For those old enough to remember, radio stations had to prove to the FCC that they were serving the public interest. The composite week was a random Sunday thru Saturday selected from throughout the year and submitted to the FCC to demonstrate that the broadcaster was airing enough news, public affairs, etc. A new station owner had to keep the station for at least 3 years before being allowed to sell it. We deejays had to have a 3rd class license with broadcast endorsement. Ronald Reagan was able to get radio deregulated, meaning stations no longer had to air a certain percentage of news, PA, etc. An owner can buy a stationt this week and sell it next week. And one of the net results of the dereg has been loss of jobs. How many radio stations actually have a news director nowadays? Agree? Disagree?
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Has dereg led to job losses?
- Thread starter MightyFrenchman
- Start date
There's no doubt deregulation combined with technology has reduced the number of on-air jobs. Are we serving the public as well as we used to? Probably not.
For those old enough to remember, radio stations had to
> prove to the FCC that they were serving the public interest.
> The composite week was a random Sunday thru Saturday
> selected from throughout the year and submitted to the FCC
> to demonstrate that the broadcaster was airing enough news,
> public affairs, etc. A new station owner had to keep the
> station for at least 3 years before being allowed to sell
> it. We deejays had to have a 3rd class license with
> broadcast endorsement. Ronald Reagan was able to get radio
> deregulated, meaning stations no longer had to air a certain
> percentage of news, PA, etc. An owner can buy a stationt
> this week and sell it next week. And one of the net results
> of the dereg has been loss of jobs. How many radio stations
> actually have a news director nowadays? Agree? Disagree?
>
For those old enough to remember, radio stations had to
> prove to the FCC that they were serving the public interest.
> The composite week was a random Sunday thru Saturday
> selected from throughout the year and submitted to the FCC
> to demonstrate that the broadcaster was airing enough news,
> public affairs, etc. A new station owner had to keep the
> station for at least 3 years before being allowed to sell
> it. We deejays had to have a 3rd class license with
> broadcast endorsement. Ronald Reagan was able to get radio
> deregulated, meaning stations no longer had to air a certain
> percentage of news, PA, etc. An owner can buy a stationt
> this week and sell it next week. And one of the net results
> of the dereg has been loss of jobs. How many radio stations
> actually have a news director nowadays? Agree? Disagree?
>
> Ronald Reagan was able to get radio
> deregulated, meaning stations no longer had to air a certain
> percentage of news, PA, etc. How many radio stations
> actually have a news director nowadays? Agree? Disagree?
>
How many stations actually air locally produced news these days? I think WIBC is the only Emmis station that does (I know Hank and Hi 99 don't), I don't think any of the Susquehanna cluster does. Most stations air CNN/ABC/NBC/whatever at the top of the hour *if they air anything*. As far as that goes, often the only thing you'll hear from Radio stations in the event of Severe Weather is the EAS kicking in. That is most certainly NOT serving the public.
Not even all non-comm stations do news. I know WJEF, WIKL, and WGRE don't.
I consider myself lucky, the local station still does community calendars, and 9 local newscasts through the day.
However, no one really does news-gathering, they just air what gets faxed or emailed or heard from the Police Scanner.
I think technology is more responcible than deregulation, but re-regulation would probably increase salaries at least a little bit by raising the bar for what is an "entry-level" position. The flip side is that some small stations have trouble with turnover as it is.
Is a push for reregulation wise? Not until ClearChannel collapses in an accounting scandal.
> deregulated, meaning stations no longer had to air a certain
> percentage of news, PA, etc. How many radio stations
> actually have a news director nowadays? Agree? Disagree?
>
How many stations actually air locally produced news these days? I think WIBC is the only Emmis station that does (I know Hank and Hi 99 don't), I don't think any of the Susquehanna cluster does. Most stations air CNN/ABC/NBC/whatever at the top of the hour *if they air anything*. As far as that goes, often the only thing you'll hear from Radio stations in the event of Severe Weather is the EAS kicking in. That is most certainly NOT serving the public.
Not even all non-comm stations do news. I know WJEF, WIKL, and WGRE don't.
I consider myself lucky, the local station still does community calendars, and 9 local newscasts through the day.
However, no one really does news-gathering, they just air what gets faxed or emailed or heard from the Police Scanner.
I think technology is more responcible than deregulation, but re-regulation would probably increase salaries at least a little bit by raising the bar for what is an "entry-level" position. The flip side is that some small stations have trouble with turnover as it is.
Is a push for reregulation wise? Not until ClearChannel collapses in an accounting scandal.
It depends on the definition of "serving the public". If its forcing the airing of programming that no one wants to listen to, I question if anyone is being served. Technology has no doubt eliminated the "warm body" jobs (we gotta have someone to do Midnight-6 Sunday morning) but its not new.
