The Infinite Dial

Given the current state of the newspaper industry, we'll be seeing a lot more announcements like the one this morning that longtime Chicago Sun-Times radio/TV writer Robert Feder is accepting a buyout. Feder was the longest-running, best-respected of those on the radio beat and,having started in 1980 when radio was rarely on the consumer press' radar, his column became the template for what coverage of radio could be.

In making his own announcement, Feder allows that "covering the minutiae of the broadcast business isn't as much fun as it used to be." And in recent years, his coverage had become more sharply critical; a recent column opener begins, "The idiots who've ruined radio are up to their old tricks again." He could also be particularly uncharitable to market newcomers. (WKSC's Drex survived his gauntlet; CBS' Rover did not.)

But Feder was also the only person you could count on to report that a station was forcing its staffers to attend a station concert on their own dime, among his many scoops. Anybody who has covered radio listening on a national level will cheerfully admit that he did a lot of their legwork in reporting Chicago. And on the day after he leaves, there will be a lot less news about Chicago radio and TV making its way to the surface (as is already happening around the country).

Despite his willingness to criticize individual actions, Feder differed from many of his brethern in being a champion of radio overall. He never took radio to task for not playing his hundred favorite indie bands or for having the audacity to actually program to the largest audience possible. Feder arrived at his desk in 1980 a fan of radio, unlike many of those who showed up ready to exact their revenge.

When Edison Media Research named Chicago the best market for radio listeners last year, I didn't give Feder a shout-out by name. For one thing, I figured that he'd see through any obvious supplication. But when we wrote "this is a market where radio has always been taken very seriously and held to a certain standard," Feder was absolutely there by inference.