotel room. This leaves the consultant free from distractions in order to assess the client's on-air presentation. Typically, a consultant takes notes on all aspects of a station's "sound." As described by Donna Halper, these include the following: music mix, "listenability," announcer effectiveness, the match between proclaimed format and music played, technical quality, station image, times songs are played, front or back sales, and use of call letters. Consultant Jim Smith looks at certain other basics of on-air execution, including production values, stop sets, newscasts, features, and promotions (Keith, 1987).

     In addition to assessing competing stations' products, consultants compare what is aired during specific dayparts and even hours to what their client offers at those times. For example, a consultant would compare station A to station B in terms of songs played, times and lengths of commercial breaks, and the like. The consultant then compiles the information and submits a comprehensive report to the station. As with any type of evaluation, consultants' reports not only include constructive criticism of their client, but also should provide some positive feedback as well.

Consultant Characteristics

     Consultant companies can range in size from 2 or 3 people to 50, with fees ranging from $500 to more than $1,200 a day. Consultants base their fees on the services the client wants and the size of the station. Most consultants have backgrounds in broadcasting, usually as station program directors. Those who have broadcasting experience hold a considerable advantage over those who do not. Most also have a thorough knowledge and understanding of radio broadcasting at all levels, including programming, sales, marketing, and promotion. Some obtain formal training in college, notably through research methods and broadcast management courses.

     The consulting business as a whole does face obstacles in the radio industry-notably, that of gaining acceptance among broadcasters, who consider consultants a "necessary evil." Industry insiders cite negative perceptions held by some station managers and program directors regarding consultants; despite these perceptions, consultants are not all "charlatans intent on cleaning house and selling fad formats" (Keith, 1987). A good consultant's effectiveness requires, first, that station management make clear to staff the reasons why it is bringing in a consultant. Station managers also need to implement the consultant's recommendations effectively. Those who do often benefit from their investment. As Keith contends, "Statistically, those stations that use programming consultants more often than not experience ratings success" (1997).