This week's All Access newsletter deals with one of the main things terrestrial radio has left in its arsenal, and how the industry tends to forget it's available to them:
It's another late, short one this week, because it's a busy week and I gotta get stuff cleared away before the NAB convention next week.
You read about how the Internet has changed everything for the media, especially the introduction of "participatory journalism." That's when regular civilian types provide video footage and blog analysis and other news coverage that used to be the province of professionals. It's all new and exciting and interesting. But they never mention that it's not much different from what's been done before... by you. Really.
Here's what I'm talking about: yesterday, I was listening online to a Detroit radio station when the hosts, Deminski and Doyle (one of my afternoon teams in New Jersey a decade or so ago), were alerted by their producer to a massive traffic jam that had just materialized on I-696, a 30 car chain-reaction smashup. They stopped talking about whatever they were talking about before that, and that's when they did what would be called "revolutionary" if it had a dot-com after it.
They asked people stuck in the jam to call in.
And people called. They said where they were sitting, how long it had been, whether they saw any movement, whether there was any way to get off the freeway. This went on for a couple of segments, and for the rest of the show, after going back to other topics, the traffic situation was referred to frequently. And you knew that anyone who was stuck in the jam, and anyone sitting in their office as quittin' time approached but worried about how to get home, was sticking with them to find out what was going on.
It's what a lot of you have done for years. When we planned the Jersey station 16 years ago, Walter Sabo would admonish hosts that "if it's snowing, talk about the snow." Well, yes. And ask people to call in and report. You do it for traffic reports and news every day- tip lines ("when you see news, call..."). But you don't hear that brought up when people are buzzing over the "democratization of news" and oohing and aahing over someone's grainy YouTube camera phone video. Regular radio's considered "old media," so it can't possibly have done for decades what's being trumpeted as revolutionary when it's on a blog.
Okay, I'm being grumpy. But I keep hearing talk about how some companies are planning even further cutbacks in local news staffs, in local programming, in local identity. And when I heard Jeff and Bill go straight into classic local emergency mode yesterday, it reminded me of what we'd lose, especially in medium and smaller markets, if someone decides to save a few more bucks. Syndication's not a bad thing- I'd argue that in some cases, the cost savings probably have saved stations from financial disaster- but there has to be a local element somewhere along the line. And it's something an iPod or satellite radio isn't necessarily equipped to do, so it makes competitive sense. If you still have a local show or a local news staff, seize every opportunity to show off what you can do when the roads are jammed or the snow and ice are falling or anything happens locally that people need to hear, and talk, about.
And if the corporate managers want to know what you're spending all that money on, tell them it's a "participatory journalism" initiative. Might as well cloud their minds with jargon.
Meanwhile, when your local emergencies have passed, you can always find stuff to talk about at All Access News-Talk-Sports' Talk Topics show prep extravaganza, where this week so far you'll find items and links about the endangered Town Car, a town searching for Bigfoot, how reality has caught up to the fictional Steve Austin, the dangers of the stalker friend, why you can't always trust "kicker stories" you find on the Web, the stirring love story of a guy and his goat, why, no matter how much you'd like to see it, Madonna is unlikely to be shot into space anytime soon, an inadvisable way for a backup punter to get the starting job, how Rosie's already managed to alienate her "View" co-hosts within her first week, and why people just dont' take their vacation days anymore, plus "10 Questions With..." the very busy KTRH/Houston talk show host and KHMX (Mix 96.5)/Houston morning show host Sam Malone, the Talent Toolkit with 9/11 archives, and the rest of All Access with the in dustry's best/fastest/most complete news coverage, message boards, the Industry Directory, columns, etc., etc., all free, etc.
Next week: Dallas for the NAB. You know how much I love conventions.
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