spinetta

Inside the Radio Industry: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Methinks the ugliest fact about radio is the preponderance of homogeneous radio stations. There are far too many identical radio stations with no local content and no formatting beyond a jaunty first name ("Jack", "Alice", blah, blah, blah) and the wacky, nutty idea to sound like a musically inept cheapskate's iPod shuffle.

Additional frequencies were licensed with lip service given to diversity and local content. Station ownership restrictions gave way to faceless corporate radio, and the bland, "safe for advertising" drivel that followed led to declining revenues.

Try a healthy dose of local, original programming for a few of your surplus frequencies. Sure, you'll have to convince the locals that they'll hear genuine radio after years of selling them swill, but differentiation will initially win market share. Continue to excel through differentiation, and your market may even grow.

Media is about more than cost control and centralized advertising departments. Media is about content, and terrestrial radio is all about local content.