I am a big fan of 98.1 The Hawk, but I've noticed that most of their shows are either voicetracked from another station or from a syndicated radio show. The only local morning show on the station is Glenn and Traci, but even then, they might be playing the same songs as Curt and Samm (who are also voicetracked). It's actually a similar situation to iHeartMedia's "Premium Choice" stations where most DJ's are voioetracked from another station instead of live.
Was this because of layoffs from Townsquare Media or not?
Was it because of layoffs at Townsquare? Well, it's because of radio's bigger economic picture that includes layoffs.
Radio stations don't make as much money as they once did. They're still making some but they have to keep cutting expenses. Nearly every big owner, iHeart, Cumulus, Audacy, Cox and Townsquare, has to cut staff. So if you're outside the very largest markets, most of the DJs you hear on your local station are voicetracked.
The question is, is it someone who is voicetracking specifically for your station? Their breaks have mentions of local things in your area? That's what you hope for. But often it's someone voicetracking for a lot of stations at the same time. How many Classic Rock stations owned by iHeart have Maria Milito doing middays and Ken Dashow doing afternoons? They're doing the same thing live on Q104.3 in New York but also going in another studio to record those same breaks for KIGL in Bentonville, Arkasnsas, WRKH in Mobile and dozens of others.
The funny thing is, iHeart just laid off one of the DJs who is heard live on WXTB in Tampa and dozens of other Rock and Classic Rock stations, a guy known as Big Rig. I guess even the voicetrackers are not immune from layoffs.
But I'd say most listeners don't have any idea the DJ they're listening to, who begins all his breaks by saying "Q102, Springfield's Classic Rock," is in another city and may never have been to Springfield.
