| Show rB ss t Serving Vernal's listeners demands airwave quality qualify Despite its apparent glamour broad broad- broadcasting broadcasting casting Is a business Its needs are the same as any other business enough revenue to make a profit sufficient enough to keep the operation going Its a lot like any other owned locally business said Dick Winters general manager of Inc Its performance is revealed by the way its it's operated and managed There is one difference between Inc and many other local businesses however Inc is owned by a Salt Lake City firm fi m known as Communication Investment Inc which owns five other broadcasting operations in addition to regional radio and television networks Hand and two ranches according to Winters Reinvest profit Unlike other corporate groups however Inc has the to work the Uintah Basin market in its own way and reinvest some profit In whatever way seen feasible to ensure continued profit So when Winters compares com com- compares pares his operation to other locally locally- owned businesses it isn't necessarily a freudian slip They Investment Corp allow us to see what are the best things that work in Vernal Winters said The people in Vernal have dif dif- different different ferent habits different needs we have havea a wider audience to cover The money comes from the corporate purse he said We have to make money to pay It back Winters considers himself In a good position to gauge the Uintah Basins Basin's economy since that is what a media outlet lives or dies on I feel very strongly that Vernal's economy Is so far ahead that we should be thankful were we're where we are We have to stick together to keep it that way We dont don't have a lot of industries that hav have gone down the tubes Yes weve we've had cutbacks in the oil patch But the tourist traffic is strong the steady jobs are strong he said Full earnings potential Winters admits that Inc has yet yetto yetto to reach Its fullest earnings potential with regard to advertising rates The competition is getting strong In Vernal among various kinds of stores The mer- mer merchant merchant chant needs to be given a chance to use an advertising medium Part of our public Interest is being able to do that he added Winters said merchants tell him they are not making negative profits Ie losses But they are not getting that gravy like they did possibly a year maybe two and definitely five years ago The Infusion of corporate cash helps Inc maintain a surprisingly sophisticated operation for its small small- market size AM with a live for for- format format mat susceptible to mistakes sounds sur- sur surprisingly surprisingly often like a market big station There are other small market stations in Utah owned by outside interests that still sound like small market stations Winters said he has heard from many listeners mainly from more populated areas who comment on how well the pro pro- professionalism professionalism shows on the air Like well listened stations In urban markets is labor Intensive I especially with talent There are four time full jockeys disc who work in four four- I to six hour shifts along with three others I Iwho who are part time the jocks also pro pro- produce produce duce commercials and other pre pre- prerecorded prerecorded recorded announcements i a time full news director and three time part assistants who give local newscasts at regular intervals throughout the broad broad- broadcast broadcast cast day three time full sales representatives representatives advertising consultants Winters calls them and another full full- time employee who devotes his time to writing advertising copy and production Unlike many small market stations has resisted the supposed labor labor- laborsaving laborsaving saving move of converting to an automated format This has been done to the sister station KUIN-FM KUIN which runs on a programmed pre music format interspersed with local an- an announcements announcements and commercials produced ed cd at the station RunIon Runs on Computer An automated format runs on a com com- computer puter memory and a cue system inaudi- inaudi inaudible Inaudible ble tones at the end of music or announcements signal the next piece of programming to begin Many stations invariably opt for an automated format for Cor a second reason a more sounding professional tighter format that eliminates dead space bet bet- between between music and other programming Winters said that advantage bears out up to a certain point Some stations automate themselves to the point where they are no l longer nger able to serve the public interest he said Youve got to have a certain amount of people to do the job that needs to be done In Vernal Whatever programming vehicle it takes advertising revenue to run it Winters said getting the advertising dollar in the Uintah Basin spent on radio is not so much a problem of competing for that dollar as it is getting advertisers to channel those dollars into what he calls campaigns And those cam cam- campaigns campaigns can involve newspapers or other broadcast stations he added We like to work with other media said Winters Most people think we dont don't We all have one goal goal- to to work for Cor Cora fora a client in town A lot of businesses locally dont don't plan their ad budgets as a major part of operating the store We sell them adver- adver advertising campaigns ideas campaigns Winters said There is no disputing the immediacy of radios radio's message which can be chang chang- changed changed ed about as quickly as the mood of its programmer The argument among media critics and consultants comes with deciding which medium Is most effective Immediacy VI ve detail Winters makes a convincing case tha that t for example radio and newspaper advertising can compliment each other much the same as news coverage can In other words radio c conveys the sense of Immediacy while the newspaper offers more detail Inc nonetheless runs those entertaining spots for house