Radio and our Culture of Greed

[SoftenedHeart]

James 5:1-6

Look here, you rich men, now is the time to cry and groan with anguished grief because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you. Your wealth is even now rotting away, and your fine clothes are becoming mere moth-eaten rags. The value of your gold and silver is dropping fast, yet it will stand as evidence against you, and eat your flesh like fire. That is what you have stored up for yourselves, to receive on that coming day of judgment. For listen! Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay. Their cries have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.

You have spent your years here on the earth having fun, satisfying your every whim, and your fat hearts are ready for the slaughter. You have condemned and killed good men who had no power to defend themselves against you.

 

[Slambang]

Softend, you can make that call on alot of parties, not just radio/tv. But, I agree, the suits in the business have lived off the fatted calf for a good long time. Alot of that is the "Baby Boomer/Greed Is Good" mentality that still permiates this business. Its a thought process that has also stifled competition and held back new media over the past decade and a half as well.

Like Bob Dylan said "The Times Are A-Changin". In this business and others, it is changing..I hope for the better.

 

[LumpyF]

I am not a Christian. I worship the Flying Spaghetti monster. In the Holy Book of Pasta, it is written:

“Anyone who quotes James 5:1-6 on a radio message board will be subject to an eternity of boiling in a delicious tomato and garlic sauce”

So, right now it really sucks to be you. Repent and accept the FSM as your savior and repent unto him. It is the only way to avoid an eternity of pasta sauce up your nose. May you always be touched by his noodly appendage.

 

[fybush]

rAmen to that, Lumpy!

 

[rbrucecarter5]

Sounds like your passage applies to the folks at KVTT, who used a legal loophole on translators to make a lucrative deal to sell a translator to another party. Money changers. I have lost a lot of respect for them in the past few days.

 

[Dr. o Fun]

He posted the same thing on the New York radio forum.

dr

 

[txchipk]

Sounds like your passage applies to the folks at KVTT, who used a legal loophole on translators to make a lucrative deal to sell a translator to another party. Money changers. I have lost a lot of respect for them in the past few days.

I'd hate for a few facts to step into the board, but what the heck...

The people behind K273BJ 102.5 getting put on the air are the folks at TCU. It was to be built as a translator for KTCU 88.7 Fort Worth. For whatever reason, they opted instead to donate it to a woman who planned to use it to relay KJCR 88.3 Keene earlier this year...http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws...t=25&appn=101236651&formid=345&fac_num=142328. It instead was taken silent and in October, she filed to relay KVTT...http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws...t=25&appn=101273059&formid=349&fac_num=142328. Her most recent filing is to change the relay from KVTT to KGGR and to sell it to KGGR for $100k. I'm not sure how lucrative it is for her since she got it at no cost from TCU, but it looks like she had to construct the new facilities 102.5 is using instead of the original one KTCU planned.

KVTT does not own the translator, so it is not using it as "a legal loophole on translators to make a lucrative deal to sell a translator to another party."

 

[idiggraves]

James 5:1-6

Look here, you rich men, now is the time to cry and groan with anguished grief because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you. Your wealth is even now rotting away, and your fine clothes are becoming mere moth-eaten rags. The value of your gold and silver is dropping fast, yet it will stand as evidence against you, and eat your flesh like fire. That is what you have stored up for yourselves, to receive on that coming day of judgment. For listen! Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay. Their cries have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.

You have spent your years here on the earth having fun, satisfying your every whim, and your fat hearts are ready for the slaughter. You have condemned and killed good men who had no power to defend themselves against you.

WELL SAID. Thank you for this post.

 

[scrtr84]

This discussion reminds me of that scene in The Distinguished Gentleman, where Rev. Eli is talking about the last days.

"And when the last trump sounds, believe me you WILL be audited."

