Radio, for what it's worth

[unclepudd]

Many of the posts on this site are exciting to me in that they are obviously written by people with an attraction to radio. Some of you have said that you haven't had great/long radio careers yet your love/obsession for the business is apparent through your words.

This is poignant and exciting to me to see that the my love for, and years in, radio continues in others... Radio is to me also the greatest business in the world and the only place where you can have that much fun with your pants on... :

Thanx,

 

[metroneck]

Agreed, it's one of the greatest psychological rush's in the world, but the business part of it is not great.

 

[OKCRadioGuy]

Mainly because the way it's owners are. They overpay, then try to strangle it for every last drop of blood just to pay the overpriced debt. Go figure.

 

[JRZFM100]

OH MY GOSH, WHAT A GREAT POST!

you haven't had great/long radio careers yet your love/obsession for the business is apparent through your words.

This is poignant and exciting to me to see that the my love for, and years in, radio continues in others... Radio is to me also the greatest business in the world and the only place where you can have that much fun with your pants on

Wow, you nailed it buddy. Right on... up to and including your comment about pants!

If you're like me, you might also worry that some day you will wake up and they will have taken down all the towers, visually signifying the final end of terrestrial broadcasting.

It was so sad to see Broadway Bill Lee say in a recent video interview commemorating his (40 years?) in radio, he said that the disc jockey was essentially a dying breed.

I believe we will see the following events unfold before the towers come down.

(1) New technology entrants to broadcasting will sufficiently dilute the marketplace with national and local, live high quality programming (streaming) products and listeners will adopt streaming radio as a real alternative to such an extent that terrestrial stations will be devalued to the point ownership will be forced to revert back to local / smaller individuals; large corporations will no longer see station ownership as attractive due to decreased revenue potential.

(2) Smaller operators and local owners who have less need or desire for large and continually accelerating revenue growth will acquire terrestrial stations at "fire sale" prices and will be forced to produce higher quality programming to combat the entrant streaming broadcasters, ushering in the renascence and final age of terrestrial.

(3)'Conventional' radio as we know and love it (jocks, jingles, liners and conventional positioning) will remain viable for persons now in the current 30 / 35+ demo, all those who have not grown up acclimated to using new media (as well as those who are technology averse). Unless the younger audience develops a need and appreciation for the art of conventional radio as a form of entertainment, its viability will be lost in 20-25 years, just as beautiful music became lost as a viable format.

Want to help accelerate devaluing terrestrial stations to expedite the switch to small ownership and usher in the renascence of terrestrial?

Develop superior local streaming products that are competitive in order to extract audience from terrestrial radio at a rapid pace AND accelerate OEM open technology for in-vehicle streaming, such that consumers are not limited to in-vehicle streaming only produced by the "big guys".

Vehicular audio streaming via blue tooth and smart phones is less than optimal, we need a dedicated, open streaming device in the dash board that can pick up any source. And we need it now.

No doubt, I have opened this discussion up. Can't wait to hear from y'all.



(2)

 

[bturner]

It appears this sickness of radio-itis is endemic among readers here. I have been afflicted since early childhood. As early as first grade I recall symptoms of playing records on my record player and announcing them to a pencil. The symptoms worsened by 4th grade when my allowance went to buying records and I now had an old reel to reel recorder I could make recordings on. By 6th grade I began disturbing the very few people that used CB Radio by playing music, DJing and even rewriting news from the daily paper. I would do this sort of thing until I got my first fulltime radio job in 1978. I'm a GM today and love radio just as much as I did way back then.

I love seeing the passion spread to a new generation and I enjoy seeing how they evolve the content for their audience.

Regretfully I accept that radio is not what it once was. I have opinions, like you, as to how this happened. I think we made some wrong turns along the way by overthinking what we do. For now we have to accept our place and do what we might to change the situation. Perhaps we can. I don't see radio as dead or dying. I see radio with greater competition. Everything the industry has done wrong can be corrected. We might not emerge as the same radio we remember but we can evolve to the point we can produce enough cash to keep the finances in the black. Yes, I know money takes center stage...it is the needed tool to make everything work...without the lubrication of dollars the radio engine seizes and dies.

