A Challenge For College Radio

[KevinFodor]

So often here I read the "commercial radio stinks" rant. As a radio programmer, I laugh at some of these
comments...you know, the ones that say we need to get rid of all the commercials, throw out all the rules, toss in obscenities in order to "be real" and play 20,000 song titles.

But, I'm also adult enough to see that our business is losing (and has lost) some younger listeners. So, here's my challenge to you:

If you could design the programming on a full-signaled FM station in a medium to large market, to target listening from, say, age 15 to 30, what would you do that radio currently does not?

Here's my only stipulations:

There has to be some control of the playlist. I'm not saying it has to be 300 songs, only that it can't be
infinite.

What would be a comfortable commercial load? ("Zero" is not an acceptable answer. In order to pay you, the station would have to make money.) And, what type of approach for commercial production would be more comfortable for you?

To reach this audience, should radio consider looking at download charts rather than the current day chart system? (I think "yes" on this point, but I want to know what you think.) Or, is there some other thing we should be looking at? (It does stand to reason that for this type of station you would want to have people in the clubs, on the street doing the same things you're doing.)

DJ presentation? Or no jocks at all? And, yes...this is a hypothetical "real" radio station. All FCC rules have to be followed. (We don't make the rules in radio...but, we have to live with them.)

What would get you excited about our business again?

Here's a radio person who's interested in your thoughts.

 

[educ-engineer]

I agree he play list needs to be controled.

Six to eight commericals and hour. Production should be national and local combined. Local ones should be by a local talent, and produed by the stations staff if possible.

I agree that a download chat would be a good starting point. Combine that local information from local club dj's or producers. This would give you a feel for what the younger local crowd is into. Lots of on air promotion about the program.

Live DJ presentation is always better. Keep the breaks short. Perhaps some request to keep them listening. Yes follow all the rules too.

Good audio processing and programing have always excited me. By that I mean live dj's (no voice tracking) Local PSA'S, and a good community involvement by the station.


Just some thoughts from an ole time radio man. Currently an engineer for a local school district station.



educ-engineer

 

[Dancerev889]

I think the station needs to have a local flavor. Most big FM stations forgot about that. I want jocks talking on the air. I would havea few commercials but more live short reads. Try not to stop the music. Got to get the TSL up. If I am going young Im going dance. But not completely dance. Im going to throw some pop and Hip-hop in there that fits. We are doing this in South Jersey and its doing well. I just dont play commercials just PSA's.

Brett Holcomb
WBZC PD

 

[klutch00]

Back in 1984 and continuing through 1986, suburban Baltimore had an excellent station WGRX_FM (100.7), which probably today would've been called triple-A. They were probably mellower than the triple-As of today yet their playlist was quite diverse. I think this could be an appropriate college station format. If there was a station and/or format that I really miss from the past, this is it.

 

[KevinFodor]

Some good posts overall, and I thank you for your comments.

This, however, is not about re-creating a format from the 80's. (God knows A/C stations seem to be reliving the 80's in mass appeal form quite well.) Or, bringing back a bunch of "old school" ideas. (Though what goes around tends to come around in radio.) This is about satisfying a group of listeners who say radio has abandoned them and, to a good degree, I agree they're right. I do, however, agree with the diversity analogy mentioned.

Who are the artists that we miss? Who's out there entertaining you on You Tube that you say radio never listens to? How would you create such a radio station? I'm hearing from radio people here, but not a lot of you guys on the college level. Dance music should be a part of it, but what else? I've got an 18 year old nephew that doesn't listen to dance music...he's listening to heavy metal. And it's nobody I've ever heard of. (And I still do some school dances.)

I think the 6-8 minutes of commercials an hour has merit (radio did cut it to 8 a number of years back, and 6 is in use at a few stations). Maybe do 8 minutes in morning drive and 6 per hour the rest of the day.

Local flavor? Absolutely. I don't think you could financially justify 24/7 live operation these days. But, I think you could limit the voicetracking (and do the voicetracking you do correctly, a fact sorely missed by many in this business) and be live for a good part of the broadcast day. (I'm thinking mornings, afternoons, evenings and late evenings.) Tieing in with the schools would be absolutely essential. Both high school and college level. And short breaks...yes. Every bit of radio research I've seen indicates people want to be entertained and hear the information they're looking for, but they're not into over-egoed run-off-the-mouth jocks.

