Doom!

[spectacle]

The "tweens" aren't getting their tunes from radio and the future looks worse than that flim flam in 1996 that sold the FCC on consolidation.

http://insideradio.com/

 

[Bongwater]

Pardon me if I laugh when I read the radio industry's more optimistic bathroom paper about radio's big brilliant "future". The last few new hits I really liked came not from the radio, but from MySpace and YouTube. And radio (and the record industry) is asleep at the wheel-AGAIN.

Radio still has a use and CAN be saved. Only problem is the industry is so STUCK on 40 year old formulas that they completely fail to see what the new generation wants. I do. And it's something I've been whining about on this board from day one all the way back in 1999: a complete, massive overhaul of the entire current radio format structure.

Here is My 10 Point Plan For Radio's Survival:

First, do NOT focus on the HUGE "profits". They aren't there. Get over it. You can't measure things in $$$. You have to measure them in how much ACTUAL popularity you have locally with EACH station AND it's HD sub-channels. And you HAVE to start promoting stations in absolute and relentless blitzes.

Second, learn (or relearn) to have FUN and a sense of humor. Admit radio's flaws-including your own station's. A little self-depreciating humor can make you appear like a lovable underdog-worked for KXRX. And people these days LOVE an underdog.

Third, liner cards went out with the Rolodex. Same with the typical station monikers/frequency. Whatever happened to CALL LETTERS? They alone can mean something when you get the right mix of talent, HEAVY listener interaction (which is the ONLY way radio can compete with computers) and music.

Fourth, take your research and shove it. It ain't working, it hasn't worked for a long time and it ain't EVER gonna work now. Not with this generation (or mine at this rate.)

Fifth, let the jocks run wild with the format. You might be pleasantly surprised. Jocks should have carte blanche with the music and the talk on their shows. Because we need to start with the most basic foundation of all good radio and that is the DJ with a pulse and a feel for what his/her audience wants, not the outside consultant who is paid an ungody sum to simply tell you to sound like everybody else or that station in Portland he/she used to program for. And voicetracking is HOPLESSLY passe. The KXRX model (the inmates-running-the-asylum sound) is a prime example of what we could use again. Because they were way ahead of their time and they had some of the STRONGEST listener loyalty I have ever seen in the Puget Sound and they are STILL fondly remembered for it. Like I said, make radio FUN again!

Sixth, clue your listeners on where the awesome new music is (Hint: It's most likely not on CD or available in stores or even available in America and it's usually a free MP3 download they can get anywhere.) Many bands like Radiohead have the right idea, that the major record industry is DONE and music should be a loss leader for the band's merchandise or concerts. They still have ZILLIONS of fans and their financial future is secure because they are talented enough to have a LOT of demand for new music and concerts from them, with or without CD sales or even radio airplay with formats being what they are at present. And quit living by the major label's promo reps offerings, they are still stuck back in the '90s which is why some of the biggest new buzz bands out there are still labelless indies with not much more than a MySpace page.

Seventh, drop your ad rate cards to AFFORDABLE rates. Not just for corporate conglomerates, but for the only people that can save and support the local radio industry in these times and they are the LOCAL stores and small businesses.

Eighth, With that, it's time for EVERYBODY to cut back, including the PDs and managers. The days of six figure salaries and lifestyles are DONE because this industry can't keep supporting it with all the competition it has just from the iPod alone. And forget targeting the Boardwalk crowd - they're all listening to XM/Sirius anyway. The rest of the listening audience terrestrial radio has left are somewhere on Oriental Avenue, so it really ain't so bad on St. Charles Place. Besides, radio is a one to one local medium where ordinary people listen and interact. If you got into terrestrial radio to get rich, you've picked the WRONG career. Try rap music.

Nine, start selling off these cluster stations and concentrate on the simple 1 AM / 1 FM combos. That will give everybody and every format a fair shot. Competing, rather than "complimenting" stations will bring new life and new blood into radio. Besides, you have HD now. You can program your little heart out all the complimenting formats you want on all your HD sub channels and actually make some decent use of it like the public stations are.

And Ten, stop reading industry papers and get out in the real world and meet real people. Only THEN will you see just how far behind the curve the radio industry is. I'd sooner get my new music programming ideas from the live music section of The Stranger and MySpace band pages than the R&R Charts page anyday.

It's not some big shot radio consultant that makes the music/format trends anymore, it's the young people with computers. And that can work to radio's benefit, all the technologies to make it work are there, it's just the will to actually smash every rule (including much of the format control) that had radio has had since the '60s that almost every PD still holds so sacred to accomodate it.

You have to REINVENT radio from scratch for a new generation. And that means you have to change just about EVERYTHING radio is today if you want to have any influence TODAY and in the future. Otherwise, it will fade away as radio's last generation ages (and I'm sorry, but HD is going the way of AM Stereo at the rate it's being marketed and developed right now, like it or not. ANOTHER major argument AGAINST any further radio consolidation) The old programming concepts just are not working anymore. It's time for a radio REVOLUTION.

