It’s really mostly good news, for sure, but it’s also more of a business proposition than I’d originally thought. Just another challenge and, truly, a great opportunity. Plus, I wanted an excuse to post the great Theme from the movie, “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly”. First Details.
Here’s how it works, nowadays, with local radio. The stations can no longer afford to pay for and provide programming on a regular basis. They just don’t get the advertising anymore! So, the model is changing in the following manner.
They essentially sell the whole time slot to a host/program. That person or entity then pays for the studio time, engineering, and does their own promotion AND owns the show. That, of course, is “the good news.” There’s much more good news than bad, btw, but “the bad news” is I have to work to sell the show via my various social media outlets, my own salesmanship, and friends and colleagues that can help. So, with all the web-sites and newspapers that carry my “A Dad’s Point-of-View” column, all my readers, my Facebook page, Twitter “followers,” and former showbiz contacts, I do have a good “rollodex” of people to mine. BUT, that is not why I went into this new career of mine (to be a salesman), but I have those chops and the end-game is worth it.
Ironically, I left showbiz over a decade ago when the business side overtook the creative. Much the same is happening in all forms of media, especially for the free-lance writer.
The Bruce Sallan Show – A Dad’s Point-of-View, once the deal is signed and it will be, will air “LIVE” every Thursday, pst, from 11:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. Either right away, or shortly thereafter, it will be video and audio-streamed on the AM1290 Santa Barbara Press web-site. It will be re-broadcast every Thursday evening from 9:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. and again on Saturdays from noon to 1:00 p.m.
I “own” 8 minutes of advertising/sponsorship time per hour – up to three times a week if you count the re-broadcasts. Advertisers or sponsors can participate in any or all of those 24 minutes per week. The cool thing is a sponsor could have a named segment on my show. So, for instance, I’ve contacted Momlogic, which carries my original “Just A Guy” blog, to see if they’d be interested in a ML segment in which I’d feature anything in the parenting and relationship vein they wanted, or I suggested, and have as guests any of their experts or other bloggers. It would seem a great fit.
Another idea, a perfect one, is to create an online dating segment sponsored by an eHarmony for instance. I have a potential financial company that might sponsor a parenting financial segment (what parent isn’t concerned about money issues?).
This is the overall picture. What can you do to help? First, and easiest, I’m going to need callers for the “Live” show on Thursdays from 11:00 a.m. till noon, pst, beginning with our first “Live” show on May 13. The number to call is (805) 564-1290 and I’ll post the show subject later. I hope you’ll call. Second, you can send e-mails to me with questions or comments that relate to each show’s topic to me: [email protected].
Finally, and obviously importantly, you can think of potential sponsors that would be interested in supporting the show and benefitting from it. As the show will be available on the Internet, it doesn’t just have to be local Santa Barbara people or businesses.
I hope this gives you an idea of my next venture. I’m excited, scared, nervous, thrilled, worried, and that’s just my first reaction. The demo will air this coming Thursday, on AM1290 in Santa Barbara at 11:00 a.m. Again, I don’t know if the web simulcast will be in place yet.
The tentative subject for my first “Live” show, on May 13, will be the impact of social media, especially texting, Twitter, and Facebook on our kids. Future shows will more likely be connected to an “A Dad’s Point-of-View” column as the demo was with “Best Friend or Best Parent”.
I look forward to your support in this new venture of mine. In the meantime, please feel free to visit The Santa Barbara News Press web-site.
