Bring Back Real Radio

[music in me]

Little less conversation , A little more action . I am so fed up with todays radio I could puke ! Everyone preaches how they are a part of the community , live and local ! Bullsh** How I long for the days when we really were ! Mistakes and all !Talking to people LIVE , really being out there , playing music they wanted to here , not forcing some of the crap we have to listen to now .
Personalities have sold out who they are for modern technology. It' not real any more and not very fun to listen to , people just think they have no choice.
Recording a show is not live , it is s recording! Hello!!!! I would love to do a real show again with real callers and real interviews.Any investors out there that want to put on a real live 24 -7 back in day radio station , I know where you can invest in one.
But the owner like me , wants live radio not the pretentious crap we are suffering through to line other peoples pockets .
I really want to be on a radio station by the people , for the people and of the people , not one that is just in it for the money !

 

[S McCoy]

Little less conversation , A little more action . I am so fed up with todays radio I could puke ! .
But the owner like me , wants live radio not the pretentious crap we are suffering through to line other peoples pockets .
I really want to be on a radio station by the people , for the people and of the people , not one that is just in it for the money !

Game on dude! Radio is a business and has not been LIVE since bands actually performed in the studio. Do something about it instead of getting on here and whining about the glory days. Let's see what your action is....offer a solution.

 

[Iused2nothat]

I really want to be on a radio station by the people , for the people and of the people , not one that is just in it for the money !

Yea! That's it! The live shows, the witty repartee, and the perfect music mix will be so awesome that listeners will line up to send money to support us! What all the people want!
That way we can pay the live staff's salaries, tower and studio rent, phone and electric bills, music licenses, taxes, UIC...but just enough, no extra, because I'm not in it for the money. That's exactly what I want to invest in. :

 

[mmnassour]

This may be the saddest thread I've ever seen.............

 

[hayseed]

Welcome to the future............

 

[DG]

Fake post.

I'd believe something posted like this maybe a decade ago, but not now. Hard to be associated with ANYTHING radio and not know the current state of the industry, or the forces involved that got it to where it is these days.

...Personalities have sold out who they are for modern technology...

Last I checked, it was the OWNERS "like you" (and their Managers) that issued pink slips and installed automation systems. How's Satellite Radio working for Howard these days?

Slicing my fingers editing reel-to-reel tape- yeah, those WERE the real fun days, before modern technology really made it all suck so bad to do multi-track production.

I seem to recall it was OWNERS "like you" who sold out to the Gulfstars, the AM/FMs and the Clear Channels, who then made the corporate bottom line the real goal, NOT higher ratings.

...I really want to be on a radio station by the people , for the people and of the people , not one that is just in it for the money !

(RING RING)
It's China calling- they have a radio position you might be interested in.

Seriously, fake post.

 

[fredcantu]

Recording a show is not live , it is s recording! Hello!!!!

Speaking of that... Do stations still do mechanical reproduction announcements. Remember? "Portions of the broadcast day are mechanically reproduced." Mechanically Reproduced was the predecessor jargon for "Pre-recorded." I recall having to run an MRA (mechanical reproduction announcement) once a day.

 

[WFDJ]

Don't know if the first post is real or not, but I too miss the days of when radio "was radio"...at least to me. I got into the business 40 years ago. I hung up the headphones 2 years ago. I saw the changes begin in the mid 80s when corporate America started buying up the mom and pop stations. Then the coporatons started selling those stations to other corporations faster than most people buy and sell stock. In 1997 I got to work at my first computer operation. I knew radio as I had known it was gone forever.

Just 1 mans thoughts.

Joe

 

[FilioScotia]

Don't know if the first post is real or not, but I too miss the days of when radio "was radio"...

I also miss those days. The radio business I retired from this year bears little resemblence to the business I got into in 1965. I started as a DJ on an easy listening station in Houston. Does anybody here remember KMSC FM 102.1? Studios in Nassau Bay? (sound of crickets)

Those were the days of "real radio". Live jocks. Music on vinyl discs, turn tables, live commercial copy, rip and read news, calls from listeners, playing requests, especially those from girls who sounded verrry sexy over the phone. (And don't we all have our memories of learning that the sexy voice didn't always come from a sexy lady) It was the most fun way to make a living anyone has ever devised. It was so much fun I often had to remind myself how lucky I was that somebody was actually paying me to do it.

WFDJ Joe has it right. It all started unraveling the day radio was deregulated, and corporate goons started taking over. Then in the mid 80s, CD's and CD players replaced turntables, and DAT's and DAT recorders replaced reel-to-reel recorders. New technologies pushed the old technologies out the door, and that was OK because it really did make our jobs easier in a lot of ways. The FM I recently retired from hasn't used tape or a reel to reel recorder for almost 20 years. They still have an old Ampex reel to reel in a closet, but it's so dusty it probably doesn't work anymore.

But it was computer technology that gradually made even the old DJ types like me obsolete. The corporate goons discovered they could program a number of different stations at once using one staff of DJ's and newscasters. Voice-tracking became the Brave New World of radio, and the old world went the way of the dinosaurs. It was great fun while it lasted. I'm retired now, and out of the business, but I still miss the old days.

 

[fredcantu]

The saddest part of it is that so many towns lost their local radio in the process. I remember when community of license meant it was the station's home: the studios were there, the GM lived there, the staff did too if they wanted to be close to work. They all paid taxes there and were a part of the community. Now stations change COL without even moving down the hall. It's become a game that only the well-financed big boys can play. And with so much money at risk they don't take the chances that a mom and pop operator might take on a high school kid who wants to learn radio. I came knocking at the door when I was 16. I was let in. Has that happened lately?

