Is live & local radio dead?

[davideduardo]

I understand that but what I was getting to is the almost total lack of replacement. As the old guys retired, or were fired, it seems they were not replaced by anyone of equal talent. 30+ years of DJ "added value" just vanished. Coupled with the decline in pop music I am not surprised music radio is in trouble.

Why would people want a DJ talking at them when they can use their iPhone to talk or text or chat back and forth with actual friends?

Radio DJs filled a void of isolation where you had "a friend on the radio". Today, most people don't want a one way friend unless it is a star like Charlemagne or Bobby Bones or even Seacreast.

 

[vw86]

As a lonely middle school and high school kid growing up in Northeast Ohio that was an only child, the jocks on my favorite stations in Cleveland, Akron and Youngstown were an escape and often spoke to me in a way no one else did. I looked forward to hearing my favorite night jocks after school and felt like I related more and had more in common with the voices I heard on the radio than I did with the other kids in school. After a long week not particularly enjoying school, spending nights doing homework I didn't want to do and spending my free time on my own since I didn't have any siblings, making it to Saturday and Sunday and getting to spend time with Casey Kasem, Rick Dees, Bill St. James and Kid Kelly - plus all the local jocks I loved - is what got me through the years and I'll always be thankful for it.

During the years I was on air I always thought about my school days and hoped I was at least reaching one person that just needed the comfort of another voice.

Would that have been my experience in the smartphone era? Hard to know.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

The question is...what are the people who used to do traditional live and local radio doing to stay relevant in this new era? Throw up your hands and say "it is what it is" and set about cutting budgets? Or seek out new talent and new ways to deliver that content to the audience? How does that work? That's something that "radio" needs to figure out.

Still relevant even though most of the content on our flagship isnt live. Still incredibly local.

We do a bit with social media, more with our websites. I do afternoons on our AC station, will be doing middays on our country station and i also do news. My title is news director/operations assistant. Local radio is still happening, good and possible in small pockets and rather then complain, I just adapt and keep going

One thing i do in this town of 30,000 (including 10,000 college students) is regularly paruse facebook. There are several communioty discussion groups...and ive looked through those often to get an idea of what community needs or concerns are.. and it has honestly worked out pretty well.

I had a county official on air twice in 10 days to talk about a 6th penny tax election after seeing misinformation and confusion being discussed on social media (interviews are posted on the Hits 106 website)

Then with a big road construction situation happening starting tomorrow, i had an article on our news website, County 5... but i saw on facebook where they were discussing it and a resident brought up a legitimate concern. I contacted the issuing agency for the press release, they put me in touch with the construction company and I then relayed the question/concern and worked it into my web article

And with our company owning all 4 commercial stations with studios in the county, no tv station, 1 news paper, im trying to position us as the source you can depend on when wether or news goes sideways.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

As a lonely middle school and high school kid growing up in Northeast Ohio that was an only child, the jocks on my favorite stations in Cleveland, Akron and Youngstown were an escape and often spoke to me in a way no one else did. I looked forward to hearing my favorite night jocks after school and felt like I related more and had more in common with the voices I heard on the radio than I did with the other kids in school. After a long week not particularly enjoying school, spending nights doing homework I didn't want to do and spending my free time on my own since I didn't have any siblings, making it to Saturday and Sunday and getting to spend time with Casey Kasem, Rick Dees, Bill St. James and Kid Kelly - plus all the local jocks I loved - is what got me through the years and I'll always be thankful for it.

During the years I was on air I always thought about my school days and hoped I was at least reaching one person that just needed the comfort of another voice.

Would that have been my experience in the smartphone era? Hard to know.

It still kinda is for me.... people have told me when stuff goes sideways, they appreciate the calm demenaor and the facts.

On any regular given day, listeners tell me they have fun listening and I make them laugh.

And truth be told, im pretty average as a jock most days.. but i make it work

 

[Deus Ex Machiato]

Not really. There still is a business. It’s just different.

It certainly is different. I'll give you that. IIRC, there's still one lone Blockbuster video store open, so one could argue that there's "still is a business renting physical copies of movies. It's just different."

It is an imperfect analogy, to be sure. The infrastructure built up around broadcast radio is entrenched - with towers, licenses, and government agencies all still firmly in place - but the real question underlying the OP question of "is live and local radio dead" is...what are we going to do with all of that?

Are we going to continue chipping away at the business until it is a quaint reminder of what it used to be like that lone Blockbuster store, or a temporarily resurgent trend like vinyl record sales? I hope not.
Shout out to vw86's post above for encapsulating the appeal of live and local radio, and as I often do, I must strongly disagree with Mr. Eduardo's prior statement:

Today, most people don't want a one way friend unless it is a star like Charlemagne or Bobby Bones or even Seacreast.

