[BC] Underground = Classic

[Robert Meuser]

Dana

You miss the point. Creativity today is about par for what is has been 
for a very long time and for the same reason.

R


DANA PUOPOLO wrote:

>I agree with Rich.
>
>These days, creativity = ZERO!  It's been this way for almost the past two
>decades. Look at NYC. It went FOUR years without a CHR until Z-100. They
>literally went from "Worst to First". Within six months there were no less
>then FIVE CHR's that came on.
>
>Or..even more recently: JACK (BOB, MITCH, Daryl, Moe, et al).
>
>No one takes any chances any more. It took a radio group in CANADA to try out
>Jack! Otherwise, it might not even be on the air. The unique formats are
>happening on satellite and Internet. The last people who took chances at the
>big companies were Steve Rivers (Infinity) and Randy Michaels (Clear Channel).
>Notice that neither work there any more - both replaced by business dwebes in
>Brooks Brother's suits!
>
>But of course, there's a KISS in every town and despite what's claimed, I've
>been in half a dozen markets recently and they all sound pretty identical to
>me! They even use the same promo material (the ugly ball).
>
>Now they want to spread their (lack of) creativity to IBAC. Why bother? Look
>at what Arbitron says: that time spent listening to the radio has dropped
>every year for the past decade. 
>
>At the same time, satellite and Internet radio has EXPLODED...along with
>IPOD's and other portable players.
>
>Within the next few years, cell phones will become media players.
>
>Radio is dying...and if it wants to survive it must wake up and: "Smell the
>roses" so to speak. 
>
>Unfortunately, I'm not hopeful that this will happen until it's too late (if
>ever), thanks to the myopia of the heads of the consolidators.
>
>-D
>
>
>
>
>
>------ Original Message ------
>Received: Mon, 09 Jan 2006 08:20:52 AM PST
>From: Rich Wood <richwood at pobox.com>
>To: Broadcast Radio Mailing List <broadcast at radiolists.net>
>Subject: Re: [BC] Underground = Classic
>
>------ At 11:15 PM 1/8/2006, Robert Meuser wrote: -------
>
>  
>
>>That is the biggest pile of crap.
>>    
>>
>
>What do you really think? My point was that WBCN was owned by an 
>individual, not a large corporation. You won't get much of an 
>argument from me that large corporations are rarely creative. The 
>exceptions to that rule seemed to be RKO and Metromedia. When people 
>rave about creative radio of the past both companies are almost 
>always included. Compared to today's companies, they were tiny. At 
>that time the rule was 7-7-7. Not even 12-12-12, yet.
>
>There's an old story about GE not being able to figure out how to 
>make a pop up toaster. A tiny company finally did it. I worked for 
>GE. The story came from within the company.
>
>  
>
>> I was there as well. The bottom line was the FCC demanded separate 
>>AM and FM programming and the major companies of the day responded 
>>with the cheapest thing available, a bunch of students/hippies 
>>playing whatever.
>>    
>>
>
>WBCN had no AM. Remember that Mitch was a founder of the NAFMB.
>
>Companies that did it cheap on their FMs because the FCC required 
>separation are now doing it cheap on their major stations because 
>Wall Street requires it. Only the villains have changed.
>
>It's Deja Vu, all over again. IBUZ secondaries will take the same 
>approach but add Gargantua International's creativity. At least WBCN 
>and all the stations mentioned could be received by more people than 
>just you and Bob Orban. WJIB was #1 10am-7pm with only 35% set 
>penetration. FM was actually an audiophile format resulting in some 
>of the finest FM tuners ever made. iBorg says their 7000 Boston 
>Acoustics are gone. That's one receiver for 1/2 the number of 
>stations on the air. At this blinding rate I see market saturation 
>any day now. Now we have to get receivers to actual listeners. Radio 
>station employees who attend conventions can't fill out Arbitron 
>diaries. Let's go absolutely bonkers and say there are 50,000 IBUZ 
>receivers in the field. That's 3.57142857 per licensed radio station 
>(based on 14,000 stations). It takes my breath away. I'm clutching my 
>chest with excitement. When it increases to 4.57142857 sets per 
>station other anatomical parts will be clutched.
>
>The difference between the separation of AM and FM is that no one 
>predicted that FM would be our salvation, so they didn't spend a lot 
>on it. IBUZ will rescue us from oblivion, we're told, primarily 
>because of secondaries. I don't see stations programming them like 
>they believe it. WCBS-HD2 is a perfect example. Castrate the format 
>and expect miracles. Will secondaries programmed like iPods on 
>shuffle sell a lot of $500 radios? Maybe we should ask WCBS-FM. It 
>seems to me that something that sounds like iPods on shuffle will 
>sell a lot of iPods set on shuffle for $200 less.
>
>Rich
>
>
>Rich Wood
>Rich Wood Multimedia
>Phone: 413-303-9084
>FAX: 413-480-0010
>
>
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>