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Regional Program Directors?

T

tothedj

After noticing that WMAG in Greensboro and WLYT Charlotte will be programmed
by the same person, and that WKKT Charlotte and WTQR Winston-Salem is ran
the same way, will this become a trend?
It takes a lot of responsiblity for a program director to handle just one radio
station, but since corporate owners think the direction to go is having one
person program several stations?, It doesn't make any sense and is another
way for companies to cut cost, and i find this trend "very disturbing"
 
I agree. I'm not quite sure how CC expects to win when they make "budget cuts" in the most important positions. Not making enough money? Maybe quit paying all these Regional schmucks ridiculous salaries and start putting the effort and money into the locals who really make the station tick.

Even if I didn't know the biz any at all, I would think it'd be obvious. Pretty soon they'll be nothing but carbon copy stations programmed out of San Antonio or somewhere with John Boy & Billy plus a few trackers and PRESTO: A radio station!
 
Gosh, you mean Clear Channel is going to have one person program more than one station in more than one market? Making radio the homogonized, cookie-cutter one-size-fits-all ocean of crap it has become? Next thing you'll tell me is that there's actually Clear Channel disc jockeys in Des Moines, Iowa doing air shifts at Clear Channel stations in Modesto, California.
 
In 2003 I heard an FCC official speak at the NCAB in Asheville. He warned GM's and PD's that they needed to keep things local. That the local flavor is what would keep terrestrial radio alive. It is their one "ace in the whole" over Satellite. Clear Channel, IMO, has done everything it can to thwart those warnings. The more cookie-cutter their stations become, the more they're leading to their ultimate undoing. I won't be surprised to see more on-air layoffs and more voicetracking in GSO before it's all over.
 
When listeners finally lose all interest in corporate radio, those cookie cutter stations won't be able to pay the bills, then local owner\operators could re-emerge. What a concept.
 
When listeners finally lose all interest in corporate radio, those cookie cutter stations won't be able to pay the bills, then local owner\operators could re-emerge. What a concept.
Click to expand...

It will be a great day when localism returns to the Triad. Once again, we will hear good (hopefully) talent LIVE again. (in each daypart!) The owners will actually have to pay someone to work live again! Jocks that love what they do will once again do it as a labor of love and not for the money. The first person that actually understands this concept stands to emerge from the haze as a winner. Will it happen? I don't know...but it would be a great day!
 
It's a matter of simple arithmetic. When you pay 2,3, 4 or more times a station's value for HUNDREDS of stations, each must then cashflow millions of dollars each year just to service the debt. When your market share cannot or does not support that kind of financial performance year in and out, then the only option is to reduce operating expenses. The point has already been well made here that cutting these crucial positions is a sure path to failure. The grand experiment is in my opinion, destined to fail.
 
I think a large part of the appeal of radio is the listeners' relating to the on-air personalities. When you listen to the same personalities over time, you feel like you know them. They make little comments about their home lives, their wives, their children, their health, their communities, etc. People become loyal to the personalities and can't miss listening to their "friends". The likeability of personalities was a large part of what made radio special and a part of people's lives. That is sadly missing from radio today and is slowly erroding radio in general. You can get music anywhere, satellite, internet, cd's, ipods, etc. BUT, you can't get the personal, local, voice with local information everywhere. I have heard many, many people tell me that WBRF "Blue Ridge Radio" out of Galax is one of their favorite stations. The reason is simply, that while they do like some of the music they play, even more, they like the "old time" personal, local delivery of the station...the live announcers. A lot of us radio folks will tune in a station like that and think they sound awful (because we've bought into the big-time corporate programming), but the public is missing the local, personal touch. They want a "real" person who might stammer, make a few mistakes, but they're real! Not some perfect voice-tracked robot! I think there should be something very "personal" about radio and the big Corporations have taken that away from us. It's NOT entirely about the music.
 
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