Jeff Laurence said:
Right Randy, but ya gotta admit..the days with two (or even three considering the ill-fated WNSI) talk stations made listening a lot more interesting..but then again radio over all was much more compelling than it is these days...and probably because there were not as many signals granted..however it just seems that the industry has settled into survival mode rather than excelling at producing more varied product pn a local level. And that, it seems is what the local stations should be doing to combat the growing popularity of other mediums.
It just seems that many local stations have either given up, or are only doing the company's bare minimum to keep operating. Is that the way you are seeing this? Is it that so many corporations are trying to push thier ersatz syndicated shows..that they are eating up all the locally available airtime?
Just curious. Hey are you going to Austin? Let's grab some BBQ at IronWorks
Well, lets see. As I sat in my office Labor Day Weekend 1985 when hurricane elana was blowing in at 4pm, I flipped on the WFLA-AM, the N/T station to find College Football on. Same thing that night as she churned off-shore.
So has radio really changed? I would not know a hurricane was 50 miles offshore then - would not know it today (actually, today, I might have a better chance as MJ would go in and demand to be put on the air).
The talent is better on WFLA today than it was 20 years ago as well. It might not be local, but its better. Yes, they still have issues - but again I believe far too many forget the issues of years ago.
Bottom line 1) The talent isn't there to have great local shows in all markets 2) The Management (Programmers) were never good enough to coach and help talent find their full potential at the local market level 3) Agents got involved and feed so much BS to any talent that would listen that talent quit listening to local management anyway.
Most talent hasn't had the desire to be great. Though MJ has issues that we all know that could make him much better if addressed, he does have that desire to win. How many others have spent that much time towards their show? Will that happen? No, because in the opinion of most, myself included, MJ won't listen to anyone but himself. I was shocked at the number of emails I received the day the numbers came out when Bubba beat him - and that people in his own building thought it was great.
Why did Bubba win? He didn't just come in and think he just had to "show up". He put the time in. He had something to prove.
That's motivation that doesn't come from a paycheck - and both MJ and Bubba have it. Very few others have it today.
If its not that important to the talent, why should it be important to the owners? The old lines I heard for 20 years "we don't want to plan - we want to be spontaneous" was BS then and BS today. It just means "we are lazy".
There is great talent out. It's the people that are willing to get out and work - and know they can always do better.
Problem is, there are less than 100 of them out there - and most cannot be moved from market to market - as there is no market equity in them to justify it.
And besides, as radio has dropped revenue by 3% from 2000, Arbitron has gone up 4% every year - so now Arbitron cost 37% more to a station (and this is pre PPM doubling in price) than it did in 2000.
Where do you think that money came from?
Nights, Overnights, Promotion, Research and Talent.
And when a market goes PPM and Arbitron collects 4% instead of 2% of a station's revenue, where do you think it will also come from then?
So, in my opinion, radio just shifted money around. It took it from Overnights, Nights, Promotions, Research and Talent - sending it in a check to Arbitron instead.
As for Austin, why bother. Just like most conventions - no real need - nothing gets accomplished
