Radio advertising revenue is down because people are listening to iPods and Pandora. Should we fire our local DJ’s and standardize playlists across stations? What do you think and why? What stands to be gained and loss through this? Pick a side and argue your point.
I personally turned off my radio a long time ago. I got so bored with the same songs, the same commercials. But mostly I resented the ads and pushing for food venues, when I was trying to cut fast food out of my life.
I feel advertising effects us subconsciously, whether we are aware of the dialog or not, it seeps in and has a profound effect on the decisions you make in a day.
It is the same with music. In my opinion, there are too many popular songs that rage “I’m a loser and the shit’s always happening to me, but I’m ok with thatâ€. Do you think lyrics like that boost your self esteem or really lower your standards, knowing there are others (stars) that have it worse?
I think the future of radio lies in catering to the growing number of people who are desperate for a subconsciously uplifting form of media, complete with local news and pressing global news.
There have been lots of studies on how the human body reacts to certain frequencies. Music is vibration that our nervous system assimilates. “ Most music worldwide has been tuned to 440 hertz since the International Standards Organization (ISO) endorsed it in 1953. The recent rediscoveries of the vibratory / oscillatory nature of the universe indicate that this contemporary international concert pitch standard may generate an unhealthy effect or anti-social behavior in the consciousness of human beingsâ€. Read More: https://www.whydontyoutrythis.com/2013/08/440hz-music-conspiracy-to-detune-good-vibrations-from-natural-432hz.html
We have been getting this dummy-down frequency for sixty-one years. Is it any wonder things never get better?
I would pay for a subscription, but I believe, knowing the audience of such programming, many local businesses would do well to advertise healthy food choices (like allergen-safe, or local grown) and alternative health centers and community events.
I think this is the future of radio, whether it be digital or on a Hamm radio.
Yes, it is true that people are listening to their iPods more than the radio nowadays. I personally haven’t listened to the radio for a solid four or five months. My interest, along with most most of the general populace, has shifted towards online “radio streaming” applications such as Pandora or Spotify. Where I live, there are only a limited number of local radio stations to listen to. Perhaps three or four country stations, two religious stations, four oldies stations, and three or four more pop stations. Wow, a whole four genres…. Add in the constant bombardment of cheesy, local commercials and the fact that there are only a few songs that the station actually plays, it isn’t a surprise that music-based radio listener-ship is declining. With Pandora or Spotify, you can customize what music you listen to for free. And for just a small fee, you get zero adds and can even download the music straight to your devices.
Radio isn’t just for music though. Many people listen because of the DJ’s that air, weather updates, and news reels. Besides these factors, and as far as music goes, I don’t think public radio stations even hold a candle to online sources. Because of this, I think we should actually shift towards podcasts, being that we are a news company. We could tailor to a specific audience, keep our DJ, and inform the public – something we’ve had plenty of experience in. Just a few committed sponsors would be all we’d need, and if we were to have iTunes or Amazon.com distribute our podcasts, we would reach a much greater sphere of listeners.
I don’t think that we should fire our DJs. Maybe we should just take a different path with them. I know that personally, I listen to Pandora every day. What I like about Pandora is that I can personalize my music based off of my mood that day or what I’m feeling. However, I listen to the radio whenever I”m in the car. My biggest problem with the radio is that there are always the same couple songs that play almost all of the time. The goal of a DJ should be to keep the listener intrigued and involved. If I listened to a DJ who played songs that aren’t just top 40 hits, with new artists and different styles of music, I’d enjoy it. What plays outside of the music is another focal point. I don’t know how I feel about shock jocks, but they get ratings. People either love them or hate them. In my home town in Billings, MT, we had one named Big J, host of the Big J Show. He was super blunt about his opinions on things, which could often be offensive. I think that DJs need to be thoughtful in their broadcasts. I’d love to listen to a radio show where the music isn’t predictable and the conversations are thought provoking and informative.
If we can innovate and recreate the image of a DJ, that could be the revolution needed to preserve any existential need for the DJ. Music streaming sites such as Pandora offer a unique music experience, however they can’t be localized. The ads can be specialized, but there is no dialogue or discussion of local news or events.
If you’ve never watched it, go watch the movie called Radio Rebel. It stars an introverted young girl who’s podcast becomes a hot topic around her school. Her anonymous personality delves into real issues and finds its success paving the way to a live radio show where she introduced new and upcoming artists/tracks in between ads and her positive discussions.
Me personally, I don’t think we should fire the DJ’s nor make a playlist for every station. The reason being is that if we do that, we are going to start hearing the same songs over and over again, now I realize that happens even now from time to time but they do it in a way where they could play it in the morning and then in the late afternoon. Besides, with DJ’s you always wander what they are going to do and produce as well, they make the listener get pumped up for what they may play next and though people may not like that idea, there are a lot of people who like to listen to DJ’s and stuff. Would it cost more money not to have them, I can’t really say for sure, but the radio is like the internet, people surf all across it and find new things as well as people and like the internet, the radio is a place where we can enjoy the music we love and just have a great time riding to our destination.
