Where is broadcasting going?

[tothedj]

This is a topic that is sure to get some interesting responses, but how many
are wondering if the broadcast medium, especially radio, is undergoing a
"major shift"?, in other words, are we heading in the wrong direction?.
I was reading during Friday evening that a major radio owner has scaled
back workers to a "part-time" status and reduced their benefits effective
immediatly in one major market!, are the days of being in radio full-time
about to end?, which may explain why many don't want to make it a career
anymore.

 

[GregBrady]

What a scary story...Thanks for posting that!

It's hard to tell if we are moving in a bad direction. Only time will tell BUT we can learn from mistakes of the past by not doing that type of crap.

Clear Channel is a perfect example of how to make a quick buck and destroy an industry. They sold off many stations..why? Because they weren't making money. If those stations were making money, they would of held on to them. Why did they lose money?...Cut backs, consolidating, micromanaging, cookie cutter stations and the lack of new talent.

What can we learn from that? Keep good talent, stay on the air live...especially after midnight (a breeding ground for up and coming talent) and a place where they can cut their teeth and get better. There's a reason there's a lack of talent today and P.D.'s are having problems finding great live morning shows...Jocks have been fired, demoted and micromanaged.

On the flip side, for those of us who lived through the shit and have been able to get better on the air, the potential to land a high paying job is better for us. ;D

 

[ZAX Double J]

One thing I see is the vast proliferation of voicetracking on addition to the "art-time rule tha you stated. From managemnt's perspective voicetracking is a godsend. Only a few people can voicetrack a boatload of stations in half the time of a regular airshift. Thus cutting the "bottom line" even more by laying off all or most of your main product - air talent. No wonder stations sound all the same only a handful of people are actually programming them and those few are using the same schedule (just changing the liners and spots to make it "sound" different or local). They also say there is a serious shortage of broadcast engineers. I agree since they too have been "downsizad" and made to engineer for way more stations than is almost physically possible for one person to handle and not giving them the true pay they deserve. Now on the sales side its a job hunter's paradise. There are way more sales postiions available and stations are always looking for more sales people. This industry is about manking money in the quickest way possible, but the money stays with the executives and shareholders rather than the ones actually doing the work except the sales people. They are treated like gods and whatever they do everyone in the station must follow period. It's the programming department that makes what the client wants happen and yet the programming department is always viewed as the first area to cut in jobs not sales or management. In fact there needs to be more people in the programming department. Sometimes one person cannot do it all. Production, voicetracking, remotes, board oping the game, scheduling, updating the website, etc. but too many station managers and owners think they can and thus the on-air product is suffering and therefore the listeners are moving on to other means.

You ask any kid in school what he/she wants to be when they grow up and most likely they will say some form of major athelete, why? MONEY that's why, but little do they realise that very few make it to be a Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods then what are they going to do? I say this because there is little incentive for younger people to get into radio. The whole system in this country is bent on money rather than fulfilling ones personal/emotional needs. I love radio and have for many years viewed it as my career. Unfortunately, management has made me rethink that. They don't realise the great talent they have right under their noses. They don't put their existing talent to full use and therefore they think that by letting go the talent that they will get a better product form only a few that remain. We need to make this industry strong and attractive for the people who work in it and those that may want to work in it. If people don't want to work in this business then there will be a serious problem down the road. The latest trends by some have made it so that you really have to be EXTREMELY careful what you say or do on-air as to not offend anyone, but if everyone thought this way we all might as well turn off the transmitters and go home. I don't care what you do you will enevitably offend someone there's no way around it.

