The state of radio

[jo-nathan]

I posted this on the Atlanta board in response to the current situation with Citidel (if you haven't heard, they just did massave cuts and eliminated lots of positions). This might make some of my friends and former co-workers mad at me but I'm just being honest about my views. Feel free to share your views.

If we want radio to survive, there has to be a revolution. Believe it or not, it isn't too late. The corporate suits need to get out of the way and let the real radio folk have their stations back. Ownership caps need to be put back in place. Stations should be manned 24/7 and have actual local interest programming (and not the so-called public affairs programs that run at 6 AM on Sunday morning). Stop with all the studies and other so-called research. Radio is radio, it's not a science! Radio is intended to be entertaining, fun and informative. Let the jocks have more freedom, stop dumbing things down. Let the listeners decide what they like, don't spoon feed them Britney Spears if they don't want it.

Radio as it is today is a joke and will soon go the way of the telegraph if something isn't done. Since I've been out of the business, I understand why people are turning to streaming, iPods and other media rather than radio. Every station everywhere sounds exactly the same. The jocks get their show prep from the same places. The madness has to stop if radio is to survive.

If I could, I'd step up and buy a station or two but I'm not in a position to do that (yet). However, I'm sure people that are in a position to do so feel the same way and I hope they step up to the plate. Let's get radio back in the hands of the people and out of the pocket books of stock traders.

 

[beachguy3b]

I saw your post there in a discussion about Eagle. Sad to see what they did to Rhubarb...

But the future of radio?

WHAT future? It started dying a long time ago- we just were too dumb to notice. I remember doing middays in St. Louis, and thinking to myself that the people I worked for at the time were on the forefront of killing off interesting radio.

Sadly, I was right.

 

[smashedcd]

Outside of a very few select stations. one in st louis, one in nashville and one in biloxi ;D radio is dead. I have live 365, XM and Sirius. I have no reason to listen to local N.O. or baton rouge radio anymore. Its dead!

 

[beachguy3b]

I had a rental car with XM in it when I was driving around So California a couple of months ago. It ticked me off to discover SPOTS on the damned thing.

 

[jo-nathan]

On which channels? I thought that the music channels were commercial free... or am I thinking of Sirius?

 

[DeadElvis]

A FEW music channels on XM have commercials. One can tell which ones have spots; they are the ones with the "cm" after the channel name. All the music channels on Sirius are commercial-free (I know; I work PT for Sirius). Talk channels, of course, have commercials.

But, the question about the long-term health of the industry should be discussed. When one visits this Board, and others on the web site, one gets barraged by countless posts of WJDX, WRBC, and other stations that haven't graced the airwaves in decades. Cool. I get it. They were great -- so great, they didn't survive.

The fact of the matter is that the medium has changed. That is due, in part, to the corporatization of radio, but there is a larger issue -- the basic media environment has changed. In those heady glory days of AM music radio, choices were limited. Very limited. You had three or four TV choices, and maybe a half-dozen radio stations. Money flowed freely (though, not to us). Today, we have countless choices... hundreds of TV channels, Internet, satellite, iPods, and often DOZENS of radio outlets. Need I go on? It ain't the suits, guys, ruining radio... we have met the enemy, and it is us. We are the ones using media in new ways, many of which are basically do-it-yourself.

Radio owners, like anybody else, have a right to make money. If that means cutting costs, automating, and making Peoria sound like Chattanooga, that is certainly their right. Radio has less and less to work with as time goes on. And, if the corporate weasels are not serving their audience, the marketplace will speak. That is the tough lesson that Citadel will soon learn.

Do we need government intervention? Are you kidding me? Certainly, as revenues are declining across the board for radio, any sort of governmental dictum about how radio should be run will just hasten the medium's demise. Let's not be naive here. Oh, and I'll spare you the 1st Amendment stuff about governmental fiddling in station content, just 'cause I am a nice guy.

Media has become a soup -- a blend of new and old. Either we, as participants in the medium learn to adapt, or we will perish. And, we will deserve to. Let's stop complaining.

DE, LL.M.

 

[tbarber]

if you don't like the way the suits are running things, scrape together some loose change and buy a cluster yourself...

let's see, in Atlanta, that would be in the neighborhood of 80-100 mil.

Look, I don't like Walmart either, but you don't see me complaining about that overly large retailer.

I agree with you. It ain't what it used to be. But, none of us are in any position to do anything about it... and it's gonna get worse- a lot worse.

