RDN Guest Commentary
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WCBS-FM
Returns: A Positive Step for Radio On July 7 1972, WCBS-FM New
York began playing rock 'n' roll oldies 24 hours a day. The format would
continue on the station for 33 years. Larry Stoler November 20, 2006 Will Radio Ever Get It Right? By Larry Stoler Radio, a medium which offered a variety of different formats which millions of people listened to for many years, is now facing challenges from many different places. Satellite radio, the Internet, iPods, etc. How has the broadcast industry reacted to the different choices that listeners now have to obtain music and information?
During the past year, a
campaign to make the audience appreciate how radio has enhanced the
careers of many musicians and performers was heard on many stations.
Spots were aired to promote radio and were played throughout the
country however the audience did not notice or discuss them.
A few years ago, XM and
Sirius, the two satellite services, entered the radio landscape. Both
promised hundreds of channels with commercial free music including
different styles and formats that were no longer available on regular
over the air radio. Different choices for news, talk and sports were
also made available to anyone who subscribed to either of the two
services.
XM was first to launch which
gave them a head start on promotion to the audience. Sirius came later.
As time went on, the
satellite companies began to hire well known voices to host different
channels. Howard Stern left commercial radio and transferred his
program to Sirius where he oversees two channels.
Opie and Anthony who had
been fired by Infinity Broadcasting in 2,002 for the Sex in St.
Patrick's Cathedral incident were hired by XM and this year returned to
the air in a deal they arranged with CBS Radio. They do a three hour
show on both CBS and XM and then they are heard for a couple of more
hours exclusively on satellite radio. The CBS/XM simulcast is heard
during morning drive in most markets and is delayed till later in the
day in a couple of places.
Sirius gave Martha Stewart
her own channel. XM began a 11 year agreement to broadcast major league
baseball games from all over the country. These are just a few examples
of what has happened to satellite radio over the years.
At first, the industry chose
to ignore satellite radio's existence however recently they felt they
had to react so HD radio entered the race to get more listeners.
HD Radio, developed by
Ibiquity Digital Corporation, is a service that promises the listeners
FM sound quality on AM and CD quality on FM. It does not require the
public to pay any subscription fees or any other costs after purchasing
the proper receiver and any associated hardware.
The company has assured the
major radio group owners that they will provide many different kinds of
music plus in depth talk shows and interviews.
The AM band offers only one
channel for digital audio while on FM, their are more choices which lead
to more program diversity.
At this point, very few
radios are on the market that handle this technology and according to
people I have spoken to, they do not have the sensitivity required for
the average person to comfortably listen to what they enjoy.
I have listened to some of
the HD channels and I feel they are not to different from what is on
analog radio. Although formats that have disappeared from the air are
on HD, most of the stations do not have any announcers. This is also
the case with satellite radio.
When the HD Alliance was
formed to promote this technology, they said that HD would be commercial
free for approximately 18 months. Most stations are at this point
however this will change and when it does, it will be probably
voicetracked from different locations as so much of regular radio is
today.
Their is no guarantee that
new talent will result on HD radio as more receivers become available
and stations start airing commercials and if new broadcasters are heard,
they will probably sound the same as what is already available all over
the country.
Another point is that with
the number of channels available on HD radio, information such as
traffic and weather and song titles can be available on a digital
screen. This will result in more people losing their jobs in the
broadcast business.
Stations will feel they don't have to pay disc jockeys because what they do is being displayed on HD. This would be a loss in an industry that does not have any security as it is.
I also find it ironic that
the same people that took oldies off the air in New York and Chicago are
playing the music on their HD channels. They removed oldies last year
because they felt the audience was getting too old and they could
not properly sell the format. They wanted to reach the "25/54 or the
"big money" demographic. This led to many other stations taking this
music off the air.
What makes the people in
decision making positions in broadcasting think that they will be able
to successfully promote HD or any other technology? The public does not
understand what HD is as pointed out in a recent survey. They think
they are getting better sound quality from the station they are already
listening to with the radio they have owned for years. This is poor
promotion by the HD Alliance and the many groups that have backed this
development.
I think HD was not well
planned from a promotion, marketing and programming standpoint. The
people that believe so strongly in this are talking out of both sides of
their mouths and they have ignored Internet Radio which is growing at a
faster rate than both satellite and HD combined.
Approximately 19 million
people a week listen online. They do not need to purchase an additional
receiver or have to subscribe to the majority of stations that are
available. Online radio offers many choices and unlike the examples I
mentioned earlier, the Internet is interactive.
Over the next few years, as
the technology continues to progress forward, people will be able to
walk around and listen to their favorite streams or download the music
they like from anywhere. This is already beginning.
The best example for
downloading music is the iPod. The iPod allows anyone to store up to
10,000 songs. This gives anyone the right to listen to what they want
anytime without any commercials.
iPods have grown in
popularity very quickly and this is not expected to stop.
While major companies
continue to waste time, money and energy on worrying and reacting to the
new technology, the answer, I feel, is right in front of them. Improve
the quality of what is on AM and FM.
Work on making your station
stand out. Make the audience feel excited about what they are hearing.
Make people feel they will be missing something if they turn the radio
off.
Work on encouraging and
hiring new talent that know how to talk to people and not at them. Cut
back on voicetracking and syndicated shows. The listeners notice that
something is different and they are leaving their radios off.
The one thing that radio has
over all this technology is that it can bring local product to the
audience. Stations must get back to truly serving the area they are
licensed to.
Radio is not dead, however
if it does not change for the better soon, it could be just a memory for
many in a few years.
It has been stated that it
will take three years for HD to catch on and a long time before both
Sirius and XM break even. Radio cannot afford to wait.
The 25 year old and younger
demographic is going elsewhere to hear what they want. Unless radio
improves, getting them to return will be a lost cause.
As I have said in the past,
the audience and the industry deserve better than what passes for good
radio. Improve radio now and quit putting so much concentration on HD
and other innovations which will fade into oblivion in the future.
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June 13, 2006 Who is Radio Really Serving? by Larry Stoler
A few years ago I was
working at an oldies station. One day I approached the program director
with a couple of suggestions. One involved a syndicated show that I
thought would fit the overall sound of the station. The other was how I
felt the presentation could sound more energetic than it did.
The program director
listened to my ideas and said that he felt they made sense but if they
were implemented what would the agencies think!
This is the belief in
today's radio. It used to be that a station would do anything to
attract the most listeners. Now the ultimate objective is to impress
Madison Avenue or the ad agencies in various radio markets.
The priorities began to
change and stations got away from obtaining the most listeners after the
Telecommunications Act of 1996 became reality. As a few companies
bought most of the radio properties in America, everything began to
sound generic all over the country.
Companies relocated as many
stations as possible to one building. The prices and value of radio
stations increased. Stations were bought and sold for amazing amounts
of money.
As this trend continued,
what the listeners would listen to became less and less a consideration
in making programming decisions. The most obvious example of this took
place on June 3, 2005 when Infinity Broadcasting (now CBS Radio),
dropped the oldies format on WCBS FM in New York and WJMK in Chicago.
The disc jockeys many of whom were legends were let go an hour before
the change to a concept called Jack. This involves playing a lot of
music with no announcers or promotions or contests.
WCBS FM was reported to be
making over $30 million while broadcasting oldies 24 hours a day. WJMK
was also making a good profit for the company.
On several occasions since
June of last year, the CEO of CBS Radio admitted that they
stopped playing oldies because they wanted a younger audience and
despite the loyalty of the listeners, they believed that people over 50
do not buy products based on commercials.
I think after this change
occurred, many groups decided that they must also take oldies off the
air in different parts of the country where they own radio stations.
After all because it happened in two large cities then obviously oldies
is a dead concept, right! I don't think so.
Many people in ad agencies
are in their 20s and 30s and they have never been inside a radio
station. They don't listen to the formats they are supposed to
represent. They just quote charts and graphs when talking to potential
clients.
Anyone can use statistics to
support a particular point of view. The so called experts believe that
the 50+ demographic stops making purchases after a certain age. Nothing
could be further from the truth.
While it is true that the
older audience may decide what to buy in a different way than the 20+
age group, the 50 and older listeners will do anything to support
their favorite radio station. They will buy expensive cars, houses, do
a lot of traveling, etc. They do not stop living or spending money
after 50.
As Scott Shannon who put
Z-100 in New York on the air in 1983 and now programs WPLJ also in New
York said "I would rather have older listeners than none at all."
The
question of how to grab the right demographic always comes up regarding
this subject. Stations today are out to score with the 25/54 or the
"big money demo."
While attempting to
successfully get this group to listen, the very demo they want is going
to places other than traditional over the air radio to obtain music and
information. The number of sources available for this purpose is
increasing every day.
As this trend continues, the
diversity that made radio stand out in the past is disappearing. Many
different kinds of music are not being heard and different groups of
listeners are not being served on commercial radio.
Now more than ever,
radio has to return to live-local programming around the clock.
Exciting promotions also must become part of the broadcast day.
Sales departments at radio
stations have to work harder to convince businesses that people of all
ages will listen and buy their products.
The ad agencies must
change their marketing strategy and approach for radio. If they do this
along with the broadcast community better programming will result on the
AM and FM dial. It can be done.
Larry Stoler
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Can Talk Radio Appeal to a Younger Audience? By Larry Stoler CBS Radio (formally Infinity Broadcasting), has launched a format called Free FM on several of the companies radio stations. The concept of the format is talk programming designed to reach a younger audience than traditional talk stations attract.
Free FM is also the reaction
by CBS to Howard Stern's move from traditional over the air radio to
Sirius Satellite Radio. He announced his intensions in October, 2,004.
Howard told his listeners
that he would transfer his show to Sirius because he felt he could not
give the audience what he was known for due to intervention from the FCC
which made it impossible for Infinity Broadcasting to purchase more
radio stations. He also had his program dropped on several Clear
Channel stations. On Satellite Radio, he would have the freedom to say
whatever he wanted without any interference from the government or any
other sources. People would pay $12.95 a month to hear two channels
that he would be in charge of programming.
During the years that Howard
Stern was heard over the air around the country, it was a known fact
that many of the stations that offered his program did not do well
during the rest of the broadcast day according to the Arbitron ratings.
At the same time, young people were moving from FM radio to other
sources to get whatever kind of music they wanted to hear. On both XM
and Sirius the two satellite companies the music channels do not contain
any commercials.
During the past year, the
competition for ways to obtain music and information increased and
people became aware of what was available. Internet radio grew to 19
million listeners a week. IPods started becoming more available in the
market place. An iPod allows anyone to download thousands of songs. In
addition other alternatives for more diverse programming became publicly
available.
While many talk shows lean
towards politics or try to convince the audience that on every issue one
side is right and the other is wrong, Free FM does the opposite. The
topics are not necessarily controversial in nature and the assumption is
made that outside of discussions about sex or gossip about who slept
with who or making disagreements with the various hosts that do these
shows public that young people are not interested in anything else.
The tone of Free FM is
negative in nature. This is especially noticeable when a famous person
goes through a bad time in their life.
An example of this took
place on the air after Dick Clark appeared on ABC during New Years
Rocking Eve. He had suffered a stroke and this was his first public
appearance since then. His speech was a little hard to understand but
he made it his business to appear at the event which indicated that
things were improving for him.
