Suggestion for ALL music radio DJ's in Dallas/Fort Worth - and elsewhere, too!

[henderson_s454]

After having the pleasure of turning my radio on and finding VERY little on the FM dial in the way of "good music", I have managed to become quite frustrated enough to make this ridiculous, but very controversial, suggestion to ALL radio station managers in the Dallas/Fort Worth market - and perhaps elsewhere for that matter.

Instead of crankin' that Soulja Boy Tellem, WHY NOT GO BACK TO PLAYING ANNE MURRAY, FOR PETE'S SAKE!?

 

[bucwhyl]

Hate to bust your bubble, but......

Soulja Boy is selling.....

Anne Murray is not.......

When it comes to radio, it's all about the money, not the listener....

 

[little1]

Uh, aren't the listeners the ones spending their money on the songs?

 

[bucwhyl]

Tell that to Clear Channel and the rest.....

 

[RADIO TRUTH]

Re: Suggestion for ALL music radio DJ's in Dallas/Fort Worth - and elsewhere, to

My suggestion is to try to obtain some talent which is sorely lacking in the DFW market.

 

[salemjedi54]

Re: Suggestion for ALL music radio DJ's in Dallas/Fort Worth - and elsewhere, to

My suggestion is to try to obtain some talent which is sorely lacking in the DFW market.

Well lets see what you can do Radio Truth?

Step up to the plate big boy!!!!!!

 

[Robert Bass]

Well we spin Anne Murray on KEOM. But I suppose admitting that would be considered a shameless plug.

R

 

[MikeShannon914]

Yeah, you get so much great talent these days for $10 an hour. College kids and trade school grads are breaking down the doors at local radio stations just to ensure themselves of a life of being poor and nomadic.

You get what you pay for.

Of course, by Truth's definition, if you aren't named Barney Pip or Dan Ingram, you may as well blow your head off, or try emptying garbage cans for a living instead. No need to even try your hand at radio, since the bar is set so "high."

Robert, I'm awaiting KEOM's full spinning of Anne's new CD, "A Canucky Kind of Christmas." ;D

 

[Robert Bass]

Robert, I'm awaiting KEOM's full spinning of Anne's new CD, "A Canucky Kind of Christmas." ;D

How much are ya gonna pay me for that, Mike?




Woooops, errrr... ha ha ;D

R

 

[RADIO TRUTH]

Re: Suggestion for ALL music radio DJ's in Dallas/Fort Worth - and elsewhere, to

Actually, in today's radio, the bar is set so low. It takes virtually no ability to be a dj today and today's salaries equal today's ability. If djs today get and will work for $10 an hour, that is what they deserve. If you are that desperate to work in radio and don't have the ability, that is what you get. Unfortunately, this hurts all djs because of the law of supply and demand. Radio stations don't need real personality talent to read promos and liner cards and there is an over supply of wannabes who will work for $10 an hour or less. The stations don't really care and it saves them money. This is why if you fired the staff of any radio station and brought in a new group of djs, the ratings wouldn't change, the revenue wouldn't change. Nobody would know the difference. In the era of the height of top forty radio in the 60s, when a station lost a big personality, they also lost ratings and revenue. That is why the Dan Ingrams, Barney Pips, Dick Biondis and Charlie Tunas made more money versus the value of the dollar and they also made additional money doing personal appearances and voicing commercials.
The era of the big personality music dj is dead. Radio stations would rather pay less to their djs and require less from them. Even if the stations wanted big personalities to play music, that type of talent presently doe not exist. That comes from 30 years of liner card reading djs. Bill Parcells, when talking about NFL teams said, "you are what your record says you are". If you are making $10 an hour, and will work for $10 an hour, it means you are only worth $10 an hour and in today's world of radio, some of those $10 an hour djs are being grossly overpaid.

 

[Oldbones]

Re: Suggestion for ALL music radio DJ's in Dallas/Fort Worth - and elsewhere, to

Radio stations don't need real personality talent to read promos and liner cards and there is an over supply of wannabes who will work for $10 an hour or less. The stations don't really care and it saves them money. This is why if you fired the staff of any radio station and brought in a new group of djs, the ratings wouldn't change, the revenue wouldn't change. Nobody would know the difference. In the era of the height of top forty radio in the 60s, when a station lost a big personality, they also lost ratings and revenue. That is why the Dan Ingrams, Barney Pips, Dick Biondis and Charlie Tunas made more money versus the value of the dollar and they also made additional money doing personal appearances and voicing commercials.

