Webmaster’s Corner: The Economy May Be Coming Back, But For the “Broadcast Announcer”, The End Is Nigh

I had a lot to write about this week, from the Republican Primaries to the death of 80s pop icon Whitney Houston. But then this article on CBS Money Watch caught my eye.

I think many of our fellow Airchexx.com fans and radio folks in general have had a feeling that things were pretty bad for much of the last decade. Some of us have been warning that our industry is in dire straits for at least the last 5 or 6 of those years. But I doubt many were prepared to see the apocalyptic prediction that our profession as we have known it is on the ‘official’ endangered species list. To see it in print may not be unexpected, but it’s still shocking.

For those of us who have been ‘off air’ for a few years (and by that I mean, not working directly in the studio at one radio station), we have mostly been expecting that one day, our profession would ‘officially’ end. Ever since the first PC based automation systems came into being, Hard Drive based audio delivery systems put online sometime in the mid-90s, the end of the world for radio people was at hand. Some could see it coming, others not. But, according to CBS Money Watch, the JOCK could be the one whose time is done in 2012.

Is this the end of the world? Our profession is one of passionate people, who are completely dedicated to doing what they do. And for many of us, radio, in general, is a mystifying piece of technology. Even jocks can talk about what signals go where, what station in the next market is doing, how far their signal goes, what they sound like with their audio processing, do they use too many liner cards, who is their PD? and so on. Its a strange passion, one that dovetails with audiophiles and Ham Radio buffs alike. Its a profession where we joke about actually WORKING. And the burning question on everybodys mind is, is it really over?

I lost my last ‘real’ radio job in 2010, when Cox turned off WCTZ and sold the frequency to Educational Media Foundation. But for the last 3 years I’ve been part of a group called HitOldies, where we continue to hone our skills and provide a service to radio, and where I get to be heard on a ‘real’ radio station every week. And ironically, I get to do radio the old fashioned way, I choose my own music, just follow a loose ‘oldies’ format, as my fellow ‘hitoldies’ jocks do.

You know, it’s only over if you wish to roll over and give up. I agree that the oppotunity to go into a radio station and be a deejay may be extremely limited for anyone except the morning show host (and even morning show folks shortly), but if you are willing to do non-traditional things, do voiceover from home on the cheap and offer your services to non-traditional entertainment outlets, I believe you still have the opportunity to be relevant while doing what you love best.

Just remember, 1979, where Landecker was on WLS, Dan Ingram was on WABC, and FM AOR was king… was a long time ago. Two radio generations ago. We might as well be talking about the 1800s when you talk about a time where jocks could pick their own music. Those days are gone. And, apparently, so too is the ‘Broadcast Announcer’ at a single radio station, where one went to work, did four and ‘hit the door’. Get used to it, and get over it. Now, build your home system, get a good mic and mixer board, a copy of Adobe audition and lets have some fun. And if you want an example of a home based radio service, check out www.hitoldies.com.

Steve West