Why Terrestrial Radio's in Trouble

I just saw on the news that another "golden oldies" radio station (WCBS) has dropped their format. Radio programmers are not rocket scientists, nor are they innovators. They tend to be the proverbial sheep who follow whatever prevailing trend is newest. Remember the "Q" format (whatever that was), or the "Zoo" format where they packed as many idiots into a control room as would fit and let them laugh insanely at each others' lame and innane jokes?

The reason for dropping oldies formats all over the country has nothing to do with declining listenership. The format is still very popular with the very large "Boomer" population. But, therein lies the problem. You see, Madison Avenue decreed many years ago that the only demographic that advertisers should pursue is the elusive white male who is between the ages of 18 and 49. Nobody else is worth spending that precious advertising dollar on. No exceptions.
Having sold advertising for some years, I can attest to the fact that advertisers will believe almost anything an advetising salesperson tells them as long as you show them all kinds of statistics and graphs about who will buy their product or service. "Figures don't lie, but liars sure figure" is an expression a former sales manager of mine quoted over and over again.

Now, the fact of the matter is, that the over 50 crowd is rapidly becoming the largest segment of the U. S. population. They have the largest amount of discretional income because they are not paying off student loans, putting kids through school, paying off a large mortgage, or toiling in minimum wage jobs as are their younger counterparts. The over-50s spend more on dining out, travel, luxury cars and RVs, etc., yet Wall Street continues to ignore their importance.

Since Prez Ronnie Raygun deregulated the broadcast industry, large corporations have gobbled up most of the independently owned radio stations in the country. They have homogenized the formats to where its difficult to tell whether you're listening to a pop, country or adult contemporary station. The playlists for all formats have been shortened to a point where if you listen to one station for more than an hour, you'll soon be able to predict what song is going to come up after the one you're currently listening to. Top 40 stations started playing shortened playlists back in the '50s, but the extent it has been taken to is ridiculous.

I have been reading about the "new" X format. The X format is basically an ecclectic mix of different styles of music, with no shortened playlist. Basically, the personalities play whatever they feel like. It's still in the experimental stages with a few radio stations in major markets. I put "new" in parentheses because this is basically what many experimental FM stations were doing in the '60s and early '70s until someone figured out that they might make money with this new FM thingy if they formatted and structured it for specific audiences.

A few weeks ago I had a conversation with a young college student about terrestrial versus satellite radio. He has given up on FM radio and listens exclusively to satellite. He's fed up with the short playlists and long commercial blocks on terrestrial radio. That's all well and good for the present time, but he couldn't be made to understand that the same thing will happen with satellite radio once listenership increases. Advertisers will pay to reach the largest number of people.

In the mean time, what with IPods, CD and tape players in most cars, trucks, motorcycles, bicycles, etc., the number of younger people especially, listening to terrestrial radio will continue to shrink just like music playlists. Older people will begin to abandon traditional radio too, until the industry pulls its collective head out of its arse and starts catering to LOCAL radio markets. That means more local news and weather -- not less as is now the trend. When I was in broadcast school back in the '70s, the instructors stressed over and over again, that besides their favorite tunes, the first thing people wanted to hear when they turned on the radio was the time and temperature.

I am, thankfully, out of the radio biz now, but as an old country jock and programmer, I would love to have a shot at re-programming Thunder Country or KORD in the Tri-Cities. I'd hire some real personalities who were willing to go out and interact with the community. I'd take the 10 song playlist they're both using and scrap it. There would be country oldies played along with the current hits. I miss hearing Waylon, Willie, Hank Jr., Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Conway Twitty, Sammi Smith, et al. I probably wouldn't play Hank Sr., Jimmy Rogers, The Carter Family, or much of what was country music before the mid-50s. The sound is just to alien and pure to the ears of most of us still alive today. If I could do that without some corporate dipshit know-it-all interfering because he's crunched the numbers and knows it can't be done, we might have a listenable country format on the radio again. I'm sure it would work with the other music formats too. But the industry is too centralized and computerized now. Figures don't lie....