I have no doubt that Marc's hands are tied. I, to this day, having washed my hands of CC and lost contact with Marc, Dana, and those within the CC building, hold the utmost respect for Mr. Sherman and was one of the cheerleaders, praising the move to give him more control of CC's stations. He does a d@mn fine job, especially given all of his responsibilities, both at work and managing his family at home. I blame none of the changes on Marc, personally, and even now, I miss the interactions and discussions I had with him, while I was there. He is truly one of radio's "good guys" and the nicest I've met in all my years of radio, whether here or elsewhere and whether as a listener, an employee, or family member of a radio employee.
In some regard, and it is sad to say though a common theme in radio now, Marc, in his position, is the victim of such tight corporate control, as I see it: corporate calls the shots and everyone below must follow them, regardless of how much the dynamic of the station changes or who gets screwed in the process.
I know what has happened and it is, merely, a "trend" of the times; again, I don't fault Marc for it, at all, and to this day, I don't know how he manages to do everything he does, let alone as well as he does it! He'll never convince me he's happier today than he was in the early to mid-90s, now wearing all the "hats" he must. Knowing Marc, and as nice as he is, he'd probably try to convince me, but he never, ever will! I know he couldn't possibly be as well off as he was then; that's sad.
I will say that Marc once told me that if he could do anything else, he'd revisit the days of his early radio career when he broadcast sports. Unfortunately, while I think he'd be every bit as good at that as he is as a programmer, etc., he (as well as the rest of us) knows that won't likely ever happen. Financially, he knows it'll never happen.
I know the ins and outs of how the AC ratings swing with the seasons and can see some argument in how the current situation might save the summertime lull for them. Still, I side with the group who feels that today's music is far from the "good stuff" of the 60s & 70s. That said, what do you do? Today's kids think the "good stuff" from the 60s and 70s is their "parents" music. I don't envy Marc or any programmer these days!
I hold hope that everything gets worse before it gets better and that we're nearing rock bottom in radio. I'm just hoping commercial radio doesn't die before the rebound from the bottom!
I guess, for those of us who hate the changes, all we can do is snarl about it and either listen, regardless, or burn up the CD players. Maybe I'm off-base, but I liken what is happening to radio and the changes in all of these formats to all of the reality shows on TV: 90% of TV is "reality-show" based (thanks to trends), these days (though, not much is 'real' in the shows), and soon, 90% of radio-aired music, if not more, will be today's music trends, too.
I turn off my TV; sadly, despite the fact that radio runs through my veins and has for many, many years, I know what's coming next: my 700 disc classic rock CD library, until the day when (or if) radio cycles back to my cup of tea again. Even then, I'll still respect everyone with the guts to tough the hard times for the love of the medium.
