A Loyal Reader Writes:
“I work in a small market as an afternoon jock, and I have a question regarding news. Our radio station does 90-second updates at the top of the hour, and the content is mostly rip & read national news with very little local.
“As a jock who busts my ass to be plugged into the community, it is frustrating to have to stop my show once an hour for seemingly irrelevant news about a car accident that happened across the country. It is especially frustrating when this news from afar is used when good local news never finds its way to the airwaves.
“I’ve been told by management that it’s not my place to complain, because I’m just a jock. How would you handle this?”
When I was a jock, I would’ve handled it by complaining to the program director and the general manager and the news director.
The only thing that would’ve accomplished would be to alienate some or all of them and brand myself as a “troublemaker.”
It would not have helped the radio station, my show, or my listeners.
How would I handle it today? After having shared my thoughts once with management, I would agree with them: It’s not my place to complain; I’m just a jock.
And I’d refocus my energies on the aspects of my radio show that I do have control over.
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Oh I hear ya my friend.. in 31 years of Broadcasting– the first 15 was as a jock– and I had that thrown into my face many times– the last 16 years– go figure– I am a NEWS ANCHOR at News1130 Vancouver…Dan is right– concentrate on what you CAN control– trust me– you are not alone in your complaint…sigh– hang in there bro..yes I am on Facebook…Don Lehn
Why not share some of your knowledge about how to be ”plugged into the community” with your news team. They might be crying out for ideas…
Thats a jocks daymare! how about surreptitiously becoming the news achor? Creatively plug the ‘good” local stories in your talk breaks in short burst; after all local stories gives you Relevance and Resonance!! Let the listeners be the judge! oh and don’t alienate them…show them by taking some friendly and not spiteful action!
It’s not only radio. TV is just as bad.
The # 1 TV newscast in my region, heavily focused on local, leaded off one recent evening with the Tiger Woods car crash affair. They have a facebook group, and got slammed by a lot of viewers for doing this. The GM’s response? it was the # 1 story that people were talking about that day. It maybe, but really throws your local focus down the drain. That’s entertainment news as far as i’m concerned.
Yeah that’s right complain about service to the community. Wasn’t that the way it was supposed to be? Some good ideas are presented here. Why not listen to them, they don’t seem to be as selfish. Content is more than just the music. Maybe 90 seconds every hour is a bit much. A suggestion of making it more conversational with the news person could possibly help. Also some short sound bites from time to time.
I’ve found everyone is much more receptive to a negative critique, if you have already developed a solution, and can suggest it as part of your complaint (don’t just be a part of the problem, be a part of the solution).
I like Ruddy’s advice above…since you can’t change the newscast, change your show to provide the service and information you think your listeners need and deserve. Let the rest fall by the wayside, because your listeners are doing exactly that. If the content of those 90 second breaks is irrelevant to them, they’re not hearing it anyway.
First, if it is part of your job requirement, you need to do it. With that said, IF you have ANY conrol over the content, I suggest using LOCAL and RELEVANT material first and foremost. Things people would want to know about; tat they care about. Determine “what’s hot and what’s not in your community, and use hot only. Then spread out to regional with the same, and lastly national if necessary. If “your ass is plugged into the community” as you state, it won’t be long before you’re doing some relevant and interesting stuff that people actully care about, and then your management will be trying to “temper your content or even stffle it’!
Good luck!
John P. is right! If you can’t control the newscasts, make every effort to use interesting local content wherever you can in the breaks. Even if you’re just reading a PSA about a spaghetti dinner (yes, I’m small town radio, why do you ask?), make it relatable by saying how much you LOVE spaghetti, or how the cooks and servers volunteer their time and effort for the cause. Do what you can do with what you control, and don’t sweat the other stuff. All that will do is give you headaches and stress you out.