Wow - It's no mystery why dozens of Seattle area radio stations are not worth the time of day to most of the people who live here. Bongwater: Hall-le-freakin'-lujah and Amen to your comments.
The others who can't digest what he's saying are proving thru their snarky retorts why there is no imagination or character any greater than the Pennysaver newspaper or a used car dealership on the airwaves. (Perhaps I'm a bit harsh there -- unless you take that as a compliment -- but, come on, I'm makin' a point here, guys, by assuming the tone of your charges on the fear-filled and preachy airwaves).
Do many of the folks who presumably manage commercial radio stations, and are regulars on this board, seem defensive to the rest of you? We understand the need for business plans and long term revenue strategies. Really, we do. It's just that these guys don't seem to even try to do something different, or better, much less come up with something new, original, or spot-on perfect for a slice of this market. Or, again, maybe they're just doing the best they can.
Decades of deregulation have got you where you are now. And it has turned the radio industry into a private club. Just like Washington Mutual, AIG, and fill-in-the-blank. We all got the message years ago to not expect to be employed in the industry at a living wage if you don't kiss some big daddy's ass. But even that level of being a "good boy" isn't getting many people very far any more.
Sorry, but when there were more than a few 'owners' out there, at least air talent could bounce around awhile between regimes. Not that that's best model for meaningful employment, either. But I dare to suggest that the current economic model for commercial radio in the USA is not working either. Not to serve the "public interest, convenience, or necessity." And not to even keep the few remaining media companies solvent.
If what we're getting is the best you all can do -- if KOMO 1000 and KJR-FM and KNDD and KIRO and KVI and KKOL whatever AM 1150 is supposed to be are really the best radio that its managers are really proud of -- if you really believe that the degree these stations exhibit the fine art of good radio (and there are many, many ways of doing that), that it's the kind of stuff that's worth recording and listening to ten, 25, 50 years from now -- well, then I have to respond that it just makes sense for the public, and particularly younger folks, to continue to abandon the medium and make their own I-Pod mixes, and eagerly await webstreamed radio in the car, etc.
But I still think it's not over yet for the airwaves. We just need the FCC to strap on some balls and start to regulate in the interest of employees in the industry (rarely done before, I know), and to let more people operate stations in every market by taking away some of the licenses from bloated conglomorates that still complain they can't provide major market levels of service on the air. Many of the big guys can't seem to find a way to attract a loyal audience, even with a mere 8 high-powered signals, plus HD, plus internet, plus plus plus --to the lislteners, it just adds up to less, less, less, when you can only imagine 5 or 6 types of program formats, and have to "kill" the competition by being just like them.
So where'd all the money go? Can it really be that expensive to keep up a second home in the San Juans?
GL
The others who can't digest what he's saying are proving thru their snarky retorts why there is no imagination or character any greater than the Pennysaver newspaper or a used car dealership on the airwaves. (Perhaps I'm a bit harsh there -- unless you take that as a compliment -- but, come on, I'm makin' a point here, guys, by assuming the tone of your charges on the fear-filled and preachy airwaves).
Do many of the folks who presumably manage commercial radio stations, and are regulars on this board, seem defensive to the rest of you? We understand the need for business plans and long term revenue strategies. Really, we do. It's just that these guys don't seem to even try to do something different, or better, much less come up with something new, original, or spot-on perfect for a slice of this market. Or, again, maybe they're just doing the best they can.
Decades of deregulation have got you where you are now. And it has turned the radio industry into a private club. Just like Washington Mutual, AIG, and fill-in-the-blank. We all got the message years ago to not expect to be employed in the industry at a living wage if you don't kiss some big daddy's ass. But even that level of being a "good boy" isn't getting many people very far any more.
Sorry, but when there were more than a few 'owners' out there, at least air talent could bounce around awhile between regimes. Not that that's best model for meaningful employment, either. But I dare to suggest that the current economic model for commercial radio in the USA is not working either. Not to serve the "public interest, convenience, or necessity." And not to even keep the few remaining media companies solvent.
If what we're getting is the best you all can do -- if KOMO 1000 and KJR-FM and KNDD and KIRO and KVI and KKOL whatever AM 1150 is supposed to be are really the best radio that its managers are really proud of -- if you really believe that the degree these stations exhibit the fine art of good radio (and there are many, many ways of doing that), that it's the kind of stuff that's worth recording and listening to ten, 25, 50 years from now -- well, then I have to respond that it just makes sense for the public, and particularly younger folks, to continue to abandon the medium and make their own I-Pod mixes, and eagerly await webstreamed radio in the car, etc.
But I still think it's not over yet for the airwaves. We just need the FCC to strap on some balls and start to regulate in the interest of employees in the industry (rarely done before, I know), and to let more people operate stations in every market by taking away some of the licenses from bloated conglomorates that still complain they can't provide major market levels of service on the air. Many of the big guys can't seem to find a way to attract a loyal audience, even with a mere 8 high-powered signals, plus HD, plus internet, plus plus plus --to the lislteners, it just adds up to less, less, less, when you can only imagine 5 or 6 types of program formats, and have to "kill" the competition by being just like them.
So where'd all the money go? Can it really be that expensive to keep up a second home in the San Juans?
GL