 

[tzbarber]

What I've observed on this board and others like it are a few folks that were in the business for a short time and moved into something else but feel the need to gripe about the demise of the industry. No offense,but I worked three summers for a landscape company while a teenager(less than a year total) and I wouldn't dare mope and complain about the landscape design business going down the drain.Maybe a bad analogy on my part,but speaking for those of us that have done this for over 30 years,let me say,we know it's not the same. You adapt or die. Used to call it the "dinosaur effect", and my co-workers laughed at me,but it's true. My request is for those who quit the business,or never really worked in radio,to leave us old coots that aren't equipped to work in any other field to strive to make a living in any capacity that we can find. Please stop reminding us that you're glad you're not in it,or why you don't listen anymore,or if it was better you'd still have a job in it. Complaining or competing,it's your choice.

 

[jboydingram]

TZB...Thank You. This is not a dead business. I am 67+ and still rockin', and MAYBE makin' a living. Whaddever...I learned at an early age if you are radio material, it never gets out of your blood....similar to printer's ink in your blood (forgive the reference). It's like any other business...it IS what YOU make of it!
BUT...you must learn every aspect to be a success...IMHO, now they can trash you and I!....I take the competition road...JBI

 

[menotti1]

WAY YO GO JBOYD.Hard to out fox the fox.hope you read my post on the wireready automation.worth checking into.my old friend Mark Jones runs it in Vicksburg.Darn nice system...if i was looking for a replacement it would be my choice.

 

[beachguy3b]

When one visits this Board, and others on the web site, one gets barraged by countless posts of WJDX, WRBC, and other stations that haven't graced the airwaves in decades. Cool. I get it. They were great -- so great, they didn't survive.

That's a bit disingenuous.

The dynamics of the business changed, and even an AM with a great signal like JDX couldn't hold on. As to WRBC, they drew craps when some nitwit decided to change them to NBC's all new service that died a painful death. They still had good numbers when that happened.


Many of us who are discussing those old days have worked together or known each other a long time. Johnny is my oldest radio friend- we've known each other since 1969. Rob is the younger brother of someone I thought the world of when I worked with him- and Rob's talent blew me away so much I fought like heck to get him in to JDX. J. Boyd was CE when I was at WWUN back in the early 70s, and one of the finest men I ever encountered in the industry.

It's fun to remember those old days. I miss them! If someone is not interested, they can cheerfully avoid the posts and the thread.

I'm not here griping about posts I am uninterested in, so why should others begrudge us our enjoyment?

 

[beachguy3b]

You adapt or die.

I adapted. I just chose not to cut my salary in half or more to do it. I got to working part time and still loved it- was even good at VT.

But enough was enough. I didn't get into radio to watch a PC run the station and talk 3 times an hour. And when I see Emmis looking for NYC air talent for 40-50K, I know that the business is killing itself.

It's not dead, but it sure isn't healthy.

 

[DeadElvis]

> That's a bit disingenuous.

No; it really isn't. And, to think of it as such is facile.

If any radio station (or ANYTHING for that matter) was truly great -- bringing something indispensable to the party -- it would still be around, at least in some form. Sure, the medium changed; people turned away from AM and migrated to FM, yet these alleged cutting edge harbingers of pop culture either couldn't or didn't make the change, and wound up on the ash heap of history.

Now, this isn't meant in any way as disrespectful. Times change. If the magical formula of WJDX, WLS, WTIX, etc., were still relevant, it would still exist. Yet, it doesn't -- just like the T-Rex, and the do do bird. Sure, those animals were great in their day, but history passed them by. They couldn't adapt to changing environments.

Adapt or die.

DE

 

[smashedcd]

You radio folks make me laught sometimes ;D Here is how I personally see it. You keep playing the same songs over and over again and I will keep not listning ;D I am in the porocess of converting over 1000 vinyl albums to MP3's. I dont even need XM for anything anymore except sports

 

[tzbarber]

No; it really isn't. And, to think of it as such is facile.

" just like the T-Rex, and the do do bird. Sure, those animals were great in their day, but history passed them by. They couldn't adapt to changing environments. Adapt or die."

DE
[/quote]Yea,DE. That's what I said. The dinosaur thing. You just said it intellectually. And used the word "facile",whatever that means!

 

[beachguy3b]

If any radio station (or ANYTHING for that matter) was truly great -- bringing something indispensable to the party -- it would still be around, at least in some form. Sure, the medium changed; people turned away from AM and migrated to FM, yet these alleged cutting edge harbingers of pop culture either couldn't or didn't make the change, and wound up on the ash heap of history.

