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Radio is still a great profession

N

Nelz

After seventeen-years plus in the broadcast biz, full and part-time, I can honestly say that no other career melts my butter like radio.
Sick? I think so! I'm proud of my disease. Sure, the money is still nothing to sneeze at, but what other profession can you have as much fun
as we are having and still collect a paycheck. I've had a pile of great shows, and butchered a few (still); I've produced
great commercials for clients, and produced some that still make me turn red when I think about them...and you know what?
They still kept me around! I've worked for the big companies and the struggling mom and pops...it's all the same. You work with
some awesome peeps, and deal with the asses. For now, I work in a place that has a great atmosphere. Most of us have been doing the
"radio thing" for a long time, and our primary goal every day is to make each other laugh. We succeed most of the time.

Yeah, radio has changed a lot since the days some of us spun records, but dammit, it's a great profession. We complain about it
sometimes, but only because we love it.

My only concern is that we need to find ways to help young broadcasters land employment. They need opportunities to nurture their talents.
Live overnights used to be a great way...we need to bring it back. Hell, live radio "period" would solve some issues.

I recognize some of you by your user names. Thanks for sticking with and supporting the radio biz, even if it does give you
heartburn sometimes. I'm proud to be a part of a group who's lives revolve around music, requests, rabid and psycho fans,
commercial logs, stopsets, remotes, lousy hotdogs, bad coffee, Arbitron, and the occasional bonus check.

HERE'S TO US! ;D

nelz
 
Very well said. I've been doing the "radio thing" for a very long time and I still love it. I've had so many unique experiences with this career...things that I would never have had the opportunity to do in any other field. Most of them have been great! Some of them have left me walking away, shaking my head, saying "Okay...so we never do THAT again!"

I am old enough to have started by spinning vinyl. Old enough that my education pre-dated the existance of NESCOM (even before it was called NESB). I applaud the administrators and educators at NESCOM for providing the kind of learning experience I wish I'd had all those years ago. My "learning experiences" have mostly been on the job.

Nelz said it very well. It's a fun business. A great way to collect a paycheck. I know we all deal with individual corporations these days, and they pose challenges that are sometimes pretty daunting. But you know what? That's not just in the broadcast field. I know many who work in much different occupations who deal with the same stuff I deal with every day. Same problems, same non-answers. Bottom line, "corporate" is universal. So...if you HAVE to deal with it anyway....why not do it in a field you love?!

Remember everyday when you head to that radio station, why you got started in the first place. What is it about radio that you love? The listeners....the music....working with fun and creative people. These are the things that I love. And I'm lucky. I work with some amazing people everyday. If it all ends tomorrow, I'll be thankful for the time I've had and the people I've met. I wouldn't trade the experiences for anything!
 
I agree with everything you two said.

I have been doing radio, professionally, for almost 3 years. The pay is absolute crap sometimes, but I love every damned minute of what I do. I've tried to imagine doing something else.. or what I might be doing if It wasn't radio and I never have an snwer.

I thank my holy stars Im able to make a living by using my voice to entertain others. I truly enjoy making others happy by wishing them a happy birthday on the air or playing a song for 'em. In this instance, it's definately better to give then recieve.

Im only 22 years old and by golly, I plan on doing this till the day I die...
 
???

I'm not sure that radio itself is a great profession...but many of the people connected with it (on and off the air) CERTAINLY ARE!

The hardest thing for 'any new broadcast wannabe' right now is finding a timeslot contaning programming that ISN'T covered by a satellite network or automated format?

"Let's cut our costs" has replaced "let's provide our listeners with some terrific programming!"

argytunes
 
argytunes said:
???

I'm not sure that radio itself is a great profession...but many of the people connected with it (on and off the air) CERTAINLY ARE!

The hardest thing for 'any new broadcast wannabe' right now is finding a timeslot contaning programming that ISN'T covered by a satellite network or automated format?

"Let's cut our costs" has replaced "let's provide our listeners with some terrific programming!"

argytunes
Click to expand...

One of the worst things about this business is bitter people who can't deal with the evolution of this industry. There is always room for talented people who work hard and there are opportunites for those who want to be successful in radio...you just have seek them out. Yes, there is more automation and voicetracking then there was pre-dereg, but if you are passionate and want it bad enough, the opportunites are there.

I agree, it was easier to navigate a successful career 15 years ago than it is today, but that doesn't mean this industry still isn't great...at least to those of us who still live and breathe it!

