The Declining state of radio and your opinion why...

[TheBigA]

How many DJs and talk show hosts in Buffalo? How many have those stories?

And how much of that will make an emotional connection to a listener, and how much will be a great anecdote for the autobiography?

Then again the heritage air personalities have a huge advantage over the newbies in the story department.

Gets back to the credibility department I mentioned earlier.

 

[landtuna]

Then again the heritage air personalities have a huge advantage over the newbies in the story department.

And a huge disadvantage in the cost department which is probably as good a reason as any why radio is in its current state.

 

[SirRoxalot]

There are a lot of ways to make an emotional connection with listeners, but most of them require you to be "in the moment" with listeners, and in the same place. Yes, a few personalities are able to do some of that in a general way, but I'll take even a raw local jock who tries to be relatable and local over Delilah in a NY minute.

I was speaking with a mid-day jock at a local station, and she was telling me how hard it is to keep up with all that happens. She's very conscientious, and VTs for several stations around the country, so labels and publicists want to give her exclusives. But without a larger platform, you're on the same level as the blogger working in his bedroom.

Exactly the point, Bud. A good local jock spends a lot of time keeping up with what's going on around town - what has happened, what's happening now, and what's coming up. Artist-related content is one of dozens of topics of interest to listeners. Generalists who don't know what's going on in a town lean on that because it's generic. People in the market, who are involved with what's going on, know who and what are of interest - and work to agregate content for listeners who don't have the time to sort through the bloggers and blatherers who don't distinguish between fact and rumor. Your out-of-town Voicetracker has no way to determine the validity of the information she sorts through. Kudos to her for trying to do the job. Too bad she's part of the problem, not part of the solution.

Doing good radio isn't simple or easy. The guys who are good at it make it sound easy. And most of them do it in Buffalo for about the revenue from one :60 per hour - including benefits. Unfortunately, there are far fewer people out there doing good radio because too many suits think that a big bonus in their pocket is more important than a good product. Or, they've made a stupid deal in an attempt to play the "mine is bigger than yours" game. And when they go bust, they walk away with a platinum parachute - if they don't convince their BoD to give them a multi-million dollar bonus for "leading us through bankruptcy".

 

[TheBigA]

There are a lot of ways to make an emotional connection with listeners, but most of them require you to be "in the moment" with listeners, and in the same place.

That pre-supposes they're "in the moment" with you, and not doing something else, with the radio on in the background. I know it's great to think that when you speak "on the air" that everyone is listening to your every word. That's not actually the case. Some of the most effective communicators in the history of broadcasting were able to communicate across the continent and the world. Sure it's easier when they're right there in the room with you, but if we're talking about the abilities of great broadcasters, it transcends geography. As we learned from Ed Murrow.

A good local jock spends a lot of time keeping up with what's going on around town - what has happened, what's happening now, and what's coming up.

You make Buffalo sound like the LA of the Upstate. You can spend a lot of time on the air giving a community calendar, or you can simply put it on the website, where the listeners can get it at their leasure, from their cell phone. That's what most stations do. It's more useful than running through a list on the air, where the listener might miss an important address or phone number. Aggregating content isn't hard. Just sign up for free Google alerts. I have dozens of them. They do the aggregating. Saves a lot of time. You can click on the link, and determine the validity of the information easily. But I'm sure it's much better to do things the way they've always been done. Let's go back to radio in the 1930s, where people sat around the console radio in the living room.

 

[Philip_Airtime]

My head is spinning from this thread. Maybe I had too much brandy tonight. But what are we arguing about here? Big A, sometimes it appears you just want to argue for the sake of arguing on this board. I just spent a weekend with a good friend who was a morning host in Buffalo for ten years in the 1990s. He's now spent just as much time in a bigger market, and is doing quite well, thank you very much. He's playing classic hits. And he's not necessarily providing new content about the artists he's playing, as you suggest he should be doing Big A. After 35 years, he just KNOWS how to relate to his audience. And he must be doing something right because he's now in his second decade in his market in what is quite a volatile industry. After watching a day of football yesterday (including the Bills game that I was pleasantly surprised to find broadcast), he excused himself and began prepping for his morning show. We saw Kool and the Gang Saturday night. I'm sure he talked about that this morning. No, he didn't have an interview with any of the band members. But I'm sure he talked about it. (I'm sorry. But I wasn't listening because I was on vacation and slept in.) I would suggest that's what many of us do in Buffalo radio. We do good show prep. And we go on the air, whether it's Kevin O'Connell on the lowly-rated Breeze or Clay Moden on top rated WYRK and make it work! So, we should be giving Jeff Michaels kudos, not criticism, for what he's doing on a Sunday afternoon in a relatively small market in the Finger Lakes. He's a live jock on the radio on a day and at a time when there's way too much voice tracking. And I would argue that makes him the more listenable alternative in his market. I just loved Jim Pastrick's post in this thread. (Oh, how I wish I had stopped by the Anchor Bar after that Bruce concert!) Yes, this is what local radio does. Again, maybe I'm tired after spending eight hours driving across New York today. And I must say I enjoyed that brandy tonight while watching a couple of baseball games. But again, I'm not sure what we're arguing about here. I don't necessarily disagree with some of your points, Big A. But c'mon. You don't need to do an interview with Elton John to talk about an Elton John song on the radio and provide your listeners with some interesting information, to which at least some will respond, "Gee, I didn't know that." So, Jeff, I'll admit I might not tune you in on the Internet until after Bills season. But you go, guy! You're doing good!

