Why work in radio anymore?

[TheBigA]

Perhaps there is some truth to that. I think I was referring more to music radio.

So was I. The #1 music format in the 60s was something called MOR. Middle of the Road. Nothing more boring than that.

 

[elchupacabras]

Perhaps there is some truth to that. I think I was referring more to music radio.

So was I. The #1 music format in the 60s was something called MOR. Middle of the Road. Nothing more boring than that.

To each his own. MOR is great music. I would kill to play Ray Conniff, Mathis, Sinatra, and Dean-O again. I got the opportunity for a few years programming a nostalgia station in Salt Lake, and spent some of the most memorable days of my career playing that music. I crave it! That and FULL-SERVICE AC! As the song goes, "Those were the days, my friend..."

 

[firepoint525]

I personally would rather see radio stations go all satellite/automated and all that, rather than see them hire "djs," only to treat them like crap, and then still try to squeeze unpaid overtime out of them, and complain when something doesn't get done! (Yeah, this kind of stuff happens in other industries, too, but work with me here.) They can get better sounding djs out of New York or LA or wherever. A former GM told us in a staff meeting that stations go satellite because they can't find good djs locally. That isn't entirely true. They can't find good djs locally for what they are willing or able to pay for one! The satellite music services don't cost as much as the warm body in the chair. Fine, I understand that. Just don't blame the dj because you don't have the budget for one. If you can't afford live jocks, then it isn't even an issue for you. Go all automated all the time.

I was able to make the current environment work for me. I programmed five radio stations on the overnight shift for 10 years! Consolidation? Didn't scare me! All I did was babysat those transmitters! I have not been a live on-air announcer since 1996! Although I did voiceover work for the station while I was there, because I believe in going above and beyond the call of duty, and making myself useful. It was not glamorous, and I was not a "star," but I actually made more money (because I was hourly, not salaried) than I had at any of those previous stations where I had "jocked," and on top of that, had a lot LESS stress! And since I was there at night, I was able to avoid most (but not all) of the office politics, enabling me to last longer there than nearly all of my coworkers. With a few exceptions, big egos were not a problem, because we were not some huge station with "superstar" djs. And because I worked overnight, the tradeoff was that I was able to be off most weekends!

 

[elchupacabras]

I personally would rather see radio stations go all satellite/automated and all that, rather than see them hire "djs," only to treat them like crap, and then still try to squeeze unpaid overtime out of them, and complain when something doesn't get done! (Yeah, this kind of stuff happens in other industries, too, but work with me here.) They can get better sounding djs out of New York or LA or wherever. A former GM told us in a staff meeting that stations go satellite because they can't find good djs locally. That isn't entirely true. They can't find good djs locally for what they are willing or able to pay for one! The satellite music services don't cost as much as the warm body in the chair. Fine, I understand that. Just don't blame the dj because you don't have the budget for one. If you can't afford live jocks, then it isn't even an issue for you. Go all automated all the time.

I was able to make the current environment work for me. I programmed five radio stations on the overnight shift for 10 years! Consolidation? Didn't scare me! All I did was babysat those transmitters! I have not been a live on-air announcer since 1996! Although I did voiceover work for the station while I was there, because I believe in going above and beyond the call of duty, and making myself useful. It was not glamorous, and I was not a "star," but I actually made more money (because I was hourly, not salaried) than I had at any of those previous stations where I had "jocked," and on top of that, had a lot LESS stress! And since I was there at night, I was able to avoid most (but not all) of the office politics, enabling me to last longer there than nearly all of my coworkers. With a few exceptions, big egos were not a problem, because we were not some huge station with "superstar" djs. And because I worked overnight, the tradeoff was that I was able to be off most weekends!

They actually have DJ's on overnight? Shock! Wow, your company must do something right, most places just run sweepers and music overnights.

 

[firepoint525]

I wasn't a dj, just a programmer. I didn't actually do any announcing, so I always thought it was amusing that I signed on (and off) the log on the line that reads "announcer."

 

[davideduardo]

No, I think all of us realize that the days of cart racks, tone arms and transmitters with tubes are gone, just as is the model for the DJ and the 60's music format.

The sixties model was when radio was fun to do and fun to listen to. There was a personality behind the microphone who actually gave a crap about his listener. Radio is painfully boring in most cases these days, because it is nothing more than a puker with a push button, reading a liner card.