 

[hayseed]

Holy cow....thanks for the autobiography FiloScotia....we've all been wondering.....
Hey folks, a whole lot of things aren't ever coming back. It's nice to reminisce, but while you romanticize the past, life goes on without you. Get with the program, get flexible, or go home.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

While we are fixing the ills of radio, let's take care of some other societal problems.

Bring back the corner gas station where you could hot-patch inner-tubes and get the motorist back on the road.

Bring back the little one-room churches with the pot-belly coal-burning stove in the center aisle for winter warmth. (and the out-house around back.)

And let's put all the retailers back down on main-street where there is very little parking.

And for heaven's sake... bring back the newspapers with their columns about: Mr and Mrs Joe Crumbley visited the home of Ira and Sarah Moehler last Tuesday evening.

I'm not particularly happy about radio as it functions today either. I'm not happy about how long you have to wait today to get a leaking tire repaired. I'm not happy with the way we shop today. I'm not happy about our limitations on social life today.

But please! Don't ask the world to take radio back to the 1970s or the 1960s or the 1930s. Tell me what radio could be offering me TODAY and how we get there.

 

[music in me]

Not a fake post .... It's real ! Real thoughts , real feelings , not recorded ! I hope one day radio will return to real radio with real people . Wolfman Jack must be rollin in his grave ! He was a DJ for the people ! He wanted to reach out and touch his audience , not make a fast buck . What's crazy is you ,the jock are the one that is being cheated cuz all the big money your making is going in some one else' pocket , not yours . To thine own self be true ! If I ever have enough money or financial backing to own a radio station I will bring live programing back and match it against the prerecorded Bull#?*! and see what happens just for S#?*! and grins . I know of a radio station for sale ..... who's brave enough

 

[musicsweep]

Bring back the corner gas station where you could hot-patch inner-tubes and get the motorist back on the road.

Not me, man! I'm sticking with radials... the one good thing the French invented.

Life has changed, so has radio, which is the only thing that has kept it in business despite Wall Street's pillaging. Music listeners listen for their favorite song, not a former high school nerd who wants to talk and sound cool. NewsRadio listeners want information, and Talk Radio listeners want to get involved in politics vicariously through the hosts. Sports Radio listeners want to hear the game and get insight into their favorite teams. None of this bids well for the "Alright Alright Alright! Let's get down tonight!" DJs.

 

[Tom Wells]

Music listeners listen for their favorite song, not a former high school nerd who wants to talk and sound cool.

Ahh, but for the days when you could have both......I must here hold up the example of WHFS, which had a fierce following with
a "slice of alternative" that struck a nerve with the region, and the coolest nerds ever to prresent it.

People in Baltimore still miss it.

 

[TXCalradio]

PLEASE watch this trailer and check out this film. It's a documentary about about the corporate takeover of local radio.
http://youtu.be/v40kadobrWo
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/898777756/corporate-fm-dont-blame-the-dj

 

[cspotrun]

you can blame modern technology, if it were not for PC's and we still had clunky automation systems that were not reliable, even with deregulation stations today would have to be fully staffed with people 24/7..

whenever i read or hear someone Whine about "Corporate Greed"- and all "They" care about is money... it is a code word for the Socialistic crap we've been seeing for the past four years, which has resulted in Record Unemployment, massive debt, rising taxes= an economy which has NO JOB for you.. so before you blame "Corporations"...blame your own Philosophy. instead of bitching about "The Man", you should be cheering for a strong Economy where business can thrive & afford to hire lots of people, its called Capitalism, it is what has seperated the country from the ravages of Communism and Socialism through history, and created the highest standard of living in the world, which i fear now is going away.

 

[600kogo]

You know stations CAN still make money with live djs, and live employees. The problem is that the corporations have paid so much for these stations and they are so deep in debt that with the current state of the economy they can barely make their loan payments. Due to the high prices people paid for these stations they cut expenses to the bone, then the quality goes down on the air, and the ratings go down, and the revenue goes into the tank. Then they say that it would have been way worse had they have kept live people and if they hadn't bought the stations and saved them (at least that's what CC says and does ).

If a local broadcaster wanted to raise the bar with live local talent it would raise their revenue and their ratings then force the others to play on the same field, but the bar has been so low for so long no one will do anything different!

 

[TheBigA]

You know stations CAN still make money with live djs, and live employees.

Sure they can, if they pay 1970s salaries with no benefits. The problem isn't how much the companies paid. The problem is how little they can make from advertisers. Back in the day, you had local department stores and locally owned businesses. They had two choices to drive business: Radio or newspapers. Not any more. You now have chain stores who can drive sales with social media, and that's driven spot prices to where it's hard to make a living any more. You can't hire staff when you don't have any money. This isn't a radio problem, it's a business problem. It's an American problem. We killed off small towns and replaced them with Wal Marts, Home Depots, and Pizza Huts. Even the barber is part of a national chain, sucking money from the small towns and moving it someplace else. Why should radio be any different?

 

[cspotrun]

if group owners paid too much for their properties and are mortgaged up the ying yang, it serves them right, they made their debt, but having said that, on top of everything else this economy isn't helping things either. now that they can run a radio station with 1 employee covering 5 different jobs, i don't think we will ever see a station fully staffed with live bodies 24/7. but i do believe when this economy turns around, there will be more jobs in radio as a result. between station owners debt, tax hikes, obamacare mandates and a dozen New Taxes connected to it, a weak dollar, and all the rest, business doesn't stand much of a chance right now, and they know it, so they're saving what money they can for the future & trying to keep the lights on...[/i]