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Radio Personnel Unite!

D

Davy D

Guest
Radio stations are being run by corporate suits who don't understand that if they want to make money, they have to hire qualified staff at a rate higher than the poverty level. They run to the nearest corner, hire the cheapest and least inexperienced kid they can find, who in turn hires more kids like him because they are cheap and they can't intimidate their boss. These kids are scared to hire the experienced talent because we are better than they are (the latter part is generalized, there are talented people younger than the dinosaurs).

How difficult would it be to get a union in this market? With options dwindling and pay decreasing, we need to band together and bring the standards back up. Not only in this market, but in others as well. Corporate America is taking advantage of us. We need to fight back. It can be done if enough of us are willing to take a chance.
 
My suggestion for ANYONE frustrated in this business:

Find another line of work! I really mean it. Even though I have sporadically worked in the field part-time over the last 40 years, I depended on other sources of income to live on!!!

There is NO SECURE FUTURE for the VAST MAJORITY of those wanting to work in the "on air" side of the broadcasting business today . Forty years ago, armed with a 4-year degree and EXPERIENCE, I wanted to get into the broadcast news business. The problem back then was: For every opening, there were hundreds of applicants. This kept wages LOW for those who did get hired into the field. Over the years, I have worked (mostly part-time) in a variety of on-air jobs and even a bit of engineering. Never made any money (much more than minimum wage).

Benefits? You're kidding, right? Like the business today, there was no such thing as security, either. Fact is, there were so many people trying to get in the door, they would ACCEPT anything paywise. I once worked at a Major Market station (many years ago) where the average full-time jock with a FIRST PHONE FCC license was making $135/week. One day, a really talented guy came in looking for work. The PD was really impressed, but had no openings. At hearing this, the jock asked, "What do you pay your jocks when you do hire them?" The PD told him $135. At this, the jock said he would work for $130! Guess what? The guy on the air at that time was LET GO at the end of his shift and the "walk in guy" got the job for $130 and started the next day!!! At many stations (but certainly not all), that's the way it was (and is) done. And things are much worse now. There are too many people looking for work and FEWER jobs available. Back then, we didn't have all the automation, Voice Tracking and Syndicated programming we have today, so stations had to be staffed with REAL LIVE people 24/7/365. Not so today.

The attitude of owners and managers is this: Why should I pay someone to run my station when a computer can do it?

About 10 years ago, I sought out a part-time position at an area station. The station manager bluntly told me that he did not need to hire anyone because his computer was more dependable than a LIVE BODY! He boasted that he didn't have to pay the computer wages, workman's comp, social security, benefits, etc. And the computer never called in "Sick" nor asked for "vacation time".

I recently read where the entire Broadcasting Field is one of the Top shrinking businesses for job seekers. The hand writing is on the wall. Broadcasting is a shrinking business for job seekers. I personally Hate all the Voice Tracking, Automation and NON LOCALISM that runs the business today, but it's not going to change.

Don't misconstrue what I am saying. I LOVE this business. I even wanted to make a career of it. But after a few years, it was obvious I would probably never own a NEW car, support a family, be able to buy a house and have job security in this business. I'll never forget the time I was "let go" from a job the day before Christmas, along with about half the staff of the station. Reason: Projected ad revenue after the holidays was "low", so cutbacks were necessary.

Fortunately, I found another satifying career path which paid decent money, provided great opportunity and security. Now that I am nearing retirement, I may again seek out a part-time job in radio, because I will be able to afford a low paying job that I like to do!

If you really like this business, seek out part-time work (weekends, etc.). Over the years, I've done this while always having another career path which could "pay the bills".
 
Misconstrue you?

Ha, I never touched you. (IIRC, old Cheech y Chong line.)
 
KR4BD said:
The attitude of owners and managers is this: Why should I pay someone to run my station when a computer can do it?

About 10 years ago, I sought out a part-time position at an area station. The station manager bluntly told me that he did not need to hire anyone because his computer was more dependable than a LIVE BODY! He boasted that he didn't have to pay the computer wages, workman's comp, social security, benefits, etc. And the computer never called in "Sick" nor asked for "vacation time".
Click to expand...
Rhetorical Questions: What happens in the event of a power failure? What happens when the computer crashes because the server is burnt to a crisp? What happens in the event of a genuine EAS emergency...remember what happened several years ago in NoDak?
 
What happens in the event of a power failure? power failure would affect live personel the same as a pc..wouldn't matter who or who is not there if there is NO POWER,, the engineer would restart everything once power came on however ..real emergency ? everyone tunes to talk anyway..plenty of live mouths there..burnt server ? in that case most stations would sound better OFF the air than they do now..comments offered "tongue in cheek" ;) for the most part..but point well taken..no way an automated station can replace live talent for entertainment purposes..problem is, automation has severly diminished the "live talent pool" ...what is NoDak ?
 