> It depends on the definition of "serving the public". If its
> forcing the airing of programming that no one wants to
> listen to, I question if anyone is being served. Technology
> has no doubt eliminated the "warm body" jobs (we gotta have
> someone to do Midnight-6 Sunday morning) but its not new.
>
I wasn't around for it...but wasn't automated stations on "reel to reel" all the rage for a while?
This whole downsizing thing will come full circle...IMO
I can hear the sales pitches and promos...live and local personalities 24 hours a day...7 days a week
I agree with the above that dereg has done away with 99% of all public service.
The only "service" we really provide is music for free...I have worked at 6 different companies with a total of 21 stations...I have only worked with 6 different news people...3 of em at my current place. I have programmed 4 of these stations...only one had a local news reporter...he was also my mid day guy, my play by play guy...morning show on the am...and produced stuff for our LPTV station.
On 9-11, I got a call from a listener asking if I had heard what happened in New York...walk down the hall to the news guy for the oldies station....was busy interviewing someone from city hall and had on WKRP on nick at nite. Then within 45 minutes...every station in town (a big grand total of 8) were running abc news solid.
> forcing the airing of programming that no one wants to
> listen to, I question if anyone is being served. Technology
> has no doubt eliminated the "warm body" jobs (we gotta have
> someone to do Midnight-6 Sunday morning) but its not new.
>
I wasn't around for it...but wasn't automated stations on "reel to reel" all the rage for a while?
This whole downsizing thing will come full circle...IMO
I can hear the sales pitches and promos...live and local personalities 24 hours a day...7 days a week
I agree with the above that dereg has done away with 99% of all public service.
The only "service" we really provide is music for free...I have worked at 6 different companies with a total of 21 stations...I have only worked with 6 different news people...3 of em at my current place. I have programmed 4 of these stations...only one had a local news reporter...he was also my mid day guy, my play by play guy...morning show on the am...and produced stuff for our LPTV station.
On 9-11, I got a call from a listener asking if I had heard what happened in New York...walk down the hall to the news guy for the oldies station....was busy interviewing someone from city hall and had on WKRP on nick at nite. Then within 45 minutes...every station in town (a big grand total of 8) were running abc news solid.
There were a lot of automated stations on reel to reel, mostly FM. Those included WFBQ and Muncie's WLBC-FM. Live personalities will come back if people want them..a lot of people could care less, and also won't listen to "public service" shows, no matter how high minded. Should we try to force hourly news on listeners who don't want it..and can easily turn the channel to fiond another song?
H
HarryCaray
Guest
> > Ronald Reagan was able to get radio
> > deregulated, meaning stations no longer had to air a
> certain
> > percentage of news, PA, etc. How many radio stations
> > actually have a news director nowadays? Agree? Disagree?
>
> >
> How many stations actually air locally produced news these
> days? I think WIBC is the only Emmis station that does (I
> know Hank and Hi 99 don't), I don't think any of the
> Susquehanna cluster does. Most stations air
> CNN/ABC/NBC/whatever at the top of the hour *if they air
> anything*. As far as that goes, often the only thing you'll
> hear from Radio stations in the event of Severe Weather is
> the EAS kicking in. That is most certainly NOT serving the
> public.
>
> Not even all non-comm stations do news. I know WJEF, WIKL,
> and WGRE don't.
>
> I consider myself lucky, the local station still does
> community calendars, and 9 local newscasts through the day.
>
> However, no one really does news-gathering, they just air
> what gets faxed or emailed or heard from the Police Scanner.
>
>
> I think technology is more responcible than deregulation,
> but re-regulation would probably increase salaries at least
> a little bit by raising the bar for what is an "entry-level"
> position. The flip side is that some small stations have
> trouble with turnover as it is.
>
> Is a push for reregulation wise? Not until ClearChannel
> collapses in an accounting scandal.
>
>I know Entercom has local news. Gary Hummel and Devon Scott are on Abdul's show and throughout the Day.
> > deregulated, meaning stations no longer had to air a
> certain
> > percentage of news, PA, etc. How many radio stations
> > actually have a news director nowadays? Agree? Disagree?
>
> >
> How many stations actually air locally produced news these
> days? I think WIBC is the only Emmis station that does (I
> know Hank and Hi 99 don't), I don't think any of the
> Susquehanna cluster does. Most stations air
> CNN/ABC/NBC/whatever at the top of the hour *if they air
> anything*. As far as that goes, often the only thing you'll
> hear from Radio stations in the event of Severe Weather is
> the EAS kicking in. That is most certainly NOT serving the
> public.