Diversity of the playlist I think would be essential. Not too deep, but widely diverse. Allow me to throw this out: When I look at the download charts, I'm seeing rock, pop, hip hop, country all represented. Are today's
mass youth ready for a station that plays a rock record, next to a pop song, next to a Carrie Underwood, followed by a Pop Rock then a Hip Hop, followed by a rock song then a pop-rock oriented Rascal Flatts?

Let's be honest here. They're buying the CD's and doing the downloads. I don't make this stuff up.

How 'bout the stationality and presentation? High energy? Laid back?

Keep your ideas coming, please. I do welcome them.

 

[Dancerev889]

The dance format is working like a charm for us. We have packed the house at the local clubs on the weekends beating out the local top 40. Plus its the most diverse format. I think Triple A is a mistake the college level if thats who you are targeting. We were a triple A that played more classic rock than anything. Most students were born in the mid 80's and dont listen to music that came in the 60 and 70's. You have to be aggressive with your presentation. I go by the rule that everyone has A.D.D and I program like that. Short breaks more great music

 

[skyrocker]

I became enthralled with this string. It's imperative, I think, for the person complaining to have an alternative in mind.

If one doesn't have a better idea than being abandoned by their radio dial, why complain at all? How do you know that's not the top of the line if you haven't even thought about it, and so on..

I like the questions more than the answers.

I have questions, too. Starting at the top-- WHO has been abandoned? If you don't have a good idea of who you are, how can you ever hope to feel satisfied?

Which part of you was cast aside by commercial radio? The music lover? The idealist? The realist? The customer? The individual? The local?

What would you keep and evolve? --in music, in air staff, in presentation, in school and community involvement. How you you expand these things?

Are you flexible? Or not? Can you hold multiple perspectives? Are there different positions you might take to create different radio stations? For instance, a station YOU would like to listen to, and another you think the studentbody in general would prefer? Another for your gym pals? Yet another that would accomodate the station's pecuniary requirements?

Is your station's music playlist based on sales? Why? Aside from record sales reports, what other three methods could you come up with to cross-index and help determine the popularity of your station's music?

How DO you appease listeners who prefer one genre over another? There are ways, what are they?

I like the questions more than the answers probably because to my eye they keep a radio station alive. Those definitive answer can't encourage further growth.

 

[djfrresh]

what dew at kpsu we all different kind music donig dayparts we have hiphop on weekends all djs must log in to web site and submit playlist to music director also we have show call live fridays well we have live bands play live on airwaves

 

[larsonthebeat]

Okay. First thing I want to say is I LOVE this thread. Literally, my partner (not life partner) and I do this all the time, as we are slowly working on having our own radio station. Stick with me, this will take a while.

1. Format: Broad CHR-M
2. Grow a pair about music selection. Just because the station is not in LA, Chicago, or NY doesn’t mean you can’t be ballsy about picking the music. Screw the “research”. If an “guaranteed” artist like Maroon 5, Justin Timberlake, Fall Out Boy, ect. drops a song on
Day X, add it on Day X or at least Day X+1 or 2. Don’t wait for three weeks for your research to tell you “Duh. It’s Maroon 5. It’s a monster.” Even if you jump on something on that isn’t guaranteed, so what. If you think the audience might like it, give it a couple weeks and see the kind of reaction you get. A couple tepid songs isn’t going to kill your station.

3. If you have a younger audience, play some of the GOOD college singles. Not most of the crap on CMJ, but things like The Shins, Permanent Me, Rilo Kiley, Lupe Fiasco, James Morrison. Just out of the typical path of CHR. Take a chance. Also, if there’s well produces, quality local music, give them some spins. Most likely some of your audience are fans of the local bands

4. Consider a different route with commercials. Lonestar KZPS 92.5 in Dallas got rid of them and instead, jocks give mentions and hours are sponsored by Company X. Couple things about this.. The allure of no commercials will bring in the audience as well as more music, and potential clients will get the thrill of being a part of something that is completely revolutionary. “The product-themed chitchat will account for about two minutes peppered throughout the hour, in contrast to the 12 minutes to 16 minutes of commercials that most stations broadcast each hour.” (Talking about KZPS) http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/23/technology/23radio-asia.php

5. With more time for music, here is an example clock. It’s a variation of what we use.
-Power is obvious
-Recurrent is anything that has fallen from the charts but was a hit in the past two years
-Gold is a monster hit that if your format was CHR, was as far back as maybe 1990. That might be a little too far back.

