Future (of Radio)

Future (of Radio)

I love radio. I love radio so much, I'm willing to pay $20 a month to subscribe to satellite radio. Just like the millions of radio fans across the country who are listening to same channels I listen to.

I have been in the broadcasting business for over 35 years, many of those years in radio. I've been an announcer, a radio advertising sales person, a sales manager and general manager. You might think it appears I've dumped terrestrial radio, when in fact the opposite is true. Terrestrial radio has dumped me. In the effort to attract those all attractive young radio listeners, radio stations have come up with a number of ways to reach the SAME segment of the audience, many of which couldn't care less about radio!

How any one market, can support 5 stations all playing virtually the same format is beyond me. Count the number of contemporary hit stations in the market(and all of the format's variations), then count the number of country stations in the market.   The AM stations have either been bought by religious groups or have been programmed for those with a right lean to their political beliefs, or have some kind of networked sports format.   What's left? Probably nothing.

That's where satellite radio comes in for those who love radio. For fans of traditional to contemporary jazz, oldies going back into the 40's, 50's, 60's, traditional country to bluegrass to even contemporary country, from mor standards to ethnic to popular music from around the world, from opera to classical, and yes even the top 20 hits played over and over, satellite radio offers many many formats that terrestrial radio will not and can not offer to local listeners....and all commercial free.   Plus, most, when applicable come with the typical image pieces, jingles and disc jockeys mixed in as well to give each format a life of it's own....and did I mention it's all commercial free!

For those of us who are over the 18-49 hill, there is simply no choice, but satellite radio. For those of us who love radio, we've been dumped. I think that broadcasters need to realize that I'm in the last demographic who really loves radio. My group grew up with it being a big part of our lives. The hours I and people like me spent with top 40 radio stations has endeared us to radio. We remember listening to severe weather reports, local and national news and OUR music which spanned several genres not just one. The personalities were superstars. We still remember their names, even after 40+ years.

I remember tuning to a distant station to hear the announcer talk about the current weather, or what local current event people were talking about.   Just try to hear that today. Announcers make very little mention of those everyday things that announcers used to talk about. Most of the time, they're voice tracked perhaps even from locations thousands of miles away. At least when I was voice tracking during my many years of working with automated radio, it was a standing rule, that if severe weather broke, or any circumstance that came up and required some kind of mention on the air, we were able to do that. Many other stations are running national satellite formats which try to imitate a locally originated format...basically trying to fool the local audience. That is all out fraud!

The younger demographics have no loyalty to radio. Simply because there are so many different ways they can be served their music and entertainment. So who does radio directly programming to? The same people who couldn't care less about radio!    These are people who would never think about “paying for radio.” One reason, is that terrestrial radio stations have been delegated to background noise for people who don't value radio and have never had that connection to the audio only medium.

I would challenge local radio owners and programmers to search out those who have been dumped by local radio and re-establish a relationship. Program a variety of formats, some of which would be considered poison by most consultants. Take your pick from my list above. Do it well, promote it,