state of OC radio...

[radiofirst21]

What does everyone here honestly think about the state of radio here in Oklahoma City and the rest of the state?

 

[Dadio1234]

I think the best "Morning Show" in OKC is actually an afternoon show!

 

[j1203]

It's sad... :'(

 

[OKCRadioGuy]

OKC radio is so pathetic it's amazing. The amazing thing is companies still pay to advertise. All I can say is thank GOD for XM. ;D

 

[Dadio1234]

I think radio first was looking for something constructive. Not "radio in OKC is pathetic". You can look at every city on Radio-Info.com and there's always some jaded radio person talking about how radio sucks in their market. I think like any market in the U.S., OKC has it's good and it's bad. Let's keep it constructive instead of damning the entire market as "pathetic".

 

[radiofirst21]

I really don't see our market as "pathetic", although I wouldn't mind seeing some changes.

 

[OKCRadioGuy]

It's not that OKC is particularly more pathetic that the national average. In fact, it IS the average. And that average is well below the average of the past. Because the soul of radio was sold out to the highest bidder in the early 90s to the PATHETIC looser big corporate pigs that have McDonnaldized the entire US with their cookie-cutter crap utilizing the cheapest method possible for stupid money that now they must try to pay for, we now have a nice homogonized bunch of rot instead of what was entertaining radio. Understand it's not neccesarly just an OKC thing. Its the industry itself. If they keep it up other emerging technologies are going to run smooth over the top of terrestrial. Don't look for the Sat. guys to do it either. The worst nightmare of the suits are yet to come when internet will be available to the public mobile at reasonable rates. 10 years from now will be radio's true come-to-Jesus. If they think they have it rough now, just wait. I for one will be laughing my ass off. They paid all that money for the sticks, have proceeded to run off the good talent, and will soon have even more trouble paying for it. If you don't believe me, look to some experts even within our own industry.. There are several consultants that have professed similar thoughts about the emerging technologies. The reason the stock market has been hard on radio stocks is because they have finally realized the price paid for the property cannnot and will not pay off in the long run. Lots of blue-sky was painted, and now the paint is flaking off. The truth is becoming clearer, even to stock analists.What is happening with the Cume-less buyout, (I realize not an OKC thing directly) where they slash and burn good people and stations just for the sake of the bottom line is what IS wrong. Cume-less is just following the example of the old Crap Channel of the past. I have to say Crap Channel is getting slightly less revolting overall, especially in OKC where they finally got a market manager with a brain, however, they still are the standard by which other wanta-bes follow. Overall their formula is to put out the same crap everywhere with low costs. The result is we aren't in the entertainment industry anymore. Terrestrial radio has become just a commodity, and is quickly becoming a quite worthless one especially with the youth of this country. Kids aren't as stupid as the suits think. How many kids do you see with walkman radios these days? Is this generation going to give a crap about radio when they hit that precious 25-54 everyone is chasing after? What would have happened if our generations were given similar choices? Would there be a classic rock/classic hits, AC, and country audience that cared about radio now? Would radio even be able to pay the electric bills now? Would we have even bothered?Now, you're going to come back with "ohh.. he's just a jaded radio guy".. etc., etc. Open your eyes and put your corporate butt-kissing aside long enough to think about it. Is today's radio REALLY worth a damn? When is the last time any of you guys have done anything compelling at your station?How many people show up to your remotes to see the DJ? Don't you see what the suites have done? They've made talent replaceable and expendable at the cost of entertainment! Reading liner cards and VT'ing isn't compelling.. sorry! How about trying to raise some hell and see if we can save this thing we call radio before it totally takes a dump, huh? Anyone tracked the stocks of mega-radio corp. boys lately? The writing is on the wall. Our industry has been hijacked. What can we do about trying to fix it before it's too late?

 

[Summers]

OKCRADIOGUY you are absolutely correct about your assessment of the industry.Not just in Oklahoma City radio but everywhere. Unfortunately there is not a whole lot that can be done from an air personality point of view except continue to do what you do best. Most will tell you that they are just happy to have a job in the industry. While agreed that radio has been hijacked, we must remember this landslide started when the telecommunications act was signed into law. Big companies for yearsLobbied the crap out of Washington to give them the upper hand to monopolize markets.They had a plan to run radio stations like they run corporate America. Make money by cutting jobs and firing people. Including Air Personalities, Programmers and GM's all for the almighty dollar. You know and I know when it comes to entertainment, you can't dothat. But trying telling that to the wolves THAT WANNA MAKE MONEY! NOT GONNA HAPPEN.If these folks could outsource these jobs overseas to save a buck they would. But of course then you have an accent problem. Lord knows I may have just given them an idea. It's like taking a radio station and giving it to CPA and sticking a microphone in front of himand asking him to entertain the masses. He can't do it. And as long as conglomerate radiocontinues this ideology of cookie cutting the industry, what you hear is what you get.In the next couple of years technology is going to change yet again. Radio's big chance to change the course will be digital radio. However that to comes with a price. When I was at NAB this year I had a chance to talk to the FCC about the digital side channels.These channels are not commercial channels at present and corporate radio is lobbying the heck out the FCC to relax this current non-commercial standard. The FCC said that chances are they probably will relax the measure. Film at ten. By the way I also asked them about Low Power FM's and if they will ever relax the Non-commercial standard on that and they said chances arethat will not happen. The big deal I'm looking forward to is Internet radio in the car. I firmly believe that is where radio will be making an entertainment comeback. However, get ready. Conglomerate radio is all over the FCC to notallow that to happen right now, unless of course they have a financial reason otherwise. Big radio has to make money and drawing the listener’s attention away from terrestrial radio will spur disasterfor these big conglomerates. It should get really interesting.As they say "Things-R-AH-Changing". Hopefully corporate radio will get the message before it's too latethat you don't have to program all your formats the same. Give each market and each station a reasonable budget and let them do their diligence in the market they are in. Including imaging, budgeting and formatics. Notice I said reasonable budget. ( I know...I'm dreaming..but hey) Also I liked to see conglomerates seperate their sister stations more and make them independent again. There has to be something said about running your radio station seperately from the other stations in a CC market. Unfortunately that's not how Wal-Mart made their money. But remember. Wal-Mart is not in the Entertainment industry. But then visit the Wal-Mart at I-240 on the Southside on a Saturday and take your Prozac before you go. There is really some entertainment to be had there. wooohoo!Okay...I'm getting tired and delirious. Enough said.