It's after reading stuff like this, that when I then go to places like the Radio Station Lounge on Facebook, I facepalm myself at the echo chamber there.  That's where you'll hear things like:

+ Radio is not dead: it's just changing.  Everything changes
+ Radio is just reinventing itself
(well I guess going from vitality to death IS a state of change)

And gawd forbid if you EVER say anything against the tide of popular opinion there.  Get ready for tar and feathers.  Yikes!  I've never understood how, if you say anything negative about radio on a radio forum, that equates to trolling.  To me, that's a dose of reality.  Plain and simple.  It was what helped me decide to leave the business.  Trust me, there is a quality of life, happiness and money outside of radio.  One starts to realize that having such a deep passion for a career choice can be like a really bad addiction.  Like an addiction, the medium does not love you back.  But if you say something like that on a radio Facebok group, good night.  There should be room for negative AND positive points to be made for the medium.

I don't know ... when I contemplate that we're in a world where CHML doesn't even exist, and stations like Bounce (which we listen to at work) has daily repetition so severe, it's worse than the stomach repeats you get from eating baked beans, you know the medium is well past its best before date.

Last edited by Jody Thornton (December 7, 2024 9:35 am)

Mind you, I'm glad to see people like Dan Freeman and Darrin Laidman (at least seemingly) having fun and doing what they love.  I do genuinely worry for their futures though, and I want the absolute best for them.  But I agree that networking talent undervalues their contributions.  Sure they may be heard province or nation wide, but except for the John Tesh example, it's not as though they are being paid like a syndicated host.
 

So how long will Seneca and Humber hang on to their programs?
 

As a Mohawk College Journalism grad (class of '07) and never having found a full time job, this is the right thing to do. Why waste everyone's time on an industry that doesn't have the jobs? Maybe if every radio and TV station wasn't run by a phone company, they would care of the product being put out, but it's more money money money. And when things don't work, it's the staff and crew, not the executives who lose their jobs.

Jody Thornton wrote:

It's after reading stuff like this, that when I then go to places like the Radio Station Lounge on Facebook, I facepalm myself at the echo chamber there.  That's where you'll hear things like:

+ Radio is not dead: it's just changing.  Everything changes
+ Radio is just reinventing itself
(well I guess going from vitality to death IS a state of change)

And gawd forbid if you EVER say anything against the tide of popular opinion there.  Get ready for tar and feathers.  Yikes!  I've never understood how, if you say anything negative about radio on a radio forum, that equates to trolling.  To me, that's a dose of reality.  Plain and simple.  It was what helped me decide to leave the business.  Trust me, there is a quality of life, happiness and money outside of radio.  One starts to realize that having such a deep passion for a career choice can be like a really bad addiction.  Like an addiction, the medium does not love you back.  But if you say something like that on a radio Facebok group, good night.  There should be room for negative AND positive points to be made for the medium.

I belong to that group as well, and I believe part of the reason that's the prevailing attitude is that there's a good number of radio instructors in that forum, so of course it wouldn't be in their best interests to claim "radio is dead". 

I've often seen young members post a thread on there stating that they've just enrolled in a broadcasting course at their college or university, and they're asking members if they've made a mistake in doing so, and can they offer any advice? Of course, the responses will be along the lines of "Don't listen to the naysayers, there's plenty of jobs to be had for good broadcasters", or my favorite, "Try honing your craft at a small-market radio station". Uh yeah, like maybe 35 years ago.

Like you Jodi, I believe a radio forum should accentuate both the positive and the negative, otherwise you're doing a great disservice to those participating, especially the younger people who need plenty of direction. Unfortunately, sometimes the best piece of advice is "Get a refund on your tuition if you still can", blunt as it may sound. I totally understand the pining for "the good ol' days" of radio (and some people say THIS forum is bad for that!) Hell, I even do it myself from time to time, but it has to be balanced with a good dose of reality, and no amount of pining is going to bring those days back.

And also like you, Jodi, I loved terrestrial radio but it definitely wasn't loving me back. (Although I think it loved you back at least a little more, as your career lasted longer than my rather brief attempt!) That's why internet radio is more than enough radio for my liking for over the past decade and a half. I don't make a dime off it, but I've been having fun and there's listeners worldwide that enjoy my hobby with me. I guess that's what has kept me going at it for the past 16 years. And I believe having fun is the reason most of have gotten into radio in the first place



PJ


 

Last edited by Paul Jeffries (December 7, 2024 9:17 pm)

Cannadore College in North Bay closed their radio and tv courses some years ago now, the studio still exists, the college rents it out to a FM station, CFXN aka Jet Fm. Or at least they did last time I was in the area. 

Last edited by mic'em (December 8, 2024 9:40 am)

Sheridan has cut 30 programs (or put on hold) and Mohawk 16 including the broadcast courses.  

The colleges and to a lesser extent universities have also been relying too much on international students who pay very dearly to come here and study.  Now that those numbers have been cut for the next few years and provincial grants have been more or less stagnant, some like Mohawk and Sheridan are having a financial squeeze.

However, broadcasting is not a growth industry, and these courses have been fading from colleges for a few years now.  I wonder if the radio and TV courses that have survived are taking in as many students as ten or fifteen years ago.  I would think likely not. 

Toronto Metropolitan University, aka Ry High to us older citizens, has a journalism, digital media, media production, documentary media and a film/photography program, but no Radio Television Journalism course specifically. 

News of this would have the late Bill Lawrence who taught at Ryerson for 16 years, rolling in his grave...



https://www.torontomu.ca/graduate/programs/

Does anyone know if this will affect the program at Fanshawe College?

Retaw wrote:

Their program page suggests they were doing two intakes a year for this. Unless the class size is in the single digits, I have to view that as a school exploiting the dreams of students. This is an industry that's been in decline for at least a decade now. Truthfully, even in the "good" years that seems egregious.

When I enrolled in the Radio Broadcasting course at Mohawk in 1987 the average class size was about 30. That seemed excessive even back then.



PJ
 

Former CHCH News Director John Best drills down on the broadcasting cancellations at Mohawk College - and what it says about the state of the industry going forward. 

"Among the courses suspended are those related to Radio and TV broadcasting. This follows a previous announcement in June 2023 that the College was phasing out its Broadcast Journalism Program that had created dozens of household names over the years in Hamilton radio outlets and at CHCH TV."

Broadcast Media courses take another hit with Mohawk cutbacks