I just came across an article I wrote for Radio & Records in June 1992.
“Radio is changing. The proposed new FCC rules allowing for greatly increased group ownership are likely to squeeze out smaller operators in favor of large groups with greater financial resources. And I suspect that the Golden Age of the local radio personality is largely a thing of the past.
“Big corporate entities tend to favor a systemized business approach that values creativity far less than standardization.
“The larger the company, the greater the impact of factors (e.g., financial, legal, political) outside the boundaries of programming; the greater the pressure to conform to the ‘corporate culture;’ and the more onerous the threat of even temporary failure to the individual manager.
“What does tomorrow’s radio promise today’s disc jockeys? Even smaller financial horizons for most; amazing income opportunities for a relative few. Most will continue to be treated as interchangeable, generic programming tools.
” ‘Economies of scale’ increasingly will be applied to air talent:
” 1. We can expect to see group owners create their own intracompany networks, broadcasting already proven personalities on sister stations in a multitude of markets. (This might prove especially effective over well-defined regional areas.)
” 2. We can expect a small but influential influx of new drive-time hosts who are eager & able to grab market share by combining forceful personalities with a strong feel for ‘show biz.’
“This is bad news for the multitude of mediocre ‘look how cute we are’ morning shows that dot the radio landscape. It’s good news for jocks who genuinely are able to reach & affect their listeners.
“There will be quite a few new little pots of gold for strong talents. But remember, for every six- (or 10- or 20-) station network that springs up around a strong drive-time show, there will be five (or 9 or 19) more disc jockeys looking for work elsewhere.”
Thank goodness none of those predictions came true…
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What do you mean? Every single ONE of them came tr– oh. I see what you did there.
If I had only listened to you back then…
Dan,
This tragic story and knife-wielding consultants were two nails in the tv/radio broadcast coffin. I bailed in 1990 and watched as friends and peers had the life sucked out of them. Very sad.
-JCD-