Power
Power
Gold
Power
Recurrent
Power
Power
Recurrent
Power
Power
Gold
Power
Power
Recurrent
Power
Power
Power
Recurrent
Power
Power

A comment here... Power is so heavy at the end or the hour because if you have an appointment or need to be at work, usually it is at the top of the hour and you’re in the car.

6. Live jocks. Period. Have the ability to Voice Track the show but you have to submit a request to the PD incase you have a good reason to not be able to make your show.

7. Notice I didn’t say “make your shift”. I said make your show. They should be shows with material, listener interaction, spots in the log to FILL REQUESTS.

8. I’d say look at a combination of a few things, including the current day charts, the download charts, and then like things at All Access, ect.

I think I answered all your points and then some. If I forgot anything and have any thoughts, suggestions, ect, I'd love to chat. My email is [email protected]. Thanks buddy.

(By the way, my station is WDCC, Central Carolina Community College in Sanford, NC)

 

[KFodor]

By the way: "Kevin" and I are one and the same.

I've been meaning to add some comments here for the past couple of days, but have been under the weather...

Larson: I think you've got a lot of good ideas here.

On music selection: Frankly, I think the whole current idea of basing the chart on "spins" is garbage. It creates a "monkey see-monkee do" situation where roughly 200 stations determine what everyone listens to.
I wonder if this has more to do with the "homoginized" playlists everyone has than "corporate edicts". PD's are paying more attention to whether, say, Z-100/New York is on a song than whether it's "happening" in their local market.

You see, I admit that I'm 50 now. That makes me old enough to remember how it was done when we called it "Top 40". In those days, local record stores were surveyed for their actual record sales, the jocks were on the streets DJ-ing dances at local schools and clubs. The jocks would know if a "local" record was beginning to happen (it was rare...but it did happen) and would report back to the PD. If a song the station was playing suddenly took off in sales, you could bet it would be a hit.

Were there downsides to this? Sure. The teenage clerks working at the record stores could mess with the sales reports (it happened). But, to me, it's no different than the current situation where, today, it takes influencing only a few stations with perks (legal and otherwise) to compromise the entire national chart. I don't think a totally perfect system can be created. But, I think going back to local roots by surveying local CD sales (at least until CD's are no more), plus monitoring the download charts and being on the streets is the way to go...

You are right about the "guaranteed" artists. Until such an artist burns you with a bad record, fly with the hitmakers from day one. Believe it or not, that's what country stations do today. (Maybe that's why country is so popular? Hmmm?) Kenny Chesney gets automatic adds immediately out of the box. Why? He sells tons of music, and has had the top tour for 2 or 3 years now. Same for Rascal Flatts. But remember...what that does is: eats up a playlist spot that you might be able to give to a "new" act or "college" act. However, your job is to "play the hits"...whatever they are. It's a very delicate balancing act.

Your idea of "no commercials" just "mentions" is interesting...and I know about KZPS. I think we'll have to see if that model actually works over the longterm, financially speaking. But, if it does, it's certainly worth thinking about.

Your clock looks decent. About the only thing I see there is: you have a 20 song hour, which I'm not sure is possible given the "average" run time of songs today. You're probably looking at more like 14-16 (assuming the "no commercials" policy). If you had a limited commercial load...it would be more like 13-15 songs per hour.

CHR is one format, where I buy the idea of live jocks...at least most of the day. You need a morning show that's topical and connects with the target listener. But, I also think this could be done while actually playing some music, too. Mid-days could partially be tracked...(teens and college students are largely in class then and these stations play to the "at work" crowd), though a live noon-time request show could work. Afternoons, evenings and late evenings should be live here, with your "request" clocks vital in the evenings and late evenings. Overnights (which I consider to be 2-5 am) could be voicetracked.