On Free FM, his appearance
was made fun of by playing different examples of how he sounded
and critiquing them. This was not funny or entertaining and it went on
to long.
Most of the shows are run
by a host and several other voices. Usually they are in the background
making comments or we are treated to forced laughter as if we need to be
told what is humorous. Also we don't know who the other people are
because usually they are not introduced.
Why are so many people
required to do a talk show on Free FM? Is it because the consultants or
people who came up with this idea felt this was the only way young
oriented talk could be done? Is it because the hosts can not carry a
show on their own or both?
The goal of bringing a
younger audience to talk radio is not a new initiative in the broadcast
industry. In the 1970s, Alex Bennett who now does a show on Sirius, had
a program which was for young people on WMCA and later on WPLJ in New
York. It was very creative, humorous and it did not talk down to the
audience. Bennett would interview everyone from rock stars to political
people and he would take serious as well as fun calls on the air from
his listeners. The show was successful and lasted for many years on the
New York airwaves.
Alan Colmes, co-host of the
Fox News Channel's Hannity & Colmes and also does a nightly syndicated
show on Fox News Radio, had a show that was for young people in the late
70s on WPIX FM in New York (now WQCD.) He did the same thing in the 80s
on WNBC and later on WMCA.
Mark Simone who is now a
political talk show host on WABC in New York, hosted the Simone Phone on
Sunday mornings in the late 70s on WPIX FM. Others have been successful
at reaching this demographic.
The thing that all the above
mentioned shows had in common was that they did not insult the
intelligence of the audience. This is a concept which has been
forgotten or is purposely being ignored at Free FM.
The lack of professionalism
is obvious in this new attempt at hot talk. The programs lack
direction. They tend to go all over the place and the bits run on and
on.
At best, Free FM sounds like
a college station that was taken over by a bunch of people that did not
know what to do with it. If this is what the people that planned this
format had in mind as far as the overall sound is concerned, then I'm
afraid they have achieved their goal.
This current version of talk
radio for a younger audience was the best kept secret in radio. It was
known for months that in 2,006, this would be heard in many markets.
Unlike Jack where the
announcers were given an hours notice that they were being let go on two
oldies stations in June of last year, the preparation for Free FM in
theory went on for months. You would not assume this to be the case
after listening to the way it is being done on the air.
I realize it takes a long
time to acquire a loyal audience for talk radio and I know developing
the rhythm and pace that will work for a show requires a lot of work and
patience but if Free FM continues to sound the way it does now will it
still exist in 2,007?
The way this type of radio
is being done needs a lot of work. Hear are a few suggestions:
#1 Put less people on the
air during a show. As is the case with morning shows on music stations,
to many voices are being heard. This is confusing and gets in the way
of providing a good show for the listeners.
#2 If a bit or a topic is
not working, move on to something else. If you feel the subject you are
pursuing is failing then drop it.
#3 Don't purposely go for
callers that sound negative or angry about everything. I am not saying
they should not be heard. It's just that the objective should lean
toward a more positive look at life.
#4 Don't limit the topics
that are covered every day. Young people are aware of more than are
given credit on these shows.
You can discuss politics in
an interesting-creative way and the audience will not tune out. Also
when done right, you can get guests to talk about anything from the
usual to the unusual.
#5 Whether you get along
with the other people on the station or what goes on behind the scenes
does not matter to the people listening. If you have difficulties with
the people you work with handle them off the air.
This "reality radio" which
also exists on music stations with morning teams, has gotten out of
hand. Obviously this approach has made its way into talk too.
People have enough to deal
with on a day to day basis. Radio should be an escape from the normal
routine. This is what made it so great in the past and it can be done
again.
I believe that young people
can be successfully drawn to talk radio however the way to accomplish
this is to make the station fun to listen to as opposed to an annoyance
which is the way this kind of programming currently sounds.
Larry Stoler
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They Rallied for Oldies By Larry Stoler On June 21, 2,005, 150 people gathered at the headquarters of Infinity Broadcasting 1515 Broadway in New York City. The purpose of the lunchtime rally was to let the company know how they felt about the change from oldies to the Jack format that took place on June 3rd on WCBS FM.
WCBS FM had been presenting
oldies 24 hours a day since July 7, 1972. During its 33 year existence,
the station managed to achieve very high ratings and along with that
some of the best broadcasters in America worked there. Some of the more
well known names were Harry Harrison the morning mayor, Big Dan Ingram
and Cousin Bruce Morrow (aka Cousin Brucie. Others that were also there
for many years and contributed to the station's success were Bill Brown,
Bob Shannon, Don K Reed and Bobby Jay.
The participants were very
upset about the way the parent company had handled the change. The disc
jockeys were not told that this would go into effect until about an hour
before oldies would disappear on 101.1 FM. They were not given the
chance to say goodbye to the millions of people who considered the
personalities more than just a bunch of voices coming out of an FM
radio. They had developed a close bond with the people that graced the
microphone at
the station. This does not
happen in today's radio.
An example of the listeners
identifying with the announcers took place earlier that day. Mickey
Dolenz, the lead singer of the rock group The Monkeys, had been the
morning man since January 10, 2,005. He was celebrating his one
hundredth show earlier that day with a live broadcast from a club in the
city. No one knew that six hours after his show ended, he along with
the rest of the jocks would be informed that they and the music the
station had become famous for were being terminated.
Radio has always been a
business where job security does not exist. Stations change owners and
direction constantly. Usually when these changes occur, they are not
noticed or commented about.
One of the few times where
disc jockeys were allowed to go on the air and thank the audience was in
1982. Music Radio 77 WABC was about to become a talk station and Dan
Ingram along with Ron Lundy did a three hour program just before the
change where they talked about and played examples of the station's 21+
year run doing the top 40 format
In 1996, WYNY in New
York ended its country programming. The announcers had a weekend to
talk to the listeners before the only country station in the market
became history.
The situation at WCBS FM was
different and should have been given a proper sendoff before the new
Jack sound would enter everybody's radios.
Another matter that bothered
the people at the rally was how they felt they had been told to go away
and that the oldies audience did not matter to the decision makers at
Infinity. This has been denied by the company.
It should be mentioned at
this point that Jack is a concept that was developed several years ago
and was first marketed in Canada where it has achieved much success and
notice by the radio industry in America. Jack has become the industry's
reaction to the growing trend of people subscribing to the two satellite
companies XM and Sirius. People are now paying monthly for a wider
selection of music than they have gotten for years on over the air radio
and all of the music comes without any commercials.
Jack is also responding to
the ever increasing number of iPods that are in use. An iPod gives you
the opportunity to in a sense program your own radio station by
downloading whatever music you enjoy listening to. IPods are being seen
on airplanes, trains and in subways.
Jack's play list is about
1,200 songs as opposed to the usual 300 hits that get continuously
played in rotation on most oldies stations in America. The diversity of
what is heard is broader than what has been the rule on the air for many
years.
The rally was attended by
people of different ages and backgrounds. Several personalities and
formats were represented.
Jim Kerr who does mornings
on q1043 WAXQ Clear Channel's classic rock station in New York stopped
by on his way home to meet the participants and promote his program.
Opie and Anthony now on XM,
also made an appearance. Their show was canceled in 2,002 after they
broadcast a couple having sex at a church in New York City. At the
time, they were employed by Infinity which had been doing a talk format
for a younger audience on WNEW another property they own in the market.
The talk programming would end five months after they were let go.
WQCD the Emmis Broadcasting
Smooth Jazz station in New York was represented with people handing out
tea shirts and bumper stickers which they hoped would urge the ralliers
to tune in and listen to what they had to offer.
WKHL a Connecticut based
oldies station was also seen at the event. They are located in Stamford
which is approximately 40 miles from New York. They play music mainly
from the 60s and 70s. This was the direction Infinity took WCBS FM
during its final two years. This resulted in a limited play list. A
fact which also made many unhappy with the overall content of the
programming.
WMTR,
an AM station in New Jersey which plays oldies from the 50s and 60s,
brought a sound system to the rally. Unfortunately music was not
allowed at the site.
Sirius Satellite Radio was
there to make people aware that Cousin Brucie would soon be starting
three shows a week. Two of them would accent the music and the other
would be a talk show. He had signed a five year contract with the
satcaster. Brucie and Norm N Nite, another deejay who was a well known
voice on the station are the only two that are employed at this point.
Norm is on Sirius six days a week. Many of his shows are aired from the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland Ohio.
Barbara Harris, lead singer
of the group The Toys also stopped by. The group's best known song is A
Lover's Concerto which was a hit in 1965. That song is played on most
oldies stations including WCBS FM when it did the format.
It is believed that Infinity
Chairman/CEO Joel Hollander was seen walking through the rally. Mr.
Hollander in a recent article in the Chicago Sun Times admitted that he
made the decision to drop oldies on both WCBS FM and WJMK over Memorial
Day weekend. A select few in upper management were informed that this
would happen a few days before the actual event took place. As was the
case in New York, the announcers in Chicago did not know this was going
to happen till an hour before Jack arrived on the FM dial.
The overall turnout and
significance of the rally has been downplayed by many. A few things need
to be mentioned.
First of all, this gathering
was put together in about a week. it was all done online through the
New York Radio Message Board and on a website where people signed
petitions to bring oldies and WCBS FM back to the air.
The amount of opposition to
a format change including the rally has been the most I have seen in
over 48 years of keeping up with the radio business.
The anger about what
happened became so intense that the CEO of Infinity Broadcasting
appeared recently on CNBC where he was interviewed by Ted David. This
in my view was an attempt by the company to do damage control but the
results were very poor.
Currently no radio station
in the New York market plays the greatest hits of all time on a
continuous basis. Some stations have added more oldies to their play
lists but that does not substitute the loss people still feel. They
miss the personalities and the way they talked to them which resulted in
a unique and very successful approach for the presentation of oldies.
It could be argued that if
the organizers had more time to plan and if the word had gotten out to
more people that the turnout would have been higher but considering the
circumstances everyone involved in planning and executing the rally can
be very proud of what they accomplished.
I feel this course of action
was noticed by Infinity Broadcasting. Whether this results in the
oldies format returning to 101.1 in New York or 104.3 FM in Chicago
remains to be seen.
The ratings have not come
out yet and the first book will not help determine the success or lack
of concerning Jack. It will take a number of months before those in
power can decide if what they did was right or not from a business
standpoint.
Chances are that
whatever happens Infinity will not return oldies to the air in either
city although in radio anything can happen.
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Did Oldies Have to End in New York and Chicago? By Larry Stoler On Friday, June 3, 2005, the oldies format ended on WCBS FM in New York and WJMK in Chicago. WCBS FM had been programming oldies 24 hours a day since 1972. WJMK offered oldies to the Chicago market beginning in 1984.
Many well known
personalities worked on both stations. When you tuned into WCBS FM,
you could hear Cousin Brucie who first became well known when he
worked at WABC when it was a music station.
Harry Harrison who
originally began his successful career in Peoria, Illinois was heard
mornings from 1980 till 2,003 when he left the station. He returned
to do Saturday mornings in October of last year.
Some of the other
broadcasters who became friends to the New York audience were Bill
Brown, Bobby Jay, Bob Shannon and Don K Reed among many others who
graced the microphone at 101.1.
