> Interesting but I don't see the connection between the
> article and your comments. The article is about all
> "traditional media" not just radio. The gist of it is that
> traditional media is running a p.r. campaign to convince
> people they aren't stodgy.
If so many writers weren't promoting satellite radio as the "next big thing", and wasn't so heavily advertised, the people who are running the "traditional media" wouldn't be running their own campaign to keep audience/circulation from declining any further. Also, if the traditional media were more focused on providing a product that's reliable, and not too stale, it wouldn't be facing the state of decline that it's in now. Besides, not everybody can afford to pay $12.95 a month for satellite radio, or some other technology. In fact, some people have no choice but to rely on traditional media for news, sports, etc.
> Excuse me for stifling a laugh, but since when has radio
> been known to "throw money at problems?" The opposite may be
> true. Radio may need to start spending money on its
> problems. (I know that's easy for me to say but I have ideas
> on where to cut too: Cost of sales is way to high and mostly
> misspent.)
Where do you start? Radio has a laundry list of problems.
> "It has to start attracting listeners, i.e., treating them
> like they really matter, and not the advertisers."
>
> Hmm. Who could disagree with this? It's like being in favor
> of Mom and apple pie and against pollution and war.
By that, radio must learn to relate to the listeners, like it was in years past. You need personalities that will relate to the listener, and make him or her listen to the station longer.
> It also means being truly live and local, and not getting by
> running on a machine for most, if not all, of the broadcast
> day.
>> Why should it be live and local? I'm not being facetious.
> Nor am I saying I disagree with it, I just wonder why I keep
> seeing this opinion expressed over and over with nothing
> whatsoever to back it up. On an AC station, automation often
> beats live and local shows. In my experience, advertisers
> tend to favor live and local more than listeners do. They
> perceive it as a more valuable advertising environment and
> sometimes even want to buy live testimonials. If advertisers
> favor live and local, and listeners reward automated middays
> with higher ratings, isn't that favoring advertisers over
> listeners?
Live and local means having at least one local air personality for the morning show at least, delivering local news, sports, weather, and even the trading post. It could apply to local high school sports if needed.
> And why are the words live and local always linked? What
> about live and not local. Or local and not live? Nationally
> syndicated talk shows often, maybe even usually, beat local
> talk shows. (Especially in smaller markets where the talent
> is often, uh, spread thinly.) They are live but not local.
> Personally, I prefer live but I don't care if it's local or
> not. But I don't assume that because it's my opinion, that
> it's everyone's opinion.
>
> My prescription? If I were running radio stations with
> autonomy (almost no one does, despite protests to the
> contrary) I'd start with a blank sheet of paper every year
> and demand solid reasoning on every aspect of the operation.
> It's not consolidation and change that's killing radio (it's
> actually not dying but could be a lot better) it's
> conventional wisdom and lack of innovation.
As for conventional wisdom and lack of innovation, that's a whole different story altogether? When will traditional radio station start getting that innovation? Hopefully, sometime soon. Last, but not least, how about developing the next generation of personalities ASAP, so there won't be any excuses for teenagers and young adults to turn to their I pod's for the music mix they crave. And what if there's a tornado or some type of severe weather blowing through town. Sorry, but I pod's and satellite radio won't warn them about what's coming.
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Edited by radionut987 on 06/11/05 05:23 AM.</FONT></P>
