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Jockless Fly 92.9: Is this what we want radio to be?

A

amfmxm

Just a jukebox. Well, an approximation of an iPod, maybe. Music, music, music. No human beings involved.

The radio industry has lost thousands of broadcasters in the past dozen years, including thousands more in the recent Clear Channel/Citadel slaughters. Radio is quickly boiling down to a very small group of people running a whole bunch of machines.

In threads below I've seen a number of poster who seem to be excited about Dayton's new humanless FM iPod on 92.9. Running this kind of "station" requires no thought & no effort, beyond an initial format research study and a call to TM Century. Very much like plugging an iPod into a transmitter, then walking away.

Is this what broadcasters want the industry to be? If not, what can be done to bring people back into the business?
 
amfmxm said:
Is this what broadcasters want the industry to be? If not, what can be done to bring people back into the business?
Click to expand...


Hey, noob: they've done well with the approach in Richmond. Plenty of other similar Jack/Bob/Dave/Doug/Simon stations out there, too.

(a) listeners don't always like blathering idiots, and (b) computers work cheaper anyway.
 
This is why radio broadcasters are in trouble. Why bother with a radio when you can load your music in an iPod and listen to it the way you want to? Plus you don't have to worry about that pesky static.
 
Why not have these JackFM stations, like Fly 92.9, be interactive with the listener by setting up playlists on the station's web site and then take the top requests and play them every hour? At least then you would draw a ton of listeners to the Fly 92.9 site.
 
Because it is much more wise to program to MOST of your listeners...and most are not, and will never be, interacting as such. They're busy leading lives.
 
pbf1 said:
amfmxm said:
Is this what broadcasters want the industry to be? If not, what can be done to bring people back into the business?
Click to expand...


Hey, noob: they've done well with the approach in Richmond. Plenty of other similar Jack/Bob/Dave/Doug/Simon stations out there, too.

(a) listeners don't always like blathering idiots, and (b) computers work cheaper anyway.
Click to expand...



They're #10 in Richmond and have been sliding for a year, after peaking at a 4.2 share. The AC (WTVR-FM) has quadrupled their share now. If your idea of doing well is getting your ass kicked, I guess they've done okay.
 
You're foolish to compare them to the heritage AC, which has been at or extremely near the top for years, with a morning show that's been a market mainstay for decades. I would never pretend for a moment that they should be able to topple that, particularly with such a signal disadvantage.

Check, (a) P25-54, and (b) the bottom line.
 
pbf1 said:
Because it is much more wise to program to MOST of your listeners...and most are not, and will never be, interacting as such. They're busy leading lives.
Click to expand...


If I were running a radio company, I would be trying new things to generate interest in radio again among the younger crowd. I'm not saying the entire station be requests but to join the 21st Century. Take a look at this. http://hothitshouston.com/pages/1820289.php? By the way, it does take some effort to program a IPOD and most of people owning one have lives also.
 
I hate to be the one to break this to you but radio is dead. These jockless stations are the wave of the future, like it or not. Corporate radio has finally succeeded in their mission: Take the soul out of radio to make a profit. Few employees=less overhead. If all you have to do is pay some monkey to F10 the Selector log and load spots then you can make a nice bit of cash even after the power bill is paid. Besides, no one really notices anything but the music except for us radio nerds. When was the last time you heard someone at the mall talk about what (jock) did on the air yesterday? It doesn't happen anymore. People just want background noise with their favorite song played every now and then. Before long jocks will truly be a thing of the past and no one will notice except those of us who remember when radio was entertaining and played the hits. The people have spoken and they want less clutter on the air. Usually this "clutter" is jock talk. Even VO has been reduced because of the precepion that talking means the music is stopping (even if talking over a ramp or fade).

My advice to you is to invest in XM or Sirius. I bought a XM receiver a couple of weeks ago and I love it. Even the CHR channels are programmed better.