On WJMK, two great
Chicago radio legends were heard. Dick Biondi who is
well remembered from his days at WLS and WCFL. Fred Winston who was
also heard on WLS. Greg Brown and Paul Perry were also part of the
air staff in addition to many others throughout the station's 21
year history.
Although both stations
made adjustments in the playlist and delivery of the presentation,
they were both doing well in the Arbitron ratings and saw
appreciable revenue as a result.
The announcers were not
informed that a change would be made and their services would no
longer be needed until an hour before the music and direction
changed. They were not given a chance to say goodbye to the audience
that had supported them for many years.
What was heard instead
of oldies is a concept called Jack. Jack began about three years
ago in Canada. It consists of a playlist of 1,200 songs which
covers the last 4 decades.
Jack has become the
radio industry's response to the growing trend of listeners
subscribing to XM and Sirius the two satellite radio companies and
buying iPods. An iPod allows you to download thousands of songs and
in a sense put your own playlist together.
In between songs, a
voice is heard saying things like "This is Jack FM. Playing what we
want. Another statement by the voice of Jack said "don't tell us
what to play. We determine the boundaries."
This is a very different
approach and direction for both stations. No deejays and no news,
traffic and weather reports are broadcast. This is a juke box with
commercials.
If I was a casual
listener, I would be insulted by the statements being made between
songs. It's as if to say at Jack FM we don't care about you. You
don't matter to us. If that is the case then why bother listening?
What made oldies work
in New York and Chicago was not just the music. It was
personalities that talked to the listeners and not at them. This is
an art that for the most part has disappeared on the radio in
America.
The argument has been
made that oldies as a concept can not be sold to the 25 to 54
demographic. This is the age range that ad agencies and potential
advertisers believe respond most often to commercials and as a
result buy the products being advertised.
This way of thinking is
being pushed in many cases by people that are below the desired age
group. They work in these agencies and think they are experts at
media buying when they don't have a clue about how to work with a
devoted audience that cares about what comes out of their radio.
One thing these "know it
alls" should be reminded is that the population of the United States
is getting older and they have disposable income. They make and
spend money and buy many products that they hear about on the radio.
In an attempt to get
to the 25/54 demographic, oldies stations around the country started
taking a current approach to the format. In other words they would
play music mostly from the 60s and 70s and put a typical morning
show on the air with a team that would talk about reality
TV programs or do ridiculous gimmicks.
It never made sense to
me when stations went in this direction. The audience that listened
didn't care about what was on TV currently. They wanted to go back
to a time when the songs they were listening to first became hits.
They also didn't want to be talked down to on the air. They wanted
information and a positive approach in the morning which is what
they grew up with on top 40 radio.
The music became very
repetitious. The playlist was limited which caused many to tune
out.
Oldies is not like other
types of radio. A station that offers this music should spotlight
the history of rock and roll. About 3,000 songs should be played in
rotation. Much of the music can be found by looking at the top 100
of each year from the 1950s on.
Another thing that
happened was the contests and promotions became very bland. Instead
of using the phones and station websites and doing live remotes,
radio stations started giving away movie tickets if you were the
correct number caller. Anyone can do that.
Over the past couple of
years, stations began to drop the term "oldies." They felt the use
of this term was causing people to leave because oldies meant old.
If you talk to the
average person about music from the past 30 to 50 years, you will
notice that it is still called oldies. I don't know anyone that
becomes offended by that term. Do you? I doubt it.
This is a time when
radio needs to stand out. Oldies by its nature presents the perfect
opportunity for this to take place.
The idea is to make the
listeners feel that if they turn off the radio, they will be missing
something. This does not mean "shock jocks" or relevant morning
shows.
What is still needed at
oldies stations are exciting personalities along with a live up
tempo approach that is oriented to the community being served 24
hours a day.
The audience that was
served in New York and Chicago have created a strong backlash to the
recent change to Jack. Many are keeping lists of advertisers that
are heard on the air. They are contacting various businesses urging
them not to support a station that would fire many legendary deejays
and not inform the audience that a change was about to take place.
The things people object
to are first that the music is not available on their favorite radio
station, second that they were not allowed to thank the announcers
that became their friends for a long time, and Infinity's
arrogant, unfeeling, and cavalier approach to their listeners.
Many of the songs from
the 60s and 70s are now being streamed on
www.wcbsfm.com
and
www.wjmk.com.
This is an attempt to quiet the people that disagree with what has
happened.
Many people that
listened to both stations are not on the Internet. Also this does
not substitute the identity that the audience had with the voices
they heard on the air every day.
In Chicago, WRLL 1690 AM
offers the Real Oldies format. This brings music from the 50s till
1964 to the audience. Unfortunately anything after that is pretty
much ignored.
In New York, nobody is
playing the hits of the 50s, 60s, or 70s on a consistent basis.
I feel that the oldies
format has many years to go and this decision was made in a very
hasty way.
I hope that if
an alternative is not found that oldies will return to both WCBS FM
and WJMK and that the personalities.
Larry Stoler What
Radio Really Needs Over the past several months, many articles have been written and surveys have been done regarding the state of radio in America. This concern has come up throughout radio's history except this time, the competition comes from different sources.
In the 1950's, the future of
radio was in doubt as television became a part of the American culture.
Network radio's future was threatened as the habits of the audience
began to change.
In 1955, Monitor began on
NBC radio. It was a weekend program which consisted of music and
special features, reports and commentaries on a variety of subjects. It
was created by then NBC President Sylvester L. "Pat" Weaver who also
invented the Today and the Tonight show. Monitor was an immediate
success. It ran for 20 years and to this day is credited as saving
the radio network.
Radio has had other threats
to its existence over the years. As inventions such as the Walkman
entered our lives, many questioned whether traditional over the air
broadcasting would survive and guess what, it did.
Today satellite radio has
entered the landscape. Two companies, (XM and Sirius,) offer
subscribers many channels full of all kinds of music much of which has
been ignored by commercial and even non commercial radio in America.
Both satellite services have
also begun to hire well known names such as Howard Stern and Opie and
Anthony. XM has an 11 year agreement to broadcast major league
baseball. Sirius has the NFL and their is more to come for both
companies as the competition increases.
As a result of brilliant
marketing through commercial free music channels and making people
believe they are getting more diversity many are willing to pay monthly
for something they got for free for years as long as they supported the
station they listened to and the advertisers that were on the air.
Internet radio is listened
to by more people than ever before. Despite the Recording Industry
Association of America's successful attempt to demand that radio
stations pay massive amounts of money for making their programming
available online, the choices via the net increase and as such are
available to a wider audience all over the world.
The examples I mentioned are
only a few of the ever increasing sources people have for obtaining
music and information at a faster rate every day.
How is the industry
reacting? In my opinion, much time is being wasted by creating formats
with ridiculous names such as Jack, Bob, Frank, Dave, and now Ben. They
all say they are "playing what _we want." Who is the we they keep
referring to? Does the we mean only people that were contacted by a
research firm or is it an example of imaging being done for the wrong
reasons?
It's okay to offer a wide
variety of music but if you don't know the artists and titles, what does
it matter.
The formats are not being
promoted with good sounding jocks or live remotes or audience
involvement by phone or station websites. Instead you hear things like
don't call the request line. We don't have one. You're just a
listener. How is that going to help what you are after when building an
audience. This approach is telling the listener that they are not worth
anything and their opinion doesn't matter.
Another thing is that many
stations tell you what they are not instead of what they are. Remember
the days of no rock, no rap and no sleepy elevator music? That is what
the station doesn't want to be. Now what is the station in question all
about? What kind of music is emphasized every day? What will the
audience hear when they tune in? I don't know.
Recently the industry
launched a $28 million campaign to tell people through messages from
many performers that they got their start and became famous as a result
of radio. I think to the average person when they hear this they will
think so what or who cares. it doesn't make people excited about this
great medium.
So much of what is available
on the AM and FM dial is "reality oriented." This is done through
morning shows where they talk about reality TV or what the team has to
do when they get off the air or gossip about who slept with who.
One of the things that got
so many of us interested in radio were the announcers that made it
larger than life and they were positive on the air. Much of what is
permitted or accepted as the norm on the air would not have even been
considered years ago.
When I turn on the radio I
don't care about the problems someone in a morning team is having. One
day I heard a couple of people talk about how they had to go home and
moe the lawn. How does knowing that fact affect my life or anyone
else's? It really doesn't. It's just another example of reality radio.
The demographic argument has
become extremely nitched. This became apparent to me recently while
reading an interview with the program director of a station in New
Jersey who decided to change the focus of a weekly oldies show. The
show had been 70's based with a countdown from a specific year each
week.
The decision was made to
drop the concentration on the 70's and play requests from the 60's
through the 80's.
In the article, it was
stated that the core audience the station was after was 35 to 45
years. What's next? Maybe a format for people aged 25 to 26 that would
be for adult women who sit on the right side of the front seat of the
car.
The point is this. What
happened to going after everybody? The purpose is to get the most
people possible to listen to a station so more advertisers will buy time
and the ad rates can increase.
I have also noticed a
concentration on the 9 AM to 5 PM office audience. What happened to the
rest of the broadcast day? I thought the belief was you were not
supposed to pay attention to the radio when you are at work. I guess
instead you have it on in the background just enough so you will be able
to write down information about what you listened to in an Arbitron
diary.
I attended a conference on
what it takes to get music played on the air. One of the participants
mentioned a station that does a "specialty show" on Sunday nights where
rarely heard bands are featured.
One of the panelists said
that it didn't matter on Sunday nights because people are watching
television. It used to be that the industry cared about good content 24
hours a day. Now after seven o'clock the assumption is that everyone is
on the Internet or watching TV or exploring other sources for
entertainment. This is wrong.
Stations might as well sign
off at night based on that logic.
Those are just a few of the
decisions and perceptions that have contributed to the way radio sounds
today and why listeners are going to alternatives as mentioned earlier.
This is what I think needs
to be done in order for things to change and ultimately make radio worth
listening to again.
(1) Although music selection
and the number of songs played is important remember it's what goes on
between the songs that also matters. Make the station sound exciting
around the clock. Stop the practice of voice-tracking from a different
location. This does not make a station sound like it cares about the
area it is supposed to serve.
Radio's biggest advantage
and potential draw when done right is that it can be live and local.
This concept needs to return to the air right away.
(2) Radio should be looked
at as an escape from what the average person has to deal with every
day. Make the morning shows sound positive and market them that way.
Get away from inside jokes, discussions about reality TV shows, etc.
Cut back on the reality approach and make it fun to tune in.
(3) Promote the station
constantly through audience involvement on the phone, through the
website, at live remotes and other appearances.
(4) Stop the $28
million campaign I mentioned earlier. In the end, it won't matter and
people will forget about it.
(5) Pay attention to the
entire broadcast day. Make a station sound as exciting at 10 PM as it
would if the audience tuned in at 7 AM. Do everything necessary to get
people to leave the radio on at night. It is just as important as
during the day.
(6) Drop the Jack, Bob, Ben
and other names that don't mean a thing. Use call letters and tell
people what the station is all about.
What I have suggested takes
a lot of work but the end result will be worth it. The listeners will
talk in a positive way about radio. The ratings will increase, the
sales people will be able to charge more for commercials and a good
bottom line will result.