I'm not sure I'd put Biondi & Pip in the same category as Tuna & Ingram. Do you have any verifiable evidence to prove that stations "lost ratings & revenue" when someone left? Unless this jock went to a direct competitor (not likely given the non-compete clauses major market talent had to sign in those days), most listeners (and advertisers) stuck around & got used to whoever the "new guy" was.
Also, keep in mind that for every Dan Ingram, Robert W. Morgan, etc. there were hundreds of "format jocks" who were paid much less, but still delivered a respectable audience. Not every jock back in "the day" was a personality. Indeed, the vast majority weren't.

The era of the big personality music dj is dead. Radio stations would rather pay less to their djs and require less from them. Even if the stations wanted big personalities to play music, that type of talent presently doe not exist. That comes from 30 years of liner card reading djs. Bill Parcells, when talking about NFL teams said, "you are what your record says you are". If you are making $10 an hour, and will work for $10 an hour, it means you are only worth $10 an hour and in today's world of radio, some of those $10 an hour djs are being grossly overpaid.

Glad you noticed. "Big personality music dj" radio has been dead for 30+ years. Other than a handful of radio geeks no one cares. I know we all like to think we're radio stars, but to most listeners we're just the voice between the hits. All the better if you can inject something unique over that :14 intro, but long pointless bits and prep-service jokes don't equal personality.

 

[ITC Delta]

Thankfully we don't abide by the Canadian Content Rule...lol!

 

[little1]

Re: Suggestion for ALL music radio DJ's in Dallas/Fort Worth - and elsewhere, to

I know we all like to think we're radio stars, but to most listeners we're just the voice between the hits.

And if you don't think Oldbones has hit the nail on the head here, ask yourself this question.

Would you sit through music you HATE, to hear bits and pieces of a DJ you love?

If you're an AC fan, Would you listen to Ron Chapman if you had to listen to scandanavian death metal the rest of teh hour?

If you like oldies, would you listen to Jody Dean if he was spinning nonstop chinese polka music?

If you like AOR, would you listen to Redbeard (or Dillon,Bo&Jim etc) if they were spinning gospel?

I'm thinking not. And if you think I'm wrong, than tell me why Labella never got great ratings on 97.9 playing lite AC? Labella, (God rest his soul) was loved and respected, why didn't his audience from teh Zoo and ZPS days follow him to 97.9?

The vast majority of teh listeners out there are fans of the music they like, not the DJ's playing it. So yeah, Jocks are just the voice between the hits...A bad one can drive people away, and a good one can keep people around for an extra quarter hour or two, but face it, the bell curve principle holds tru here also...The vast majority of jocks are average. Not horrible, not great, but journeyman...

 

[henderson_s454]

Hate to bust your bubble, but......

Soulja Boy is selling.....

Anne Murray is not.......

When it comes to radio, it's all about the money, not the listener....

Yes, I know - it's ALL about money here - NOT about talent, or listeners. One big question - who buys Soulja Boy's CDs? One potential answer - NOT ME, YOU MONEY-GRUBBIN' MORONS!!!

Seriously, though - what's it going to take for the "money-makers" like Clear Channel and CBS Radio to LISTEN to the LISTENERS for a change?

I know we all like to think we're radio stars, but to most listeners we're just the voice between the hits.

And if you don't think Oldbones has hit the nail on the head here, ask yourself this question.

Would you sit through music you HATE, to hear bits and pieces of a DJ you love?

If you're an AC fan, Would you listen to Ron Chapman if you had to listen to scandanavian death metal the rest of teh hour?

If you like oldies, would you listen to Jody Dean if he was spinning nonstop chinese polka music?

If you like AOR, would you listen to Redbeard (or Dillon,Bo&Jim etc) if they were spinning gospel?

I'm thinking not. And if you think I'm wrong, than tell me why Labella never got great ratings on 97.9 playing lite AC? Labella, (God rest his soul) was loved and respected, why didn't his audience from teh Zoo and ZPS days follow him to 97.9?

The vast majority of teh listeners out there are fans of the music they like, not the DJ's playing it. So yeah, Jocks are just the voice between the hits...A bad one can drive people away, and a good one can keep people around for an extra quarter hour or two, but face it, the bell curve principle holds tru here also...The vast majority of jocks are average. Not horrible, not great, but journeyman...

Truthfully, it's not about the personality behind the microphone either - it's what he plays that makes him/her important. While it may be true that the late John LaBella didn't garner high ratings at "Soft Rock B 97.9" or "Memories 96.7" as he did at the "Zoo", it DID NOT change the fact that he was playing the music that listeners in that audience definitely wanted to hear. Jody Dean playing Chinese Polka would be okay with me, as long as I liked Chinese Polka. Another weird suggestion - why not sit through Chris "Action" Jaxson playing NOTHING but Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, or Tammy Wynette? Trust me, I'd listen to "Action" Jaxson if THOSE people were part of his music playlist. Anyone who disagrees has just bought a one-way ticket to "Fist City".

