Sun sets on radio morning shows

[TheBigA]

I miss the shows that were just one jock, connecting with the listener, empathizing on a cold dark morning commute while playing a few tunes.

Sounds like public radio. Tune around at the bottom of the FM dial. WUMB, WXPN, KCSN.

 

[boombox4]

Given that Seattle has its own culture and challenges and experiences, you'd like to think they care. Maybe they don't, but if they don't that's not saying much good about the state of human nature and engagement with the place they actually live and things that matter to people's lives. Can't change it but still is on some level sad. If "local" doesn't matter, then what makes any city or community unique at all?

Seattle is a tech town, full of tech bros. And yeah, there are a few million others in the metro, but the internet has changed everything.

When you factor in the internet and social media, the concept of "local" is varied. I suppose there is "local" -- i.e, your actual physical location -- and the other "local", meaning your actual community, which is the people you interact with the most on a daily basis. And I would wager that lot of folks in the rainy NW probably have more online interactions with people in other regions, online, than they do with their nextdoor neighbor, or the family two floors down in the condo tower.

Because of the advance of internet-based social media, I can see where locally based, radio morning shows have a stiffer challenge than maybe they did 30 or 40 years ago. The live and local thing isn't really as important, because the audience's interests aren't limited to the local area as much as they would have been in 1985.

 

[TheBigA]

The live and local thing isn't really as important, because the audience's interests aren't limited to the local area as much as they would have been in 1985.

With the exceptions of course being the news & sports stations.

Seattle is an origination town for several popular syndicated music shows, including Brooke & Jeffrey, the Jubal show, the Country Top 40 with Fitz, and the B-Dub party network.

 

[Syfy]

Wasn't Randy. Unfortunately, the losers I hired weren't at the top of the ratings, but were at the top of the list of people I wanted to toss off the 7th floor of the building we were in.

Yeah, Paul, but after "Private Parts" came out about Howard Stern, it seemed like every wannabe morning show wanted to outshock Howard and not entertain. There's too much "I want to be the next So-and-So" instead of being the first them and being original.

With all due respect sir maby what they were doing was their version of originality and it just didn't fit what you wanted out of a on air talent. People in power that suppress creativity are prime reasons stations fail in my view.

 

[Daryl Lynn L.A.]

This, pretty much.

In my market, we still have a couple of live-and-local morning shows, but they are the same old jocks still doing the same old crap they did in the 1990s - it's all wacky zany morning zoos, prank calls, six people all yapping over each other. This stuff was played-out in the '90s and I don't really want to revisit it in 2024. I don't care if it's live-and-local if it's crap.

.......... So I found a couple of local stations that are jockless in the mornings, which is an improvement, but then sometimes they play a sequence of tunes that's not great, and I don't commute for that long, and don't want to hear songs I don't like. So in the past few months, I've been streaming on Spotify.

This is the pipeline listeners are heading down, and Tracey, Dave and Producer Bob's Wacky Morning Zoo isn't going to bring them back - I miss the shows that were just one jock, connecting with the listener, empathizing on a cold dark morning commute while playing a few tunes. That's gone, so why listen to morning radio?

Agreed. Lots of interesting thoughts on this thread. The problem w/ morning shows, IMO, is that there is too much superfluous yapping, yelling, wild laughter about nothing, stupid prank calls, and ridiculos contests. I end up driving along, thinking, "Why am I listening to this? It's not entertaining, the content isn't creative, and it has nothing to with anything. I'd rather hear all news, weather, and traffic on an all-news station. Or, I'd rather hear serious and thoughtful interviews and commentary on an NPR affiliate.
Many of the morning show hosts are convinced that they are the most innovative, interesting content creators in the world, when their show is just 6 people laughing uproariously and yakking over each other. So it's just chaotic nonsense. Or, it's people who cannot decide if they want to do shock jock stuff or serious talk, so they fail at doing both -- like Charlemagne. He has no idea what he wants to do anymore, but he thinks he's the most important personality in radio. I think that if morning radio is going to succeed, it will need to find an entirely different direction. JMO. -- D.

 

[exdjted]

With all due respect sir maby what they were doing was their version of originality and it just didn't fit what you wanted out of a on air talent. People in power that suppress creativity are prime reasons stations fail in my view.

They weren't being 'original'. I was there. In my experience, and in this case in particular, they were doing a show that they wanted to do that may have worked in a large Northeastern market, certainly not a smaller rated Southern market. In this case, there was no attempt to target our home market. Instead, I heard them constantly referring to how this worked where they came from, and how they looked at us as their springboard to a 'major market' gig.

