Will local morning shows be a thing of the past?

[Underminer]

With the budget crises at seemingly every group, how long do you think it'll be before stations go to a one-person morning show, or just go syndicated? Obviously, morning talent is the highest-paid at any station. Who's going to cut costs, ala WHOM, and who do you think is the next in line to go away?

I have no stake in this. Just wonderin'

 

[adbuyer1]

The Astrology Morning Show on WCYY. How in this era of cost cutting is that personal agenda dribble allowed to go on is beyond me.

They could have no live person, just play music, run the commercials and that would be fine with me. Hell, it would be an improvement and it would save money. That's a win-win.

 

[dabutler]

For the future of the industry, I certainly hope not. There are plenty of out of market morning shows - without local content - on XM, and Sirius, if we do not set ourselves apart from what they offer, we will become the "Dodo." Local content that applies directly to your listeners is what separates earthbound sticks from the internet and satellite radio. As an industry, we shouldn't be counting beans at the expense of our future, we should invest in the future, by looking at local talent the same way we look at a transmitter. Essential equipment.

I know of a GM who wouldn't replace a microphone because he called it a "Non-essential piece of equipment." ...If we go down to far down that path, will we ever find our way back?

Bill

 

[Biff Barfington]

Wake up and smell the napalm. With the exception of 'JBQ, there hasn't been a decent morning show in Portland for a long, long time. Personally, I'd rather listen to a topical, entertaining and funny show "from away" than a local effort whose idea of local content and relevance is to wish 9 year-olds Happy Birthday.

 

[Adam Rivers]

Biff is right in the sense that a lot of listeners would rather listen to something syndicated that is funny then a local effort that sucks. Don't get me wrong, I prefer live, local radio 24/7, but sometimes, it does make sense from both a financial and content standpoint to bring in something off the dish.

Radio at this point doesn't offer enough (salary, working environment, etc) to many of the people in it that have talent and produce compelling radio to keep them in radio. This results in a much smaller talent pool...making it virtually impossible to have local, effective bodies everywhere. It's unfortunate, but it is the way it is right now. Unfortunately I don't see a turn-around anytime soon, either. I happen to work full-time for a company that still believes in local radio much more then others, but the overall trend is certainly more towards less people and less local content.

 

[Curb]

Right on, Adam!! Radio offers very little to employees today. Unless you work for a private owner (like Stephen King), you're talents and opinions don't matter much. I know MANY creative jocks are suffocating under "corporate consultants". Nobody is allowed to make a move without the rediculous sign-off of a few "suits" who have no idea what each particular market is truly like. The money and benefits in radio were never that great...but it seems to be getting worse. However, it's not why many of us got into this to begin with.

Most of all: There's no personal "fulfillment" in radio anymore. No wonder so many talented jocks are leaving the business for good.

 

[True Grit]

Right on, Adam!! Radio offers very little to employees today. Unless you work for a private owner (like Stephen King), you're talents and opinions don't matter much. I know MANY creative jocks are suffocating under "corporate consultants". Nobody is allowed to make a move without the rediculous sign-off of a few "suits" who have no idea what each particular market is truly like. The money and benefits in radio were never that great...but it seems to be getting worse. However, it's not why many of us got into this to begin with.

Most of all: There's no personal "fulfillment" in radio anymore. No wonder so many talented jocks are leaving the business for good.

Agreed 100%. Absolutely no reason why someone 1000's of miles away should make some of the decisions they do. I understand local radio people have to answer to someone that, in most cases, isn't in the office down the hall, but things have gone waaaaaay too far to the other extreme. And as for Stephen King's stations, is it any wonder the on-air turnover is miniscule? When was the last time there was a FT airshift open on 'KIT?

 

[forevernight]

And as for Stephen King's stations, is it any wonder the on-air turnover is miniscule? When was the last time there was a FT airshift open on 'KIT?

I realize that yours was a rhetorical question, but the fact that the answer is 9 years sort of makes your point for you.

 

[Ozman]

Wake up and smell the napalm. With the exception of 'JBQ, there hasn't been a decent morning show in Portland for a long, long time. Personally, I'd rather listen to a topical, entertaining and funny show "from away" than a local effort whose idea of local content and relevance is to wish 9 year-olds Happy Birthday.

