[BC] Turned-off listeners (Was: ...Sirius-ly...")

[Paul Smith W4KNX]

Those old local stations didnt have a 20-30 million dollar debt to pay plus
interest to the mother company.

Paul Smith
Sarasota, FL

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <WFIFeng at aol.com>
To: <broadcast at radiolists.net>
Sent: Saturday, May 14, 2005 10:31 PM
Subject: [BC] Turned-off listeners (Was: ...Sirius-ly...")


> In a message dated 05/14/2005 7:08:18 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
> armtx at mhcable.com writes:
>
> > I don't think its consumer ignorance as much as it is a choice not  to
> >  support something that supports garbage programming.
>
> Exactly. They're voting with their wallets, and that's the loudest way to
> vote.
>
> What puzzles me, tho, is why all the live & local radio people are gone...
> how did those small, local stations ever survive with staffs of a dozen or
more?
> I had been to the site of a certain small station back in the very early
90's
> and it was alive... there were no less than a dozen people in there, all
> busily working. Production people cutting & splicing, recording bits,
etc...
> dashing back & forth to the air studio with carts & Copy, where the DJ was
keeping
> the hits spinning, playing spots, etc. That station had been running that
way
> for quite a few years, too... as a *daytimer*! When I was there it was 24
> hours on a new freq, and it was very much alive and humming.
>
> Then, a few years later, I had the sad task of helping with gutting the
now
> *former* studio/office facilities of that small station. It had just
"flipped
> the bird" and was now nothing more than a satellite dish & PC at the TX
site.
> That once-"alive" building was now empty. Dark. Dusty. Most of the
furniture
> had already been removed. All that remained was some equipment that needed
to be
> moved to the TX site for storage, and the rest to the dumpster. I have to
> admit, it actually choked me up just a little... what was once a living,
> breathing organism, was now just an empty shell. Empty office after empty
office, on a
> hallway that was once bustling with activity. It was now cold, lonely,
bleak.
> Oh, sure, that station's *signal* was still on the air, and it still had
the
> same call letters... but the busy staff was now a memory. Only the FCC
> mandated two remained (the owner & his wife) and a part time staffer, who
did all of
> his work in the little "closet" studio up at the TX site.
>
> Again... what happened? How were all those little stations keeping such
> staffs paid and happy, and now, they're all dark & empty with nothing but
a PC &
> sat dish most of the time?
>
> If some stations would bring back the live, *local* announcers and
> programming, I wonder if the listenership would eventually return, also?
They'd notice
> that the announcers were talking about their local area, giving the actual
> *time* & temp (not "12 past the hour")...
>
> sigh. Rant over.
>
> Willie...
>
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