Dear Editor:
I read, with great interest, Donna Halper’s “We Still Believe in Radio” story. It really hit at the center of a significant part of radio’s decline.
iHeartMedia and Cumulus, the two largest radio station groups with hundreds of stations, have in my opinion done more to decimate radio’s connection to their listeners than all other outside sources.
Smaller radio station groups like Midwest Communications and individually owned stations have largely bucked the trend by continuing to do what “live and local” truly means: a deep one-on-one connection with their listeners that radio does best.
The philosophy of “do more with less until doing everything with nothing” has been the mantra of far too many stations. In today’s world it is true that you have to “do more with less” to thrive, but that necessity includes using available resources that weren’t available just a few years ago to its advantage.
As I am now retired, having sold our Kalamazoo, Mich., Fairfield Broadcasting Company to Midwest Communications, I still follow and support local radio.
I believe that radio can still prosper. It is no longer one of just three (radio/TV/newspapers) resources in town, and that’s OK. An age-old axiom that is still appropriate today is that 85% of business comes from just 15% of its customers.
Radio was and still is built to best serve that metric.
Bill Wertz
Wertz Media, Holland, Mich.
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