Re: Bill whining (was CNN anchor endorses satellite over cable)

["Dan Billings" <dib9@gwi.net>]

I have been paying attention to radio in Maine for 20 years and there has
never been a time during that period that any radio station has been talking
about what is going on in my community.  Radio stations talked about what
was going on in Portland twenty years ago, but they do that now.  Radio
never paid much attention to things going on on the suburbs or rural areas.
Even 20 years ago, the Bath/Brunswick FM stations were trying to get an
audience in Portland and the AM stations wer automated.  In fact, there is
probably more talk about local issues with the local morning talk show on
WGAN, which has only existed for ten years.  There were more local jocks 20
years ago, but they didn't talk about issues.

National shows like Rush and Imus allow talk radio to work in markets like
Portland.  In Portland, a talk show with all local talent would not be
economically viable.  The national shows allow stations like WGAN to be a
talk station with local news, a local morning show, and some local shows on
the weekend.  Without the national shows, the local shows wouldn't exist.
JJ's Big Jab stations are another example.  He has a local show in the
morning, Sox, Celtics, and Pirates, and Sporting News Radio the rest of the
day.  There would not be a sports station in Maine without national shows.

WMTW has local shows each evening on different subjects, music, psychology,
and a couple others.  The shows may be local, but in my opinion, they are
horrible.  To me, and most listeners, the national fare on WGAN and WZAN are
preferable.

As for streaming audio, that doesn't work in the car and I don't want to use
my phone line to listen to a radio show.

-- Dan Billings, Bowdoinham, Maine


----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave Faneuf" <tklaundry@juno.com>
To: <dib9@gwi.net>
Cc: <tklaundry@juno.com>; <billo@shoreham.net>;
<boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org>
Sent: Thursday, August 16, 2001 2:33 PM
Subject: Re: Bill whining (was CNN anchor endorses satellite over cable)

> Actually I tend to side more with Bill on this one.  I'm not saying
> national is bad however people (a general statement) lament the decline
> of involvement in community (you can read that politics or anything else)
> and ONE reason is the decline (and in some cases the elimination) of
> local media.  In every market that Imus and Rush are in (just to pick on
> them but there are others) it means there is nothing local on the air, no
> local issues being discussed, nothing to generate local interest in the
> community.  As anecdotal evidence I was vacationing in Maine a few years
> ago and heard lots of sirens.  I headed back to the cottage and flipped
> on the radio....up and down the AM dial there was nothing but
> syndication, even at the top of the hour just network news.  When you
> condition listeners that they are no longer going to get local
> information when they want it then you get the homogenized syndicated
> radio that we are seeing today.