Radio still reaches the masses. Radio is still there in a crisis. Radio still matters. Keeping a hold on what we have means our product must be what people want and what they want may not be very evident in research such as an auditorium setting. We need to simply get back to the roots of what made radio what it is. With all the competition, radio still has the masses and the ability to restore itself. Luckily, our options are incredible today as we can embrace technology as a tool not a crutch.

We have a bunch of tough battles to fight and win but remember, on small fronts all across this country are those radio stations that still rule the roost. The people in their service area count on the station and the station has won. These are not stations that simulcast TV stations during a local crisis, but they themselves are the command post everyone else works with in getting crucial information out there.

Almost all the time radio can be a pretty much day-in and day-out mundane experience but it is in times of crisis that radio cann shine. I look at what radio did in New Orleans after Katrina and how valuable it was to the people. That proves the potential of what radio can still be in today's world. The question is, can we hold on to this or will we let another viable option grab this one?

In summary, national programming has its place and is good. Voicetracking, especially if done locally or even 'real time' can work if done right. The real selling point in radio is the ability to reflect life in the community you serve. Would that pay the bills? I think so. Success in generating revenue begins with the product you are selling and it's level of recognition in the eyes of the potential advertiser. When you have a good product and identity, all that's left is convincing your potential advertiser you are a good investment.

 

[OKCRadioGuy]

Where "real radio" is still happening is actually in small market. They haven't overpaid for their properties in the first place so they have a much clearer idea of how to still employ people in many cases to be relevent to their communities. Small market is also in many cases actually investing in newer studio and transmission equipment because they see value in keeping reliable and updated to better serve their communities, especially because equipment is actually better and cheaper (relitive to other things) than ever before. While the idiots at CumeLess nickel and dime their people to death to buy parts to fix junky equipment in many of their markets, small market is getting new. Go figure....

 

[RadioStarOne]

Translation of all the above posts: Radio today is not worth the big wind coming out of it to blow it to kingdom come!

 

[rbrucecarter5]

Translation of all the above posts: Radio today is not worth the big wind coming out of it to blow it to kingdom come!

I liken the current state of corporate radio to the bug trapped in the spider web. Wrapped in a cocoon of silk (rules from the legal department and corporate playlists), then sucked dry until only a dead shell remains (drained of creativity for profit), eventually to be discarded. Gordon McLendon's KLIF, the former glory of KZEW, etc. Everything on that list of great DFW radio from the past.

Another image that comes to mind is the parasite that invades caterlillars, enticing them to climb to the highest point they can, pulsates them with color, enticing birds to eat them so the parasite can complete its life cycle in the bird's feces - corporations selling off unprofitable radio stations by making them appear more valuable to circling corporate vultures by filling them with infomercials, artificially manipulating ratings, stunting with a shock format, etc.

Or a description of the aliens on Indepence Day, coming to a planet, draining it of all resources, then leaving when it is dead and exhausted.

I can keep up with the metaphors, but the answer is clear. The problem with radio is corporate ownership draining every ounce of creativity, life, and listener involvement from the station. Once radio has been relegated to a shell of a few profitable infomercial stations, the corporate suits will abandon it for dead.

 

[OKCRadioGuy]

Wow... VERY well said. After they take all they can of it, they'll just throw it away. In a way this is was Fagreed at Citadel did, leaving the place with a bag of money as the joint fell down around everyone else on the way out the door.

 

[OHTBGH]

Vehicular audio streaming via blue tooth and smart phones is less than optimal, we need a dedicated, open streaming device in the dash board that can pick up any source. And we need it now.

No doubt, I have opened this discussion up. Can't wait to hear from y'all.



(2)

Not anytime soon per se.

It will be cheaper to have a standardized connection in the car and on a cell phone to manipulate it from the dash and car controls. Cuts cost and proprietary systems for the auto industry.

The biggest problem is the 4G/xxx systems. Cell companies are already clamping down on data from phones. Imagining all those AND cars on the road. This would be a serious network meltdown!

Satellite will always have an upper advantage because of this.

But I do agree about the move. Its funny because I predicted this when stations added live streaming. A particular local station I had mentioned to them how it could be a game changer (I won't say who they are but they are always Bringing A program to you!)

