Do you want to save this business or not?

[TheBigA]

We are watching major companies drastically reducing programming and sales talent. How's that working out? Radio revenue, which traditionally has weathered recession relatively well, is declining faster than ever.

But not because of the cuts in local program staffing. In fact, Cox radio, which hasn't replaced local DJs with syndication at the stations I track had a 23% drop in first quarter revenues, which is equal to all the other companies. This is a depression for ad-supported companies.

Hiring more on air local staff, will not lessen the losses, or slow down the decline in ad revenue. There is no connection between on air staff and revenue. And lately, I've seen that replacing local with non-local hosts doesn't hurt the ratings, and in many cases huge (as much as 60%) increases. The issue here is talent, not geography.

 

[TheBigA]

Radio is an entertainment and information business - or at least it WAS an entertainment and information business. If you want a parallel business, look at movies.

What makes it "parallel?" Are you attributing the rise in attendance at theaters to the increase in local movie production? Are more people going to movies because of the fact that each town has its own local movie production company, featuring local talent? When did that happen?

If ENTERTAINMENT is the issue, then the geography of the talent shouldn't matter. But for you, if the talent isn't local, then it must be bad. That criterion doesn't seem to apply to the movies. Or, by the way, most entertainment that the public enjoys.

 

[Questor]

I sell for a new fm start up and the attitude is shocking, it's we don't want any stupid DJ's. The play list isn't 200 hundreds songs it's over 1500. Coming from a place were DJ's were once important I fought their no DJ Idea. Turns out they were right, and now I see jocks as more of any annoyance who don't really say anything worth while, except to gratify their own egos.

Always fascinating to hear from a salesperson.

Yes, I've enjoyed this thread about the Rush to save radio. These many words written by online prophets to those coming from studio walls remind "The Spirit of Radio," especially these "echoes from the sounds of salesmen, of salesmen, of salesmen!"

Incidentally, I'm from the school that we're all in sales. You don't have to have the official Account Executive title to sell your points of view. Question is, how many of us can deal with what talk show host Barry Farber calls Rejection Tolerance? That can include rejection from our management, rejection from our staff, rejection from our listeners.

A sales instructor once told me this. Everybody does listen to one station, across all 50 states. No, you don't have to stream it online if you're out-of-state, it's been in existence for centuries. Its call letters are WII-FM: What's In It For Me.

When you broadcast on WII-FM, rejection does go down. As great as your ideas may be, they'll only make sense when they're communicated to targets the way THEY want to hear them, whether they're internal or external listeners. You've got too many in this economy stuck in fear to convert to your way of thinking; if you want your own vanity to be bought, massage your messages to theirs.

Oh, well, time to begin the day with a brand new voice, as Monday nears.

 

[mleach]

I'm not sure the movie theater business relates very much to radio. Their audience has for years pandered to children and teens. When is the last time you went to the movies and the majority of people in the audience were between 30-70 (other than the $2 special on Tuesday afternoons)?

Personally, I quit going to the movie theaters years ago because of the "experience". People talking on their cell phones, uncomfortable seats, blasting audio levels, commercials, high ticket prices and the poor overall quality of movies. I doubt I will ever set foot in a theater again in my life - and I don't miss it a bit. I can watch any movie I choose on my home theater, stop and start it whenever I want, slap anyone in the room who uses a cell phone and otherwise control the whole presentation. The movies are delivered to my mailbox if I wish so parking isn't a problem either. The only thing I give up is the size of the screen.

I agree with you about movies...30-45 minutes of commercials and previews then 60-90 minutes on average for a movie.....it really isn't worth it.

Interesting comments here. But I wonder if we will see more stations doing as what Denver's KEZW-AM 1430 had done recently. According to KUSA 9 News a few weeks back, KEZW had hired a SEVEN YEAR OLD LITTLE GIRL to appear on their morning show. Granted I haven't heard her yet so other than she is on the air once a month and than her co-host is her grandfather but still for a station in a city that size, a station that plays Sinatra and standards (not childrens music ) and one that is owned by a big company ( Entercom ), just by having someone that age on the air is unusual. Makes me wonder if we will start seeing a least some stations doing this? The few times I have listened to KEZW I didn't care that much for them but at least I give them credit at doing something well..different. Now will Denver, Colorado accept a 7 year old radio "announcer", I guess that can open up for another debate.

http://article.wn.com/view/2009/05/18/Young_radio_host_airs_her_opinions/

 

[SirRoxalot]

Oddly, a post from the other day is inexplicably gone, but portions of it live on in quotes from other posters. Apparently the assurances that "no posts were lost" during the recent problems with R-I isn't altogether correct.