Only reason I leave room for voice tracking is: it's not evil...if it's done correctly. Most voice tracked jocks today are not being allowed to do it correctly. These stations are taking the "safe" route with it, by requiring the jocks to do "that was/this is/I'm (name)/coming up we've got" radio. Radio is "theater of the mind"...you can make it sound live, even if it's tracked. I'm just leaving a bit of "wiggle room" for such a station budgetarily here.

And you couldn't be more right about making it "a show". CHR requires that listener interaction, contests, requests, etc. I got hooked on the idea of being a DJ at age 7...when my cousin had me watch her call the local station for a request, then turned on the radio and we heard it about 15 minutes later. I thought, "Wow...the guy gets paid to play rock and roll records. What a way to make a living." Despite the attempts of some (not all, but some) corporations to dumb down radio so it can be delivered in a box, there are people who still know how to do this...and do it right.

But, judge that talent carefully. One area where radio has screwed up was in not doing a good enough job of nuturing and improving young talent in the last 20 years or so. You can't let your talent run wild. But, when you find a good young potential star who can work within the formatics you dictate, there's no harm in "loosening the leash" a bit. Being able to recognize that and make it work is the hallmark of a great PD.

You've got some good ideas here. Thanks for validating some of mine.

 

[larsonthebeat]

Jason/Kevin

I'll be honest. Knowing that you've been around the business for a while, and me only being 19, a lot of your responses to my thought mean the world to me. The only other person I get to bounce ideas off of is my business partner from the college and obviously, it'd be hard to tell if he's being objective all of the time. My aspirations are to eventually get into a MD position (as apposed to a PD because my passion is with the music side of things).

I would love to get to pick your brain someday and also, bounce ideas off of. Thank you for your opinion on my thoughts..

(By the way, about the clocks. It might have been over a bit, but what I was looking at was some of our clocks at CC-Greensboro. There ends up being 12-14 minutes of commercials an hour during peak, so that was what I was basing everything off of...)

 

[instigator]

HOW ABOUT BRINGING PERSONALITY BACK?IN THE 80S AND MID 90S YOU KNEW THE NAMESOF THE DJS AND CARED WHO WAS ON.IF 2 STATIONS WERE PLAYING SIMILAR MUSIC ONE DJS PERSONALITY COULD MAKE YOUR DECISION.PLENTY OF CALLERS ON THE AIR. 8 MINS OF COMMERCIALS/LIVE READS PER HOUR. HOW ABOUT 4 SONGS AN HOUR PICKED BY THE DJ(REQUESTS ,MUSIC HE OR SHE WANT TO BREAK,OR CLASSICS THAT HAVENT BEEN HEARD FOR A WHILE) THAT FIT THE FORMAT WHILE THE REST OF THE HOUR IS PROGRAMMED.LETING THE DJ HAVE BITS THAT ARE THEIR OWN(PHONEY PHONE CALLS,ENTERTAINMENT NEWS,WHATEVER)HOW ABOUT DJS DOING INTERESTING OR FUNNY BREAKS AGAIN..NOT JUST PROMOS CONTESTS AND INTRODUCING SONGS.MOST IMPORTANTLY FILLING A VOID IN THE MARKET..PHILLY NEEDS A DANCE STATION REALLY BAD...ATLANTIC CITY IS DYING FOR A ROCK STATION THAT PLAYS CURRENT MUSIC ECT.

 

[dave388]

well just my little point of veiw. everyone i know listens to rock (real rock) if its not in the classic rock/alternitive rock/active rock then we just wont listen. so the stations that have a mix format just dont work for us. we dont care to hear justin timberlake or nelly ect ect. plus out biggest complaint with radio is to many commercials i have heard it so bad that after 3 songs its off to 5 mins of commercials ( click satalite radio here we come)
a station i and my friends would listen to would be
1.) a rock formatt ( classic rock,hard rock,alternitive rock,and bands other stations just dont play, all on 1 station.)
2.)limited commercials play at least 10 songs in a row or more.
3.)real dj's not the piped in satalite garbage.

untill a station like that comes on here in indianapolis ill be listing to satalite radio :

 

[KFodor]

Hi, everyone!

I've been reading the posts and appreciate your ideas. You're identifying problems and issues radio programmers will be needing to deal with, and, a lot of you will have to help radio put it together.

