RE "Both of them?"
GREAT line.
Reminds me of the signoff line the always-funny Howard Hoffman did when he a DJ:
"THANK YOU BOTH FOR LISTENING!"
Yo from Balto, BWI Airport, where, on the rental car shuttle bus just now, crestfallen Orioles fans are bemoaning yesterday's SIX-RUN Red Sox bottom-of-the-ninth, resulting in Boston's 6-5 win. "SO GOOD! SO GOOD! SO GOOD!" (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ljLcgkbrwA)
NH Radiochild said:
Seriously, though, how do you think the other consultants feel?
I can TELL you (what-they-tell-me): Understandably anxious.
These days, ANY vendor is selling in a different market than pre-1996.
Post-consolidation, there are so-many-fewer-buyers than when radio was "mom & pop."
Thus the observations I've offered elsewhere @ radio-info.com about PODCASTING.
It's all that each of Talk Radio's two annual conventions can do to round up 500 attendees.
Last year's second annual Portable Media Expo (
http://members.aol.com/cookeh/pme06.html) had 2500 attending.
Among them: vendors familiar from radio convention exhibit halls of yesteryear.
Shure Microphones "shure" isn't going to sell many more to radio stations.
So this new user is fresh meat.
And it's not just a hardware play.
The nimble consultant will embrace this new platform too.
Back to AM/FM: Two thoughts:
1. In ANY industry, there is opportunity in chaos.
If everything was hunky-dory, people-who-do-what-I-do would have to find honest work.
But change creates demand for professional services, in any industry.
So those other consultants I observe as anxious might be missing The Big Picture.
2.
YOU BET radio has gotten zany in the last few years.
And it'll get zanier soon, as Consolidation 2.0 unfolds.
RIGHT NOW, Citadel is swallowing ABC; and Clear Channel is dickering its value on The Street.
Imus' recent tumble has gotten potty-mouth lots of ink.
But ECONOMIC factors are, increasingly, more-theatening, especially to on-air talent.
Look for my guest column "Will YOU Be Next?" later this month, in R&R.