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Death of Radio or Not?

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  • Death of Radio or Not?

    In my coffee driven thought this morning, I wondered if current radio bean counters understand that the firing of talent is the true death of it's industry?

    IMO - Radio is now the place where people take a break from their iPods just to "be in touch" during drive or streaming time. This is the arena of "thought marketing" that companies like Twitter as ignited. Funny thing....aren't thoughts allot like segue liners??

    Radio wont die, it will just slide from the bean counters to the talent who can control their own destiny with Pod casting and presents packaging.

    Man my coffee was strong!

    ALOHA!
    Aloha!

    Geebz

  • #2
    Re: Death of Radio or Not?

    Are there any truly shock jocks here in Hawaii?

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Death of Radio or Not?

      Originally posted by Walkoff Balk View Post
      Are there any truly shock jocks here in Hawaii?
      Seemingly ther are, but most of them are unemployed. To me, those jocks have un-tapped equity with thier old fan-base and move into the future with multi-stream options right from their homes.
      Aloha!

      Geebz

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Death of Radio or Not?

        What on earth is there to spend any time listening to today on radio and for at least a decade already. The beanies have been on a death march for a loooong time and have succeeded in leaving the airwaves which were supposed to be a service to the public a hollow shell of absolute worthlessness.
        If it wasn't for www.coasttocoastam.com to go to sleep with, there would be no reason for me to have a radio. Even NPR has devolved into total mediocrity, pointless as a tool for real news after they caved to BushCo pressure.
        Why is there still radio at all?
        https://www.facebook.com/Bobby-Ingan...5875444640256/

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        • #5
          Re: Death of Radio or Not?

          Many years ago when I worked at an AOR station, the owner/manager had the philosophy that "talent" DJ's were just an inconvenience. After I left the radio business, I noticed that the radio stations went to computer automation and satellite syndication as soon as it was cost effective. Today of course most radio stations rely on programmers who have little history with the local culture, not just here in Hawaii, but all across the country. Some "presenters" handle several station feeds and formats and late at night, on weekends and holidays there isn't a live soul anywhere in the facility. Heaven help the region that has a natural disaster when there is no one on watch late at night. (Oh yeah, that's already happened.)

          As far as music and formats are concerned, that is a much different topic. But it seems that the programmers rush to the bottom; not challenging the status quo as far as any new music stimulus goes. Of course the media companies have a similar stance. A majority of the great acts have come through the independent path. Some stay on an independent path only using large media companies for their own convenience rather than the other way around. It helps to have a trustworthy CPA and Contract Lawyer on the payroll.
          Newspapers and magazines are all pau. Radio is dead, TV networks to follow. The internet is already predictable and stale in many ways.

          Support net neutrality.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Death of Radio or Not?

            I remember being at a movie years ago and seeing an ad for satellite radio. I whispered to my companion, "Who would ever pay for radio??" Now I have my answer...me. My husband got me Sirius 4 years ago and since it is not installed in my current vehicle, I miss it horribly. But I love it and am happy to pay for it. IMO, you have to listen to the radio some so you can hear new songs to fill up your IPOD with. And listening to the same songs, even if you have 1000 of them, over and over again, does get old.

            I think radio died when Clear Channel came sweeping across the nation, bought out all the indie stations, and replaced them with the same, crappy...crap. We used to have some great indie stations here in Dallas. They are long gone- died out about 6-7 years ago.

            Can't think of anything creative this time

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            • #7
              Re: Death of Radio or Not?

              Radio? Is that the noise that comes on when I'm changing CDs?
              Is that deliberate???
              Be Yourself. Everyone Else Is Taken!
              ~ ~
              Kaʻonohiʻulaʻokahōkūmiomioʻehiku
              Spreading the virus of ALOHA.
              Oh Chu. If only you could have seen what I've seen, with your eyes.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Death of Radio or Not?

                I don't think we're going to see the death of radio any time soon, however, we're close to witnessing the death of a number of the mega groups that have brought the business to its current sorry state. Once the big groups crash and their properties are devalued, it's possible that actual broadcasters might be able to pick up some good properties at decent prices.

