VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

Casey Mac · Guest

Hi Folks,
Quick question for you seasoned pros. I recently was approached by a station in a medium sized market (not 100% sure on rating) that wanted to offer me 4 mins of barter/day in exchange for doing their production. I thought this sounded pretty good.

Now, I have never dealt with Bartering services AT ALL. I am curious if someone could take the time to inform me a little bit about specifics, services, fee's, etc....I would like to expand my options and offer this form "payment" but need to know a little bit about what i'd be getting into first. Thanks!

Casey

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LoudMouth Radio Imaging & Production
Licensed Distributor of Big Fish Workparts
www.loudmouthimaging.com

Dan-O · The Gates of Troy Joined: 17 Jan 2005 Posts: 1638

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ronharpervoice · Club 300 Joined: 23 Jan 2007 Posts: 347 Location: Ohio

That's right, or you couldmake arrangements with one of the Per Inquiry agencies. Those are the spots with a specific phone number on the end. You get paid a specific amount per call. I worked with one during the four years I was syndicating my Beatles program. Let me know if you want the info
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Hart · Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2007 6:41 am Post subject: Re: Bartered Services?

Casey,

I don't do barter, and I don't believe I'll ever want to. Too many variables and extra work involved. But having dealt with barter from the radio station side I do have some experience.

My first question, is why did they ask YOU for barter if you don't normally offer it. That's a red flag to me for some reason.

On the surface 4 minutes per day seems pretty good, assuming when you say production you mean producing their imaging. They don't mean doing all their spots and stuff right? Just asking, I had a station approach me about that.

I guess it depends on how much work you're doing for them. Make sure you nail down the specifics in writing though. Is that 4 minutes from 12a to 12p or 6a to 7p, 6a to 12p? Will the station want to frontload spots when the schedule is full (meaning move your spots from Thu Fri up to Mon, Tue, not as favorable days usually). What happens when the station is oversold? Do your spots get bumped, if so when do they get made up. That's just A few off the top of my head.

How are their ratings? Is this station sell-able in key demos? If you have to work hard to sell those 4 minutes per day at $35 each is it worth it? You need to figure out how to put a realistic monetary value on the barter - your services and their 4 minutes (and don't take their word for it either). You may want to call radio stations around the market and ask for their rate sheet. Have somebody call this station for you too. Even better, if you happen to have a contact at an ad agency that works that market ask them for info. They should have all you need.

How will you verify they actually ran your commercials? You need to have some sort of an affidavit system in place. You need to know, and more importantly any clients you sell the time to will require to know when their spots ran.

Well, my wife is handing the baby off to me so I need to run. That's a lot of info, feel free to call me if you'd like to discuss any of it in depth. My number is on my website at http://www.brianhartproductions.com/contact.htm

For reference, here's a list of bartered services we used at my last radio station. Maybe it will give you some perspective.

NCNN News: Provided one minute newscast each hour 6a to 7p, along with access to soundbytes etc. Cost: 1 minute per newscast M-Sa.

TM Century: We bartered a music library package from them. It cost us 21 minutes per week, usually broken down into :30 spots.

Metro Networks: They provided either recorded traffic reports or access to traffic info for us to read locally. Cost: a 10 billboard per report.

B
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todd ellis · Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2007 6:46 am Post subject:

Nothing to add to what Brian said ... EXCEPT: remember Uncle Sam still counts barter dollars as income.
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Casey Mac · Guest

Thanks for the input all!
I guess I should have hit on the reason why I am "offering" to do bartered services this time as opposed to any other times...the main reason is the Hobo Laughing

of that station said that's what they did for the "last production guy"....Havent had a chance to bargain with him yet (ie cash vs barter). Just wanted to get some input from you folks about what you may or may not have done in the past. I've contacted a company dial-global.com who represents freelance radio people with bartering services...I'll let you all know how that goes. Thanks again for the help!

Casey

Hart · Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2007 9:34 am Post subject:

You keep saying "production guy." Are they trying to outsource all their production?
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Casey Mac · Guest

...I wouldnt say ALL of their production.

Promos/Imaging/Shotguns/etc....

Hart · Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2007 10:31 am Post subject:

Just checking. I've heard of more and more stations trying to outsource basically everything. In addition to the station that contacted me the other day, I had a conversation with a local GM about it a while back. It's an interesting concept I suppose but I don't want to be a station's prod guy anymore and certainly not for pennies on the dollar compared to when I was a full time prod guy.
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Pam · Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2007 8:55 pm Post subject:

This is actually akin to what I do for my day job. Hart is correct in all his assertions. I would add that you are responsible for seeing that the ad time is sold to get paid. You may go to a third party to get it sold but they will be taking their cut out before you get to yours. I've sold ad time for over 20 years both locally and nationally and it takes a lot of time to turn a prospect into a sale. Do you have the time to devote to this? Or if you don't and turn to a thrid party, are you willing to make less money. And if the time doesn't get sold, you are out of luck my friend as you can't get the time back. As for verifying if things ran, Sarbannes-Oxley should cover that. The days of altering invoices are long gone, or should be as they will face serious fines if they try to doctor an invoice and don't have the documentation to back it up. Hope that helps!
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Now what did I come in here for?

Casey Mac · Guest

Thank you - I have pm'ed you a "personal message". haha

Casey Mac · Guest

...Anyone have a link for a 3rd party Bartering Service??

Thanks!