Good luck to everyone who works hard in radio...unless we are competitors...then I hope your transmitter burns to the ground ;) (just kidding)
 
mistermicrophone said:
One of the worst things about this business is bitter people who can't deal with the evolution of this industry. There is always room for talented people who work hard and there are opportunites for those who want to be successful in radio...you just have seek them out. Yes, there is more automation and voicetracking then there was pre-dereg, but if you are passionate and want it bad enough, the opportunites are there.

I agree, it was easier to navigate a successful career 15 years ago than it is today, but that doesn't mean this industry still isn't great...at least to those of us who still live and breathe it!

Good luck to everyone who works hard in radio...unless we are competitors...then I hope your transmitter burns to the ground ;) (just kidding)
Click to expand...

the most difficult task faced by a newer broadcaster is getting that initial, daily critique from a seasoned PD. today's PD is doing 20 things at once, often for several stations. to coordinate with a newer announcer, most often a part timer with a real job/life outside of radio, to come into the station and go through a voice-tracked shift, break-by-break, is not an easy task. that said - there are pd's who do go through the tracker with the announcer and try to help him/her refine the skill, but with a nod to the above mentioned time-constraints, it's not like it used-to-was.

and as far as pre-dereg voice tracking goes - 102.9 and 99.9 were most definitely tracked. back in the day, one would have to swing by the Schaeffer system and change out all of the announcer carts for the next scheduled "on air" cart. and at the time, 102.9 was a union station, so the precedent was set long before the technology evolved to jock-in-a-box. even the mighty 56 WGAN was automated overnights (Tiffany Jones).

but to simply echo argytunes' concerns: the long-lost art of breaking in on an overnight weekend shift and visiting the pd with a show skim in hand for a solid critique are gone. even stations where the operator-on-duty is the actual overnight announcer do not encourage a "live shift." they encourage tracking for most, if not all, of it - that's so the OOD can do production. some stations, such as 'BLM on the overnights, do a "some live, some track" thing. (Ronnie makes note that he's available for calls at certain times) the most a newer on-air person can do is to listen to the vets and see if there's something they can borrow or adapt.

another topic for another thread is the format-specific announcers. gotta know the product if you're gonna sell it, or try to. (example: 100.9 had a kid on who, the day of the show, announced proudly that the shangrillas (like "gorillas") were playing merrill aud that night, instead of The Shangri Las. and on the same day, another made reference to the Tremoloes as the "tremolli's" - like canolli's)
 
Erie_Lackawanna said:
mistermicrophone said:
One of the worst things about this business is bitter people who can't deal with the evolution of this industry. There is always room for talented people who work hard and there are opportunites for those who want to be successful in radio...you just have seek them out. Yes, there is more automation and voicetracking then there was pre-dereg, but if you are passionate and want it bad enough, the opportunites are there.

I agree, it was easier to navigate a successful career 15 years ago than it is today, but that doesn't mean this industry still isn't great...at least to those of us who still live and breathe it!

Good luck to everyone who works hard in radio...unless we are competitors...then I hope your transmitter burns to the ground ;) (just kidding)
Click to expand...

the most difficult task faced by a newer broadcaster is getting that initial, daily critique from a seasoned PD. today's PD is doing 20 things at once, often for several stations. to coordinate with a newer announcer, most often a part timer with a real job/life outside of radio, to come into the station and go through a voice-tracked shift, break-by-break, is not an easy task. that said - there are pd's who do go through the tracker with the announcer and try to help him/her refine the skill, but with a nod to the above mentioned time-constraints, it's not like it used-to-was.

and as far as pre-dereg voice tracking goes - 102.9 and 99.9 were most definitely tracked. back in the day, one would have to swing by the Schaeffer system and change out all of the announcer carts for the next scheduled "on air" cart. and at the time, 102.9 was a union station, so the precedent was set long before the technology evolved to jock-in-a-box. even the mighty 56 WGAN was automated overnights (Tiffany Jones).

but to simply echo argytunes' concerns: the long-lost art of breaking in on an overnight weekend shift and visiting the pd with a show skim in hand for a solid critique are gone. even stations where the operator-on-duty is the actual overnight announcer do not encourage a "live shift." they encourage tracking for most, if not all, of it - that's so the OOD can do production. some stations, such as 'BLM on the overnights, do a "some live, some track" thing. (Ronnie makes note that he's available for calls at certain times) the most a newer on-air person can do is to listen to the vets and see if there's something they can borrow or adapt.

another topic for another thread is the format-specific announcers. gotta know the product if you're gonna sell it, or try to. (example: 100.9 had a kid on who, the day of the show, announced proudly that the shangrillas (like "gorillas") were playing merrill aud that night, instead of The Shangri Las. and on the same day, another made reference to the Tremoloes as the "tremolli's" - like canolli's)
Click to expand...

