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Is radio The pits?

N

NamJock

The following is a headline story from 10/23 "Inside Radio."

Radio a "worst job for the 21st Century"
The U.S. Labor Department says radio will be among the slowest-growing industries in the coming decade. Government economists say consolidation and technology breakthroughs will lead to 5% fewer radio announcers by 2015. Among the "negatives" for radio work - shift work and low pay, with the median salary for a radio employee about $11 an hour.

Comments, thoughts, rants?
-Namjock
 
Is was propbably one of the worst jobs for the 20th century too. More on-air slots, but the number of folks making a decent middle class living in radio were quite small.
 
Here's a sad story from a good friend of mine who does morning drive at an FM station that is part of a media conglomerate's AM/FM cluster in the Midwest (the conglomerate is HQ'ed in Texas, BTW).

The station, which is little more than a bank of servers, a PC terminal and an STL, has 6 weekend hosts. The shows are all voice-tracked. The talents come in a Wednesday and Thursday, record their program elements and go home. The company gives them two hours each to record their voice elements. They are paid 8.00 an hour. So each of the 6 weekend d.j.'s take home about 12.00 a week. Naturally, they all have other jobs. One works as an auto mechanic.

But with a situation like that, is it any wonder why the U.S. Labor Dept. gave radio broadcasting such a low rating? And is it any wonder why so many in the industry blame companies like Clear Channel for practically destroying radio broadcasting as a profession?

db
 
Clear Channel in Nj just fired a PD because he is on medical leave.
This guy has cancer and is slated to have a major operation soon.
What kind of people are these?They need to make tons of money AND mess with peoples lives?
 
Did anyone force them to take the VT gigs? So they're on the radio all weekend and still can have a lifeon the weekend, rather than sitting for six hours or more reading the paper between brief talk segments.
 
deff junction said:
Clear Channel in Nj just fired a PD because he is on medical leave.
This guy has cancer and is slated to have a major operation soon.
What kind of people are these?They need to make tons of money AND mess with peoples lives?
Click to expand...

You can also add a lot of age discrimination into the mix, with guys who had worked at a station for 25+ years being let go because "they were too old" (not up to the task and vigors of radio), or "they earned too much". Pretty sad.
 
I certainly can sympathize with the situation. Can you honestlytell me that never happened before 1996, or doesn't happen in any other industry today?
 
I think I can, Gr8. I come from a family of broadcasters, and perhaps it's our family roots and having a vested interest in a community, but I can't really tell you of an instance in the "old days" when some of this stuff was so blatant.

In contrast, I recall in the late 1970s when our sports guy had a heart attack. He used up all his sick days. The station comped him a few weeks, the other employees donated some of their days, and collectively the jocks and management made it known to listeners what had happened and how serious his financial situation was.

End result, people would come by the station and drop some bucks in the 5-gallon water jug to help with his bills. And most of us would call daily to check on him, and occasionally I would call him while on the air and talk to him

Can you honestly tell me that something like that happens today?
 
gr8oldies said:
Did anyone force them to take the VT gigs? So they're on the radio all weekend and still can have a lifeon the weekend, rather than sitting for six hours or more reading the paper between brief talk segments.
Click to expand...

And then there are those who think nothing is wrong with this picture.

Voice-tracking for weekends is fine, using a weasel dodge for getting air talent on the cheap is not. What's next? A sign saying, "Will d.j. for food?" Why not give these people McDonalds coupons for their voice work? Same money. And if the local McDonalds is an advertiser, I'm sure a deal can be cut to get those coupons even cheaper.

It's arrangements like this that de-value the work radio professionals perform and, in consequence, depress the industry.

db
 
NamJock said:
The following is a headline story from 10/23 "Inside Radio."

Radio a "worst job for the 21st Century"
The U.S. Labor Department says radio will be among the slowest-growing industries in the coming decade. Government economists say consolidation and technology breakthroughs will lead to 5% fewer radio announcers by 2015. Among the "negatives" for radio work - shift work and low pay, with the median salary for a radio employee about $11 an hour.

Comments, thoughts, rants?
-Namjock
Click to expand...

Although I won't disagree with the DOL's guess that the radio industry will be slow to grow in the coming decade--indeed, overall revenues may go backward ("negative growth")--I'd gently argue that the picture for announcers/jocks/air-talents is beginning to look brighter... for the first time in at least 15 years.

From every direction we (radio execs) are being encouraged/threatened to wrench our programming away from network, syndication & automation and to Make It More Local!!! Local, local, local. Personalize it. Create something unique--something XM, Sirius, Premiere, EIB, Air America, Delilah, Bob & Tom and Waitt Networks can't do. Talk about tonight's big high school game. Talk about the wreck up on I-80. Talk about the snowstorm coming over the ridge in about 10 minutes.

People who can read, write & talk--and sound good doing it on the radio--will have more jobs in the next ten years than in the past ten years. And, because so many have left the field & don't trust our industry enough to quit what they're now doing--the supply may be low while the demand increases... so their salaries will rise.

The pendulum isswinging back in the other direction.
 
They're won't be growth in "four and hit the door" situations, or "we have to have a warm body for midnight to six on Sundays'. But for genuine talent, they're could be real opportunities/
 
i really havn't listen to radio since 2001 that much anymore, its now internet radio or cd's and occasional 1-3 radio stations on and off. being 45, i just don't enjoy the music that much on the radio.
 
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