Radio cliches

[guido]

After listening to a bunch of different morning shows over the past 2 days, and also assuming that most of the posters on this board are involved in radio, I thought I would take an impromptu poll. Given the amount of rainfall we had over the past 4 days or so, the weather was a top story on most of these shows. To my amusement at least 2 of these shows used a variation of the line” great weather …if you’re a duck, fish, etc…. and it dawned on me, HOLY CRAP!!!!!! Clichés are alive and well in radio here in 2005. Some drive me nuts, like the announcer that feels a need to give different time formats, example “eight oh 9, nine minutes after 8…and some are just harmless. So weigh in, which ones annoy or amuse you

 

[TheJudge]

Radio is its own cliche

Given the dictionary definition of the word, "cliche".....

"A trite or overused expression or idea..."

radio is one big vast cliche. Radio is so homogenized it's ridiculous. Like it or not, the "Jack" format is the last original idea I can remember and that has become a cliche itself.

When you work in an industry that embraces the concept of the "McFormat", how can you not get caught up in banalities?

 

[6tothebronx]

There are a million cliches in the weather reports alone. The worst is:
"It's going to rain, get out your goulashes (sp?)"

I don't think anyone has worn goulashes since the 50's.


> After listening to a bunch of different morning shows over
> the past 2 days, and also assuming that most of the posters
> on this board are involved in radio, I thought I would take
> an impromptu poll. Given the amount of rainfall we had over
> the past 4 days or so, the weather was a top story on most
> of these shows. To my amusement at least 2 of these shows
> used a variation of the line” great weather …if you’re a
> duck, fish, etc…. and it dawned on me, HOLY CRAP!!!!!!
> Clichés are alive and well in radio here in 2005. Some drive
> me nuts, like the announcer that feels a need to give
> different time formats, example “eight oh 9, nine minutes
> after 8…and some are just harmless. So weigh in, which ones
> annoy or amuse you
>

 

[mm_2005]

i'm not a big fan of DJ's who are guilty of the "puking" vocal delivery or sound like they're trying too hard to sound "disc-jockey-ish". sadly when i was on the air i was guilty of it.



> After listening to a bunch of different morning shows over
> the past 2 days, and also assuming that most of the posters
> on this board are involved in radio, I thought I would take
> an impromptu poll. Given the amount of rainfall we had over
> the past 4 days or so, the weather was a top story on most
> of these shows. To my amusement at least 2 of these shows
> used a variation of the line” great weather …if you’re a
> duck, fish, etc…. and it dawned on me, HOLY CRAP!!!!!!
> Clichés are alive and well in radio here in 2005. Some drive
> me nuts, like the announcer that feels a need to give
> different time formats, example “eight oh 9, nine minutes
> after 8…and some are just harmless. So weigh in, which ones
> annoy or amuse you
>

 

[tim95]

(Sigh)

>
> When you work in an industry that embraces the concept of
> the "McFormat", how can you not get caught up in banalities?
>
And what exciting new innovations would you like to see, sir?

 

[TheJudge]

Re: (Sigh)

> And what exciting new innovations would you like to see,
> sir?

Well "Actual Radio Employee," I do have a few ideas that I've already posted on this board. Where are yours? You probably have quite a few, but if your experience is the same as mine, the Ronald McRadios running the McFormats don't want to risk trying any of them.

 

[tim95]

Re: (Sigh)

> Well "Actual Radio Employee," I do have a few ideas that
> I've already posted on this board. Where are yours? You
> probably have quite a few, but if your experience is the
> same as mine, the Ronald McRadios running the McFormats
> don't want to risk trying any of them.
>
Mine would be:
-Pick a target audience and format
-Play songs that the audience likes within that format

I know it's not a "popular" viewpoint (with people that post "radio is dead" missives on internet message boards at least), but it's a realistic one. The station that plays lots of "hit" music (for whatever it's chosen format is) is going to beat the station that plays a lot of unfamiliar music. If that makes me a "Ronald McRadio," so be it. At least I'll have lots of listeners.

 

[TheJudge]

Re: (Sigh)

> > I do have a few ideas that
> > I've already posted on this board. Where are yours?

> Mine would be:
> -Pick a target audience and format
> -Play songs that the audience likes within that format

Ok...I'm not trying to pick a fight with you...so just take
my comments as someone trying to engage in an interesting
dialog.... but isn't your idea a "cliched" way of
thinking? Isn't "picking a target audience and format" and
"play songs that the audience likes" just what every other
dime-a-dozen programmer is trying to do?

Almost every programmer picks their target audience from
some pre-defined age/gender demographic. How many are
looking at psychographics that might span multiple
demographics and widen their audience? Why do you assume
the format has to be music?

All I'm saying is that to get out of the cliche-rut that
radio is experiencing, we have to think outside the IPod!

I've developed a format that uses a psychographic that
includes readers of "romance novels." Ok...it's a music
format, but it concentrates on the presentation rather than
just the content. I don't have a ton of money to buy
surveys and focus groups, but the home-grown research and
presentations I've done for acquaintances leads me to
believe I'm on to something.

I didn't target an 18-24 or a 25-34 or a 35-54 demo, but
I've gotten positive reaction from all of those
because the psychographic spans and includes them all.