Radio will be around for a while because it can provide what other media can't in times of disaster. The very information that the public needs. Take what happened in the aftermath of Katrina. Acording to one report I read more people got their information (in the affected areas) from radio than they did TV, internet, or newspaper - combined. That has a lot to say about a failing industry. That said yes the good talent is leaving or rather being forced out of the industry because of the micromanagemant and other issues. But radio has the one thing that sat radio ro the internet - localisim. Have more locally orented programming on. Bring school kids in to give a report on what's going on in their school and who will be listening - their parents and friends. This will bring in money as these people will ultimately shop at your sponsors. Radio needs to listen to its customers the listeners they are probably you greatest customer even ahead of the clients who advertise on your statio, but without both you just have an x-wattage jukebox. It's all about pleasing the clients and not listening to the listeners. Why not please the listensers for a change? Go outside of your "format" and play songs that similar listeners like. It's not all about the same 200 songs that you the PD personally liked growing up or what the consultant says "these songs test well" people remember way more than just that. Believe me there's way more songs that I remember that our station doesn't even play but they belong on it because they were played on the same "type" of station when I first heard them on the radio 25-30 years ago. Stop catering to the same "target" age group us 40+ ers (for the record I am 40) NEED a place to turn on the radio dial rather than shelling out money for sat radio. We have just as much spending money as the younger crowd - if not more. Some say the internet and HD radio are the new wave of radio, but that is like putting a bandaid on a gaping wound. You gotta fix what's inside first or these new areas will fail too from the same problems.

 

[allenv]

Very well said J squared. You hit the nail with your head Ned.......

 

[GregBrady]

ZAX Double J ...

I like what you had to say and hope radio comes back full circle to when it wasn't just listened to at times of crisis... like Katrina.

Radio was once very entertaining. Talented jocks were once just as good as actors and actresses and entertained on a larger scale. For many years, actors and actresses got their start on radio and moved to Hollywood. How many jocks of recent, can you say have managed to do this?

In order for radio to be that creative, entertaining, fun art form IT ONCE WAS, we have to put the power back in the talents hands. Sales and management needs to step back, take a few punches from the FCC and clients and let the jocks create shows. Being a jock is artistic. It's not a job where you just read, you need to know how to entertain on many different levels. Art isn't micromanaged and Art isn't censored.

Do I think we should go on the air tomorrow and start using the F-Word? No! but PUT TALENT FIRST...before sales and radio politics. TALENT FIRST!

 

[stench]

ZAX Double J ...

I like what you had to say and hope radio comes back full circle to when it wasn't just listened to at times of crisis... like Katrina.

Radio was once very entertaining. Talented jocks were once just as good as actors and actresses and entertained on a larger scale. For many years, actors and actresses got their start on radio and moved to Hollywood. How many jocks of recent, can you say have managed to do this?

In order for radio to be that creative, entertaining, fun art form IT ONCE WAS, we have to put the power back in the talents hands. Sales and management needs to step back, take a few punches from the FCC and clients and let the jocks create shows. Being a jock is artistic. It's not a job where you just read, you need to know how to entertain on many different levels. Art isn't micromanaged and Art isn't censored.

Do I think we should go on the air tomorrow and start using the F-Word? No! but PUT TALENT FIRST...before sales and radio politics. TALENT FIRST!

Good Post. Just curious. Are you FIRST where you are now? Ahead of Sales and Radio Politics?

 

[Ssummers]

This industry is about manking money in the quickest way possible, but the money stays with the executives and shareholders rather than the ones actually doing the work except the sales people. They are treated like gods and whatever they do everyone in the station must follow period. It's the programming department that makes what the client wants happen and yet the programming department is always viewed as the first area to cut in jobs not sales or management. In fact there needs to be more people in the programming department. Sometimes one person cannot do it all. Production, voicetracking, remotes, board oping the game, scheduling, updating the website, etc. but too many station managers and owners think they can and thus the on-air product is suffering and therefore the listeners are moving on to other means.

Radio will be around for a while because it can provide what other media can't in times of disaster. The very information that the public needs. Take what happened in the aftermath of Katrina. Acording to one report I read more people got their information (in the affected areas) from radio than they did TV, internet, or newspaper - combined. That has a lot to say about a failing industry. That said yes the good talent is leaving or rather being forced out of the industry because of the micromanagemant and other issues. But radio has the one thing that sat radio ro the internet - localisim. Have more locally orented programming on. Bring school kids in to give a report on what's going on in their school and who will be listening - their parents and friends. This will bring in money as these people will ultimately shop at your sponsors. Radio needs to listen to its customers the listeners they are probably you greatest customer even ahead of the clients who advertise on your statio, but without both you just have an x-wattage jukebox. It's all about pleasing the clients and not listening to the listeners. Why not please the listensers for a change?