Bub..

I agree with you! That's my whole point. Mega-owners (and most owners) really don't care about localism anymore. If they can replace a body with a computer, they will do it every time. I am very aware of the North Dakota incident and other similar events, as well. They really don't care about providing live, local news, especially if it happens outside of the 9 to 5 weekday business time-frame. There just aren't many opportunities for new folks to break into this business AND ALSO make a reasonable wage.... unless you want to be in sales, where it is a tough grind, but money can be made.

I stand behind my suggestion (above) that the VAST majority of people trying to make it in the radio business will only get frustrated with all the low pay, disrespect and insecurity that goes with it. Yes, there are good situations to be found in the business, but as long as the "Let's see how long we can fool our audience with computers" mentality continues, most owners will balk at spending money to change things.
 
I had hoped someone with the exact info on this would pipe in....but I will tell you what I remember. A few years ago, a larger city in North Dakota had a major emergency in the middle of the night when a train derailed and toxic gasses were released. The local authorities tried, in vain, to contact about a 1/2 dozen local radio stations, but no one answered the phone. The stations involved were all owned by a well known "Mega Corporation" that felt that "Localism" meant running all their stations with computers. Bottom line, no one was "home" at these stations and it was several hours before anything went over the air advising residents to evacuate or stay indoors. Bottom line: "Local" Radio failed to provide a needed service when an emergency arose. There were hearings before the FCC about it but I don't recall any meaningful outcome from those hearings. Can anyone fill in the blanks here?
 
KR4BD said:
A few years ago, a larger city in North Dakota had a major emergency in the middle of the night when a train derailed and toxic gasses were released.
Click to expand...

This is one of those radio myths.

Minot ND has 25,000 people. It's not a large city. And it really wasn't a major emergency. The accident took place at 2AM over the weekend. The emergency folks called the station, but the only number they had was the main switchboard. Bad idea, since the switchboard shuts down at 5PM. The station has emergency numbers to call, and the emergency folks didn't have them. Whoops.

There were all kinds of hearings, including in Congress, and no one was found at fault. The station claimed two employees were in the building. No one could prove them wrong. Meanwhile, had they broadcast the information at 2AM, WHO WOULD HAVE HEARD IT? Everyone was asleep. The proper thing to do with such a gas leak is stay indoors, which everyone did. BECAUSE THEY WERE ALL ASLEEP!!! So only one fatality, by someone next to the accident site. And he would have died regardless because of his proximity.

This is no big deal. Even the US government doesn't staff all facilities at all hours of the day and night in the event of an emergency. Most emergency personnel are on call, not awake and on the job. Which is why military planes were on the ground the morning 9-11 happened. It took 2 hours for them to be awakened and in the air to shoot down any more hijackers. And that was during the day.

One final note about Minot. The six corporate owned radio stations have been on the market for two years. Only one offer has been made, and the financing fell through. If you want to get in the radio business, this would be a way to do it. I bet you could buy the whole package for cheap.
 
KR4BD said:
There just aren't many opportunities for new folks to break into this business AND ALSO make a reasonable wage.... unless you want to be in sales, where it is a tough grind, but money can be made.
Click to expand...

I've been in the business for 30 years. My income was so bad for the first five years, I needed to work two jobs. It took until I was 35 to save enough to buy a house.

This is not an ownership issue. And definitely not recent. Radio has been paying crap money for decades. This is supply and demand. There are millions of kids looking for work, and a few hundred jobs.

You hate the corporate suits? Great! There are about a dozen non-corporate radio stations in the Nashville area. I can tell you from experience they pay LESS then the corporate guys. And they've been laying off people too. Or you can try and get a job at one of the non-commercial stations. They pay less too. Radio Free Nashville is always looking for people, and they pay nothing at all.

You want respect and security? Good luck in any line of work. Look at all the people on Wall Street who just lost their jobs.

And a union won't help. Lots of people getting fired who are union members. The only thing the union can do is ensure you get your severence.
 
when I was at Viacom (pre-Comcast) a million years ago, there was a legitimate push to go union:
Viacom management pointed out that all wages and benefits would be scaled WAY back, and the
union would have to start negotiating from scratch. the vote against going union wasn't close...

BTW at that time, Viacom offered outstanding benefits, so I thought the union had little to offer
other than dues outta my check
 
KR4BD said:
This is not an ownership issue. And definitely not recent. Radio has been paying crap money for decades. This is supply and demand. There are millions of kids looking for work, and a few hundred jobs.
Click to expand...