But I can't convince the radio "establishment" to pay for
some professional research. It just doesn't fit
the accepted mold.

> The station that plays
> lots of "hit" music (for whatever it's chosen format is) is
> going to beat the station that plays a lot of unfamiliar
> music. If that makes me a "Ronald McRadio," so be it. At
> least I'll have lots of listeners.

My only suggestion is that you take a risk and question your
own thinking. Play the "what if" game instead of accepting
at face value what the "authorities" tell you is correct. Be
your own authority.

 

[tim95]

Re: (Sigh)

>
> Ok...I'm not trying to pick a fight with you...so just take
> my comments as someone trying to engage in an interesting
> dialog....

Great, me neither! Sorry if I came on like a ton of bricks. I (and everyone at my station) work very hard at making our station a good one and it makes me a little nuts sometimes to see generalizations about the current state of things.

> Isn't "picking a target audience and format"
> and
> "play songs that the audience likes" just what every other
> dime-a-dozen programmer is trying to do?

Well, you have to start somewhere. Who do you want to reach, knowing you're not going to get EVERYBODY? (or for that matter, ANYBODY with an all-inclusive, Sinatra to Jay-Z mix. Even "Jack" doesn't go that far in their "we play everything" approach.) If you can do it with a psychographic, great! I went with music because that's my background.

>
> All I'm saying is that to get out of the cliche-rut that
> radio is experiencing, we have to think outside the IPod!

And I think we're getting there. If the Jack stations have taught us anything, it's that a few surprises here and there are appreciated. (I'm still not sold on the long-term viability of an "all-surprises" format.) But... look at Hartford, where HCN is successfully playing Vanessa Carlton, Marshall Tucker, old Stones album cuts and Rockin' Whitesnake songs from the 80s all on one station (not to mention John Tesh as a personality)- and even more surprisingly, having it all make sense! You've got DRC getting younger with mixed aesthetic results ("Come On Eileen" into "Love Child" was a little jarring, but most of their sets are reasonably logical.) You've got CCC doing well throughout the day with a decidedly "exclusive" set of music, and TIC and Kiss getting less head-to-head than they've probably ever been over the 20 years of that battle. All in all, it's definitely not the same ol', same ol' in the Insurance City these days.

>
> I've developed a format that uses a psychographic that
> includes readers of "romance novels." Ok...it's a music
> format, but it concentrates on the presentation rather than
> just the content. I don't have a ton of money to buy
> surveys and focus groups, but the home-grown research and
> presentations I've done for acquaintances leads me to
> believe I'm on to something.
>
> I didn't target an 18-24 or a 25-34 or a 35-54 demo, but
> I've gotten positive reaction from all of those
> because the psychographic spans and includes them all.
>
> But I can't convince the radio "establishment" to pay for
> some professional research. It just doesn't fit
> the accepted mold.
>
Sounds interesting. Keep banging on doors. The "Jack" craze didn't fit any mold either until someone figured it couldn't do any worse than what they had on. CT, as relatively under-radioed as it is, probably isn't the place to start the next craze, if only becasue there aren't too many underperformers.

 

[Miami]

> After listening to a bunch of different morning shows over
> the past 2 days, and also assuming that most of the posters
> on this board are involved in radio, I thought I would take
> an impromptu poll. Given the amount of rainfall we had over
> the past 4 days or so, the weather was a top story on most
> of these shows. To my amusement at least 2 of these shows
> used a variation of the line” great weather …if you’re a
> duck, fish, etc…. and it dawned on me, HOLY CRAP!!!!!!
> Clichés are alive and well in radio here in 2005. Some drive
> me nuts, like the announcer that feels a need to give
> different time formats, example “eight oh 9, nine minutes
> after 8…and some are just harmless. So weigh in, which ones
> annoy or amuse you
>
A jock I hold in high esteem once told me that a key attribute to sounding good on air was the ability to find a different way to say the same things over and over again. The ones who repeat themselves and use cliche after cliche are just plain lazy. Put some effort in to it..We're all doing the same thing basically..Call letters, backsell, billboard, weather and read liners. It's the ones who can put their own personality into it and phrase things differently that stand out.
I remember one former morning show that every crack of the mic was exactly the same ." ##.# W_ _ _, Blank & Blank in the morning. 10 minutes past six, six ten, ten minutes past six, 11th day of October,Monday October 11th, Blank & Blank in the morning..Now six eleven, eleven minutes past six o'clock.We'll check weather and traffic next on W_ _ _. They got very lazy near the end.

Guido , congratulations on getting as many responses to your thread as you have without getting some poster going off on a tangent about such and such station going off the air for 20 seconds..Kudos to you...

 

[zipes101]

> I remember one former morning show that every crack of the
> mic was exactly the same ." ##.# W_ _ _, Blank & Blank in
> the morning. 10 minutes past six, six ten, ten minutes past
> six, 11th day of October,Monday October 11th, Blank & Blank
> in the morning..Now six eleven, eleven minutes past six
> o'clock.We'll check weather and traffic next on W_ _ _.
> They got very lazy near the end.
>
I remember wilkow on 104 always said every time he cracked the mic .... "the best new rock first, new rock radio 104 wmrq, it's wilkow, 666-4444, wilkow radio 104 at yahoo dot com ... "