Obligatory TALKERS Heavy Hundred thread

[flybynight]

Well.....like it or not......that's what the entire world calls it. It's called internet radio. It's NOT AM radio, it's NOT FM radio and nobody said it was. While it's true that it's NOT radio in the traditional sense, but neither is satellite radio, yet it's also called radio.

At least satellite radio is a lot closer to OTA radio than internet radio.

Anyone who thinks that AM radio will be half what it is today, 25 years from now is living in a fantasy world. It may still exist, but it won't even be a major player 25 years from now.

I think many would be excited at the prospect of AM at least being half what it is today, 25 years from now, as an 88-year-old Rush Limbaugh tells his listeners what's wrong with liberals. His audience by then of course will have nobody under 72.

 

[umfan]

I'm not so sure. With the FM bandwidth crowded and additional portions of spectrum hard to come by, the AM band, aided by technology could potentially improve fidelity and become a place to add content. Is this assured, of course not, but necessity is, more often than not, the mother of invention and any unerutilized portion of the broadcast spectrum increases in both value and viability as the other portions become too expensive or simply aren't available.

If there is no technological improvement, I must agree that AM will continue to decline, but even in decline, many major markets saw AM outlets at or near the top of the ratings last month. Granted, these were all news outlets, and weather drove people there for information, but they still are on AM and still topped the market. AM is not dead, not by a long shot.

 

[Small Market Guy]

Since you claim to know that people get hired to do talk shows on radio stations, care to name more than 4 first-time talk show hosts hired by any radio station in the United States so far this year? I'm not talking about experienced hosts switching stations. I'm talking about entry-level talk show hosts. How many have been hired, and what was their backgrounds?

How about myself? That was 2013 though. Did you think I didn't know what I was talking about?

And my background is as a producer at a talk station, and part time host.

Small market AMs that have live morning shows still hire hosts. It's not a majority, but they are out there.

 

[Small Market Guy]

Well.....like it or not......that's what the entire world calls it. It's called internet radio.

The entire world also says these 13 things

http://www.buzzfeed.com/lukelewis/13-linguistic-errors-that-fill-you-with-rage

and they're all wrong, too.

AM radio is in much better shape than podcasts are right now. Sure, that'll change, but it's gonna be a lot more than 25 years into the future.

I've laid the timeline out before, but I'll do so again for the benefit of those who haven't seen it.

Three things need to happen for internet broadcasting to supplant AM and FM radio:

1. There must be 100% high speed internet coverage. NO dead spots.
2. That coverage must be free.
3. Carmakers must not only make internet receivers standard in their cars, but they have to eliminate AM/FM radios.
3a. We have to wait 20 years for the cars with radios to circulate off the road.

We're looking at 50-70 years at least before radio is dead. Podcasters can tell themselves radio is dead all they want, but it's just wishful thinking. The biggest podcasters in the world have day jobs. That says everything.

 

[Avid Listener]

How about myself? That was 2013 though. Did you think I didn't know what I was talking about?

And my background is as a producer at a talk station, and part time host.

Small market AMs that have live morning shows still hire hosts. It's not a majority, but they are out there.

So, you were already working on a talk station in a behind-the-scenes capacity, and got promoted to on-air. That's one path that one person took to get their first on-air talk host job. That proves that it happened once. It doesn't prove that it's the only path out there.

As for knowing what you're talking about, I don't know your name. I don't know where you're from. I don't know your education. I don't know where you work or what you do. All I know about you is what you write that I read. So, my opinion of whether or not you know what you're talking about is based solely on what you've written. Based on what you have written, I have formed an opinion of how well you know what you're talking about.

 

[Small Market Guy]

Based on what you have written, I have formed an opinion of how well you know what you're talking about.

I'm not the one claiming podcasts and Sirius are the way to get on the air on regular terrestrial radio when not a single example of either can be found.

I went the traditional route. There are probably 500 people right now "on the beach" looking for positions in talk radio that also went the traditional route. So why would a PD hire a podcaster with no professional experience?

And I can also speak from experience about Sirius. For years I tried to get hired there. They DO NOT HIRE PEOPLE WITHOUT EXPERIENCE. Their entry level positions are filled by experience radio people and former interns. With three years experience as a producer at a heritage FM talk station, I couldn't even get a gig as a part time board op.

I can also speak from experience about the process PDs go through. I've witnessed it. Podcaster demos don't even get listened to. Any resume that says "internet radio" is immediately disregarded. There are way too many people who are actually qualified to take those jobs.