The idea is not to panic.
Realize and accept the fact that Satellite Radio, the Internet, iPods
and other ways to obtain music and information are hear to stay. They
are not going away.
You can't "fight fire with
fire." Realize radio's strengths and use them.
Radio is not dead but in
order to insure the future growth of it, these suggestions and others
should be considered and ultimately added to the overall sound and
presentation.
Radio in
2,004-An Overview It is the end of the year. A time when we look back at our accomplishments and what we hope to achieve in the up coming 12 months.
Let's look at what has
happened regarding radio during the past year and where the industry
stands at this point.
During the year many of the
patterns and concepts that have existed for a long time on the AM and FM
dial remained the same. In the case of music radio, the morning teams
continued to talk down to the audience all over the country. They also
perfected the art of being able to talk for long periods of time on the
air and say nothing in the process. They kept laughing in a very
forceful way at inside jokes that didn't matter to most people and
talked non stop about reality television shows, who was sleeping with
who, etc.
Most attempts at being funny
went on to long. The phone scams, war of the roses and so forth sounded
staged and dull at best.
The overall purpose of many
morning shows continued to be negative and stupid across America.
The rest of the day on music
stations for the most part was filled with people who read the same
liners over and over and did not bother to have any real contact with
the audience they were supposed to serve.
The direction of some
formats changed in 2,004. This particularly happened at oldies
stations. Many started moving into the 70s musically and dropped
the hits of the 50s. An attempt was made to make the oldies concept
sound more contemporary in approach by bringing in morning teams and the
points I mentioned earlier.
They missed the point of
oldies radio. When listening to rock and roll, people do not think
about what they have to do today. They like to go back to a time when
the songs they are hearing first became hits. That is the approach this
format should take. Making an oldies station sound current does not
work.
Playlists on music stations
remained as restricted and tight as ever. That never seems to change
especially on Adult Contemporary stations.
Voice tracking continued up
and down the dial. This was especially true in the evening after 7
o'clock and during most of the weekend.
Some of the voices heard
originated from other parts of America not even where the station was
located.
Talk radio continued on with
a lack of humor during this year. Whatever your point of view was on
political matters, you could be sure that most hosts would tell you that
one side is always right and the other is wrong. Wouldn't it be
interesting if everything in life worked that way. In reality, it
doesn't and not every issue can be explained or solved in 30 second
sound bites.
I am not saying that
important issues should not be pursued on the air. I do feel that many
national hosts have forgotten how to be entertaining and use humor only
when they want to make fun of a person's point of view or life style.
I miss the days where true
intelligent discussion and all sides of an issue were heard on
commercial talk stations.
People were put on the air
nationally who did not work their way up in the business. In other
words, they were just given the position without any previous radio
experience. This is unfair to many who are trying to get a break in an
industry that never had any job security and certainly does not now.
The pattern of giving
someone with a name a national show without previous experience does not
happen in other fields. For example, in baseball, people that make it
to the majors worked in other cities or in farm clubs before they were
discovered and given an opportunity to play for a good salary in
a bigger part of the country.
Why is it different in radio
where standards that used to exist seem to be disappearing. In the
past, you did everything in a small station and worked your way into
a medium and hopefully a major market. The cluster mentality along with
other factors have taken those opportunities away.
Big companies continued to
purchase as many properties as possible which did away with local
programming during many parts of the day and in many cases for the
entire broadcast week.
I think many of the
decisions this year were made by people who were scared to do anything
different or try something new on the air. In many cases, radio has not
moved foreword since the 80s.
The most significant things
that happened concerning radio this year took place from competition
outside the regular industry. Satellite radio branched out and became
stronger and more viable.
XM and Sirius, the two
satellite companies originally began with the idea of providing more
music and choices than what exists on commercial radio today. This
year, important decisions were made by both companies.
XM Radio hired Opie
and Anthony and gave them their own channel. They were let go by
Infinity Broadcasting over two years ago for the incident in a Catholic
church in New York, City where a couple had sex on the air.
XM made a deal to provide
live broadcasts of major league baseball for 11 years.
Sirius Satellite Radio hired
Howard Stern who will move from Infinity to the company in January 2,006
when his contract ends. They also started broadcasting the NFL and
college games.
The types of music broadened
on both services and they announced that all music channels would be
commercial free.
After leaving
Viacom/Infinity as their Chairman, Mel Karmazin was named the new CEO of
Sirius. This is another significant step in the growth of the company
and this service.
XM has 3.1 million
subscribers while Sirius has surpassed its goal of signing a million by
the end of the year.
It was announced recently
that Internet radio has 19 million people listening to it. This despite
the fact that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)
continues to charge licensing fees to radio stations that stream their
product live. Many stations still offer their programming on the net.
I-Pods grew in popularity.
An I-Pod allows you to be able to carry about 10,000 songs on your belt
while you go through your normal daily routine.
This growth received
national publicity a few weeks ago on Sunday morning with Charles Osgood
on CBS television. The first few minutes of the program highlighted
this subject.
Duke University entered into
a marketing agreement where the Freshman class was given free I-Pods.
They could carry an entire library of music with them from that point
on.
More ways to obtain music
and information became part of the normal way of living this year and
yet radio refuses to acknowledge or take these threats to its existence
seriously.
Some have predicted that
radio is dead or will die soon. I don't believe that. Radio still has
a purpose however I do think now more than ever, it is time for the
industry to take a serious look at itself and where it intends to go.
One of radio's strong points
that can not necessarily be achieved to the fullest extent on satellite
radio is localism. In other words, being out and active in the
community. Being at the scene of an important event at a moment's
notice and providing necessary information to the residents of where a
station is licensed to broadcast. The industry has to resume this
practice of being community active.
Radio has to go back to
providing information after 8:30 AM during the week or in the evening
after #7 and on weekends too. Not every area of the country has a 24
hour all news station within hearable range.
Music stations have to
become exciting to listen to again. The bland approach that has taken
over has to end. People have to feel they are part of the station and
they don't want to turn off the radio because they might miss something.
I don't mean so called shock
jocks when I say this. Radio can be positive, fun, creative and funny
when done right. We saw this for years on top 40 stations. This has to
return again.
Playlists have to be
broadened. On Oldies stations for example, play more than the same
tired 300 songs. Don't ignore the hits. Just add more and make the
approach sound up and worth listening to.
Cut back on the number of
morning shows that use or insult people and have to many voices involved
with them on the air. Make the bits shorter if you have to go that way
and do away with forced laughter, inside jokes and the examples I
mentioned earlier.
Their is a significant
audience that does not necessarily want locker room humor when they
first get up in the morning. Give them information and a voice worth
listening to when they turn on the radio.
Shorten the amount of time
commercial breaks run each hour. Do like Bill Drake, the late Rick
Sklar who programmed WABC when it was a music station and others used
to do. Spread the commercials out during the hour. Forget the long
endless interruptions at 10 minutes before the hour. People look at
these long breaks that way. They are commercials but people feel like
the music or whatever they are listening to has stopped and they look
for something different to hear.
You can still sell the
products and do it just as successfully if you change the way you do it
and shorten the length of each break.
Talk radio needs to be less
nasty and negative in its approach. Remember most issues can not be
successfully explained in a few seconds.
Hire experienced
broadcasters on music and talk stations. Bring in people that know the
market and how to successfully communicate with the audience they are
supposed to reach.
Finally, take a little time
and program from the gut without so much research. You will find when
doing this that you will produce a radio station that people will become
excited about and tell their friends. This will result in higher
ratings and more successful sales.
When was the last time a
station excited you? If you are like me and you have listened to so
many different formats for years, it has been a long time since that has
happened.
I hope in 2,005 that
someone will step forward and be willing to do whatever is necessary to
make radio exciting to listen to. It can be done.
The emergence of XM, Sirius,
the Internet and other forces can be looked at as a good thing for
radio. Now is the time where if done right, radio will receive the
attention and enthusiasm it needs to move forward and turn more people
on to it. This has to be done now or I dread to think what could happen
to a great industry in a few years.
The bottom line is this.
The audience and the industry deserve better than what passes for good
radio these days.
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Radio and the Election by Lawrence Stoler Now that the 2,004 election is history, let's look at how radio handled it
Most FM stations around the
country did not broadcast any of the debates live. This is because many
do not have a working news department after 7 PM. In fact if an
important story takes place after 8:30 AM or on weekends, you won't hear
about it on most commercial FM stations.
Many stations treated the
election as if nothing was taking place. They continued their regular
programming on the night of November 2nd. Those that did or had the
staff only provided brief updates about what was going on. This
despite the fact that the voter turnout overall was higher than ever and
this was constantly referred to as "the most important election of our
lifetime."
If you lived in an area that
had an all news station or a talk station that cared to provide
information on a continuous basis, this wasn't a problem. If not you
were out of luck unless you had a National Public Radio (NPR) affiliate
in hearable range. Even then having an NPR station in your area didn't
necessarily guarantee that they would cover the election either.
The lack of coverage during
most dayparts is nothing new to radio. This started years ago when
stations began to cut the size of news departments because they were
expensive to maintain and many in charge felt the audience that listened
to music stations didn't care what was going on especially after Morning
Drive.
The best example occurred on
September 11, 2,001. Even though we didn't expect this terrible tragedy
to happen on that day, most stations did not have the manpower necessary
to provide proper radio coverage. Many resorted to TV audio for
reports.
One example that stood out
in my mind was in New York when a major FM station had to go to WLW in
Cincinnati, Ohio to get a feed. This amazed me. The events were taking
place right in their back yard and they didn't have a crew to broadcast
what was going on. This was terrible considering that most people
listen to FM on regular over the air radio. They needed up to the
minute information that day and despite the technical capability
stations outside New York couldn't provide on the spot split second
reports.
Many news talk stations
couldn't always broadcast live election reports. Even though they
pattern themselves as "News Talk", they too have lessened the size of
their news departments. This I find hard to understand on issue
oriented talk radio stations.
Many talk stations claim to
have experienced an increase in their overall audience size. They say
it was due to the election. This is not really the case.
The election was and remains
an important topic but stations began concentrating on this especially
the Presidential race months before November. Many nationally
syndicated talk show hosts put the vast majority of their efforts
towards the outcome. In other words, the increase was not because of
election night but months before that.
The lack of importance given
by many radio stations to November 2nd is another example where radio
became a second class medium. Most people if they wanted current
developments turned to TV. They watched the 24 hour cable news channels
or ABC, NBC and CBS. Unfortunately radio was the furthest thing from
their mind and the industry only has itself to blame.
Their are many sources for
news and information and they continue to increase. AM and FM still
has its place and it always will. All news stations continue to make
money and maintain a large audience.
The problem is that as the
sources for information increase and become easier to access, the more
the audience will decline on both AM and FM. It may not happen right
away but eventually people may begin to wonder why they need regular
radio when they can go to any number of places and get what they are
looking for and at a quicker pace.
One of radio's greatest
strengths is localism or being involved in the community they broadcast
from. This has been forgotten in favor of cost cutting or providing
syndicated programming.
XM and Sirius, the two
satellite radio services offer local traffic and weather. This is
important but they can not bring you what's happening in your town the
way a station licensed to the area you live in can.
