Slooooowwwwww

[CTListener]

As I've said many times to you before, it still happens today in your town. I can tell you the next time it will happen, and where it will be. But because you don't attend any of these events, you never see them. That doesn't mean they don't happen. They do. Maybe not at the roller rink or malt shop, because they're gone. But if you go to the state fair, the mall, or even a concert at the arena, there will be DJs from the local stations playing music and handing out t-shirts.

Here in Connecticut, hip-hop WZMX and modern country WWYZ are easily the most visible of the major FMs at concerts and many other events that are targeted to folks at least 35 years younger than either Tuna or myself. I may not get to them, but I know they exist because the publicity we've gotten for those events at the newspapers I've been with always mentions their presence.

Older audiences aren't ignored. I've been going to minor league baseball games at several venues for years, and the Hartford or New Haven classic rock stations have had booths set up outside the gates for many seasons now.

True, it's not always the DJs who show up at these events -- it's more likely to be summer interns or the station's publicity director -- but it's still a radio presence, and the T-shirts and other stuff still gets handed out.

 

[landtuna]

As I've said many times to you before, it still happens today in your town. I can tell you the next time it will happen, and where it will be. But because you don't attend any of these events, you never see them. That doesn't mean they don't happen. They do. Maybe not at the roller rink or malt shop, because they're gone. But if you go to the state fair, the mall, or even a concert at the arena, there will be DJs from the local stations playing music and handing out t-shirts.

You are correct. The State Fair is held for 10 days once per year and there are radio stations present some of that time. Concerts drift in and out and usually have a local radio station connection but the number of occurrences is minuscule compared to the "every weekend" of my youth. I cannot remember the last time I saw a live remote at a mall.

The last time I got a t-shirt from a radio station was back in the early 80's along with a $1 bill and a "thank you for listening". It was from KNIX, a country-western station. I have never listened to KNIX.

I realize I cannot blame the radio industry for following the people who pay its bills but it just seems a damned shame that all radio offers today is the same music that is available in a hundred other places and has tossed every other reason for listening out the window.

 

[TheBigA]

I realize I cannot blame the radio industry for following the people who pay its bills but it just seems a damned shame that all radio offers today is the same music that is available in a hundred other places and has tossed every other reason for listening out the window.

First of all, radio stations are not in the music business. If they were in the music business, and owned music, they would be able to control what music they play. Since no radio company owns a record label, they take the music they are given, and play whatever is popular. The only music that is not available in hundreds of other places is the music that hasn't been licensed for play, and therefore would be illegal to play, because the writers would not get compensated for their work.

Having said all that, what music do you personally listen to? Would you prefer to hear music that isn't popular? That isn't in demand? Because it is available, and some stations that I can direct you to play it. But I doubt very much you'd like it. My friends at NPR commission works by artists that have never been heard before and aren't available in hundreds of places. But I don't see anyone clamoring to hear that music. Because they're not in an ad-supported business, they don't care. But when you're talking about a business that is paid for by advertisers rather than consumers, you end up with a different product.

So for this reason, it is my view that radio is not in the music business, or even the music distribution business. Its role in music is incidental. Record labels themselves control all of that. The only content radio stations own and control is their own employees and the content their employees create. This is why I say that today, radio stations make an effort to do community outreach, broadcasting from concerts and events, to hand out t-shirts and shake hands. There is a budget code for this, a management structure for this. Their talent, whether local or syndicated, is what distinguishes what they do from the other sources of music. However, this isn't necessarily what the public wants.

 

[landtuna]

First of all, radio stations are not in the music business. If they were in the music business, and owned music, they would be able to control what music they play. Since no radio company owns a record label, they take the music they are given, and play whatever is popular. The only music that is not available in hundreds of other places is the music that hasn't been licensed for play, and therefore would be illegal to play, because the writers would not get compensated for their work.

Having said all that, what music do you personally listen to? Would you prefer to hear music that isn't popular? That isn't in demand? Because it is available, and some stations that I can direct you to play it. But I doubt very much you'd like it. My friends at NPR commission works by artists that have never been heard before and aren't available in hundreds of places. But I don't see anyone clamoring to hear that music. Because they're not in an ad-supported business, they don't care. But when you're talking about a business that is paid for by advertisers rather than consumers, you end up with a different product.

