Of course. You bring up situations that rarely happen. Even the biggest stations shy away from local programming. Yes there are exceptions, but local radio is becoming less and less cognitive of local issues. It isn’t cost effective anymore, and I am being repetitive here, but especially when consumers can find anything they need on their iPhone.
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- Thread starter placebo1969
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The biggest stations? You mean like the news and sports stations?
Playing music from national record labels isn't "local programming."
They can, but that doesn't always mean that they do.
KYYX 96.5 in Seattle was voice tracked starting in 1977 until sometime in the early eighties, so I guess they were ahead of their time. but making it sound "live" was not so easy to do with the tape technology of the time. I can recall at least one time when a screw up caused the voice track tapes to get out of sync with the music, so the DJ would come on at the end of each set and back-announce the wrong three songs. KNBQ 97.3 in Tacoma was also voice tracked for a couple years in the last seventies and avoided that pitfall by having their DJs not talk about the music.
Ironically enough since you mention the Jack FM concept, that landed on the frequency of the former KYYX.
No you missed my point. But perhaps my point wasn’t as clear as it should have been. My issue is many stations do not have any locals available to react to breaking news. The whole system on AM and FM’s are not staffed after 6pm for the most part. Yes some are, but generally most are not. So many breaking stories are ignored until the morning team gets that first cup of coffee. I am not saying this happens in major markets, but it is certainly happening in medium and smaller markets. I realize media is changing but the lack of news coverage after hours is due to budget cuts or just no interest in providing this coverage.
Jane Barbe has been counting the minutes of eternity on WWVH since her passing in 2003. Hopefully her estate is getting a check. With "work for hire" maybe not. Without a contract saying otherwise, a radio station doesn't have to pull your recorded commercials when you get quit or fired.
They're all on call. You don't staff for emergencies. You don't have people sitting around in case breaking news happens. When emergencies happen, then you call people in. That's what I saw happening for the tornado coverage. The local TV channels would have been in recorded programming. Then a tornado was reported, and people were called in.
You left out cartridges and cart carousels. Oh, and some smaller stations that recorded 6 hours of programming onto a VHS tape in EP mode, for later playback.
I find surprising that many broadcasting companies (who could get by with automating an entire radio station in house) choose to use an elaborate network system to streamline all of their assets of the same format, sometimes with mediocre outcomes. If a station underperforms under the streamlined model, why not eliminate that strategy and automate the station in house? One would assume there is someone in the office who can make programming adjustments based on the taste of the specific market. It seems that some companies shoot themselves in the foot by removing any characteristic that makes a station unique, and preventing any localization.
I get it; it's almost 2022 and local content doesn't matter like it used to. With that being said, it seems problematic when every station in a company's portfolio sounds the same. iHeart is a much maligned company on RadioDiscussions in certain boards, but I have to point out what they are doing well. Not every iHeart format sounds the same in every city, and this is extremely commendable. There are similarities between classic hits stations like "The Jet" in Seattle and "80's+" in San Francisco, but there is enough variation to indicate that local programming decisions happen. It seems like both stations are high performers too.
I get it; it's almost 2022 and local content doesn't matter like it used to. With that being said, it seems problematic when every station in a company's portfolio sounds the same. iHeart is a much maligned company on RadioDiscussions in certain boards, but I have to point out what they are doing well. Not every iHeart format sounds the same in every city, and this is extremely commendable. There are similarities between classic hits stations like "The Jet" in Seattle and "80's+" in San Francisco, but there is enough variation to indicate that local programming decisions happen. It seems like both stations are high performers too.
I voicetrack for a number of stations in small markets and can say youre full of crap.
I used to work full time for a ma and pa owned standalone in market 260 and our station doesnt even pay for ratings. I'm now part time remote, by my choice
We compete against directly with Townsquare cluster and a cluster owned by a lawyer. We compete from a distance with IHeart Media
We beat the PANTS off of them when it comes to responding to local stuff.
When we had a freak late May snowstorm that was so heavy and wet, it brought down tree limbs and plunged over 1/3rd of the 30,000 residents we serve into darkness, our auto start generator took over at the studio and we lost power at our on channel booster but have a back up at the studio.
The owner was at the studio in his pajamas at 1030pm with updates on air. I ventured through my neighborhood and took pictures for facebook.
Twice in the last month when weather caused travel to turn to crap, i logged into our automation from ALASKA and updated people on road conditions and weather at 650pm local time.
My boss at this station is a native of this town.. went to high school and college there, never left... and the station is his and his alone, no one elses money. Hes younger then me (im 38).
The small non comm i manage in rural alaska is available 24/7 in the case of emergency. Our state trooper, local medical clinic staff, mayor and school, all have my cell number and know they can call me any time in case of an emergency.
