Stupid Dj Tricks and Conventional Wisdom
Written Apr. 13, 2007 by in Content with 3 Comments
I don't have much to add to Sean's excellent Ross on Radio this week about Life After Imus, except to point out that "conventional wisdom," or what I prefer to call received wisdom, can sometimes overstay its welcome in the radio industry. There was a time when one could toss off trite axioms like "there's no such thing as bad publicity" and get away with it. Who knows, if Imus had not been fired by MSNBC and CBS, maybe Mark Ramsey's math would have been dead on. But this isn't 1996, or even 2000, and the landscape has changed significantly in this post-consolidation, post-wardrobe-malfunction world that we now inhabit. Independent voices now speak truth to power on the Internet, while the "shock jock" becomes increasingly more anachronistic.
So, Fred Jacobs is right that radio has lost another star, albeit one who courted his own demise repeatedly. Meanwhile, I have heard conservative talkers speak of Imus getting 'lynched,' which, frankly, is about as repellent as what Imus said; another knuckle-headed DJ already getting the ax for echoing Imus' stupidity; and a fairly well-known syndicated morning show team (who I won't name) widely circulating a mass email volunteering their show's services to stand in for a free two-week trial for those poor stations left in the lurch. I hear these things, and I am almost as disgusted as I was when I heard Imus slander a team of young college students, and an entire race.
I will offer one man's humble answer to Mark's excellent question, "what is the lesson here?"--I hope the lesson is that we should stop insulting, tricking, humiliating and causing actual bodily harm to our listeners, and start connecting with them in more meaningful ways. Conventional wisdom is that controversy brings ratings, but maybe this 'truth' has gone past its sell-by date. One truth is that this kind of controversy does help at least one form of radio grow--public radio. As the Sterns, O&As and now Imus's of the world become increasingly more and more marginalized, shows like Morning Edition and All Things Considered continue to thrive. Maybe the new conventional wisdom is that America prefers substance to shock.
There are now a whole bunch of new stations with a tremendous morning drive opportunity to see if that is indeed the case.
Reader Comments
Your 2¢, in chronological order — add your comment below.
Tom, enjoyed your "take" on this. I'm not sure that America is moving in a more substantive direction. I am sure that the "shock jock" model is becoming more and more endangered on the radio.
Sean Ross is right-on. I'm a father of daughters. I found what Imus said to be immediately offensive. Were it my children that he was disparaging, I would have considered the justice of the Old Testament. It shouldn't have taken three days to make a decision about Imus' comment. It shouldn't have required the Rev. Al Sharpton's pressure for him to be terminated. Regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual or political preference ... be conscious of others rights. We need to be responsible people. When you wouldn't say something this offensive in a crowd of people, why would you say it on the air? We need to be self-policing. We need to return to being decent people. This decency should be everywhere. Song lyrics that use the "N word" are wrong.The F-bomb is not a commonly accepted word to be rhymed with in music. Unless we respect the youth of today, we will see even less respect in the free world tomorrow.
Great comments, above, from four industry folks
for whom I have tremendous respect. My take
is that when one zooms out from the micro to
the macro (can you tell my #1 hobby is
photography?) we live in such an increasingly
thin-skined and PC society that many it's
tough for a college football team to call
itself "the Fighting Indians". The only
sense of humor that works any longer is the
type smarmingly spewed by Simon Cowell.
Not a week goes by that we don't hear of
perported indignities imposed upon the poor,
inaccurately-depicted Eskimos or even (in
the case of Mel Gibson's recent movie) the
horrendously mis-portrayed Mayans, for Pete's
sake. Does anybody put remarks or artistic
portrayls IN CONTEXT any more? Imus and
Stern and Mancow and O & A are EQUAL
OPPORTUNITY OFFENDERS!! Hardly ANY individual
or group fails to pop up on their radar.
When you have four hours to fill, 5 days per
week, it is soooo easy to once in a blue moon
simply stick your Tony Lamas in your mouth.
Frankly, I'm surprised these bruhahas don't
occur even MORE frequently. You're thinking
on your feet and trying to be provocative and
topical and to live up to your reputation for
"edginess". I am not attempting to give Imus
a "pass" here. But I did mornings for 5 years
and until you've sat in the chair yourself
and experienced the daily pressure to sort
of top what you did yesterday (which Ann
Coulter is an expert on, now to her sudden
disadvantage)...you cannot really speak with
empathy or authority. I do believe there is
a natural product life cycle with everything
...since, after all, life is just a combo of
cycles ranging from the seasons to the tides
to the phases of the moon to societal trends
such as "shock jocks". And I do agree that
as we read the tea leaves, we are seeing the
pendulum swing back the other way (that is,
a new cycle moving against shock radio).
This is one reason why morning public radio
suddenly is more in vogue than ever.