Now, this isn't meant in any way as disrespectful. Times change. If the magical formula of WJDX, WLS, WTIX, etc., were still relevant, it would still exist.

There are no great stations and never have been. It was the people who were there that made the station bigger than life.

Eventually, no matter how good you are, someone comes and kicks you in the keester.

I spent 36 years in boradcasting, 30 in major market radio. I got out of it on my own terms when I chose to. No dinosaur here. Just someone who was tired of crappy working conditions.

 

[robgrayson]

When I started in radio, I didn't look around and see how few old men there were in the business. I didn't particularly notice that most of the people who held the prominent positions to which I aspired were in their 20's or 30's. That probably didn't even grace my mental radar until I was in my 40's, and most of the poeple who held the prominent positions to which I aspired were in their 20's or 30's (even the ones programming oldies stations). The industry changed, the world changed, I changed. Got married, had a kid, sent her to college. Hopping mkt 300 to mkt 197 to mkt 76 was no longer appealing. Wanted cable, internet, comfy sofa; no more records in crates, cold pizza from remotes, weekend airshifts (ha!).

You can make the argument that if there was a market for what we did, it would still be around; but I observe that, to a great extent, the market existed even then because the people who made it happen tolerated a lot to do what they loved*. And, at some point, they were abducted by real life.

The smartest guy in the room may find this "too facile a solution for so complex a problem", too, because he can reason rings around me; but please know that I appreciate that (and that's why when I need a lawyer, he's my first call).

*disclaimer: I know somebody had to be making good coin back in the day, but I am referring to the person in the trenches who, sooner or later, if they lasted long enough, simply got priced out of the business.

 

[qid937]

If I could, I'd step up and buy a station or two but I'm not in a position to do that (yet). However, I'm sure people that are in a position to do so feel the same way and I hope they step up to the plate. Let's get radio back in the hands of the people and out of the pocket books of stock traders.

Agreed, I do it if I had the financial backing.

 

[qid937]

A FEW music channels on XM have commercials. One can tell which ones have spots; they are the ones with the "cm" after the channel name. All the music channels on Sirius are commercial-free (I know; I work PT for Sirius). Talk channels, of course, have commercials.

But, the question about the long-term health of the industry should be discussed. When one visits this Board, and others on the web site, one gets barraged by countless posts of WJDX, WRBC, and other stations that haven't graced the airwaves in decades. Cool. I get it. They were great -- so great, they didn't survive.

The fact of the matter is that the medium has changed. That is due, in part, to the corporatization of radio, but there is a larger issue -- the basic media environment has changed. In those heady glory days of AM music radio, choices were limited. Very limited. You had three or four TV choices, and maybe a half-dozen radio stations. Money flowed freely (though, not to us). Today, we have countless choices... hundreds of TV channels, Internet, satellite, iPods, and often DOZENS of radio outlets. Need I go on? It ain't the suits, guys, ruining radio... we have met the enemy, and it is us. We are the ones using media in new ways, many of which are basically do-it-yourself.

Radio owners, like anybody else, have a right to make money. If that means cutting costs, automating, and making Peoria sound like Chattanooga, that is certainly their right. Radio has less and less to work with as time goes on. And, if the corporate weasels are not serving their audience, the marketplace will speak. That is the tough lesson that Citadel will soon learn.

Do we need government intervention? Are you kidding me? Certainly, as revenues are declining across the board for radio, any sort of governmental dictum about how radio should be run will just hasten the medium's demise. Let's not be naive here. Oh, and I'll spare you the 1st Amendment stuff about governmental fiddling in station content, just 'cause I am a nice guy.

Media has become a soup -- a blend of new and old. Either we, as participants in the medium learn to adapt, or we will perish. And, we will deserve to. Let's stop complaining.

DE, LL.M.

Gov't will not occur in a way that helps until the current administration is gone and special interest and lobbying kicked out of DC

 

[jo-nathan]

QID: Administration has nothing to do with it. In fact, it was Clintoon (intentional) who signed the 1996 dereg bill. If anything we have the Dems to blame for this.

BTW, after I heard a jock in Birmingham do a break that literally consisted of "That was Fergie on 103-7 The Q. For your chance to win free concert tickets go to 103 7 the q dot com" I literally wheeled into Circuit City and bought a XM receiver. I love it. There are so many channels that I would never get around here, not to mention MLB and SEC sports. I'm not going to say that I will never listen to free radio again but it certainly won't be as much.