So for this reason, it is my view that radio is not in the music business, or even the music distribution business. Its role in music is incidental. Record labels themselves control all of that. The only content radio stations own and control is their own employees and the content their employees create. This is why I say that today, radio stations make an effort to do community outreach, broadcasting from concerts and events, to hand out t-shirts and shake hands. There is a budget code for this, a management structure for this. Their talent, whether local or syndicated, is what distinguishes what they do from the other sources of music. However, this isn't necessarily what the public wants.

I have been able to follow your posts pretty well historically but I am not sure this one made much sense to me. What I meant by "music business" was that the primary product music radio stations play is music. They may also carry sports or special events or talk shows as well but most seem to play music. I remember when my local Tucson stations played children's programs, local singers and other general interest shows. Those are all gone and have been replaced primarily by playing songs. The DJ's who amused us with jokes or stories about the music and their artists have largely disappeared. I don't see weekly flyers from the stations listing the current top 40/30/20/10 or giving bio's on the "personalities" on-air. I still have my "Hot Times" membership card from Chris Borden when he was Morning DJ at KTKT. It was a club that had a number of features to keep teens my age (high school in those days) interested in the music, the station and him personally.

In my market at least two radio stations have teamed up with a TV station to have their AM DJ spend 3-4 minutes on TV air a couple times per week in kind of a cross promotion effort. That seems to be the total extent of self promoting radio. The community outreach of which you speak may be going on somewhere but it is virtually non-existent in my market.

I keep hoping radio will turn around because I miss the old days - and not just the music. There has always been magic in hearing something coming from far, far away. Mine started with a crystal set in the early 50's and continued through most of the 80's. And then it died. It will be a tragedy if we lose this medium but it seems inevitable since the listeners of tomorrow are not listening today and us old farts no longer hear the content we like. I don't think there will be enough night watchmen listening in the years to come to keep the medium alive. Seems The Buggles were right all those years ago.

 

[TheBigA]

The DJ's who amused us with jokes or stories about the music and their artists have largely disappeared. I don't see weekly flyers from the stations listing the current top 40/30/20/10 or giving bio's on the "personalities" on-air.

Maybe...because I listen to a lot of formats in a lot of places, my experience is very different from yours. But one big thing that changed, and it happened about 20 years ago, is artists became a lot more accessible. Fifty years ago, it would have been unthinkable for anyone to ask a question of The Beatles or Elvis. But today, artists think nothing about responding directly to questions from fans. So the role of the DJ as an intermediary has become less important. For a while, that caused a lot of confusion for DJs as to what their job was. But I think we've gotten past that, and we now know their job is to be a representative of their station. So now DJs reach out to their audience and get THEM to tell stories about artists or music. So that the radio station becomes a community built around a lifestyle. It's less one DJ pontificating his experience, and more of a group thing. At least that's what I see in the younger formats. The older formats are more difficult, because their audience is less active. But you talked about radio playing the same music that is available in hundreds of other places, and that's just how it is. There is no exclusive to the music any more. But if you can use the radio as a base for community, then you might have something that's unique. But as I said, that active role for radio isn't exactly what everyone wants. A big chunk of people just want the music, and don't care about stories or any of that stuff you enjoyed. So for them, there's personal music devices. My view is there are enough people who want each, so depending on the format, that's what radio does.

The physical stuff you talked about, the flyers or things like that, exist on web sites and social media pages. That's also where a lot of the one-on-one interaction takes place.

 

[kwthom]

Interesting discussion - it could have easily been started a week ago rather than several months ago...

<...>But if you can use the radio as a base for community, then you might have something that's unique. But as I said, that active role for radio isn't exactly what everyone wants. A big chunk of people just want the music, and don't care about stories or any of that stuff you enjoyed. So for them, there's personal music devices. My view is there are enough people who want each, so depending on the format, that's what radio does.

The physical stuff you talked about, the flyers or things like that, exist on web sites and social media pages. That's also where a lot of the one-on-one interaction takes place.

I have a great-niece that's just ready to get into her 'tween' years. She does listen to music - it's music that mom has on in the car as they both head to school.

During the day? In the evening? It's a wide mixture of social media - direct to her from her phone.

Where we may have had two or three stations that might pique our interests back in the day, today there is instant gratification. No need to dial the phone repeatedly, finally get thru to the DJ, then ask for a song to be played. If they said "Sure, I'll play that in about 20 minutes!"...maybe you were lucky and heard it - or not.

In less than ten seconds, virtually any popular song can be found on-line...just start with YouTube and go from there.