A couple of points:

Let me make you a prediction. In the near future you will start finding in the supermarkets.... maybe along side the National Enquirer and the slick magazines they have to cover up with a shield to keep little eyes from seeing too much... you will find little packages maybe the size of a box of kitchen matches or the size of a package of Twinkies, 18 choices of program content to pour into your iPod or comparable device. The people who produce these will have no need of tall towers, FCC lawyers, offices on a main thoroughfare spiffy enough to impress advertisers when they come by to record a commercial.

This is exactly what podcasts are all about. Why sell them in the supermarket when they are much more easily obtainable on-line as a download. INSTANT gratification.

What this model lacks is one of what I believe should be one of radio's greatest strengths - IMMEDIACY. Part of the magic of radio in the past has been its capability to react instantly to what's going on NOW. Even if the music is pre-programmed, a good live jock sets up that music differently depending on what's happening in a particular time and place.

Here's a simple example. Play "Here Comes the Sun", or "Walking on Sunshine", or "Soak Up the Sun". Do you introduce any of those songs the same way in December in a northern climate, on a rainy day in summer, or on a sunny day in summer? Do you introduce any of them the same way in a climate where sunny days are rife, as opposed to a climate where sunny days are rare? Try to pre-package THAT and make it relatable. That's a simple example of the kind or presentation that makes a radio station relatable to listeners.

RE: Radio Sales:

I've been accused of degrading the efforts of sales people. NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH. I know, and work with many talented and dedicated sales professionals. Most of them are still employed - which is a real tribute to their value to the company in the current environment. The biggest complaints I hear from sales people are:

1. There aren't enough of them. Even the most driven, "A" type sales people are feeling overwhelmed by the number of accounts they're supposed to service. Most of them are putting in 60 hours or more per week, yet feel like they're paddling as fast as they can just to keep their heads above water. They're frustrated that they can't do as good a job as should be done for all of their clients. They're forced to concentrate on clients with larger budgets to maximize revenue, but are hammered by management if they don't call on enough clients. All of this is being done with less support staff than ever.

2. Corporate believes that sales are basically transactional, and that it's all about manipulating numbers and presenting numbers to clients. The truth is, that may be true for the top-rated stations in major markets, but it's NOT true for lower rated stations in major markets, or for MOST stations in medium and small markets. Sales in most of those stations is RELATIONAL. You establish a relationship with a buyer, you carefully create effective commercials and schedules for those clients, and you help them track results. If you do your job well, the client AND the radio station benefit from an effective ad campaign. This takes time and talent - from the sales person, AND from the production department, copywriters (do THEY exist anymore??), sales assistants who hone presentations (do THEY exist anymore), and even jocks who do live reads.

3. Buyers need to be educated about radio. Too many buyers these days are from the generation that radio abandoned - which includes most people under 30. Those in the 30-40 range generally consider themselves to be "too hip for radio". They believe that a website "impression" carries the same weight as a radio commercial. In come cases, they may be right. What has more impact, a website banner ad that you routinely ignore as you focus on the desired content of a web page, or a poorly-crafted generic radio commercial stuck in the middle of a 9-unit (not 9-minute) stopset? Even under those circumstances, someone who wants or needs a product is more likely to be aware of the audio ad than even a flashing banner on a cluttered website. Even when ad space is limited - like on R-I - how effective are the ads? Quick, what ads are running at the top of this page? No fair scrolling up to look. Radio has a better chance of making a LASTING or NOTICEABLE impression.

