I say this only in the arena of discussion; I know not all stations are doing poorly, but I say this in context of Eastern NC radio stations, particularly those in my area. Here in our city, we have 4 radio stations, and collectively they can barely pay their bills on the most general of means.
I don't know when the last time any of you have looked at WGTM, WLLY, WVOT and WUBN, but there is a similar theme going on, and it all seems to be a less than average way of running a radio station, and I wondered why.
I know there are lots of answers, but I just wanted to express mine first to kinda give a guideline on this topic. I will be the first to say I am nowhere near the most qualified to speak about this in the most prefessional view, but I do speak from some experience.
When I was in college, we had our own radio station, WWCU. I worked there for 3 and a half years and learned structure. One of the professors was the Advisor, and students held all positions, from Station Manager, Program Director, News Director, Sports Director, Traffic Controller, Public Affairs and stuff like that. Everybody knew their role and were trained as we went along. It was fun in college, but I thought the same principles would apply in the real world.
In a way it did, up until maybe about 1997 or 96 when the FCC relaxed the rules on on-air licenses. To me, this is where many local radio stations fell apart. I know the idea was to help local owners, but to me it seemed to severely restrict qualified individuals and favor people who have no experience but are willing to work for peanuts.
When this rule came into effect, it seemed to encourage owners and managers of small radio stations to say, "now I don't have to pay Joe $9.00 an hour for the stuff he does, when I can pay Jim minimum wage to do the same thing."
The problem was that Jim couldn't do the same thing, because he was never qualified in the first place. Lots of local owners of radio stations have no idea of what it really takes to run a station; they just think it's just about playing music or talking on a microphone, or hooking a computer to play the music for you.
I think the very heart of radio was lost because local owners were too cheap to keep qualified personnel, so now you walk in a radio station and you see people who know almost nothing about radio, and are less qualfied to put a spark in it.
For example, WLLY, last I checked, was run by two elderly people who had no idea how to cut a spot when the General Manager passed away. They were never taught how to use the equipment, and never told how to cut a 30 second spot...not 36 seconds or 63 seconds. Nobody ever told them that, not even the General Manager. I am sure they are doing the best they can, but if you are trying to run a business, this cannot work for long.
WVOT was the same way. With all the equipment left behind by the original owners, there was plenty of equipment to cut spots...yet the staff had absolutely no idea how to operate it, because nobody in the station had experience in it.
When local stations turn from professionals to "cheap labor", it seemed to cause a trickle down effect on how radio stations are run. You can't tell me there is a shortage of qualified people to work at those stations; Barton College has a communications department, and it would have been easy to set up an internship to give a student hands on experience. But none of the stations want to pay for that.
I have seen each of these stations and how they operate, and it really is sad to see that collectively there is almost no talent or ingenuity going on. If just one of them really woke up to the possibilities of radio in a community that has almost no media venues, they could really pick their station off the ground...but at this rate, I just can't see it happening, not when they look for "cheap labor" instead of qualified personnel.
I don't know when the last time any of you have looked at WGTM, WLLY, WVOT and WUBN, but there is a similar theme going on, and it all seems to be a less than average way of running a radio station, and I wondered why.
I know there are lots of answers, but I just wanted to express mine first to kinda give a guideline on this topic. I will be the first to say I am nowhere near the most qualified to speak about this in the most prefessional view, but I do speak from some experience.
When I was in college, we had our own radio station, WWCU. I worked there for 3 and a half years and learned structure. One of the professors was the Advisor, and students held all positions, from Station Manager, Program Director, News Director, Sports Director, Traffic Controller, Public Affairs and stuff like that. Everybody knew their role and were trained as we went along. It was fun in college, but I thought the same principles would apply in the real world.
In a way it did, up until maybe about 1997 or 96 when the FCC relaxed the rules on on-air licenses. To me, this is where many local radio stations fell apart. I know the idea was to help local owners, but to me it seemed to severely restrict qualified individuals and favor people who have no experience but are willing to work for peanuts.
When this rule came into effect, it seemed to encourage owners and managers of small radio stations to say, "now I don't have to pay Joe $9.00 an hour for the stuff he does, when I can pay Jim minimum wage to do the same thing."
The problem was that Jim couldn't do the same thing, because he was never qualified in the first place. Lots of local owners of radio stations have no idea of what it really takes to run a station; they just think it's just about playing music or talking on a microphone, or hooking a computer to play the music for you.
I think the very heart of radio was lost because local owners were too cheap to keep qualified personnel, so now you walk in a radio station and you see people who know almost nothing about radio, and are less qualfied to put a spark in it.
For example, WLLY, last I checked, was run by two elderly people who had no idea how to cut a spot when the General Manager passed away. They were never taught how to use the equipment, and never told how to cut a 30 second spot...not 36 seconds or 63 seconds. Nobody ever told them that, not even the General Manager. I am sure they are doing the best they can, but if you are trying to run a business, this cannot work for long.
WVOT was the same way. With all the equipment left behind by the original owners, there was plenty of equipment to cut spots...yet the staff had absolutely no idea how to operate it, because nobody in the station had experience in it.
When local stations turn from professionals to "cheap labor", it seemed to cause a trickle down effect on how radio stations are run. You can't tell me there is a shortage of qualified people to work at those stations; Barton College has a communications department, and it would have been easy to set up an internship to give a student hands on experience. But none of the stations want to pay for that.
I have seen each of these stations and how they operate, and it really is sad to see that collectively there is almost no talent or ingenuity going on. If just one of them really woke up to the possibilities of radio in a community that has almost no media venues, they could really pick their station off the ground...but at this rate, I just can't see it happening, not when they look for "cheap labor" instead of qualified personnel.