I believe that many people "hear" radio, still ... but a lot less are actively "listening" to radio. There is some bad radio out there in small markets and medium, especially. Unprofessional, sloppy, "disconnected" radio from the "masses."
In fact, I think that's part of the problem: Some people are so disconnected from radio as we "knew" it, that so many have a difficulty relating to it because, now, they can hit more than the preset buttons. Now they can "listen" to what they REALLY want to "hear" programmed by themselves on iPods, CDs, Internet, satellite, etc.
We, as broadcasters, have disconnected from the "listeners" in too many cases. We "ignore" the older demos -- fully well knowing that they are, in fact, the money holders, if not the money "spenders" because they have grown to be less product loyal and harder to "chase" in making a change ... so, it becomes a harde proposition to effect "change" ... so, we drop them like a bad habit.
Younger demos are growing up "AM-less" because they don't like mainstream talk, like "shock talk" that mainstream advertisers in large part ignore due to "controversies." Usually, young people tend to stand against the "corporatization" of "local" radio ... and it's 399 song libraries, and "DJ's" who aren't as compelling and creative as others in the past.
Listeners to radio also know that there is a problem within. We're firing what talent we have, and not liking the "farm system" of replacements we haven't planned for to bring up. So, we, as broadcasters, blame "the economy" for budget cuts, talent has gotten bitter because of the insecurities of keeping a job in this environment and we've refused to "keep up" with the technology of what people, in general -- young to old -- are using to "keep connected."
Streaming an AM or FM signal that, today, doesn't penetrate buildings, is faced with an increasing over crowdedness and bland corporate mantra on programming, as well as our inabilities to promote ourselves to our communities in too many cases means that we have allowed too many choices, too many "toys", too much "complacency" and much too little "creativity" to actively bring the consumer listener back to the habit that once was ... that of truly "listening" rather than just merely "hearing" radio today.
When you have talk show hosts in Detroit telling jokes about possibly dead teammates on a pro team lost at sea, and thinking that's funny ... and apologizing for it as "the most reprehensible thing I've ever done in my career ... " because they weren't thinking, is cause for pause. There's a lot of that kind of "creativity" going on ... and, yes, it does have an audience.
Unfortunately.
And it happens more and more.
No wonder stations are having a tough time making a dime not only in profit, but in paying for the stable of talent that they have. We've forgotten what creativity and talent is in too many instances ... not all ... but a lot.
And for that, we now have broadcasters selling stock for "non-believers" at $.07 a share (Citadel), a satellite company that had to be saved at the last minute, over-homgenized music formats, mainstream talk mantras that are repetitive every day and a forgetting of just who is is we are programming to in markets of all sizes.
Yes, we have met the enemy. It is us.
We think, but don't know, that maybe, in many cases, we're not as good as we thought we were
The listeners, then, tend to hear ... but not really listen in far too many cases.
This must change ... and soon. We must better train, evaluate and let those who know their community base inside and out, young and old, get back to providing the service of radio ... with the backing of management and ownership who need to make more than a dime to survive.
