• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Who's minding the store?

wadio said:
T
Acknowledging a problem is the first step toward fixing it. Some of you guys seem to be reflecting management's attitude that nothing is really wrong. Your posts are good reinforcement for that attitude. You're being enablers, if only in a small way. .
Click to expand...

Acknowledging a problem and fixing it is what I think every station does when something goes wrong.

But at the same time, we have to accept that things do go wrong on occasion.

Some problems are big deals. Some are not. In the overall "big picture" view of things, a glitch on Sunday morning where all radio listening is minimal is not a big deal. The station likely looked at the problem to see if it was a systems error or a human error and took steps to prevent a second occurrence.

Salary size, market size, company size or station size don't limit the potential for a person to make a mistake. The real issue is whether, together, ownership and the person who committed the error, have taken steps to keep such things from happening again.
 
flybynight said:
I didn't just point to one factor, however, allowing the mass ownership that exists today was simply BAD for the industry, particularly the quality of what is heard over the air.
Click to expand...

I don't see it that way.

I've always thought that a larger group of stations could do a number of things better.

First, they can share talent across markets by "self-syndicating". This allows them to pay the real talent better. It also allows smaller markets that could not have that kind of talent to have access.

Second, in individual markets a cluster allows the combining of higher and lower rated stations, making opportunities for formats that might not be sustainable by a stand-alone operation.

Third, you can get better support staff from production gurus to great managers. You can also have a top engineer who can make the whole group sound and perform better.

I had my first local market cluster in the late 60's... 9 stations in a single market... and it allowed me to pioneer FM without a profit for a time and to program some formats that I never could have made work as a single station operator.

Conceptually, there is nothing wrong with consolidation. Some operators... like Cox and CBS... have done it better than perhaps iHeart and Cumulus have. But that happens in any field: how many commercial airliners are Douglas and Lockheed making these days?
 
flybynight said:
That one incident is just the tip of the iceberg and unless you've been living under a rock with your fingers in your ears, you'd be aware of that fact.
Click to expand...

Maybe you forget what I do for a living? And I wasn't born yesterday.

flybynight said:
I didn't just point to one factor, however, allowing the mass ownership that exists today was simply BAD for the industry, particularly the quality of what is heard over the air.
Click to expand...

Regardless, it's not going back to the way it was, and we who work in the business have to deal with reality. Bringing up ancient history is a waste of time.
 
wadio said:
Do tell. Much of your time seems to be spent on these boards defending the status quo.
Click to expand...

Once again, no one's defending anything. But I don't work at that station or for that company, so it doesn't reflect on me one bit.

Speaking of status quo, if they're so bad, why do you listen? Glutton for punishment? Makes no sense to me.

So what do you want? Public execution?
 
DavidEduardo said:


Conceptually, there is nothing wrong with consolidation. Some operators... like Cox and CBS... have done it better than perhaps iHeart and Cumulus have. But that happens in any field: how many commercial airliners are Douglas and Lockheed making these days?
Click to expand...

Conceptually. In a fantasy bubble. Nice.

Yes, there's the way it coulda or shoulda been...and then there's the way it actually turns out.

I've worked for several different clusters in large and major markets and can tell you FIRST HAND that these nice theories are only that. What I have witnessed is a degradation of quality across the board with newsrooms being decimated, coverage being slashed, talent being replaced with mediocre-at-best talent syndicated from SMALLER markets and an overall decay in moral and loyalty to the company. Bravo!

But by all means, keep defending this shit. That goes for you too, master apologist BigA.
 
Last edited:
I listen because I like some of the
programs. I don't bother critiquing things I don't care about. Apparently you do. And THAT makes no sense to me.
 
flybynight said:
But by all means, keep defending this shit. That goes for you too, master apologist BigA.
Click to expand...

Once again, just because I'm not giving you mega dittos doesn't mean I'm defending anything. I'm telling you how it is from the inside.

My experience has been very different from yours, in every possible way. Probably why I'm still in it and you're not.
 
TheBigA said:
Once again, just because I'm not giving you mega dittos doesn't mean I'm defending anything. I'm telling you how it is from the inside.

My experience has been very different from yours, in every possible way. Probably why I'm still in it and you're not.
Click to expand...

I've been "in it" for over 30 years and still am. You assume too much. I'm actually usually working while you're busy posting on these boards. You must be a high ranking radio exec, considering all your free time.
 
Last edited:
TheBigA said:
No, you're the one who started this thread, not me. So apparently you do. I'm just responding to your criticism.
Click to expand...
“Contrariwise,' continued Tweedledee, 'if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic.”

- Lewis Caroll
 
TheBigA said:
You've heard about the 1 percenters? They're the ones who still listen to AM talk.
Click to expand...

Our household is 99 percenters (though far from militant, unlike Occupy) and my mom sometimes listens to WBAL (never music radio) on the road, and I usually listen to WCBS (we're too far from WINS), KYW, WNEW, WTOP, and during the commute home during winter, WBZ and WBBM. I'm 53 and have been listening to all-news stations since my teens (habit picked up from my father with KYW [RIP Dad]). If I want music, I'll have WCEM 1240 Cambridge, MD's MOYL.

ixnay
 
TheBigA said:
A discussion involves two sides. That's what this site is about.
Click to expand...
Sure, when the reply side makes sense! Obviously you have no sense of humor either.

This discussion really boils down to the "broken windows" theory applied to radio. When you accept and make excuses for small crimes, you lower the bar which leads to more serious crimes. In radio we're not talking about life or death but the principle is the same.

A day-old newscast in the middle of the night? No problem. A day-old newscast at 11 am on Sunday? OK, s**t happens. A day-old newscast at noon on Wednesday? Eh...someone screwed up. At week-old newscast on Monday at 7 am? Pfff...nobody listens in morning drive anyway.

I realize that excuse-making has become a way of life -- people routinely mis-speak, mis-remember and otherwise obfuscate their screw-ups. When it comes to weasels, radio isn't unique. I just don't understand being so reluctant to call them on it.
 
wadio said:
When you accept and make excuses for small crimes, you lower the bar which leads to more serious crimes. In radio we're not talking about life or death but the principle is the same.
Click to expand...

But once again, no one is "making excuses." The information you lack is how management dealt with the situation. Because you don't know, you assume they did nothing. I have no reason to believe that. How many more mistakes have you heard since Sunday morning?

wadio said:
I just don't understand being so reluctant to call them on it.
Click to expand...

In New York, employee relations are complicated. WABC is a union shop. You're not dealing with minimum wage people, but union technicians from Local 16. There's a process you go through with them. I'm sure that's what's going on. You want to play "gotcha" with the union? Be my guest.
 
Last edited:
Memo to Big A: If you're gonna quote me, at least use the entires sentence as did Dave Eduardo.
Memo to Dave: I don't disagree with you. "Accidents" do in fact, happen. So does sh*t. Equating an out of date spot with an airbag that misfires and costs somebody's eyesight or life seems an unfair comparison.
Memo to me: Enough of this back and fourth. It is what it is and it ain't what it used to be.
 
Element9 said:
It is what it is and it ain't what it used to be.
Click to expand...

And what it used to be wasn't always perfect either. Sklar's book is filled with examples of mistakes at the old WABC. And for those who want to blame big radio companies, the fact is that in the 1960s, ABC was a very big company. Leonard Goldenson's book makes it clear that they had major financial problems in the 70s. When Cap Cities bought them, it wasn't long before they were financially strapped too. So yes, it is what it is. Those of us who work in this business get used to going from crisis to crisis.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom