Keith Kidd said:
justalurker said:
I wonder if the people complaining about radio today are in radio today.
Yes, it's old people picking on the young. That must be it.
There are too many people on the beach who live to tell the story of how great it was back in the day, how they walked three miles uphill both ways to the transmitter building to change a tube. They always seem to have an answer for how to run things and yet they are not running any thing any more. At least not in radio. Just trying to know the source ... thanks for the ignorant answer.
justalurker said:
There ARE listeners. Arbitron counts them for us,
I never said there wasn't anyone listening at all, I said listener-ship has dropped as compared to decades ago when radio was a very VERY popular medium. Does Arbitron give you that kind of history lesson does it? Yes, Arbitron counts things. It places things in order whether thousands are listening or less than a hundred are listening.
See "CUME".
justalurker said:
they keep calling the station and showing up for station events.
Station events? Is your station having events, or is your station attaching itself to events already happening in your community? Due to fears of lawsuits and about 50 other reasons to do with money, stations really don't hold their own events anymore. They find an event, go to it and place their logo everywhere. That's not a station holding an event, that's a stations van visiting an event that the station had nothing to do with putting together.
Wow, someone must have pee'd in your Cheerios. Yes Virginia, stations still hold events. Smart stations will also take advantage of every branding opportunity that doesn't hurt the station (such as appearances) but there are stations out there building their own promotions. Not that your attack has anything to do with the issue in my message anyways ... that people listen and are involved. It really doesn't matter if the event was underwritten with the risk taken by the station or just branded by them - the issue is how people see the station.
justalurker said:
Not everyone wants a mindless iPod mix of music they have already heard with no personality.
Well, that's nice to know you feel that way.
Your feeling is just that too. A feeling. Or are yours the only ones that matter?
justalurker said:
Radio listeners are tuning in for what is new ... even if the old pros may consider it corny or bad radio.
Non-existing radio.
Have you stopped listening?
justalurker said:
They are getting connected to other listeners via the shared experience radio can offer.
Huh.... what does that statement even mean?
Sorry, I forgot that back in the day one didn't have to be educated to be in radio ... so perhaps you need someone to explain the English language to you. Slowly? I hope this is slow enough for you:
A shared experience is something two or more do together. Some shared experiences are good, others are not so good. Getting on a bus or train for a commute is a shared experience. Getting through traffic is a shared experience. Shopping is a shared experience. People who live in this world have a lot of shared experiences. Often they get to share about their shared experiences with others who have shared the same experiences or similar enough experiences that those experiences too become a shared experience.
You can advocate a world where everyone owns an iPod (if so, send me one ... I don't have one). A world full of self absorbed people who listen to their music and perhaps try to ignore the world around them. But that kind of existence leaves one lacking connections. Radio can provide those connections - providing something to talk about around the water cooler (even if it is how bad that idiot Kevin was on the radio this morning) or a place to hear someone address the situation they are in (stuck in weather/traffic). Or even just sharing the moment listening to a song together (yeah, corny, but catch two people listening to the same song on their iPods and you'll see *A* reaction ... either positive "hey we like the same thing" or negative "that was my favorite song before I knew that loser liked it" but a reaction).
It is called being part of the world ... being connected ... something that radio can perform quite well. If your station isn't doing it perhaps you don't know radio as well as you thought.
Does your audience share experiences with you? Most of the time stations talk promotions and plays station VO hype throughout the hour without really connecting to what the audience is thinking or feeling. If there's not a promotion or a chance to make a dollar bill, most stations won't discuss it or acknowledge it. Ever chat on the air with a caller just to be doing it? The question is, is the audience hearing your stations experience or are you connecting with theirs?
Gross generalizations about the worst station out there (perhaps the one you might run or be running) is just stupid. My point was (and remains) that there are good stations out there. You just seem stuck on the bad ones. But like it or not, even listening to the worst radio station in the world is a shared experience. You don't have to like it to share it.
So *YES* ... my audience shares experiences with me. Perhaps the audience does not always get a chance to share on the air but that is the DJ's job, not theirs. It is the role of the DJ to play the song and say the thing and the role of the listener to listen. Be good enough at playing the song and saying the thing and the listener will want to actively share with others ... perhaps by turning up their radio and letting others listen or recruiting other listeners wherever that listener goes. How many callers you put on the air isn't the only metric.
It is just easier to have a shared experience when it comes from a single source. Put something good on the radio and thousands of people will share the experience with you. Drive the wrong way on the interstate and you'll create a different shared experience. I prefer radio.