Things you don't hear on the radio anymore

[powers]

I miss the banter between the drive time personalities and the traffic people. It made things sound fun and local. Traffic generally covered the entire region and probably ran about 40 seconds to a minute, give or take, plus the banter. Nowadays, at least here in San Diego, the traffic and weather are pre-recorded for the station group and doesn't even refer to the individual station. It's just the report and then "and that's your San Diego traffic." Also, today it's all about the sponsorship. The weather report (I'm not exaggerating) is about 7 seconds with a 15 or 30 second ad tacked on. Traffic is barely 15 seconds and only covers major incidents, plus the ad time.

Yes, I know there are millions of ways people can get their traffic and weather now, and in the age of PPM it's all supposed to be short and sweet on the music stations, MAYBE a little more time and context on the news and newstalk stations, but back in the day we had traffic reporters that had fun personalities of their own and it was fun to listen to John Hoffman and Jojo Kincaid cracking jokes back and forth and the colorful descriptions John would give to traffic situations. (Sigh.)

 

[TheBigA]

I miss the banter between the drive time personalities and the traffic people. It made things sound fun and local.

It still happens. It depends on the station and the market. Also depends on the traffic provider and the contract.

It can also depend on the time of day, as well as if it's weekday or weekend.

 

[Negin]

Here's another thing I miss: People actually talking to other people face to face instead of posting on message boards.

Coming soon: The Radio Discussions Pub - Face to face radio chatter and more!

 

[davideduardo]

I notice even the large market advertising is national, national, national. I rarely hear a car dealership or local business on Seattle FMs anymore, but boy do they have commercials for The Home Depot, Grocery Outlet, podcasts, etc.

Those stations are vastly more "expensive" so single location merchants that don't serve the whole metro can't afford them.

Olympia FMs get a lot of local advertising because they are, well, a smaller area.

And they are priced accordingly.

Where I live in Yakima, usually the national ads on radio take up the last minute of the break, and the rest is local. Mostly car dealerships, marijuana retailers, plumbing and HVAC companies, Legends Casino, and a lot of Pepsi and Mountain Dew commercials (we have a local, long-time bottler in town, Noel Bottling Co.)

Fewer national accounts go as deep as Yakima, which is not Nielsen rated.

 

[Ed Nielson]

There was a time when stations used their own on-air talent to do imaging. Back in the 70s, I remember WABC (New York) using Dan Ingram as the VO for promos. One of the more famous ones featured Dan reading artists' names over an edit of the instrumental portions of "Vehicle" by The Ides Of March.

 

[Cordelia Chase]

I miss the banter between the drive time personalities and the traffic people.

I also miss the crossover talk between jocks during shift changes. I know not all stations did this, but I generally enjoyed it when the announcers talked to each other.

 

[Ed Nielson]

I worked briefly at WMRC (Milford, MA) several years ago doing Saturday AM news. I would get to the station around 4 a.m., go across the street to the police station to pick up the night's logs, and then get the obits (yes, the obits) from the fax machine. The newscast consisted of local stories, most involving the city council or school committee. Then it was on to .."Milford police reacted to a distubance or a car crash at .... So-an-so was arrested.". If it was a real slow day we would add "the incident was investigated by Sgt. Murphy (or whoever.). Then on to the obits. If you happended to miss one, the listeners would let us know.

 

[radiofan2023]

I worked briefly at WMRC (Milford, MA) several years ago doing Saturday AM news. I would get to the station around 4 a.m., go across the street to the police station to pick up the night's logs, and then get the obits (yes, the obits) from the fax machine. The newscast consisted of local stories, most involving the city council or school committee. Then it was on to .."Milford police reacted to a distubance or a car crash at .... So-an-so was arrested.". If it was a real slow day we would add "the incident was investigated by Sgt. Murphy (or whoever.). Then on to the obits. If you happended to miss one, the listeners would let us know.

