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Author Topic: what is wrong with the radio industry? Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 06-28-2012 06:10 PM                        Weird topic, I know, but some people here have worked in the radio and TV business and maybe they can explain what is happening now. In the Boston market, the following changes have been made in the last few years: - successful classical station (WCRB-FM) and country station (????-FM) swap frequencies...naturally, the country station now has the better signal (I have no idea who listens to country in this market) - NPR music station (WGBH-FM) turns into NPR news station, despite the fact that we already have an NPR news station (WBUR-FM) with a better signal - modern rock station (WBCN-FM) signs off to make space for FM sports talk station (WBZ-FM) - the other sports talk station (WEEI-AM) buys an adult hits station (WMKK-FM) in order to broadcast the same programming on both AM and FM - independent alt-rock station with crappy signal (WFNX-FM) sold to Clear Channel to be changed to a Format To Be Named Later (tm) (Spanish-language talk is one rumor) - just today, a successful oldies station (WODS-FM) switched to an automated-sounding top-40 format, despite the fact that we already have a successful CC-owned top-40 station (WXKS-FM) (and despite the fact that pretty much all top-40 music now sucks...and despite the fact that kids don't really listen to the radio anymore, as far as I can tell) These are all major stations with at least decent signals that cover the metro area, not dinky-doo AM daytime-only stations or anything like that. What are these people thinking when they make what appear to be boneheaded format changes to successful stations (the FM sports talk thing has actually been a success...I believe that the jury is still out on the other moves). Does any market really need two stations with substantially the same programming (as is the case with the AM/FM sports talk and the two NPR news stations)? Is anyone else seeing major changes in his local radio market, or is this just an isolated thing?  |  IP: Logged Melanie Loggins Expert Film Handler Posts: 154 From: Wayne, NE, USA Registered: Aug 2011 posted 06-28-2012 07:23 PM                        My guess? Consolidation. Those stations are all programmed by one central mother ship, and all the voices you hear for station id's and song announcements were voicetracked, i.e., recorded in a half-hour session two days ago. This saves stations considerably. One company can own several and have just a few people working part-time to be on the air, and nobody has to program anything.  |  IP: Logged Robert E. Allen Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1078 From: Checotah, Oklahoma Registered: Jul 2002 posted 06-28-2012 08:39 PM                     I spent many years in radio as an announcer/DJ/salesman. I agree with Melanie. The FCC has relaxed it rules about how many stations a company can own in any given market. Stations I used to work for are now nothing more than repeaters for some "mother ship" who knows where. IMO except for classic and country all the music played today is for the 14 to 34 year old crowd. That's why, except for certain Christian stations, I almost never have my radio on.  |  IP: Logged Dave Macaulay Film God Posts: 2321 From: Toronto, Canada Registered: Apr 2001 posted 06-28-2012 08:50 PM                     I think it's just the death of radio. I do wonder what a successful classical station really looks like on the balance sheet. I have friends in media, and the market has really collapsed in this depression --- I mean recession. Advertisers have thin wallets, and stations have had to drop rates a lot just to get any revenue. So any station with live on-air staff is in trouble. Satellite radio is taking over the car business, people will tune in their local terrestrial station to get local news and weather but otherwise stick to the satellite stuff: I do, and anyone I know with it does the same - and just about every new car sold has Sirius/XM built in. The media conglomerate stations run on an automated system with nobody home. There's no staff to pay, the only cost is the transmitter and license and a bit of overhead. Ad sales may still have local agents but production is all centralized. I travel, and I hear the same CC announcer for the car dealer in every town when I roam the terrestrial dial. But I don't do that much any more - the musical pap, sports idiocy, country whining, and religious nonsense is the same everywhere. Grateful Dead 24/7 is good for me. And book radio. Plus, the 24/7 Pink Floyd channel started up yesterday.  |  IP: Logged Frank Cox Film God Posts: 2234 From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada Registered: Apr 2011 posted 06-28-2012 09:29 PM                        For long trips in the car and the like, I suggest Old Time Radio plays. Comedy, detective stories, drama, soap operas, westerns, you-name-it. Lots of mp3's here  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 06-28-2012 09:48 PM                        Our local station used to be all-local with five DJs who were also part-owners of the station. It was cool. Lately it's been through four or five owners and is now part of a five-station chain. Nowadays they are only "live" in the morning when they have a call-in-and-sell-your-crap show. Other than that (and school sports) it's all canned content beamed in from somewhere. Everybody I know turns it on for local sports and etc., or if they have no other alternative but for serious listening, it's XM or Sirius or some kind of mp3 or CD player. Myself, I don't like much top-40 stuff (tired of the same old stuff repeated ad nauseum and have limited interest in the new stuff), so I play my iPod or CDs in the vehicle. I don't know how the station survives; I guess they can't afford to pay on-air "personalities."  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 06-29-2012 05:36 AM                     Blame APPLE and iTunes, along with internet radio.  |  IP: Logged Jeff Stricker Master Film Handler Posts: 481 From: Calumet, Mi USA Registered: Nov 1999 posted 06-29-2012 06:50 AM                     Yup, too much competition for too few listeners. Ipods, MP-3s over the internet, etc. take listeners away from commercial radio. I once worked for a station that would have gone belly up were it not for the local high school football and basketball games. Local advertisers felt a sense of 'hometown spirit' and bought commercials on the game broadcasts. Nowadays it is very likely that no one is alive sitting behind a microphone to tell you of impending bad weather, the end of the world, or whatever. Computers spit out the music, commercials, and connect to a network in time for the news at the top of the hour (and of course run the station ID).  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 06-29-2012 07:34 AM                        I may have reccomended the book before, but Something In The Air is a great history of the very short life of local radio. When the FCC allowed single entities to own an unlimited number of radio and tv stations (and newspapers) that was the death knell. What you have now are McDonald's radio, and it is never coming back. Theoretically the FCC could put all kinds of local requirements on radio, but the howls of interferring with The Free Market would drown out broadcasts from coast to coast. Somewhere along the line we lost the public airways. May as well just be honest about it and sell them off, quit regulating them and let the "free market" sort it out.  |  IP: Logged Jeff Taylor Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 601 From: Chatham, NJ/East Hampton, NY Registered: Apr 2000 posted 06-29-2012 09:36 AM                     I was an on air personality at one time--long, long ago. Today I have 6 Sirius accounts. Nuf said?  |  IP: Logged Sam Graham AKA: "The Evil Sam Graham". Wackiness ensues. Posts: 1431 From: Waukee, IA Registered: Dec 2004 posted 06-29-2012 10:49 AM                        quote: Melanie Loggins Those stations are all programmed by one central mother ship, and all the voices you hear for station id's and song announcements were voicetracked, i.e., recorded in a half-hour session two days ago. My last gig was such a situation. 30-45 minutes and I had a seven hour show done, five nights a week. I was the first such show in our market to do this, and our sales people were astounded to find out I wasn't really there. There's very little OTA radio I listen to anymore, and even that is limited to outside market streaming of certain talk shows. I'm with SiriusXM all the way, and even there I can't stand to listen to music channels that have DJ's.  |  IP: Logged Manny Knowles "What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???" Posts: 4247 From: Bloomington, IN, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 06-29-2012 11:58 AM                     Radio stations have to apply to renew their licenses to broadcast. They have to announce on-air their intention to renew, and make the application available for review by the public. There is an avenue -- and a window of opportunity -- to tell the FCC whether the station has or hasn't served the needs of the public. Check it out. Edit -- It doesn't say on that page that the broadcaster is required to announce that the application to renew the license has been filed. But I have heard such announcements in the past, both here (Indiana) and in Southern California.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 06-29-2012 09:15 PM                        So everyone here who has satellite radio is happy with it? I have considered the concept before and have had rental cars with the radios installed. I thought that the basic idea was good, but I have a hard time convincing myself to pay for radio. There also seem to be many stations that I would have no interest in ever listening to (not really a problem...just an observation). Remind me: does one need separate subscriptions for home listening and car listening, or does one subscription cover multiple receivers? What is the current monthly fee? In the car, about 2/3 of my listening is news. About 1/3 is music. In most markets (including mine) there are several good news stations on both AM and FM, so that is not really a problem. It's the music situation that is becoming depressing. At home, I would listen to more music, but the programming would have to be better than what is presently available on the FM dial (for example, I would love a classical station with good reception and a library of more than a few dozen recordings). I have little or no interest in talk. (Actually, talk can be interesting when travelling, and the sell-your-stuff programs are often unintentionally hilarious, but I would not want to listen to this stuff on a regular basis.) For the most part, my only interest in sports is baseball, and the existing broadcast stations (WEEI-AM, primarily) fill that need.  |  IP: Logged Manny Knowles "What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???" Posts: 4247 From: Bloomington, IN, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 06-29-2012 10:31 PM                     In the car I listen to local radio or MP3's or Pandora  |  IP: Logged Frank Cox Film God Posts: 2234 From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada Registered: Apr 2011 posted 06-29-2012 11:30 PM                        I don't know how it works in other places, but I have digital cable television and it comes with 40 or so "Galaxy music channels". I have a couple of computer speakers plugged into the digital cable box (I don't watch television so I don't really have an actual TV -- I have a Commodore 1701 computer monitor that I use when I need a display on the digital cable box) and leave it tuned to either Super 70's or Smooth Jazz, which I play all day at a low volume in my living room. I like it, and it keeps my bird entertained. If you have cable television, perhaps you also get music channels. The Galaxy channels are nothing but music, no talking or anything else. They are apparently sold to stores for background music, similar to Muzak. If you're looking for "live dj" stuff, perhaps this would be a good place to flog CreekFM, the radio station that's operated by the Okanese First Nation about 40 miles from here. You can stream their station on the Internet; the streaming server lives in my basement here. CreekFM is a unique station, with programming ranging from great to ghawd-awful.  |  IP: Logged

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