I agree. It seems way too many stations play follow the leader and quite frankly what may work for one station may NOT work for another. I keep wondering when all the suits that read these boards and worry what their employees are saying about their stations will actually READ what is being said. There are so many great ideas here that I'd hire most of the respondants as my staff. Radio needs a swift kick in it's rear end to survive and it will survive as it did when TV came out, or the walkman or even the CD. But going back to the basics is what I think needs to be done those basics that made radio great and unique to other media. With the advent of the internet in the studio, a weath of information about artists, songs, eras, periods of time etc. that one could have a super show now in half the time it took just 20 years ago. Yeah I know some would cringe of copywright infringement and other leagal issues, but if you give the proper credit for the source I think you could avoid problems. PDs have come to the point that they have listened to the consultant's krap for so long that they cannot think for themselves. They also have listened to corporate's BS to where they feel "scared" to say wait a minute and stand up to management. Yes they are trying to preserve their own job, but nothing is set in concrete you can do everything corporate wants and they can still lay you off or fire you for no real reason. Stations need to be run by the individuals that corporate has put in place to run them, not just have them there for the sake of having someone there for the listeners and clients to interact with. Let them do their jobs with minimal contact and no overbearing control. These people at the station level know the day to day operation of their stations best. Corproate only needs to be involved if there is a major rebuild or major equipment expense or whatever. Yes there has to be a company wide standard and should be, but be flexible enough to let individual stations do what they think is best for their listeners and clients. The operation needs to be more like the mom and pop variety but with the "grandparents" watchful eye. Too many PDs are afraid to go out of the box and actually try some things and corporate needs to let them try those things. Ratings are an antequated system that needs to be abandoned. I have never understood how only a few hundreed or eve a few thousand people can say this is what everyone wants to see or hear. If they relied on me they would go out of business because I don't watch the shows they claim everyone is watching or listen to the music everyone is buying. What system should replace ratings I don't know, but there should be some new and better way. One thing most don't take into account is the attention spans of the younger crowd is much shorter than say someone my age. People don't really listen or watch for long periods of time most have it on in the background as a means to not have silence or to drown out other noises. I don't know all the answers nor do I know it all, but I knwo what I think would be good for the radio business. I too am a "user" of radio even though I work in it just as all of us here are. PDs should think like their listeners or at least listen to their stations as if they were listeners and not PDs. Think to yourself "what would I like to hear on the radio?" what do I think would be good to listen to. Not "oh this or that teststed or didn't test well so let's not play it. Or many listeners only like such and such, no really they DO. Sometimes thinking oppositely may help you see things from another perspective. Instead of the industry trying to get someone from the outside to overanalyze it, maybe we need to look at the mirror at ourselves and say lets change things ourselves. We the people on the inside of radio need to change our ways of thinking or we will be doomed to failure and on the path the industry is now it will fail and sooner than later if something isn't done and done quickly.
, WRNS betta watch out :-\