In Black America; Meredith Beal, President and CEO of Lasting Value Broadcasting Group; Part 1

From the University of Texas at Austin, KUT Radio, this is In Black America. Public opinion is generated that way. Historically, in the United States, public opinion was created through our control through the pulpit and the classroom. But in the, I guess, mid-50s or sometime between 40s, 50s, 60s, the media became the more dominant element in contributing to the creation of a public opinion. And so the sensibilities of the people who are at a news desk or, you know, at a service desk at a TV station or a radio station, their opinions have a lot to do with what gets broadcast and the context of what gets broadcast. So when anything happens in, in Europe, and you tune in to ABC News or CNN or something, that newscaster is telling you, here's what happening, here's what it means.

But what it means is from the viewpoint of his own experience, looking through the lens of his personal experience. Meredith Bill, President and CEO of Lasting Broadcasting Group. In 2007, Bill was named Texas Broadcast of the Year by the Texas Association of Broadcasts. TAB is the nation's largest state broadcasting association. Bill is the owner of KCLWAM in Hamilton, Texas. KCOX and KTXJFM in Jasper, Texas. Prior to ending the broadcasting industry, Bill was Global Webmaster for Dale. He has managed Dale's human resources information online. His previous position that Dale was marketing and communications advisor worldwide for Dale University. He has an extensive technical background as well as a creative one. Bill has held previous positions, ranging from chemists, network implementation specialists and software engineer to editor-in-chief of major magazines and trade journals, music producer, reported for the Los Angeles Times, and executive with Motown Records. I'm Johnny El Hansen, Jr. and welcome to another edition of In Black America. On this week's program, Lasting Value Broadcasting Group, with President and CEO Meredith Bill, Part 1, In Black America.

Well, a handful of Gilliboy's took exception to their largest media being owned by an African American. And so there was pressure put on my advertiser, some of the sponsors. The transmitter was sabotaged. I had been under investigation by the FCC on a few occasions. One of the investigations is just completed this past week, and that investigation has been going on since June, and it was a frivolous complaint as all of them were, but because it's a public facility, they have to respond. They pay for a lawyer to go tell my side of the story. And this one was basically accusing me of turning over ownership of the station without FCC permission, which was nonsense. And since from June until just this past week or so, the investigation was going on, it kept happening to send in more documents and more documents. It was never an opportunity for me to communicate what was really driving the investigation of the complaints in the first place.

In 1999, Bill saw some Dell stocked and formed Lasting Value to combine entertainment and technology to enhance education and culture. Born and raised in Los Angeles as a child, he spent a great deal of time in Texas because his father is from Marshall, Texas. He attended the University of Houston where he majored in journalism. After graduation, he moved back to L.A. to accept the position with the Los Angeles Times. In 2007, eight while helping his cousin at her package store, he was shot with a sawdust shot gun. The doctor told him he had 50 pellets in his body, some in his chest, heart, lung, eye, and hand. In 2001, Bill left Dell to focus on broadcasting and education, donating web design and video production classes to Houston Tillerson University in Austin, Texas, and partnering with Teach One Entertainment to develop cartoon characters, and positive content with children. As a broadcaster, he advocates localism and community focus while keeping a global perspective, recently in Black America spoke with Meredith Bill.

Get these stations and put them together and create a network. And around not too far after I got into the second station, I purchased KCLW up in Hamilton, Texas, which was a classic country or the vintage old style country. And that signal just barely touches Austin. So I was still looking for something in Austin, but figured Austin was price prohibitive. And then a K-O-K-E, which is 1600 AM, became available, and it was kind of like the last opportunity to get something in Austin. So I had made it down payment on that. And again, my buddies were going to come in with me, but around that time they lost their liquidity, so I was wanting to sit by myself. That station I was going to, I was considering doing children's programming, so I was going to affiliate with Disney. They had asked me if I was interested in selling the station, and I said, well, I haven't closed on it yet, but everybody got a number. So I'm sure you can write a check big enough.

So, and another company believes Rodriguez broadcasting was also interested, so they were in a bidding war and Rodriguez won. And so that's why I did not wind up with the station in Austin. But Jasper, it was two years before they found out I was African American, at least, I guess the bulk of the community. And that's when some of the troubles started. I mean, those troubles were what? Well, a handful of good boys took exception to their largest media being owned by an African American. And so there was pressure put on my advertiser, some of the sponsors. The transmitter was sabotaged. I've been under investigation by the FCC on a few occasions. One of the investigations is just completed this past week. And that investigation has been going on since June, and it was a frivolous complaint as all of them were, but because it's a public facility, they have to respond. So I have to pay for a lawyer to go tell my side of the story. And this one was basically accusing me of turning over ownership of the station without FCC permission, which was nonsense.