ZAX, you've hit on a couple of points that have been the basis for broadcast discourse, both healthy and unhealthy, for years. The sales vs. programming argument is the media version of "the chicken or the egg" debate. I have found tho, that stations tend to sway in the direction of the GM or market/cluster head's background. That is, if the GM has a sales background only, he will tend to take what programmers think is the shortsighted view...sales generates the revenue which pays for the talent. If, on the other hand, he has a programming background only, he will tend to take the view that programming will provide the product that generates sales. The best of all worlds, in my experience, is a GM/market manager/cluster manager that has a relatively balanced background of sales and programming. In most cases(granted, not all), this type of background will give the manager a broader perspective that will result in a more fair, realistic and successful relationship between sales and programming, which stands an infinitely better chance of producing successful radio stations. Anything that lowers the wall between sales and programming will better a station's chances of becoming successful or becoming more successful.

 

[ReelBill]

In my travels throughout the years, I've had the opportunity to get to know a few GMs with programming backgrounds. They were either partners or owners of the Station(s), were involved with the community / buisness owners and were doing very well financially. Along came "Mega-Radio LLC Group Incorporated Cluster" and things changed drastically..I'll stop here for now.

 

[ZAX Double J]

Yeah that's where things really turned for the worst when "corporate radio" came about. Corporate needs to keep it's fingers out of the day-to-day opeation and stick to the major projects like building new studios or adding that backup transmitter or company wide things. Let the GMs and PDs do thier job at the local level. It's sort of silly that you have to go through corporate near bout just to get a replacement ink cartridge for the friggin' printer. That's ridiculus <sp>!

 

[ReelBill]

Yeah that's where things really turned for the worst when "corporate radio" came about. Corporate needs to keep it's fingers out of the day-to-day opeation and stick to the major projects like building new studios or adding that backup transmitter or company wide things. Let the GMs and PDs do thier job at the local level. It's sort of silly that you have to go through corporate near bout just to get a replacement ink cartridge for the friggin' printer. That's ridiculus <sp>!

That was my point. The local connection and feel have been taken away. Especially in classic rock. Artists and listeners have paid the biggest price with consultants homogenized playlist. Yes I want to hear Skynyrd, Van Halen, Ozzy, Stones... but not the same 3 or 4 tired hits day in day out. People born in the 60s, 70s, 80s and some 90s know that Jimi Hendricks, Led Zeppelin, Rush... did a FEW more songs worth atleast some air play from time to time. Mass appeal bla, bla, bla, that argument is as tired as Freebird and Stairway to Heaven every other day for the past 30 years...

 

[ZAX Double J]

Yeah that's where things really turned for the worst when "corporate radio" came about. Corporate needs to keep it's fingers out of the day-to-day opeation and stick to the major projects like building new studios or adding that backup transmitter or company wide things. Let the GMs and PDs do thier job at the local level. It's sort of silly that you have to go through corporate near bout just to get a replacement ink cartridge for the friggin' printer. That's ridiculus <sp>!

That was my point. The local connection and feel have been taken away. Especially in classic rock. Artists and listeners have paid the biggest price with consultants homogenized playlist. Yes I want to hear Skynyrd, Van Halen, Ozzy, Stones... but not the same 3 or 4 tired hits day in day out. People born in the 60s, 70s, 80s and some 90s know that Jimi Hendricks, Led Zeppelin, Rush... did a FEW more songs worth atleast some air play from time to time. Mass appeal bla, bla, bla, that argument is as tired as Freebird and Stairway to Heaven every other day for the past 30 years...

Yeah it's the same with us as we're called "Classic Top 40" (mainly 70s and 80s), but I can name at least 50 songs that we don't play that WERE on the top 40 and many were in the top 25. But surprising that the "specialty shows" we run play some of them and yet I hear "the're not listener friendly" by my PD and other station personalities tto be played in regular rotation. If they are so unlistener frioendly then why are they being played on a nationally syndicated show. I would think that hey want listeners and would "omit" these songs. Secondly, the charts are your playlist especially in this format so play the whole chart. If they were good enough to be ranked on the Billboard charts (even at number 40 or anywhere in the countdown) in say 1977 they're good enough to play now. Somebody had to like them at some point. You cannot change history and these past charts are a part of history and to deny some of the songs from playing is doing history a BIG disservice.

