Do You Really Care About Radio?

[TheBigA]

De-regualtion has suceeded in pushing off and out the truly entrertaing music, and the effet that that music might have on the populace.

And yet there's absolutely nothing in the deregulation laws that has anything to do with music. Nothing.

 

[recto101]

http://news.yahoo.com/listen-radios-watch-tvs-not-class-16-041141626.html

Here's an article from Yahoo that already confirms that Younger Audiences Listen to music on their phones and spend more time on the web than TV or Radio.

 

[TheBigA]

Did you read this article? It doesn't say what you think it says.

 

[JEREMIAH]

A bit off the subject.....but someone mentioned RCA Ribbon mikes They are (were Great).

If you could find a 44BX or a 77D now, you'd pay hundreds.

I use an RCA BK5B (what KHJ used in the 60's)

I do all my spots and station stuff from home on it.

I have a very expensive Sennheiser shotgun, but I prefer the RCA.

Over the years RCA made ribbon mikes in different configerations. But they all were ribbon.

When Electro Voice salesmen showed raddio engineers that you could pound nails with an EV, they switched from ribbons.
At least that's they way the story goes.

I wouldn't want to go backnto reel to reel, though

Jerry Gordon

 

[recto101]

Did you read this article? It doesn't say what you think it says.

I did read it and it showed people born in the 1990's don't know who Kurt Cobain is, ID with a specific religion. Watch TV on Youtube. Get most of its news from the Daily Show and are more accepting to Women in Leadership.

 

[TheBigA]

I did read it and it showed people born in the 1990's don't know who Kurt Cobain is, ID with a specific religion. Watch TV on Youtube. Get most of its news from the Daily Show and are more accepting to Women in Leadership.

Uh huh. Kurt was dead by the time they were born. They probably don't know who Spiro Agnew is either. That doesn't mean they don't listen to radio.

As I've been saying, they can listen to the radio on the phone or computer. In fact, I'm older than the people in that article, and that's how I listen to the radio. I don't even own a portable radio any more.

Let's talk about the last major technological change that happened to radio. When did it occur? Put that in context with people born after 1990.

The platform is changing. Everyone knows it. Real time radio is giving way to control room YouTube and podcasts. That's been the trend for ten years. Any radio station that hasn't started to transition will be left in the stone age.

 

[DavidKaye]

They may not be in love with the local DJ, they may not sleep with their tiny transistor, they may not plan their day around certain radio features, BUT they LISTEN. And they listen a lot . And the balance of the ages among those who listen hasn't changed in 50 years. The percentage of 25 years olds who listen to the radio today is the same as it was in the 60s.

I have the various Arbitron whitepapers and yet I'm not so sure I want to believe that 90+ of teen males listen to radio at least 1 quarter hour per week versus 87% back in 1996. This kind of stuff just doesn't ring true to my observations. With a cume that high I should be seeing kids (and adults) with ghetto blasters pouring out the sounds of KMEL and KYLD. But I don't. And what they're listening to via their earpieces has always been MP3/AAC files, not radio.

They have us believe that people ages 25 to 49 listen an average of 15 to 17 HOURS per week. Heck, I'm a radio geek and even I don't listen that much!

Something just seems a bit fishy with Arbitron's rah-rah about radio listening.

 

[nocomradio]

What WILL change is the platform. The device known as the radio is morphing into part of a phone or part of a computer. No one buys free standing radios, and that means ANY kind of radio. So the stations you listened to on your transistor will be moving to your other devices. But no streaming service, including Pandora, has been able to create the radio experience like radio itself.

Interestingly enough, I recently picked up a new MP3 player from Sony. What drew me to it was the fact it also has an FM tuner in it. An interesting thing about it was the fact that the kid who sold it to me didn't know it had a tuner in it and asked what a tuner was. When I said radio, he then understood. Things have changed, indeed.

 

[nocomradio]

They have us believe that people ages 25 to 49 listen an average of 15 to 17 HOURS per week. Heck, I'm a radio geek and even I don't listen that much!

Something just seems a bit fishy with Arbitron's rah-rah about radio listening.

I kinda agree, but I also wonder if they are counting the many businesses that have a radio playing all day in the background, or the construction site workers with the radio blaring. The radio is on, but are they listening that much?

 

[TheBigA]

Something just seems a bit fishy with Arbitron's rah-rah about radio listening.

Since we're using your amateur observations, rather than documented facts, have you EVER seen anyone wearing a People Meter?

 

[nocomradio]

Something just seems a bit fishy with Arbitron's rah-rah about radio listening.

Since we're using your amateur observations, rather than documented facts, have you EVER seen anyone wearing a People Meter?

Not trying to start a pi**ing match here, but I notice that you tend to call someone an amateur when they make an observation you don't like. I've seen it more than a few times. Is that really necessary? Someone here might be a professional, station owner, program director or heck, know a bit more about a subject than yourself due to many years of experience more than yours. Just my $.02.

 

[TheBigA]

Not trying to start a pi**ing match here, but I notice that you tend to call someone an amateur when they make an observation you don't like.

Not at all. The observations of one person, regardless of that person's occupation, when compared to the verified and documented research of an established organization, are amateur. Say what you will about Arbitron, but their methods and their information are subject to the scrutiny of several professional organizations who ensure what they report is factual. Not so the observations of a single person.

 

[DavidKaye]

Since we're using your amateur observations, rather than documented facts, have you EVER seen anyone wearing a People Meter?

Yes, I have. She has since moved away but she had a PPM when the market first switched. I have also known numerous people over the years who had diaries.

 

[TheBigA]

Since we're using your amateur observations, rather than documented facts, have you EVER seen anyone wearing a People Meter?

