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Bring Back Real Radio

Lots of intelligent insights from differing perspectives, but, in the major markets anyway, this is how it is, and that's likely how it's going to stay in the long term. Trust me, making this acknowledgement turns my belly like eating sushi. Goat & Big A captured the truth, ugly as it is to WhoDat & myself.

Read some of my earliest posts back in 2011. As an R/I greenhorn, my own opinions on this subject were laced with idealistic intuition. It had been 8-years since my last radio gig at a low power, classic country Amarillo station. Had to leave Amarillo early in '04, but my adventures at KDJW left me empowered with what I perceived as hope, that with the right kind of localized programming appetites, hard work and a willingness to sacrifice, my kind of radio could indeed be restored. 3-months after arriving in Denver, owner Ron Slover sold KDJW to Catholic Charities.

Ron today is a successful businessman, earning a great living in oil and minerals. He entered that trade after leaving a successful career as Channel 10 News Director back in the '80s, where he & I became acquainted. I was never completely sure why he bought KDJW in '02. Maybe it served as a healthy tax write-off, but I never asked. Still, I'm sure Ron knew something that I didin't know.

A measurable economic uptick, not likely to happen til 2017 or later (IMO), could indeed trigger some employment growth, but the more compelling reality of newly marketed entertainment "options", will likely be a challenge against which radio, as we knew it, may never effectively counter punch.
 
Kenny Rogers once sang "You gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em." In radio, a lotta people just don't know when to fold 'em.
 
unless i'm reading everyone's posts her incorrectly... i think we can all agree radio could sound and be better. All the Platforms out there delivering a crappy product will not save radio.


it is interesting that No One has answered my question about..what radio can do better than any form of media, and it could still do today! know the answer? if you nail it, you win!
 
WhoDat! said:
...No One has answered my question...what radio can do better than any form of media, and it could still do today! know the answer? if you nail it, you win!
Well, WhoDat, I'm game, but it won't surprise me if Im wrong--- I think radio is already doing what it does best, but outa be doing better--- NEWS, WEATHER, THE TIMELY DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION IN GENERAL--- News has always been radio's strong card; it's old battle cry "news today, history tomorrow" (remember that one?) effectively bashed the newspaper industry into the ground, forcing that medium to counter by boosting what it does best: features, coupon advertising, Op-Eds, etc...

Today's talk formats and brokered programming no longer allow time for news & weather breaks. Exceptions of course are all-news formats, but not all markets have news stations offering headlines & weather every 10-minutes. News stations in smaller cities and rural communities often mesh heavily with "talk", and tend to sound automated.

I recently listened to a small town station crusing sleepilly through a 30-minute infomercial, while a twister danced around in it's own backyard. They never once sounded an alert. True, the tornado sirens sounded, undoubtedly saving dozens of lives. But, while people hear sirens, they LISTEN to the radio. That station was uniquely positioned to do what radio can do better than "any form of media", and they blew it.

Well, did I win?
 
Indeed...no medium has the potential ability to connect as many people in as many different places simultaneously as does radio.
 
mmnassour said:
Indeed...no medium has the potential ability to connect as many people in as many different places simultaneously as does radio.

What we're starting to see is that Twitter is the new radio.
 
Considering how Twitter is often used to more quickly spread some of the same excesses and made up "facts" that are currently filling what is allegedly "news talk" radio, that's truly disturbing.
 
It is being reported tonight that a "hacked" Twitter feed today caused the stock market to go bonkers for a few minutes. Seems as though some traders have computers programmed to instantly dump certain stock holdings if certain new reports are discovered.

Reminds me of the old, old, old joke about the first automated airplane flight (back before we took automation for granted as part of our life) where the intercom welcoming the passengers intoned: ".... and during this flight we want to assure you that NOTHING can go wrong... go wrong... go wrong... go wrong... go wrong...
 
Reminds me of the unfortunate radio station that had switched to automation under new ownership.

The first weekend with its new satellite fed format, the local automation stuck on a commercial with the opening line.. "Tired of your computer breaking down?" - for the next hour while severe thunderstorms passed through town.
 
stevensonair said:
Considering how Twitter is often used to more quickly spread some of the same excesses and made up "facts" that are currently filling what is allegedly "news talk" radio, that's truly disturbing.