I've had a couple of decent paying jobs in radio, in the Nashville market. I had very good ratings. And I was a hard worker who loved the business; a real team player. There was nothing I wouldn't do for radio. But I was let go of those jobs because some corporate suit thought I was making too much money. My positions were filled with people who had less experience and less passion, for less pay. And the ratings fell. So don't tell me it's not an ownership issue. When the owners are in another state and the so-called program director comes to visit once every six weeks, they don't have a clue what a valuable employee is. All they know is numbers, whether the number is assigned to an empoyee or belongs to the bottom line.

No one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care. And radio has become nothing but a slew of non-caring ignorants. And then they want to know why they're not thriving. Go figure.
 
beatlenut said:
So don't tell me it's not an ownership issue. When the owners are in another state and the so-called program director comes to visit once every six weeks, they don't have a clue what a valuable employee is. All they know is numbers, whether the number is assigned to an empoyee or belongs to the bottom line.
Click to expand...

My point is the exact same fate is hitting people regardless if the owner is in another state, or in the same room. It doesn't matter. Sure it's easier to fire someone you don't see, but that hasn't stopped a lot of people. Just cruise through the subjects of this group and you'll see what I'm talking about.

As for people with less experience and less pay, that's how things have always been. That's how I got started 30 years ago. I replaced a guy over 60 who had two kids. I was 21 years old living with my parents. I got the job and the 60 year old vet got replaced. And this was at a station where the owner was in the same building. Not some big corporate thing.
 
It's not like anyone in radio really believes they are untouchable. Living on pins and needles from day to day just
waiting for the bottom to drop out is just part of the gig.

Anybody thought about what'll happen if CC, Citadumb and a half a dozen more radio corps trash out after the
holidays? Maybe the Federal Government will bail the radio industry out....would'nt that be the ultimate power play?
 
Never worked in a radio union shop, but it used to be a pain to get a story from or to a news room that was. News people could feed the sound, you had to have an engineer and while one person could man a news room and take care of the product, it took several to do it in those shops.
I was told by someone who worked in a union and was a supervisor, the unions did a good service, but set up a system that was very expensive for the owners. Remember those??? people who hire GMs, PDs, Nds and jocs and let each one of them do his/her job as long as they made a profit. The three best GMs I ever worked for took care of the sales folks and didn't diddle with the other side. The other GMs, in most cases, thought their title gave them an insight into programming that the people who were hired to do it didn't have and loved to stick their nose in.

In 43 years I can't recall anytime I was ever blown out for someone younger or less experienced. Guess it was luck, but only twice during all those years was I forced to 'seek other opportunities' elsewhere. The first time, Michael St. John wanted Mary Glenn to join Coyote and although it wasn't something I liked, it was understandable as more morning shows had male/female moring combos plus I got unemployment and ended up working for a state legislative seat.
Then, from WSM, it wasn't for younger people, it was for the stockholders. Less expensive to let Metro do it and not have to pay the salaries, insurance and added perks that went along with it.

Speaking of.....from a good source, Metro has cut staff...and more is coming.

Once a news guy....always a news guy!
 
Correction....I didn't work for a state legislative seat. I worked with a friend who was running for the state representive job from up here

Sorry about the mistake. Buddy
 
Buddy..you can be my Les Nesman anytime.. ;) I was never fired for a younger , less experienced jock..but did get canned for farting on the air..5:30 AM...who's listening anyway ?? ..uugghh,,the owner..i think buntin got them to hire me back..but i'm not sure..so much of the 70's were a blurrr, as i remember..or rather try to.. ;D
 
Delta ---


If Buddy was your Les Nesman...what character would have been your $c*tt at WKRP Gallatinnati?

By the way, what you we're fired for back in the good ole days, would be rewarded with a seven digit paycheck
these days...so much for blowing hot air...talk about changing of the guard. :-X
 
Start a union? Thats funny..... After NABET and IBEW great successes in organization.

Wake up! Radio been on a steady slide after TV. Never been a warm fuzzy place but hostile and hard on people, high turn over nothing new in show business and radio low end of it all. if you think these are bad days, just wait, the best is yet to come if you like carnage.

As far as the big groups are concerned, if it hadn't been for them a lot of stations would be off the air now after fcc decreed there would be move ins and 80-90 docket and who asked for it? broadcasters did. Where is their stock now $0.83? $1.00 that is not going to last like Fannymay and freddimac.

Cut losses, get a real job, there is life after broadcasting. Radio Tv people is 95% ego and 5% crazy, work for nothing just to get on air.
 
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