The 60's model was fun for people in the 60's. It neither fits todays under-55 demos nor today's mood and environment. I think any station that put a Biondi-like jock on, singing "on top of a Pizza all covered with cheese..." would become one of the lowest rated stations in history.

I will also take a shot at the music industry. Music for the most part sucks. Has sucked for the past 15 years or so.

Gee, I hear all the great stuff by people ranging from Beyoncé to Akon to Pink and Flo Rida and mainstays like Mariah, and I can't see any difference between now and 1968. Some people of an older generation may not like it, but I'd rather hear Poker Face than Yummy Yummy any day!

Even in Spanish language radio, which you know so well, it has gone down, thanks to 30 years of payola and lackies such as Raul Velasco who promoted mediocre acts who paid for time on Azcarraga's Telerisa. That's why we went from the likes of Jose Jose and El Puma to promotion of narcocorridos. Sure, there are a few exceptions, I can think of Juanes or Arjona.

In pop, we have things like Kudai, Chayanne, Luis Fonsi, Playa Limbo, Camila, Flex, Wisin & Yandel, Kalimba, Enrique Iglesias, Fonseca, OVG, Belanova, Bisbal, Jesse & Joy, Maná, Panda, Reik, Reyli, and many more that are a lot better and more varied than the MOR ballads of the 70's.

In regional, we have all the new groups like K-Paz, Patrulla 81 and El Chapo de Sinaloa along with the 4th decade of Vicente, as well as Marco, Tigres, Primavera, and the other great established bands. There is no shortage of good new music, just a need to adapt to the changes in style.

Where are the power artists in English? Where is the talent? When I see Lady GaGa I want to loose my cookies.

It's cool, fun music just like many of the artists of the 60's and 70's were... disposable, but fun to listen to.

And as for the public? We've dumbed them down by not informing them. We've told the public they should no longer care for a 15 minute news block, even on news/talk stations. (Harvey is gone, few affiliates pick up all ten minutes of CBS's World News Roundup). Ask someone under 35 what happened in the news and the will give you a blank stare.

In the 50's and 60's, most young people changed stations when the news came on by FCC decree. I changed station, my freiends changed station. Just as those under 35 generally don't listen to talk radio, they don't want news on their music station. They ignore it, hate it.

With so many stations and so many other sources, not every station needs to do the news. In fact, it's better to leave that to the few stations that will do it, and focus on what each of us can do best. Not having the FCC telling us we need 6% news!

Who is to blame? We are. By not insisting on the old model of information, personality and music, we have accepted an inferior product that the public could care less about.

I think the specialization that the profusion of stations that occured int he 70's brought allows folks to pick the one station that satisfies their needs in the moment... and not have to accept either songs or features they don't want to hear at that time...

 

[davideduardo]

I programmed five radio stations on the overnight shift for 10 years!

Can you explain that? I have never heard of a PD that did not at least have some normal office hours... how did you work with the GM on bugets and such, with sales on promotions, etc., etc?

 

[gr8oldies]

So many things that have come up today, but I'll address the 15 minute news block. No one "told us" we didn't want a noon news block, we just turned it off when it came on. Stations like CKLW used news at oddball times (20 minutes before the hour so the top of the hour would be sweeping wih music) and blood and guts writing and delivery to try to keep folks tuned in. Aside from that, look at the changes in society. I grew up in a town where probably 90% of the male population worked at the same factory, most of the moms stayed home, and the rest were local business owners. Everyone in town was on the same daily, weekly and yearly schedule (the factory closed for two weeks every summer, and just about the whole rest of the town did likewise). So, yeah, you could do a noon news block and have it sorta make sense, but now, everyone's schedules are everywhere and not every woman stays home. That's one reason more convenient devices are providing news, and most everyone gets a dose of the day's headlines when they start their computer for the morning. They don't have to wait until 20 after for the weather, or try to listen at the top of the hour for news. Farm reports were once the mainstays of small town stations, but I once had a major farm advertiser tell me that there was no need for farm reports on the radio because the farmers are getting their prices on their laptops (now no doubt PDAs or iPhones). Lots of changes occurred in talk radio and most of them are blamed on the Fairness Doctrine going away, but the composition of callers changed with near universal use of cellphones. An the beat goes on. We want to do radio like it was still 1965? Good luck getting anyone to listen.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

I programmed five radio stations on the overnight shift for 10 years!