Jonathan
 
Yes, I do remember when jocks were what mattered in radio. Sadly, though, that is a bygone era, replaced by computers that never need paid or days off. The days of Dr. Dave and the Z Morning Zoo are long gone I am afraid(Dr. Dave is over in Indy these days at WLDE I believe, and is one helluva nice guy).
Do I like Fly? Yes I do. It is a music-intensive station first and foremost, just like all the other Jack and Bob stations and even Jeff Wicker's current station, 98.7 Simon(Yes, Wicker is on a Jack-type station...Him and his Producer are the only jocks there)is Adult Hits. This is a fun format if you like music-intensive radio. If you don't they'll always be stations that at least have on-air personalities, like Hot ACs like Mix 107.7.
XM and Sirius are viable alternatives...HOWEVER, there is a $12.95 monthly fee that most ordinary people(i.e. not radio geek folk like us)laugh at when asked if they'd pay for radio. XM is cool...especially the 90s on 9 channel.
In closing, Fly won't always run jockless. Someone will be hired eventually, probably someone for mornings and someone for afternoons. Just remember, the days of the 24/7 live on-air personality are RIP. Gone. History. Never to return again. Sayonara. Cya Later. Kaput. :'(
 
jo-nathan said:
I hate to be the one to break this to you but radio is dead.
Jonathan
Click to expand...

Gee, people have been saying that about radio for years, yet....here it is, still around. It ain't what it used to be, but it's still here, AND, it isn't going to be "dead" any time in the forseeable future.
 
As a former GM of a college station, I always told our jocks the following.
The thing that separates radio from an IPod is this. You have to have personality. If you don't, you're just as useful as an IPod. When people have their radios on, it is because they want something to chew on besides the music. If DJs would not talk for 25 minutes, then we had might as well run the thing jockless. Personality is what will save this industry. Why do you think so many FM talkers and sports stations are coming on?
 
Let's also remember a trend in the late 70s/early 80s where stations were going automated. Remember the WKRP episode where the competing WREQ ("The Ramblin' REQ") wanted to hire Venus Flytrap? Yes, 'KRP WAS fiction, but in the real radio world this was becoming the norm at some stations. 'KRP was ALWAYS making jokes about automated stations.
Yes, I am also one that is tired of hearing that radio is dead. People that say this are one of the following:
1. Bitter ex-radio people
or
2. People that can't get hired in radio
or
3. XM and Sirius, who WISHED real radio was dead
Yes, you know who you are! ::)
I knew WLDE was in Ft. Wayne. Thanks for reminding me though... 8)
 
alans613 said:
Remember the WKRP episode where the competing WREQ ("The Ramblin' REQ") wanted to hire Venus Flytrap?
Click to expand...

Does anyone else see the humor in someone using the "villain" of that WKRP episode in a poor attempt to defend the programming direction of his favorite "bereft of life" radio jukebox?
 
Ohio radio man said:
As a former GM of a college station, I always told our jocks the following.
The thing that separates radio from an IPod is this. You have to have personality. If you don't, you're just as useful as an IPod. When people have their radios on, it is because they want something to chew on besides the music.
Click to expand...

Perhaps we wouldn't have this strong distaste for "DJ's", had we not given a generation a radio dial full of insipid FM DJ pukers reading "another 10 of your favorites from the 70's, 80's, 90's and now - all back to back and commercial free with no DJ chatter" liner cards. Read over the whooshes and whistles of the latest Jam or TM jingle talk over ramp.

Why shouldn't today's audience accept some lifeless robo "imaging voice" offering the same insipid lines that the now unemployed "DJ's" used to force feed them...with the occasional added "jet fly by doppler whoosh" effect to make the creative services guy think he's doing his creative best.
 
The last shovel of dirt on the "not quite dead yet" radio industry is not the jockless stations, but rather the stations that allow third-rate radio wannabes to host shifts. I'd name names but don't want to hurt feelings-- good guys with a love of radio (or just of their 15 minutes of "fame",) but no, read: NO talent!

C'mon, admit it- what sounds worse, Fly with no jocks or Saturday afternoons with Joe-from-the-Biggs-produce-department playing DJ on supposedly professional radio?
 
BobointheH20 said:
C'mon, admit it- what sounds worse, Fly with no jocks or Saturday afternoons with Joe-from-the-Biggs-produce-department playing DJ on supposedly professional radio?
Click to expand...

Equally bad. Different reasons.
 
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