 

[TheBigA]

He's now spent just as much time in a bigger market, and is doing quite well, thank you very much. He's playing classic hits. And he's not necessarily providing new content about the artists he's playing, as you suggest he should be doing Big A.

Did I say that? Where? My entire point in this thread, and I've said it several times, is I'm responding to Jeff's topic, in the subject line, about the Declining State of Radio and Your Opinion Why. He brought it up, and it sounds like his mind is already made up. Radio is in decline. So let's all crab and complain about why. That's the cue to Rox, who will blame it on the suits. If I say anything to the contrary, I must think everything corporate does is right. Give my best to your friend. Tell him that Jeff thinks radio is in decline, but he's on the air every Sunday afternoon.

 

[Jeff Michaels]

Thanks Philip, But you dont have to wait until after the season. They have a bye week coming up! ;-D

Yes Big A, I'm on the air, for 4 hours a week. I still think there is alot that could help radio and, well darn it, I'm gonna do what I can to change radio for the better!

 

[JustPastBuffalo]

You make Buffalo sound like the LA of the Upstate.

I think you're missing the point, A. Buffalo, Western New York and Rochester (if I may be so bold as to speak for those in the Flower City) are anything but LA, even though a number of Western New York/Buffalo people (Tom Fontana, David Milch, Michele Fazekas, Goo Goo Dolls, Annie DiFranco and, by way of Buffalo, Harvey & Bobby Weinstein) have made their marks on the City of the Angels.

"Good live 'n local" isn't about "community calendars" or "PSAs," A. Nobody's saying that here. It's about understanding the listeners in the given demographics and giving them a voice and a connection. The successful stations in Buffalo (and Rochester) do that like regular breathing.

And yes, on the flip side, Jack FM does well here in its demo, largely because the PD is a "Buffalo guy" and reads the market very well on a daily basis. Buffalo Jack is decidedly not on auto-pilot. In music and promotions, Buffalo Jack is very localized. Yes, when he was on terrestrial radio, Howard Stern killed in markets outside of NY . He did well in Buffalo, but he didn't kill. Why? One of the reasons may be that few, if any, Buffalo radio personalities behave like "celebrities." They do their own landscaping and plumbing, take out their own garbage and eat at Ted's more than Salvatore's (sorry, no "Michigans" at either .) They cheer on the "blue collar" Bills (Fred Jackson & Fitz) and Sabres (Miller & Pomenville) through thick and thin and you'll see many of them sitting not in the suites, but in the regular seats. And yes, we do our share of bitching when our teams don't play well. But here's the point, the Bills played to a sold out stadium in five of seven home games last season when the team sucked fumes. Sixty nine thousand fans Bill-lieved, in the third smallest NFL market. Try to find tickets to the Sabres games this year.

I'm not totally disputing your opinion or observations, A. I'm just contributing another Buffalo perspective, offering an opinion as to "why" Buffalo people like radio, whether it's Classic Rock, the Blues, CHR or Country. It's different here. As a respected consultant once observed upon listening to one of Buffalo's better and higher rated stations, "you just couldn't plant that station in Milwaukee and expect it to work because it's so Buffalo." He didn't mean "Buffalo bad," he meant "Buffalo unique."

 

[TheBigA]

I'm not totally disputing your opinion or observations, A. I'm just contributing another Buffalo perspective, offering an opinion as to "why" Buffalo people like radio, whether it's Classic Rock, the Blues, CHR or Country. It's different here.

