Why Should ANYONE Pursue a Career in Radio?

[cm454]

In all seriousness, why should anyone embark on a career in broadcasting at this point? And why should anyone already in radio feel comfortable NOT pursuing another career?

The radio business has become increasingly and incredibly hostile toward air people. The business deserves no loyalty from just about anyone at this point, so why dedicate your heart and soul to a career that offers less and less, year after year?

And spare me the rap about how much "fun" it is to work in this business. These days, THAT upside has the lifespan of a housefly.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Was it ever fun.... or was that just a perception that we had?

I've been out for a number of years. I migrated through a handful of "careers" in the interim, and let me share a dirty little secret: There are other industries, other career choices that offer frustrations equal to the frustrations of radio!!!

Here is where we need for radio ownership, the radio "community" to catch up. With today's programming styles, and with today's ability to set up voice-over studios and specialty studios, it would be a great time for station operators to open up to the "fluid flow" of part timers, free lancers, stringers, contract relationships, etc. I gather there is a lot of that going on in a case-by-case basis but other than the really good and established voice talents, I have a feeling that station operators may treat the part time and free lance talent even more shabbily that some treat their traditional hired help.

To answer your original question: if you (emotionally) can do anything other than a career in radio... Go For It! Then dabble in radio as long as it is productive in some way: money? ego boost? establishing contacts? In fact, that is the question for which you MUST have a good answer if you pursue radio: What does radio do for YOU? If you have a good answer to that question, then ask, What do YOU do for radio?

 

[cm454]

Here is where we need for radio ownership, the radio "community" to catch up. With today's programming styles, and with today's ability to set up voice-over studios and specialty studios, it would be a great time for station operators to open up to the "fluid flow" of part timers, free lancers, stringers, contract relationships, etc. I gather there is a lot of that going on in a case-by-case basis but other than the really good and established voice talents, I have a feeling that station operators may treat the part time and free lance talent even more shabbily that some treat their traditional hired help.

This is precisely what is hurting this business. You are describing methods that contribute to the deterioration of a cohesive unit which is crucial to station success. The fragmentation of staff was one of the first byproducts of consolidation and it has done nothing but speed-up the exodus of radio professionals AND listeners.

 

[jondavidvox]

Of all that has come before us in the current evolution of Radio....the product brain-drain forced on this industry by the pursuit of nothing more than an elusive, ephemeral, and cynically-manufactured Wall Street profit opportunity is, quite simply, the most destructive force ever arrayed against it.

This betrayal of Radio, engineered by the same acolytes of algorhythms that have brought our entire economic system to its knees, has sadly been lubricated by multi-million dollar pieces of silver those few in high-enough positions to...."earn" it.

The timing could not be worse for our country. Radio, by virtue of its agility, diversity, and availability has become the only broadcast medium ubiquitous enough to be called "The People's Voice"....and yet, that voice is being inexorably reduced to a stack of pre-recorded content, unknowingly pumped into oblivious ears by robots operating mindlessly in now-empty studios.

For what? Money never seen or heard, collected by those never to be seen again, and remembered only by those of us willing to wait for their self-congratulating end....and the moment when we can begin to clean up the mess.

Radio is not an investment....sold for pointless profit, by agents of avarice.

Radio is a Service....Performed in the Public Interest, by Public Trustees.


Jon-David Wells
Fearless Broadcaster, Public Trustee

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

This is precisely what is hurting this business. You are describing methods that contribute to the deterioration of a cohesive unit which is crucial to station success. The fragmentation of staff was one of the first byproducts of consolidation and it has done nothing but speed-up the exodus of radio professionals AND listeners.

Get out the brain-stretcher. Can I be so cliche-ridden as to suggest: "Think Outside The Box!"

My personal bias is more in the direction of small market radio compared to large metro broadcasting. When I throw out an idea or two, you may have to re-tune it to visualize it the market of your choice.

If you are operating a radio station in a smaller market GROSSING $360,000 per year, how many $80,000 salaries can you afford to pay?