Did you play a dirge as a music bed for the obits?

 

[Ed Nielson]

Did you play a dirge as a music bed for the obits?

No, but there have been many times when I questioned my sanity... That was probably one of them! "Why am I doing this?"

 

[Radio Bob]

Talking about local shows in small towns we had a weekly show airing from 11:45am to noon Sunday mornings called “ Mr. Sunshine “ . The idea was to salute the shut ins that listened to us daily. We encouraged people to send in the name of a shut in and a phone number then the announcer would pick a name each week, call the sender to alert them they were the winner and talk about the shut-in on the air . The engineer used to play songs like DON'T GET AROUND MUCH ANYMORE during the show as a kind of joke. One Sunday the announcer, Fred was grousing about how he was trying to call prospective winners and people would tell him they didn't want to do it anymore or there was no answer. Finally he picked a name and off we went with phrases like, “ Can't wait to see you around again,” or “ We know you'll be up soon”. It was about 12:15pm when we got the call that our feature guest had died the week before.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

We read the school lunch mdenu, announce where moose or bears have been spotted (we do that 24/7 if im notified in a timely manner), we broadcast school graduation, christmas plays by a local theatre group and the school, we regularly interview visiting dignitaries/visiting specialists, we give shout outs to people we see driving past the station because they likely have their radio on......we broadcast messages "hey john, call susan "hey camille, the phone company needs to hear from you asap". we are on the air whenever there is a weather or news emergency.

By we, I mean me... besides a part time 3 hour a day announcer, I'm it!

 

[Ed Nielson]

Back in the 70s, FM stations would simulcast a concert with a TV station. In those days, TV sound wasn't the best in the world, and wasn't even in stereo. So when there was a big concert, you would turn the TV sound down and listen in FM stereo sound.

 

[davideduardo]

I do it frequently. My local pub has wifi, and I travel with my ipad. Covid is over. I don't stay home anymore.

Covid is not over. I just got it in the last days of October and am still working at about 25% capacity due to the slow recovery.

My primary care physician explained it as, "lots of people get moderate cases and think it is the flu and keep on going out to work, to shop and to socialize. They don't do a Covid test, and they propagate the disease. For younger people, the current variants are not as dangerous, but for the elderly... even those that have all the shots... it is very dangerous."

 

[kevtronics]

Thankfully not heard on the radio anymore, Rush Limbaugh reading the names of AIDS victims and cheering their death.

But I haven't heard a "bee-doop" or other cue tone in a long time, either.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

Covid is not over. I just got it in the last days of October and am still working at about 25% capacity due to the slow recovery.

My primary care physician explained it as, "lots of people get moderate cases and think it is the flu and keep on going out to work, to shop and to socialize. They don't do a Covid test, and they propagate the disease. For younger people, the current variants are not as dangerous, but for the elderly... even those that have all the shots... it is very dangerous."

im 40 relatively healthy, we have the flu and covid out here now and then.. i stay away from clsoe tight knit groups.... like thanksgiving and christmas dinners or large groups close in, that arent spread out.

lots of families gather and do things together and i just dont want the cooties.... germs spread easier out here

 

[bturner1]

Yes sir, I'm at KGAF in Gainesville, Texas. KGAF has a very active Tradio (Swap It To Me is what we call it). We do high school football and basketball. Sunday morning is paid church programs. We do TWO local PSAs an hour (mostly things to do or fundraisers). We do live remotes (one last night and one next Thursday). You'd be hard pressed from Saint Jo to Whitesboro and Sanger, Tioga and Era to Thackerville that does not know KGAF. The County by County, for what that's worth, typically has us #1 in 18+ and 35+ with over 25% of county listening out of about 43,000. Steve is an incredible programmer and does an entertaining morning show. Watch him on KGAF's Facebook page for Swap It To Me (8:30-9 AM Central) or listen online at kgaf.net

As for me, I do sales for KGAF and let's just say after 4+ years my paycheck looks like what I got in Houston managing an AM station. So if you say nobody listens to radio and especially AM with a translator. I'll show you what a radio station that refuses to believe the doom and gloom posts can do. Sure, we are one of a small number of stations that does as well as we do, but it's amazing what can happen when meet and greet the community and build relationships with businesses. By the way, we're voice tracked. See if you can tell.

