It was a depressing day for many of us in radio on Thursday. Certainly for all those affected by the news that Bell is selling 45 of their 100+ stations and laying off thousands of employees in the division. True, OTA Televison and Network News is in deep quicksand if I’m being honest. The revenue model is broken, and those layoff numbers are ridiculously high.

But in radio…… by my estimation, there would be a maximum of 250-300 radio employees in those 45 stations and I’m being ultra-liberal in that number. It’s probably closer to 200……and of those, many have to remain in place during the transition. So why don’t we round the numbers off to 4-5 people per station left to run the 45 stations. Again, I’m over estimating here.

It’s also brighter for many of those employees, as a lot of them will be retained by their new owners and most will be much better off in those cultures, than the one they are in now.

As black as the day was for my fellow broadcasters, it has been painted with a much gloomier brush overall and Bell deserved every bit of vitriol it received on social media and even from the PMO!!!

Do you know who also had a bad day? The Corporate Communications division of Bell Media. I can’t believe (speaking of cuts), that a head or 2 won’t roll in that department. I’ve never worked in Comms, but it’s a very important department and I’ve worked with some of the best in the business when they were most needed. The best I’ve worked with have foresight and compassion and empathy and can see problems with potential messaging before anything ever happens. They work hard on what NOT to say more than what NEEDS to be said.

There was no excuse for the apocalyptic comments about radio from key executives in Bell Media who know better, or ought to have known better.

It’s easy to conclude Bell Media Comms DID NOT see that release or had the chance to speak to reporters.

It’s a new rule, let SPOKESPERSONS” deliver the information to reporters.

These executive quotes and others I’ve seen from some other operations were so negative about the radio business, that it wouldn’t be surprising if they lose some clients at the stations they are keeping. ‘No, no we meant, only small stations are losers, big stations are winners, ya that’s what we meant”!!!!!! That falls back on Comms ultimatly but when the CEO is leading the pitchforks and torches march, what can you do ?

I’m sure there has been some “if only we could get a mulligan on that one” thoughts all weekend.

Now for something completely different on this story

Here’s where my brain goes sometimes….

Did you know that the CRTC still has more actual influence and power than many people think! Imagine if the regulator chose to react to the “eff you” given to them publicly by Bell media.

They could make life miserable for them. It’s true!!!!

They’d never do it, and certainly wouldn’t publicize that they are doing it, but it’s fun to think about.

I would never want to hurt or put in limbo, the retained employees or the entrepreneurs that have stepped up to take over the assets, but the regulator could easily deny the divestiture applications. Wouldn’t that be an eyebrow raising boardroom watching that memo being read? Transfer of ownership “not approved”!!

I think it would be interesting to watch the scramble. Remember that one of the conditions for approving an ownership transfer, is that the transaction must be in the public interest. Usually that’s a commitment to spend real money on Canadian Talent Development in the first term and to offer more local news and community coverage with more local staff etc.

Sidebar: The new proposed owners will do a phenomenal job of all that and I’m excited for the business in that regard.

But if the CRTC denied these applications, maybe it would be because that Bell can’t prove the transaction is in the Public Interest? Remember, they’re now on record saying radio sucks and is for losers (I paraphrase, that’s me), so how is selling these stations to the suckers who want them in the public interest? Well, it IS in Bell Media’s interest because they get to dump these stations, make a little money off the assets and capital and real-estate and just concentrate on the big markets.

I suppose in reaction, Bell could be even more petulant than they were this week and they could merely turn the transmitters off or announce their intention to do so and write off the costs of shutting them all down. As opposed to the alternative of them actually making money off the new purchasers which is how it’s structured now. If the licenses were turned back to the Government. (That’s us by the way, we, the citizens who actually own the airwaves) THEN these same new private buyers could apply for the frequencies made available (or cherry pick further) and pay a lot less for their new stations I would think. We’ll find out the selling costs for each of these licenses once the applications are gazetted but some valuations early in the process, were delusionally high.

OK, I’m giving huge odds on this not happening. But it is a possibility.

Another option for the CRTC I’ve been thinking about.

Don’t forget that broadcasting IS NOT a franchise opportunity for Joe and Jane Smith to pay a license fee in any given market and go to town to print money. The CRTC considers each undertaking as important as the next in terms of regulation. By that I mean the small radio station in Lindsay is as important as TSN in the ownership cog and the owners are 100% responsible for their compliance at all times!!!! If the Lindsay station was found out of compliance, let’s say for Canadian Music, the CRTC doesn’t compartmentalize with properties. They don’t conclude that Bell media is a big company and they must have had lots on the go worrying about CHUM FM or the CTV network so we’ll let that little station’s non-compliance go. No friggin’ way!!!! Far from it. They actually respond by saying there’s no excuse for a big company being out of compliance on ANY of their properties and have the power to punish or make life miserable for the company. I’m not saying that’s the best use of anyone’s time or tax payer money, but it’s true.

Think of the Chair of Bell Media in front of the CRTC at their next hearing, for whatever it may be. “Hey Mr. CEO, you’re the company that hates radio and isn’t in compliance in Lindsay right? We think that until you can prove your company knows how to operate in compliance, we’re freezing or denying all your applications until they can become viable” (see what I did there?)

Yes, the CRTC could make life miserable for Bell Media if they so choose.

What else you ask?

Well, how about 1 year license renewals on every Bell Media property and compliance checks every 3 months on every property. That would be an administrative nightmare for Bell Media. They don’t need much, if anything to move on that, merely one incident of non-compliance anywhere in the company and the CRTC could use that as their own “eff you” right back to them. ‘If you can’t comply in Lindsay, you obviously don’t have systems in place to ensure compliance across the company. We better keep checking to make sure you are fulfilling your commitments that you made when you bought these properties or first applied for them”.

For the record, I’m not suggesting Lindsay is in non-compliance!!!!

And again, this ain’t gonna happen, but………..

Broadcasting is complicated and takes deep pockets. It also needs very smart people running it. Visionaries to start, but also lawyers, accountants, engineers, high tech experts and none of those have anything in common with the product people. All unique in their own way. Broadcasting is NOT for equity investors. It just doesn’t work that way.

I can only speak with my opinion for radio, the medium I’ve been involved in for 45 years. We’re overall not as creative and crazy as we used to be. Those days of no competition made things easier to attract and retain listeners and advertisers followed. It worked for everyone. It still does in many ways!

Like most of you, my back goes up when radio gets defecated on. So eff you back to those that gave us the eff you last week.

Cheers!!!