CKLW GOING BIG WITH NEW SOUND; ENGINEER SLATED TO REOPTIMIZE 50,000-WATTER WITH AM STEREO EVOLUTION
DETROIT / WINDSOR — If CKLW doesn’t succeed in an era when increasing listening to music is done on the FM band, it won’t be Ed Buterbaugh’s fault.
Former CKLW chief engineer Ed Buterbaugh at the Detroit Radio Reunion in Novi, MI 1998
Butterbaugh, who is vice-president of engineering for CKLW, has been overseeing the technical facilities at the station for 10 years. “I’ve always tried to stay one step ahead of the rest, , be a leader, not a follower,” Buterbaugh says pointing to a state-of-the-art transmitter system.
“We now have an audio prototype system with a redesigned antenna system that is optimized for stereo,” Buterbaugh says, noting that CKLW takes delivery on a Harris stereo system on August 1st.
Butterbaugh says he chose the Harris system because “it is the only system that doesn’t require limiters on the signal in order to maintain protective ratios and emission limitations currently specified. Other systems all need filters.”
Buterbaugh may have chosen the Harris system, but he realizes, like most radio engineers and management, that it will probably be the receiver manufacturers who will decide which AM stereo system will prevail. The FCC has taken a hands-off stance on competing AM stereo systems and decreed that the marketplace should have such a system. Should some system other than Harris be the winner in the AM stereo race, it will be a minor adjustment for Buterbaugh to adapt the Harris transmitter he is installing next month.
Buterbaugh notes that he has “changed the audio processing system five times since I’ve been here, four of them were my own system.” The winner of a 1977 Billboard Radio Engineer of the Year award notes that he is “very conscious of listener fatigue and how it is caused by distortion. “It’s most important to have a good clean signal,” he says.
Buterbaugh is doing a lot of work on the FM side as well. He’s just gotten approval from the stations’ board of directors to upgrade CKJY-FM’s signal. This sister station, which runs the syndicated MOR “Unforgettable’ format, will soon move from a 540 foot tower with a 40kw of power to a 700 foot tower with 100kw. “We’ve already designed a unique audio processing system for it,”Buterbaugh says. END.
(Information and news source: Billboard; August 7, 1982).
TODAY’S NEW BUSINESS: INCREASING MARKET SHARE WHILE SPANNING TWO COUNTRIES AT THE BIG 8
DETROIT / WINDSOR — “Radio is a business first, everything else second,” says CKLW president Chuck Camroux. A wholly-owned subsidiary of Baton Broadcasting since 1970, CKLW-AM and CKJY-FM span the U.S.-Canada border, enjoying a double-market enterprise but also above normal expenses.
“Ninety-nine percent of all stations operate from one building. We operate from two and they’re 20 miles apart in two different countries. The complications are unique,” Camroux continues.
It was Camroux’s interest in “unique” CKLW which brought him from a consulting business to the CEO’s office at the station three years ago. “Most people think of me as a straight businessman,” he says, “but my career was made as a rock program director. Now, it’s essential to focus the attention on being a business. It’s a necessity when you’re dealing with millions of dollars in a major competitive radio market.”
Most AM-FM combinations divide their staff along format lines. At CKLW, the organization almost seems to have four faces, Camroux says. Even with a four-way division of labor (AM/Canada, AM Detroit, FM Canada, FM Detroit) there is little duplication of staff. “The only separate department is programming,” Camroux says.”AM and FM share news, traffic, engineering, accounting, sales and promotions.”
It’s the other axis that causes the headaches. “We need international telephone lines and mail couriers. Scheduling can really be a problem. If there’s a sales meeting for the U.S. sales department, either all the salesmen have to drive for an hour, or I do. The day can get really chopped up,” he says.
Operational hangups are only part of the problem. Stringent Canadian government regulations, declining profits and audience fragmentation have made CKLW’s going pretty rough.
“In the U.S., even forgotten deregulation, the FCC is concerned with legalities and technical questions,” Camroux relates. “”In Canada, CRTC controls programming. A separate handles the technical end. Regulations are strict on programming. The well-known Canadian content requirements are only a small part. There are broad rules on repetition — 18 times a week is the maximum for any FM format. On easy listening stations, the repeat factor is only once or twice weekly. Formats are strictly defined. For example, any song with a sustained beat and electronic accoutrement is in a rock category. If a station makes more than 10% variation on promised performance (as described when the format is assigned) it’s considered a format change. Canadian program directors are half typical program directors and half statistician.”
