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Rest Well, Bill Drake Day by day, one by one they are leaving us. When you have conquered unclimbable mountains, who would want to stay and be challenged by the radio stations on small hills that now stand? Time was, not so long ago, in some of our radio lifetimes, the name Bill Drake and the names of the other grand wizards of formats were spoken, and radio stations who competed against him and them trembled. Bill's and other's were the formats that were forged on the anvils of enthusiasm, creativity and endless imagination. Those water wells of inspiration for radio grow dryer day by day. Their warriors were the personalities who could say something in 7 seconds that you still remember 40 years later. They were dragon slayers, these personalities, and men like Bill Drake gave them the programming freedom on the blustery battlefields on automobile-swollen boulevards as well as the dedicated discipline to slay the lazy and sleepy old giant radio stations and their crews, armed with only jingles and the jaw dropping things they'd say. The spoken alarm we'd hear at
jock meetings about our competition -- "They're going with the Drake
Format" -- not only shivered the souls of me and those I knew,
worked with and worked against, it also surely sharpened their
skills and
"They're going with the Drake Format" put steel in our backbones and made us better jocks. It was our challenge -- and many fell who could not meet it. Today, there are fewer larger market management people with backbones or bright ideas and little programming discipline in radio. Gone are the large market local owners and locally-owned radio stations who could hire a Bill Drake and put their faith in him. It is a time that's behind us and is not likely to come again. Media conglomerates settle today for smaller shares for each of their stations. They adopt Hip Hop, News or Contemporary formats on their leading stations in larger markets and hold their breaths, hoping that the other 5 stations they own, saddled with sloppy formats, won't slide too far down the greasy ratings pole. Will the imagination, creativity, steeled backbones and strong discipline return? Not in these days of conglomerate radio kingdoms, or from today's format kings whom we honor at annual radio get togethers, whose innovations swept across the country 40 years ago in a time when programming sloppiness was inherent. Syndicated morning, mid day, afternoon and evening programs seem to be the only future of these days -- or so many owners would have you believe. Some owners may say, "This is what radio has become." I say, "No, it is what you have allowed radio to become." You've bowed and scraped and lowered your gaze when the high profile agents confronted you. They are lawyers like yourselves, who have clients without backbones. When is the last time a nationally known personality - talk or music talent - negotiated their own contract? They hide behind the three-piece suited agents. Is a talk radio talent worth $5 Million or $38 Million a year? Maybe yesterday, but not tomorrow nor in the dark and distant days that are coming. Their agents were smarter than you, scared you and made you sign those contracts. Wiser men might not have been held hostage. But you were. Would it not be better to have 10 talents in your Top 10 markets at $500,000 each than one for $5,000,000 to suck up your airtime? Where are the farm stations for growing and nurturing new talent? How can a young talent learn to be a personality if he or she is only a board operator, a button pusher? The agents are the go-betweens and are very clever people who make many owners believe their client's numbers because most owners don't have any number in their pocket but the bottom line - and they cannot add to their bottom line because the big syndicators and agents have created radio stations within your radio stations that barter away your minutes. This economy has diminished the numbers of local advertisers. You have given up your control. You're not a station owner -- you are a large shareholder. The only structure you own is the bricks and mortar of the buildings. You have given up your ownership and chipped away at the ability of your local stations to excel. You have emasculated yourself in the game of "go along to get along." You have lost touch with the common listener. You ride in limousines and private jets, and so do those overpaid personalities in the kingdoms you have created for them. Like the GM executives who flew to Washington with tin cups on private jets with personalized tail wings, your days may be numbered. You have lost your vision for the future of radio and it will not likely be found again. You prefer to squeeze the last dollars from the stations that you own and then you will allow them to go dark in a dozen or fewer years. The stations you own are just call letters in annual reports and write-offs on your tax returns unless you can find buyers for them. And, in today's credit crunched financial valley, there is no bailout plan for radio stations to be found. Even if you were called to Washington to testify about what your bailout plan would be, you probably wouldn't have one. Who can you turn to for programming advice? The giants who have or had the answers are either gone or ignored. Those who would consume your programming are fewer in numbers because you haven't adapted to these techno-times. You own an iPod and listen to it when you exercise in your executive workout room, but then you deny that the iPod and other such techno devices are taking away your listenership and say they are not your competition. Rest well, Bill Drake. I was not surprised that you were working on a new format for satellite radio. It would have been interesting to see what you were coming up with. The grand wizards of formats whom you inspired became leaders themselves. But, their numbers are fewer and, day by day, one by one, they will leave us. In another and next generation, who will tell their stories and what will they say? |
brought out from the dusty closets the clinking, heavy
armor with which to do battle.