At this point, corporate radio has elimated a lot of the people who were critical to bringing in revenue. Look at the results. In our building, we've lost about 30% of the people we had a few years ago. How's that affect revenue? Well, it's not down 30%, but the amount of money "saved" is certainly not even close to the amount of revenue lost. Yes, I know that there's a recession, and I'm aware of the issues with automobile advertising. There's an arguement that radio became too dependent on "low hanging fruit" for too long, and doesn't have nearly as diverse a group of clients as it once had. Well, it's hard to have a diverse client base if you don't have enough sales people to service them. Contraction in sales has been going on for a long time.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Radio is an entertainment and information business - or at least it WAS an entertainment and information business. If you want a parallel business, look at movies.

What makes it "parallel?" Are you attributing the rise in attendance at theaters to the increase in local movie production? Are more people going to movies because of the fact that each town has its own local movie production company, featuring local talent? When did that happen?

Look at how movie makers responded to the rise of TV, and especially the rise of high-quality home theatre systems:

1. They INVESTED in their product. Movies are more expensive to make than ever. The special effects are bigger. The audio is unparallelled. Distributors FORCED first-run theatres to upgrade video and audio systems so they could create a larger-than-life experience for the audience - an experience that would cost thousands of dollars more to simulate - but not duplicate - at home. They actually RAISED prices, and maximized profits with practices like product placement, merchandising, etc. that maximized their take.

How does this parallel radio? Well, radio invested in HD, but failed to get reasonably priced receivers into the hands of their audience. Ooops. They forgot the audience - AGAIN. Movies offer product that TV, and even DVDs can't deliver as effectively. Radio? They're delivering more and more programming that's easily obtainable ON DEMAND from other sources. Which brings us to your second point:

If ENTERTAINMENT is the issue, then the geography of the talent shouldn't matter. But for you, if the talent isn't local, then it must be bad. That criterion doesn't seem to apply to the movies. Or, by the way, most entertainment that the public enjoys.

Syndicated radio shows are largely available as podcasts, or streamed on-demand. What radio does with syndicated radio is build an audience for THE COMPETITION. Of course there are entertaining national shows. There are entertaining PORTIONS of national shows. The nice thing about a podcast, or a recorded show is that you can SKIP to the good parts, and bypass the parts that you don't relate to. Heck, even my DVR has a feature that allows me to watch a show intelligibly in double-speed. I can watch an hour show in about 30 minutes - minus commercials, and slowing down for the especially dramatic or complex portions.

How does radio combat this? By NOT being as dull, predictable, and generic as most radio has become. That brings us back to talented people who understand their audience, adding value to the basic presentation. This brings us back to real-time radio, with audience participation in the form of phoners, e-mail, social networking, chat, etc. getting to air in real time in the form of mentions, shout-outs, contesting, and all those other "hokey old elements" that WORKED. Do they need a facelift? Sure. Throwing them out altogether was, in my opinion, a huge mistake.

Lastly, I've heard a few people on this board denigrate the abilities of air personalities, disk jockeys, and announcers - which, by the way, are THREE distinctly different radio roles. Go back a few years, and the people who are your major talent now were less than stellar. How did they reach their current capabilities? Ask them. Almost universally they'll tell you that they had at least one Program Director who was a task master, a mentor, a psychologist, and taught them HOW to do radio WELL. There's precious little of that available now. The job of PD has been reborn as a computer programming position, with very little time for talent development, especially beyond the morning show. If nothing else, they had someone who spurred them on to develop their talent by being teaching them everything that was WRONG.

Radio is burning its money on interest payments and upper management. Remember this: A million dollar bonus for an executive costs 13 $50,000 per year jobs. Or 16 $40,000 per year jobs. Or 22 $30,000 per year jobs. Or 26 $25,000 per year jobs. BTW, those are jobs with FULL BENEFITS, including health insurance and a 401K.

Who's bringing the money IN these days? The people at corporate, or the folks in the trenches?

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

What a mess over the weekend.  The "great cloud" as some of our computer friends call that part of the computer system that is unseen to most of us, apparently was having some problems.  Sorry about my post showing up twice.  For a couple of days it just didn't exist, PERIOD!

This is exactly what podcasts are all about. Why sell them in the supermarket when they are much more easily obtainable on-line as a download. INSTANT gratification.

