Putting young new talent on the radio

[TheBigA]

I'm also curious how they intend to make this work without any remuneration changing hands.

They don't know. They're GMs. They think they can get around some form of remuneration and they'll discover everyone wants to get paid. They're just telling you their ideal situation. Someone will offer them a solution that will be suitable. The person who offers that solution gets the deal.

 

[Kent]

Those three companies may only own 8% of radio stations, but I could have spent all night listing companies that are unlikely to engage with freelance VT talent, because they have a significant pool of internal talent.

The Cumulus cluster where I once worked uses Rachel Marisay for middays on one of its stations. She’s either out of Austin or Dayton, and Cumulus owns no stations in either. I understand she’s on multiple Cumulus stations as well as a handful of Townsquare properties. She also on WHKO in Dayton, though, as I mentioned, I don’t know that she’s live there. We also had a morning personality who left to start his own marketing business. He built his business by working with potential advertisers, not stations. He produced the spots for the businesses, who then bought time on radio, though he would also offer his services in recommending where he thought they'd do best if they asked. I'm sure that service carried an additional fee. While I'd be inclined to agree The Big A implies that getting into that business is easier than it is, he’s not wrong that the opportunities exist.

However, I'm also curious how they intend to make this work without any remuneration changing hands.

If they know, they’re not saying. The mind is the first thing to go, but I seem to remember the old Clear Channel paid about $5,000 per station to voicetrack. That’s far less than what a full time talent would cost. There are ways to make it work, but all of them involve compensating the talent in some manner.

 

[TheBigA]

While I'd be inclined to agree The Big A implies that getting into that business is easier than it is, he’s not wrong that the opportunities exist.

I'm not saying it's easy. At this point there are a lot of out-of-work DJs doing a lot of voice work from home, so it's now very competitive.

There are a lot of indie stations already using outside talent from lots of places.

 

[boombox4]

When I started in the industry in the 1990's, pay was low but there were opening jobs in radio, even in my own metro.

One issue that hasn't been breached much here is that radio revenues are probably down from where they were 30 years ago, and are definitely down from where they were even 15 years ago. When radio revenues are down (and they have been dropping apparently even before Corona hit), that doesn't leave a ton of money to hire new people, even if they are promising or talented.

I started with an unpaid internship, which was fine with me, as that was the way to go, and it didn't hurt me financially at the time -- but I can only imagine that the PD's or GM's in charge of hiring or choosing people have more limited budgets to work with than they did in 1990 or 1995.

 

[TheBigA]

When radio revenues are down (and they have been dropping apparently even before Corona hit), that doesn't leave a ton of money to hire new people, even if they are promising or talented.

You're right, it's not a "ton of money." No one starting in radio should expect a ton of money. I always advise them they they shouldn't go into broadcasting, or media in general, for the amount of money they will make. If money is the reason, they should go into law or accounting or sales. It's the same advice I'd give prospective teachers. Starting money for teachers isn't good, plus you have little or no job security until you achieve tenure. The great thing about teaching is you can improve your status with more education. You get a masters degree, and they pay you more. Not the case in radio.

But as I said in my earlier post, a lot of young people are still very interested in radio, or anything related to radio. They attend these various conferences, they network with people in the business, and they accept the few jobs that are available and work within the system. You're right that the pandemic has hurt radio revenues. But things aren't a whole lot better in other lines of work. I augmented my radio money when I started out by doing retail sales. That option is disappearing daily. So yes, it's hard to get a job in radio, but the number of easy options (other than landscaping work or house painting) are also declining. I will tell you my landscaper is very busy, and makes a ton of money.