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| From | Michael McCartney <michaelmccartney@yahoo.com> |
| Subject | Re: Radio is really bumming me out, man... |
| Date | Thu, 11 Mar 2004 17:10:43 -0800 (PST) |
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Trust me, I work at four radio stations and feel the
same way. It's a drag out here in Hawaii because we
are unable to get XM or SIRIUS. I've have listened to
them online when they have a guest performing live on
their many channels and that's great to listen to
except for the bloody buffering.
We have Time Warner for our cable and they have over
fifty genre specific music channels plus a few low
power stations that are on Oahu (read that as college
radio) that cannot be heard on Maui. The drag is that
even when I have the time, leaving the television on
for music doesn't do anything for me except when I'm
curious who the artist is...I can look at the screen
and see the name immediately. This is something I
can't do watching any video channel until the song is
over. Yet the channel's logo appears in the corner
for the whole song. I used to have DMX which was okay
until the cable company took it away to replace with
their video version. Maybe it's because I'm in radio
but I guess I miss hearing someone's voice go on about
the upcoming or previous song with some passion. I
don't care if they are hyper jocks or mellow - just
talk to me as a listener. At least keep me
entertained.
As I have been traveling around the country in the
last couple of years, the radio stations don't have
much distinction from city to city. State to
state...nothing different. I was surprised when I
went to Las Vegas that there isn't even a TOP 40 radio
station. A big market doesn't even have a station to
play a cross section of everything anymore. There
wasn't a single station that would play both Matchbox
20 and Beyonce. Understand that this is not my cup of
tea but if a TOP 40 isn't playing Norah Jones and
Linkin Park in the same hour then it's not really a
pop station. How many cities have an eighties station
that plays only hair bands or R&B of the period? My
friend and I were cruising thru a city for about a
week and he was in love with an 80's format that was
fun to listen to. It was pretty much alternative /
modern rock. But after a few days, he was getting
tired because it wasn't a true representation of the
decade to him. He was wondering where the rock
superstars like Bruce Springsteen were and early
Prince records. Of course you can tell his time was
set during "Purple Rain" and "Born In The U.S.A.".
But he was wondering why acts like Madonna weren't
side by side with The Cramps or U2. He may have been
the last of his kind to grew up where a radio station
played pretty much everything it could to cover all of
the hits of the day.
It's almost kind of odd that VH-1 or MTV has become
the barometer of what kind of record is popular with
the public. Someone in their hometown has to find a
station that plays similar sounding songs in order to
hear it (unless they buy it or listen somewhere
online).
I'm fortunate that in three of the four stations that
I'm at - I can pretty much do what I want. Although
the ratings back me up, the stations backed me up
before becoming number one. A few folks on this list
have had the chance to be on the air here and loved
the freedom that the different stations here had to
offer. One format is a TOP 40, another Rock and Hot
Adult Contempory and yes the dreaded OLDIES playing
the same songs over and over. But the most fun comes
from the public radio station where it really is a
free for all like many of the stations that others on
this list discussed earlier. It's filled with
announcers who were out of work (we lost two Classic
Rockers within a year and only have an alternative
station left) and musicians without any radio
experience but who really share some great music
otherwise not heard on the airwaves. The ratings came
out and blew away a number of the big guys because of
the variety and the human element behind the
microphone. It's a lot of fun as I mentioned and it's
not the same sound 24 hours a day. Is it Triple A,
Americana, Alternative, Classic Rock, Modern Rock,
Pop, Jazz, Hawaiian, Blues, Singer-Songwriter? It's
all this and more. No one, not even the announcer
often knows what's coming next which may be one reason
for it's popularity.
I know that I play a really mixed bag of stuff and
there has to be tune out due to some musical distaste
of the listener but I am always amazed by listeners
who appreciate the variety. Often with me, it's not
the music that gets the complaints - it's the comedy.
I can live with that.
The voicetracking makes it hard to get important info
out to the public. The area that I live in is a "one
road gets you there" kind of town. When there is a
fender bender it can delay traffic for two hours. If
there's an accident that results in death, the highway
is closed for a minimum of six hours. This is where
radio suddenly becomes important to most people.
Residents are late for work or getting home. Visitors
miss their plane ride home which really raises stress
for the tourism bureau. The radio stations that win
are the few that actually have someone at the station
to go on the air and make the announcements on a
fairly regular basis (every other song as an example).
Our market is filled with stations where no one is in
the building except maybe a sales manager. Most air
talent is paid to come in after their day jobs
somewhere else and pre-record their upcoming shows
during the week. It's sad that the FCC let things
slide this far with deregulation. Radio loses when it
can't inform me about current local info that I would
put up with even if the music didn't thrill me. I'll
wait a few minutes thru some format that doesn't suit
me just to find out if the road will reopen. Do I
stay in my car for a few more minutes or head home and
miss another day at work? This is one role that radio
plays in my area.
Radio bums me out but I still get to play Maple Mars,
Michael McCartney
KEAO / KONI / KPMW
now playing: "Who Needs Love" - Material Issue
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