Podcasts.  That's where we are.  In fact, we aren't fully there yet.  But one of the tendencies in our discussions here on Radio-Info is to want everything to be a lot like it used to be, and a little bit like it is.  We often try to slam the door shut on the idea that things will change. But they will!

Let me tell you what has me all wrapped around the axle the last week or so.  For my "house of worship" to be politically correct,  I take the recordings of worship events and turn them into CDs for people who want a copy.  Some because they were absent.  Some because it was a special event they want in with their scrapbooks, photos, etc.

Then our Webmaster got the bright idea that we should post recordings on the website that people could download.

Then our Webmaster got the bright idea that we should set up  (are these the right words? )  An RSS feed so the recordings are available through iTunes and other aggregators of Podcasts.

Then our Webmaster got the bright idea I should have my own password to the server and I should do the uploads and do the magic that makes Podcasting work.

Only in the last two or three weeks have I decided I would actually become a serious user of mp3 devices so the timing was excellent.

Here is my point:  Cultivating an iPod or other brand of mp3 device is like having a garden...  or owning a horse....  or being the secretary of the PTA.  It is a hassle.  It takes time.  And as the technology changes,  you have to read or go to a seminar or have a handy friend to bring you up to speed.  I'm talking about just owning and operating the mp3 device...  being the System Administrator making the RSS feed work is a totally different discussion.

I am an avid reader of that fanatic Jerry Del Colliano.  I think he sees the talent gathered at the current radio stations becoming a team to provides the nutrients that we will be feeding into our mp3s.  But I have little confidence that the current system of Internet delivery to the PC (or MAC) with transfer to the iPod doc on into the mp3 device is going to be the static methodology.

When I can go to Walgreens,  or to Quick Trip or to Kroger or even Home Depot, and as an impulse purchase grab a package that is about as complicated as getting a Baby Ruth bar out of the package, and plug it into my mp3 in a format that may look a lot like a USB Memory thumb-drive,  turn on the mp3 device and wait for 60 seconds and be done with it.  That my friend is instant gratification.  Firing up the computer, downloading, trasfering.  That is tedious, delayed gratification.  There is a good possibility that MASS DISTRIBUTION may end up owning what Jerry Del Colliano sees as a ripe market and franchise for today's broadcasters.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Welcome to the world of MP3 players. Maybe you're beginning to discover why they're NOT a replacement for radio. They're a replacement for CD players. Downloading files, sorting them, organizing them, creating playlists - all of those things take considerable time and effort.

The one thing you fail to address is radio's capability to deliver immediacy. You just can't get that from a podcast or any sort of pre-packaged memory device.

Some of the on-line services - like Slacker - allow you to constantly update an MP3 player with fresh content. It updates when you're in range of a Wi-Fi connection, either automatically, or when you request it. There are even devices that update information from sub-carrier radio streams. All of that is dependent on someone CREATING the content.

Doesn't it seem like it would be wise to INCREASE the number of people who create content as the number of available channels for distribution increase? We're starting to see Internet streams drawing enough listeners to show up in the rating book. Wouldn't you think that radio stations would take that opportunity to extend their own reach, rather than promote the content of others?

Instead, we get multi-million dollar bonuses for already-wealthy corporate honchos, and drastic cuts to sales and programming personnel. How's that for "enlightened management"?

 

[TheBigA]

Look at how movie makers responded to the rise of TV, and especially the rise of high-quality home theatre systems:

1. They INVESTED in their product. Movies are more expensive to make than ever.

The movie makers don't make money on first run. Most of the time, they lose money on first run. It's DVD and cable royalties that pay the price of movies. If you want to apply this approach to radio, you need to take a local morning show and sell it three different ways. One of which is to take a successful local show and offer it to other stations. Also take unique bits and offer them as podcasts. Some stations are doing this now, but you don't like it. But multiple purposing and selling of content is the BEST way to utilize original material, and would be similar to what movie companies do.

Syndicated radio shows are largely available as podcasts, or streamed on-demand. What radio does with syndicated radio is build an audience for THE COMPETITION.