I've hired and fired a lot of people. I know originality. I also know imitation. A lot of morning shows are like audio processing at your local station. Too loud, too cluttered, and too focused on standing out from the crowd by being over-the-top instead of being enjoyable to listen to.

 

[Kelly A]

You're not guaranteed that with a podcast and/or as a social media influencer. There are thousands of podcasters and influencers, and only a handful of them make enough money to support themselves. Most of them have tiny audiences. Plus, online ads are usually sold in blocks of 1,000, and the cost per thousand is usually in the $35-50 range. You have to have a large audience just to buy dinner once-a-week. If you're not a celebrity or the child of one, good luck.

Any more you're correct. Some original YouTubers and influencers got rich, not from preroll ads, but from sponsors who wanted alignment with the channel plus appearances. Now, sort of like radio became, Podcasting is a saturated market. Starting a new podcast means you'll likely be drifting around in the sea of thousands of other podcasters with a handful of listeners. The only one who got rich off their podcast was Joe Rogan. That's because Spotify signed the rights for $100M.

 

[AMRadioGuy]

i could be very very wrong here but my observations on radio with regards to this

It doesnt have a ton to do with commute time, i think its listeners perferences changing.

Morning shows are full of bits and chatter.. but thats not always local info chatter....

Listeners want a genuine connection, a best friend on the radio.. and unless youre like an AC or country station, you dont have that type of presentation.

I'm very average at best as a jock, but listeners like me... because i share those random thoughts about food, music and the community.. tell a short funny story

I think, among radio people.. morning shows have had this impression of being loud and zany... and i dont think the average listener wants that anymore. While im not your average listener, i want to laugh but i also want music... and alot of morning shows dont play a ton of that

I'm not always the most eloquent with the written word but I hope i made some sense

That's me! I'll listen to a music station that plays music I don't prefer... if... I feel like I've got a friend behind the microphone. I'm looking for company. That's becoming harder and harder to find on the radio.

And I'm not looking for the silly morning zoo thing. That's not the way I want to start my day. I'm looking for a companion.

 

[AMRadioGuy]

This, pretty much.

In my market, we still have a couple of live-and-local morning shows, but they are the same old jocks still doing the same old crap they did in the 1990s - it's all wacky zany morning zoos, prank calls, six people all yapping over each other. This stuff was played-out in the '90s and I don't really want to revisit it in 2024. I don't care if it's live-and-local if it's crap.

My commute is only 20 minutes in the morning, 25 if the lights all turn red on me. I only do it two days a week. If the radio is yapping for most of that, then you've got the commercials, the news, more commercials, the traffic - I might hear part of one song on my entire commute. So I found a couple of local stations that are jockless in the mornings, which is an improvement, but then sometimes they play a sequence of tunes that's not great, and I don't commute for that long, and don't want to hear songs I don't like. So in the past few months, I've been streaming on Spotify.

This is the pipeline listeners are heading down, and Tracey, Dave and Producer Bob's Wacky Morning Zoo isn't going to bring them back - I miss the shows that were just one jock, connecting with the listener, empathizing on a cold dark morning commute while playing a few tunes. That's gone, so why listen to morning radio?

Pretty much! One jock connecting with listeners... It does still exist, but not many places unfortunately.

My morning drives are now usually spent listening to podcasts. It's weird, because I was a habitual dial turner, always curious what stations had on, listening to new channels, etc. I probably had the radio on for 80% of the time I was awake. But doggone, it just feels like noise now. No thank you very much. Over the past few years, my radio listening time has shrunken to the point where it's maybe a couple hours a week, whereas it used to be more like 8 hours per day.

 

[ixnay]

Call it Nixon's revenge. It was his FCC that wrote the newspaper broadcast co-ownership rule. Some got waivers, such as Cox and Belo. Others, like the Washington Star, did not. The Star shut down not long after it was forced to sell WMAL AM/FM/TV.

If you consider four years to be "not long"... [scroll down about 1/3 in the linked article to read the relevant passage] Did having to sell the WMALs help kill the Star?

The Washington Star - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[TheBigA]

Did having to sell the WMALs help kill the Star?

It cut off a revenue stream. The paper alone wasn't profitable.

 

[Radio-Bored-Op]

Yep, and that's why Kidd Kraddick, Elvis Duran, Fred and the rest of the clones in the morning are so prevalent. They're barter, they give you a major market show for commercial inventory, a splashy website to link to, and relieve you of the stress of some moron who thinks they're the next Howard Stern from pulling a stunt that gets you sued, gets advertisers pissed off, and has you wishing you'd never listened to their aircheck from K-whatever in Roosterpoot, AR and plucked them from obscurity just for them to become YOUR latest migraine. Been there, done that 30 years ago. Hired the moron, regretted it instantly. Never again...