CKLW Radio Windsor, Ontario, Canada
For management, this means tremendous amount of government liaison. Camroux has testified at both U.S. senate hearings and its Canadian Parliament counterpart. It costs more to operate (a radio station) in Canada than in the United States, Camroux claims. On the average, staff must be larger. There is more paperwork and file processing involved. Logs must be filed every Monday. There are fewer stations and all are full-time. In Toronto (population 3 million) there are 17 stations, five non-commercial. In Detroit (population 4 million) there are 54 stations.
Camroux feels stations have a better chance of survival in Canada. “Ad ratesin Canada are pretty close in the same market, while in the U.S., tremendous swings are possible,” he says.
“Wheeling and dealing is standard in the U. S. but not in Canada, although the soft economy is changing that a bit,” he adds. Different AM rate cards apply in the two countries, although Camroux points out the per point rate is the same. FM rates are standardized.
CKLW has lost substantial amounts in the past two years, according to Camroux. When RKO owned the radio station, it was very profitable. Since 1971, profits have been on a decline. Camroux sees two main forces acting to create the earnings drop. “Market fragmentation (the market didn’t grow fast enough for the growth in stations) and decreasing ratings for CKLW (in part due to Canadian content requirements) caused revenues to decrease at the same time expenses increased,” he comments. “When the great crash of 1980 hit Detroit, it hit us too. Compared to 10 years ago, our dollar share of the market is much smaller, though actual revenues are up. Adjusted for inflation, they are down. Expenses have increased much more, but given a positive economy, profits will come back,” he concludes optimistically.
“Another factor was FM eating AM profits,” he says. “In 1979, we decided to change from a country format to big band, Now that the change is accomplished, we feel FM will be profitable by the end of the year. (CKLW-FM became CKJY-FM ‘unforgettable’ on January 14, 1982). We’ve cut costs there — the station is automated now — but as the station grows, we want to become live again, except possibly at night.”
Since February 1, CKJY-FM has spent nearly a quarter million dollars on promotion, including a Benny Goodman video. ‘We’re using television spots designed specifically for the U. S. and Canada,” Camroux reports, “and print ads in special areas.
“In Canada, we used an outdoor campaign. In Windsor, every bus side and back had our promo and we sent an 80,000 piece four-color mailing to every household.”
The response to the format change has been overwhelming, Camroux says. “We’ve gotten hundreds and hundreds of letters from listeners. We got four letters a year when we were country. Since the switch, we get about 200 a day, every one answered. We’ve had offers of old records, record libraries. The most surprising response has been from 25 to 35-year olds, although they’re still the smallest segment of our listeners.
“For AM promos, we’re up in the high echelon of dollars spent. On the air promotion is much less aggressive than a few years ago.” Canadian regulations prohibit more than $5,000 in mechanism of cash giveaways in a month.
Camroux believes in long term planning. “It’s difficult because radio is different than most industries. The product (programming) can’t be planned, therefore the tendency is to avoid long term planning completely — one year ahead is about the longest at CKLW. We budget for a year with a five year future focus, aligned in one direction. Despite the difficulties, it has to be done, because it’s important for the staff to know what’s happening.”
One aid to long-range planning has been staff longevity. “Some of our disk jockeys have 15 years on the air, some of the support staff 20 years. Our chief engineer has been with the station for 10 years.” END.
(Information and news source: Billboard; August 7, 1982).
CKLW Rosalie Trombley with the Motor City’s own Bob Seger in 1971.
DETROIT / WINDSOR — Rosalie Trombley is a mechanic. A very effective music researcher who has been guiding the the music input for CKLW for 14 years.
She’s well known and well liked in the music business. She’s also a tough lady. “You better have your facts straight, because I do my homework,” she likes to tell record promotion people.
Indeed she does. She knows the Detroit retail record scene inside and out and with her assistant Bev Merrill she thoroughly researches what is selling and what is not through a series of calls to retail stores.