That's a very narrow view. If you are the local Fox TV affiliate, you'd be stupid to view American Idol as the competition. They aren't. They're your PARTNER. They provide you with access to something you can't get in a small town. There are some who are angry at radio stations who give away iPods as prizes, claiming they're the competition. All this is small thinking from people who feel threatened by things they don't understand. If something is big and successful, your job is to find a way to OWN it, not consider it your competition. When you play music by national artists, they are your competition too. But you want to get your picture taken with those stars, to show your connection, and to OWN that star in your market. Same with syndication.

Radio is burning its money on interest payments and upper management. Remember this: A million dollar bonus for an executive costs 13 $50,000 per year jobs. Or 16 $40,000 per year jobs. Or 22 $30,000 per year jobs. Or 26 $25,000 per year jobs. BTW, those are jobs with FULL BENEFITS, including health insurance and a 401K.

Who's bringing the money IN these days? The people at corporate, or the folks in the trenches?

It doesn't matter. To paraphrase Leslie Gore, it's their money and they can spend it how they want to. If they want to blow it on themselves, that's their right. And there's not a thing you can do about it.You work for them. Which gets us back to the question I asked earlier in this thread: What will YOU do with YOUR money, experience, and passion, that will make radio better? You can't do anything about anyone else. They will do what's best for them. All you can do is rant and complain. Today should be the day you seize control of your destiny. You can complain about others and watch as nothing changes, OR you can start your own company that puts YOU in charge. What will you do?

 

[gr8oldies]

That's the difference in the employee mentality and the entrepreneurial mindset. There are going to be plenty of people producing content for radio, the web, facebook, mp3's, podcastgs, whatever. Some of our posters are stuck in the idea that someone else should, by force if neccesary, create a warm chair and plop them in front of a mike for four hours and let them say cute things on the radio. Then of course afterf two weeks a paycheck lands on your desk. The most creative types don't want that. But we seem to like the idea that on one hand we're shift workers (I want time and a half for that extra hour of production) but want to be treated like stars.

 

[justula]

Welcome to the world of MP3 players. Maybe you're beginning to discover why they're NOT a replacement for radio. They're a replacement for CD players. Downloading files, sorting them, organizing them, creating playlists - all of those things take considerable time and effort.

FWIW, I despise the way some MP3 players distort the highs.

I recently visited a club where the DJ had an iPod Shuffle hooked up to a channel on his mixer. I thought something was wrong with his speakers, so I told him about it. He said it was his MP3 player, that "it sometimes craps out like that on some songs."

Yet he's able to carry tons of tunes on it instead of the old days of LP's in crates.

In keeping with the theme of this thread, "Tradeoffs, anyone?"

 

[SirRoxalot]

Radio is an industry that has more than its share of executives who believe that talent doesn't matter, and that listeners will accept whatever pap they deign to feed them.

These are the people who are now reaping the rewards of that attitude. Let's see how many of their companies survive bankruptcy.

Keep cutting "expenses" (a/k/a "your product). See what happens to your revenue. We know how that's worked out so far. Your competitors thank you. As they say in the 'hood, "scoreboard".

 

[pocket-radio]

"executives who believe that talent doesn't matter, and that listeners will accept whatever pap they deign to feed them."

So far listeners are accepting corp radio. Though younger listeners don't even know what AM radio is and the rest escape to their ipods.

 

[TheBigA]

Keep cutting "expenses" (a/k/a "your product). See what happens to your revenue. We know how that's worked out so far. Your competitors thank you. As they say in the 'hood, "scoreboard".

I think you're making a false connection between talent and revenue. Cox Radio hasn't replaced local talent with syndication. In fact, they've dropped a lot of syndication lately. They're down 23% in the 1st Q of 2009, which puts them on par with everyone else.

Unless local talent also makes sales calls, they won't be helping the bottom line.

 

[mleach]

"executives who believe that talent doesn't matter, and that listeners will accept whatever pap they deign to feed them."

So far listeners are accepting corp radio. Though younger listeners don't even know what AM radio is and the rest escape to their ipods.

Really the only way to get younger listeners to come back on the radio ( at least for many of them anyway ) is for a station to use Seth Rogen/Jonah Hill style humor on the air ( the "F" word, graphic sex jokes, the "P" word, even more graphic sex jokes, etc.. ). Why do so many of those under 30 consider a movie like "Superbad" a "classic"?