But let's assume one morning per week (evening or afternoon would be fine) I gather my part-time staff members somewhere (I may not have a studio big enough to do this at the station) and we set up a PC with Audition and a couple of mics. We have breakfast together. We share some insider news about the movers and shakers of our community. We share a few of the latest jokes we've heard. I pass out some talking notes and some copy and we gather around the mics like some country musicians having a guitar pull. We back up and restart some of the individual pieces. We set up a buddy system and when recording needs to be done at a home based studio, you get your buddy on the phone with each of you wearing phone headsets and as you voice your recording, your buddy on the phone interrupts and says: "Come on, a little more emotion at that phrase." or "Cut out the sing-song cadence. You sound like a hick town radio guy." (Your buddy doesn't have to be in his studio.... could be on the road driving somewhere.

So you end up with a $200,000 a year doctor, a service manager at the Chevy store making $120,000, a "gurl announcer" who makes $100,000 operating her own beauty salon, and on and on and on. You've got announcers who don't get in-bred thinking because they spend all their time hanging out in the station together.. you've got announcers who interact with real people of all income levels, ages and social standings in many different community settings.

You get top-drawer talent that enjoys their 4 to 6 hours a week doing radio... or you can hire 4 announcers at $18,000 to $21,000 annually and hope they know the difference between a mayor and a senator, the difference between a budget and a tax return, the difference between a golf club and a canoe paddle.

Let's find a two station market somewhere. I'll take my pampered part-timers with their home studios and I make your covey of full-timers sound like Lum and Abner at the Jot-em down Store, cobwebs and all. ;D

 

[gr8oldies]

What radio people have to do is get rid of the "I go to station, sit for four hours and a paycheck lands on my desk" and start being entrepreneurs.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

What radio people have to do is get rid of the "I go to station, sit for four hours and a paycheck lands on my desk" and start being entrepreneurs.

Let's roll that one over, tickle it's tummy, and see if it wags it's tail.

We're discussing making the radio station sound good, display some artistry, display some creativity, display some entertainment.... even when it is News and Talk.... which is the forum we are in.

Being a good artist does not always wear the same size shoes as being an entrepreneur. I think the opinion that has been expressed here is that a station controlled and directed only by entrepreneurs brings us sterile, lifeless, mechanical program content as the entrepreneur flushes all the talent down the toilet. After all, talent is simply an expense line on the P&L Statement.

 

[gr8oldies]

I didnt think we were fundamentally disagreeing. Good artists still need business sense. I meant talent forming their own companies, building their own studios and selling their talent, even if they cut hair the rest of the week

 

[smedge2006]

Entrepreneurship is not synonymous with success... and what you're describing doesn't sound like entrepreneurship... more like "piecework"... which has never been a pathway to prosperity for anyone.

 

[MikefromDelaware]

Goat Rodeo Cowboy is correct. I did what he suggested. I worked in radio part time on weekends and sometimes some weeknights for the past 33 years. I've jocked at an Oldies, an 80's format, a nostaligia, a CCM, and as a reporter, anchor, editor, and talkshow host at a News/Talk station. I'd work my 6 - 8 hours per week and really have a great time, met some great folks, interviewed some interesting people (Christian Ammonpour from CNN, Dr. Robert Ballard (he found the Titanic), and Rev. Desmond Tutu), made a few extra bucks minus the stress and anger that seems to be a part of the life for most fulltimers in radio.

I've worked fulltime (I'm in my 35th year) as a Lab Technician in Industry. Goat Rodeo Cowboy is also correct that radio isn't alone in having problems and causing stress for its employees. All jobs do that. You just learn to be like water and go with the flow. The old Serentity Prayer comes to mind: God give me the courage to change the things I can, accept the things I can't, and give me the wisdom to know the difference... No matter what job you are in, you'll have a boss and he/she will more than likely not do things the way you'd prefer. That's life, that's reality, accept it or go and start our own business.