And as I said, from June until just this past week or so, the investigation was going on. I kept having to send in more documents and more documents. But there was never an opportunity for me to communicate what was really driving the investigation at the complaints in the first place. And the one of the congressmen from Congressman Brady, where Jasper's congressman, he had made a call on my behalf as did a couple of other congressmen. We weren't giving any information. We're still investigating and we don't know how long it's going to take. So they did all they could do legally. And so again, this past week, both of those complaints were dropped. Now we found ourselves in a, some of the conjures where the Telecommunication Act was changed to allow these mega corporations to buy and own multiple property broadcasts and newspaper in a particular market.

How is this current state of affairs having an effect on mom and pop minority owned broadcast properties? Do you see a switch coming? Well, I would like to think that something would be done about the imbalance. But when you have these huge corporations, these conglomerates that own hundreds or more than a thousand stations and are able to leverage their multiple properties in a particular market. So that a small broadcaster will have a hard time competing with his rate card against somebody who owns four stations.

And that mode of monopolies doesn't seem to be waning any, I mean, even clear channel was, you know, which was the largest broadcast owner in the United States. It was being bought by another, I guess, what they call now private equity firms. So it's only the problem is, and I think a few years ago, ABC news came out and spent a couple days with me up in Hamilton. And what they were dressing was the FCC was getting ready to vote at their time on the ownership rules. Again, what you're talking about, how many radio stations, TV stations and newspapers can one company own in one city? And calling into question with these companies gobbling up media properties in these communities and then changing the program, what is it doing to the culture of small town America? When you have a station, which is being programmed out of, say, the East Coast and they're in a small town in Texas. I mean, you take off high school football, you know, that's religion in Texas.

So, you know, so the problem is most of them are looking at revenue and cutting costs and increasing revenue, sitting eventually sell the property for, you know, for hopefully a big game. And in the process, most of the time, they are reducing personnel, automating a lot of things. And so the preservation of what's going on in the community and the culture and the fact that small communities in particular are dependent upon the radio station for, you know, the community to function. For instance, when I purchased a Hamilton station, their newspaper comes out once a week and that's a Wednesday. Now, if you die on Tuesday, the paper deadline is Monday. So if you die on Tuesday and you're feeling it was that weekend, it's not going to get into the paper until the next week.

So they're dependent upon the local radio station to be able to communicate, you know, the obituaries, for instance. How are you able to compete in this environment? I'll take some creativity and ingenuity. And fortunately, I have a very low audience. Again, in KCLW, that's the Hamilton station. That programming, that vintage country, you hear, you know, the Red Island had Crawford, all the old guys. And there are about a handful of stations across the country who play that kind of music currently. So the people who do listen really love it. And as well, we're also broadcasting on the internet. So I have listeners from all over the world. We got one of the Cowboys in Australia. There's probably 400 or 500 listeners in England who go to a pub after work and listen to the Curial Prom Show, which is our most vintage program in the afternoon. So it's been trying to take advantage of technology.

And in the case of Hamilton, it's one of those old grandfather clear channel signals. So not clear channel of the company, but back in the 30s, the FCC created some protective signals. And I inherited, when I bought the property, I inherited that coverage. So you can hear the station. I live in North Austin. You can hear it there. You can hear it in Fort Worth, Colleen, Waco, Abeling. I mean, it has probably the largest geographic coverage in Texas. So trying to take advantage of that geography has been a challenge. I opened up the sales office in Colleen a couple of times, but I had the wrong people. I still think that was the correct move. So one is using technology to extend your source in a revenue, for instance. Terrestrial, we can only broadcast one high school football game, but there are several other communities within 20, 30 miles of Hamilton that are, you know, have one high school in the city. And so we've been broadcasting high school football on the internet.