Not sure if I would say listeners are accepting corp radio. Well maybe they do but chances are there is an equal amount who just don't care about radio anymore, Those who have the "take it or leave it" attitude. Within the last year in my old market alone one station that was on the air for almost 50 years went dark...nobody cared. No protest letters in the paper or anything like that. Clear Channel a few weeks ago fired a jock who was on the air for over 15 years..and he is BLIND !! Again it seemed nobody cared about that either. Another station did away with doing local high school sports..thats OK...the games are now available online. Our local oldies station as of this past weekend was still airing weather from EASTER. My wife actually called them up to complain about that but was told to "change the dial if she didn't like it". That is almost as bad as our classic rock station..there they tell people to log onto the Weather Channel for the latest weather. As if they just don't want to bother giving the weather.

School closings during snowy mornings? Some our of local stations rather than reading the list on the air, they just simply tell their viewers to check local TV instead to see if their child's school is closed or delayed. News? Some of our local radio news people read it word by word straight out of the paper. Very little effort is made to re-write or even checking out the story.

I guess what I am saying is if many local radio stations don't care about the listeners, why should the listeners care about local radio?

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

School closings during snowy mornings? Some our of local stations rather than reading the list on the air, they just simply tell their viewers to check local TV instead to see if their child's school is closed or delayed. News? Some of our local radio news people read it word by word straight out of the paper. Very little effort is made to re-write or even checking out the story.

I guess what I am saying is if many local radio stations don't care about the listeners, why should the listeners care about local radio?

Radio management gets whacked over the head with the same short-sightedness that we here in the discussion group. We describe these needs and solutions based on the marketplace in which we live. Doing school closings in Chicago is a bit different than doing school closings in Ft. Smith Arkansas which is different than doing school closings in West Plains, Missouri.

When a lot of radio was 250 stations on 1230, 1240, 1340, 1400, 1450 and 1490, and a log of radio was 1KW or 5KW serving communities that were not much changed in 30 or 40 years, you had one school system, or maybe 8 or 10 to worry with. Today with 50 KW and 100 KW F.M. stations you may have may have 300 bloomin' school systems in your primary coverage. As our population has moved from the farms and the rural areas along with total population growth for the nation, new cities have been formed, new school districts have been formed and on and on it goes. In places like Chicago and St Louis where the metro area may be made up of what??? maybe 100 municipalities? School closings on the radio may not make any sense today.

Where I live which is a bit less congested, the school system has just instituted a rather well thought out TWITTER program. If there is a gas mail break in front of the school where your child attends and they cannot send the children home until things are safe, as a parent who has signed up, your little phone is going to tell you about your little school and your little child. If I were to build a brand new station in this community today and I send my News Director (Yeah, Right!) out to the school and ask them to establish a relationship with us, and agree on passwords so pranksters can't call the station with false school closing reports, they are likely to politely explain they have everything under control via TWITTER and they don't need me!

A lot of what we used to do in radio has been made obsolete, and I don't see a lot of evidence that as an industry, we have identified new problems for which we are the solution.

Prices of cattle at the stockyards in Kansas City? The farmer has his iPhone and gets that number at the push of a button at his convenience from the Internet. No more making sure you have the radio tuned in at the exact moment that Radio Farm Reporter Rudolph Redneck gives his 13 minute farm jabber during the noon hour.

We are not living in 1959.

I'm not sure how long the list would be of things we used to do in radio if we were a crackerjack station that no longer have any fizz left in the bottle.

As an industry I thing we abandoned a lot of those features before they lost their fizz as we put all our eggs in the Music Basket. And now that the music industry as we have known it is about to die a whimpering death, are we left holding a basket of "Humpty Dumpty War Stories" thinking it is our continued riches?

 

[TheBigA]

School closings during snowy mornings? Some our of local stations rather than reading the list on the air, they just simply tell their viewers to check local TV instead to see if their child's school is closed or delayed.

Maybe it's just me (and I used to read school closings on the air) but the absolute most boring thing one can do on the radio is read a list of things. Not my idea of compelling programming. It's boring to do, and boring to listen to. Sure, you want to know if your school is closed. But there's a much more efficient way of getting the information out. Most schools have text networks. You get the information sent directly to you, and you don't have to wait through hundreds of school closings for the one you care about.

