And in all likelihood, the air talent is "live-voice-tracking" while blogging, posting on social media, or doing production. In some cases, they're live-voice-tracking two or three stations. It's not like they're in the Barcalounger, eating wings and getting a pedicure.
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More changes at TSM Buffalo?
- Thread starter DN14224
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And Bennett quickly was moved by Cecil to his new FM in Ft. Lauderdale, and replaced in Pittsburgh by Bill Tanner out of Jackson, MS, who took the station to the really dominant numbers, starting with "Tanner in the Morning".
However, Buzz did not last long in Miami (surprise!) and and Cecil figured that Tanner was the better choice. Tanner went on to dominate Miami during nearly every year from 1975 until, 45 years later, he left SBS.
Of course, I am a Tanner fan. When Cecil wanted to fix KTNQ and KLVE in LA, he called Tanner and Tanner immediately called me. We'd been friends since the early 70's when he was in MS and I was in Birmin'ham. Cecil was amazingly loyal to people who did well for him. I have my own amazing Ceese stories.
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It depends. Shredd & Ragan don't VT their show. But certainly if all you do is two breaks an hour, there's no law that requires you to watch the console at all times, ensuring the levels are good. BTST if you're a really creative and talented host, and you feel constrained by what you're doing on the air, why wouldn't you seek out ways to use your knowledge and abilities on other platforms, and perhaps earn some extra money? Plus every day can be an audition for your next job.
You really don't have a clue about what air talent does, do you? At least air talent at a station where they're allowed to be more than card readers. There are formats that are so tight that they make the old Drake stations sound expansive. Even those people have a lengthy and growing list of other duties these days. A handful of air talent make what a good sales person makes. Most aren't close to six figures, and many need three years to break six figures worth of take-home pay. More and more you get paid an hour to VT 4-5 hours worth of show, and sometimes that show is repeated on multiple stations and platforms.
That's why they call it work. If it was fun time, that's what they'd call it. Still, the line of people wanting to do it is out the door.
From what I read here, Joe Chille has built a good business, and doesn't need to punch a clock any more. Good for him. That's the goal: To have people hire you for who you are and what you do, rather than just to fill a shift. For all those people VT-ing four stations, pay attention. Keep a list of contacts, network when you can, and someday you can own your own business where you determine how hard you work and how much you make. Rather than some corporate guy you never met.
The "old Drake stations" were expansive. What Drake introduced and PDs like Jacobs and Rounds implemented was being expansive and concise at the same time.
What am I going to say, and how can I get in, punch it and get out as fast as possible so that I match the tempo of the songs?
That is real personality, and done right by most of the Drake jocks, created an entertaining but fascinating flow. There were jocks who could do it, because they were smart, agile and able to condense a concept to the fewest words possible and, at the same time, match the rhythm of a segue or a fade or an intro.
So getting paid for an hour of work for providing 20 hours of programming is fair in your world? BTW, that doesn't include the time required for show prep to make it sound "live and local" or for either travel to and from the studio or providing adequate equipment to do it from your properly-configured home studio, computer, and internet link.
In case you haven't been paying attention there's no line out the door of young talent trying to break into the business outside of sports talk. There are still a lot of very experienced guys who got RIF'd trying to make ends meet by working PT or in small-time syndication. Is it better than being a greeter at Walmart? Well, the pay is about the same and you get about the same benefits from government assistance.
People who are still employed see what's going on and put up with increasing demands for the same or less pay because they're just trying to hang on until it's time to retire. Those who have other options get out before (or because) they burn out. Sounds like that's what's going on at Town Square these days.
Bennett, although brilliant, had a reputation for being ... what is the proper word ... oh yes, "mercurial." Ahem.
Can you be specific? Where does this happen? Who is getting paid an hourly wage rather than full time salary? Joe Chille?
I speak with college students all the time. They want to work in radio. Lots of applicants for every opening in all parts of the industry. The great thing about these young applicants is they are skilled in digital media. They don't just want to baby-sit a console all day.
Now it’s official…
961thebreeze.com
Hall of Famer Joe Chille Announces Retirement
Buffalo Broadcasters Association Hall of Famer Joe Chille announced his retirement from full-time morning host duties on 96.1 The Breeze this morning.
Tall Thin One may have scooped the board on this ↑ call.
Sorry, but that dog ain’t hunting. Joe remains with the Breeze in a PT role doing their PA show.
So that's why all those colleges are selling off their radio stations and the stations that are still around are running so much syndication, automation and VT.
Many full-timers are VTing multiple stations - 5, 6 or more - sometimes while they're doing a live shift. In return they get an extra $100 or $200 per week and they get to keep their jobs. There are people working hourly getting paid a half hour for a 4-hour shift - and they're expected to come into the studio to do it for minimum wage, travel time not included. And, yes, there are people in smaller markets being paid hourly to VT multiple stations.