So the ones we couldn't broadcast on the internet, now we're bringing them on the internet. And that is expanded to, we've been doing schools in Austin. So Fluegraville, Connolly, Mainer High School, we're broadcasting their games every week on the internet. And we created a website called the Lone Star Sports Network. Where you can, you know, see those high school games. One of the things in most small towns and most small radio stations, the most popular program is called the Trading Post, which is kind of like a swap mean on the air. Somebody calls up, I got a baby carriage, I want $25 for it, here's my number. So it's matching people, somebody calling up looking for, you know, Fender 457 Chevy. So in small towns and also in bad economies, bar to trade is, which is our original motor commerce in the first place for human beings, people were kind of revered back to that. So our trading post show is one hour every day, but we wanted to extend that. So we're rolling on an online version of the Trading Post, where people can come in and post their stuff and buy stuff 24 hours a day. In addition, along with that, we're launching an e-base style auction for local stuff.

So, you know, doing doing things and coming up with with unique things, we have a thing called watermelon winces where our personalities are hiding watermelons around town and giving clues so people can find them. One of our other programs that is real popular is called Shout Out from Iraq, where we have deployed soldiers calling in every Friday, giving a shout out to their buddies and would have you. And on the holidays, for instance, you know, when Mother Days comes around, we'll be collecting Mother's Day greetings from soldiers during the week and Sunday we'll broadcast them all that day. So as a small station, we're able to do more things and not have to go through a lot of bureaucracy in order to get something approved. You know, if an air personality or the general manager or DJ comes up with an idea, we talk about it and hey, we can implement it pretty quickly. So being in touch with the community needs and then addressing them, for instance, last year, Texas was hit badly by fire, forest fires. And in particular, my general manager, there was a fire that came burned all the way up to like his fence and had not been for these volunteer fire departments, his house would have burned.

So the station decided we would do a fundraiser. We did a festival called the Fire Fest, and we were able to raise $30,000 that we gave to 10 area volunteer fire departments. So that's the kind of stuff that needs to go on in order for a media property to be connected to its citizenry and to receive the support and return. With the new technology, high definition radio coming online, we have satellite radio. How are you all addressing this new move and this new media? Well, there's opportunities there, but they also cost. I mean, high definition is not a cheap proposition, especially for a small station.

And, you know, satellite radio right now, excuse me is, we haven't noticed them impacting us in any way yet. You know, it may be a couple of years down the line or so, and also when XM and Sirius are attempting to merger, which I'm adamantly opposed to. So we'll see as it goes, what we're able to take advantage of. I mean, many radio stations, one of the opportunities that HD allows is for, I guess you call maybe side channels. So a station that is broadcasting a particular format, say top 40 or something, they can offer additional programming on some adjacent bands and say, do whether a news all the time or an interest specific genre or something. So a lot of them will be able to attract more revenue by offering additional lines of programming.

Are there any additional properties on the horizon to be purchased? I would love to, obviously, financing is an issue about with that. One of the things that I find encouraging back in the late 70s, there was a mechanism called the IRS FCC Telecommunications Tax Create, which offered incentives for a station that was selling their media properties to sell them to a member of a minority group or a woman. And that did have some effect, some positive effect on increasing the number of African American owners. As with the other elements of so-called affirmative action, as they started to go by the wayside, so did this Telecommunications Tax Credit. So by, it started in the Reagan era, and then by 1990, those mechanisms no longer existed. But now there is a bill, Bobby Rush, Democrat-Familanoi has proposed HR 600, which re-institutes a tax credit, an incentive that, suppose there are several bidders for a particular radio property or television.

And they were equal on all of the terms. This credit would allow if the seller would sell to an African American or a woman or another racial minority. So maybe several million dollars more tax credit. So I do believe that will help. So yes, I would love to buy some more properties, but I need some more partners, or maybe the stations doing very, very well in order to do so, or partner with someone. But yes, as you mentioned, the formats that I'm doing have been country-western and news talk. I love all kinds of music. I love jazz, I love R&B, I love reggae music. I produce a number of albums of African music. And matter of fact, when I first bought the station, one of the driving factors in this, maybe escalating, getting to radio, was there used to be a jazz station in Austin, which was a nice one. And overnight, turning on the radio down, it was country.

So a lot of folks, myself, several of the guys who worked at Dell, a lot of folks who were in the cigar culture, and the jazz culture was like, hey, what happened Austin's radio station? And several of my buddies were like, hey, let's buy a radio station and do jazz. So yes, I'd love to do some more radio. Was it difficult in gathering the finance for these properties? Well, I came to Dell at the right time, and I left it at the right time. So, the financing wasn't an issue. I probably could have done it in a wiser way, because I didn't know the ropes. I made a lot of mistakes, but I used Dell stock options to finance my purchases.

