[BC] the end of radio ...

[John Mayson]

On Mon, Feb 1, 2010 at 10:30 AM,  <RokprtMike at aol.com> wrote:
>
> Terrestrial radio is an industry that has been around now for around
> a century give or take a decade. It is in it's final phase or the end
> of it's business cycle. Some of you younger guys may see the end of
> it completely.

Sorry, I'm coming in a little late to this thread.  I spent some time
around radio in the 1980s and early 90s (I never formally worked for a
station, but used to hang out at WPLA and WREK once upon a time).  So
I'm looking at this mostly as an outsider.

Depending on the market terrestrial radio can be pretty bad.  I'm 40
years-old.  Growing up in Tampa radio was a lot of fun to listen to.
I can't quite quantify what made it so.  Not too long ago I found a 30
minute sound check from WRBQ-FM circa 1982.  It still sounded fresh
and fun to listen as it did then.  I can't quite put my finger on when
it went downhill for me.  In 1992 I moved from Atlanta to central
Florida (Orlando market).  Radio was pretty bland.  In fact it was so
much so I typically listened to the West Palm Beach market stations
which came in fine along the coast where I lived.  I thought WJRR's
motto should've been "Just rednecks all morning, just Pearl Jam all
day" because they ran a very obnoxious syndicated morning show and the
rest of their line up consisted of music where each song sounded like
the last one.  The WPB stations still had local talent and a good
playlist.

I moved to Austin in 1998 and at the time thought it was one of the
best radio markets around.  But over time stations went to syndicated
shows, remote talent, or formats I don't care about.  By 2004 or so I
was done!  I will sometimes still listen to KUT-FM or KGSR, but I
usually listen to my iPod.  I would rather listen to a good local
station.  But even with the two we have I can only listen to so much
NPR and Willie Nelson.  My 13 year-old son is a huge fan of KHFI and
this is one station I just don't get.  We'll get in the car and drive
for 10 minutes or more and not hear a single song.  Yes, stations have
to pay the bills, they have to run ads.  I have no problem with that.
I don't know if it's the ADHD generation or what, but the ads they
play make me want to run from the product they're selling as fast as I
can.  It's either someone screaming at me or two or more people
whining about something.  One day I pointed out to him they ran the
same ad for a Kia dealership three times in a set of commercials.
Yeah, I remember the ad, which was probably the point.  But it does
nothing to make me want to listen to that station on my own or buy
anything from their advertisers.

It's not all bad out there.  I have a Squeezebox Internet radio and I
find the New England stations to be very listenable.  I don't get the
local ads of course, but they use local talent (or seem to anyway),
play good music, the DJs are not obnoxious, I get the feeling the
stations are more community oriented.  My wife is from New Hampshire
and have found the dial up there to be more crowded with lower powered
stations than we have down here covering a smaller area, hence the
sense of community.  I have a feeling if I lived up that way I
probably would listen to the radio a whole lot more.  I have driven
through some smaller Texas communities and listened to the local AM
station.  They're often playing country music, something I don't
generally like, but I like the stations themselves.  They cover the
local high school football team on Friday nights and are part of the
community they serve.

I don't know if I'm shedding any light or perhaps I'm telling everyone
here something they already know.  Terrestrial radio needs to give me
a reason to listen.  As a kid sitting in the backseat listening to my
Walkman and once I was old enough to drive, one of the joys of driving
from state to state was tuning in the local radio stations, hearing
what they were playing, learning what was going on, etc.  Now it's all
Bob FM or Dave FM or obnoxious syndicated shows.  Forget it!  I'd
rather listen to my iPod and be done with it.

John

-- 
John Mayson <john at mayson.us>
http://www.linkedin.com/in/jmayson