I get rather perturbed at all the so called great radio minds that post their analysis and opinion to this site after situations like the Clear Channel shakeup. Granted - many of you who will read this could teach me so much, but I no longer choose to exercise my career under the judgment of people like Tim Davies. Granted - he could teach me many things, but he is a person that values his job, bonuses and bottom line over anything innovative and artful that a programmer/talent working under him could create….He, and people like him, do not properly correlate programming innovation into their personal success as that language does not use the making money speak. I do believe programming and talent is an art rather than a science; but not to Mr. Davies most and every major executive that is responsible for providing a check to programming people. I also believe good money follows good art.
You see, radio programming has become victim of science. Radio now has budgets and numbers to hit ( a science), national radio revenue is influenced by numbers created by.....(a science) and you program a winning station by keeping one idea per break, a fast tempo song to lead the hour, and your calls at the crack and close of the mic...ect.....all a science.
Everyone is to blame. At the top - to many numbers, to many shareholders, to much greed. At the bottom - all the bullshit rules (or science) on how to program and execute a station. The result over the last 15-20 years is major disconnect. The executives at the top who control everything are now disconnected from innovative talent; programmers at the bottom are disconnected from the demands of the listener. You executives are too worried about pandering to your big advertisers who might and pull their money out of your media one day (as the probably should since your listenership/effective reach is eroding) - and you programmers/talent seem too worried about making sure your talent fees are paid, how many remotes you have and that the post on this site from last night stirred up some shit.
I don't claim to have all the answers on how to fix the problem. Personally, I don't think it will ever be fixed and radio will forever be broken. I hope this might inspire you to take a step back, take blame and ponder how your small role in this industry might mitigate radio collapse before your role with a company does. It's sad, it’s hard and it hurts. Having pride in your art that continues to be devalued and tossed aside by both the public and company is not easy.
The problem is way past issues like, "the ratings are down...got to do something" or "adapt the format." Who are you doing it for? The CPP buyer? Think Home Depot will increase their buy some 25% now that the AM/PM team has been merged for 6 hour marathons or a major format adaptation? What about Bill Heard? No - Neither will not give a shit - and reality is most listeners don't either.
Only a small minority of radio listenership still finds value in personality....a big part of the art created. Arbritron indicates a figure (around) less than 3% of diaries returned mention personalities....and those are probably talk stations. We do know some local business make buys and, arguably, a P1 base finds great value in radio art....but do these art advocates create sufficient reward when taking programming risks? Sadly the answer is no because the pond is so small. This was not the case 20-30 years ago.
Radio will never re-invent a bigger pond. The re-invention will need to get the art removed from the product the majority hears and just offer them what they want – bare bones. This big pond just wants their Freebird - and no radio gives it to them without having morning show promos crammed down their throat all day long, and a DJ cramming calls....and a zingy sweeper that took 3 hours to produce....always a price to pay for the listener....The re-invention will need to get horribly written, produced and thought out local and national commercials out of the mix. So how does a station pay the bills and talent? I don't know. The re-invention also needs to have its own place for the small pond - so that segment will have a place to go with all the sweepers and DJ's and promos. Ever gone onto a car lot and had salesman in your face, got pissed and left? That is how the majority - the big pond - feels about your station and your show....and to feel better, they bought XM and an iPod.
Tim Davies, and industry executives as a whole, is not worried about a re-invention....in their mind radio it great, better than ever and on the cutting edge (as I envision Tim giving away a digital radio). The listener is not worried about re-invention as Wal-Mart will never run out of iPods...or even CD's for the low income. Who knows where programmers stand? But know this, if you go back to that Selector screen and back to pushing your buttons and taking the 10th caller for the free tickets, your pond is only getting smaller while your art continues to depreciate and devalue. If things continue, you will see that pond dried up.
If you can find it within your self to do radio another day by feeding off the appreciation of the small pond - good for you....you are a better person than me and I hope you get the picture.
