"The People vs. The Plug-In" - By The Wolf's Nikki Landry

[DToTheJ]

I just read a moving article from Nikki about survival in the radio industry. Here's an excerpt:

Every day we read about people losing their jobs in radio. It’s the saddest aspect of being a part of something that is supposed to make people happy. Remember the days when radio was fun? Seriously, think about it. Wolfman Jack, Shotgun Tom, Charlie Tuna, Billy Ocean, Howard Stern, Don Imus, the list goes on and on. In their day, that was TRUE radio magic. In the movie “Good Morning Vietnam”, Robin Williams played the radio disk jockey that helped people get through life. It wasn’t ALL about the music; it was about the personality on the radio. iPods can’t deliver personality, but your people can.

We need to bring people back into radio and give the listener something a Plug-in can’t, and that is a personality; someone LOCAL talking to them...

Below is a link to her entire post. You might need to be logged into Facebook to read her entire article:
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=96265075732

 

[TVradioguru]

I just read a moving article from Nikki about survival in the radio industry. Here's an excerpt:

Every day we read about people losing their jobs in radio. It’s the saddest aspect of being a part of something that is supposed to make people happy. Remember the days when radio was fun? Seriously, think about it. Wolfman Jack, Shotgun Tom, Charlie Tuna, Billy Ocean, Howard Stern, Don Imus, the list goes on and on. In their day, that was TRUE radio magic. In the movie “Good Morning Vietnam”, Robin Williams played the radio disk jockey that helped people get through life. It wasn’t ALL about the music; it was about the personality on the radio. iPods can’t deliver personality, but your people can.

We need to bring people back into radio and give the listener something a Plug-in can’t, and that is a personality; someone LOCAL talking to them...

With all due respect, this is just more of the reminiscing mindset that several fans of radio and people who have been in the industry for years keep bringing up. Don't get me wrong, when the only game in town, radio in the 60's through 80's was a great era and why I got into the business. The fact remains though that unlike the perception, the "evil corporate radio industry"-whatever, wasn't what changed the listening habits of people today, it was the other way around.

If you had access to the voluminous research being performed over the past five years pertaining to people 12+, you would see the trend in public interest shifting from personalities which are now perceived at "talking", to preferring more music. Even the TV networks are seeing declining ratings with well known established personalities such as the late night interview shows. For right or wrong talking is a negative in todays society. Why do you think teen age folks these days text each other so much?

The bottom line is turning back the clock isn't possible, nor would be trying to duplicate the past yield the same result. Times and tastes change.

 

[TheBigA]

Why do you think teen age folks these days text each other so much?

THAT is the point.

I pick up my cell phone, and I get someone local talking to me. But here's the amazing part. When they stop, I can talk BACK! What an amazing concept.

That is why the cell phone, not the ipod, has replaced the radio.

When my cell phone talks to me, quite often, it's spam. It's a telemarketer. That's what radio has become.

When I can talk back, then my cell phone becomes a friend.

THAT is the mistake radio makes. Thinking it's simply a one-way conversation. And face it...most people in radio view their jobs that way. Think of all your friends. How many simply talk, and don't listen? Think of all the personal relationships you've had in your life. How many have gone one way? I had a few of those. I gave and gave and got nothing in return. How did that make me feel? Empty. That, ladies and gentlemen, is radio.

The point isn't "live and local" if it all goes in one direction. The point is communication. Communication means back and forth. It doesn't have to be local to be interactive. But there has to be the desire to reach out, and allow others to talk back.

 

[kinetic]

The points by Guru and A are well taken, but I wonder if Nikki's post, nostalgic as it may be (Hey, look, it's an Edsel!) is really talking about entertainers. I wonder if all the people who wax about the good old days are simply talking about that. Is there a difference between entertainers and communicators? I don't see radio as necessarily having an abundance of either.

 

[SFStatic]

Radio used to be the only hot medium, as noted in Understanding Media. Now, there is the web. People used to connect with DJs as well as high profile personalities, and feel like they knew them. Word of mouth helped spread the word. All this happened on the phone. Now, some stations have gotten heavily into texting, Twitter, and even 2 way web presence (WiLDspace is an example.) WiLD has a 7 figure number of unique web hits a month.

Stations that are automated, and where there is no jock to connect with-who responds back to the listeners, will suffer , while those that continue to touch people will do better. It doesn't need to be living in the past. The days of doing it all on the phones are gone, but interacting with listeners on the web has barely been exploited so far.

 

[TVradioguru]

Radio used to be the only hot medium, as noted in Understanding Media. Now, there is the web. People used to connect with DJs as well as high profile personalities, and feel like they knew them. Word of mouth helped spread the word. All this happened on the phone. Now, some stations have gotten heavily into texting, Twitter, and even 2 way web presence (WiLDspace is an example.) WiLD has a 7 figure number of unique web hits a month.

Both radio and TV stations have been trying to tie web sites with their traditional media product for years. So far the only interest on the part of visiting radio and TV sites have been promotionally-related content, (concert information, phone numbers, streaming to a limited extent). I would argue that Radio jumping on another form of information and entertainment medium hasn't yet shown to have much of an impact. Research shows that by the time someone goes to their computer and begins to surf the web, they've already forgotten about "WXYZ.com".

Stations that are automated, and where there is no jock to connect with-who responds back to the listeners, will suffer , while those that continue to touch people will do better. It doesn't need to be living in the past. The days of doing it all on the phones are gone, but interacting with listeners on the web has barely been exploited so far.

Automated stations have their audience, mainly in smaller markets. Many medium/small markets simply can't afford relevant (read expensive) talent.

I found it ironic that you used the term "exploited" when making your point about an interactive path between radio and listeners. Certainly not a full cross section of millions who use Twitter, but I know people who have used Twitter since the beginning and they find the attempted exploitation of Twitter by commercial interests as being quite distasteful. I will guarantee you that very few if any will sign up for Twitter just to communicate with KZZZ's morning host.

 

[SFStatic]

Streaming and podcasts are a very big deal at some stations. I know of a morning show that is in the top 5 in podcast downloads nationally in their very large chain, and the podcasts do carry little ads, so they produce income. Streaming at some places is huge, note that some station streams are beginning to show up in the PPM numbers, beating some of the bottom level stations. I don't think you can write off station web sites so completely.

 

[TheBigA]

I would argue that Radio jumping on another form of information and entertainment medium hasn't yet shown to have much of an impact.

The reason for that is because a radio station is local, and so it generally only drives local people to their web site. While the internet itself is international. People outside the radio station's signal aren't likely to discover a station website unless there is some other thing that drives them there. The great part about the internet is there are millions of sites available. The bad thing is there are so many sites, it's hard to find what you want. So filtering, linking, and viral promotion are the keys to success.