I left radio 2 years ago. I spend that time I used to spend working in radio to write music, bike ride with my wife, do some furniture refinishing, and paint with watercolor pastels. So I essentially traded one fun hobby for some others. Life is good.

 

[BossJock1947]

Was it ever fun.... or was that just a perception that we had?

I've been out for a number of years. I migrated through a handful of "careers" in the interim, and let me share a dirty little secret: There are other industries, other career choices that offer frustrations equal to the frustrations of radio!!!

Here is where we need for radio ownership, the radio "community" to catch up. With today's programming styles, and with today's ability to set up voice-over studios and specialty studios, it would be a great time for station operators to open up to the "fluid flow" of part timers, free lancers, stringers, contract relationships, etc. I gather there is a lot of that going on in a case-by-case basis but other than the really good and established voice talents, I have a feeling that station operators may treat the part time and free lance talent even more shabbily that some treat their traditional hired help.

To answer your original question: if you (emotionally) can do anything other than a career in radio... Go For It! Then dabble in radio as long as it is productive in some way: money? ego boost? establishing contacts? In fact, that is the question for which you MUST have a good answer if you pursue radio: What does radio do for YOU? If you have a good answer to that question, then ask, What do YOU do for radio?

it would be a great time for station operators to open up to the "fluid flow" of part timers, free lancers, stringers, contract relationships, etc

That's going to happen sooner than you think

 

[BossJock1947]

Of all that has come before us in the current evolution of Radio....the product brain-drain forced on this industry by the pursuit of nothing more than an elusive, ephemeral, and cynically-manufactured Wall Street profit opportunity is, quite simply, the most destructive force ever arrayed against it.

This betrayal of Radio, engineered by the same acolytes of algorhythms that have brought our entire economic system to its knees, has sadly been lubricated by multi-million dollar pieces of silver those few in high-enough positions to...."earn" it.

The timing could not be worse for our country. Radio, by virtue of its agility, diversity, and availability has become the only broadcast medium ubiquitous enough to be called "The People's Voice"....and yet, that voice is being inexorably reduced to a stack of pre-recorded content, unknowingly pumped into oblivious ears by robots operating mindlessly in now-empty studios.

For what? Money never seen or heard, collected by those never to be seen again, and remembered only by those of us willing to wait for their self-congratulating end....and the moment when we can begin to clean up the mess.

Radio is not an investment....sold for pointless profit, by agents of avarice.

Radio is a Service....Performed in the Public Interest, by Public Trustees.


Jon-David Wells
Fearless Broadcaster, Public Trustee

Radio is not an investment....sold for pointless profit, by agents of avarice


Unfortunately Jon, Radio IS an investment. The Pigs have been gobbling up whatever money that was around in the 80s and early 90s and going Public. Then the Investment Pigs and Financial and radio thugs looted the rest.

 

[jondavidvox]

Boss....

If I may....

Radio is what it is....A Service for the Public. Yes, investors did put money into radio, and then shoehorned it into an investment model they could understand...."Radio is a Business" they'd say, like shoe store, or a grocery store, or a gas station. Except, these "Pigs" lost sight of the quintessential Truth that proves my assertion:

The real and only Customers of their product, are not their advertisers.

This fundamental flaw has brought our industry to ruin. To Wit:

In any successful business, the customer is always right. If you believe Radio's customers are advertisers, then you do all you can to service those clients....at the expense of your real Customer.

Compunding this colossal blunder is the notion that Radio is now not even a Business....why, it's an Investment.

In any successful Investment, the investor's interests must be served. And so they are....(after all, that's where those huge bonuses come from) again, at the expense of your real Customer.

And so, Radio's customers are voting with their ears....And the vote is No. Here's why:

If Radio is a Business, then you end up playing too many commercials, so you have to edit your content to only those that are the most attractive to Radio's real Customers....who then hear the same things, over and over, and go somewhere else, and hear the same things again, over and over, and then go back to the first place, and hear the same things, over and over again, and go somewhere else....

....a store where they can buy an I-Pod.