Because they've been trained via consolidation, voice tracking, and syndicated shows to believe that the "one way friend" no longer exists. Of course that middle school kid in Ohio or Michigan or (checks sub forum) Sacramento isn't going to consider the voice-tracked jock from a "hub" at corporate HQ that reads a liner card and does a "tease/payoff" in order to squeeze an extra quarter hour to be a "friend." Why would they?

One of my formative experiences in the business was when - as a baby DJ - I met one of my favorite jocks. I offered my hand and said 'I grew up listening to you." He looked at me disdainfully, said "yeah, you and everybody else, kid" and walked away. I carried that with me, and when I finally did find some success, I went out of my way to not be that guy. I always had time for listeners, especially young fans, and when someone came up to me and said 'I grew up listening to you" I went out of my way to thank them.

Radio has become that cold, indifferent guy I met so many years ago.

 

[TheBigA]

Are we going to continue chipping away at the business until it is a quaint reminder of what it used to be like that lone Blockbuster store, or a temporarily resurgent trend like vinyl record sales? I hope not.

Everything you remember about broadcasting is going away. Including TV. Remember free TV? It's being chopped away and disbursed among Netflix, Apple, Amazon, and YouTube. Each with it's own subscription.

Radio has become that cold, indifferent guy I met so many years ago.

If you think radio is cold & indifferent, wait until you have to deal with Spotify or Apple. They make iHeart seem like a mom & pop. But that's where it's going. Quickly.

 

[Deus Ex Machiato]

Everything you remember about broadcasting is going away.

Well that's the thing. I've long since accepted that fact. As the old saying goes, I no longer have a dog in this hunt. I just find it amusing to watch people continue to insist that "There still is a business. It’s just different."

Selling phone books and pretending that "the industry is evolving!!!"

 

[TheBigA]

I just find it amusing to watch people continue to insist that "There still is a business. It’s just different."

You don't understand. By different, I mean it's not built around anything that existed before. Such as the relationship radio had with music. That went away over 30 years ago. Why did it go away? Because the companies that make the music aren't American companies making music for Americans. That's just one example. So that affects the idea of hiring radio people to talk about the music. It's a completely obsolete concept. Even artists your age recognize that.

The record labels and artists are making music for a global audience. Local radio isn't a factor. Not included in the discussion. The artists can talk directly with their fans, and bypass the "gatekeepers." A day will come when radio companies don't play music. That's what I mean by different.

 

[GrouchyGuy]

Classic rock now has more recent music. Typically no Doors or Hendrix. But there are also people your age who are looking for current music. For them, typically, they prefer AAA or Americana. People in your area might stream KPIG or something similar.

Commercial music stations are aiming at people about 20 years younger than you. That's why you can't find what you want. There may be non-com stations that have music for you.



Unfortunately, most of them have either passed away or retired.

I lived in the Monterey Bay area during the glory days of KFAT and then KYLO up here so I am well aware of that style. i cuurently listem to a station that features Americana\Bluegrass\Country music a better mix, for me, than KPIG. My point about Classic Rock remains. While they might not play music from my HS years, never really did, they do play music from the 80's and 90's meaning high school music from thirty or forty years ago. Why someone would want to listen to the same music over and over for forty years is beyond me. But I don't program radio stations and advertisers that would market to me advertise on talk radio a format which is only, for me, a repetative mush fed to those whose really don't want to be challenged.

 

[Deus Ex Machiato]

You don't understand. By different, I mean it's not built around anything that existed before. Such as the relationship radio had with music. That went away over 30 years ago. Why did it go away? Because the companies that make the music aren't American companies making music for Americans. That's just one example. So that affects the idea of hiring radio people to talk about the music. It's a completely obsolete concept. Even artists your age recognize that.

The record labels and artists are making music for a global audience. Local radio isn't a factor. Not included in the discussion. The artists can talk directly with their fans, and bypass the "gatekeepers." A day will come when radio companies don't play music. That's what I mean by different.

Artists my age? How old do you think I am? Anyway...

There's an old saying about closing the barn door after the horse has already left. That's what I mean.

It appears that we both agree that live and local radio - as we knew it - is dead, or at the very least on life support with a priest standing over it to give last rites.

Where we seem to part ways is about the future of "radio" in general. Yes, a day will come when radio companies don't play music, but will anyone be listening when that happens? More importantly, will advertisers be buying time on those stations?


In my current line of work, nestled in the back of everyone's mind is "how does this scale?" Yes, we've got a cool product that people seem to like, but how do we turn it into something huge? Something global? How do we allocate resources? How many people will we have to hire when it "blows up" in the broader world? How much office space will we need when that happens? What contingency plans do we need in case something goes sideways? Who is on the team that will handle that? We're relentlessly looking towards the future when this weird little idea we're working on becomes "the next big thing." In my previous job, I started as part of a small team of nerds in a tiny office, but within a couple of years my "team" was 200 people and I struggled to remember names.