                In the meantime, write Senators Inouye and Akaka as well as Representatives Abercrombie and Hirono and let them know that the ownership rules need to be tightened. Write to the President and the FCC as well. Tell them that now is the time to correct the mistakes made by the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

                Here's some of what I think needs to be done:

                1. Three radio stations to one owner in a market such as Honolulu should be the maximum. Current owners with more than that should be given a couple of years to divest themselves of their surplus properties.

                2. Require all station owners to have their facilities manned by competent, trained (and maybe go back to licensed) personnel 24 hours every day.

                3. Require stations to truly operate in the public interest. No operator owns the broadcast license. The license is a public trust...owned by the public. It's entrusted to the licensee for an established period of time. Licensees should have to prove that they have operated in the public interest at renewal time. A renewal should not be considered automatic.

                4. Eliminate the auctions of new frequencies. New frequencies should not be awarded solely on the basis of the highest bid. A complete business plan containing financials and programming plans should be a part of the application. New frequencies should be awarded to the applicant that presents a plan that will benefit the local population. Applicants pledging a high percentage of live, local programming should be favored. Local ownership, as well, should receive priority.

                Radio needs to get back to the basics. Right now, there is little on the air that can successfully compete with my IPOD in my car. With only a few of notable exceptions, morning drive radio has become a wasteland of giggling, inane, and tasteless boobs. I'm not a prude (over the years my staffs have included performers that sometimes crossed the line - such as Don Imus, Howard Stern, Soupy Sales, Wolfman Jack, Joey Reynolds, Alan Colmes and others), but there is a difference between raunchy humor that hits the mark and the "anything for a laugh" mentality I hear on many morning shows today.

                After morning drive, most stations are either voicetracked or satellite-fed, so I'm generally listening to my IPOD or CDs in the car. At home or in the office, if news breaks, I'm on the Internet. I'd love to go to the radio, but there are few outlets I can trust to cover the news quickly and accurately...especially at night or on weekends.

                Congress and the FCC created the mess that radio owners took full advantage of. It's up to Congress and FCC to correct it. But, it won't happen without public pressure.

                A few years ago President Clinton said that if he had known what the consequences of the Telecommunications Bill would be, he never would have signed it. I'm a card-carrying Democrat, but I can't accept that statement. Our leaders need to consider what the consequences of their actions will be before they pass laws. Lack of forethought has put broadcasting its precarious position today.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Death of Radio or Not?

                  That's some great ideas.

                  I too believe radio automation has reduced radio stations to just a computer with a glorified playlist.

                  I left radio when automation was slowly making its way into the afternoon and evening drive times. There I was programming playlists and voice tracking for later broadcasts. That wasn't the "flying by the seat of your pants" radio I knew.

                  One good example of why you need a live body in the studio: I was working for KGU back in the mid 80's and was ready to turn the board over to the computer. It was 1986, Christmas Eve getting ready to leave when I see the phone console flashing on line 1. I answered it and to my horror it was this single mom being told to vacate the shelter she and her newborn baby were in.

                  She had nowhere to turn to but to the public for help. Imagine this, it's Christmas Eve, it was raining heavy that night, the cops were telling her to leave (I could hear them over the phone), she was crying, her baby was crying and you could hear someone yelling at her to leave. It was riveting stuff!

                  I quickly ran the news sounder and broke into our pre-recorded programming with an impromptu news of this unfolding event. Within minutes our phone board became flooded with callers opening their homes to this young mother and her child.

                  If it wasn't for a live body to answer that call, this woman would have been evicted on Christmas Eve, in the rain with her baby!! All I could think of that night was the stark comparison between this poor woman and Jesus' birth!

                  Radio needs to be kept alive, but only if a live person is there to facilitate it. Otherwise radio is just another iPod. There's nothing quite like live and local radio.
                  Life is what you make of it...so please read the instructions carefully.

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                  • #10
                    Re: Death of Radio or Not?

                    You are exactly right. Without a live operator at the station, what you accomplished for that mother probably would not have happened.