Can you explain that? I have never heard of a PD that did not at least have some normal office hours... how did you work with the GM on bugets and such, with sales on promotions, etc., etc?

David: I think we are having a "regional dialect" problem in this conversation. I have a feeling that the stations Firepoint worked for did not have a program director in the sense you are talking about. I did not understand his message to say that he performing the activities and duties you think of as "programming". Though titles were handed out in small market southern stations, the authority and responsibility did not match what the term "program the station" meant in metro markets. Firepoint can speak for himself on this issue as to what he was really doing in the middle of the night. I have my own ideas what he was probably doing.

 

[firepoint525]

I programmed five radio stations on the overnight shift for 10 years!

Can you explain that? I have never heard of a PD that did not at least have some normal office hours... how did you work with the GM on bugets and such, with sales on promotions, etc., etc?

One AM and four shortwave stations. Two out of the four had 24-hour ministries on them. At the time I left there, they were in the process of eliminating positions so that a daytime programmer and an evening programmer could do what I was doing at night. With the forward march of technology over the 10 years I was doing overnights, if it kept up at that pace, my former position would be eliminated.

The AM was already primarily automated during the daytime by the time I left there. Somehow, the computer skipped (or someone forgot to load) a 15-minute program one day, resulting in all programming being off for 15 minutes, until someone called and pointed it out to them! And this was during the daytime, when office staffers were in the building! So they weren't even monitoring their own programming!

 

[firepoint525]

David: I think we are having a "regional dialect" problem in this conversation. I have a feeling that the stations Firepoint worked for did not have a program director in the sense you are talking about. I did not understand his message to say that he performing the activities and duties you think of as "programming". Though titles were handed out in small market southern stations, the authority and responsibility did not match what the term "program the station" meant in metro markets. Firepoint can speak for himself on this issue as to what he was really doing in the middle of the night. I have my own ideas what he was probably doing.

You are essentially correct. I was definitely NOT the program director. I had no authority, only responsibility. In other words, no credit, but all the blame. I was "night manager," which included security, engineering, sanitation, production, secretarial work, concierge, information desk, voiceover work, and of course, programming. Some of that was officially my job responsibilities, and some of it was just unofficial duties that I took on while I was there.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

]You are essentially correct. I was definitely NOT the program director. I had no authority, only responsibility. In other words, no credit, but all the blame. I was "night manager," which included security, engineering, sanitation, production, secretarial work, concierge, information desk, voiceover work, and of course, programming. Some of that was officially my job responsibilities, and some of it was just unofficial duties that I took on while I was there.

You still haven't given us a "picture" of what you mean when you say 'programming".

Programming could mean creating a PLAYLIST that would drive an automation machine.
Programming could mean you also wrote some COBOL every night to make the payroll system work.
Architects "program" a building before they design it.

When you were not janitoring or not concierging, or not answering the phone,... but when you were PROGRAMMING... what were you doing? When you were programming, What did that look like?

 

[davideduardo]

One AM and four shortwave stations.

What you probably mean in terms the rest of us use is "A local AM and a SW station that operated on multiple frequencies."

And by "programming" I am getting the drift that you programmed schedules of recorded shows in some kind of automation system. While that is indeed "programming the automation" it is not what most of us consider to be "programming a radio station" and thus the confusion.

Whatever it is, it sounds interesting and rather different from what most of us have exerienced.

 

[radioray]

I agree with David.

I think what firepoint is talking about is roughly "keeping the programming running" and maybe "programming some of the machinerey to operate" and he himself says that he was not what we would call the program director.

It does sound interesting!

 

[firepoint525]

Radioray and David are correct. I ran the stations while I was there at night. I did not make any programming decisions, or schedule the programs, per se. Although I downloaded some of our programs off the internet, and loaded them into our schedule to air later in the day. I was not, in any sense, a program director.

Although I should point out that what I described in the first paragraph above was in the last couple of years that I was there. The first few years involved playing back programs on cassette, cuing up cassettes, recording programming for later in the day, again on cassette. This gradually evolved into CDs, MDs (minidisks), and eventually, downloads and (semi) automation. (In latter years, I hardly ever even touched cassettes!) And keep in mind that this evolution took place in a period of about 10 years. Automation is great when it works right, but it can be persnickety, and just "dump" a program from its schedule for no apparent reason!