When I first began this post, I was thinking of a CHR station. But, dave388 raises a point. There should be multiple stations attempting to appeal to younger listeners. A CHR is leaned toward women 18-34. Dave388's station would be more of an AOR approach going after men 18-34. (Both formats would also attract 12-17's, too.) Hey...I had more than one choice of station when I was your age. Why should your experience be any different?

In the interests of full disclosure, I have a 19 year old nephew, so I get some of the feedback I'm hearing here from him.

Now, there are stations today that..."say"...they're targeting this audience. Obviously, they're missing something. I read this as:

1.) Radio picks some of the right music, but is missing a bunch, too.
2.) Too many commercials.
3.) You like a real person on the air that can relate to you...your town...the things you're interested in.

Well...you sound like normal people! Good. (I hope you caught the humor I intended in saying that!)

Here are a few thoughts from my end:

On commercial load, I agree. A radio station has to make money, but there are other ways of turning a profit with a station. Let's say a station played a maximum of 8 commercials/hour in morning drive (4 stops with only 2 commercials in each break). (Think of this as no fewer than 2-3 songs in a row, with room for a quick DJ break and 2 spots.) The morning show would play at least 8-10 songs/per hour in morning drive, (more in some hours). (Remember: you have to consider a little time for news/weather/traffic here.)

Outside morning drive, the load is cut to a maximum of 6 commercials/hour...(either 2 sets of 3 commercials, or 3 sets of 2). Plus, a station could offer clients the "option" of a "maximum music hour". Client gets 2 live commercials related by the DJ to the audience during the hour...no other commercial advertising airs during these times. (But, the client pays a premium price for this exclusivity.)

How am I doing so far? You're welcome to comment.

Bringing personality back (as instigator suggests). I think there has to be a personality...a soul, if you will for a good radio station. "You knew the names of the DJ's and cared who was on". Why? Because the jock was saying more than "that was/station name/jock name" and, the infamous "coming up, we've got..."

A good DJ relates to his/her audience...knows who the listener is...and caters to their taste. For younger leaned formats that means outside the station, do what the listener does...go to the places they go. Experience what they do. That's what a good station should do, and I agree...there's too many stations that don't.

A good Program Director hires good people, gives talent some rein over what they do, but is careful how and when to pull on the leash. So, I'm all for some of the personality things you're saying. However, remember: the old "phony phone call" bit is now pretty much been quashed by the FCC ruling that says when you want to record a phone call, you must (before you begin recording), gain the caller's approval to record. But, any call that is placed to your request line is fair game. (Why? It's assumed if the listener calls a number the station routinely puts on the air, the listener has had "fair warning".) So, a good call is a good call and, if you can make it a good bit, why would I (or any good PD) complain?

Now, let's face some reality here. I highly doubt radio will ever go back to 24/7 live operation. But...I do think formats need live (and "nearly live") jocks in the right spots. You can make a "tracked" show sound live. It's not that hard. Remember, you're doing (in effect), radio theater here. A good recorded phone call hung onto and "banked" can be brought back later on a voice tracked shift. And these air personalities should be on the streets with their listeners every week.

Giving jocks "say" over music selection would be changing some big rules. But, the more I think of it: when I was your age, some stations were tightlisted, some were freeform. Perhaps it's time to consider bringing a new back a version of the original WNEW-FM. I remember stations in my area where the big rocker's DJ's were part of a "music committee" that met every week to discuss new albums and new music. Maybe it's time to try that again. (While still doing some street-level research to make sure you're on track.)

Basically what it sounds like you're telling me is: you want radio to relate to you. You want more than "roboradio". And you want some realistic commercial policies.

Add more to this if you'd like, but so far....for the most part, it doesn't sound too unreasonable to me.

 

[Dancerev889]

I think what needs to be done is make radio more interactive. Use the technology to your advantage. Using the website to work along side the over the air signal is key. I think radio stations touch upon it but they are never fulling together. Make the websites more user friendly through smart phones.

But I think the biggest thing is creating theater again over the airwaves. Connecting with your audience. Make radio fun again. With the commercials, I am a huge fan of live reads, but instead of using them going into or out of stop sets, make them shorter and integrate them through out the hour. An example would be talking up a new song. The music is still pumping but instead of just announcing the song say " the new song of the day is brought to you by the xyz company, heres blah blah blah by blah blah blah on x station"

 

[KFodor]

Not bad ideas, and I agree on "interactivity".