The topic though isn't my opinion or observations. It's the "Declining State of Radio." I don't agree with the premise. As you point out, there are a lot of stations that have live & local staff. In Buffalo and elsewhere. Most of them arre owned by big radio corporations. As I look around from market to market, I see lots of similar examples to the ones you give. I'm not saying there aren't a lot of computerized jukeboxes. Different strokes for different folks. But to characterize the entire industry as "declining" seems to me to be overstating it quite a bit. But then again, Jeff's purpose for starting the thread was to promote his weekly show. Has he done that? You be the judge.

 

[jas2525]

How do you voice track that from Topeka? [Rhetorical question.]

You can't. The market misses out on all those great stories. The product is cheapened, and over time, listeners have less and less reason to listen.

And Wall Street doesn't care.

At all.

 

[Jeff Michaels]

Big A,

(BUZZ)

Sorry but I started a diferent thread to promote my show. Did I mention my show? Yes, to make a point, that there is still SOME live DJ's on the air. I also mentioned WNYR having a DJ Saturday afternoons and the country station airing a live classic country show Sunday mornings. I have no stake in whether you listen to those shows or not.

So instead of dissecting my rationale for starting this thread, either come up with constructive answers nstead of arguing with everyone or just shut up! Its quite easy to hide behind your keyboard and bitch at everyone isn't it?

THE TRUE REASON FOR THIS THREAD: This was to see if other posters had their reasons for the decline of radio and to see if mine matched theirs. It was also to see what people would think would be good ideas to remedy the problem.

 

[TheBigA]

So instead of dissecting my rationale for starting this thread, either come up with constructive answers nstead of arguing with everyone or just shut up! Its quite easy to hide behind your keyboard and bitch at everyone isn't it?

Wow! So either I agree with you or shut up. OK.

 

[chas108]

Not everything's black and white.

I happen to work for what is arguably the best run of the giant "C" corporations...that half-a-dozen years ago wasn't run all that well. In fact when the current leadership took over, they immediately set to work undoing what the previous people had done. Some stations were sold as they "right-sized" themselves. They also had to make some cuts in on-air staff...most of which have been restored. Today this company really pushes live, local, emotional connection across all platforms and they're seeing success, including in my market at my station.

By the grace of God, radio's not in a declining state for me. It's a happy place. Really.

I've been with my current station long enough to have experienced the differences in good and awful management both on the local and corporate level. It's made me very thankful for my current situation.

But for many, radio is, has, and will continue to decline. 75 miles up the road is a market which is basically owned by the two biggest "C" corporations. A client of my VO business once complained that he couldn't find a human being to talk to when he called any of that market's stations. That market is mostly VT and canned programming.

However, 40 miles from there is a little hole-in-the-wall mom & pop Top 40 with a 50kW stick. It's live and local even on Saturday nights, and when I hear them, they always sound like they're sold-out. Undisciplined at times, but they live in the moment better than many bigger stations I hear.

Two weeks ago I was in Tully, cleaning out my late in-laws' house as my wife and her brother prepare to close on its sale. The radio was tuned to Classic Rock WIII/Cortland-Ithaca, the former CHR OK-100 - where I had my first full-time radio job. I enjoyed the depth of the Classic Rock on the station, and it just seemed apropos for that rainy, cold first weekend in October. But over time it became clear that not a shred of what I was hearing was local, aside from the stopsets. The final giveaway were the "Classic Rock" sweepers, with a pause, then the locally-inserted "I-100". I got a little angry, thinking of what was...OK-100 sent many personalities onto major market success...San Francisco, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, even NYC. Now it's about to be swallowed by Cumulus in the Citadel takeover.

I wanted to throw something.

Once there was some GREAT radio going on in Syracuse (WHEN-AM 30 years ago was personality AC at. its. best!), but today two "C" companies race each other to the bottom in a situation exacerbated by being a shrinking market...yet based on what I hear driving thru, Buffalo and Rochester - also shrinking - still seem to have a good amount of live/local left, although some PD's would do well to look at teaching their talent how to be great storytellers....how to set up a bit, relate it to the listener, get to the payoff and then get out. Not a question of length, but of content. Some :30 breaks are too long...some 2:00 breaks aren't long enough.

Here's where I perceive this is going:

It's going to become the "haves" and the "have-nots". The fact that you get to be live on weekends makes me believe you work for a "have". And knowing where your market's located - within earshot of both Rochester and Syracuse signals - that's doubly admirable. If the "have-nots" want to chase each other down the rabbit hole, go belly-up and turn in their licenses, fine. The "haves" will survive, and perhaps even thrive.

Jeff, I leave you with a Billy Joel lyric from back in my OK-100 days...

