Matthew Glover
I love radio. (There, I said it. Man, that feels good.)
Unfortunately, my “lover” is in deep trouble. Our programming is over-researched and homogenous. “Personalities” are cliches, mocked on Family Guy. Radio has become tiresome and BORING.
As a result, advertisers won’t pay what they used to, and talented people are losing their jobs.
This should be an era of great opportunity. With inexpensive digital editing tools and unlimited distribution, passionate producers could create high quality content for very little money. But we don’t – because no one will pay us.
A New Way of Thinking
It’s time we realized that the old model is dead. We can no longer wait to be hired by benevolent despots willing to pay for the privilege of imposing an intrusive tariff on our listeners. (They won’t have it, anyways.)
We need to bring everyone to the table – talent, producers, sales people, brands – with the shared goal of creating content that informs, entertains, and enables the providers of goods and services to connect with a community of engaged customers – and we need to do it OURSELVES. Was it easy when we could practice our craft without the need to consider the “back end” realities of the stations that hired us? Hell to the yes. Now let’s move on.
This is Not a Bad Thing
Industry changes and a bad economy have presented us with a call to action. It’s time to learn how to use ProTools and Adobe Audition and Soundtrack Pro. It’s time to reach out to our old audiences on Facebook and Twitter. And it’s time to partner with the people who know about “CPMs” and “RFPs”.
We MUST learn these new skills – we owe to our audience, to our advertisers, and most importantly, we owe it to ourselves.
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