LARadio.com: Don Burns Out at KTWV

[LKellerIII]

In response to Michael's post above: You'd think that in a world with so many convenient ways to listen to non-commercial music (Music Choice, XM Sirius, internet radio), not to mention new and cheap ways to listen only to the music you choose (primarily i pods, other MP3s, and smart phones), it would behoove radio to differentiate from those other media by giving us back some personality radio. But I guess the door is closed on that, and I'm just a dinosaur.

After weeks of listening to only my i-pod, and nothing on radio except NPR, I was missing the old FM and decided to tune in on a recent commute. What did I hear? 96.5, K-O-I-T, Light Rock, LESS talk. Arbitron rated number one for people who work. Another thirty minute music set coming right up on 'Koit,' 96.5, K-O-I-T." And that was the live (DJ) part. It was followed by a sweeper that plugged the station for another 30 seconds, then about 5 minutes of commercials. With a couple of exceptions, the other stations are the same, or worse.

 

[michael hagerty]

In response to Michael's post above: You'd think that in a world with so many convenient ways to listen to non-commercial music (Music Choice, XM Sirius, internet radio), not to mention new and cheap ways to listen only to the music you choose (primarily i pods, other MP3s, and smart phones), it would behoove radio to differentiate from those other media by giving us back some personality radio. But I guess the door is closed on that, and I'm just a dinosaur.

After weeks of listening to only my i-pod, and nothing on radio except NPR, I was missing the old FM and decided to tune in on a recent commute. What did I hear? 96.5, K-O-I-T, Light Rock, LESS talk. Arbitron rated number one for people who work. Another thirty minute music set coming right up on 'Koit,' 96.5, K-O-I-T." And that was the live (DJ) part. It was followed by a sweeper that plugged the station for another 30 seconds, then about 5 minutes of commercials. With a couple of exceptions, the other stations are the same, or worse.

Llew:

You're not a dinosaur. The only way radio can survive is for it to provide what the new technology can't and that's immediacy and locally relevant content.

But...for the people running the radio stations....even if they realize it, it's kind of like making the decision to amputate a limb before the infection spreads. Easy on paper...but you're at least tempted to hang onto that limb and hope it all goes away.

They know that the first station that does it will go against audience expectations and take a path not rewarded by PPM methodology. And they know that direct competitors will simply play the expectation/methodology game harder...hoping to score in the short term and drive the maverick out of the game entirely.

And that game is stacked against such a move on the business side, too. Ad sales are driven by a slavish devotion to ratings within key demographics. And most stations in large and major markets are owned by publicly-traded companies...so any negative effect on billing affects the stock price. Even if the VP of broadcasting of a chain would back a GM making a long-range move, that exec would have stockholders demanding his or her head if it doesn't turn around by the next shareholders' meeting.

This is all way above the risk tolerance for most corporate broadcasters, who probably would see an upside in letting the house catch fire first....and then being able to tell the board of directors they're the ones who put it out.

 

[JustPastBuffalo]

Used to be LA (major market) radio would knock you out. Same for NY, Chicago, Boston and Philly. If you were a radio disciple you listened to the airchecks, studied the routines, bits and acts as practiced by major market personalities. If you were in the game and a student, you might gain some valuable knowledge about the art of broadcasting. If you were a programmer, you studied the clocks and the programming techniques. A production person would break down the commercials and promos. Engineers always checked the RF signal, the audio processing and compression, high-lows and mids. It's probably my (age) background and experience, but LA radio may just as well be Salt Lake City, Cleveland or Buffalo. Not that it's bad. It certainly isn't. The individual magic has long faded. Because of what it's become, music radio rarely beats my guy-pod. And for entertainment, news and a panoramic view of life, like many with a college education and full life experience, I turn to local NPR affiliates on AM or FM.

 

[calguy]

You are correct JImPastrick. Major markets were where you heard radio at the top of it's game. Many factors have brought us where we are today. The 1996 Communication Act allowed ownership of an almost unlimited number of stations by one company. These companies bought up other companies and stations at a rapid rate and overpaid for them at that. This meant huge amounts of debt to be absorbed. But they weren't able to pay that dept down. So what do these companies do? They use technology and research to help them slash jobs.