The attitude that the
audience doesn't care about what's going on during most of the broadcast
day needs to change. The high turnout on Tuesday, November 2nd, proves
that fact.
Music stations need to make
news a priority in their schedule. They need to begin to bring
newscasts to their audience after 8:30 AM and on weekends. The world
doesn't stop after the morning show ends.
I am not saying that
music stations should constantly talk about what's going on in the
world. They can however update the audience during other parts of the
broadcast day.
In most markets, it is hard
to find a commercial FM station that provides news after 7 PM. This is
because of voice tracking or programming which in many cases originates
from other parts of the country. It's also because of nationally
syndicated hosts that have no involvement with the local area and don't
care to.
The decline in informing the
public is an insult to the intelligence of the listeners. This should
not be taking place at a time when radio needs to differentiate itself
from other media.
More news coverage is one of
many ways which when put in place will make radio standout and will give
it the proper respect it deserves by the audience.
Lawrence Stoler
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A Great Day in New York by Lawrence Stoler
On Friday September 10,
2004, I attended a four hour program at the Museum of Television and
Radio in New York, City. The participants were Max Kinkel along with
special guests Dan Ingram and Joe Franklin.
The program came about as
the result of a Fourth of July broadcast which featured Max Kinkel AKA
SuperMax on WODI in Brookneal, Virginia. Tony DeNicola, one of the
owners of the radio station, arranged for this broadcast to take place.
Tony along with his son Brian met Max Kinkel during a board shift at a
Christian radio station in New York City.
The show was a live six hour
recreation of CKLW the big 8 in Windsor, Ontario complete with some of
the original jingles from the days of the Drake format on that station.
Max Kinkel did the nighttime shift as SuperMax in the 1970s. The
program was heard live on WODI and was streamed over the
station's website.
In addition to CKLW, Max did
overnight radio for 13 years on WCBS FM the oldies station in New York,
City. He brought high ratings to a daypart where this achievement was
not known to happen. At CBS FM, he became the Max Man. He combined
oldies along with high energy and listener interaction on the phone. It
was truly great radio.
After WCBS FM, he
moved to WXRK (k-rock) in New York City where he did classic rock in the
overnight hours until the station changed format in 1996.
Later, Max brought his
unique style and personality to the talk format. He was successful
perfecting his way of doing talk on WEVD in New York and WLIE on Long
Island.
Max has done many voiceovers
for many years. He is heard on many well known national accounts.
At the museum, Max talked
about his career and played airchecks of his days doing personality
radio. He also did a tribute to the anniversary of September 11th since
this took place the day before. He had some interesting theories about
911 which he expressed to all of us.
Max is launching a
website which will highlight his talents in commercials and all the
different kinds of radio he has done.
www.supermaxradio.com is the website.
Dan Ingram also stopped by
during the program. He had just returned after celebrating his 70th
birthday with one of his children in Salt Lake City.
Big Dan worked at such
stations as WNHC in New Haven, Connecticut, KBOX in Dallas, Texas, WIL
in St. Lewis and of course music radio 77 WABC in New York from July,
1961 till May, 1982. That was when the station changed format from
music to talk.
Big Dan also worked weekends
on WCBS FM from October, 1991 till June, 2,003 when he left after the
station tried to cut his air time down to once a week along with his
salary.
Although he still does
commercials and says he enjoys retirement, he is missed on the air.
Dan Ingram may be 70 in age
but you wouldn't know it when listening to him. He still is as funny,
creative and spontaneous as ever. If he was on the air today, he still
could make any radio station sound great.
Dan talked up several songs
and added some very funny one liners in his usual 10 seconds or less
delivery. As always with Big Dan, you had to get through part of the
song till you figured out what he was trying to say with his jokes.
That's one of the many things I admire about him.
Another guest was the
legendary Joe Franklin. Joe was one of the first to do live talk and
interviews with many famous people on Channel Seven and later Channel
Nine in New York, City. He also brought his many talents to radio.
He hosted Joe Franklin's
Memory Lane on WOR in New York from the late 60s till June 27, 2004. He
turned many of us on to nostalgia and made us aware of many performers
that are not heard these days.
Although Joe ended his
weekly overnight show, he is working on some projects which hopefully
will put him back on the air soon. As he said when he ended Memory Lane
on WOR, "to be continued."
It was an honor to be
in the same room with three true radio greats which I have always
followed and have admired. Imagine someone you have always looked up to
and having the chance to not only be in the same room but to meet that
person or persons in this case. It is a day I will never forget.
Larry Stoler How will
Radio be Perceived in Five Years
There are many sites on the
Internet that salute the medium of radio. You can browse the web and
listen to everything from top 40 radio of the 60's and 70's to original
broadcasts from the 1940's.
One of the sites is a
tribute to NBC Monitor. Monitor was a program that ran every weekend on
hundreds of affiliated NBC radio stations from June, 1955 till January,
1975. The website is
www.monitorbeacon.com.
It contains a history of the program plus a photo album and audio clips
which are updated monthly. Dennis Hart, a long time broadcaster and
listener of the program maintains the site.
I was reading the guestbook
on the Monitor tribute site the other day and I noticed that many
entries came from people that worked behind the scenes to make sure the
program ran every weekend. It also contained observations from people
that would listen while driving on a dark country road late at night or
in their parent's car or at home. People have fond memories of that 20
year show.
The same holds true
regarding classic top 40 radio. Richard Irwin AKA Uncle Ricky, has had
a tribute site for this great period in radio since 1996. It contains
exhibits and collections that you can click on and experience what that
format was all about. He updates the site with new submissions every
week. He does not make money on this project. People contribute
because they want to see this portion of radio history preserved as does
Uncle Ricky. At this point, over 1,300 exhibits exist on
www.reelradio.com.
So
much has changed in the way decisions are made and what passes for good
radio today. This is especially true since the Telecommunications Act
of 1996. In so many cases, it has come down to a few companies owning
everything in many markets. This has resulted in much less local
involvement and generic formats everywhere. The closeness that people
felt about radio does not exist today. People still remember top 40
stations and shows like Monitor for example. People still tell stories
about having the transistor radio under the pillow late at night and
listening to their favorite station or maybe a distant signal that they
happened to pick up while dialing around.
The audience also remembers
going to see their favorite dj at a live broadcast or when that person
appeared at a concert. They also remember when their favorite song was
played on the air.
Where does radio stand today
and what will people remember in five years? Will they think of a
morning team that talked down to them or did inside jokes about the
station all morning or talked about reality television? How about that
liner card reader that was not permitted to say the title and artist of
anything being played and was voice tracked from a different part of the
country. Will they remember when a broadcaster appeared live to go on
the air for two minutes a couple of times an hour to promote an event?
Will people years from now
be able to recite the call letters or slogan of a station that repeated
2 or 300 songs over and over in rotation?
Will anyone remember a talk
show that discussed the same topics and played the tired old sound bites
every day?
Years from now when we look
back at this portion of the 21st century, I don't think people will
fondly remember radio the way they still relate to what was on the air
40 years ago.
We are now in a time where
many sources exist to obtain music and information. XM Satellite Radio
for example has passed 2 million subscribers and they did it in a
relatively short time. People are now willing to pay a monthly fee for
something they got for free in the past. The amount of alternatives
to regular over the air radio increases all the time.
Now more than ever, the
broadcast industry has to make radio stand out. Radio has to stop being
negative on the air. It has to stop treating the listener like they are
not worth anything. Decisions to voice track whenever possible have
to end. It may save money but it has gotten out of hand.
Talent has to be hired that
can make a station exciting. The goal has to be to make people feel
they would be missing something if they turn off the radio. This does
not mean shock jock formats. I realize an audience exists for that kind
of radio but that too has gone to far.
I do not agree with the
government getting involved in matters of indecency on the air. I think
the audience will determine that by whether or not they will listen to
the station airing the material. I do feel however that we need a
choice on the air regarding approach to the listeners. In other words,
you have to spend money to make money.
Clear Channel Radio has
announced that as of next year, they will lessen the number of
commercials and promotional announcements that will be aired in the
average broadcast hour. This is a good move however I feel the problem
was not the number of commercials but the way they were distributed over
the air. In other words, playing 5, 6 or 7 minutes of spots in a row is
to much. They should have been spread out throughout the hour as Bill
Drake used to do. On KHJ in 1965, the average break could not exceed 70
seconds. This has been forgotten.
Radio stations can still
make money by playing commercials at different times of the hour and a
few at a time.
This is a positive step but
more needs to be done. If not radio could suffer a fate it doesn't
deserve in the next several years. I hope that doesn't happen.
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Is Satellite Radio a Threat? By Lawrence Stoler
Radio has come a long way
since the invention of the crystal set and the early days of KDKA and
WGN.
Today, thousands of stations
exist all over America with a variety of programs and formats to choose
from.
Right now, one of the most
significant developments since separate programming began on FM is
taking place. It is satellite radio.
The two companies that offer
satellite radio are NEW York based Sirius and XM located in Washington,
D.C. Both companies began planning for this development to take place in
the '1990s.
XM was the first to launch
in the fall of 2001. Sirius followed later.
XM had an advantage over
Sirius because by launching earlier it gave them time to market their
product and channel lineup. They started advertising on commercial
radio. In other words, they did a lot of marketing.
Sirius was the first to
offer 100% commercial free music channels on their streams. XM began
the practice in the early part of this year.
Today, both services provide
many different kinds of music. They present music that has been ignored
or is no longer heard on regular over the air radio as well
as popular titles and artists.
XM Satellite
radio provides 68 commercial free music channels. They also have 33
channels of news, sports, talk and entertainment. In addition, 21
channels of instant traffic and weather are offered to subscribers
Sirius provides over 60
channels of commercial free music along with 50 channels of sports, news
and entertainment.
Both services use sources
such as CNBC and Fox News among others to inform their subscribers about
what's going on in the world. They both get sports news from ESPN radio
A variety of payment plans
exist for satellite radio. Many different types of receivers can be
purchased for use in the car, the truck or at home.
Good overall marketing has
benefited both XM and Sirius. The amount of people that have subscribed
has grown. XM currently has 2 million while Sirius has a quarter of a
million and is rapidly growing.
The original purpose of
satellite radio was to offer more choices of music than what currently
exists on the AM and FM dial. Recently, a number of talk channels have
been added to both services. You can hear a diversity of views ranging
from Alan Colmes and Air America on Sirius left to Laura Ingram on XM.
The talk streams are not commercial free.
Over the past few months,
Sirius and XM began presenting local traffic and weather for many
markets around the country. The National Association of
Broadcasters (NAB) has challenged this decision. They maintain that the
purpose of both companies was to offer nationally distributed
programming, not local content. They hope to convince the FCC to stop
XM and Sirius from continuing this practice.
I feel that the NAB
is wasting their time worrying about whether XM or Sirius violated their
original agreements. I think instead they should be concentrating on
the reasons for the growth of this new expanding service.
If you ask the average
person why they are purchasing equipment for satellite radio, they will
tell you that they get more music and that too many commercials exist on
the radio. It is important to point out that people will pay for
something that they used to get for free as long as they listened to
their favorite stations and supported the advertisers.
The problem is not the
amount of commercials. it is the way they are done. In other words,
most stations these days present many commercials that last a long
time. They usually start at approximately 10 minutes before the hour
and continue for several minutes. This causes people to tune away or
turn the radio off.