Come on folks. Do you want to save this business or not? Use your imagination and creativity. Let's try and come up with some NEW and UNIQUE ways to use the medium, and leave the boring crap in the past.

 

[mleach]

Radio management gets whacked over the head with the same short-sightedness that we here in the discussion group. We describe these needs and solutions based on the marketplace in which we live. Doing school closings in Chicago is a bit different than doing school closings in Ft. Smith Arkansas which is different than doing school closings in West Plains, Missouri.

When a lot of radio was 250 stations on 1230, 1240, 1340, 1400, 1450 and 1490, and a log of radio was 1KW or 5KW serving communities that were not much changed in 30 or 40 years, you had one school system, or maybe 8 or 10 to worry with. Today with 50 KW and 100 KW F.M. stations you may have may have 300 bloomin' school systems in your primary coverage. As our population has moved from the farms and the rural areas along with total population growth for the nation, new cities have been formed, new school districts have been formed and on and on it goes. In places like Chicago and St Louis where the metro area may be made up of what??? maybe 100 municipalities? School closings on the radio may not make any sense today.

Where I live which is a bit less congested, the school system has just instituted a rather well thought out TWITTER program. If there is a gas mail break in front of the school where your child attends and they cannot send the children home until things are safe, as a parent who has signed up, your little phone is going to tell you about your little school and your little child. If I were to build a brand new station in this community today and I send my News Director (Yeah, Right!) out to the school and ask them to establish a relationship with us, and agree on passwords so pranksters can't call the station with false school closing reports, they are likely to politely explain they have everything under control via TWITTER and they don't need me!

A lot of what we used to do in radio has been made obsolete, and I don't see a lot of evidence that as an industry, we have identified new problems for which we are the solution.

Prices of cattle at the stockyards in Kansas City? The farmer has his iPhone and gets that number at the push of a button at his convenience from the Internet. No more making sure you have the radio tuned in at the exact moment that Radio Farm Reporter Rudolph Redneck gives his 13 minute farm jabber during the noon hour.

We are not living in 1959.

I'm not sure how long the list would be of things we used to do in radio if we were a crackerjack station that no longer have any fizz left in the bottle.

As an industry I thing we abandoned a lot of those features before they lost their fizz as we put all our eggs in the Music Basket. And now that the music industry as we have known it is about to die a whimpering death, are we left holding a basket of "Humpty Dumpty War Stories" thinking it is our continued riches?

You are right about school closings and how different they are ( big city vs. small rural areas ). However there are some places ( though very few now and my old market was one of them ) where untll within the last 2 years TV and the net really didn't cut it as many TV stations refused to do school info for the local district, manily because of the name of the county where my station was in Frederick County, VA. The DC TV stations didn't like covering the school info from there because of complaints and confusion with Frederick County, MD though within the last year they somewhat overlooked that. Internet? Until recently many in the area still had dial-up but that has since changed in many parts of that county. But with that being said I agree with the previous poster about school closings and such being boring. I myself have seen more drama invloving this sort of thing than any other such as fist fights in the studios over "school info" like jocks who don't want to do it vs. PDs who feel its a must because of sales or whatever.


Going back to this topic, one thing that gets me about comments that have appeared on this site and others about automation/syndication and using them which had resulted in replacing local jocks. I get the feeling many believe this is a recent thing. Well maybe in some areas it is but in many smaller markets I can still remember those late night faxes over the years from syndicators and how automation would be the answer, how they would fool the public....

"......Love someone tonight..and you will love saving money too" ( Delilah 1998 )

".....there is no need to spend money on overnights anymore....we can do a better job...so spend your money elsewhere.." ( Blair Garner/After Midnight 1993 )

"....chances are your 7-Midnight jock sucks...I can do better...I am the KING of the Oldies" ( Mike Harvey & Supergold 2005 )

"....are you damn sick and tired of your jocks acting like they own the place?..FIRE THEM and HIRE US !!!." ( Scott Automation Systems 1996 )


I have been told that some satellite services back then such as SMN and Jones even had guides published as to how to fire your jocks in favor of their programming. Actually SMN took that one step further as they even had some service where they would do the firing for you if the PD/GM couldn't/wouldn't do it . My then girlfriend lost her board-op job when SMN demanded her station to automate their service. She got the call from SMN from Dallas to her in Virginia telling her that they are making the call on behalf of her PD and that she was fired and she is not allowed to contact them (SMN ) or her previous employer. She never really got over that.