If Radio is an Investment, then market pressures force you to end up chasing the bottom line, which forces cuts in staff, which eventually erodes the product into one that anyone can provide...except they can't. Because the People who actually know what they are doing, foolishly believe they should own a house, drive a dependable car, and maybe be able to fund an education for their children. That makes them too expensive. They get canned. They get replaced with a more "cost-effective product"....again forgetting their real Customer, who consciously or unconsciously figures out that since anyone can provide the content Radio used to, so....

....they go and buy an I-Pod.

At the end of the day, we on the product side will never be able to convince those who are fervently reducing their industry to an opportunity to collect a fat bonus check that they are in error. We will never see their realization that their egos would never allow them to live the life our committment to Radio's real Customers forces us to.

To save our industry, we Broadcasters must provide them with the same harsh lessons they've been teaching us....

....They suck, and we can make more money without them.

Jon-David Wells
Fearless Broadcaster

 

[gr8oldies]

If it is true that radio is not a business or an investment but a public utility perhaps radio stations should not be in private hands at all? How else are you going to fund them if profit is out of the picture?

 

[jondavidvox]

Gr8 question....

Radio is a Service which makes possible an attendent business.

In many countries, Radio is handled by non-private entities. I disagree with that model, in that the people aren't served by any entity that can be honestly critical of that public entity.

No, the answer is the privately owned, publicy licensed, properly regulated model that made Radio the go-to media for their communities. Including all things news; local & national, and 24/7-365 entertainment for everyone, in every format.

When Radio stations had to declare a news committment to get an FCC license....Radio Companies were profitable, and when airplanes flew into skyscrapers the Emergency Broadcast System was actually triggered....by broadcasters, not civil-service guys who dropped the ball while trying to figure out what was happening.

When Radio stations had to have licensed operators on-duty 24/7-365....Radio Companies were profitable, and Life-Flight helicopters didn't crash into broadcast towers, killing everyone on board; who by the way were providing a public service.

When Radio stations paid on-air personalities enough to live as well as the salespeople....Radio companies were profitable, and didn't have to depend on major dayparts being handled by part-time workers. (Re-read this thread, and see how the best advice given is by people who tell newcomers not to focus their entire professional effort on Radio.)

When Radio did all of those things, Radio's real Customers knew that when something bad happened, the first News medium that had the story was Radio. Those real Customers also bought their children transistor radios, because they knew the content was safe....or someone was going to get fined, and/or lose their license.

(Considering the filth our business has stooped to broadcasting, would you buy your 11 year-old daughter a radio?)

So now that Radio does business, are our real Customers served better, or worse?

It's a trick question...Say what you want. Radio's real Customers are showing us what they want.

J-D
FB

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Gee, I didn't hear the music.

The ice cream truck just came through the neighborhood, I gather. I really wanted one of those DREAMsicles that jondavidvox has. :-X

There was a time when this country had a booming textile business and a lot of people built their lives around the money the mills made.

There was a time when a lot of people made a good living working in the business of building TV sets in this country. When it came time for me to learn how to transition from tube amplifiers and transmitters around the station to transistorized models, the Engineer in charge of black-and-white design for RCA television privately tutored me. I wonder what all those buildings in Indiana where they used to make TVs are being used for today.

There was a time when a farmer could make a decent living on a 160-acre farm.

There was a time when the steel mills made people a good living.

And today we have this debate going on in Washington. Is congress required to keep the "Big 3" of auto alive because it says somewhere in the Bible that we will always make cars? Or has the time come for the car factories to follow the shoe factories and the computer factories and the textile factories to some foreign land?

Would all those industries still be here and healthy if they had done in their own fields of work the equivalent of "Live 365 24/7" in radio?

By the way, for all practical purposes, they don't build small, private aircraft in this country any more either.

And how many times have you taken the train to your vacation the last few years?

As much as I share your nostalgia for some of the features of radio from the by-gone era, I think your wagon is hitched to a burned-out star. The people in all the industries I just listed could not detach themselves from their historical business trends long enough to blaze a new path that would allow their enterprises to to migrate into the 21st century in the setting of the United States.