 

[GregBrady]

Good Post. Just curious. Are you FIRST where you are now? Ahead of Sales and Radio Politics?

I am now more then I've ever been in radio. I work for The Free lance Star. A local News Paper that owns a few radio stations and I have a PD that puts talent first. I have creative freedom and he's probably the best talent coach I've worked with.

Sales and promotions work great together and they let programing and air talent do what they have to do to get the job done. I'm truly blessed to be here!

Am I first? Good question... I feel like I am...I guess that's all that matters. I don't feel like my ideas, my show and what I want to do is 2nd. My PD backs me, treats me like a human being and is in touch with reality...I give him the same respect in return and that's how things get done in radio.

 

[XTalker]

That guy will never last!

 

[Boogie Man]

You are absolutely correct XTalker...seems like our boy Brady is either in a slugfest or hugfest. If your attitude in the building is anything like what we see here, you're just a loose cannon to your upper management. Sure they'll listen, but only because you may be pulling in the numbers NOW, you're still in that "honeymoon" stage or whatever reason, but mess up once and you'll be gone. If your attitude in the building is like it is here....and don't think for a second your pd isn't checking you out here. Back to the car sales...

 

[quadraphonic]

That is some early morning car sales Boogie Man!
Yall must be staffed more than most radio stations! ;D

 

[GregBrady]

You are absolutely correct XTalker...seems like our boy Brady is either in a slugfest or hugfest. If your attitude in the building is anything like what we see here, you're just a loose cannon to your upper management. Sure they'll listen, but only because you may be pulling in the numbers NOW, you're still in that "honeymoon" stage or whatever reason, but mess up once and you'll be gone. If your attitude in the building is like it is here....and don't think for a second your pd isn't checking you out here. Back to the car sales...

Wrong...There's people who have been here 30 years because of how well this comapny is ran. I find it interesting that someone tried to be positive about radio and state some good things and BAMB! He's looking at life through rose colored glasses or he doesn't know what he's talking about...to you and YOUR BOY....I've been in radio 16 years and I've worked the worst and I've worked with some great people. All I did was give an example of a radio statoion that runs smoothly...Learn about the rules of attraction guys. It's the secret to staying positive and happy...Good luck to both of you

 

[stench]

You are absolutely correct XTalker...seems like our boy Brady is either in a slugfest or hugfest. If your attitude in the building is anything like what we see here, you're just a loose cannon to your upper management. Sure they'll listen, but only because you may be pulling in the numbers NOW, you're still in that "honeymoon" stage or whatever reason, but mess up once and you'll be gone. If your attitude in the building is like it is here....and don't think for a second your pd isn't checking you out here. Back to the car sales...

Wrong...There's people who have been here 30 years because of how well this comapny is ran. I find it interesting that someone tried to be positive about radio and state some good things and BAMB! He's looking at life through rose colored glasses or he doesn't know what he's talking about...to you and YOUR BOY....I've been in radio 16 years and I've worked the worst and I've worked with some great people. All I did was give an example of a radio statoion that runs smoothly...Learn about the rules of attraction guys. It's the secret to staying positive and happy...Good luck to both of you

Forget these chumps, follow your heart, realize your passion and stand your ground. There will always be room for compelling content and good talent. You are in a unique and special situation enjoy the ride and shoot the silver, but remember, it will eventually come to money and you will need to choose.

Good Luck to you.

 

[ZAX Double J]

and don't think for a second your pd isn't checking you out here.

Absolutely!! I know from first hand experience there....

 

[Ssummers]

and don't think for a second your pd isn't checking you out here.

Absolutely!! I know from first hand experience there....

Lol. A lot of managers don't let their employees post on these sites. I just figured that was why you had to remove ZAX from your screen name...a little too close for your PD.

 

[ZAX Double J]

and don't think for a second your pd isn't checking you out here.

Absolutely!! I know from first hand experience there....

Lol. A lot of managers don't let their employees post on these sites. I just figured that was why you had to remove ZAX from your screen name...a little too close for your PD.

Yep and when I signed on I really didn't give it much thought, but now I am extra careful at what I say and where. It's sometimes best to keep your mouth shut.