Radio Tea…If you care :-)
Believe me…this is a post I never planned on doing and probably seems to have come completely out of left field. It’s not something that I talk about on a regular basis anymore because I don’t listen to the radio. Well…I do listen to NPR but that’s different. This probably won’t interest some of you and wonder, “What do I care about radio?” However, after having a discussion with a friend a couple of weeks ago about the current state of radio and broadcasting; she wanted to know my opinion because I’d spent some time working in the radio business. After our discussion, I thought to myself, “Oh…people actually still care about radio?” Our discussion didn’t just cover the Columbus market, but all over. I’m pretty sure that we can all agree that the radio industry isn’t as popular as it once was before. When my generation was growing up, radio and music videos were everything. Before our time…radio was all they really had. But when big businesses and corporations get in the way of artistic freedom on any spectrum…it becomes a huge mess. With internet radio, podcasts and smart phone applications we can stream what we want, when we want at home and even in our cars. Who wants to deal with the radio when you can control exactly what you want to listen to? I realized that radio wasn’t all it was cracked up to be when I worked behind the scenes about 10-11 years ago. One thing I noticed is that it’s a very competitive and cut throat business. The other thing I realized is that I would NEVER want to work in radio full-time. It was a cute temporary, part-time gig to past the time…and that’s it.
For those who don’t know, I worked in radio 3 days a week, part-time as an overnight board operator and even became an apprentice to a radio DJ here in the city where I learned the ins and outs of being a “good” radio DJ or just a host in general. Radio was something that I just stumbled upon a couple of years after I received my undergrad degree. I became bored just working and going home; so I decided to do something to occupy my time. At the time I was doing a little writing here and there; so I decided to go after jobs in that field. There was a job opening at Radio One here in Columbus for a content writer so I applied. They ended up hiring someone who was a professional writer (of course they didn’t last long and I ended up “assisting” in writing as well) but they liked me and asked if I wanted the overnight board operator position. I had a full-time day job, but I made it work. I was crazy to do this, but I was also much younger, much healthier and didn’t require as much sleep. So my day started at midnight working the 12:00am-4:00am shift at Radio One, then I went to work from 5:30am-2:00pm at my day job. It only took a few months for my exhaustion to catch up with me, but I kept going. At times I would ask myself…”What in the hell are you doing?” and “Why?” The answer was…I really liked it. It was interesting, I was actually learning a lot on the operations side and the “fringe benefits” weren’t bad either (free stuff). I ended up staying at Radio One for a little over a year. This schedule just became too much after a while. I was never on air but I got a lot of insight to the ins and outs of the radio business. I found out that it’s very competitive and cut-throat. I guess in a business with so much competition and so little space…it has to be that way.
Like every other industry they’re plenty of benefits but there’s also many disadvantages as well. One of the biggest disadvantages in my opinion is that the listeners can’t engage like they used to. Do you ever wonder why they don’t have a request line anymore? And if they actually open up the lines for call-ins and you try to sneak in a request for a song; pay attention to what they say. The DJ will most likely say something like…”I’ll see what I can do;” or “I’ll put it on the list.” Just know that there’s no list. That statement is what corporate tells them to say. They can’t let you know that the on-air personalities don’t control anything because it’s still supposed to have that old-school radio vibe. The DJ’s aren’t even in the studio half of the time during their shows. I found that out when I first met with my “mentor” and I thought they were actually on-air. It was their time slot; and not only that, I heard their voice on the radio on my way to our meeting. So if they’re on air…how are we meeting face to face at this Cop O’ Joe in the Short North miles away from the studio? Now I’m not trying to deter anyone from listening to the radio, but maybe if you knew how these media corporations operate, then maybe you won’t get your hopes up high in what to expect when listening to your favorite station(s). You may side-eye when I say that but believe it or not, people still have high hopes and dreams for their local stations. Why do you think people complain so much about the radio? They still listen to it and expect so much more. The two biggest complaints from people who listen are: 1. That they play too many commercials in a row. 2. That they play the same music over and over again. Well…they have reason’s for that. Everything from the music to the commercials (even local) are controlled by corporate. The commercials are needed because advertisers keep radio in business. The commercials can be excessive, but when you need to pay celebrities and their staff as well as for all of the high-tech studio equipment; you need all of the money you can get. As for the music…they have a playlist that plays songs based on the top songs on the chart. As long as that song is on the charts; they will continue to play it. The higher the song is on the charts, the more it will be played throughout the day. That’s why you will hear the same song which appears to be in rotation every hour or every other hour. Yes…that really happens. So between a ridiculous amount of commercials in a row followed by the same songs every hour…it’s annoying. This is why we get tired of songs so quickly. It’s overkill, but at the end of the day it’s all about ratings. So what about the ‘Old-school” stations that plays songs not on the charts. That’s determined in meetings by corporate…so basically their favorite songs are the ones being played. The other thing that bothers me is local DJ’s are being replaced with cheesy, watered-down, syndicated radio shows hosted by celebrities. It may be cool for some to hear a famous person shout out your city and let you know that they are going to bring you the best radio show ever. However, I for one want our local DJ’s to keep their jobs and be behind the mic with more control over their show. At this rate…anyone can be on the radio as long as you can push a button and say a few engaging lines here and there because that’s really all you’re needed for today. Shows that give a little more freedom are usually played late at night when the number of listeners goes down. More people listen to the radio between the hours of 6:00am – 6:00pm. After that, the radio isn’t really turned on anywhere.
My relationship with commercial radio abruptly came to an end about a year ago. I tried to give it another chance because we finally got a local old-school hip-hop station! When it first started, I thought…finally! We already had a station that plays “some” old-school R&B now we have one that plays hip-hop. Everyone was hype that we finally had a station dedicated to 80’s – early 2000’s hip-hop because regardless if my generation wants to believe it or not…we’re old-school LOL. So the station started with plenty of promise. Playing songs that I haven’t heard in years. The variety was amazing. I would hear a song like Kwamé’s “Ownlee Eue” that I almost forgot about. When I would hear some of these songs, I would immediately add it to my “Old-School Hip-Hop” playlist on Apple Music where I can listen to it anytime that I want. The commercials were limited and there weren’t any annoying morning show hosts. They didn’t have any DJ’s at first, but I knew that would change. I was just hoping they would hire local DJ’s. However, knowing how radio works…I braced myself for the change because I knew it was coming. Needless to say about a month later real radio and middle market emerged and my fascination with this new station was over. Here we go…another syndicated, corny morning show (Ed Lover morning show…really?); way too many commercials and the same songs played over and over again. What happened to the variety of songs you played before? Why not at least one local morning show? I understand commercials need to be played because money needs to be made…but damn!
Over the years, I completely understand why internet radio and podcasts are becoming so popular and the way to go for many; including those that actually used to work in radio. Yes, podcast and internet radio shows do have sponsors they have to acknowledge and some are under networks, but there’s still more freedom. I’ve never wanted to be on-air but I’ve been toying around with the idea of starting a podcast because of that freedom you are given. Radio has changed so much over the years and in my honest opinion; not in a good way. Trust me…I know people of all ages still listen to the radio and that’s great…please keep listening. I just thought it was interesting to find out how the business actually works and how much it’s changed over the years. How something at one time had so much freedom and how currently it’s very censored and controlled. I also found it interesting that basically all of the (using radio terms here) “urban” radio stations are the ones actually controlled by a corporate string where the “pop” and “rock” stations still appear to have so much more freedom. Isn’t that interesting? Just something to think about.