 

[Robert Bass]

Most commercial stations quit listening to the listeners, in 1996. Corporate bosses rule nowadays.

R

 

[little1]

Most commercial stations quit listening to the listeners, in 1996. Corporate bosses rule nowadays.
R

Most? Can you put a percentage on that? 50+? 75%? 90%?

And you'd know this from your vast experience in commercial radio, right? : : :

In the real world, every station I've worked for in the past 20 years or so (almost all run by those big corporate bosses) in the market have done some kind of audience research every year, if not more often...Either full out perceptual studies, listener panels, auditorium style music testing, they've all done SOMETHING...

And that's listening to the audience...That's taking their feedback and using that to help guide the direction of the station...

But go ahead Robert, sit there at your non-commercial station and tell us how it's done in the big bad world of commercial radio...

 

[Paul Boomer]

Re: Suggestion for ALL music radio DJ's in Dallas/Fort Worth - and elsewhere, to

...In the real world...

Hey! I live in the "real world", too. So does Robert.

Way back when I was a student, I participated in some of the audience research studies you mentioned. We'd listen to 5 or 10 seconds of a song, and rate them from 1 to 5. It went on for 2 hours, I think. It was for a classic rock station.

It was great for ranking old songs that everyone knows. But where's the new music on the airwaves? A visiting niece let me listen to the stuff her fellow college students are listening to now, and I liked a lot of it. These were bands I'd never heard of.

On weekends, I listen exclusively to streaming stations over the internet. I can find new bands there, and I can find classic songs or oddities from old bands I like.

Why can't I find new, good music on my radio? It's out there...it's just not being played.

 

[MikeShannon914]

Why can't I find new, good music on my radio? It's out there...it's just not being played.

Only stations that don't have stockholders will play that. KTCU, for example. You might hear some of that on someone's HD channel, but again, there's no financial interest involved...stations don't even care enough to make sure the HD channel is working, let alone what's being played there. HD stations are nothing more than afterthoughts to "appear" that corporations are paying attention to cutting-edge technology. I'd bet most PDs look at their HD stations as one big albatross and worthless hassle.

Satellite, iPods, your own CDs...there's your answer. Expecting such a thing on a commercial, viable frequency is just way too much to ask or expect.

 

[jb321]

Re: Suggestion for ALL music radio DJ's in Dallas/Fort Worth - and elsewhere, to

If you are making $10 an hour, and will work for $10 an hour, it means you are only worth $10 an hour and in today's world of radio, some of those $10 an hour djs are being grossly overpaid.

It's 2007 my friend, EVERY job industry has changed drastically from back in the day. Some people continue to ride the wave, because they simply enjoy doing and for a college kid it sure beats flipping burgers or any other manual labor. It is what it is in my eyes, talent fees still exist, voice work is still around, and so are bonuses and the potential for a promotion if you do your job right. I saw kudos to my fellow on-air collages that are doing BIG personality radio?? under the current circumstances, that means that it's coming from the heart, it's passion, and bottom line- it's a living and time brings about change.

 

[Robert Bass]

Most commercial stations quit listening to the listeners, in 1996. Corporate bosses rule nowadays.
R

Most? Can you put a percentage on that? 50+? 75%? 90%?

And you'd know this from your vast experience in commercial radio, right? : : :

In the real world, every station I've worked for in the past 20 years or so (almost all run by those big corporate bosses) in the market have done some kind of audience research every year, if not more often...Either full out perceptual studies, listener panels, auditorium style music testing, they've all done SOMETHING...

And that's listening to the audience...That's taking their feedback and using that to help guide the direction of the station...

But go ahead Robert, sit there at your non-commercial station and tell us how it's done in the big bad world of commercial radio...

Little1,

Why don't you try selling that thought to all the people who complain about commercial radio, when they contact KEOM? : : : You'd be surprised at the things they say. Stations need to go above aand beyond with listening to the listeners, aside from those lame auditorium tests that only occur two to three times a year. Did you know even Edison Media Research condems those type of tests?

Funny how it used to be stations liistened to every form of listener feedback, including snail mail and phone calls. Nowadays you guys do very little.

That's what I hear from all the complaints we receive.

Of course people like you probably blow this off. That's the typical CONsultant approach.

R