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Let's say, hypothetically, that I'm moving to Birmingham

M

MikeBratton

Guest
And, hypothetically, let's say I'm someone who's closing in on twenty years in radio, with a decent background as on-air talent, production director, and PD/OM.

Let's also say that Talk, Country music, and Christian music were format preferences, but that the heart of rock 'n roll is still beating.

Where would some good opportunties for someone such as my hypothetical self be?
 
Mike,

Let's hypothetically say you have all of the talent those stats suggest. I would reccomend eith moving to another city or abandoning all hopes of working in radio.

Birmingham is an "Old Boys Club." If you're not already in the community, it is hard to break in. The stations that are forward thinking are almost entirely tracked. I have never been happier in my career than I am now that I am out of Birmingham.
 
yankeefan said:
Mike,

Let's hypothetically say you have all of the talent those stats suggest. I would reccomend eith moving to another city or abandoning all hopes of working in radio.

Birmingham is an "Old Boys Club." If you're not already in the community, it is hard to break in. The stations that are forward thinking are almost entirely tracked. I have never been happier in my career than I am now that I am out of Birmingham.
Click to expand...

These are things that are good to know, yankee. However, the tray tables have been put away and the seat backs are in an upright position--unless we seriously get waved off, we'll be in Birmingham in just a few weeks.

I'll just have to be praying some of those "Old Boys" have as high an opinion of my experience and skills as you do--hypothetically...
 
I wish you the best of luck, man, but he was speaking the truth. Opportunities simply don't exist in Birmingham. Here's the hard facts:

You have only 4 options for Employment: Cox, CC, Citadel and Crawford. (Why they all start with C I have no idea) The only live airshifts in the Cox Building are daytime shifts on WZZK and drive times on the others. They are all filled. CC is tracked to the max, and any openings that DID occur would be filled by other CC jocks in other markets tracking in. Citadel - well if your name isn't Rick, Bubba or Tony Kurre - there's no money left to pay anyone. So that leaves Crawford who has Christian,Talk and (at one point) Country which you say are the formats you are interested in. So... that may be your only shot. But be warned, in this market they are notoriously cheap, poorly managed, horribly programmed and are basically the laughing stock of an already dead/dying radio market (See Russ and Dee). Other than that - weekends or board-op positions are all that exist.

Again... good luck to you. I hope you have a plan B, though, because it's likely you'll need it. Sadly, your experience and track record will have zero value in this market.

Welcome to radio in 2006.
 
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