 

[Questor]

Music for the most part sucks. Has sucked for the past 15 years or so. All formats. Even in Spanish language radio, which you know so well, it has gone down, thanks to 30 years of payola and lackies such as Raul Velasco who promoted mediocre acts who paid for time on Azcarraga's Telerisa. That's why we went from the likes of Jose Jose and El Puma to promotion of narcocorridos.

I have this one CD of Jose Jose covering a song entitled "Ojala que te mueras."  It's one of my favorite songs.  It means "I hope that you die."

I heard it for the first time 3 days after a regional VP Manager told me I had no future in radio in his market.  So in a sense, he was telling me, "I hope that you die."

I thank the man for his rejections.
And if radio continues rejecting you, it's their loss.
Alternately, you reject the rejectors.
I did, and I found some boss worth working for in this industry in that market.  Or two.

And I don't believe the "do what you love the money will follow" doodoo.  Neither do my terrestrial landlords, in English, Spanish or other languages.

 

[bossbill]

Indeed, radio has changed significantly since I first started. Technology, deregulation, and relaxation of local service requirements have combined to produce what we have today.

But in 1960 we had automated radio stations, even in major markets. The systems were quite primitive by today's standards. And in 1960 there were stations operated absent of staff. As industry revenues grew, so did number of stations. And today you still have small stations struggling to survive with a minimal staff, just like 50 years ago.

Career-wise, 50 years ago there was the opportunity to begin in a small rural market and work up to bigger markets as experience and talent allowed. Today, due to technology and financial constraints, it is near impossible to start in a small rural market, plus if one is fortunate enough to make it to the "big-time", there is no big-time there, only big empty buildings with minimal staff because the group owner has a debt service brought on by speculative interests. (They should have known that paying 20-25 times earnings would come back to bite them in the butt).

For me, radio is still a fun business, but only because of my situation. It is not something I would encourage my grandchildren to pursue.

 

[TheBigA]

(They should have known that paying 20-25 times earnings would come back to bite them in the butt).

Hindsight is 20/20. If we knew Apple was going to explode with new products and revolutionize the industry, we all would have bought stock at $9 a share. Now it's $175. Who here bought Apple at $9? Raise your hands.

The issue here is not to make radio like it was, but to make radio into what today's audience wants. That's a challenge, because radio is not the only option, and talent isn't restricted to radio. I still find the best stuff today being done by amateurs. They take risks that professionals would never attempt. The end of professional talent began with those home video TV shows. If someone could be entertained by watching other people do stupid things, then professional comedians were going to have trouble. The next step was when amateur talent shows became popular. If an amateur can entertain as much as a professional, who needs to spend money buying music from a professional? The key thing is to recognize a trend when it begins, and jump on it. That way, perhaps you can be smart enough to buy Apple at $9.

 

[SirRoxalot]

While I suspect that you'll never go broke underestimating the taste of the American public, I still believe that there's a difference between laughing AT someone and laughing WITH someone.

Professional talent typically "lets you in on the joke", pointing out the foibles of others. Most amateur "talent" is geared toward providing those foibles. If "an amateur can entertain as much as a professional", then why aren't those shows hitting the top of the ratings, and why are they hosted by professionals instead of amateurs.

It's all about context, and professionals provide appropriate context. It ain't as easy as it looks. If it was, everybody would be doing it.

PS - One of the reason that Apple stock is worth $175 is because Steve Jobs hasn't diluted the value by issuing millions of shares to prop up a failed venture. He ran a COMPANY, not a PONZI SCHEME.

 

[TheBigA]

If "an amateur can entertain as much as a professional", then why aren't those shows hitting the top of the ratings, and why are they hosted by professionals instead of amateurs.

American Idol is consistently the most popular show on TV. Most of the variations, as well as the reality shows, are also extremely popular. They're hosted by professionals just to provide consistency from week to week. But the hosts are clearly not the stars. I think radio hosts could learn from TV hosts.

It ain't as easy as it looks. If it was, everybody would be doing it.

It IS as easy as it looks, and that's why everyone IS doing it. Not everyone is succeeding, but that doesn't stop them from trying. Success isn't based on quality or ability, but rather building a fan base that supports what you do regardless of what that is.