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Re: Layoffs at WCVB??
----- Original Message -----
From: "Hakim Madjid" <HMadjid@mindspring.com>
> Well as far WCBV goes, that's about par for the course mega-corporate
media
> decision making, cut back the locally produced public service shows, and
> stuff.
>
> As far as the state of radio goes, I thought that trend has been in place
> for about a decade - radio is loosing listeners in general.
Not something inherant to radio though.... As you stated there are many
more forms of media out there...and the "old line" franchises are no longer
the default "big players" they once were.
Networks (and affilliates) are losing audience too...
Independent TV stations (or as my mother would refer to UHF as "Channel
U"...) are developing better and better programming...not to mention all the
cable choices...Woo woulda ever imagined "The WB" would beat one of the big
3 in any prime-time slot??? (IMHO....with all the resources available to
the big 3...it's an embarassment.)
Radio was once the only place to get free music...alas Napster and MP3's and
CD burners...to name an alternative that wasn't there before.
> IMHO there are several factors in play here. Most of radio nowadays is
just
> plain boring - save for some of the news and current affairs programming
on
> the major public radio affiliates.
I think most people would say even the news/public affairs is boring
(especially on NPR, et al)...but thats a discussion for another day.
While radio has gotten more generic and slicker....I don't know that it is
necessarily boring. Radio meets the needs of it's users. And today...radio
is used mostly as a jukebox....and most are programmed that way.
> I think radio is going to get more and
> more boring in the future because the large media conglomerates are only
> interested in putting lowest-common denominator programming at the lowest
> cost they can get away with.
Excuise me....but is this "art"...or a benevolent charity?
Or are we forgetting that radio is a business...And hasn't it ALWAYS been
that way?
Hasn't radio always been "interested in putting lowest-common denominator
programming at the lowest
cost they can get away with"??? What do you call old line top 40 radio?
Pumping out the same top songs over and over again...? Sounds very
"low-denominator" to me.
As for 'remembering the good ole days"...I can remember some truly AWFUL
stations on the air....(mostly local-yokel stations) Stations that were
embarassing to hear. I don't hear as many of these in recent years.
For the most part these (awful) stations did OK (billing-wise) outa default.
Listeners were not that savvy, etc. Not much competition for sales...and
not much competition for the 'local' audience.
While we may dery what we don't like on WXRV or WXLO...truth is, they are
pretty good compared to some of the awful radio we could/would hear back on
the dials in the 60's/70's.
Wanna start a running list of "truly awful" stations that we remember in the
area?
Joe
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