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Jeff Roper

Lhsh said:
I am not in radio and more than likely will never be, but I know what sounds good and what doesn't. I have heard major market stations and frankly many of them suck. I would rather have a really good local station and you are right, ratings are ratings whether they are in Columbia, SC or in Dallas, TX.
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Lol! Wow, Lhsh, way to kill a thread! HAHAHA! J/K. No one is posting today for some reason. The Sound of Silence.
 
LOL! I'm not in radio, but I know what sucks. What a great quote. It puts into perspective what a lot of us spend time trying to improve. I'd love to know what Lhsh's trade is. I'm sure it runs like a sewing machine. I hope Lhsh doesn't work for my cable company. ;)
 
He does make a good point, indirectly. The old saw that "real people" don't know/can't tell about a lot of the programming minutae is absolute crap. If you are a radio professional, "real people" do know who Clear Channel, Citadel, Entercom, etc. are and can tell when cost cutting has taken place. I've spoken with listeners and they know what voice tracking is and which station clusters do it. And that is coming from folks that actually listen to the radio -- and a lot of people have just given up! And LHSH makes another good point: The "good radio" that matters is what "real people" think is good. There are far more "real people" out there than us radio folks.
 
I am a retired blind vender that listens to the radio a lot. I can tell you who is tracking and who is not just by listening to them. I can also tell you who is putting good effort into their programming in this town and whose programming is bad too. I don't think you have to be a professional in the radio business to know that radio now is not what it used to be. I grew up listening to AM Radio back in the 60's and 70's here in Columbia, and let me tell you, those were some really interesting days. From Gene McKay to Woody Windham, how could you go wrong and we do not have many personalities like that now.
 
WOW Lhsh you have me beat by a few years... For me it was growing up listening to radio in the late 70's and eighties... Even back in the day small town radio had it share of big name personalities or atleast they were big to me... Back then radio had sizzle and knew how to connect with their listeners something that a lot of the big box companies who run stations today could learn from! Back then you could call a request line and the DJ would answer the phone!!! Try that at a lot of stations nowadays! When you hear one station in one market chances are it is gonna sound just like another station in another market... The jocks that made radio great laid the foundation for what could have still been great radio only to be ruined by greed, and a careless attitude about the very people who helped build radio into what it could have been. On a quick note Lhsh I did not realize you were sight impaired! Where did you have your vending business at? I am very sure you and me know a lot of the same people... I have been an active member of the NFB for about 25 years and have a lot of friends that I know from either going to school with (Before Mainstreaming) or who are also active in the NFB... Talk about a small world... CC1
 
So the question is, who's doing good radio NOW?

Very few, but then again does the majority of the public know or care what is good radio. I don't think so.
 
Z-100 said:
So the question is, who's doing good radio NOW?

Very few, but then again does the majority of the public know or care what is good radio. I don't think so.
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the public? how about owners and managers. but I digress...and, eh, and well, maybe the what is 'good radio' thing has changed.
 
Good is always subjective and I think it varies from format to format and town to town. I think my definition would be: programming that inspires listeners to care about the radio station and motivates increased listening through service to the community and helps act as a catalyst for change in the community.

If you can't change the dial without a fear of missing something or feeling like you'd be left out of the lop, then you have "good" radio programming. If the audience is there just because there is nothing better on, then that's not so good programming. I think the latter is what folks have gotten used to in the last few years. When's the last time you heard someone say "I LOVE LOVE LOVE WZZZ?" Remember when it used to happen all the time? Isn't that what inspired most of us to do what we do and still be fans of radio? I don't think jingles and formatics, which is what us radio types focus on, would be within the typical listeners definition of good.
 
Very well stated and unfortunately, the later is more true than the former and that is what is so sad because radio used to be fun, but now it is so cookie cutter in so man y markets that it is boring and repetitive and that even includes the Columbia market.
 
DudeFan said:
Good is always subjective and I think it varies from format to format and town to town. I think my definition would be: programming that inspires listeners to care about the radio station and motivates increased listening through service to the community and helps act as a catalyst for change in the community.

If you can't change the dial without a fear of missing something or feeling like you'd be left out of the lop, then you have "good" radio programming. If the audience is there just because there is nothing better on, then that's not so good programming. I think the latter is what folks have gotten used to in the last few years. When's the last time you heard someone say "I LOVE LOVE LOVE WZZZ?" Remember when it used to happen all the time? Isn't that what inspired most of us to do what we do and still be fans of radio? I don't think jingles and formatics, which is what us radio types focus on, would be within the typical listeners definition of good.
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First of all, as excellent a definition of "good" wherein it pertains to broadcasting as I've ever heard, Steve. Second of all, I think you reinforce what Lhsh hinted at in his first post, that the "listener" is a lot more savvy than we, as broadcasters, realize.
 
Being so into the minutiae and technical and theoretical aspects of radio programming, I think we forget that the listener is the ultimate judge of good and bad. Rightly or wrongly, it's how they vote with their ears and feet that ultimately matters.

For example, WLNG Long Island, New York is to me, as a programmer, a musical disaster and a train wreck. But for that community, they are the best station around.
 
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