CKLW’s Music Director Rosalie Trombley, photographed here on the job at the BIG 8 in the early 1970s.
She starts at 10 a.m. on Monday and has her tabulation complete by noon on Tuesday “ready for Pat.” Pat is Pat Holiday, program director of CKLW, who works closely with Trombley. “I respect her judgment. If she fights for one thing I will go along. She likes to add the hits. Sometimes she wants to add three records,” explains Holiday. I’ll say there’s a slot for one and she’ll pick the one. It will be a good choice.”
Holiday adds, “She understands what we’re trying to do (reach a 25 to 40 year old audience and what it really comes down to is that what’s best for the station prevails. But I let her be on an island. I let her do her job.”
Her job consists of measuring pop, R&B and album sales. “We’ve get a picture from retailers, rack-jobbers and one-stops,” she explains. We lay this out for the program director. Pat (Holiday) and I discuss what’s happening. I may bring records that we’re not playing in these meetings. Pat and I will discuss the various records we’re not playing and and he’ll want to know who’s playing them. We look locally versus nationally.”
Rosalie with the Osmonds circa 1970.
Trombley finds her job and radio “a struggle these days. We don’t have the clout we had ten years ago. Record buyers don’t have the loyalty they used to have. They are not as devoted as they were in the days of the Beatles. Maybe they will buy the Stones this month and Ozzy Osbourne the next.”
Trombley keeps track of Osbourne and Van Halen, even though CKLW doesn’t play these artists. “It isn’t as much fun as it was in the late 1960s and 1970s,” she adds. “Record accounts are more cautious. There’s not as much fun or excitement in radio either today.”
She notes the record promotion people are frustrated today with radio stations. “They keep coming back with the same records. I like to give them as direct an answer as fast as I can. Record companies want to break records. We no longer care to be first on a record. We have no room to break records. But I try to take care of developing records. I try to get on national records that broke late here.”
Holiday agrees that the station will “go on a record that is happening naturally, but is not happening here.”
Trombley’s research is only half of the hurdles that a record must clear to get on the station. The second step is Holiday’s call-out research. “We make 200 calls a week,” he notes. “Some to contestants, our own listeners. We test for burnout, test what other stations are playing. A record has to be in the market for almost two months before it can be tested in call-out (research),” Holiday reasons.
Rosalie Trombley with Linda and Paul McCartney.
But some records get on the air right out of the box. Holiday recalls that when Sheena Easton’s “Morning Train” arrived he got a gut reaction and and pronounced it a hit.
Although Holiday notes that CKLW “is looked upon as a pop station to break black music, the Gap Band (“You Dropped A Bomb”), despite strong R&B play had to wait clearance by the call-out research. Holiday notes that in 70 calls no one was familiar with the group. This resulted in the record being put on hold “for a week or two.”
But “Asia is getting 50 year old ladies to give it a nine” rating, Holiday notes. Holiday only started call-outs (a station staff selected to field random listeners’ phone calls) a few months ago. He wrote his own program for an Apple computer and he now gets male and female data as well as age demographics in five-year spreads.
The station adds two to three records a week. Maybe six records a month are considered for out of the box immediate air play. May half of them make it.
CKLW’s Rosalie made the cover of Detroit magazine in 1971.
This is half of what once was the case, Holiday notes. ” “It takes longer to to get a reading on records now. It’s difficult because of the economy. Holiday added that the economy in Detroit and Windsor are particularly down. “That’s the value of national research,” he concluded.
Trombley says she thinks a lot of the record promotion people of Detroit. “I’d rather work with local people. I send them out to check my research. If there’s a problem with a record, maybe it’s a stock problem. Maybe it needs other stations playing the record.”
While she has a soft spot for promotion people, she adds that record labels “waste their money hiring independent record promotion people.” END.
CKLW Rosalie Trombley with Detroit music scene promoter Jack Ashton (kneeling) and Three Dog Night in 1970.
(Information and news source: Billboard; August 7, 1982)
From the MCRFB news archives:
Buterbaugh notes that he has “changed the audio processing system five times since I’ve been here, four of them were my own system.” The winner of a 1977 Billboard Radio Engineer of the Year award notes that he is “very conscious of listener fatigue and how it is caused by distortion. “It’s most important to have a good clean signal,” he says.
