An Additional Dose Of Reality
Written Apr. 9, 2009 by Sean Ross in Content + Terrestrial Radio with 1 Comment
The intriguing headline on the press release from the Miami Spanish AC station is, "WRMA Romance 106.7 FM Announces New Morning Reality Show, 'Hola Miami.'" The subject line further promises "three controversial hosts with an explosive mixture of personalities come together in new show."
Programmers have been looking to ride the reality TV bandwagon for years (and since that bandwagon had more momentum than it does now). Beyond the pairing of "three passionate women from different generations," there's nothing that suggests that "Hola Miami" will be any more like a reality show than any other morning program. But it is an interesting bit of positioning. And one now wonders...
What if morning shows really were reality shows? Morning hosts and team members are instructed to share more of their real lives these days. But what if the carefully cast roles (the host is Seinfeld, the female co-host is Elaine, the stunt guy is Kramer) were cast aside and listeners got to hear what really goes on in the booth? Less about Britney and Octomom. More about who will show up on time, who doesn't like the other person's cologne, how much of a talent fee will be paid for the next appearance (even though it's a charity event). And with the way things are going for morning team members, there's certainly a strong chance of an elimination each week.
Reader Comments
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It seems to me that back in their heyday Steve Dahl and Garry Meier in Chicago used to boast something like "we're real people using our real names and our real voices" and that they actually were just winging it on the air. Since morning drive seems to have become so regimented, thanks to the many imitators of Scott Shannon, maybe something as simple as that could be done at the risk of dead air and untoward statements. All I would like as a start is stopping the phony laughter and having the male member of the team reading the weather--where does it say that the female member must always be the one to read the weather?