Many successful top 40
stations in the '60s and '70s did not allow long commercial brakes
during regular programming. Bill Drake, a well known Program Director
never let a set of commercials go beyond 70 seconds when he consulted
Boss Radio 93 KHJ in 1965 and beyond.
I think we have to return to
spreading out commercials throughout any given hour of the broadcast
day. This will not decrease the amount of money a station or cluster
will make. It will keep people tuned in waiting for their favorite
song.
As far as local traffic and
weather are concerned, the charges the NAB makes against XM and Sirius
are not true. Many cities and towns are not served by either satellite
provider when this information is dispensed.
Traffic and weather on
satellite radio has not forced commercial radio to cut back on
information especially during the morning hours. This will not happen.
People brought XM and Sirius
into their lives because they got tired of hearing the same 2 or 300
songs played over and over again. They want and they get a broader
playlist. Both services offer over a million titles in their libraries.
The fact that the NAB is
worrying about this new technology is proof that the effect of growth is
beginning to be felt. XM and Sirius will gain more subscribers and will
make more money over the next several years.
Now is the time for radio to
stand out. One of the things radio has in its favor which a satellite
service can not duplicate is localism. In other words, community
involvement and making the audience feel part of the overall
listening experience. This can not be done through voicetracking or in
some cases no announcers on some channels on Sirius and XM.
The formats,
selection and overall presentation have to become more interesting and
exciting on over the air radio. Much of the industry today sounds
bland.
The people that purchased
receivers for satellite radio are not going back to AM or FM. This does
not mean that it can not be saved. On the contrary. Many approaches and
opportunities exist for radio to become a leader again.
Larry Stoler
lstoler99@optonline.net
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May 4, 2004 Morning
Radio -- A Definite Turnoff
I woke up this morning ready to begin a new day. The sun was shining and the birds were singing. Everything was going well until I turned on the radio.
I only had a few minutes
till I would have to leave my house. I needed to know the weather. I
listened around the dial. I heard shows hosted by several people or
morning teams talking for over 5 minutes about nothing important.
After listening to several
stations I finally heard the forecast however the people on the air said
it so fast I missed it. It seemed as if they just wanted to get needed
information out of the way and go back to discussing reality TV shows or
whatever the topic was at the moment.
The above illustration is an
example of how morning radio sounds these days. Situations like this
seem to exist all over the United States on the AM and FM dial.
Morning radio or drive time
is looked at as prime time for the broadcasting business. In other
words, you try to obtain and keep the maximum audience for your
station. You try to get the ratings to go as high as possible so
you can increase the amount of money you charge potential advertisers to
buy 30 or 60 second commercials.
Most shows are hosted by
teams. The teams consist of 2 or more people. Quite often it is a man
and a woman partnered together along with several other people. This is
not a new concept. Teams go back to the 50's and 60's with people like
Klavan and Finch on WNEW AM, Bob and Ray on WHN in New York among many
others. The only thing that has changed is the approach or what
constitutes a good morning show.
One thing that most morning
shows have in common is that they have perfected the concept of being
able to talk to each other for 10 minutes and say nothing. They seem to
love to hear themselves when they are on the air.
Why do the teams of today go
on and on about reality TV shows? How much can or needs to be said
about any television program? They just keep going and going all
morning along with listener phone calls to supposedly bring more to this
boring topic. If you don't get the point of a TV show while it's on the
air you won't understand it any better the next day as the result of
listening to a morning show.
I think this topic is pushed
because researchers and consultants believe this is the way you will get
the 25-54 or the "money demo" to listen to your station.
When you keep going on about
TV, you are endorsing another medium. TV doesn't do this for radio
unless it's a recognized personality or an event such as the recent
launch of the liberal talk radio network or Air America on March 31 of
this year. That received a lot of publicity on television.
Morning shows whether
locally or nationally produced have people that talk and laugh about
inside jokes at the radio station or put other members of the team down
on the air. People do not understand what you are talking about and
they don't need to know the significance of what you are saying.
The things that go on off the air whether true or not don't concern the
audience.
Over the past
several years a concerted effort has been taking place to make radio
more reality oriented. This allows morning shows to go on the air and
have the people doing them talk about themselves or their problems.
One day, I heard a guy on a
team talk about the anxiety he was experiencing and he was taking
medication to overcome the problem. I am very understanding of his
situation. The only question is why do we need to know this. If the
man is going through anxiety or anything that would lead to him taking
medication he should handle his situation off the air.
One day I heard a morning
show where the host was complaining to his partner that he had to go
home later that day and mow the lawn. I know this has to be done but we
don't need to hear about this especially on a music station.
Radio should be a means to
escape reality. It is show business. The last thing people need while
listening is to be reminded about things they have to do that day.
Radio is imagination. Having people go on about their problems on a
music station doesn't make the audience identify with you. When was the
last time the audience told a research group that they identify with the
personal problems of a morning team?
Most morning shows have
contests and games where prizes are given away. One day I heard a
couple of guys do a brain buster. They would ask a question and you had
to fill in the blank and win something. The question was something like
this. Every morning 40% of all women do this; You had to of
course figure out what the "this" was that they were referring to. This
went on and on for about 40 minutes. It wasn't only because they
couldn't get the right answer from the calls they took. It just
dragged. The two men slowly told us the question, played a little music
underneath their voices and just kept the game moving slower and slower.
You can accomplish a game
such as a brain buster and get the answer in a few minutes. The
audience doesn't have the time or the patience for this. Forty minutes
is too long.
Phone scams, phone taps or
prank calls have become the norm in the morning. This is where the host
calls someone usually suggested by a listener and speaks in a different
voice. The person doing the voice gets as weird as possible to see how
the person on the phone will react. Quite often this doesn't work that
well or the bit is arranged and put together in advance. It gets old
after awhile.
Former KIIS morning man Rick
Dees perfected the concept of prank calls a long time ago. He called it
Candid Phone and it was a lot funnier than the scams of today.
Another often used phone bit
is called War of the Roses. Hear is how it works. You suspect your
wife is in love with another man. You contact your favorite morning
show. One of the members of the team contacts the man you think your
wife is interested in. The man on the phone is told he has won a dozen
red roses from redroses.com. This is being done he is told as a
promotion for the website. The man doing the call will help the person
on the phone write a note to go with the flowers. The person being
called dictates a note saying he is in love with your wife. Meanwhile
you are listening in and at some point the man being called gets caught
and doesn't know what to do. After that you hear four letter words
being bleeped or taken off the air. Obviously the bit was prerecorded,
rehearsed in advance and above all, not funny.
One thing that Phone Scams
and War of the Roses have in common. They are so fake that even the
laughter on the air from the host of the morning show sounds staged.
Hear is an example of
something that went to long. I was listening one morning in February to
a show where the team talked about the show Sex and the City. They went
on for about 12 minutes along with phone calls trying to figure out how
the show would end. The season was coming to a close.
At one point during the
discussion, they put one of the team members on the air. He said he was
in a truck going to a listener's house to drop off a valentine. He
began to complain that he had to go to the bathroom. The host suggested
he go outside the station's truck. We then were subjected to the sound
of the man supposedly going to the bathroom.
This brings up a few
questions. First, why when people are having breakfast do we need to
know that the man has to go to the bathroom? We could have gone all day
without that revelation.
Second, Is this being done
on the air to get a younger audience? If so that's interesting when
people keep talking about the 25-54 demographic in commercial radio as
the audience to go after.
Why do we need so many
voices on the air in the morning? I think it's for any of the following
reasons.
(1) The consultant that
oversees the programming on the station said it had to be done this way.
(2) The person being
mentioned as the host of the show is unable to carry it on his own.
(3) Since everyone else in a
given radio market is doing it, we have to also. So much for
originality.
I have listened to all kinds
of radio all over America for over 45 years. I realized a long time ago
that if you can not be funny on the air in a short time, you're not.
The audience doesn't have
time to listen to people that ramble on for 5 or 10 minutes. They have
to be out the door and arrive at work or school by a certain time.
If I was stuck in traffic
and had to listen to people talk and laugh about stupid things I would
lose patience quickly.
Why are members of the
morning show given stupid names like Sexy Barbara or Bob the Jerk or
Weird Dave? I guess that's another way to identify with the target
audience or is it?
I mentioned how hard
it was to get a weather forecast. It seems the idea of informing people
about things they need to know isn't as important as the examples I
mentioned earlier. When a forecast is given, it is read very quickly
and sometimes, you can't even find out what the weather will be for the
following day.
Traffic reports have become
nothing more than an image for the radio station. Many places give
reports every 5 or 6 minutes. Traffic conditions don't change that
frequently around the country even in the morning. They do in some
places, but not everywhere.
I realize it is very
difficult to be funny 4 hours a day on the radio. That being said, hear
are some of my thoughts on how morning shows can sound better.
(1) Put less voices on the
air. To many people on a team makes a show sound cluttered or
unorganized and at times unprofessional.
(2) Make the bits whether
on or off the phone shorter in length.
(3) Make the games or
contests more interesting, exciting and make them move faster.
(4) Quit the inside jokes
or the put downs of other station employees.
(5) Inject a positive
attitude. Make the listeners feel it's worth getting up in the morning.
(6) Give people complete
information about such things as news and weather. Don't be in such a
rush to finish it. A few seconds longer won't make the listeners turn
off the radio. They will appreciate receiving needed information as
they start the day.
(7) If you have to talk
about reality TV, don't waste the entire morning doing it. Assume that
the audience saw the show the previous evening and understands what it's
about.
Finally, their still is a
place and a need for morning shows that do not insult your
intelligence. An audience does exist that enjoys radio that doesn't
talk down to them.
You can promote a show that
doesn't talk down to you through advertising it as something different
or an alternative to the teams on the air. The end result will be worth
it.
Not everyone in America
wants locker room humor or endless on air conversations about nothing.
Morning radio has come a
long way over the years but it can and needs to get better.
Lawrence Stoler
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What's
Wrong with Oldies Radio As I begin writing this article, I am listening to one of the many oldies stations that blanket America. I notice that the music being played ranges from 1964 or 65 to the mid 1970s. It wasn't always done this way.
The oldies concept was based
around the idea of playing the hits from the history of rock and roll.
The first attempt at this type of radio came in the 1960s.
In 1966, the Federal
Communications Commission, (FCC) required companies that owned AM and FM
stations to begin providing at least 50% separate programming on FM.
This led to what became known as Progressive Rock or underground radio
which was a reaction to the "counter culture" at the time and an
alternative to the top 40 stations that were on AM.
Bill Drake, a well known
radio programmer, was consulting stations for RKO General at the time.
He was overseeing KHJ, CKLW, WRKO and the former WOR FM among others.
He was sent to New York in 1967 to change WOR FM which at the time was
one of the "underground stations that I mentioned above. Drake had Boss
Radio on the air on KHJ in Los Angeles since 1965 and it was very
successful. The format emphasized the music and took many of the
traditional top 40 personality elements away. The version that began in
NY. in November of 1967 on WOR FM was called The Big Town Sound. It
concentrated on playing mostly oldies in the rotation. This would last
for several years.