>
> Not even all non-comm stations do news. I know WJEF, WIKL,
> and WGRE don't.
>
> I consider myself lucky, the local station still does
> community calendars, and 9 local newscasts through the day.
>
> However, no one really does news-gathering, they just air
> what gets faxed or emailed or heard from the Police Scanner.
>
>
> I think technology is more responcible than deregulation,
> but re-regulation would probably increase salaries at least
> a little bit by raising the bar for what is an "entry-level"
> position. The flip side is that some small stations have
> trouble with turnover as it is.
>
> Is a push for reregulation wise? Not until ClearChannel
> collapses in an accounting scandal.
>
>I know Entercom has local news. Gary Hummel and Devon Scott are on Abdul's show and throughout the Day.
Re: Plain answer to the thread.
Technology has led to the loss of jobs. And yes, degreg is part of the problem. Big companies that own many stations can pay their current on-air talent to voice track the off hours on their other stations.
It's a shame that part time beginner jocks have no where to go to hone their skills. (No "farm system" if you will)<P ID="signature">______________
[email protected]</P>
Technology has led to the loss of jobs. And yes, degreg is part of the problem. Big companies that own many stations can pay their current on-air talent to voice track the off hours on their other stations.
It's a shame that part time beginner jocks have no where to go to hone their skills. (No "farm system" if you will)<P ID="signature">______________
[email protected]</P>
Re: Plain answer to the thread.
> It's a shame that part time beginner jocks have no where to
> go to hone their skills. (No "farm system" if you will)
>
As as absolute beginning part-timer even in an unrated market, I was paid only for the hours that I spent in the station to voicetrack - meaning that a 6 hour overnight/weekend shift resulted in maybe 2-3 hours' worth of pay. I always tried to do at least one hour live, just for the experience. But I think that was a rare case - Overall most stations go by the philosophy you said; why pay part-timers when you can make your full-time jocks voicetrack for other stations/markets?
> It's a shame that part time beginner jocks have no where to
> go to hone their skills. (No "farm system" if you will)
>
As as absolute beginning part-timer even in an unrated market, I was paid only for the hours that I spent in the station to voicetrack - meaning that a 6 hour overnight/weekend shift resulted in maybe 2-3 hours' worth of pay. I always tried to do at least one hour live, just for the experience. But I think that was a rare case - Overall most stations go by the philosophy you said; why pay part-timers when you can make your full-time jocks voicetrack for other stations/markets?
Re: Plain answer to the thread.
Even if dereg had never happened, it would be easy enough for stations to buy a voicetrack service with the technology that exists. We had a lot of sattelite automation even in the 80s. There might even be more voicetracking, except on the largest stations in the big markets.
Even if dereg had never happened, it would be easy enough for stations to buy a voicetrack service with the technology that exists. We had a lot of sattelite automation even in the 80s. There might even be more voicetracking, except on the largest stations in the big markets.
J
jimbo700
Guest
Re: Plain answer to the thread.
I sat in a staff meeting in 1990 and the consultant was talking about upcoming changes in radio. He talked of hard-drive automation (Digilink was just being prototyped). He said that within the next 10 to 15 years, our industry would change more than it had during the previous 40 years.
He sad that someday, a jock would go into the booth and record his voice tracks for a 5 or 6 hour shift, and it would take less than an hour.
I have always been open minded about the future but I thought the consultant was out of his mind.
He also said that jocks might someday voicetrack shifts on more than one station... perhaps in different states.
Boy did he have insight (not to mention the current issues of the trades).
But I must admit, than technological innovations, are as much a cause of the change in this business than anything else, including deregulation.
I sat in a staff meeting in 1990 and the consultant was talking about upcoming changes in radio. He talked of hard-drive automation (Digilink was just being prototyped). He said that within the next 10 to 15 years, our industry would change more than it had during the previous 40 years.
He sad that someday, a jock would go into the booth and record his voice tracks for a 5 or 6 hour shift, and it would take less than an hour.
I have always been open minded about the future but I thought the consultant was out of his mind.
He also said that jocks might someday voicetrack shifts on more than one station... perhaps in different states.
Boy did he have insight (not to mention the current issues of the trades).
But I must admit, than technological innovations, are as much a cause of the change in this business than anything else, including deregulation.
> There's no doubt deregulation combined with technology has
> reduced the number of on-air jobs. Are we serving the public
> as well as we used to? Probably not.
Don't forget the Telecommunications Act of 1996, as well as the consolidation that resulted from it too.
> reduced the number of on-air jobs. Are we serving the public
> as well as we used to? Probably not.
Don't forget the Telecommunications Act of 1996, as well as the consolidation that resulted from it too.
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