Posted by Allan Sniffen on June 13, 2006 at 21:51:12:
The post below this one, and some of its followups that are questioning the need for DJ's on music radio stations is an example of how far down radio has managed to send itself. The only reason anyone would question the value of personality on radio is if they've never heard it done well and have been conditioned to think that radio should be nothing more than a jukebox that plays music.
I suppose that, in a way, congratulations should go out to Clear Channel, CBS Radio and the rest of today's mega owners for managing to lower the bar so far that listeners now don't even know what they're missing. Today's radio environment is such that talents like Bill Lee, Bob Shannon, Steven E. Roy (and others) are on the bench while card readers who come for cheap are taking their places. These companies have, in effect, successfully dumbed down radio.
If you don't know what a good radio personality can bring to a format then you've never heard music radio done well. It's not really your fault. It's what happens when radio stops trying to be the best it can be and, instead, tries to be the cheapest it can be.
This isn't new. It's been going on since the first days of the "Bonneville" automation system. The difference now, however, is that most, if not all of the mega owners are in on it. They don't actively try to raise the bar and thus force the competition to do likewise. Instead, they keep lowering it. It's almost as if everyone is in competition to be the first to downgrade the sound in order to claim "victory" in the expense column. It's very frustrating if you're one of those who *does* know better. Maybe you grew up with a different kind of radio or maybe you actually know how much a guy like Bill Lee brings to a format like KTU's. I mean, how crazy is a business that tells Broadway they can't make the numbers work because they've hired Whoopie Goldberg? If it wasn't so incredibly sad, it would be the biggest joke in radio today.
Well, fear not. Eventually someone, somewhere is going to come up with a brilliant idea. He or she is going to decide to add real personality to a music format in order to make it *better* than the competition's format. This genius will realize that you can make more money with a better product then you can by making a mediocre product worse. The pendulum swings both ways.
When that happens, all of you who think DJ's don't matter will truly understand what a big difference talent can make. In the meantime, I feel sorry for those who don't know better. And even more sorry for the talent that is being wasted. We're all losing.