How can that be when there are different formats? The different formats operate with different rules, different staffs, different target audiences.
The radio stations are programmed for their specific cities, not for people to listen to from other locations. One problem in programming classic hits is there aren't any currents. If you compare stations from other cities in currents-based formats, you'll hear more differences.
I didn't intend to say that this is the case for different formats, but it does seem to happen with formats that are the same from market to market.
I don't entirely agree with your assessment of current-based formats having more differences (though I would certainly like to). I have to point out the Audacy model here once more, as it seems like they used a "Control + V" approach to program many of their current based stations. They even run all of their stations from "hubs." The programming doesn't reflect anything local about a particular market anymore.
By definition, if the artificial voice is reading/playing a script, that's just a voice track. If the algorithm is so elaborate that the machine delivering the artificial voice has certain autonomy to say what it wants around a prescribed set of parameters, that's considered AI. (Artificial Intelligence)
If you drill down into the actual playlists at Mediabase and BDS, you can see all of the local differences from market to marker, and in each case, the station gives a name and phone number for the local person responsible for creating the playlists. This is required in order for the stations to remain as chart reporters. Being a designated chart reporter qualifies specific stations for all of the promotional activities from record labels. That includes contesting, artist visits, and concert sponsorships. The local playlist contact is how record labels reach out to stations to promote their music and make the case that certain songs should be added or have their spins increased. Obviously one needs to be a paid subscriber to Mediabase and BDS to see all this.
What you're talking about at Audacy involves national hosting, not national playlists. Audacy was very clear and specific that playlists would remain local for the reason I identified above.
iHeart uses programming hubs as you mention, Audacy does not.
But even at iHeart, the local stations make music decisions. The programming hubs only provide host content that is integrated in local music playlists. Otherwise those individual stations would lose their status as chart reporters.
As BigA has mentioned several times, what iHeart and several other groups do is provide work parts for formats via Internet connections. The formats are administered locally (or in a zone, like Akron and Canton) locally, with the clocks, number and placement of service elements, stopset length and the like done at each station. The computer puts all the pieces together in real time, and can be updated almost instantly with a smartphone, tablet or computer int he hands of the PD or other management person.
Whether you call them hubs or central studios or whatever, the fact is that they provide bits and pieces for the stations to assemble locally. This is a whole lot better than the satellite format system of the 90's where everyone had the same clocks, same stopset lengths (whether filled or not) and same DJs. The newer systems allow for absolute local customization.
That's what Local Radio Network's Radio Velocity Control system does... in the last month, ive had a message from a police officer in Tahoka TX listening to me on KSSL and a police officer in Brady, TX listening to me on KNEL, saying they enjoy the show and when i talk about local things.
I'm not entirely sure this is always accurate. Several years ago, I compared two iHeart stations, and I've even done this with a friend this summer. In both cases, they were running the national formats by Premium Choice. In the CHR example from several years ago, the stations were Kiss in Huntsville and Kiss in the Quad Cities. In the Quad Cities, they were running a local top 5 at 5, so they were several songs behind Huntsville, but in the same order. Once the 6:00 hour hit, the two stations were back in sync and presumably stayed so for a while. I'm not sure how in an example like that, or with the alternative stations I've compared a couple times since I've been here where one station may have been a song behind the other, that there's any local decision making going on there. I do agree though that this is a lot better than the satellite systems of the past. What baffles my mind is why some stations are still using those when the systems we're talking about are available.
Your mileage may vary. Some small market owners have baked-in reliability like backup power, the ability to remote-break-into satellite or automation remotely, or the ability to head into the station as needed. Many don't because of the expense and potential effort.
Take a radio-saturated market like Seattle/Tacoma (70+ stations): Listeners already know to tune into certain news stations for local information. So if I'm running a country music or hip hop station, there's likely no need for me to stop the music and morph into news programming. Wasted effort.
I used to be part owner of a station right on the I-90 corridor between the East and West sides of the mountains. When Snoqualmie Pass used to be closed due to conditions, I set up a way for one of use to remote into the automation and drop an announcement into a folder to be played out a certain intervals. There wasn't a need to schlep into the station. Heck, I could even create and launch such an announcement from my home in the Mid-Atlantic. We could also put the pass closure information on the air live if required. Anymore, all you need is a reliable Internet connection.
It depends on the size of the market and the format. If they don't play any currents, they won't qualify as a chart reporter, so the music they play doesn't matter to record labels. A station may hand off to Premium Choice for a few hours, maybe in overnights. If they play currents, they want to remain chart reporters, thus will want to have local control of music. If they're playing Christmas, the chart doesn't care, and they can play a national playlist.
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