Posted by Mike Seaver on June 14, 2006 at 09:36:41:
In Reply to: Re: Re: The Dumbing Down Of Radio posted by Sid Schweiger on June 14, 2006 at 08:46:41:
Sid, you are technically right about Drake. Him, along with some other pioneers did some good things with programming that was getting somewhat stale and, in some cases, overbearing with "personality" that really was not so.
But also to Drake's credit is what we now know as formula radio. While he didn't practice it per se, nor did he employ it to the extreme we have today. But he was the father of cookie cutter radio and the "more music/less talk" scenario we have today. In fairness to Mr. Drake, he was just taking advantage of a market that needed some "consulting" and did what he knew would work.
While Bill Drake was the father of cookie cutter radio it was other, less known consultants that carried his methodology to the extreme. If a bit more focused talk worked (for the time), then let us focus on what we talk about and if the talk doesn't have promotional value, then let's can it! (thus the evolution of the liner). It didn't happen quite that quickly, but never the less, it did.
And as the number of stations increased, many playing the same format, the competition to "out (whatever)" the other became...if 5 hits in a row were good, 10 were better! Thus the mantra of "more music/less talk" became a reality and, due to the proliferation, became the acceptable norm for "success".
Add in the user-friendly PC and all of a sudden, liner readers could be inserted, as could commercials. But spacing commercials, while it could be done, interrupts both the flow of the 298 hits in a row and is a bit more difficult to traffic into the format, thus the "blocks" of commercials. Put the block at the end of the QH and, technically, you should have a winner; rely on the music to get them into the quarter hour, then if you lose them at commercial time it doesn't matter because, on the record, they are listening.
Over analyzation of the "products" can also be part of the "dumbing down" process. While statistics are a good thing in some areas, they can be equally harmful in others. AQH, CUME, TSL, "prime" demos; they are all good tools of measurement and, to some extent, should be measured. Business without measurement is in trouble. But carte blance assignment without some more "market" measurements have limited the competition.
Can it all be "fixed"? Sure can. But not easily nor cheaply. And the mindset has not been limited only to the talent end of the business. It is prevalent throughout the field.
While gentlemen like Bill Drake and John Rook did turn around stations in their day, their model, just like the snazzy, hot Chevelle 396 eventually becomes obsolete (my V6 Pontiac will turn as quick a quarter mile as my stock 396 would before all the "goodies" were added).
Turning around radio into a "MORE" profitable business will take someone with a daring flair. It probably will not happen in NYC or any other major market. I think this will be a more grass roots thing, eventually finding another "Ruth Meyer" to come to NYC and move and shake (remember where she came from?)