Many times I’ve expressed gratitude to have a forum such as Radio-Info where exchange of ideas can take place. There are some interesting stats when you open the discussion board tab. As of this writing and counting, there are 38,560 members, 1,213,024 posts and 126,817 topics. Hello, that’s a helluva lot of discussion. Obviously, one would expect a disclaimer and R.I. is no exception and a portion of the disclaimer says “In fact many of the views expressed here are just plain wrong.”
The use of the word “many” is ambiguous enough to not be inaccurate as opposed to the word “majority” if that was used instead. While I don’t want to go into a discussion of definitions, do you ever wonder just how many opinions have been right on the money? Sometimes I think beyond the posts and wonder if any of the ideas become reality somehow, somewhere or if all our passion and effort make a difference.
Recently, in my local board I talked a little bit about passion and how I feel a lot of mine for radio is just slipping through my hands because so many who are the leaders in the business of radio appear to lack it.
This particular subject board I have to admit is my personal favorite to read. The diversity of ideas and concepts and even the pure energy in the writing I believe are healthy things. I will admit that while I try to keep an open mind about things, I often find the “brilliant” posts/posters to be the ones who in effect agree with me or that I agree with where they are coming from. But even putting that aside, I believe two major fundamental problems with radio is that a relatively few make major decisions in it and the decisions made are not listener centric.
Some of this can all come down to which side is more correct than wrong. We see radio today and it’s virtually the same no matter where you travel. Duplication of formats that are among the Top 3 in billing potential and basic sameness in uninspired playlists. It becomes obvious to me that creativity is not a metric goal. I often wonder if local management actually listens to their cluster and if they are proud of what they deliver to the public? That’s a rhetorical question. Revenue generation is a critical part of the radio business model but it shouldn’t be the only consideration or what winds up leading to decisions that may not be in the best interest of radio. This has probably been the source of the most comments on our board. And with all of that, nothing changes does it?
There is one more element to my overall frustration about the state of radio that despite all the postings and all the pleas to change course is on the subject of music itself. I often refer to the “Power of Great Music” in some of my local posts. Considering the genius in singing and writing, the magic and the poetic lyric imagery of so much music, commercial radio only offers selections that have been approved by the very few. It’s their interpretation of what is commercially viable. But again, can we really say that their decisions have indeed been the correct ones? Sadly, many will argue that’s it’s not radio’s place to keep genius alive.
I’m not even sure what I’m really trying to say as being frustrated can cloud a lot of things. But in my recent local post when I got into a format I envisioned for my market, I brought up the subject of Richard Harris’ “MacArthur Park.”
I remember reading an account of how that song was added to the WABC playlist back in 1968. The Cliffs Notes version is that many people working in the surrounding area heard the song being played in the music meeting and were just drawn to it, wanting to hear it again and again. The PD went with his gut, took a chance and decided to play the song. Obviously it was nothing like anything else being played at the time and it’s 7 plus minute length would represent a huge challenge to AM radio as in the time it took them to play that song, they could have played 3 others. But we all know what happened. “MacArthur Park” became an add all over the country and it turned out to be one of the biggest hits for the year. Today, that would not have happened. Who knows how many “MacArthur Parks” have slipped through the cracks never to be heard or enjoyed? Music creativity means very little if it doesn’t fit into some perceived model of what people will like. But again, do the few really know? I don’t trust or buy what they say research says. Stats can be manipulated in any way shape or form to fit whatever it is you want to do or not do.
My friends, we do need to think about how much we really loose when the few make decisions that affect millions. No one is perfect and so if the few err, the business of radio truly does suffer. I believe the diversity of opinions and a marketplace of ideas are radio’s best answer.
We often interchange the word “listen” when we talk radio. True, not all the opinions expressed in R.I. are the correct ones but there are lots of them. In that mix, there are no doubt ideas worthy of consideration. Considering what many of us perceive and agree that issues exist, one would think somewhere someone will attempt a different course. But that would involve listening to your audience and apparently that’s not one of those measured metrics so the posts just keep coming.
The use of the word “many” is ambiguous enough to not be inaccurate as opposed to the word “majority” if that was used instead. While I don’t want to go into a discussion of definitions, do you ever wonder just how many opinions have been right on the money? Sometimes I think beyond the posts and wonder if any of the ideas become reality somehow, somewhere or if all our passion and effort make a difference.
Recently, in my local board I talked a little bit about passion and how I feel a lot of mine for radio is just slipping through my hands because so many who are the leaders in the business of radio appear to lack it.
This particular subject board I have to admit is my personal favorite to read. The diversity of ideas and concepts and even the pure energy in the writing I believe are healthy things. I will admit that while I try to keep an open mind about things, I often find the “brilliant” posts/posters to be the ones who in effect agree with me or that I agree with where they are coming from. But even putting that aside, I believe two major fundamental problems with radio is that a relatively few make major decisions in it and the decisions made are not listener centric.
Some of this can all come down to which side is more correct than wrong. We see radio today and it’s virtually the same no matter where you travel. Duplication of formats that are among the Top 3 in billing potential and basic sameness in uninspired playlists. It becomes obvious to me that creativity is not a metric goal. I often wonder if local management actually listens to their cluster and if they are proud of what they deliver to the public? That’s a rhetorical question. Revenue generation is a critical part of the radio business model but it shouldn’t be the only consideration or what winds up leading to decisions that may not be in the best interest of radio. This has probably been the source of the most comments on our board. And with all of that, nothing changes does it?
There is one more element to my overall frustration about the state of radio that despite all the postings and all the pleas to change course is on the subject of music itself. I often refer to the “Power of Great Music” in some of my local posts. Considering the genius in singing and writing, the magic and the poetic lyric imagery of so much music, commercial radio only offers selections that have been approved by the very few. It’s their interpretation of what is commercially viable. But again, can we really say that their decisions have indeed been the correct ones? Sadly, many will argue that’s it’s not radio’s place to keep genius alive.
I’m not even sure what I’m really trying to say as being frustrated can cloud a lot of things. But in my recent local post when I got into a format I envisioned for my market, I brought up the subject of Richard Harris’ “MacArthur Park.”
I remember reading an account of how that song was added to the WABC playlist back in 1968. The Cliffs Notes version is that many people working in the surrounding area heard the song being played in the music meeting and were just drawn to it, wanting to hear it again and again. The PD went with his gut, took a chance and decided to play the song. Obviously it was nothing like anything else being played at the time and it’s 7 plus minute length would represent a huge challenge to AM radio as in the time it took them to play that song, they could have played 3 others. But we all know what happened. “MacArthur Park” became an add all over the country and it turned out to be one of the biggest hits for the year. Today, that would not have happened. Who knows how many “MacArthur Parks” have slipped through the cracks never to be heard or enjoyed? Music creativity means very little if it doesn’t fit into some perceived model of what people will like. But again, do the few really know? I don’t trust or buy what they say research says. Stats can be manipulated in any way shape or form to fit whatever it is you want to do or not do.
My friends, we do need to think about how much we really loose when the few make decisions that affect millions. No one is perfect and so if the few err, the business of radio truly does suffer. I believe the diversity of opinions and a marketplace of ideas are radio’s best answer.
We often interchange the word “listen” when we talk radio. True, not all the opinions expressed in R.I. are the correct ones but there are lots of them. In that mix, there are no doubt ideas worthy of consideration. Considering what many of us perceive and agree that issues exist, one would think somewhere someone will attempt a different course. But that would involve listening to your audience and apparently that’s not one of those measured metrics so the posts just keep coming.
