This just in: LOCAL RADIO DEAD!!!
Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2013 11:37 am
Its 6:45 AM and you are driving your children to school in the middle of tropical storm in July, somewhere along the Gulf Coast. The wind is blowing, rain coming down sideways in sheets, and it is difficult to keep your car in between the barely visible lines on the road! You tune in to your local country station as you drive in. A place where you once were able to find out what the forecast was for the day, what schools were closed, and what local community organization was having a bake sale at the local church! Not today!!! Your radio is piping in a morning show from 600 miles away in Nashville Tennessee! You arrive at the school just before the first bell rings for little Johnny’s class, and the school is closed!!!! The trusty station you have listened to for years is not letting you know what is happening in your world! Local radio as it was once knew it is a thing of the past.
How is it any multimedia conglomerate can say they are servicing the community they live in? Radio was a medium that was an information source for the citizens at large. Now it is a vehicle to generate profits for a board of directors, shareholders, and executives that make ridiculous salaries! What happened to servicing the community? Recent reports show that Clear Channel, a company that is riveted with debt, is moving an executive from San Antonio to New York City, Increasing his Salary by 250,000 annually, giving him a 100,000 moving stipend, and a housing allowance for 18 months (His salary is already 1M a year). What did this man do for your local radio station that provides services to you? Nothing! As a matter of fact, large media companies as a whole have outsourced talent to syndicated programming, and non local personalities from around the country. That 1.25 million dollar salary could have saved upwards of 25 salaries of LOCAL talent and management that can help your community.
Local radio is truly an endangered species! What does it say about Country Radio when we talk about syndicated programming that doesn’t serve our communities? No longer is that morning DJ from your favorite station eating out at the local pub with you in the evenings. As a matter of fact, chances are that DJ doesn’t even live in your state! Neither does the mid day, afternoon, or night DJ! The whole station is a smoke and mirrors show for your listeners. You think to yourself, I will just throw a liner in after a stop set and tell everyone about a community event, which will make it sound local! Do you really believe that as a programmer? Remember how you used to consume radio before you worked in the business. That liner is nothing more than a commercial to your listener! They tune it out!
You find yourself in a position where you are programming a station, maybe even an out of market station, and you have already convinced yourself that a produced promo or liner will suffice for getting community events out there. Now you move on to your imaging, you find yourself in a battle with the cross town station, who may or may not be in the same position you are with local talent. You think to yourself, I will put some imaging on the air that mentions local towns in the listening area! That will make the listeners think it is their country station. Wrong again! The listeners don’t care!!! Imaging is a subliminal branding that lets people know who you are for diary recall. If you believe anything more, then you are fooling yourself! Your imaging should be short, direct, and to the point. Sell your station, and your music position. The occasional cute liner is good to break up the same ole same ole, but all in all the listener wants to here compelling content, or music! Now ask yourself what is compelling to them? Someone talking about local things that affect their day to day lives would be compelling, more so than a poll asking what kind of cheese someone likes (that was a real poll on a nationally syndicated morning show). Again I ask you…. Do you remember what it was like to be a listener?
The point of this rant today is just this, you will fool your audience for a while with syndicated and voice tracked shows. They may even accept them as part of their daily listening habits. However are you really servicing them as a full service radio station? A place where you could get the time and temperature in the morning, where you could find school closings, local traffic information, relate to a local personality that can talk about experiences in the community? The answer is absolutely not! How is your station getting out into the community and meeting your listeners without an air staff? Are you replacing them with unknown people from your promotions department? Listeners in country radio are loyal, when someone leaves you, it is hard to get them back! Invest in your station, in your community, and in the future of radio in general! Hire good local talent, and keep them whenever possible!
In closing, get out of the station! Listen to your product, and try to do it like a listener! You will be amazed what you hear!
~Big Stew
www.facebook.com/bigstewradio
How is it any multimedia conglomerate can say they are servicing the community they live in? Radio was a medium that was an information source for the citizens at large. Now it is a vehicle to generate profits for a board of directors, shareholders, and executives that make ridiculous salaries! What happened to servicing the community? Recent reports show that Clear Channel, a company that is riveted with debt, is moving an executive from San Antonio to New York City, Increasing his Salary by 250,000 annually, giving him a 100,000 moving stipend, and a housing allowance for 18 months (His salary is already 1M a year). What did this man do for your local radio station that provides services to you? Nothing! As a matter of fact, large media companies as a whole have outsourced talent to syndicated programming, and non local personalities from around the country. That 1.25 million dollar salary could have saved upwards of 25 salaries of LOCAL talent and management that can help your community.
Local radio is truly an endangered species! What does it say about Country Radio when we talk about syndicated programming that doesn’t serve our communities? No longer is that morning DJ from your favorite station eating out at the local pub with you in the evenings. As a matter of fact, chances are that DJ doesn’t even live in your state! Neither does the mid day, afternoon, or night DJ! The whole station is a smoke and mirrors show for your listeners. You think to yourself, I will just throw a liner in after a stop set and tell everyone about a community event, which will make it sound local! Do you really believe that as a programmer? Remember how you used to consume radio before you worked in the business. That liner is nothing more than a commercial to your listener! They tune it out!
You find yourself in a position where you are programming a station, maybe even an out of market station, and you have already convinced yourself that a produced promo or liner will suffice for getting community events out there. Now you move on to your imaging, you find yourself in a battle with the cross town station, who may or may not be in the same position you are with local talent. You think to yourself, I will put some imaging on the air that mentions local towns in the listening area! That will make the listeners think it is their country station. Wrong again! The listeners don’t care!!! Imaging is a subliminal branding that lets people know who you are for diary recall. If you believe anything more, then you are fooling yourself! Your imaging should be short, direct, and to the point. Sell your station, and your music position. The occasional cute liner is good to break up the same ole same ole, but all in all the listener wants to here compelling content, or music! Now ask yourself what is compelling to them? Someone talking about local things that affect their day to day lives would be compelling, more so than a poll asking what kind of cheese someone likes (that was a real poll on a nationally syndicated morning show). Again I ask you…. Do you remember what it was like to be a listener?
The point of this rant today is just this, you will fool your audience for a while with syndicated and voice tracked shows. They may even accept them as part of their daily listening habits. However are you really servicing them as a full service radio station? A place where you could get the time and temperature in the morning, where you could find school closings, local traffic information, relate to a local personality that can talk about experiences in the community? The answer is absolutely not! How is your station getting out into the community and meeting your listeners without an air staff? Are you replacing them with unknown people from your promotions department? Listeners in country radio are loyal, when someone leaves you, it is hard to get them back! Invest in your station, in your community, and in the future of radio in general! Hire good local talent, and keep them whenever possible!
In closing, get out of the station! Listen to your product, and try to do it like a listener! You will be amazed what you hear!
~Big Stew
www.facebook.com/bigstewradio