Traditional Radio Faces a Grim Future, New Study Says

[ZLoth]

Radio is suffering because there are better alternatives out there and people have gotten annoyed at the media. Think about it. When radio first became popular in the 1920s and 1930s, the alternative that was available was the record player, but the cost of the player and the media weren't affordable to many families. (The great depression didn't help) Compare that with the alternatives that available today, with subscription satellite radio and media delivered via the smart phones, and no wonder broadcast radio is hurting. In addition, it doesn't help when the average hour of radio consists of 40 minutes of content and 20 minutes of filler (commercials, promos), and yes, I'm being generous.

[US71]

Satellite killed the Radio Star?

[ftballfan]

In northern lower Michigan, there are at least nine silent or moribund stations (this doesn't include 100kW 88.7 WIAA, which is currently off due to technical issues with both its main and backup sites). Notably, three of them run 100kW!
They are:
750 WARD Petoskey
92.3 WBNZ Frankfort (moribund)
92.5 WFDX Atlanta (moribund; 100kW; its simulcast partner, 94.3 WFCX, has a sale pending to Central Michigan University)
99.3 WQAN Beulah
100.1 WOUF Bear Lake
101.9 WLDR Traverse City (100kW)
102.7 WMOM Pentwater
105.5 WSRJ Honor (was simulcast with WSRT)
106.7 WSRT Gaylord (100kW; was simulcast with WSRJ)
With license renewal season coming along, I could see at least one of these stations having their license cancelled.

[kevinb1994]

Satellite killed the Radio Star?

It's practically nothing that video wasn't able to do back in the day and here we are again.

[ZLoth]

Satellite killed the Radio Star?

Satellite, streaming media, audiobooks, stored MP3 files....

[bing101]

https://radioinsight.com/headlines/183509/cumulus-cuts-in-oklahoma-city-include-wild-104-9-morning-show/

https://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article/129705/cumulus-layoffs-claim-4-central-arkansas-radio-voices
https://radioinsight.com/headlines/183676/mac-daniels-exits-as-kplx-kscs-program-director/

Cumulus Reporting cuts in Dallas, Oklahoma City and Little Rock.

[SP Cook]

Cumulus Reporting cuts in Dallas, Oklahoma City and Little Rock.

What you are seeing here is just part of the nationalization of radio that has been going on for a long time.  Decades ago, the cost efficient way to do a music format was to have different DJs in every town.  Satellites and the internet have made that not be the cost efficient manner any more.  There is no real difference between Top 40 in Little Rock and Top 40 in Portland, nor between Modern Country in Dallas and Modern Country in Reno.  So you have a couple of the very best DJs in each format heard on 100s of stations, where in the past you had 100s of DJs on one station each. 

The same can be said for national sports talk and national political talk, both formats and that hardly existed before satellites.   Which leaves the only local radio formats left, which are local sports, which mostly revolves around one particular college in a rural state, or around a truly big city's pro teams; and local politics, which requires a quality host, lest it just become the same 20 pissed off callers, and a handful of conspiracy theorists wanting to take the matter off-topic into national politics. 

[bandit957]

It used to be that most American cities had more than one top 40 station, and they were different from each other. But now they're the same even in different cities.

In my day, nobody would mistake Q-102 with WCLU. There was just no ambiguity about which was which. None whatsoever. They were broadly the same format, but I don't think they even shared too many listeners, or at least not many that cited both stations as favorites. I loved WCLU, but I thought of Q-102 as being musically too stodgy and repetitive.

[ZLoth]

What's worse.... because of national distribution and multiple station ownership, an advertiser can purchase a "super-commercial" which airs at the same time across multiple stations, thus your escape by changing the station is made harder. 

I hardly listen to ota radio stations anymore, and barely watch television beyond the football games. Having moved to North Dallas, I would be looking at you with a blank stare if you ask me what the radio stations were now. I would only care if there was a severe weather outbreak though.

[Life in Paradise]

One of the biggest negatives with the nationalization of formats, DJs, and personalities is that you lose the local factor of different types of music.  If you ever remember movies such as Coal Miner's Daughter, and some of those that showed the 50s and 60s artists trying to break in to radio, they would visit a bunch of small local stations to try to get their record played on the station.  Some songs and groups became hits in their regional area, sometimes would get picked up and spread across the country.  I remember when I worked in a small town radio station in the 80s, we had a few locals that still paid visits.  It was neat to get a chance to meet and talk to the people that actually were trying to get a foot in the door.  Now that's done at clubs, and the benefits are that people can buy their song over the internet.  But my point was, you could go to Atlanta and your top 40 would have a lot of the same songs, but there would be heavy play songs that you might not hear in Nashville or St. Louis.