Yes, I have. She has since moved away but she had a PPM when the market first switched. I have also known numerous people over the years who had diaries.

And did she listen to the radio? Because only people with PPMs are counted. If your son doesn't listen to the radio, and also doesn't carry a PPM, it doesn't matter. It's very easy to see, based on PPM, how many people listen to OTA radio, how old they are, and what the circumstances are behind their listening. This isn't some made-up information. These are real people who actually listen to the radio. They may not fit your experience, but they are documented and certified.

IIRC, there are a little over 2000 people carrying PPMs in San Francisco. There was an article a couple years ago about one of them:

http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/radiowaves/article/Diary-of-a-portable-people-meter-person-3256625.php#page-1

 

[michael hagerty]

I care...but more out of a habit of caring.

This won't be popular, but...it's a 92-year old medium of communication and entertainment. Other means of getting those that don't involve big steel towers with red lights on top of them have come along, and while they aren't mature yet, they will eventually replace AM and FM.

I began my career at an AM radio station 41 years ago. I worked at my first FM station 38 years ago. If I live 30 more years, I'll be surprised if either of those things exist at the end of my life.

 

[DavidKaye]

And did she listen to the radio? Because only people with PPMs are counted.

She didn't listen much. I think KOIT probably got most of the score because she worked in a medical office at UCSF and they always had KOIT on the radio at the desk. But listening is listening, even if passive, because it still gets the sponsor's message out to the audience.

She at first didn't want to carry the PPM because she's not really a radio listener and thought the idea was dumb. I guess Arbitron convinced her that it was important to chart a lack of listening as well as listening itself. I emailed her after I posted here to see what her listening habits are like now, but she hasn't responded yet.

 

[TheBigA]

This won't be popular, but...it's a 92-year old medium of communication and entertainment.

I think that's an important point. Early in radio's history, it was like an iPad, the device everyone had to have. That experience was revived in the 60s because of the explosion of music and the baby boom. Now it's more like a stove or a refrigerator. You don't get a lot of passion from people about their stove. This gets back to my point that lots of people use radio, just as they use the stove. They just don't have the same attachment to it they once did. There's nothing people in radio can do about that either. Hiring more local staff or expanding playlists won't turn a stove into a close personal friend.

 

[DavidKaye]

I began my career at an AM radio station 41 years ago. I worked at my first FM station 38 years ago. If I live 30 more years, I'll be surprised if either of those things exist at the end of my life.

Likewise here. The radio of those days is gone, of course. I remember seeing KDAC in Fort Bragg in 1964. They hadn't yet gotten cart machines (carts were still quite new), so they had lots of spots on 3-inch 3M "Living Letters" open reel tapes, and the rest on scripts in copy books. When KDAC carried Giants baseball, they had used a radio tuned to KSFO fed by a longwire antenna. The listener could hear occasional static crackle from the program. Also, there were audio cues to leave the "network", so the board op had to listen to Lon or Russ give the score cue or whatever. KDAC had a teletype, which provided whatever news they had. They were not on a network. On the weekends they ran the "Guest Star Show of the Week", which was some kind of transcription on 33 LP hosted by Merv Griffin or someone, featuring some singer and their hits. The rest of the time it was 45s and album cuts of MOR classics like Perry Como's "What Did Deleware", etc., along with DJs who doubled in other functions. They'd play a tune, read a spot, make a joke if they were clever, give the time and temperature, maybe the forecast, and play the next record. KDAC had 3 turntables, the norm for many stations, so that they could have two songs up and a spare for an ET (transcription) which could be a national spot, feature, or some kind of recorded show. The car companies were big on sending out ETs with "donut" ads (a sung jingle with an instrumental bed in the middle so the local DJ could read the script from the local dealer) and back to the singing part of the jingle at the end.

A few years later I went to visit KINS/KFMI in Eureka. By then carts were big and automation had started on FM. KINS had CBS network along with the Net Alert flip signs -- 3 pulses from the network would flip the sign to "3" and the board op knew to listen to the network for an advisory or whatever. The FM had open reel automation equipment that seemed to be more a hassle than a benefit to the owners. They had a Pet Patrol or a Swap Shop or something like that in the late mornings, and also an interview show around noon.

Everything I've mentioned in the past 2 paragraphs is gone today. Every single thing except the stations themselves (and oddly enough all stations still have their original callsigns). Nothing is done the same way as in 1964 or 1971.

It was funny and quite fun to work at KWUN Concord in the mid to late 70s during its transition from old-school (as above) to modern programming. When I arrived they had "Adventures in Real Estate", believe it or not, which consisted of a real estate story and "riddle", a spot break to talk about the local agent sponsor, and then a return to "today's exciting conclusion" in which the announcer would talk about how important it was to get title insurance to avoid someone's grandmother coming back to take possession of the property. These were on ET. When I first arrived the ETs were carefully taken care of. When I left and the station had gone to oldies, they still had the program (Bill Adler, bless his heart could sell anything!) but the DJs hated the program so much they just tossed the ETs naked onto the floor between airings. I think they wanted to get the ETs so scratched up that they couldn't play the show anymore.

 

[HCochet]

I think that if someone takes the trouble to become a member here, and visits here once in a while, then they care.
Maybe no one else cares, but we do.

 

[landtuna]

But listening is listening, even if passive, because it still gets the sponsor's message out to the audience.

This makes no common sense. Passive listening is not listening. Test after test has shown that people who are passive listening (or doing almost anything else passively) cannot recall recent events. Office radio is especially subject to this phenomena as there are a variety of tasks an office worker can be involved in at any time which takes their primary thought instead of the "white noise" in the background. If advertisers are being sold on office listening ratings they are being sold a bill of goods.