Ture, PD's are wayyyyyyyy over worked (as is the case with everyone in this industry)...so my advice to younger broadcasters is to find that PD who will go from working 60 hours a week to 60 hours and 45 minutes a week to give you that grooming you need...they're out there too!!

I didn't want my initial post to sound like I was going after angrytunes...I am just extremely passionate about radio - the good and the bad - and I feel that in any business, you get what you put in!!

As for the mis-pronouncing of artists...about 5 years ago on the Hot AC I programmed, I heard a weekend overnight announcer (about 19 yrs old) sell REO Speedwagon as "RIO" Speedwagon...lol.
 
Hi Mister Mic!

Like yourself, I'm EXTREMELY PASSIONATE about radio too. [Erie Lackawanna and I have worked together for several radio stations in Maine over the past 20 years]. So if my comments often come across like "I'm bitter about the business" or "I wish there was a time machine to take us back to radio--the way it used to be"---THAT'S NOT MY POINT AT ALL!

I won't argue with you about the 'technology evolution' connected with the radio industry. My disagreement is based on the QUALITY of the product. For some formats, it has gotten a little better...but for the majority, it has gotten a lot worse! [I'm talking everything from live music shows to syndicated talk].

The hype (or teasing) for a programming element that's coming up IS MUCH MORE DRAMATIC that the element itself! How much of this crap does a PD expect any listener to believe?

As I've pointed out in previous posts, I COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND THAT RADIO IS A BUSINESS & IN ORDER TO STAY ALIVE...MONEY HAS TO BE MADE! But the programming attitude seems to be: "we can voicetrack this announcer overnight between 12 and 5AM seven nights a week"...or "we can take the satellite feed from 9AM and have our people do a few 5 second promos or liners to convince listeners that our programming is LIVE!"

Granted...it's a cheaper and quicker way to make a buck! But the beauty of radio has and still IS the ability to talk TO listeners...and NOT AT THEM!

A great homework assignment for anybody WHO TRULY BELIEVES RADIO IS STILL A GREAT PROFESSION is to take a legal pad and spend a few hours ACTUALLY LISTENING to the content of any radio station. Go beyond the music...and listen to what the personalities are saying, the words used in the advertising copy, the way a spot is produced, and whether the station (as a whole) is talking TO YOU or YELLING AT YOU?

I think you'd be surprised by the number of stations that are doing the latter?

argytunes
 
;)

To my friend, Erie...

As usual...YOU AND I ARE ON THE SAME PAGE when it comes to not enough 'radio critiques' for weekly...or even monthly...airchecks!

On-Air talents will continue to make the same stupid mistakes unless a PD (or somebody connected with the radio station) gives them a 'heads up' that "what you're doing on the air right now ISN'T WORKING!"

"Overworked PDs" have my sympathy. There are more chores to tackle in an average day than there were 10 YEARS AGO! But isn't a 'small portion of their job' connected with the successful execution of the format? And if the format requires a life announcer, or even a board operator, taking an occasional 5-10 for 'fine tuning' isn't necessarily a bad thing?

argytunes
 
Now, this may not be everyone's expierience, but it was mine at one station I worked for...

If I was doing something wrong(like how I backsold a song) or needed to do more for a certain on air bit I was doing(celebrity news, contest, etc) I was told to fix it...... but I was never told exactly HOW to do it.

Also, they expected show prep outta me and I knew that..but not being a totally expierienced jock, I wasn't exactly sure what they were looking for.. and they didn't tell me...
 
A lot of great comments on this subject. There have been a lot of changes in the industry that have forced on-air peeps to work a whole lot harder. We are all doing a lot more with considerably less resources. PD's are really overworked. Today, not only are they responsible for music programming, imaging, commercial writing and production, air-staff scheduling, syndicated shows, promotions, giveaways, remotes, equipment, and airchecking jocks, they are expected to produce a quality on-air show...sometimes live. I have a great deal of empathy for Paul Walker's lament for not getting the appropriate feedback to fix what the PD is asking you to repair. Just keep asking questions Paul, and work towards improving everyday. There are going to be days when your show will be killer, and others where you'll stink up the airwaves. Even the best of us have both. I believe there are three distinct stages that an on-air person transitions through, and they are:
DJ, Radio Announcer, and finally Radio Personality. The personality is obviously where you'll need to be.

