Excellent answers here as usual. I talked with a couple of friends and a professor of mine about this, and it seems to go back to some of the foundations of why local radio stations struggle.
To me, local ENC stations are run by people who are not professional radio people, rather people who see radio as a toy or an extension of a church. And while I am certainly not knocking any church, I can easily point out that Wilson has (had) 4 Christian radio stations, and the combined effort of all four is not even close to any secular radio station outside of town.
This is because it seems that local radio stations are concerned about immediate survival and personal promotion. What I mean by "immediate survival" is that most stations run on a shoestring budget, meaning the resources to do anything outside the ordinary is out of the question. This is why live remotes are so rare, and not done as much. The money to pay a qualified person to do a live remote, or to come up with a special program such as election coverage is just out of the question. They'd have to rely on free labor, which is how most operate anyway.
I agree with you guys, in an election year as major as this one, every radio station should have dedicated itself to serving the public, and sadly most stations fell awfully short.
The second part of "personal promotion" is also a big problem because what it implies is that most of the "church-run" radio stations are more involved in self promotion rather than community. I used to listen to WGTM and I know I heard more spots about that "religious supply store" than any real spots. With WUBN, we know that the owner has his own "store" and promotes that as well as his personal CDs, even though there are questions about his spots (as a LPFM station, but that is another post).
Most ENC stations are too caught up in self promotion, and you combine that with a lack of qualified personnel and low budget, you can kinda see why there was little to no coverage of the elections. It really is sad because this is proof positive that these stations are not capable of doing what the FCC desires them to do, which is to become a part of the community and serve the community. I mean, that was the reason for the LPFM stations were created by the FCC right, and then they found out that these licenses were used by local leaders of churches to profit from, and most were not serving the community.
So it's a hard call, but sometimes the proof is in the pudding. Major election and local radio stations were too thinly staffed or qualified to give the community the info they needed. I am sure there are other credible reasons too, but those seemed like the major ones to me.
To me, local ENC stations are run by people who are not professional radio people, rather people who see radio as a toy or an extension of a church. And while I am certainly not knocking any church, I can easily point out that Wilson has (had) 4 Christian radio stations, and the combined effort of all four is not even close to any secular radio station outside of town.
This is because it seems that local radio stations are concerned about immediate survival and personal promotion. What I mean by "immediate survival" is that most stations run on a shoestring budget, meaning the resources to do anything outside the ordinary is out of the question. This is why live remotes are so rare, and not done as much. The money to pay a qualified person to do a live remote, or to come up with a special program such as election coverage is just out of the question. They'd have to rely on free labor, which is how most operate anyway.
I agree with you guys, in an election year as major as this one, every radio station should have dedicated itself to serving the public, and sadly most stations fell awfully short.
The second part of "personal promotion" is also a big problem because what it implies is that most of the "church-run" radio stations are more involved in self promotion rather than community. I used to listen to WGTM and I know I heard more spots about that "religious supply store" than any real spots. With WUBN, we know that the owner has his own "store" and promotes that as well as his personal CDs, even though there are questions about his spots (as a LPFM station, but that is another post).
Most ENC stations are too caught up in self promotion, and you combine that with a lack of qualified personnel and low budget, you can kinda see why there was little to no coverage of the elections. It really is sad because this is proof positive that these stations are not capable of doing what the FCC desires them to do, which is to become a part of the community and serve the community. I mean, that was the reason for the LPFM stations were created by the FCC right, and then they found out that these licenses were used by local leaders of churches to profit from, and most were not serving the community.
So it's a hard call, but sometimes the proof is in the pudding. Major election and local radio stations were too thinly staffed or qualified to give the community the info they needed. I am sure there are other credible reasons too, but those seemed like the major ones to me.