Shallow Talent Pool

I normally won't talk about work...but I am gonna blog about the "radio industry" as a whole...not my stations.

I am so sick of hearing about radio stations who keep putting on non-radio people to host big radio shows. And when their ratings suck...they don't know why. When Howard Stern left terrestrial radio to go to Sirius Satellite Radio...he left a huge hole for the geniuses at CBS Radio to fill. So who did they put on-the-air to cover several of his markets? David Lee Roth. Wha? Just because his songs were once played on the radio with regularity...doesn't mean he can be a good jock. I am telling you...it is NOT easy. So many people think "hell I can do that." Ahem....I would bet a pay check that 99.9% of you can't just walk up to a mic and do a GOOD show. It takes talent AND practice. You wanna know who the other person CBS put on to "replace" Stern? Rover. Never heard of him? Right. The sad thing is he was a NIGHT jock on The Peak right here in Colorado about 4 years ago. For those of you who don't know.... a NIGHT jock is the worst shift...and usually only make about $10 an hour. Hoorah for Rover right? Wrong. Both David Lee Roth and Rover are stinking up the airwaves...just as much as we thought they would. And...Howard Stern.... is laughing all the way to the bank. CBS Radio has filed one of the most frivolous radio law suits I have ever heard of against Howard Stern. I could go off about that....later....another post. Anyway....back to the shallow radio talent pool.

Danny Bonaduce (yes the dork from The Partridge Family) got another - yes another - huge radio gig. I can't believe it. He stunk up the airwaves for years with another bad Colorado jock.... Jamie White on the syndicated "KISS" stations out of L.A. What's his new gig? Mr. Bonaduce was announced as the replacement for Adam Carolla on the show "Love Line." WHA? DANNY BONADUCE will be giving people ADVICE on their lives and love lives? Phhhlease. His show should be called "Do What I Say, Not What I Do" not "Love Line." Plus not to mention Danny's voice is worse than fingernails on a chalkboard. His voice makes me want to push pencils in my ears. Ha.

So, why has our radio talent pool gotten so shallow that we can't find good radio talent to put on the air? Well well well. We are a victim of our own plan. Radio companies have gotten so cheap that instead of paying some schmuck $10 an hour to work a weekend shift or an over-night shift...they either syndicate some idiot from another market or have their full-time day jocks "voice track" night and weekend shows. Plus, there is a whole new string of radio formats all over the nation that are designed to run without jocks. Not having to pay ANY jocks? It's virtual crack for the cheap radio companies.... cutting those salaries will save 100's of thousands of dollar PER station. So...that means that there are even fewer gigs for jocks to learn and get better to someday be talented enough to work at our big market stations.

People have asked me for years if terrestrial radio will survive with all of the new competition from satellite radio and iPods. My answer has always been, "radio will react to the competition the same way that network television reacted did when cable tv came around. Network television got better. They starting pumping money into marketing, research and better shows. They started hiring big time stars and talent to star on their shows. Network TV got BETTER to compete...and so will we." Well...if terrestrial radio keeps cutting off their own legs.... to save a buck...we won't have a chance to GET better....and we will lose.

Thank God I am a good waitress.