 

[TheBigA]

Going back to this topic, one thing that gets me about comments that have appeared on this site and others about automation/syndication and using them which had resulted in replacing local jocks. I get the feeling many believe this is a recent thing. Well maybe in some areas it is but in many smaller markets I can still remember those late night faxes over the years from syndicators and how automation would be the answer, how they would fool the public....

I hate to break it to you, but syndication and automation go back to the 1960s. They used to bicycle reel to reel tapes around the country. I'm not kidding. And even stations in NYC and other large cities ran this stuff. Not just small stations in small markets. Back in the 30s and 40s, radio stations ran programming supplied by the networks. Given a choice between some local guy and Bob Hope, the owners chose Bob. Obviously, satellites changed the distribution system in the early 80s.

And hey, everyone has their own self-interest at stake. This is why I say to all the unemployed or unhappy air talent who dream for the day when all the current owners die of some disease so new owners will hire everyone back, I say start your own content company. You don't have to spend a lot of money on licenses or towers or transmitters. Just build a small studio where you create your radio. It worked for Tom Kent. I know a lot of people are getting fired because of him, but he did something all of you guys SHOULD have done years ago. Make these stations an offer they can't refuse. Free content. They will put it on the air.

 

[mleach]

Going back to this topic, one thing that gets me about comments that have appeared on this site and others about automation/syndication and using them which had resulted in replacing local jocks. I get the feeling many believe this is a recent thing. Well maybe in some areas it is but in many smaller markets I can still remember those late night faxes over the years from syndicators and how automation would be the answer, how they would fool the public....

I hate to break it to you, but syndication and automation go back to the 1960s. They used to bicycle reel to reel tapes around the country. I'm not kidding. And even stations in NYC and other large cities ran this stuff. Not just small stations in small markets. Back in the 30s and 40s, radio stations ran programming supplied by the networks. Given a choice between some local guy and Bob Hope, the owners chose Bob. Obviously, satellites changed the distribution system in the early 80s.

And hey, everyone has their own self-interest at stake. This is why I say to all the unemployed or unhappy air talent who dream for the day when all the current owners die of some disease so new owners will hire everyone back, I say start your own content company. You don't have to spend a lot of money on licenses or towers or transmitters. Just build a small studio where you create your radio. It worked for Tom Kent. I know a lot of people are getting fired because of him, but he did something all of you guys SHOULD have done years ago. Make these stations an offer they can't refuse. Free content. They will put it on the air.

I knew about syndication & automation going back..well going way back. Just surprised when I read on sites like DCRTV for example from those who act like its some "new" thing.

I do believe though that country music's Blair Garner's After Midnight was the first satellite syndicated program that was made for a specific purpose..to replace the local jock. In the past some stations would air say Larry King for example thanks to a board-op while others would use the tones for automation provided by Westwood One or whoever it was. It was up to the local radio station as to which method they wanted to use. Blair Garner OTOH..they really didn't want anyone in the studio while their show was airing as they made it clear to me that one night back in October 1993 when I ( per-favor for a friend of mine who wanted that night off ) did the board for After Midnight. I thought they missed a break since there was no clock from them in the studio and since it was 2am. I decided to call them rather than my PD. Boy did they get NASTY !!! Telling me I had no right to be in the studio while their show was on the air and how it "defeats the purpose", how "wonderful" that their show had replaced all the "worthless trash" across the country that was airing at that hour all sort of stuff. They never did help me out but the next day Blair's people did call up my PD and demanded that our station automated their show as they didn't want any " board-op trash" running their show. I still remember the look of "WTF" on both my face and my PD's when he had told me the "trash" part Blair's people had said on the phone. Anyway the next week my station did what they wanted..they automated After Midnight.

In my close to 20 years in the biz, I have to say I had never heard of a show that was so anti-board op/anti-local or whatever..than Blair Garner's After Midnight !!