[thenetwork]

One of the biggest negatives with the nationalization of formats, DJs, and personalities is that you lose the local factor of different types of music.  If you ever remember movies such as Coal Miner's Daughter, and some of those that showed the 50s and 60s artists trying to break in to radio, they would visit a bunch of small local stations to try to get their record played on the station.  Some songs and groups became hits in their regional area, sometimes would get picked up and spread across the country.  I remember when I worked in a small town radio station in the 80s, we had a few locals that still paid visits.  It was neat to get a chance to meet and talk to the people that actually were trying to get a foot in the door.  Now that's done at clubs, and the benefits are that people can buy their song over the internet.  But my point was, you could go to Atlanta and your top 40 would have a lot of the same songs, but there would be heavy play songs that you might not hear in Nashville or St. Louis.

I do a bi-weekly radio show where during one hour of the show,  I find an old radio station survey from that day, count down that stations top 15 hits, while seeing where they stood nationally on the Billboard chart.

What usually stands out is how some songs can be local hits well before or after they appeare(ed) on the national charts; or if they were big local hits, but never appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

That was the appeal of local radio back in the day.  unfortunately,  that will never be replicated because of corporate ownership.

[US71]

My "local" oldies station has been on a satellite feed for several years with spots to drop in local advertising, which timing-wise don't line up to the programming spaces.

[Life in Paradise]

One of the biggest negatives with the nationalization of formats, DJs, and personalities is that you lose the local factor of different types of music.  If you ever remember movies such as Coal Miner's Daughter, and some of those that showed the 50s and 60s artists trying to break in to radio, they would visit a bunch of small local stations to try to get their record played on the station.  Some songs and groups became hits in their regional area, sometimes would get picked up and spread across the country.  I remember when I worked in a small town radio station in the 80s, we had a few locals that still paid visits.  It was neat to get a chance to meet and talk to the people that actually were trying to get a foot in the door.  Now that's done at clubs, and the benefits are that people can buy their song over the internet.  But my point was, you could go to Atlanta and your top 40 would have a lot of the same songs, but there would be heavy play songs that you might not hear in Nashville or St. Louis.

I do a bi-weekly radio show where during one hour of the show,  I find an old radio station survey from that day, count down that stations top 15 hits, while seeing where they stood nationally on the Billboard chart.

What usually stands out is how some songs can be local hits well before or after they appeare(ed) on the national charts; or if they were big local hits, but never appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

That was the appeal of local radio back in the day.  unfortunately,  that will never be replicated because of corporate ownership.

Sounds like a neat show.  Local on-air (outside of local TV news)  media is changing just like newspapers.  There are fewer and fewer local news reporters in most areas now.  Gannett has purchased so many regional newspapers it appears that each as been "USA Todayed" into a format.  Radio is just about there with some of the smaller still local based stations fighting tooth and nail for ad dollars to stay afloat.

[bing101]

Update Senator Sherrod Brown wants to investigate the Iheart layoffs.




https://news.radio-online.com/cgi-bin/rol.exe/headline_id=n38179




https://www.brown.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/following-mass-layoffs-in-ohio-brown-presses-iheartmedia-executive-for-answers

[thenetwork]

Update Senator Sherrod Brown wants to investigate the Iheart layoffs.




https://news.radio-online.com/cgi-bin/rol.exe/headline_id=n38179




https://www.brown.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/following-mass-layoffs-in-ohio-brown-presses-iheartmedia-executive-for-answers

Sherrod is a career politician that goes through the motions making people think he's actually doing something for his constituents.  He's just there to collect the salary and benefits. 

I was in high school civics class in 1982 when he came to visit.  Enuff' said.

[bing101]

https://radioinsight.com/headlines/183894/kfmb-san-diego-staffers-to-exit-february-7/


KFMB Radio San Diego to layoff the majority of their staff on February 7th.

[bing101]

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/jan/29/bbc-announces-450-jobs-will-go-in-newsroom-shake-up


Now BBC has announced that 450 people will be removed from the newsroom and Radio5 is affected.