J
John-Summers
Guest
jayedwards said:
Those stations that we remember so fondly, as good as they were for their time, were we to listen to them absent the haze of nostalgia, would sound talky and cluttered. Todd Storz “ruined” radio because he instituted a Top 40 format in which the jocks couldn’t pick their own music. Bill Drake was a pariah for his clutter-free “Much More Music” approach. Both times, personalities who had the ability to adapt were still able to thrive. The one thing that you’ll find in common among people who began their careers in the 60s and 70s and who are still doing radio full-time or part-time is versatility. Radio isn’t the way it was, but neither is anything else. Adapt or become irrelevant. At WQSR in Baltimore I worked with a gentleman named Johnny Dark. Johnny had been doing radio since the late 50s and was 75 years old. He sounded great, as contemporary as anyone. He kept up. He adapted. Not everyone can do that. And the business is youth-oriented. Sooner or later people want benefits and security.
One thing that dismays me is the lack of a radio farm system. There are no all night shows, no weekend shifts, no small market stations in which aspiring broadcasters can get that first break. Even stations like the ones mentioned by another poster, which judging by their web sites appear to have strong daytime lineups, do not have “live” personalities after 7pm. That equals one or two less jobs where new kids can break in. It’s cheaper to run automation or satellite, and the talent pool has suffered for it. Many young people don’t consider radio to be a worthwhile profession. It’s never been easy to break into radio. Those who really want to will find a way, but today it’s almost impossible.
I’m over 50 but I enjoy contemporary music, films and “culture,” such as it is. Radio stations of the past were better in some ways, other ways not. Some of us were lucky enough to be around during the brief time that programming drove sales, not the other way around as it is today. Those days are gone, but for every good station we remember there were a bunch of bad ones. As Billy Joel once said, “Say goodbye to the Oldies but Goodies, ‘cause the good ole days weren't always good and tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems.”