 

[TheBigA]

There are way too many people who are actually qualified to take those jobs.

It depends. Sometimes those qualified people are looking for too much money. Or they've burned bridges. Or they're not willing to work as hard.

So if someone brings an established fan base, with credibility, with source connections that the other applicants don't have, at a price that's reasonable, then it's worth looking at. And in this world today, there are people like that.

 

[Small Market Guy]

It depends. Sometimes those qualified people are looking for too much money. Or they've burned bridges. Or they're not willing to work as hard.

Then someone like me comes along who isn't as experienced, will work for a reasonable salary, and is willing to work.

So if someone brings an established fan base, with credibility, with source connections that the other applicants don't have, at a price that's reasonable, then it's worth looking at. And in this world today, there are people like that.

At my last job, we had management that liked to hire non radio people to do talk shows. I was tasked to train them to do the technical stuff and how to structure a show. They were always hired because they "had connections" or "credibility". Every single one of them failed, and I moved on to a better gig. That station will probably have to flip or go under within the next year.

There is ALWAYS someone qualified to take a radio job, and smart PDs understand that.

 

[TheBigA]

There is ALWAYS someone qualified to take a radio job, and smart PDs understand that.

You should never hire with a closed mind, and a smart PD knows that. Just because your station had bad luck doesn't spoil the entire universe.

 

[Small Market Guy]

You should never hire with a closed mind, and a smart PD knows that. Just because your station had bad luck doesn't spoil the entire universe.

Being open minded doesn't mean hiring unqualified people. Would you like your fire department or police department staffed by unqualified people? Your auto mechanic? Why should a radio station be any different?

All I see here are complaints about how radio isn't like it used to be, and how radio stations sound like crap. The last thing they need to do is start hiring people who have no idea how to do radio.

 

[TheBigA]

Being open minded doesn't mean hiring unqualified people. Would you like your fire department or police department staffed by unqualified people? Your auto mechanic? Why should a radio station be any different?

Because it's not the same thing.

Radio ISN'T like it used to be. That's not going to change by keeping out people with different experiences.

When Ron Kuby came to WABC, he was a lawyer with no real experience in radio. He was paired with Curtis Sliwa, a community activist also with no prior radio experience. Curtis & Kuby was a popular radio show on the station, that they were just reunited in January for another run. You don't like them? Let's go across the country for Bill Handle at KFI. Also a lawyer with no prior radio experience, now a very popular LA radio host. At that same station is Tim Conway Jr., whose principle qualification is the son of a comedian. Shall I continue? Listeners like real people, not announcers with put on personalities. Especially for talk radio.

 

[Avid Listener]

I'm not the one claiming podcasts and Sirius are the way to get on the air on regular terrestrial radio when not a single example of either can be found.

Neither am I. I am suggesting that it is one way out of many different paths.

 

[Small Market Guy]

Neither am I. I am suggesting that it is one way out of many different paths.

Except no one has actually gone that path.

 

[Small Market Guy]

Because it's not the same thing.

Radio ISN'T like it used to be. That's not going to change by keeping out people with different experiences.

When Ron Kuby came to WABC, he was a lawyer with no real experience in radio. He was paired with Curtis Sliwa, a community activist also with no prior radio experience. Curtis & Kuby was a popular radio show on the station, that they were just reunited in January for another run. You don't like them? Let's go across the country for Bill Handle at KFI. Also a lawyer with no prior radio experience, now a very popular LA radio host. At that same station is Tim Conway Jr., whose principle qualification is the son of a comedian. Shall I continue? Listeners like real people, not announcers with put on personalities. Especially for talk radio.

And if you go back in the thread, I mentioned that people of some renown from outside of radio are getting hired. My point is very specific. Unless you're famous, or a radio person, you're not getting a major radio show.

 

[umfan]

If radio endures, and it will, the talent will need to come from somewhere. Since the former 'farm system' is long gone, it's not a stretch to think that someone who manages to build a following via the internet might be given a shot. Yes, it hasn't happened, but when the current crop of major hosts retire, who will take their place? I don't think Mark Levin had prior broadcast experience, but he got a show, I believe the same is true for John Batchelor. I never heard of these two before they appeared on the radio.