It doesn't look like the owners and worker-bees of the terrestrial broadcasting industry are much better at trail blazing.

I believe it was Mister Einstein who told us: "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting new results next time." If you could gather up the detailed financials for ten radio stations at random, a third-year accounting student could put them into an Excel spread-sheet and quickly build a business model which would show you that returning to "Live 365 24/7" is a bumble-bee with wings that cannot fly.

So. Back to the question: Why should ANYONE Pursue a Career in Radio? They should, only if they are convince they have a NEW PARADIGM that will fly in the world of today. And the world of radio has to be so different ten years from now... How would anyone know if they even wanted to be a part of it when it gets there?

 

[jondavidvox]

Goat....I'm not talking about obsolete technology. I'm talking about faulty thinking.

J-D
FB

 

[gr8oldies]

I still don't remember this utopia when we were all in fat city working for mom and pop radio stations

 

[jondavidvox]

Goat....

You probably don't....No slap at you, you're probably too young to remember the FCC truck coming to town and fining you $500.00 because you, (The Operator on Duty) forgot how to calculate power on a 3-tower AM Directional array....(What's a common-point? Truth be told, the FCC inspector helped me figure it out....He was cool, because we were so well engineered in the first place)....or any number of other things that you could lose your license for. (No license, no work. No work, no food.)

Amateur Radio Licensees now have more regulations to deal with running a 3-watt HAM station, than we do running a 50,000 watt AM station. (Doesn't that strike you as a bit odd?)

Again, I'm not talking about "the good ol' days"....I'm talking about this industry, and it's future. Bill Drake died the other day. Was his radio better? Hell yes. Why? Because he had more rules to deal with....The rules make the game. For example:

What would a Golf Course look like without the rules? A 7,000 yard weedy cow pasture covered with B*LLS**T. Sound familiar?

J-D
FB

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Goat....I'm not talking about obsolete technology. I'm talking about faulty thinking.

I think we both are.

All the industries that I named labored under faulty thinking.

They did not go overseas due to obsolete technology. They went overseas because they were the victim of faulty thinking. They thought they could put off adopting new technology and avoid unpleasant confrontations with the labor unions over the changes. The labor unions are the victim of faulty thinking.... they thought they could ignore technology and changed work rules. But, that's a proper discussion for another discussion board in another place.

The first new car I remember our family buying was a Plymouth. The last new car I purchased was a Toyota. Let me assure you the product delivered to me was considerably changed and improved over what was delivered to my Dad many years ago. Plymouth could have sold me a car.... but they chose to keep making the same old crap until the name Plymouth has disappeared from the market-place.

Apparently the audience does not want to hear the same, tired old programming that the audience of 30, 40, 50 years ago was content to receive. I don't give today's broadcasters good marks for the direction they are taking the product. But to return to my automobile comparison: The car-boys have found that you cannot compete if you continue to build cars in old fashioned factory buildings in a high-cost-of-living city like Detroit paying union wages and benefits as we have known them. The folks who went to the rolling hills of Kentucky and bought some farm-land and figured out a way to get along with labor in a new way CAN COMPETE.

Both labor and management in radio have to find new ways to create the audio product that will make listeners happy. Unfortunately, "Live 365 24/7" will be pictured in the history books alongside 4 and 5 story brick factory buildings in urban Detroit.

Turn your adrenalin loose on conceiving new scenarios for creating great audio.

When I was in school they tried to begin telling us that we might change professions a time or two in our working years. I took them seriously. What they didn't tell me was that when you get to your fifth or sixth career change, the H.R. department will frown at you.

So, it may be that radio is not the place to spend a life-time. Modern day radio will make use of people for short periods of time (6 to 8 years?) at various stages in their life. Not just from age 20 to 28. Maybe someone will move into the business at age 43 and only stay for 6 or 8 years. Does that kind of thinking fit into your picture of radio of today and the future?