Every jock should have a publicized "my space" and "facebook" page and should be reachable to their audience. And frankly, I think that should be when they are on and off the air. Now, the DJ can choose when he or she wants to be reached and when to respond, but...when I was a kid, I had a local DJ's "car phone" number (yes, they actually had those in 1967...). I talked to the guy a few times after the show, too...

 

[instigator]

I THINK VOICE TRACKING IS CAUSING A MAJOR PROBLEM IN THE TALENT POOL.IF YOUNG TALENT NEVER GETS THE CHANCE TO BE ON THE AIR WHEN WILL NEW TALENT COME ABOUT?USUALLY AN INTERN OR COLLEGE STUDENT WOULD GET THEIR BREAK ON THE WEEKEND OVERNIGHT.NOW WITH AUTOMATION OR VOICE TRACKING THESE DJS NEVER GET A CHANCE TO GO ON THE AIR...WHERE IS THE NEW TALENT SUPPOSED TO COME FROM? MOST IF NOT ALL STATIONS ARENT GOING TO GIVE A COLLEGE STUDENT A WEEKEND PRIME AIRSHIFT LET ALONE A FULL TIME POSITION.PLUS A LOT OF SECONDARY MARKETS ARE ELIMINATING NIGHT JOCKS...HAVE YOU LISTENED TO ATLANTIC CITY NIGHTTIME RADIO?THE CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS WITH NO NIGHT JOCKS(EXCEPT SINDICATED DELILAH) GO FIGURE. SAD TO SAY BESIDES THE MORNING SHOWS I FEEL THAT THE DAYS OF THE LIVE DJ ARE NUMBERED.WHERE WILL THE NEW BREED OF TALENT COME FROM IF THEY ARE NEVER GIVEN A CHANCE?

 

[dave388]

^^^ so correct, every job opening you find out there seems to want 3 to 5 years experiance.... well how are you going to gain real experiance if no station will hire you. plus it also seems with the big corps out there now. its ALL about $$$ where have all them mom and pop stations gone.
yes a station needs cash flow to stay on the air. but at the rate radio seems to be going. i see alot of station just compleatly going under. you cant make the green if nobody listens. just from what i have read here and posted on, i think everyone agree's LIVE REAL DJ's and LESS COMMERCIALS.

radio has to compeat with Internet radio, satalite,i-pods,CD's ect. and another thing i could say is needed. how about breaking up the big corps. Clear Channel,ect,ect... mabe if some real LOCAL owners had control again we would hear more of what we want.

 

[Dancerev889]

I think things will start swinging back to the "old school" soon. Radio is at a cross-roads right now. Satellite radio, internet radio WI-FI becoming more mobile and even the IPOD, radio needs to rethink its mission. You need more personality on the air. Maybe something they should think about is make the HD-2 channels more jukebox oriented and the main channel the jock drive channel

 

[KFodor]

Again, guys...there's a couple of issues you raise here, with good intent, but we got to separate them to get to fact:

For example: "It takes 3 to 5 years to break in fulltime." I appreciate the argument and it's valid. It can be that way, but not necessarily is. For some, it means starting fulltime in a radio job that's not your "dream" job then moving up. But, hey...if you're working behind the scenes with some occasional on-air work (even tracked), you're on the air and you've "turned pro" (so to speak.)

But, to me the purpose of a good college radio station is to train students for the real world in radio. A couple of years on the air at a good college station (in the view of this radio programmer) with an aircheck showing reasonable skills should be able to get you in the door full-time. Unless the PD is an idiot or too constrained by higherups. And in that case, you probably wouldn't want to work for that PD, anyway. Unfortunately not all college stations are good. (We have one in this town that hasn't yet moved into the computer world, but allows its' students to plug in their i-Pods and play music on the air from there. What's the problem? 128 kb sound is garbage on the air! OK for your i-Pod...just not what we pros consider "air quality". Some of us still demand high quality audio.)

