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Famed Radio Consultant Bemoans The Current State Of The Medium
Lee Abrams is a legend when it comes to radio consulting. He's been around a long time and has advised some of the biggest stations and ownership groups in the U.S.
In this interesting overview, he looks at what's wrong with the medium and why it's no longer well done.
I heard a “new” Rock station recently and they presented:
–A “big voice” yelling at you about how hard they rock (that worked in 1979 when rock stations needed to re-enforce their manhood against the disco invasion….but that’s over)
–Star Wars laser sound effects complete with ‘man in the box’ filtered effect. (The Empire was destroyed in the 70’s…time to move on..if radio is “theater of the mind” I heard theater of the lame)
–Blocks, Two-fers, commercial free sets (Another relic of the 70’s. That was 40 years ago)
–Lunch. Not sure if it was a retro lunch, an electric lunch or whatever, but it was a “lunch”
–A station van. Cool in ’71 when hippies carried their pot and guitars in vans, now a soccer mom symbol that defines not cool drives a van
The station was on 70’s focus group autopilot. We’re in the era where competition from other music sources is on steroids, but radio is in the “K108 plays more variety era. The Simpsons and Onion parody this stuff. Stations should install cliche buzzers—three buzzes and you’re fired."
The Reality Of Radio - The Good, The Bad And The Ugly
- RadioAaron
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Re: Famed Radio Consultant Bemoans The Current State Of The Medium
This is really good.
Sometimes, older consultants don't realize they sound just as dated as what they're critiquing. Not in this case. Especially liked this line:
–We’re #1 STOP! If you’re talking to Agencies and Wall Street…OK. BUT—internally….STOP! This stuff sounds like General Motors in 1980.
People, for good reason, completely ignore any business's claim about where they rank in some irrelevant to the consumer metric.
Last edited by RadioAaron (December 19, 2023 8:14 pm)
- Dave The OTA guy
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Re: Famed Radio Consultant Bemoans The Current State Of The Medium
What a great article
I gave up on North American radio a little more than a year ago and I'm really enjoying what I hear on BBC Radio1.
Aside from the morning shows on N. American radio, how many other programs have more than one DJ, or host? On Radio1 during weekdays and some parts of the schedule during the weekends there are always two sometimes three hosts.
I was always under the impression that Radio1 was "stuffy" boy, was I wrong. They suit my musical taste better than any other radio station ever has: dance, drum & bass, rap, rock and alternative (they call it indie) all on one station and you can go from one end of the spectrum to the other in two songs.
I remember reading something about musical tastes in another thread in this forum...I hear new music from A LOT of artists I've never heard of before and sadly, many that you'll never hear on radio on this side of the pond.
Radio1 can introduce one to two to even three new songs PER DAY. It is so refreshing to hear such true variety, and new regional artists from around the UK on a regular basis. I wish they'd do that more often here.
Sure Radio1 (and the BBC) is funded by the UK government and through a licensing scheme but if I had to, I WOULD pay for BBC sounds just to listen to their programming. North American radio should take notice, but sadly they won't.
- paterson1
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Re: Famed Radio Consultant Bemoans The Current State Of The Medium
BBC Radio 1 and 2 hosts are entertaining, and actually talk about the music and artists they are playing. Something that is mostly lacking in radio here. The hosts in the UK are knowledgeable and respected by the artists they interview and at the same time manage to be interesting, funny and have something to say. They are also personalities and well known by their listeners.
Here new songs from unknown artists are thrown on the air with usually no information about the artist or even where they are from. All of these supposed music stations do a lousy job of even saying what songs they have just played. Thanks to voice tracking for this.
- Tomas Barlow
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Re: Famed Radio Consultant Bemoans The Current State Of The Medium
paterson1 wrote:
BBC Radio 1 and 2 hosts are entertaining, and actually talk about the music and artists they are playing. Something that is mostly lacking in radio here. The hosts in the UK are knowledgeable and respected by the artists they interview and at the same time manage to be interesting, funny and have something to say. They are also personalities and well known by their listeners.
Here new songs from unknown artists are thrown on the air with usually no information about the artist or even where they are from. All of these supposed music stations do a lousy job of even saying what songs they have just played. Thanks to voice tracking for this.
It’s not just voice tracking. PD’s believe that everyone knows the title and artist already because of TikTok or if they don’t, they can look it up on the website. Or my favorite “If they don’t already know it we shouldn’t be playing it.”
Last edited by Tomas Barlow (December 19, 2023 11:11 pm)
- paterson1
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Re: Famed Radio Consultant Bemoans The Current State Of The Medium
Singer/dancer Tate McRae is an example of a new artist that has become very popular and has had a few top ten hits. You may not know the name because on many stations her name or songs don't get mentioned that much or any background information on this new artist. And Tate is geared for a young demo, her music and videos reflect this.
She has been on the late night talk shows, the Today Show and was the musical guest a few weeks ago on SNL.
I didn't even know she was Canadian and from Calgary. She mentioned this during one of her interviews on American TV. They showed a clip from one of her songs and it was done in a hockey arena.
Again, too bad our radio stations don't do a better job introducing new artists and songs to the audience. Shameful that CTV, CBC, Global, or City don't even have a weekly late night talk show with a studio audience where an artist like Tate could perform her music and sit down for an interview in front of her fans.
Too expensive, or the audience isn't there??....BS I say.