I guess you can't get Tom-O and Mr. Mike in Portland?

there hilarious and play music. I call them the T-O-S lifesaviors

 

[Underminer]

Well, in Portland Herb Ivy has been PD/mornings for what, 20 years? In fact, BLM has incredible stability with Tommy, Brian James and Celeste all around for at least 15 years. Meredith has been JBQ mornings for at least 10, Jon Shannon on POR for 8 or so, Tim Wright on MGX for at least 10. So there's 2 out-of-state owners with employee loyalty. And how long has Randi worked for Saga, 25 years?

 

[adbuyer1]

Underminer:

You could probably best verify this, but would not Dave and Michelle on The Wolf be the longest running, intact, morning show on Portland Radio?

 

[wthorne]

F.Y.I.
Randi was 1 of the original jocks at WMGX when it came on in 1977
Wayne

 

[Underminer]

Adbuyer,

Actually, I believe you're correct. However, there have been many, many employees of both Saga and Citadel who have a ton of seniority over the Nassau folk. Not for nothing, but it doesn't seem like Nassau inspires alot of loyalty among its' ever-shrinking group of employees.

 

[Biff Barfington]

Radio at this point doesn't offer enough (salary, working environment, etc) to many of the people in it that have talent and produce compelling radio to keep them in radio. This results in a much smaller talent pool...making it virtually impossible to have local, effective bodies everywhere.

I've always thought radio would be a great gig if you didn't have to make your living doing it. Therein lies the rub. Who knows? Maybe values will drop deep enough into the toilet to enable local groups of radio people (as opposed to business people) to program their operations as a labor of love and not just as filler between stop sets. WMPG has its share of long-time program hosts and they're clearly not in it for the money.

In the meantime, online streaming is pretty cheap and easy. Anybody know of any cool local stuff being cranked out on line?

 

[True Grit]

And as for Stephen King's stations, is it any wonder the on-air turnover is miniscule? When was the last time there was a FT airshift open on 'KIT?

I realize that yours was a rhetorical question, but the fact that the answer is 9 years sort of makes your point for you.

Thanks. I knew it had been a loooong time, but wasn't sure exactly how long.

 

[forevernight]

And as for Stephen King's stations, is it any wonder the on-air turnover is miniscule? When was the last time there was a FT airshift open on 'KIT?

I realize that yours was a rhetorical question, but the fact that the answer is 9 years sort of makes your point for you.

Thanks. I knew it had been a loooong time, but wasn't sure exactly how long.

I didn't include changes in overnights, there has been some movement there, and of course The Guru left the morning show a while back and Mark came on board as Bobby's sidekick. Leaving aside nights and overnights, the daytime airshifts are pretty much unchanged since either '92 or '93, maybe earlier, when Jason took over middays. And Scotty has been at the station since the days of WGUY-FM. Pretty stable. A live breathing entity in the studio 24-7, even when syndicated programming is running.

 

[True Grit]

foreverknight wrote:<I didn't include changes in overnights, there has been some movement there, and of course The Guru left the morning show a while back and Mark came on board as Bobby's sidekick. Leaving aside nights and overnights, the daytime airshifts are pretty much unchanged since either '92 or '93, maybe earlier, when Jason took over middays. And Scotty has been at the station since the days of WGUY-FM. Pretty stable. A live breathing entity in the studio 24-7, even when syndicated programming is running.>

What a concept. And 'KIT seems to have done well over the years. Of course, the bean counters and defenders of corporate radio will just counter with "Well, King's got deep pockets; he's got money to burn." {eyeroll}

 

[Maine-i-ac]

Speaking of live and local, Sunday evening while scanning the dial before bed time, I stopped at 'KIT and on comes Fred Zeppelin talking about the traffic backed up on 1-A near Lucerne because of the storm. NO OTHER station in Bangor could do that, not a single one. Kudos to the whole Zone Corp. crew

 

[HipHopAnonymous]

http://www.hear2.com/2008/12/seth-godin-updates-his-take-on-radios-future.html

 

[True Grit]

Speaking of live and local, Sunday evening while scanning the dial before bed time, I stopped at 'KIT and on comes Fred Zeppelin talking about the traffic backed up on 1-A near Lucerne because of the storm. NO OTHER station in Bangor could do that, not a single one. Kudos to the whole Zone Corp. crew

Could any other station in Bangor do that on a weekend after 10a, or, at best, 2pm Saturday? And speaking of Fred Z., he just may be the longest tenured weekender in Bangor. 20 years, give or take?