 

[TheBigA]

Covid is not over. I just got it in the last days of October and am still working at about 25% capacity due to the slow recovery.

My comment was in response to someone telling me to "head down to the local pub." Which is do, although I avoid big crowds. I spent two years sheltering in place. That was long enough for me. During that time I bought a second home so I could avoid boredom, but have different surroundings that were safe. By taking precautions and assuming everyone else has covid, I've managed to avoid it. But it hasn't been cheap.

 

[crainbebo]

Yes sir, I'm at KGAF in Gainesville, Texas. KGAF has a very active Tradio (Swap It To Me is what we call it). We do high school football and basketball. Sunday morning is paid church programs. We do TWO local PSAs an hour (mostly things to do or fundraisers). We do live remotes (one last night and one next Thursday). You'd be hard pressed from Saint Jo to Whitesboro and Sanger, Tioga and Era to Thackerville that does not know KGAF. The County by County, for what that's worth, typically has us #1 in 18+ and 35+ with over 25% of county listening out of about 43,000. Steve is an incredible programmer and does an entertaining morning show. Watch him on KGAF's Facebook page for Swap It To Me (8:30-9 AM Central) or listen online at kgaf.net

As for me, I do sales for KGAF and let's just say after 4+ years my paycheck looks like what I got in Houston managing an AM station. So if you say nobody listens to radio and especially AM with a translator. I'll show you what a radio station that refuses to believe the doom and gloom posts can do. Sure, we are one of a small number of stations that does as well as we do, but it's amazing what can happen when meet and greet the community and build relationships with businesses. By the way, we're voice tracked. See if you can tell.

Once again - God bless Steve Eberhart. He was awesome at ABC's Hits & Favorites format, and also awesome at KGAF.
I would assume 90% of listeners are on 92.3 and not 1580, however? But it beats the Dallas and Sherman stations by a nice margin.

 

[radiofan2023]

Covid is not over. I just got it in the last days of October and am still working at about 25% capacity due to the slow recovery.

My primary care physician explained it as, "lots of people get moderate cases and think it is the flu and keep on going out to work, to shop and to socialize. They don't do a Covid test, and they propagate the disease. For younger people, the current variants are not as dangerous, but for the elderly... even those that have all the shots... it is very dangerous."

It affects younger people as well - including causing developmental delays in babies:

Study shows infants exposed to COVID in utero at risk for developmental delay

At 12 months, 20.3% of COVID-exposed children and 5.9% of the controls received a diagnosis of neurodevelopmental delay.

www.cidrap.umn.edu

That study was done with pregnant Brazilian mothers, but there have been other studies done in the United States that found the same effects. We could stop this virus in its tracks if we truly wanted to by using N95s and HEPA filters in addition to vaccines, which is what I and others have been doing, but instead there are news articles which are talking about “mysterious illness” like this is the Middle Ages. Others probably have mentioned this too, but the “post pandemic/during the pandemic/during Covid” framing a lot of news organizations are doing is a disservice to the mainly older audience they have. Grandma is going to get run over by a covid infection thanks to that framing.

 

[Greg Goodfellow]

From the good ol' days when radio was local...

1. The National Anthem at the beginning and end of the broadcast day (at least for daytimers.)

2. School lunch menus.

3. High school football.

4. The term "city of license" actually meant something. There was a time when the "public file" had to actually be at the station... or at least somewhere in the cithy of license.

Any others?

At one time, all three of the stations in a local group carried a full football schedule. Two of those stations still do, with the third covering a partial schedule. All three had a full complement of ads.