55+ (was: Boxford pirate's coax cable cut)

[SteveOrdinetz]

markwa1ion@aol.com wrote:
>One thing missing from a lot of the satellite stations, and to some 
>extent terrestrial music broadcasters too, is the element of PERSONALITY.
>
>DJ's of earlier times like Bill Marlowe on the adult-pop side and 
>the '60s WBZ stable of DeSuze, Maynard, Kaye, Bradley, and Summer 
>just aren't falling out of the trees these days.
>
>I hear satellite stations of various types when out in restaurants 
>and, while the music may be good, I'm just not getting the same kick 
>out of listening as I did with '60s-era Boston radio (or for that 
>matter into the '70s and '80s on the FM side, especially WBCN).
>
>Is this kind of personal interaction gone from DJ practice and 
>limited only to talk formats now that automation and non-local 
>sourcing rule the commercial-station music formats ?


This is something that's been in the making for several decades 
now.  A lot of people blame it on the Telecom act, and the resulting 
media consolidation, voicetracking, jockless formats, etc. but these 
were more a reaction to trends that were already 
well-established.  Those small-market 1kW graveyard channel AMs were 
among the first to go with automation and/or satellite formats in the 
80s because their doors were not exactly being broken down by 
qualified applicants.  I remember reading an article in Billboard or 
one of the other trades back in the 70s with several PDs lamenting 
the lack of future talent.  The increasing sophistication & 
reliability of automation equipment may have accellerated this trend, 
but it didn't create it.

As far as "personal interaction" goes, I'm not sure what you 
mean.  WRKO in its top 40 heyday was very formatted, WBZ while looser 
on the air still was one-way communication...AFAIK they didn't even 
have any sort of studio line where you could call the dj.  If they 
did, I never recall hearing the number given out.  You certainly 
didn't hear the djs putting callers on the air on either station.
Undeniably, WBCN was a unique station in its heyday.  Not my cup of 
tea, but they did what they did very well.

Maybe we're just all getting old.  I'll be the first to admit that I 
don't "get" Facebook, Twitter, text messaging and other ways today's 
generation communicates.  Would today's teens/20somethings respond to 
radio the way it was done in the 60s & 70s or would they think it 
hopelessly quaint?