Radio personalities are artists. Calling what a radio personality does on-the-air, “content,” would be like calling a fine wine fills a glass maker’s goblet, liquid content. Yet, today’s radio station operators seem to see no problem with having a computer hard drive filled with songs, programmed by an algorithm, playout over their airwaves.
And that, in my opinion, is the problem with today’s radio industry.
The Role of the Air Personality
What a great air personality provides a radio station is companionship. A person that the listener can identify with and form a bond; like an extended member of the family.
I talk to Siri and Alexa all the time. They are like digital slaves, carrying out my commands for various information, functions or entertainment, but I wouldn’t ever say I have bonded with them, any more than I have with a light switch or a TV remote control.
A Decade Plus of Digital
I was an early adopter of all things digital. I watched it infiltrate my radio stations, first in the area of traffic and the creation of the daily program logs. Then in the business office and preparing annual budgets, finally taking over in the programming and engineering areas.
I think we can all agree on what it is, what it does well and where it is not working.
I remember reading that Mick Fleetwood said that a digital drummer can keep a perfectly steady beat, without any errors, but that when it comes to making music, imperfect, changing tempos and unexpected riffs is what delights the listener to Fleetwood Mac.
My Most Popular Blog
Over the decade I’ve been writing this blog, the most popular article I ever wrote was called “We Never Called It Content.” You can read that article here: https://dicktaylorblog.com/2015/09/06/we-never-called-it-content/
It started off naming some of the great air personalities that influenced me and created the desire to pursue a radio career. Spoiler Alert: all of them have passed on, to radio heaven.
The Circle of Life (when it comes to radio) means new people enter the radio business, others retire and/or pass on. What’s changed is that positions in broadcasting that made up the farm team, the minor league of broadcasting if you will, are gone. They’ve been replaced by computers, syndication, and artificial intelligence.
Radio is an art form.
When you remove the artists, there’s not much left.
Johnny Carson
In my youth the “King of Late Night TV” was Johnny Carson on NBC’s “The Tonight Show.” He hosted the show for three decades. The other TV networks tried to steal his crown without success, but ABC would create “Nightline with Ted Koppel” and move in a totally different direction than The Tonight Show. Koppel would host this late night news program for 25-years; until his retirement.
What Koppel and Carson had in common was the ability to attract and hold the attention of an audience. At that late hour, they both provided companionship to the TV viewer.
Look at any popular broadcast program and you will find it’s a combination of elements that all flows through the on-air talent. Whether it’s radio or television, the personality behind the microphone makes all the difference between winning and losing.
Radio Jobs
For people of my age, radio was never just a job, it was a mission inspired by people who were passionate about all the medium could be.
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