This week's All Access newsletter attempts to explain to the older radio folk why Johnny doesn't care about radio anymore -- he does, it's just something different to him these days, old timer:
One of the stock questions I ask folks in the "10 Questions With..." feature is about how the subjects got into radio, and why they chose radio as a career. The answers generally involve listening to a transistor radio and hearing the magic and wanting to be part of it. Everybody has a story like that. I've told you mine before, growing up with the big top 40 AMs and "progressive" FMs and Bob Grant snarling "get off the phone" and Jean Shepherd riffing on "slob art" and the local daytimer with its remotes from Stern's department store on Hamburg Turnpike and thinking how cool it would be to be part of that. Your details are probably different, but the idea is the same. You listened, you fell in love, you decided that it was what you had to do. And you did it, whether you, like me, commandeered your college station, or you started hanging around a local station until someone let you do an overnight shift.
It's different today. You see articles about how younger generations -- those kids today! Get off my lawn! -- say they don't listen to terrestrial radio anymore, and while I think that's exaggerated (SOMEONE's listening to Kiss and Power and KROQ), there's no question that the mystique, the coolness factor, has worn off. But something I rarely see mentioned in those articles is one other factor: it's never been easier to do your own radio show. A 13 year old kid doesn't have to dream about being just like the people on the radio, playing music and talking about life; he or she can BE that person with a cheap mic, a computer, and freeware. You and I might have made tapes in our living room and thrown them into a box, never to be heard again; they record a show and in seconds it's available all over the world.
That's why the next generation of talent will probably not be found doing a local show on a 500 watt AM in the hinterlands. They don't need it. But that doesn't mean they don't love radio, it just means that they don't define "radio" the same way we did. If you're a PD looking for talent, don't forget to look where the creative folks are playing. That crazy kid ranting on YouTube might turn out to be someone you can make into a radio star.
There's also something important for your future as a talk host in that, too. You know about how the "new media" -- podcasts, streaming, YouTube -- are still in their relative infancy and hard to monetize right now. That day is coming. It's not here and it won't be here in the next few months, so you're not going to be able to quit your job and do a podcast and sell lots of advertising and go out and buy that orange Lamborghini like Pacman Jones drives. (A few podcasts DO make money, but that's not the norm) But you can see today how the media world is evolving, and what's going to happen is that the medium itself, the delivery system, will be irrelevant. But no matter what happens, you have to remember that if what you're offering is unique and entertaining, people will want it, regardless of how they get it. As Walter Sabo points out in this week's "10 Questions With...", "People don't listen (to) or watch media. They watch shows. They listen to shows.... The best show, regardless of the stage, wins their time, attention and money."
You want to protect yourself for the future? You want to remain viable? Give 'em a show. Whether it's on a "real" radio station or online or on a podcast or on satellite or standing on a street corner with a bullhorn, make it a show, make it worth people's time to listen to you. Maybe the near future is shaky, but the one thing you can do to be viable for the long term is to strive to be the best at what you do.
And in the meantime, it wouldn't hurt to have another job to pay the bills. But that's another topic for another column.
Now for the plug: Talk Topics at All Access News-Talk-Sports is the place to go for show prep with topics hand-picked and updated several times daily by a real live talk radio professional who knows the kind of material you need and, um, yeah, whatever. Why, this week, you'll find items about a woman who put "American Idol" auditions over the relatively small matter of giving birth, a bad nickname to have when you're facing trial, the meaning of "dope," the anguish of Bush 41, new uses for the Wii, the debate over front license plates, the naked jogging priest, why the FDA can keep drugs that may save your life from you when you need them most, why cowboy boots and police work don't mix, the puking TV news anchor, a man killed by his own new shoes, a girl who probably should have left her 99 cent flip-flop on the cliff ledge where it had fallen, Hitler's record collection, how you can smell like the Beckhams, a vomit-inducing flashlight, and why parents are sticking needles in their babies, plus plenty of items about Barry Bonds and the bridge collapse aftermath and much more, including the aforementioned and quite interesting "10 Questions With..." consultant Walter Sabo and the rest of All Access with industry news first, message boards, Mediabase charts, the Industry Directory, lots of columns, and an interview with the Bellamy Brothers. Yes, the "Let Your Love Flow" Bellamy Brothers. The "If I Said You Had A Beautiful Body" Bellamy Brothers. Come on, you gotta admit, that's cool. Anyway, it's all free.
Next week: maybe I'll come up with some ways to supplement your income while waiting for things to change. You COULD eBay those Warrant promo 12 inchers you still have from your short-lived metal-club DJ stint, but that won't be enough to pay the rent.
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