"...the good old days weren't always good and tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems."

Many of my posts here reference WKBW-AM/Buffalo back in the early 70's. At least two posters to this board (Debaser and Jim Pastrick) worked there in those glory days. 'KB was recognized as one of the premier Top 40 stations anywhere. It's easy to think their kind of presentation was the norm.

It wasn't. There was a lot of boring liner card radio 20-30-40 years ago too.

Even though the period 1965-75 was the era of introducing broadcasting disciplines still in use today...those disciplines were necessary to make music radio listenable. The greatest stations among us...WABC & WNBC/NYC, WLS & WCFL/Chicago, CKLW/Windsor-Detroit, 13Q/Pittsburgh and 'KB...showed that discipline in the right hands made magic.

Here's a great satire produced in 1974 by the legendary Howard Hoffman about a fantasy station - "WVWA" in Pound Ridge, Westchester County - that went from one extreme to the other.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsHYp4k7fFw

 

[Jeff Michaels]

Chas, thanks for your words. Yeah, I looked at our map and we reach 13 counties in Upstate NY. If you look back a few pages, you'll see what I played Sunday, Is that more like what you remember from your old station (WIII)?

They also had me playing a newer Rush song which was pretty good and nice to see. Ignoring new releases by Classic bands is a mistake. It should be an automatic for Classic Rock Stations to play it as long as its not a change from an old sound. (Eagles newer album was more A/C and Country leaning... Very little to play in a classic rock format. (I do remember one or two written by Joe Walsh that'd fit)

Anyhow, if you enjoy Classic Rock, I'll have to let you know when my countdown show debuts... Its looking like Sunday November 6th at 6pm.

 

[Jeff Michaels]

So instead of dissecting my rationale for starting this thread, either come up with constructive answers nstead of arguing with everyone or just shut up! Its quite easy to hide behind your keyboard and bitch at everyone isn't it?

Wow! So either I agree with you or shut up. OK.

Lets read both shall we:

ME: Come up with constructive answers instead of arguing or shut up...

YOU: Not worth typing again...

BOYS AND GIRLS: This means to make a suggestion... not agree with me...

But thanks for trying to put words in my mouth...

 

[Element9]

The Big A and I don't often see things from the same perspective but I'm beginning to understand his position with regard to one Mr. Michaels.

 

[Jeff Michaels]

And what position is that? I am just frustrated with him making things up when his complaining isn't working. My earlier statements have been pretty clear, yet he doesn't understand them.

 

[Tom Wells]

And what position is that? I am just frustrated with him making things up when his complaining isn't working. My earlier statements have been pretty clear, yet he doesn't understand them.

He can't help it, his view is limited by the perspective that radio cannot exist without
the first and foremost consideration being profitability or marketability.

I'd love to hear airchex of how a DJ segues from cut to cut.
How a trainwreck is managed is ART, and it's just not on Big A's radar screen.
He doesn't seem to be a "rapt attention listener" sort of person, or particularly "into" music in a way
that people who appreciate a great segue would be.

No judgement, just factual.

There are others who only see radio as ART, and all the business aspects are simply a necessary evil,
to be tolerated in order to make the ART.

These views are mutually exclusive.
To work in the business requires some mental adjustment/anchoring of these views.
This can be difficult, as we all have "inclinations".

Artists fool themselves all the time into believing art is more important than money,
and money people fool themselves into believing money is more important than art.

Most of us have to live in a place somewhere the two extremes.

Saddest of all is the one with all money and no art, because all the money in the world can't buy
the ability to appreciate art, no matter how much art (or toys) one purchases.

Art on the other hand can cost nothng and be shared endlessly, the complete opposite of money behavior.

Where is your dial set?

 

[Jeff Michaels]

I do agree about the segues with you Tom. I placed a few in my original aircheck as well as for the countdown show. (Method will be a little unique to make it stand out and be different)

Though for a classic Rock format, I didn't think it was as important because you don't do talk overs or fancy seques for that format. Thats more of a top 40 thing.

 

[Tom Wells]

A great segue, even if accidental, counts as some kind of art.
My automation is set up to segue as tight as a nut, and with a totally random playlist about a week long, sometimes
I hear segues in rhythm, context and in tune good enough to make me laugh/cry when I hear them.
Same goes for quick drop-ins. These work well in a no-DJ format, if the bits are ambiguous enough
to imply some context within the overall format.
Each files is hand edited for heads and tails, so there's mostly zero-space segues.

Any unique method is one's secret weapon, and can make a signature sound.