Voice Tracking eliminated thousands of on-air positions since 2001. But that was just the start. In the last few years Program Directors started to go the way of the deejay, and they too were asked to take on multiple assignments with PD's running 2, 4, 6 or 8 stations in different parts of the nation. They relied more on research and to make it all work started to take the "less talk" mantra to higher heights. Now they research and track everything. With PPM we now know when people tune in and out to the second, so that research is being used to skeletonize staffs and adjust format clocks. At some stations the average air talent is only on air for perhaps five instances per hour. A good thing too since many are now asked to work 5 or 6 hour shifts on top of production or other tasks and are working weekends too. Oh and since the staffs are smaller even in large and major markets the quality levels have dropped because there just aren't enough bodies, something major markets always had over small and medium markets.

Technology also now allows for the same image voices in every markets. So now a station in Boise sounds almost the same as a station in San Francisco, and since they're all getting their marching orders from the same place there is even more sameness. Plus, without any licensing by the FCC you now have people starting their careers in large and major markets instead of honing their skills in a small town. They get little or no direction either because the PD running multiple stations has no time to help them, or worse yet, has no clue because he or she may never have done an airshift themselves. I've seen people who have no idea how to keep a program log, and lets not even touch upon how they run EAS tests and keep tech logs in proper shape.

I could go on, but why, we all know what is wrong and are powerless to do anything about it.

 

[theradioexpert]

Radio is in such a decline, it's almost better to forget it even exists anymore. Even 10 years ago, it had a community interaction and a live feel. Stations took care of listeners, now it's evolved into greedy companies (Clear Channel on top) finding ways to protect their pocketbooks, appease the shareholders, and throw thousands of talented people out to the street.

 

[ballvl]

Don Burns' picture and write-up are still on the website, with him hosting afternoons.  They changed the website to reflect Kim Amidon replacing Brian McKnight in mornings, so they could easily have removed Burns' name and photo if he was also out.

He does have a great voice and he's trying to sound more upbeat, talking over the intros of songs, etc.  Is it possible to have too good a voice?  Is Burns' a Walter Cronkite in a new world of Glenn Beck and Nancy Grace?

Gregg

The laradio.com piece says Burns leaves at the end of the month.

And yes, a great radio voice is now a liability with some listeners and program directors. My kids (ages 18 and 16)heard an aircheck of Lohman and Barkley that I was listening to and said "nobody has voices like those". PDs are increasingly looking for "everyday" voices.

It could be this started with commercial voice overs, where the trend for many years is to either use actors (who can 'act' "everyday"), or just anonymous every day sounding people.  Although I have noticed that the most used women VO people tend to have deep voices.

With a few exceptions, most of the DJs in the Bay Area all work hard to sound conversational.  The jocks on the Hip Hop and Top 40 stations sound like they've just come in off the street.  In other words, they sound like their listeners.  I can't remember anybody in the 60s sounding like the Real Don Steele or even Sam Riddle.  Even the 'mellow' jocks in those days (Johnny Hayes, Humble Harve) had an act that they stuck to, and sounded like announcers.

anyway, if the pd didn't say anything, i would have never noticed that Don was voicetracking. if the objective is to get listeners, and that's the bottom line, then what difference does it make, that he voice tracked. i was getting ready to listen to him, and if the wave just shut up, i wouldn't have noticed. obviously, the pd doesn't want don back, and is trying to save face. too bad he ain't saving the station. Burns was the only reason i listened to that station, as rarely as i listened to it, to begin with. now, that station is dead. media is making a lot of mistakes these days. they really seem to be threatened by talent, and hate being upstaged by special individuals. even at the expense of their bottom line. and that's saying something that sounds way less than promising.

 

[davideduardo]

... the pd doesn't want don back, and is trying to save face. too bad he ain't saving the station. Burns was the only reason i listened to that station, as rarely as i listened to it, to begin with. now, that station is dead. media is making a lot of mstakes these days. they really seemed to be threatened by talent, and hate being upstaged by special individuals. even at the expense of their bottom line. and that's saying something that sounds way less than promising.

The Wave was having very severe problems in the PPM with adults 25-54, the prime sales demo. The station was down, and a significant portion of the listenership was over 55, which is simply not a marketable radio demo.

The station is now up a bit in 25-54, so the objectives of a fine, talent-friendly PD with a long history of success in LA, are being met.

This whole story is mostly about adapting a station to current listener tastes. They seem to be doing that.