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A question for radio station employees out there

N

nativeatlanta

Guest
A question for radio station employees out there

Being a full time visitor/part time poster,I thought of a question for people involved in commercial radio. This goes out to current and former radio employees. What would you do to fix,change,improve radio here in Atlanta?

Also,what do/what did you like about working in radio and what did you not like/dont like about working in radio?

Face it,commerical radio in Atlanta and other major U.S. cities has changed a lot over the last three decades. I just wanted to hear from people involved in the business itself.
 
Re: A question for radio station employees out there

Revive personality radio. Go live and local. Get involved in the community. Scale back on the spot load or at least distribute it so there are fewer interruptions. With so much competition out there, I'm honestly not sure radio can be fixed. To make a radio station work, you have to offer something not heard on Ipods, etc. Ipods and CD's cannot provide you with live updates of local news, events and weather. Radio can. Will it? I doubt it.
 
Re: A question for radio station employees out there

92.5 FM The Bear is a station I've been able to listen to alot lately and it sounds good.When I read this thread and the responses it made me think of The Bear.This station is live,local,community and interactive radio all day everyday.I agree that this is the kind of radio market #8 needs and deserves.Keep up the awesome programming.
 
Re: A question for radio station employees out there

To follow up on the original post: I enjoyed meeting people from all walks of life, spending time with some of the gratest leaders and thinkers in our nation and being on the scene of history in the making. I hated the low pay and the incredibly long hours, with many holidays spent laboring away behind a board.
 
Re: A question for radio station employees out there

I'd like to see a lot more effort to promote stations as opposed to stations being part of something else. So many stations are acting like everybody knows they're out there already. Buy billboards. Sides of buses. TV spots. Do things that make the station seem bigger than life and a part of the city/region. Be everywhere. Yeah, I know, that takes money and effort.

What I love about working in radio- when I'm actually on the air or out in public and the crowd seems really in to what we're doing. There's nothing like it. One of my favorite moments in my whole career so far has been being on stage, tossing t-shirts to a screaming audience.

What I hate about working in radio- Of course, the low pay, and being told we can't do something because "it's not in the budget." I've been passed over for positions for that same excuse. When I ask, it's not in the budget...then the company turns around and hires someone to do what I asked for. That'll make you feel really good.
 
Re: A question for radio station employees out there

What's going to have to happen to make radio better, (for air talent and listenters) is the FCC goes back to the "pre-consolidation" days, where station ownership is limited to 2 stations in any market..... which will force the market to REALLY compete......HOWEVER, in that scenario (been there, done that) you have alot of local ownership that doesn't pay much, or you have the big national company that has 2 stations in every market (Cox, CC, etc etc) that eats up the market, and does the same thing anyway
 
Re: A question for radio station employees out there

Radio has a perfect opportun......well maybe not 'perfect'...but a good chance to reinvent with the the Multichannel on HD. Stations have a chance to program all of the 'niche' formats that may not work in the staid analog world.

Show me a station that programs folk, 'real' "My wife up and left me" country, Polka...Heck...JUST SOMETHING DIFFERENT....SOMETHING DIFFERENT SOMETHING DIFFERENT. Of course something "different" will be condemned by most. So it will never happen. Nevermind. It is hopeless if the air bags that run the business continue to run the business. Air bags one and all.

Pre-censored for your protection.


Cough.
 
Re: A question for radio station employees out there

I worked in Columbia,Sc Radio for 12 years on air/engineer the people (dj's) I have had a lot of great times just cutting lose and building a long friendship with some of the dj's. The memories will be with me for ever. I still talk to alot of the dj's I worked with and still laugh about all the crazy things we did.
 
Re: A question for radio station employees out there

Wow... so many thoughts... so little time to type...

The stuff I love and loved about working in it:
- It's just plain fun. Let's face it, it's not manual labor or brain surgery. It's playing MUSIC and TALKING fer cryin' out loud. And if you're in production or promotions, there can actually be some creativity. I actually like working the odd hours when the rest of the city is winding down. The free concerts and little perks are cool.
- Many of the people in radio are truly wonderful. Yes, there are a number of real jerks out there, but that's true in any profession. Most of the folks I've known over the years have been salt of the earth.
- If anyone denies they don't enjoy the mild celebrity factor of "you work in radio???!" then you're lying. It ain't much, but it's kind of cool.

The bad stuff:
- the pay (for the huge majority of us)
- utter and total job insecurity
- normally an absolute lack of being able to really contribute to a station's direction since you pretty much just have to do as you're told.

How to change it, grow it, make it survive and compete:
- this has been bandied around about these forums forever. Let's start by examining t.v. When cable and satellite came out it could have been the death knell for local t.v. and the networks. But they improved programming. Some of the most talked about shows on t.v. now such as "24", "House", etc. are on network stations, NOT cable or satellite channels. Someone mentioned the local factor... no doubt about it; that's crucial.
But I just don't see terrestrial radio taking those steps. The playlists are too generic and watered down. The jox are too restricted. The commercial load way too high. In the meantime .mp3 sales and satellite radio continues to grow at a nice clip while radio's numbers stagnate. The clients are changing, you'd better change your product to meet their needs or they'll go elsewhere.

