SirRoxalot said:
In most cases, the talent didn't negotiate their deals. They were done by agents, who got a commission. The agents were the ones who extracted deals, and quite often those deals were not built around making good radio, or connecting with an audience, or serving the public interest. The deals were done to maximize commission. I understand what it's like to work on a commission. But if the goal is to make good radio, connect with an audience, or serve the public interest, it isn't accomplished by hiring an agent. As I said, a lot of what hurt radio in the years following consolidation was the way air talent lost contact with the audience. That was often something written in their contract. They don't have to do personal appearances any more. They don't have to meet the audience. All that was given to second bananas or "stunt boys" who did all the real work, leaving the host as a disconnected prima dona. That didn't help radio.
Once again, I don't live in Buffalo, so your experience may differ. But I worked in a lot of other markets and saw the same situation repeated. The audience began to question whether the host cared at all about the them, or if they were only interested in money and feeding their own ego. So when other options appeared, those hosts found themselves with fewer listeners. None of this was because of some ownership conspiracy. No consolidator wanted to overpay their hosts so they'd lose the support of their audience, or give them big staffs so they didn't have to do anything anymore. No one is that smart. But it happened, and was just another by-product of the growth of radio.
SirRoxalot said:
As I said to Paul Warren, if you or anyone feels the suits have gotten rich off your hard work, then start your own business. That way you get to keep all the money. But things aren't going back to the way they used to be. That time was done a long time ago. Probably before you were born. Population has been leaving Buffalo since the 40s. Location used to be the source of Buffalo's wealth, and now it's a disadvantage. Few companies are starting in Buffalo. So you're left with aging businesses and employees. Very little new growth, very little for an ad-supported company to be based on. That's a very disheartening realization for a city that was once an industrial hub. Now it's exactly as you describe: A place where outsiders come to strip-mine. For the time being. Unless someone builds the next Rich Foods or something similar, the future doesn't look good.
"Chicago is a momumental (nice spelling btw 