I NEED ADVICE...WHAT EXACTLY IS A PROGRAM DIRECTOR ?

[LAallnews]

Cut your losses. GM and owner want a poodle not a program director. It's only radio. Life is too short.

 

[JonOlsen]

News Radio PD, what is your current status? Have you made some progress in your quest? Have you had your heart checked? Have you decided to get back in front of the mic? Have you called your Moms lately?

 

[JustPastBuffalo]

I have no sage advice. I worked ten years in news-talk, five of them as PD/OM. I could write a book here. I won't. Here are a few thoughts.

Your situation sounds poisonous. Sorry. Unless you are a skilled diplomat, you're not going to make much headway with your owners. They're old and successful, you're young(er) and an employee. There's a psychology working against you.

Evaluate your options. Time to take out the yellow legal pad, line down the middle. Two columns, Positives - Negatives. There's not a guy in this business who hasn't done this and it can be excrutiating, but it's not cancer. Not trying to a smart ass about that. Be realistic. Have a sense of perspective.

If you are as good a talk show host-morning guy as you say you are, look for a talk-show job. Hope you have a good demo of your air work (aircheck.) You're a PD now, so you have an advantage in this regard because you should know how to impress a PD when you're applying for a job.

If you think you're a good news-talk PD, look for a PD gig in a larger market, even a good medium or small market. Have a scoped demo of your station. Make your station demo sound good, even though some of your hosts may not be as good as you'd like.

Allow yourself a year for your job hunt. Do not become jaded in your present position, doing so will only adversely affect your life. Stay positive. It's never as bad as it looks when you're in the middle of the sh*t storm.

BTW, I'm out of talk radio these days, but there are times when I'd like to be back in the news-talk game... that emotion usually fades after about an hour and I come to my senses.

I've already written too much. Good luck. Be well. It will all work out in the end, and if it doesn't, it's not the end.

 

[radioboy]

Newsradiopd,

I just found this thread..

Unfortunately, I once found myself in a similar situation, except it was a Christian-formatted station.

It sounds like the owner and GM are not allowing you to be a program director. A PD should have
some real control over the on-air product.

For your station, you're right, Dr. Laura should go. Because..your demo is male, as you stated in your post.
There's your worst trainwreck. There are some other problems with the line-up, but given that they want you to get better ratings (and therefore revenue) without giving you the authority to carry that out, it's a non win situation.

The station I worked at was also very small. I was on the air from 6:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. Monday through Friday..while also selling time over the phone, doing the billing/collections, etc...right down to cleaning the bathroom. Everything was about money. It didn't matter of an infomercial at 5:00 in the afternoon drove the audience away..

When I first started doing the PD/operations manager job, I mamaged to clear away a two=hour morning show, an hour-long midday magazine/music show and afternoon drive. Listenership improved and so did the
income. For the first time in several years, the station was making headway.

One day the absentee owner flew into town. He congratulated everyone for doing such a great job on the turnaround, and said the station had its highest billing month ever.

Then he said.."But my wife wouldn't like the Southern Gospel music. Take it all off and put some talk in its place. Or infomercials."

"Yes, sir." This was on a Thursday. "The new lineup will be in place Monday."

By Friday afternoon, every local slot was slated to be replaced with a network feed. A preaching program at 5:00 p.m. Infomercials whenever there was a vacant 30-minute slot. Whatever he wanted.

When I gave him the new line-up I also gave notice that I was retiring within 30 days. And I did.

The station lasted for one year after that before going silent.

Here's my point,

If you can show them a line-up that improves your audience and ratings, do that to the best of your ability.
If they throw up excuses, like my former employer did, it's time to get out..because you can't win.

I can really relate to what you're feeling.

Best wishes to you!

 

[Bob_Hudson]

Sounds like they gave him a title in lieu of a raise. But he's not alone: so many so-called "program directors" even in major markets no longer have much if any say-so in programming decisions; that's all dictated by regional VP's and corporate HQ: the PD's main job is to fire people when needed, schedule the weekend and vacation fill-in talent, take heat from the sales department when a commercial runs at the wrong time, and making sure the promotions department keeps the prize closet locked.

It does no good to argue for change with owners who are content with the status quo: radio is not about ratings, it's about making money they apparently are making enough money to keep them happy, and the programming suits them and their buddies.

 

[ajhenderson]

I agree with the posters, but disagree with Alan on Dr. Laura. She has really gained back some of her old momentum. She's not the social force or #2 talker she once was, but is doing very well for a lot of stations. What's more, she brings in NTR, which is why I would be inclined (not knowing the specifics) to keep her on the station. While I think she has more male listeners than you imply, why not build the cume and reach W35-54 who may not tune in otherwise? Bring in new sponsors who never would have considered the station before, doing a Dr. Laura buy plus some ROS. It's a money maker and probably helps the listenership with, IMHO, little possible loss.

 

[MrOtis]

Dump the sports talk show.

About 10% of the news/talk listening audience is also hard-core sports talk listeners. My afternoon show clobbered our competitor for adult men by a 3-1 margin and I don't think it's a coincidence that they went to sports talk in the afternoon before the last book. And they, too, are the flagship station for major college football (top 5 this week!) and basketball, and last year's World Series champs. Forget the "guys love sports" theory -- some guys love sports. If you have a news/talk competitor in your market, focus on either news talk or sports talk. Trying to do both means you wind up pleasing nobody.

Glenn Beck rocks (17+ share of adult men for us). Look into Dennis Miller to replace Dr. Laura and/or the sports show.

Sadly, I agree with the general consensus that it sounds as though you won't get the approval to make the moves you need to make. Keep trying, especially since your performance is tied to rating.

Also, point out to your managers that radio ad revenue keeps dropping while Internet ad revenue is experiencing double-digit growth (about 27% this year over last) and will surpass radio ad revenue within the next decade. If they still won't authorize a website, you really should start looking for your next job.