This was said so poetically.

 

[Radio-Bored-Op]

And it's more than likely that they're people who grew up with radio stations giving them "traffic and weather together" every 10 minutes or so.

It's like "comfort food." A reminder of simpler times before "the kids today" had all that stuff on their phone. Are the kids today into Steve Harvey?

I'm sure he has a solid, loyal audience, but he's 67. I'm not being ageist, but where's the talent that's coming up to replace him?

He is on WBLK in buffalo and that attracts just about everyone; maybe the exception rather than the rule but our agency has young staff ( under 30... shoot Under 25 ) and it is on almost every radio in group homes, transport vans, admin and day hab offices .....

 

[Radio-Bored-Op]

This, pretty much.

In my market, we still have a couple of live-and-local morning shows, but they are the same old jocks still doing the same old crap they did in the 1990s - it's all wacky zany morning zoos, prank calls, six people all yapping over each other. This stuff was played-out in the '90s and I don't really want to revisit it in 2024. I don't care if it's live-and-local if it's crap.

My commute is only 20 minutes in the morning, 25 if the lights all turn red on me. I only do it two days a week. If the radio is yapping for most of that, then you've got the commercials, the news, more commercials, the traffic - I might hear part of one song on my entire commute. So I found a couple of local stations that are jockless in the mornings, which is an improvement, but then sometimes they play a sequence of tunes that's not great, and I don't commute for that long, and don't want to hear songs I don't like. So in the past few months, I've been streaming on Spotify.

This is the pipeline listeners are heading down, and Tracey, Dave and Producer Bob's Wacky Morning Zoo isn't going to bring them back - I miss the shows that were just one jock, connecting with the listener, empathizing on a cold dark morning commute while playing a few tunes. That's gone, so why listen to morning radio?

Well said...

 

[Radio-Bored-Op]

Any more you're correct. Some original YouTubers and influencers got rich, not from preroll ads, but from sponsors who wanted alignment with the channel plus appearances. Now, sort of like radio became, Podcasting is a saturated market. Starting a new podcast means you'll likely be drifting around in the sea of thousands of other podcasters with a handful of listeners. The only one who got rich off their podcast was Joe Rogan. That's because Spotify signed the rights for $100M.

when my co worker said,
" I'm on the facebook and that is where you can find my podcast - we keep it real "
.... that is when you know it has had its run.

 

[Radio-Bored-Op]

I guess Buffalo, NY is lucky to have a few morning shows that appeal to nearly everyone with relevance to water cooler discussions and crossover coverage on the local 11 o click news...

 

[Radio-Bored-Op]

I guess Buffalo, NY is lucky to have a few morning shows that appeal to nearly everyone with relevance to water cooler discussions and crossover coverage on the local 11 o click news...

11 o click ....
I just lost all credibility.
😆

 

[TheRob]

By the way, Elvis Duran will be featured on CBS Sunday Morning this weekend.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1862883564708102319

 

[DOGDOG]

Yep, and that's why Kidd Kraddick, Elvis Duran, Fred and the rest of the clones in the morning are so prevalent. They're barter, they give you a major market show for commercial inventory, a splashy website to link to, and relieve you of the stress of some moron who thinks they're the next Howard Stern from pulling a stunt that gets you sued, gets advertisers pissed off, and has you wishing you'd never listened to their aircheck from K-whatever in Roosterpoot, AR and plucked them from obscurity just for them to become YOUR latest migraine. Been there, done that 30 years ago. Hired the moron, regretted it instantly. Never again...

There are plenty of Howard Sterns. They all climb out of the nearest septic tank and many become car dealers.

 

[The Gorgler]

There are plenty of Howard Sterns. They all climb out of the nearest septic tank and many become car dealers.

The problem w/ morning shows, IMO, is that there is too much superfluous yapping, yelling, wild laughter about nothing, stupid prank calls, and ridiculos contests. I end up driving along, thinking, "Why am I listening to this? It's not entertaining, the content isn't creative, and it has nothing to with anything.

Even the handful of original talented "morning zoo" shows paid CLOSE attention to what EVERY member was contributing and exactly WHEN and WHAT they did. They even coordinated cross-talk with hand signals which is why you didn't usually hear 5 voices walking all over each other. (Same reason I could never stand THE VIEW) Even in the heyday of the "ZOO," for every good one, there were about 50 really awful ones spewing out "great stuff" like (guy) "IT's 7:07!" (girl sidekick) "ha ha ha ha ha." (add a horn honking for good measure and you have the picture.) Like anything, times change.