 

[Small Market Guy]

If radio endures, and it will, the talent will need to come from somewhere. Since the former 'farm system' is long gone, it's not a stretch to think that someone who manages to build a following via the internet might be given a shot. Yes, it hasn't happened, but when the current crop of major hosts retire, who will take their place? I don't think Mark Levin had prior broadcast experience, but he got a show, I believe the same is true for John Batchelor. I never heard of these two before they appeared on the radio.

I'm sure it will happen at some point, but it hasn't yet. And won't for a while. Way too many lawyers and TV personalities to hand shows to.

As for Mark Levin, you can tell he had no experience. He sounds awful. Love the guy, but he's a terrible host.

Final point. The "farm system" is still there. The major syndicators just choose not to use it. There are probably 50 guys working in midsized markets right now ready for that shot that they'll never get because Clear Channel and the like will keep hiring famous people with no experience.

 

[Avid Listener]

If radio endures, and it will, the talent will need to come from somewhere. Since the former 'farm system' is long gone, it's not a stretch to think that someone who manages to build a following via the internet might be given a shot. Yes, it hasn't happened, but when the current crop of major hosts retire, who will take their place? I don't think Mark Levin had prior broadcast experience, but he got a show, I believe the same is true for John Batchelor. I never heard of these two before they appeared on the radio.

Take that a step further. If the industry will try out people on talk shows based on their off-air background (which is more common that most people realize), they still need give those newbies some sort of training. Internet "radio" is as good a means of providing that training as anything else. You mention 'farm system' alluding to baseball's minor leagues. Internet "radio" can serve the same role as working on-air or as working off-air in graded practice sessions. I agree that someone who can build a following and thereby demonstrated an audience appeal could possibly leverage that for consideration for a job.

I think one of the biggest problems of radio in the 21st century are the backwards thinkers who assume that just because something wasn't done in the past, it will never happen in the future. More often than not, such lack of vision turns out to be wrong.

 

[RedStateTalkRadio]

As for Mark Levin, you can tell he had no experience. He sounds awful. Love the guy, but he's a terrible host.

Does he sound like a "trained professional" radio host? Nope, but he's got a very large audience. Maybe content (i.e. what he has to say and/or what he says and talks about on the air) is more important than being a slick "professional" radio host.

 

[RedStateTalkRadio]

Internet "radio" (quotes applied as a sign of respect to those who don't consider it a valid medium) may in fact be the new "farm system". I've been doing my show for more than five years and have gotten pretty good in post production, serving as my own "producer" to make final edits, add content, etc.

As I've mentioned before, I've got quite a few former AM radio hosts that have been on the air for years and have either left AM radio of their own accord or were "let go" after years of doing a show because the station was drowning in red ink and went the route of syndicated radio feed to fill their broadcast day/night.

When they get to me, most have little or no skills, other than being the "on-air talent". They quickly find out that if they want to succeed in this arena, they need to develop new skills, especially in social media and in post production. So, if they ever return to AM radio (possible, but doubtful as it's been pointed out, those jobs are scarce) they will have MORE skills to offer an employer than they had when they left traditional radio.

Internet "radio" is a new medium......that will continue to grow. A recent Triton Digital/Edison Research Infinite Dial Report showed that online radio reaches 94 Million weekly. http://redstatetalkradio.com/redstatewp/?p=7792

This new medium requires new skills beyond having a silky smooth radio voice. The technology demands it and for many older radio professionals, they may find that they will either have to adapt or pine away for the "good ole days" of AM radio.

 

[flybynight]

Because it's not the same thing.

Radio ISN'T like it used to be. That's not going to change by keeping out people with different experiences.

When Ron Kuby came to WABC, he was a lawyer with no real experience in radio. He was paired with Curtis Sliwa, a community activist also with no prior radio experience. Curtis & Kuby was a popular radio show on the station, that they were just reunited in January for another run.

A very media savvy Curtis was paired with then-wife Lisa as an experiment by then-PD John Mainelli from 1990-94. They were very high-profile already and were VERY New Yawk. However, as their marriage began to fail, so did their on-air dynamic. Sliwa then spent some time at WNYC before resurfacing at WABC in '96. He wasn't paired with Kuby until PD Phil Boyce put them together, as an experiment, in 2000. By that time, Curtis already had roughly 10 years experience behind the mic.

Yes, non-radio people do sometimes work out, but much more often than not, they're terrible failures. I've seen it many, many times. One of their biggest problems is a lack of on-air presence behind the mic. THAT is something that only comes with experience.