This is a big reason why the content on Radio sucks. Skilled professionals have been driven out. What you now get is some yokel who will work cheap so he can tell his buddies "I'm on the Radio". The content is generic and slipshod. Even Top 10 markets have some people on the air that sound like they have no experience at all...
Take a little trip east and visit Syracuse University. They have two student run stations and just made some changes to the staffing of WAER to allow for even more student involvement. Their other student station, WJPZ, has alumni in a bunch of major stations.
I asked for specifics. Which Buffalo stations? They don't have to pay anyone to come in. They can buy VT services from name talent. The talent will deliver the tracks online into the stations server, and the computer does the rest. Those VT services are making good money. But Buffalo has lots of local talent on the stations where it matters.
You just want The Lake back. Other than that, everything else sucks. We know your whole act.
NPR is excellent. Several non commercial stations around the country are very good as well. Radio still has some quality, but you likely won't find it on commercial stations. I've heard some atrocious amateur jocks in major markets...
WAER is the NPR outlet in Syracuse. Lots of syndication with some local programming. That should be expected at one of the major communications colleges in the country.
WJPZ has a lot of sports programming - and you'll notice that I originally said that sports broadcasting is the one area of radio that attracts young people these days. Beyond that, the cupboard looks pretty bare at this point. Yes, there are alumni from there who went on to bigger and better things. There are plenty of alumni from the Newhouse school in TV and fewer in radio around the country. That's to be expected from one of the largest Communications schools in the nation. That's also an anomaly unique to SU.
If you want specifics come to the market and talk to somebody. Have a Michigan while you're here. Folks from the market know who and where.
I said there are TWO student stations, and they are in addition to WAER. The two student stations are 100% student run. WAER is partly run by professionals and partly staffed by students.
WJPZ is primarily a very tightly formatted CHR station. The reason they do some sports is because there is a sports journalism major at SU, and they've turned out some fantastic sports broadcasters, from Bob Costas to Mike Tirico to Ian Eagle (and now Ian's son). But my point is it's all student. There's another all student station that does streaming radio.
I chose Syracuse because it's close to Buffalo, but I can name many other student run college stations all over the country.
There are at least two places I know in Buffalo that will gladly make you one if you ask. As for real time radio, there are several stations that have people sitting at consoles all day with no VT, if that's how you want to spend your time.
Presuming you mean the "Michigan" you mentioned in a post years ago... name 'em, cowboy.
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As to Newhouse and Syracuse, or the media program at Ithaca College, we see plenty of their grads on Buffalo television. They work hard, and they probably have the MMJ (Multi-Media Journalist) and backpack journalist tech skills that cost-cutting operations demand these days. But frankly and respectfully, they shouldn't be in a market like Buffalo on their first gig.
This is not a personal attack, rather an evaluation and assessment.
There was a time when Newhouse grads went to Elmira, Binghamton, Erie, Watertown or Plattsburgh for their first gig. Now, they travel west on I-90 to Buffalo and Rochester. They're young, and their work shows it. They don't put the time in to understand the intricacies of government, finance, law and politics, or the market composition here. And to some extent, it's understandable. They're looking for their next better-paying gig in a bigger market. Still, the obvious truth remains. They're green. Ambitious, but green.
Most noticeably, from an audio (radio board) perspective, their speech skills are often unrefined. They clip "t" (Cam Newton becomes "Cam Nu-In"); drop "g" (Minnesota Vikings becomes Minnesota Vy-keens) and the young women are notorious for upspeak and most notably, vocal fry. These are the rough edges that would have been polished had their first gig been Elmira and other smaller markets. Now, they polish their skills in Buffalo.
I'm not here to toss grenades, but I know what I see and hear, and what I see and hear is not up to the standards that were set ten years ago, let alone 20 or 30 years ago. The anchors here, for the most part, are seasoned, and in some cases, past their prime. It sometimes looks like the anchors are working with their kids or grand kids, but that's also the scenario in other, larger markets such as Cleveland, Detroit and Pittsburgh.
Yes, times change. It's not 1990... but what passes for quality and discipline in broadcasting today is not what it was even ten years ago. Here's the tell: You know things have changed when your adult nephews or nieces deride some of the young talent that appear on TV these days.
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Only last month, the TV columnist for the Buffalo News wrote a series of columns dedicated to the working conditions, pay scales and environment in the local (television) broadcast business. His stories featured a number of individuals (primarily women) who left (television) broadcast news and found better, more lucrative employment in other fields. The pictures of the broadcast business that these individuals portrayed was discouraging, enough to have any parent of a son or daughter who's now majoring in Communications question their kids' choice of professions.
The TV columnist is a Newhouse grad who retired from The News, but was brought back on a contract per-column basis. Ironically, he brought to light the underbelly of the TV-radio business while at the same time, the new owners of The Buffalo News are demanding staff and pay cuts at the newspaper that employs him. He's part of the new owner's solution... hire retirees on a contract basis.
Hypocrisy knows no bounds, but regarding the columns he wrote, the truth remains.
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Now then... where is it you say we can get one of those famous Buffalo "Michigan" samiches?
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