Okay, there are many problems with layoffs in a shrinking industry, but I want to pick on one in particular:
Firing people won't fix the problem.
The problem radio faces requires the restructuring of management up and down the ladder. It requires new skills, different skills in certain roles – many of which don't even exist at the market level – or any level – in radio today.
I wish I could tell you the solution was as simple as "get more dollars from the website," but it isn't.
We in radio are looking at the problem in exactly the wrong way and as a result we're arriving at an extremely inefficient solution.
This is not the place for me to detail how that transformation should occur (but if you read my new book you will get some hints). But I'll say this much: I'm waiting for a broadcast group to make the kinds of wholesale structural changes which will be required and which extend well beyond assigning a VP/Digital, adjusting bonuses, and dropping a new list of things to sell on the AE's lap.
Coming soon to a boardroom near you?
Perhaps.