Big Radio, And Why Is It So Small?
Written Apr. 17, 2008 by Sean Ross in Content + Terrestrial Radio with 4 Comments
And here's the question that must now be asked anytime somebody goes into a small market and encounters a live and local personality:
Didn't they get the memo?
How is it that some stations carry on with a local staff when many stations in much larger markets went to the hard drive and/or jockless a long time ago?
Meanwhile, check out this small-market station (discovered by iN3 Media Partners' Robert Unmacht) and their playlist with 50 songs (and many, many extras).
Reader Comments
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many small market stations are owned and operated by people who live in the area. they really care about upholding the clause in the regs that says licensees are to operate as public trustees, serving the public interest, convenience and necessity, knowing that's the only way to success.
big radio cares only about chasing money for shareholders. the public isn't even part of the equation anymore--just innocent bystanders.
chase money, and you'll never be successful because you'll be spending all your time and effort chasing money.
chase success, and you'll never have to worry about money. "if you build it, they will come"...
Easy answer: Small stations don't have to pay stock dividends.
Looking at the staff roster it was interesting to see that they had the support/office staff pix up there, everyone was in comfortable clothes and many of them had been there a really long time. Check out the staff bios at a corporate station and see if that happens....
Not only do most small market stations not have to answer to Wall Street, they remember something that many larger market stations and owners have forgotton: serving their communities of license is part of the deal. In addition to the music I bet you'll hear lots of local PSAs (maybe even lost dog reports and tradio), news stories on the school board and county commission meetings and generally more localism than you would in a typical continuous-measurment market. They also may only have a dozen comptetitors instead of 50 or 60 stations crowding the dial, so a slightly longer playlist to avoid listener fatigue makes sense (but were I programming or consulting them I'd spin the most-played song more than 16 times a week).