What would you tell young African Americans, considering the landscape, that it is possible to own broadcast properties, but it is much more difficult than it had been in the past? Absolutely, because prices are going up. More large corporations are merging and acquiring and making it hard to acquire whatever available things that are out there. But if it's something you really want to do, you can. And I've always felt that if you applied yourself and learned your craft, then you'd have an opportunity to present it for you to excel in whatever that arena is. So with technology, like it is, I think we have a better opportunity than ever to communicate with the internet at a touch of button. You can communicate with somebody on the other side of the world. At the same time, it might have made us less communicative at home. You may talk more to somebody across the world than you do your neighbors. But with the advent of blocks, the ability of anybody to express your opinion.

And you know, you get out there and express your opinion and then promote the fact that you're expressing your opinion is one way to get started. And also with doing internet radio. It's much cheaper to get into broadcasting on the internet than it is a traditional terrestrial facility. So I would say one is to learn as much you can and communicate it to as many people as you can and read as much as you can. And even though as I mentioned, the manipulation of information, the more you do read, you're able to kind of read in between the lines and glean what you need to glean out of whatever information is there. And folks call you to get some free advice, free advice to an extent. But I do consult. You know, catch me at the last and value dot com or give out my email address or whatever.

Mary, if you are the 2006 broadcast of the year from the Texas Association of broadcast 2007 2007, a recipient of the Texas Association of Broadcasters broadcast of the year award. What was your action when you received a phone call and say you are the recipient of this and how has that assisted you in doing what you do? Well, I was shocked actually. And I said, why are you sure? Because I had seen the previous years, the winners of this award in previous years have really done incredible things. So I have so much respect for those people. And to be named among them is just really an incredible honor. And it's really humbling to me and I truly appreciate it. So yeah, my first reaction was wow. But as I thought about it and thought about some of the things I've done over the past couple of years, you know, like the fire, the case of the event also during the elections.

KCLW interviewed nearly all of the state by candidates for office and as well as some of the local things like the county commissioner and judges and things. And we devoted more airtime than any other radio station in Texas in doing these interviews. We did 35 plus and we aired them in a daytime, then we aired them in nighttime. So as I started thinking about some of the things that I did, I was like, okay, yeah, I can see that. And since that time, it's, I've really am overwhelmed by the amount of appreciation that has been shown to me, especially by the people in the town of Hamilton. Last week, they had Meredith Biel Day in Hamilton, you know, see the proclamation and several of the business owners had approached the city council and the Chamber of Commerce and suggested that they do something to show this city's appreciation for me, bringing so much attention to the town. And so yes, and I'm still looking to see how I can translate that into more, more business and more revenue, whatever. But not to mention how proud my family was, you know, my parents came from LA and my sister.

My high knuckle up in Arlington came down to share that occasion with me and my mother mentioned that had they not been there to really see what it was, it was hard to understand how profound that was. And one of my buddies called me from LA, he had moved out to Austin for a few years and he moved back earlier this year. And he said, well, I know what it means to be a black man in Texas and to be named Braw Cash for the year. Any final comments, Meredith? Well, again, I really appreciate your show and the opportunity to come on in and share some things with your audience. And I do believe that again, all you guys out there, especially young people who are wanting to get into broadcasting. Learning as much as you can, you might have to go to some small town in order to gain some experience and, you know, get your chops worked on.

But that's usually where it goes, get some experience somewhere and then go back to wherever it is that you like and do your thing. Speaking of experience, are there opportunities for young people to intern at your Braw Cash practice? Yes, we have interns from the high school, again, in the station in Hamilton, Hamilton High School. We have interns from there. And then Central Texas College in Colleen has, we've had some interns from there as well. So I'm open to that. Hamilton is about an hour and a half from here, so it may be a daunting task for a student who's in South Austin to get up there. But yeah, there are some opportunities. And I'm still looking at trying to do something here in Austin. Meredith Bill, President and CEO of Lasting Value Broadcasting Group. We will continue our conversation on next week's program. If you have questions, comments or suggestions asked your future in Black America programs, write us. Also, let us know what radio station you heard us over. The views and opinions expressed on this program are not necessarily those of this station or of the University of Texas at Austin.

You can hear previous programs online at kut.org. Until we have the opportunity again for Technical Producer David Alvarez, I'm Johnny O'Hanston Jr. Thank you for joining us today. Please join us again next week. CD copies of this program are available and may be purchased by writing in Black America CDs, KUT Radio, one university station, Austin, Texas, 78712. This has been a production of KUT Radio.