I hope the greedy CEO's are reading this... ;D

 

[DavidKaye]

Look here, you rich men, now is the time to cry and groan with anguished grief because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you. Your wealth is even now rotting away, and your fine clothes are becoming mere moth-eaten rags.

When has commercial radio NOT been about making money? Even in the 1920s companies such as RCA, Westinghouse, and lots of small local entrepreneurs built stations in order to make money. Commercial radio has always been this way. If you want another business model try non-commercial radio.

 

[TheRover]

Look here, you rich men, now is the time to cry and groan with anguished grief because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you. Your wealth is even now rotting away, and your fine clothes are becoming mere moth-eaten rags.

When has commercial radio NOT been about making money? Even in the 1920s companies such as RCA, Westinghouse, and lots of small local entrepreneurs built stations in order to make money. Commercial radio has always been this way. If you want another business model try non-commercial radio.

Just like Porn makers.... are not about "The Art"... but just about making money.....

Same Thing, especially now.

The only "art" in radio now.... is the "art of making money"..... Any other "art" is not allowed. Serving the "public".... I gues that's what radio and porn makers see themselves as.... Just giving the masses what they want.... and making the dough on the side...

 

[KERCAlum]

The thing about making money, regardless of the industry, is that the guys at the top believe it's OK to make their money off the backs of their employees, and then jettison them when it's no longer convenient to have them around.

That's the biggest problem with our system today. Not with capitalism - if capitalism is done right, everyone benefits. But this system bears little resemblance to capitalism.

Without the employees, who's gonna do the work? Why do businesses (radio, especially) think it's OK to show folks the door when their stock dividend begins to drop? Who decided it was more important for the stockholders to get rich than it was for people to put food on the table and pay their bills?

And don't give me any bull about this being "the American way." Wealth acquisition is at moral odds with human existence. People can become wealthy without hurting someone else in the process - maybe not as wealthy as they would like to be, but how much money can you take with you when you die, anyway?

God bless us, every one.

 

[EbolaMonkey]

The thing about making money, regardless of the industry, is that the guys at the top believe it's OK to make their money off the backs of their employees, and then jettison them when it's no longer convenient to have them around.

That's the biggest problem with our system today. Not with capitalism - if capitalism is done right, everyone benefits. But this system bears little resemblance to capitalism.

Excellent post, Dan. Your entire post is about as good of a summary of the situation as anyone could ask for.

The radio biz is operating under conditions that are far more monopolistic than capitalistic. Too few companies have too much control over the marketplace.

 

[scottythecynic]

This is why I am an advocate for powerful pirate radio outlets when the current system falls apart. Seems it is heading that way now.

 

[TheBigA]

I know how popular it is to accuse others of greed, but NPR just laid off 7% of its work force. It's not just greed, folks. Although the public stations could use some donations, if any of you greed-haters can spare a few pennies. Put your money where your mouth is, and support those who often volunteer to do radio.

How many of you volunteer at non-coms in your area? How many of you give of your time and talent to colleges and universities in your area that need experts in radio and broadcasting? How many of you love radio so much that you do it for free? I promise you that if you go to community radio stations, you won't get free CDs or large audiences who think you're a star. But you also won't get a lot of management people telling you what to do or how to do it, and you won't have to worry about being laid off.

Sure, they have crappy signals and lousy equipment. But that's what you get when greed isn't the motivation.

It's easy to look at someone else and call them greedy. It's much harder when you look at yourself in the mirror and see that you're no better than they are, and you're just bitter that you're on the receiving end.

I now return you to all your hell fire and damnation...already in progress.

 

[skywalker]

Skywalker says…..

The devaluing of air talent could be likened to what has happened to the stock of hundreds of companies on Wall Street.

Nothing is worth what it used to be!

Market manipulation? Absolutely! Government involvement? Deregulation ruined radio for the listener. But don’t tell that to Clear Channel or Mel! Corporate cowards bending to stockholders. Yes sir! The almighty buck rules at the expense of EVERYTHING.