I think we need to specialize more with our audiences and make sure we are feeding into the local area. Firing our DJ’s, unless they are not air-friendly and are not relatable to the listeners, is not the way to go, and I don’t think we should standardize our playlists. I happen to still enjoy listening to the radio, and there are a few DJ’s I can’t wait to tune into when their air time comes. The one thing I have found with standardized playlist is the way the selections are played. I do notice that the same song plays at the same time every day, which leads me to understand there is computer play at work, and not that of a live person. If I wanted a computer to play on a loop, I would plug in my own playlist. DJ’s and their engagements with radio audiences give songs played a little spontaneity, especially during an all request hour.
Going digital fully, and firing our DJ’s will take out the human factor in music selection. The business aspect of radio would determine what’s being played and to whom, taking away the creativity and artistic flow of not only our audiences but also of the artists.
I don’t think the answer is to fire all of our DJ’s because they bring an added value to local radio, mostly personality. I listen to the radio on my drive to work, mostly the XRock Morning Show because I enjoy listening to Glen. He gives the radio channel a specific personality and local feel to it. I think that it helps he is locally grown and has that local connection with listeners. Radio really has evolved over the years with the introduction of Pandora and podcasts. If we completely got rid of radio DJ’s, then we would be left with just random music playlists. What’s the point to that? I can make a playlist on my own, so why would I need the radio if there were no DJ’s to listen to? Just think about all of the iconic radio DJ’s that have impacted the business so much; Casey Kasem, Alan Freed, and Lia Knight. We don’t want to lose what these people offer the radio business. We need to think of other ways to bring advertising revenue up.
I don’t think we should fire our DJs. They bring a human element to the stations that can’t be found anywhere else. A good DJ can inject his/her personality into a station and really make it unique and worth listening to. In my hometown, I generally don’t listen to a lot of radio, as we only have two stations, neither of which are particularly good. However, when I’m in Anchorage, I always unplug the iPod from the auxiliary jack and tune in to 100.5. Sure, they play good classic rock, but the main reason I tune in is to listen to Woody and Wilcox in the mornings. Those two guys are absolutely hilarious and make it worth having to listen to advertisements.
I cannot say that firing all the local DJ’s is a good answer to this problem as many people still do listen and are active with the radio even if they do listen with other products such as Pandora and iHeart radio. The personalities that are brought on and the fact that people can be active with calling in and giving opinions, sharing thoughts and sending shout outs to people they care about is something that is enjoyed. The biggest part of having radio IS the DJ. Anyone can make a playlist, but the on radio talk, jokes, and giving on information as well as helping with events around the local places make radio what it is. Being able to request and call in to the radio makes a difference as with building a playlist one will only have those songs playing where as the radio could bring back oldies. The use of different days make it a good part of the radio meaning that the days change such as Saturday being a mixed and DJ choice night for party radio while one Sunday night we have slow jams. Taking out the human element in this case would break the radio stations because if there is simply an automated playlist then we all may as well use our apps and plug in to play our own songs.
I believe that radio will always have a spot in our society. People like to hear people sometimes! I also think it is a great medium in order to get information across. I am a huge lover of both NPR and our local comedy radio station. I don’t believe that we need to standardize playlists across stations!
The only thing that we could lose from this is the people who don’t listen to radio anyway, and they already aren’t listening to us. The people who want standardized playlists, and music with few if no commercials are the type of people who will find a way to do that, whether it be listening to music in their car with their phone, or other mp3 player. I believe we should maybe take a survey, figure out what our listeners like, and give our local DJs a chance to prove themselves.
I think having radio stations is a good thing. if we got rid of every radio station and only used play lists. everything would always be the same there wouldn’t be any variety or freshness to what was played. radio stations also talk about current issues, pop culture that is related to the kinds of music being played. And it gives you that human aspect that an IPod lacks. The only annoying thing about radio stations are the constant interruptions from annoying commercials and political ads.
I don’t think we should fire all the djs and go to standardized playlists because the radio stations will still be playing those lists. Tastes are so diverse that those lists will eventually cause people to stop listening to the radio, one of our classmates has already said she doesn’t listen anymore, this will push even more people away. Radio stations depend on advertising to survive, if people stop listening to radio stations, advertising goes away and eventually so will the station. I personally think we should stop with the same songs over and over and give the djs the freedom to play songs the way they used to. There shouldn’t be lists, they should play songs they’re listeners want to hear. I get tired of hearing the same song two or three times in the span of a few hours because it’s the new thing.