                    I'm not anti-automation...it has it's place, but I would prefer to see it used as a aid to a live on-air performer. I am, however, against turning on the machine or the satellite, turning off the lights and leaving the studios unmanned for 10 or 24 or 48 or more hours at a time. To me, that is not operating in the public interest.

                    I was never more disappointed in the broadcasting business as I was when the October 15, 2006 earthquake struck our state. We were at our home in Hana at the time, which turned out to be one of the best places to be. Our house is a couple of blocks from the MECO substation, which had an emergency generator. Within 15 minutes we had power. We also had cable and Internet. Immediately following the first tremor, I scanned the radio dial and, other than a few silent carriers, nothing was on the air. Unfortunately, it remained that way for far too long...because 99.9% of the radio stations in the state were unmanned when the earthquake hit. A few stations eventually got personnel to the studios and began coverage, but, by then, I had gotten all of my information from CNN and the Internet. Our son was on the Wailuku side and had no power all day, just a battery powered transistor radio...which was useless until the radio stations manned the studios.

                    If this had happened ten years earlier, the coverage by most stations in the state would have been immediate (assuming the stations had purchased and properly maintained emergency generators).

                    Even though I had been in the broadcasting business for 40+ years, after the earthquake I realized that radio was no longer going to be my first and primary source for information during major news events.

                    This was reinforced last week with the death of Michael Jackson.

                    We deserve better.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Death of Radio or Not?

                      The sad part of the internet is it's complexity of connections needed to inter-connect the net. Even cell phones offer limited flexability during a natural disaster with cell sites going down. Radio however offers a direct contact to listeners with battery powered radios.

                      In their efforts to streamline operational costs, radio stations are killing themselves by not offering live local broadcasts that podcasts cannot offer. When 9-11 hit, I was in my car listening to cd's instead of the radio. When I came in to work, everybody there was straining to hear what was going over the radio. I was clueless as to what had happened because I was listening to pre-recorded content on my cd player. An iPod would do the same.

                      I'm thinking all devices such as iPods or MP3 players should have a radio receiver built in to broadcast civil emergency messages when needed as more and more people switch off their radios in exchange for iPods. Even car radios equipped with cd players or mp3 docks should have an override for emergency broadcasts.
                      Life is what you make of it...so please read the instructions carefully.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Death of Radio or Not?

                        Originally posted by craigwatanabe View Post
                        The sad part of the internet is it's complexity of connections needed to inter-connect the net. Even cell phones offer limited flexability during a natural disaster with cell sites going down. Radio however offers a direct contact to listeners with battery powered radios.
                        I get to listen to Perry & Price even when it's the only time that I do.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Death of Radio or Not?

                          There's little chance we can get regulation through to require iPOD and mp3 player manufacturers to include receivers, however, I don't think it is out of the question to require auto radio manufacturers to include overrides that detect EAS transmissions and automatically switch to broadcast audio. It would be relatively simple to design and cheap to build.

                          Sounds to me like it should be a "Homeland Security" item.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Death of Radio or Not?

                            I think there should be an override for all communication/entertainment gear where people are plugged into pre-recorded material.

                            Civil Defense sirens are one thing to notify people of impending dangers, but how are people that are hearing-impaired (notice how I didn't say deaf people?) alerted. Are there any visual alerts they can see?
                            Life is what you make of it...so please read the instructions carefully.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Death of Radio or Not?

                              Originally posted by DaleP View Post
                              There's little chance we can get regulation through to require iPOD and mp3 player manufacturers to include receivers, however, I don't think it is out of the question to require auto radio manufacturers to include overrides that detect EAS transmissions and automatically switch to broadcast audio. It would be relatively simple to design and cheap to build.

                              Sounds to me like it should be a "Homeland Security" item.
                              Anytime you have government mandating anything, it adds to the cost of that item. I am not in favor of such an iPod or EAS mandate. If people want to listen to the radio they know where they can get one. Radios are still way cheaper than iPods. You can get a radio for less than $10. You don't need to add this additional cost item to an item that is doing fine without it.

                              Look at the cost of automobiles. Everything government has mandated to be part of an automobile has increased the cost of the vehicle.
                              I'm still here. Are you?

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