Holland raises some interesting points worth thinking about. (Such as why radio stations
that might normally play her music were caught off guard when she passed away.) And, he correctly notes radio's "response" being better with the death of Monkee Davy Jones. But, here are some facts to also consider:
Whitney died over a weekend when radio stations go, largely, unstaffed. Davy Jones died (if I remember correctly) on a Monday or Tuesday, when stations do have staff and most have the ability to change their music schedules on the fly.
Now, it would be silly of me to suggest, I suppose, that lacking a "rapid response" team to handle such programming "emergencies", it would seem to fall on the shoulders of the PD or APD of these stations to "protect the brand" and either come in and make changes as needed, or have the ability to do this via the internet from their homes. But, lacking a "staff" to do such a thing, makes something like this seem necessary.
While the ability to control stations from home over the internet is possible, many radio companies, fearing hacker attacks, rarely ever give that to a PD as an option.
I realize, too, that PD's, APD's and radio people in general often have seemingly way too much on their plates these days. So, it's naturally understandable that when the weekend comes, they want to turn off their TV's (and their brains). But, to have to "go the extra mile" that demonstrates that our business is still more than just "another super long set of your favorite music", or to have a person "on call" on weekends would seem to make a lot of sense.
Radio's decent response to Hurricane Sandy is understandable. It was a huge natural disaster that was predicted more than a week out. And any radio manager worth his/her salts realized a need to spend the money and staff their stations. But, with all respects to Holland, the death of a singer...any singer, even one of Whitney's stature in life, is not on the same plain. So here, while it falls on the GM to staff his station in a real emergency, in order to serve the public interest, convenience and necessity, it seems to me a programming "emergency" (which the death of a prominent singer might be) would require response from the programming staff.
Yeah...that stinks when it happens on a weekend. But, then again...isn't that what we "programming types" get paid the (semi) big bucks for? Your thoughts?
that might normally play her music were caught off guard when she passed away.) And, he correctly notes radio's "response" being better with the death of Monkee Davy Jones. But, here are some facts to also consider:
Whitney died over a weekend when radio stations go, largely, unstaffed. Davy Jones died (if I remember correctly) on a Monday or Tuesday, when stations do have staff and most have the ability to change their music schedules on the fly.
Now, it would be silly of me to suggest, I suppose, that lacking a "rapid response" team to handle such programming "emergencies", it would seem to fall on the shoulders of the PD or APD of these stations to "protect the brand" and either come in and make changes as needed, or have the ability to do this via the internet from their homes. But, lacking a "staff" to do such a thing, makes something like this seem necessary.
While the ability to control stations from home over the internet is possible, many radio companies, fearing hacker attacks, rarely ever give that to a PD as an option.
I realize, too, that PD's, APD's and radio people in general often have seemingly way too much on their plates these days. So, it's naturally understandable that when the weekend comes, they want to turn off their TV's (and their brains). But, to have to "go the extra mile" that demonstrates that our business is still more than just "another super long set of your favorite music", or to have a person "on call" on weekends would seem to make a lot of sense.
Radio's decent response to Hurricane Sandy is understandable. It was a huge natural disaster that was predicted more than a week out. And any radio manager worth his/her salts realized a need to spend the money and staff their stations. But, with all respects to Holland, the death of a singer...any singer, even one of Whitney's stature in life, is not on the same plain. So here, while it falls on the GM to staff his station in a real emergency, in order to serve the public interest, convenience and necessity, it seems to me a programming "emergency" (which the death of a prominent singer might be) would require response from the programming staff.
Yeah...that stinks when it happens on a weekend. But, then again...isn't that what we "programming types" get paid the (semi) big bucks for? Your thoughts?