On July 7, 1972, WCBS FM in
New York City changed from playing a mix of hits and album cuts to
providing oldies 24 hours a day. During the first few months, they
concentrated on music from the 50s or doo wop songs. In the Fall, the
focus would shift to the 60s. Later on many of the stations in the
chain of CBS properties would go the same way
As the country changed, so
did the music and stations people listened to in the 70s. Disco entered
the picture. At the same time, the audience was slowly moving to FM.
The promotion for FM worked very well. The idea of music with less
commercials and beingable to hear a station during thunder storms and
while driving under bridges worked among other factors.
By the early 80s, many great
AM top 40 stations were changing to talk. The most famous of these
changes took place on May 10, 1982 at 12 noon EST on WABC in New York.
Ron Lundy and Dan Ingram, two legendary djs did the last show on the
station. The final song was Imagine. After that, a WABC jingle was
heard followed by the chime-one of the many trademarks of its days as a
music station. This was followed by 5 seconds of silence and then the
jingle which officially began Talk Radio 77.
By the mid 90s, the number
of oldies stations increased in the United States. The format was also
being put together on a national basis. United Stations of Unistar
provided the Oldies Channel 24 hours a day for automated stations. It
contained several hundred songs which were played over and over along
with djs from around the country. Other nationalized oldies concepts
would appear on the radio dial.
Another thing that happened
was that do to decisions being made by so called experts as far as
programming goes, radio became fragmented. People became more concerned
about demographics rather than how to make a station stand out. This
fragmentation came from to much research into a concept that didn't need
it. Oldies radio changed and many stations lessened the number of songs
they would play.
A good example is occurring
right now on many of Infinity Broadcasting's radio stations that play
oldies. WCBS FM in New York, WOGL in Philadelphia, WOMC in Detroit to
name a few. In a recent article in the New York Daily News, Joe McCoy,
Program Director of WCBS FM, confirmed that the station's playlist had
been tightened and they were playing around 500 songs from 1964 to
1975. Variations of this are being done on other Infinity stations.
Over the past couple of
years, attempts have been made to remove "specialty shows" on Infinity
oldies stations. This was successful in New York as Soul of the City
and Juke Box Saturday night, two shows that went further than the normal
format were removed.
A couple of years ago, the
Do wop Shop, a show that was heard on Sunday nights for 27 years was
canceled on CBS FM. This show had a very devoted following especially
considering so much of the music was recorded in New York.
WOGL tried to cancel their
weekend specialty programs but the listeners protested enough so that
the Sunday night do wop show was retained however the hours and number
of songs were cut back.
I believe that Infinity
ultimately would like to see the oldies concept removed from many of
their radio properties. Not only has the music tightened as far as
selection but the approach has become bland. So many of these stations
were successful because they hired people that knew how to do
personality radio. They came from the time of top 40 stations.
In the 60s, people at
different stations understood that they had to do something that would
make people notice them. They all played the same music so they
couldn't all sound the same.
Unfortunately, that idea has
changed in today's oldies radio. They have people that either sound
bored or are told to.
It also seems that Infinity
has done everything to get away from the term oldies. They refer to
what they do as "Motown, Soul and Great Rock and Roll. These are tricky
terms. Some of the music doesn't really apply but I guess in the minds
of decision makers at Infinity, anything old is bad and everything new
is good. This despite the fact that everyone refers to the music as
"oldies" and that doesn't bother people.
Many stations put people on
the air who do not fit what they should be after. They have taken what
was supposed to be a very exciting kind of radio and made it pretty dull
to listen to.
Clear Channel, the largest
owner of radio stations in America, recently began the Real Oldies
format on some of their AM stations. This seems to consist of songs
from the beginning of rock until the mid 60s. They are playing things
that Infinity, Cox and other companies are ignoring. I'm glad someone
is playing this music on the radio again.
The problem with Real Oldies
just like the examples I mentioned earlier is the approach. Some of the
right people have been hired to do it but they sound tired and bored and
I'm not sure it's their fault. They are probably encouraged to sound
this way. This is unfortunate.
At this point, you could go
anywhere in America, tune in an oldies station and hear the same 300 or
so songs played over and over along with djs that read liner cards.
They are not encouraged to promote the station or the area they are
broadcasting from. Occasionally, you might hear something that might
offer 600 songs or more if you are lucky.
The decision makers in radio
today are to concerned about the 25-54 or "big money demo. They think
people older than that will not buy the products they advertise. They
say the audience is aging and they do not want to appeal to them.
In reality, the country is
aging. This is a fact people better realize soon and act accordingly.
As the wrong decisions are
being made, people are reacting by buying receivers for Satellite radio
where they will get more music and pay for something they used to
get for free. They feel they have more choices for music also. This
should be taken more seriously by station owners and programmers.
If Oldies radio disappears
in the next few years, the industry only has itself to blame.
Now some of my thoughts on
how to make an oldies station successful.
First of all, play at least
2,000 songs. Go further back than 1964. How can you program this kind
of a station and ignore
early Elvis for example?
You can include selected
songs from the 50s as well as the 80s and it will work.
Second: Do whatever is
necessary to make your station sound similar to what the audience grew
up listening to. This doesn't mean having the same contests as in the
60s. Use everything to promote your station. Keep the phones going 24
hours a day. Include the website in your promotion. Do giveaways all
the time. Try things such as having people call and talk about where
they were when they first heard a specific song or group. If done the
right way, it can be fun and interesting to listen to.
Another suggestion is to do
exciting live broadcasts. WMTR, a station that recently changed from
adult standards to oldies, had an estimated 600 people show up at a car
giveaway. They each tried a key to see if the car would start.
Promotions like this have to be employed in your air sound.
Hire exciting djs. Make the
station sound up all the time so people will feel they will be missing
something if they turn the radio off.
Eliminate voice tracking.
People know on a subconscious level that something about the station
they listen to is different. You don't want this in people's
perceptions of what you do.
I am not against saving
money. I am however opposed to doing it for the wrong reasons. Voice
tracking is one of them.
When including the phones in
the sound of the station, make the contests exciting. Don't just make
it movie tickets by being the correct caller. Anyone can do that.
Don't employ a morning team
of 9 or 10 people that laughs about inside jokes at the radio station.
The audience you are after didn't grow up with that kind of a morning
show and they don't need it now.
The ultimate purpose of
these suggestions is to make a radio station sound exciting and worth
listening to in the mind of the average person. To do this, you must go
beyond the 25 to 54 demographic.
Oldies by its nature is a
very happy kind of music. It should be programmed that way on the
air.
Making your station stand
out will make the audience tune in and remain with you all the time.
This will ultimately lead to higher ratings and more sales and revenue
being generated.
The audience and the
industry deserve a better approach to oldies than what currently exists
on the air in America.
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The State of Music Radio By Larry Stoler The other day I turned on a CHR station. I liked the song I was hearing. I wanted to know the title and who sang it but I was unable to obtain that information.
In between the end of the
song and the next one I heard a sweeper probably produced somewhere else
for the station and a few hundred other ones that sound similar.
The above example
illustrates one of the many problems with music radio in the United
States. Unless a song is new you will not be told the title and
artist. If the song is new you might find out the necessary information
on the air for about a week and a half.
Another disappointment about
music radio is the lack of so-called talent on the air. Many people
that work in major markets either are 20 or 25 years old or they sound
like they are. I guess that's the way they "identify with the
audience". In other words, in the past you had to work your way up to
even be considered for a job in a major market. Not today. The people
that own and program radio stations know that people will do anything to
be on the air. They also know that they can pay low salaries to the
DJ's and they get away with it.
Most DJ's do not know how to
work with the music. In other words you do not scream when you play a
slow song. By the same token you do not talk softly or slowly when you
play an up tempo song. Most people don't understand or seem to care
about what they are playing or how to properly execute it formaticly.
While posting most people on
music stations talk about things that have nothing to do with the place
they are working for. In other words they don't know how to promote
it. They will talk about TV gossip or the latest movie. The only time
they promote the station is when they read something off a prewritten
liner card. How does that make the listeners interested or curious
about what they are listening to? In truth, it doesn't.
Today's DJ does not know how
to work with the audience. When they take a call and edit it so they
can use it to hit the vocal, they don't make the caller excited about
the station. Another example of lack of promotion or making a station
standout in the listeners mind.
Why is it that songs are not
front or back announced? Is it that it will take to much time? Is it
that the station owner thinks that the talent will demand more money
after getting a few seconds of air time to tell people what they are
listening to?
I listen to all kinds of
radio. If I don't know the name of a song how is the listener supposed
to know it? I guess they feel that most people watch VH1, MTV or can
look it up on a website.
Some stations such as hot ac
or ac formats will tell you what they play however sometimes they will
only tell you the last song or just tell you the artists in a 5 song
set. That isn't right either.
All this takes place not
only on CHR or urban stations but it also occurs in oldies radio. I
guess the assumption is if you play the same songs every few hours or
play the same 300 oldies over and over in rotation people will know the
titles and artists.
I find it hard to believe
that people in focus groups told the researchers that they aren't
interested in knowing about the music. If that was the case people
wouldn't go out and purchase music or burn their own CD's.
Another thing that has
disappeared are jingles that would make people remember what they are
listening to. This would benefit the station and ultimately the ratings
and bottom line. I guess it's cheaper to have a production person
somewhere else in the country produce sweepers that frankly get annoying
to listen to after a while. Granted digital capability makes you
accomplish more in less time from a production standpoint but these
sweepers are generic and don't mean much in radio recognition in the
long run.
Music radio and the
formatics associated with it needs to drastically change in America.
The talent needs work and the approach does too.
In today's radio environment
the name of the game is consolidation. Instead of constantly thinking
that way, let's work on ways for music stations to stand out. Radio
needs to do this in order to grow and survive. People can burn CD's,
but XM or Sirius radios, listen to things on the Internet, etc. This is
why music and other aspects of radio have to work on ways to make this
medium a leader again. It can be done.
You have to spend money to
make money. The audience and the industry deserve better than what they
are getting on the air today.
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Where was Local Radio??? By Larry Stoler Recently I experienced a phone outage in the area I live in. During a period of several hours, I was unable to make out going calls or receive in coming ones. This happened late at night.
I wanted to find out what was
going on so I turned on the local AM and FM stations. They are owned
by a company that owns many radio properties in this country.
The AM stations ran world news
at the top of the hour from one of the networks followed by spots and after
that one of the many nationally syndicated talk shows that are available
everywhere at night. In other words, no local information was
available.
I turned on the FM station which
ran unattended. In other words, automated music and no live presence.
I went to the cable news channel
because they talk about how much local news they do. The news was
prerecorded and several hours old. Another potential source for local
information didn't exist.
I tried the station's website.
After all stations tell you to go to the website if you want news. As
was the case with the cable channel, the news was several hours old.
All the obvious places for needed information did not exist.
It should also be mentioned that
in addition to the lack of phones, it was snowing heavily at the time and I
couldn't get up to date weather information.
The next day, I tuned to the
same stations to find out what if any events were canceled or delayed
because we had received a lot of snow. The same thing happened.
World news and national syndicated talk but unfortunately no local news.
What happened to me illustrates
what in my opinion is a serious problem that has increased over several
years in radio. The lack of news especially on music stations and what
is considered important versus the real world.
Let me explain what I mean.