The DJ is someone who plays a lot of music and is content with talking once in while, usually reading a liner card or weather; a wedding reception DJ is very much like this. Although he/she will make a few announcements, they are excited to play music and get a paycheck at the end of the night.

A Radio Announcer does well with most all aspects of the profession. The generally sound pretty good on the air. Although some still sound a bit on the "ricky radio" side.

But what sets a Radio Personality apart from a DJ and Announcer is that they sound really comfortable behind the mic. It's like listening to your best "bud" talking to you and not at you. You really feel like you know them. They're not afraid to share personal things in their lives. They are awesome conversationalists and ad-libbers. They may be reading from a sheet or card, or even some "hen-scatching" on a piece of recycled paper, but they make it sound like it's all coming off the top of the head. It's an art, really. They know how use the equipment and all the elements to their advantage. They understand personality chemistry with other people, and when it does and doesn't work.

Radio Personality should be the goal for all young broadcasters. Some get there quicker than others.
 
Radio, like any profession, is only as great as its people... I've met a whole lot of jerks in this business over 23 years, but I've met vastly more truly warm, creative hardworking people who got into it because of a sense of calling, not because it was a sure way to make easy money.

I've worked in market number one and unrated markets and several in between... There's no doubt that more is expected of fewer people every day, and that unrealistic expectations can be crushing at times. I despair at the dwindling opportunities for beginners and at the cookie-cutter formats that can choke the creativity out of markets big and small.

But...

This medium is magic. I'm the third generation in my family to succumb to its allure, and I've cursed it, bemoaned it and disavowed it. I also love it. Every criticism in this thread is true. If it at times seems harsh, I think that's the natural response to any assault upon something we love.

But what makes this profession great is the chance to touch that magic. It's something we can't get in any other job. It's all about contact. We have the opportunity to create an intimate connection with innumerable people, one at a time. No amount of nickel-and-diming from ownership can change what happens when we crack that mic. That moment is ours, and what we do with it, no matter how constrained we may be by formatics, is up to us.

That's why, in spite of all the deserved criticism of the state of our industry, Radio IS still a great profession. It's not only natural but necessary that we loudly and clearly decry what's being done to it by so many bean-counters and corporate lackeys. But it's also necessary that we acknowledge the fine work being done by so many in spite of today's challenges.

And that we remember why so many of us got into this business to begin with:To touch the magic. The magic is still there.

That's my two cents; anyone got change?

Chris Ingram
 
Everyone on this particular question has had something very valuable to say. In the end, if you can't handle radio's on-going changes (both technical and corporate), then it's time to find a new career. Nobody will fault you for that...but don't stay in it and bring everyone else down in your sinking ship!
 
Radio is still the best job I have ever had...and believe me when I tell you I have done it all. I have always loved radio...and always will. I wanted to be in radio since I was a kid and I have always felt very fortunate to have had the opportunities that have been given to me and still are every day. Anyone who has ever cracked a mic and felt that electricity you get from touching listeners at home, in the car or at work can never argue that it is the best buzz ever created. After more than 15 years I can say this is the only job that both tests my nerves and excites me like a school kid every single day and I can't imagine ever doing anything else. If anyone doing this for a living right now doesn't agree...thats okay, everyone is different and you have the right to feel and react anyway you want to but maybe this isn't the profession you thought it was and perhaps producing or writing, sales or marketing might be better for you. I do know one thing...if you weather the storms and get through the tough times...you may find that thriving in chaos is a pretty good gig any day of the week. Argy!!! good to see you on here!!! Keep up the faith.
 
<Anyone who has ever cracked a mic and felt that electricity you get from touching listeners at home, in the car or at work can never argue that it is the best buzz ever created.>

TRUTH! I've been at this for 27 years, off and on (mostly on) and though other jobs paid the bills during the 'off' times, none of them came close to the enjoyment this work gives me (most of the time LoL)
 
I've found that alot of people who've been in the business several years and are older really love radio and most everything that comes along with it. They know the pay is shit but they continue to do it.

Most of the younger set LIKE radio, but when they relaize just how shitty the pay is.. they run away.. fast!!
 
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