in-house advertis- advertis advertising advertising ing put together by a nationally nationally- s 's f 1 1 aa Y aOp i na 1 f mow t Y I WA tyNy- tyNy r I parr P f t s A a A 4 No 1 P I 1 ht l lA A N NA A kl v INC General Manager Dick Winters stands in the FM side of the operation a room recognized and winning award pair of prod producers cers that stress radios radio's ability to target a particular audience while using the simplest form creativity a persons person's Imagination How do you show the pyramids the elephant and Dayton Ohio on radio Answer You just did S Said id Winters In five minutes you find out the Popes Pope's been shot or theres there's a hurricane In Hawaii Hawa To get the details you can watch It on the nightly news or sit down and read the newspaper Advertising is the same way hour 24 broadcasting Indications of a greatly expanded market in the Uintah Basin prompted the decision to pursue a license from the Federal Communications Commission for hour 24 a day broadcasting AMs AM's broadcasting day extended to mid mid- midnight midnight night scatting last January In May the station started night all broadcasting two nights a week Friday and Saturday Winters said the market has yet to become firm enough to support con con- continuous continuous hour 24 broadcasting A lot of people realize the growth and changes in the Basin area You have peo- peo pie open 24 hours a day day- he said If you take a trip up Main Street several times a night you find that its it's busy As a broadcasting operation Inc is in the unique position of being a regulated business that has near near- complete freedom to work In the open marketplace It can charge whatever advertising rates rate the market will bear The extent of the marketplace is controlled ed to some extent however in that the FCC regulates the strength of a stations station's signal and the frequency at which it will willbe willbe be broadcast The regulatory question is isa isa a particularly acute one in the case of AM broadcasting at nighttime a known as ionization In the atmosphere enables AM signals literal literal- literally literally ly to bounce halfway across the country Directional signal The FCC permits AM to broad broad- broadcast broadcast cast at watts power during the daytime and with a watt 1000 signal after sunset A directional signal prevents signal from in- in interring interring with another with the same fre- fre frequency frequency quency broadcast from a different part of the country The FCC permitted long KUIN-FM KUIN in operation since 1975 to broadcast during nighttime hours wl with watt a watt signal that has automated programming equipment Through the glass is the live AM studio FM broadcasting by nature is more restrictive because it uses a line of sight signal blocked by a building or mountain It took three years for the AM to go nighttime said Winters Inc has undergone the same kind of protracted effort to Increase the power of the FM station station and and expand the coverage area Inc has been a Intensive capital organization since coming under the ban ban- banner banner ner of Communications Investment Corp An expansion of the studio facilities nearly doubling the working area according to Winters was com com- completed completed last March Equipment costs have Included for new transmitting equipment and for the effort of night night- nighttime nighttime time AM broadcasting for three antenna towers and for a unit to create the directional nighttime signal Started In 1947 Technically speaking the station has hasa a rich history It started in 1947 as under the name of the Uintah Broad Broad- Broadcasting Broadcasting casting Co the principles of whom were James C and engineer Howard Johnson an inductee into the Utah Broadcasting Hall of Fame who built the stations station's first transmitter and Johnson were the same principles who sold the operation to Com Com- Communications Communications Investment In 1979 Winters joined the group In 1980 with witha a broadcasting management background that included station station- expansion projects in Colorados Colorado's bigger cities He said he came to Vernal because of the going easier lifestyle and believes many of his people have come here and stayed for the same reason That and money Inc will pay disc jockeys more than stations in urban markets such as Los Angeles to keep talent in Vcr Ver- Vernal nal Some of the stations station's jocks and sales salespeople salespeople people have come from market big sta- sta stations stations Winters rejects the Idea that Inc will wilI be strictly a breeding ground for better jobs though he wont won't stop anyone from going HIres consulting firm will spend money to keep the talent In good shape such as hiring an Oklahoma City consulting service to analyze occasional air checks of a disc jockeys jockey's show Soon the AM station will subscribe to a music service to provide all the music of the stations station's Top easy Top 4 listening format on tapes with the song son placed in planned sequence that WIll start and stop at the press of a button butto Records will be out as they have beer for a long while at many stations said Raid Winters For quality's sake VEL records new records onto tape immediately Part of a stations station's mandate from FCC is to serve its community in tho 1111 public interest a point v continually stresses But the profi prof II motive has to be present as well Operation expensive It has gotten more expensive It If Iti It i wasn't for the large resources you pro probably probably bably would not see the new building and the expensive equipment Winters said The cost of operating is no than an any other business its it's gone sk ski high That's why a lot of small lo all owned radio stations art are selling set bog out nut ho hI said Youre either on the up or or on ti n I down In this business Were We're Oil on lie WJ wa up j a I k kI J It A ft I t ROGER Curtis prepares to record a commercial spot |