And they are.
 
Re: A question for radio station employees out there

X-14 is right. It is...or was...just plain fun. I always thought about it like this: I get to play music through some really nice equipment in a quiet, climate controlled room...and get paid to do it! What a deal! Something else I enjoyed, before automation, was running the board. Doing the perfect segue, running things good and tight...something I was known for and took pride in. At one station that took a network newscast at the top of the hour, I loved back-timing into that. Pick a song that ends cold, punch off the legal ID, bring up the fader for the network and have it so tight you couldn't slide tissue paper between any of the elements. Now a computer does it for you. Boring. Zzzzzz... At one station I enjoyed changing power/pattern at sunrise...to 50kw non-DA on the low end of the dial...knowing that the signal was now covering a few states. (At least for 30 minutes to an hour. :) ) I also enjoyed when I'd be out somewhere, running personal errands etc, and someone would recognize my voice. That was fun. :)

I don't want to get too into consolidation...that's been well covered here. But one view I have on consolidation also ties into automation. Before consolidation we had a lot more smaller operators. Sometimes you heard really good radio. And sometimes you heard really horrible radio. Sort of the same thing before automation came along. Sometimes you heard a jock/board op who really had it together. And sometimes you were treated to a train wreck. The horrible radio and train wrecks were more often in the smaller markets. But even in the smaller markets you'd occasionally hear a really good, tight station...or that one jock on an otherwise bad station who really had it together. Now, with consolidation and automation, you have more consistent radio. But to me, it is consistent mediocrity...at best. Rarely do you hear anything really good. Just bland, mediocre, uninspired radio. I think it was better before. Even the bad stations were entertaining in their own way...you'd wait to see what happened (or didn't happen) next! LOL!
 
Re: A question for radio station employees out there

I'm still optimistic. The PPM will force dramatic changes in 2008. Programmers will have to start focusing on creating on-air events instead of just processing the hourly musical sausage through Selector.

To beat Arbitron, they'll need to program every day like a TV network, featuring different shows (content/music) at different hours for different audiences. The goal will be for more visits each day, each week.

Here's what I would like to see: Smart Rock
National morning star: An intelligent, funny and entertaining host that has the hottest guests and the biggest prizes broadcast nationally with local inserts. My vote: Bob Odenkirk
On-line request show: the songs with the most online votes get played next
Mystery Lunch: You never know what will happen, where, who..... sometimes bands take over, sometimes themed.
TGI -Tuesday: Afternoon show featuring the new music being released each Tuesday, includes all rock formats
The Grind: Top stories and hits for the ride home
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thurs, Friday Night Live: The best live shows ever - 10 to Midnight
The Insomniac's Dream: Complete album sides featuring a weird host that can tell stories. Think about a young, edgy George Noory.

Weekends:
Saturday: Acoustic Breakfast: 6-10 AM features unplugged and rare cuts, releases
Saturday Night: Kick My Ass-The loudest, hardest rock available. Theses fans aren't on dates anyway!

Sunday: Blues Sunday Brunch: Back to the roots of Rock featuring rare versions of rock classic performed by Blues artists mixed in with new blues by original artists. After all, someone is buying all those Keb Mo releases.

Of course, each event can all be sponsored, but limited to only eight commercial units of :30 or less an hour. No one buys overnights, so that will be commercial free.

Who wants to work for me????
 
Re: A question for radio station employees out there

Fun. Fun was the reason I got it, and the lack of it was why I got out.

It granted my certain opportunites to do some increadable things. Go up in a hot-air ballon over Houston rush-hour traffic, see some great sound-checks from hall of famers, free hotel stays, food, concert/movie tickets, back-stage passes, and all the free music I could get my hands on.

Then you start to notice all the things that are wrong with radio. Jock were replaced with voice-tracking. First overnights then weekend. Then morning-drive. Then mid-days. Then music was bring programmed by a pc. That's when the sould vacated the body. http://youtube.com/watch?v=LOasL9PqK_M

As for you, InTIMidate, I love your idea. Why not format it like a TV network? I guess I'd work for you....again. :)
 
Re: A question for radio station employees out there

Well, since you opened it up to former, I'll take a crack at answering too.

Liked? I guess the most obvious things are the ones that I still occasionally miss.
Drop/Add day
Anchoring election nights
Getting the occasional open tab as payment for a remote
Cataloging previously unsorted music libraries filled with all sorts of forgotten classics

Didn't like? I guess the same logic leads me to think about things I wouldn't do again for love nor money.
An air shift. Was fun for a while, became sheer tedium (even without any liner cards)
Dealing with the average listener on the phone
Dealing with artists who hadn't figured out they couldn't carry a tune in a bucket with a handle
Trying to make something outta nothing (newsroom edition)
Covering yet another car accident/house fire/drowning
Hearing the word "snow"
Getting paid weakly ... very weakly.
 
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