Radio - and I know you're not a fan of the generalization - seems to be going down the path of "well revenues are shrinking and business is drying up, so how do we make things even smaller and cheaper to keep the game of musical chairs going?"

 

[TheBigA]

It appears that we both agree that live and local radio - as we knew it - is dead, or at the very least on life support with a priest standing over it to give last rites.

Did you read what I wrote in Post #2? I identified a number of live & local radio stations in Sacramento. That's what this group is about.

I know you live in Phoenix, and there are lots of live & local stations there too.

Radio - and I know you're not a fan of the generalization - seems to be going down the path of "well revenues are shrinking and business is drying up, so how do we make things even smaller and cheaper to keep the game of musical chairs going?"

That's your view. You're welcome to it. My view is people want cheaper when it comes to music. That's why they listen. They have other options but they require a subscription. How many people would PAY for live & local if they had the option? So radio gives them the music they want for free. For now. At some point the foreign companies that own the music will require broadcasters to pay, and that will end free music.

 

[TheBigA]

Why someone would want to listen to the same music over and over for forty years is beyond me.

They do it because people listen. Lots of people.

 

[Deus Ex Machiato]

Did you read what I wrote in Post #2? I identified a number of live & local radio stations in Sacramento. That's what this group is about.

I know what this "group is about," and yes, I live in Phoenix the number of "live and local" stations is pretty small. The "rimshot" stations are mostly automated or voice tracked. I spent half of my working life (over 30 years) in the radio biz. That said, it is refreshing - and a bit uncomfortable - to get outside of the "bubble" of the radio business.

And that's the thing.

I've been out for awhile, but I still want radio to keep going. I'm a fan. I love good live and local radio. Unfortunately, I don't see people inside asking "how can this scale" but rather "how can we scale back?"

 

[TheBigA]

I don't see people asking "how can this scale" but rather "how can we scale back?"

It depends on the market and the company. Also depends on employee deals.

Most companies are shifting resources from declining areas to growth areas.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

late may snow storm.... made a mess of traffic at higher elevations... windy white outs.

Updates on all 4 stations on and off since 630am. None of it live, but darn sure local

 

[landtuna]

Why would people want a DJ talking at them when they can use their iPhone to talk or text or chat back and forth with actual friends?

Radio DJs filled a void of isolation where you had "a friend on the radio". Today, most people don't want a one way friend unless it is a star like Charlemagne or Bobby Bones or even Seacreast.

I understand I am an outlier of sorts, and an old one at that, but one of the things I always found interesting when listening to music radio was the commentary the knowledgeable DJ's would make in reference to the songs and the artists. Not the babbling about who was married to who and that sort of thing but related directly to the music.

They weren't "friends" but entertainers. Although in my very young days (middle and high school) I did meet and have interaction with some of the popular DJ's in my home town; guys like Frank Kahlil, Chris Borden and Buck Herring. They reinforced an early love of radio.

I've seen Seacrest on TV but he is just a vapid game show host to me. I've never heard of the others you mention.

 

[Deus Ex Machiato]

late may snow storm.... made a mess of traffic at higher elevations... windy white outs.

Reminds me of my first interview for a real radio job back in the day. A huge snow storm had hit the area, but thanks to the '79 Jeep Cherokee I was driving I managed to make it to the station. Nobody was going to stop me!

But the storm stopped everyone else. The PD wasn't there, and the only person in the building was the sleep-deprived overnight jock who'd been holding down the fort since midnight. "Who the hell are you, and how the hell did you get here?"

 

[Deus Ex Machiato]

I've seen Seacrest on TV but he is just a vapid game show host to me.

So about 10 years after the interview I mentioned above, the morning show I was working on had Dick Clark as a guest, years before he handed the New Year's Rockin' Eve hosting duties to Seacrest. Far from being vapid (though he'd been a game show host), Dick was an incredibly gracious and accommodating guest. One of our hosts - who idolized him - asked "why are you even here doing our show?" We had no business even being in the same room with such a legend.

He explained "because a long time ago, I was just like you." When he was still new to the business, Dick Clark had written a "fan letter" of sorts to Steve Allen - the creator of The Tonight Show among other things. Rather than dismissing or ignoring him, Allen wrote back, encouraged him, and gave him a leg up in the industry.

Fifty years later he was still paying it forward, giving his time and advice to a few snot-nosed kids doing a morning show in Phoenix. I wonder if Ryan Seacrest is carrying on that part of Clark's legacy. I have doubts.

 

[K108 Sacramento]

Why would people want a DJ talking at them when they can use their iPhone to talk or text or chat back and forth with actual friends?

Radio DJs filled a void of isolation where you had "a friend on the radio". Today, most people don't want a one way friend unless it is a star like Charlemagne or Bobby Bones or even Seacreast.

Just another sign radio is obviously obsolete in today's technological world of infinite choices via our smartphones.

 

[K108 Sacramento]

They do it because people listen. Lots of people.

Very true.