It seems today if anything happens after 8:30 AM or 9 in some cases or if it
happens on weekends, you won't hear about it on the air unless your market
happens to have an all news outlet to tune to.
There are some parts of America
that either do not have a news station in the city of license or do not have
one in hearable range. This means a lack of information on the air.
The attitude by many who make
decisions regarding programming is that the audience doesn't care after 8:30
or 9 AM regarding what's going on in their community. Since when?
The audience did not fall asleep one night, wake up the next morning and
proclaim that they didn't care about hearing the news during most of the
broadcast day. Doing news for a few minutes during the day or on
weekends is not an interruption or an annoyance to the listeners.
After all, this was the case on top 40 stations and in other formats in the
60s and 70s.
At the time you found out what
was going on maybe not every hour but at noon, 3 PM, and during afternoon
drive and in the evening. This did not interrupt the flow of the
format or presentation.
As time went on, news coverage
began to become less and less at night and then enter the world of
voice-tracking from other locations. In other words, cutting back
localism on many stations.
Many talk stations that pride
themselves on information don't offer local news or weather other than in
the morning or late in the afternoon if you're lucky. In the case of
nights or weekends, forget it on many well known successful talk outlets.
Let's get back to the lack of
phones that I mentioned at the beginning of this article. What if you
were living alone and you depended on radio for information or during an
emergency? What if you were the average listener and you couldn't find
out anything about a situation such as a lack of phones in your area?
What would you do? Where would you go to find out more?
A perfect example of a lack of
information occurred on Sept. 11th, 2001 the day of the World Trade Center
disaster.
Clear Channel is a company that
owns over 1,200 stations in the United States. In New York City they
own5 FM stations. After the tragedy took place, they had to go to WLW
in Cincinnati Ohio for up to the minute coverage. That is ridiculous.
That is because the station didn't have a regular news department and it
happened after 8:30 AM. The station usually talks about who slept with
who as news during their morning show.
Obviously no one expected this terrible
event to take place however, that doesn't explain having to go to another
station elsewhere to get news. Also, many stations went to TV audio
for reports because they too didn't have a regular news department.
I am not blaming TV news
for anything however I remember in the Gulf War stations went to TV and
something was lacking in a non visual medium when the person said on TV
"if you look to the right of the screen you will see this".
I also remember hearing that during that period when stations would
simulcast CNN Headline News. Doing news this way lacks something on
radio.
Another thing: stations believe
they do not have to have a news presence after 7 PM because everyone is
watching television or on the Internet. Everyone? Really.
If that's the case then the broadcast industry has itself to blame.
Another point regarding music
stations. Many morning shows would rather put more importance on the
latest gossip and call it news rather than tell you about what's going on in
the world. They think the audience will tune out if they talk about
the Presidential election for example. I don't believe that.
Assuming this is an insult to the audience.
I am not saying that music
stations have to drop everything and talk about the news but they should
reexamine what is news versus what passes for it these days on many
stations.
It's to bad that the public
interest, convenience and necessity is not a requirement on the air any
more. Maybe that would help stations to regain a source of
responsibility and importance regarding information.
Radio has to stand out not only
in music choice and presentation but in news also. More needs to be
done about making the public aware of what's going on every day.
Saving money is one thing.
Cutting back at the expense of the publics right to know is wrong.
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Radio Research:
Do We Need It??????
Radio research is not a new phenomenon in the
broadcast business. We saw this begin to enter commercial radio in the
1960s.
In those days, Program Directors such as the
late Rick Sklar who made Music Radio 77 WABC a huge success and Ruth Meyer
who brought the concept of the Good Guys to WMCA in New York would call
local record stores to see what was selling. They would also hold
weekly music meetings with the talent to determine what songs would be
played or dropped from the play list.
As time passed and technology improved, new
types of tests entered the picture. One was the auditorium test.
A firm would call people in the area a station served. They would be
invited to go to an auditorium on a specific day and listen to samples of
music for a few seconds at a time. They would react to each sample on
a computer screen. This was used to decide what would be heard on the
station.
Focus groups were consulted to look at how
people felt about the number of commercials a station played each day.
They were also asked about other format issues.
My problem with music testing is this. How
many times have you heard a song and it took you a while before you decided
whether you liked it or not. You can't decide in a few seconds whether
a song is good or not. People's tastes are different and do change.
You can ask a question in any way to fit your
ultimate purpose. If you are asked do stations play to many
commercials you will say yes. What does that accomplish? Nothing
in my opinion. Stations still take stop sets at 20, 35 and 50 minutes
after the hour. The stop sets especially the one at 50 run to long
which causes the audience to tune out for something else.
Lets look at radio research from a format
decision stand point. I will use Infinity Broadcasting's WNEW FM in
New York City as an example.
Infinity does not own as many stations as Clear
Channel but they are a major player because much of what they own are in
major markets.
WNEW FM was an album oriented rock station from
1967 to 1998. In the Fall of that year, they changed to an FM talk
format to try to attract a young male audience. This would continue
until the beginning of last year.
In January, 2003, the FM talk concept ended and
the station played music without any djs for three months.
In April, a new format called Blink appeared on
the scene. This was adult contemporary music with TV and other
gossip included. I and others who keep up with the business knew it
was a matter of time before this would go and it didn't take long. A
few months later, most of the staff was fired and the first Blink
disappeared.
A second Blink began after that and the music
was emphasized. The gossip disappeared. This too lasted a few
months.
After six weeks of continuous Christmas music,
the station changed its title to The New Mix 102.7 FM. The music
sounded similar to the two Blink attempts I mentioned above. Hot a c
or adult contemporary. The morning show was pretty similar except the
current team sounds more professional and better organized for the job.
The question is how many millions of dollars do
companies like Infinity throw away every year on research which to often
results in low ratings and low ad revenue? I can only imagine the
answer.
Research has also resulted in a negative
attitude in the industry. Stations don't try to be the best: they just
take whatever they can get. This is also do to the cluster mentality
that exists in the business today.
Let's say you own five stations in a major city.
One of your properties is not doing well. Instead of making that one
sound better, you just take the loss on that station and hopefully recover
with the other four. This is wrong.
Radio research is a major factor in the bland
sound of radio all over the country. No one is willing to take a
chance or try to make a station stand out. It's a very defeatist
attitude. What if it doesn't work they say. Well what if it
does. People would talk about it and radio would be a leader again.
The audience didn't suddenly fall asleep one
night and the next day their needs changed regarding what they wanted from
radio. The way research is used and interpreted helped eeminish high
energy personality radio. Also, many styles of music are not being
heard on the air these days. This is unfortunate.
People can get music and information from a
variety of sources today. The Internet, Digital Cable, XM and Sirius
Satellite Radio, etc. not to mention that they can burn their own cds.
Radio has more competition which threatens its future every day. The
audience and the industry deserve better than what is being presented today.
Do we need radio research? _Yes_ because
you need a place to start from when making decisions for your stations.
I feel a compromise point needs to be reached.
If research is to continue, and it will, lets go back and use it to find out
what's selling in terms of music. Don't look at radio research as the
ultimate answer or the "bottom line" to everything.
Taking a positive approach and using radio
research to a limited extent will result in higher ratings, better ad
revenue and will get people talking about radio again.
Larry Stoler
Note* ... Comments in RDN Feedback and Guest Viewpoints, and by commentators are those of the writers and contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Radio Daily News and its sponsors. Send comments and contributions to editor@radiodailynews.com |
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A Significant Anniversary By Larry Stoler It was five years ago. December 28, 1998. On that day, #1560 WQEW, the AM radio station of the New York Times stopped playing American popular standards and began broadcasting Radio Disney 24 hours a day. Before I discuss the format change, let me tell you some of the history of the station. In 1936, the station signed on with the call letters WQXR. It was a classical station. The New York Times Company would begin running the facility in 1944. In 1992, WNEW AM 1130 announced that they had been sold and would change to a business news concept. Until that point, the station had played popular music for over 50 years. The change took place on Jan. 4, 1993 under the call sign WBBR. On Dec. 2, 1992 at 10:04 AM, the New York Times announced that a brand new radio station was on the air. It was #1560 WQEW the home of American Popular Standards. The classical programs would continue on sister station WQXR #96.3 FM. Today, classical music is available around the clock on that frequency. The change from WQXR to WQEW had been approved a few weeks before by the FCC. Listeners were hearing the new call letters at the top of every hour. After the announcement, Program Director Stan Martin introduced Tony Bennett who would appear live in the studio for over an hour. Some tracks from his c d Perfectly Frank/a tribute to Frank Sinatra were heard. The audience was also introduced to the new announcing staff. WQEW had a staff of great broadcasters who played popular music for six years. Bob Jones, Lee Arnold, Jonathan Schwartz and Stan Martin among many others. One of the unique programs that was heard on the station was The Big Broadcast with Rich Conaty. Every Sunday night, people had the opportunity to listen and learn about the history of American music. Many rare out of print recordings were also heard. In 1998, rumors began in and out of the radio community that #1560 would be changing to "children's programming. This took place in December of that year. ABC Disney was looking for a station in New York to put its Radio Disney concept on. They approached the New York Times and entered into a lease agreement for 8 years with an option to buy the station. On Dec. 21st at 7 PM, Stan Martin concluded the last live program from the WQEW studio. The station ran unattended for about a week with drops reminding people what they were listening to and news at the top of the hour during the day. The final program in the standards format was on Dec. 27th. It was a prerecorded show hosted by Jonathan Schwartz. He did tributes to the music and many great performers. At approximately 11:45 PM, a few seconds of Radio Disney was accidentally heard. The change was not supposed to happen until after Midnight. A few minutes before Midnight, Stan Martin bid the audience farewell and played Stardust by Nat "King" Cole. Stan always ended every program with that song. At 12:01 AM, Radio Disney appeared on the air in the middle of a song. A disclaimer was also heard announcing that the time had been purchased by ABC radio. Since that day, other stations have played popular music. None of them have a signal that would blanket the metropolitan area. The other thing that happened is that some stations sold the time to companies that would sell vitamins and other products. I am not criticizing the New York Times for the lease with the Disney Corporation. If you look at it from a business standpoint, they were guaranteed revenue as long as they presented Radio Disney night and day. It is five years since the largest radio market in the country has had a full time standards station. Even national formats such as The Music of Your Life and ABC radio's Timeless Classics do not have an affiliate in New York. I feel that the time has come to bring this music back to New York where it belongs. This time, it should be on an FM station that would transmit from the top of the Empire State building. This would have a signal that would cover New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The format should be live, locally originated and should not have any voice tracking. The people that listen to popular standards are a very devoted audience. They, like the classical listeners, will do anything to protect the radio station. If marketed properly this could generate a good profit for an owner. The New York area needs and deserves a full time commercial popular music FM radio station. If people can support classical music commercially then they will be there for popular standards too. This article is written as a thank you to everyone that worked at WQEW for giving people like myself six years of great radio. It is also written as a tribute to Stan Martin who passed away recently as a result of a stroke. I hope someone reading this with the right backing will bring this kind of music and radio back to the greatest city in the world as soon as possible.
Larry Stoler
Note* ... Comments in RDN Feedback and Guest Viewpoints, and by commentators are those of the writers and contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Radio Daily News and its sponsors. Send comments and contributions to editor@radiodailynews.com |