As The-Rocket said, sad but true. The hacking of Twitter yesterday seriously disrupted the stock market for a period of time. While Twitter itself was hardly responsible for this criminal behavior, the gravity of this incident ought to send a chill up and down the spines of news organizations relying on Twitter as a credible source for "scoops".
 
And this is exactly the kind of fiasco that is now disqualifying Twitter, etc., as reliable sources of information. That's a lesson learned to their great dismay, by the cable news operations during the Boston situation recently. Reddit, in fact, is apologizing online for the disinformation it spread during those critical hours.

It's not even a matter of something going "wrong". The simple fact is that people who are experiencing an event as it happens, are simply not competent to tell others what is happening. That's why people learn to write, go to places where events happen, observe them, and then condense their observations into coherent reports known as "news". At least, that's the way it's supposed to work....and used to work. Twitter is not news. Reddit is not news. Do any of you remember the fable of the eight sightless men describing an elephant?



It is a scandal that radio, the one and only medium that connects people everywhere instantly, has been allowed...even urged...to abandon its role as a news-gatherer.

And in the most extreme circumstance, I have no doubt that should there be a calamity that completely disrupts civilization (may it never happen), the first information most survivors would receive would be on an AM radio....from perhaps hundreds of miles away.

That is...if anyone remembers where the AM band is.
 
mmnassour said:
It is a scandal that radio, the one and only medium that connects people everywhere instantly, has been allowed...even urged...to abandon its role as a news-gatherer.

Radio is just as susceptible to these kinds of things as Twitter.
 
TheBigA said:
mmnassour said:
Indeed...no medium has the potential ability to connect as many people in as many different places simultaneously as does radio.

What we're starting to see is that Twitter is the new radio.

But its hard to dance & Jam to. ;)
 
jfrancispastirchak said:
WhoDat! said:
...No One has answered my question...what radio can do better than any form of media, and it could still do today! know the answer? if you nail it, you win!
Well, WhoDat, I'm game, but it won't surprise me if Im wrong--- I think radio is already doing what it does best, but outa be doing better--- NEWS, WEATHER, THE TIMELY DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION IN GENERAL--- News has always been radio's strong card; it's old battle cry "news today, history tomorrow" (remember that one?) effectively bashed the newspaper industry into the ground, forcing that medium to counter by boosting what it does best: features, coupon advertising, Op-Eds, etc...

Today's talk formats and brokered programming no longer allow time for news & weather breaks. Exceptions of course are all-news formats, but not all markets have news stations offering headlines & weather every 10-minutes. News stations in smaller cities and rural communities often mesh heavily with "talk", and tend to sound automated.

I recently listened to a small town station crusing sleepilly through a 30-minute infomercial, while a twister danced around in it's own backyard. They never once sounded an alert. True, the tornado sirens sounded, undoubtedly saving dozens of lives. But, while people hear sirens, they LISTEN to the radio. That station was uniquely positioned to do what radio can do better than "any form of media", and they blew it.

Well, did I win?

NEWS & LOCAL INFORMATION if RADIO can't do that, what good are they?give that man a cigar! but wait THERE'S MORE to the answer i'm looking for..
 
WhoDat! said:
NEWS & LOCAL INFORMATION if RADIO can't do that, what good are they?

Lots of other places for news and local information that's way more personalized and programmable than radio.

I get traffic information sent to my phone from the same source as radio. And my taxes pay for it.
 
TheBigA said:
WhoDat! said:
NEWS & LOCAL INFORMATION if RADIO can't do that, what good are they?

Lots of other places for news and local information that's way more personalized and programmable than radio.

I get traffic information sent to my phone from the same source as radio. And my taxes pay for it.

ya fine there are lots of ways to get information agreed, but we're talking about Radio here. and my point is if RADIO can't even do that what good is it..?
 
WhoDat! said:
ya fine there are lots of ways to get information agreed, but we're talking about Radio here. and my point is if RADIO can't even do that what good is it..?

Your question was what can radio do better than any other media. My answer is nothing. Most people use radio in conjunction with other media, not exclusively. Radio today is mainly a support medium.

As I've been saying, radio isn't one big thing. It's lots of independent businesses. Some radio stations do lots of local news and information. Some do nothing. Some have all local staffs. Some pipe it in from elsewhere. You're looking for a one-size-fits-all statement, and it doesn't exist.
 
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