Now, I gave you the blueprint. So take it and run....

 

[pbf1]

First, do NOT focus on the HUGE "profits". They aren't there. Get over it. You can't measure things in $$$.

Not sure what world you live in, but unless you're in one of the socialst countries, EVERYTHING is measured in $$$. Especially the management of multimillion dollar properties (radio or otherwise).

 

[ambandwidth]

Bongwater - I love you! the ideas are spectacular,uh...hold on a minute, the consultant is here to tell us what works in LA this week...

 

[Bongwater]

First, do NOT focus on the HUGE "profits". They aren't there. Get over it. You can't measure things in $$$.

Not sure what world you live in, but unless you're in one of the socialst countries, EVERYTHING is measured in $$$. Especially the management of multimillion dollar properties (radio or otherwise).

I live on Earth in the People's Republic of Bellingham - a Socialist country if there ever was one. What's yours?

And the industry I'm working in doesn't need to radically alter it's model because it will always be profitable, will never go out of fashion and it's formula STILL works - beautifully. Headaches, yes, LOTS of them. But at the end of the day, I still have people interested in it and I know a computer can't replace me. And I don't need a consultant.

I'm illustrating the problem with an entertainment medium on the brink of collapse. Radio will never be the dominant entertainment medium again no matter how many stations your corporation owns - welcome to 1955.

Young people wield ALL the power in the entertainment world with their computers and they can crush any entertainment industry that doesn't give them what they want. It's time to stop ignoring that and start using their input to your advantage. The only other option is to target the aging Baby Boomers and die off gracefully in total irrelevance in 10-20 years. I don't think the radio industry spent all those billions in the late '90s to today for that.

I don't work in the radio industry anymore. Like I said before, I'd rather watch it all fall apart from the sidelines than directly underneath. Times change, but they are changing way too fast for aging radio moguls and like the record industry in theirs, the radio industry has only itself to blame for their own predicament and failure to remain relevant to newer generations. You can't keep recycling the same stuff, no matter what you change the name of it to. Generations Y and Z are MUCH too savvy for that. Terrestrial radio probably won't even be around when my kids reach their teens at the rate this is going, something's got to give.

The old ways aren't working anymore, people are looking for alternatives to fossil fuel for cars, healthy foods are replacing fast food junk, MP3s are replacing CDs - and now radio has to innovate. HD is not enough. You can't offer an extra this way, it's like buying a Ferrari with a bad transmission, but a killer stereo.

 

[placebo1969]

I live on Earth in the People's Republic of Bellingham - a Socialist country if there ever was one. What's yours?

And the industry I'm working in doesn't need to radically alter it's model because it will always be profitable, will never go out of fashion and it's formula STILL works - beautifully. Headaches, yes, LOTS of them. But at the end of the day, I still have people interested in it and I know a computer can't replace me. And I don't need a consultant.

I live in Bellingham too. What do you do?

 

[spectacle]

Wouldn't it be nice to have radio you WANTED to run to instead of chosing when there is nothing else to do? When will those days come back?

 

[cm454]

Bongwater is drinking his bognwater again.

If you let jocks do whatever the eff they want, it would be an effing disaster.

Talk about abstract music surrounded by nonsensical BS.

I know jocks think all they say is entertaining and important, but it often isn't and is a tuneout. Self indulging on the air is a great way to lose listeners.

There are only so many talented people able to hold and entertain an audience with their words---and collectively you'd be hard-pressed to find enough to staff ONE station in a market, no less many.

Sorry, thems the facts.

 

[Ivy]

Who said anything about self indulging on the air? I like Bongwater's ideas. Hey CM-just because YOU'D self indulge if given the chance doesn't mean everyone else would. Now go back to selling exactly what you are selling and see how long that lasts.

 

[MarkAndrews]

And besides, CM, that's *exactly* how underground rock was born on FM in the late 60s.

Maybe there's an idea for dying AMs in there, too... Creative forces have been awfully repressed lately...

 

[Bongwater]

And besides, CM, that's *exactly* how underground rock was born on FM in the late 60s.

Maybe there's an idea for dying AMs in there, too... Creative forces have been awfully repressed lately...

My entire point exactly.

And that's why radio is suffering now. Radio has become aural wallpaper instead of the entertainment force it was meant to be.

Years ago, I wrote about how AM should become a place to experiment with exciting new formats and break in new talent instead of the talk/oldies/religious graveyard it is today. People then thought I was crazy too. But then again, people once thought progressive talk and variety hits were crazy ideas too and somehow, they became the two most important developments of radio in the last decade.

I think the operative here is the old ruling class of radio programming is scared to death of change. And change is the LAST thing you should be scared of now. Change is the one thing that can save your careers at this point.

I'm hoping 2008 can be the comeback year of radio. The extra publicity can only help.....

 

[Bongwater]

Bongwater is drinking his bognwater again.

If you let jocks do whatever the eff they want, it would be an effing disaster.