Lee Iacocca once said, “People, product and profits. Without the first, the other two don’t really matter.” GM’s cutting corners to manipulate the bottom-line. Salespeople giving away the store to make a buy.

The hell with quality. What product? People don’t buy junk. Stop giving it to them! Well actually they do buy junk but they may not listen to a consultant’s brew of safe tunes!

Radio used to LEAD! Now it follows. Consultants, Consultants, Consultants!!! Research is destroying everything.

Let's have a study to determine what has happened to the country's economy!!!!!! Duh!!!!

Consultants in conjunction with deregulation and corporate greed and executive stupidity have done more to screw the listener with shell games and smoke and mirrors than the web and the I-Pod and cell phone downloads ever will do.

The reality is Radio has NEVER been as sterile as it is now and it lacks any sense of companionship to the listener.

And TV is also approaching new lows. I reporters, come on. It's the news as it is SEEN through the eyes of whoever is on camera, and in many cases, emotion driven NOT fact driven. Love the "how do you feel" questions.

The LISTENER! Yes even the listener has been DEVALUED and abandoned.

Radio forgot that those listeners fill out diaries.

Build a product and keep ‘em company with talented communicators 24/7 and you don’t have to worry about having enough listeners. It works every time.

Sales people never had it so good for years with winning stations. They were six figure order takers.

This is what happens when sales execs run radio stations, not experienced and talented programmers. Programmers did manage properties UNTIL the suits wrestled their positions of power back and will never again relinquish power again.

Amen!

 

[scrtr84]

How many of you volunteer at non-coms in your area? How many of you give of your time and talent to colleges and universities in your area that need experts in radio and broadcasting? How many of you love radio so much that you do it for free? I promise you that if you go to community radio stations, you won't get free CDs or large audiences who think you're a star. But you also won't get a lot of management people telling you what to do or how to do it, and you won't have to worry about being laid off.

Your last line from that paragraph is flat wrong, and if you don't believe me, I've got some beachfront property in Tennessee to sell you. There are managers in non-comm land who do tell their volunteers and employees what to do, and it's just as bad as what happens in commercial radio. You'd think non-comms would be immune to pushy management, but nope...

 

[davideduardo]

Research is destroying everything.

Just how is asking the listener what they want and don't want to hear bad?

This is what happens when sales execs run radio stations, not experienced and talented programmers. Programmers did manage properties UNTIL the suits wrestled their positions of power back and will never again relinquish power again.

As long as I have been in radio... and that is a few weeks short of 50 years, sales folks moved up to the GM position, not the programmers or engineers or accountants.

 

[TheBigA]

There are managers in non-comm land who do tell their volunteers and employees what to do, and it's just as bad as what happens in commercial radio.

I'm sure you're right, especially at the non-coms managed by former commercial broadcasters.

But at the majority of community stations, especially those that are among LPFMs, they are just thankful to have a warm body in the building, regardless of quality.

As Bob Dylan said, we all serve somebody.

 

[TheBigA]

Deregulation ruined radio for the listener.

Oh come on now. Don't rewrite history. Radio began the downward trend long before deregulation.

And I don't think you can generalize what the listener wants. If you could, you could make a ton of money.

Radio used to LEAD! Now it follows. Consultants, Consultants, Consultants!!! Research is destroying everything.

In one sentence you talk about the listener, but then you don't like research. What do you think research is? They talk to listeners and ask what they want. Consultants don't program. They consult. They offer advice and information. It's still up to the stations to decide if they agree.

The reality is Radio has NEVER been as sterile as it is now and it lacks any sense of companionship to the listener.

You must have been born in the 80s. Had you heard radio in the 60s and 70s, most of the stations were automated. Running reel to reel tapes of muzak. It was dull and lifeless. Sure each big market had one or two exciting stations with live DJs and hit music. But the rest were pretty dull. Which is how you had a couple stations with 20 shares, and the rest in the dump.