Tidbits
December 26, 2019Why yes, that was me quoted in the Post-Gazette on Christmas Day… and somewhat accurately. Of course, WKGO is licensed to Murrysville and not McKeesport, and its transmitter is in the New Kensington region. Oh well, you get the idea. (h/t: Maria Schiullo)
If I had more time this year and had been sure that 1410 was going to be on the air, I might have programmed several hours of Christmas music for December 24 and 25. But between the boatload of church bulletins I had to run, and the fact that 1410 wasn’t back on until December 19, it wasn’t feasible.
Of course, we had a nice supply of Christmas music on WSHH (99.7) and WWSW (94.5) since the middle of November. Other stations throughout the region did much the same and they are now awaiting their Holiday numbers from Nielsen Audio to see how the “format” helps the bottom line.
Of course the Christmas music I would have programmed would have been in line with what WSHH would have played 30 years ago. But 30 years ago today, the station dropped the Beautiful/EZ format for an all-vocal format or “AC Gold” which has morphed gently into the “soft rock” it plays now. (Come to think of it, the “36 hours of Christmas” on WSHH continued to feature some of those instrumental holiday tunes for many years after the initial flip.)
Although the official “decade change” doesn’t happen until we flip into 2021 (we didn’t have a year “0”), I am beginning to wonder what will happen to the business as a whole. Media will always be around, but this last decade has brought forth a lot of change in how we receive it.
I’ve said this for years, but my belief is that radio (and television) can remain sustainable so long as they do something to fulfill local interest. Not only serving the public interest with 30-minute programs on Sunday mornings, but by creating content that creates interest every day. Meanwhile, one has to wonder if there really is any up and coming talent to fulfill such roles?
I’m going to stop right there. There are too many “experts” proclaiming that radio has died; is clinging to life support; or is doomed. Frankly I am tired of hearing it. Okay, people, here’s a challenge – try to come up with something useful instead of giving up. What can you do to change the system in the 2020s instead of sitting back and giving up?
Speaking of 2020, PBRTV’s web hosting renewal comes due. We’ll be starting a fund drive in a few weeks. Although I haven’t been as diligent as I would like to be with the site (especially in the 2019 year of adjustment for me) I still enjoy it and want to continue to provide the service. Stay tuned!
Couple of points of reply: (1) You are 100% correct about the decade flipping on 2021. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. (2) You’re 100% correct about local interest content mattering, but if there isn’t massive local education to let the local public know that what will be on the air and when, it won’t matter. Lots and lots of remote broadcasts from local spots where local people gather would be a good thing. And, that’s not difficult from a technical standpoint nowadays. (3) Radio hasn’t died, but the folks who run it are not feeding it properly, so it is at risk of starving to death. What could be sadder than something with a great potential for healthy life dying of starvation? (4) Slavishly clinging to yesteryear only keeps the aging listeners tuned in until they die of old age. Way back in 1971, one local station sent a crew with a tape recorder to every local high school that would allow them in to record their annual Christmas band and chorus concerts. Those tapes were the only content on Christmas day. It was cheaply done, on a dinky little AM station, and horribly promoted. But it had great potential. It was never repeated.
That was WKEG 1110 AM Washington Pa. it was most liv
ckley the highest rated day in the Stations History.
I think having local music on the air is a great idea, and there’s so much live music happening in the city every day, it would be easy to find something to record and make a concert series out of it. There are live events on line too, but the difference with radio would be that a local station would be covering a local event. I agree, the technology is much easier now, to get a broadcast quality stereo feed back to the studio just takes a good internet connection on both ends, with laptops.
That was a good idea the little AM station had to record high school Christmas recitals and air them. People are scarce at stations on the holidays, and I heard all kinds of diversions on the air, music on talk stations, and Christmas plays being aired on night time distant stations, it was like a different AM radio dial for a time.
I think there’s lots of talent out there, learning the audio craft, and more people producing than ever. It’s not the formal system where someone goes to Columbia School of Broadcasting and then sends their tape to radio stations, radio will probably have to scout the it needs these days.
Boomer