Talk about abstract music surrounded by nonsensical BS.

I know jocks think all they say is entertaining and important, but it often isn't and is a tuneout. Self indulging on the air is a great way to lose listeners.

There are only so many talented people able to hold and entertain an audience with their words---and collectively you'd be hard-pressed to find enough to staff ONE station in a market, no less many.

Sorry, thems the facts.

Will the last person listening to CM's station please turn off it's transmitter when they're done?

It kills me to think so many self righteous PDs have absolutely no faith in the people that work for them. And that attitude SHOWS on the air-PAINFULLY. There are a lot of good and talented people on the air that CAN hold and entertain an audience-did I say a LOT of them? But it's hard for them to establish themselves because we never get hear their true potential. And that is what ruins a station. Too much micromanagement from above. Do you think Pat O'Day, Larry Lujack and Steve Slaton (to mention a FEW) got to where they are by reading liner cards?

If that was all there was to radio then, the industry would have been dead by 1990. Why do you think all these broadcast radio-alternative technologies like satellite, Music Choice, Pandora, webcasting and the iPod were created in the first place if terrestrial radio in the '90s to today was so damn good?

It's attitudes like CM's that have created these very things that will ruin them if they don't snap out of it NOW and look at the bigger picture.

There was a time when the most successful PDs mentored new talent. The new talent went on to become household names and when jocks were interviewed on who was their influences, their old PDs were often given credit in print for helping launch their careers. That alone made the PDs famous, not what was written on the liner cards. We've lost that somewhere along the way and we need to get back to the basics of good radio and that's making the jocks the centerpiece of the station. I am confident the jocks of today (as well as our old school legends) know their audience well enough to discern what they want and how best to give it to them in their own way. They just need the freedom to do it. And trust me, there is NO shortage of talent. The only shortage is creativity and innovation which is creating a shortage of listeners.

This is the problem in a nutshell.

I offered some potential solutions (somebody's gotta do it.) Truth is always inconvenient and ugly - especially from an outsider, but it's better than delusions and overconfidence these days. The only way we will know is if somebody takes a chance.

I have spoken.....

 

[AQH]

Will the last person listening to CM's station please turn off it's transmitter when they're done?

CM's station will be on much longer than when yours would.

It kills me to think so many self righteous PDs have absolutely no faith in the people that work for them. And that attitude SHOWS on the air-PAINFULLY. There are a lot of good and talented people on the air that CAN hold and entertain an audience-did I say a LOT of them? But it's hard for them to establish themselves because we never get hear their true potential. And that is what ruins a station. Too much micromanagement from above. Do you think Pat O'Day, Larry Lujack and Steve Slaton (to mention a FEW) got to where they are by reading liner cards?

Times have changed, and you have not. And in exchange for your lack of understanding what people want in radio today, you and everyone else resort to name-calling and character assassination rather than facing facts. THAT is the classic example of not facing reality.

CM is right on the ball, there are only a few jocks in Seattle that are truly entertaining. There's only one or two who can do it by themselves, and not having to resort to on-air partners or canned bits or one-liners copied right off internet sites.

That said, I've never understood why everyone on this board feels that the best defense against people leaving terrestrial radio and flipping to their iPods and/or satellite radio is to add more "personality" on the radio. Think about it. People are going to other MUSIC sources, and your answer is to STOP THE MUSIC on FM and let someone yammer for awhile.

If that was all there was to radio then, the industry would have been dead by 1990. Why do you think all these broadcast radio-alternative technologies like satellite, Music Choice, Pandora, webcasting and the iPod were created in the first place if terrestrial radio in the '90s to today was so damn good?

Thank you for making my point.

It's attitudes like CM's that have created these very things that will ruin them if they don't snap out of it NOW and look at the bigger picture.

The "big picture" is to play the hits. Pure and simple. That's what people expect from the radio, play the hits.

There was a time when the most successful PDs mentored new talent. The new talent went on to become household names and when jocks were interviewed on who was their influences, their old PDs were often given credit in print for helping launch their careers. That alone made the PDs famous, not what was written on the liner cards. We've lost that somewhere along the way and we need to get back to the basics of good radio and that's making the jocks the centerpiece of the station. I am confident the jocks of today (as well as our old school legends) know their audience well enough to discern what they want and how best to give it to them in their own way. They just need the freedom to do it. And trust me, there is NO shortage of talent. The only shortage is creativity and innovation which is creating a shortage of listeners.

You're right on the point about the lack of tutelage right now. That, plus the voicetracking thing will be detrimental to radio in another way in the next few years.

But again, your focus is to just let the jocks banter about. That's not the solution.

 

[ambandwidth]

hey, what if you hired jocks that we're actually jocks and understood music how to do the job?, kinda like a pilot that could fly an aircraft or a doctor that specialized in whatever it is they specialize in?


nah, that would never work, I forgot that they're "selling air" and radio pretty much exists for the advertiser.

ipod/itunes update available - gotta go.