I grew up in Dayton, Ohio. When I was in high school, The University of Dayton owned a 50,000 watt stereo FM station (WVUD-FM). It aired a 24/7 Album-Rock format. And, it was a commercial radio station. It had a professional manager, PD (who directed the students) and sales staff, but students did the rest.
Not everybody who wanted to work in radio got on this station. You had to pass an audition, be willing to work all shifts (especially weekends) then, as you grew with the station might eventually have gotten a 3 hour, 5 day a week airshift. Many of the students who got to 5 day status went right out of school to part and fulltime jobs. Most of those who started parttime ended up with fulltime within a year. Two of its' former DJ's are Mike McConnell, now a talk host at WLW/Cincinnati and nationally known sportstalk host Dan Patrick.

Now, smaller markets that say they want 3 to 5 years experience. They may want that, but I guarantee you, few rarely get it. I was PD of a station in market #215. I looked for " 1-2 years experience" when I had a fulltime opening. (Except for morning drive host). College radio counted. When it came to parttimers, if you were breathing, had a decent voice and delivery and could prove to me you could do the job, you had a good chance of being hired.

Voice tracking is not why the talent pool is "in the deep end". It's lackluster, dumbed down programming from some (not all) but some of the big companies. The stations I quarrel with the most are those whose jocks are only allowed to do "that was/this is/coming up we've got" radio. Yes, you need to identify songs, you need to say your name, but I'm working for a station now where I have to "read cards". But...in between the cards, if I can be creative, yet keep it concise and not go overboard, it's OK. The old saying: "you got to know how and when to break the rules" applies.

Another reason why we've got problems in the talent pool does apply to consolidation to a point. When you have 5 stations in a cluster, but one PD...who's gonna have the time to properly critique? Some PD's fell down on the job here. But, there are still PD's who do a great job at talent development...they understand critiquing is crucial and take the time to do it. You got to figure out who whose people are and work toward working for them.

Consolidation. There are some mega companies right now who are paying for their bad judgements. Clear Channel people might tell you otherwise, but there were a lot of people in management in radio companies looking at what they were doing a few years back and saying, "There's no way they can properly operate 1200 plus radio stations. They bought too high...they're too overly leveraged." That's why so many people are getting fired. Now, the industry is seeing the results. Frankly, some of the crap stations CC bought (AM stations in tiny Ohio towns, FM's that couldn't be moved) all added to their pain. What will happen here? The sale went through...but let's hold off here and see what happens down the road.

CBS figured that out and started selling off stations a year or so ago. 600 plus stations aren't easy to run, either. Though, they've done better than some. And, with Dan Mason back, they seem to be going back to more local control of the stations, and that could turn out to be a good thing.

It's possible, we might see smaller consolidated companies at the end of the day. (Companies with fewer than 200 stations, let's say for the sake of argument). But, having worked in the business for almost 35 years, I can tell you the perils of working for "Mom and Pop" stations back then. Morning jock at suburban FM that pulls decent ratings for a rimshot in a book. Pay? 5 bucks an hour. 20 dollars an hour for a remote. You have 3 great books in a row, but are turned down when you ask for a $25 a week raise. No promotional money available. A GM who trades out all of his creature comforts, but wouldn't consider reimbursing your gas when you pay your own way to a radio seminar to improve your skills. No health insurance. Yep...those were the days, alright!

And, not all consolidators are the same. There are some good companies. There's "good" and "bad" everywhere...but not every one is bad. Hit my e-mail on this board sometime and I'll be glad to give you my personal views on some of the companies...

Nightime radio. If you re-read my post, I only suggested voice tracking some of the day. I agree. If I was running a younger-leaned station, I'd want live jocks till midnight weekdays, 2 am on the weekends. I might track the mid-day shift and real late nights, but that's about it. The stations that track 7-midnight tend to be (and should be) adult-oriented formats who make the bulk of their money 5a-7p. Young formats are a different story to me, anyway.

Yep. Radio has more competition. No argument there. But, CD's didn't kill us. Satellite radio's lame so far. (We still have 95 or so percent of the audience.) I say again, I think internet radio's the biggest threat, but only because they could figure out what we already know and come up with new platforms we haven't come up with yet to make big money with their sites. Funny, you mention i-Pod's. Most teens and young adults I've met have them. But most I've spoken with still say they use radio. What we have to do is find ways to be more relevant to them and bring them back with compelling programming.

And, I again repeat, not every company is the same.