I had shown them how to make revenue on ads in the stream and other stuff.

Their reply: It won't make money.

Now stations are closing off access and forcing listeners to go to certain places and flooding them with ads on the streams and on their screens!

Thanks to Mark Cuban and others it is much harder to do streaming. Even if its a small or medium station it will be hard to compete and costly. Plus the powers that be have done all they can to sabotage it as well. And because of their antics they now too are having mounting costs to pay for streaming and even had to push it off to other companies to off set it.

Not holding my breath for standardized streaming across all markets.

well...for now anyway.

-BGH

 

[JRZFM100]

Agree that the present state of 4G/xxx technology represents an immediate barrier to progress.

And agree that a massive, mass deployment of mobile streaming as standard OEM equipment all at once in vehicles would create a further bottle-neck for the technology.

But what we are seeing is proprietary streaming devices and services becoming standard or options in some new cars. THAT is a huge problem. It shouldn't just be the 'big guys' of streaming (like the 'big guys' of radio can be heard over the air) that can be heard in vehicles, it should be, must be that ANY/ALL streaming is available in cars - via open technology.

The challenge is, and the objective should be, to make mobile streaming available at a reasonable user cost (for bandwidth usage and dedicated hardware) as only this development will breach - as in tear down - the barriers to entry for a new generation of broadcasters.

And the new generation of internet broadcasters with mobile audiences will forcefully redefine terrestrial broadcasting, through competition.

No more 8 ~ 10 minute stop sets. Competition will end the windfall and thus reduce the value of the FCC broadcast license.

 

[mmnassour]

It will be cheaper to have a standardized connection in the car and on a cell phone to manipulate it from the dash and car controls. Cuts cost and proprietary systems for the auto industry.

The biggest problem is the 4G/xxx systems. Cell companies are already clamping down on data from phones. Imagining all those AND cars on the road. This would be a serious network meltdown!
-BGH

Actually, another LARGE problem (if NOT the biggest) may be political. Here in Austin, for example, it's illegal to do anything on a cell phone BUT make a phone call. Even the Texas Legislature has considered such draconian legislation. All it takes is one school bus accident because some idiot was screwing around on an iPhone and Internet Radio in the car will be illegal in the entire state.

 

[dfaulkner]

Many of the posts on this site are exciting to me in that they are obviously written by people with an attraction to radio. Some of you have said that you haven't had great/long radio careers yet your love/obsession for the business is apparent through your words.

This is poignant and exciting to me to see that the my love for, and years in, radio continues in others... Radio is to me also the greatest business in the world and the only place where you can have that much fun with your pants on... :

Thanx,

Great idea for a thread. & Yes, my time in radio was brief. My fascination with it was well underway by the age of seven & hasn't stopped.

 

[ChetMaxwell]

This is a very interesting thread that takes a look at the big picture. Each of the comments are very well thought out and make excellent points. As one who lived through it, I would like to point a finger at the Wall Street Monster that ate good radio as we knew and loved it. Before the big bite most radio owners, like McLendon, Group One (both of whom I had the pleasure of working for) and most others, planned to make their stations profitable by broadcasting a product that super-served their listeners. They concentrated on developing good programming, interesting air personalities, fun contests and promotions and numerous other things that would please current listeners and hopefully attract new samplers of the stations. This was a tried and true method that built those stations we all remember. It took time, it took money, it had a rather long time line...but it worked. Then Wall Street Bankers discovered the industry. It looked like easy money to them. They encouraged buyers, some of whom had some radio experience but many without it, by means of financing schemes. To make a long story shorter, this activity created a "Radio Bubble" that inflated station prices and loaded buyers down with big, big debt service. The new owners now had the Wall Street Bankers looking over their shoulders. The game changed from trying to build a good radio station to doing everything possible to fatten the stock price. The mantra was "Show us a profitable quarter". Cut contests and promotions, cut advertising, cut salaries, cut anything and everything...just do it! This austerity program had a negitive effect on programming, as you would expect. It was about then that radio lost the music franchise to the new media and was in a weakened position to try to defend itself.