Tell Me Why

Why did you want to work in radio?

I've asked that here before. I'm asking that again because I suspect things have changed. But back to the question: Why? What was it that made you think that radio was what you wanted to do for a career? Was it the excitement of listening to your favorite DJ or talk host in your youth, thinking that it seemed like a cool way to make a living, telling jokes or spouting your opinion on the magic box? Was it the best way you saw to do exactly what you wanted to do on a creative level? Was it the money? No, it wasn't the money. Couldn't have been.

Nevertheless, something drew you to do this. For most of us, there were a lot fewer options than there are now. Radio, among those, had a special place, because it was someplace where words painted the picture, and there seemed -- seemed -- to be more freedom to be different, even if the reality was that you had all sorts of formatics and rules and restrictions on what you could say and do. And the magic of talking into a mic and being heard all over the Tri-State Area was still, yes, magic.

If you were starting out today, would you feel the same way? I don't think so. For one thing, what used to be solely the province of the radio medium now has lots more platforms. You want to reach the Tri-State Area? Radio's fine. You want to reach more than that? You want the potential to talk to everyone, everywhere? Here you go, a USB mic and the laptop you already have, or even just your phone: record, upload, and your podcast or stream is international. You want to do something creative? Meet your PD, your corporate PD, your consultant, and the FCC. They'll beat that instinct out of you in no time. You want magic? Hmm. Let me get back to you on that.

No, in fairness, there's still something about doing live radio that you don't feel doing a podcast or posting to Twitter or doing a Facebook Live video. I've done all of those; they are all very different media and require different skills. But I'm not sure that young people really get that feeling about radio anymore, partly because there are so many other options and partly because what's on the air these days is perceived as bland and more of a utility -- "it's what's on when I get into the car" -- than a creative medium.

Which brings me to my point: To keep attracting new talent, radio has to define what makes it special. The industry has stepped up its game in reaching out to young prospects in recent years, and it's been pretty impressive to see things like the Ria's Rising Stars scholarship at the Worldwide Radio Summit, Dan Vallie's Radio Talent Institute programs, the MIW program, and the Conclave every year. The service to people who are sold on the idea of coming into this industry has been getting better and better. The issue for me, however, is making sure that the demand for these programs gets bigger and bigger with a larger talent pool every year, and for that, I think the industry needs to define what it can do for a young creative person. I've raised that issue before at conventions, and I've gotten mostly blank stares in response, because I think that radio's appeal has always been taken for granted. Why WOULDN'T a young talented person want to be on the radio? Maybe because there are other options that don't involve someone telling you what to do, that don't require you to stick to the liner cards, that don't have the spectre of being replaced by voice tracking hanging over every local jock's head.

Kids don't grow up wanting to be Dan Ingram or the Morning Zookeeper or even Howard Stern anymore; they can be whatever they want to be on their own, on a podcast or on social media. But radio can offer things others can't. Even with the growth of podcasting, radio offers an existing built-in audience larger than most podcasts. The skills learned in doing radio will make a talent better in the other media. If we're talking music radio, you get to play music you can't afford to license for podcasts or video. And radio can still (please stop laughing and wheezing out Chapter 11 references) offer salaries. Making money with a podcast is still reserved for a precious few. Radio can pay your bills without the need for Patreon. That's worth something, and, yeah, I've had plenty of podcasters ask me about career opportunities in radio. You can't underestimate the power of the dollar. Long term, radio should offer more creative freedom and less cookie-cutter one-size-fits-all programming to attract talent, but let's go with one thing at a time.

And, yes, "because I needed a job that paid my rent" or "I got 5 downloads a month with my podcast and I figured that any size audience would be better than that" aren't as appealing reasons for going into radio as your misty-eyed memories of listening to WLS on your transistor radio under your covers so Mom and Dad wouldn't hear. Whatever works, right? If the appeal of radio doesn't define itself the way it used to, radio as an industry needs to sell itself to creative people, and sales talent, and anyone else who, in days of yore, would have given their right arm to be a part of it. We can't assume the cream of the talent crop will be coming to us anymore. They don't have an answer for "Why did you want to work in radio?," because they may not even be thinking about working in radio. Radio might have to start answering that question for them now.

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Whether they go into radio or into podcasting or into idle chat with the customers while barista-ing, new talent, as well as you oldsters, will find all the material you need at Talk Topics, the show prep column at All Access News-Talk-Sports, and it's all free. Check it out by clicking here and/or by following the Talk Topics Twitter feed at @talktopics with every story individually linked to the appropriate item. There's the Podcasting section at AllAccess.com/podcasts.

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My podcast is "The Evening Bulletin with Perry Michael Simon," a quick (two minutes or less) daily thing, and you can get it at Apple Podcasts/iTunes, Google Play Music, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, Stitcher, and RadioPublic. Spotify, too. You can also use the RSS feed and the website where you can listen in your browser, or my own website where they're all embedded, too.

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It was great to see everyone at Worldwide Radio Summit in Hollywood last week, and thanks to Gina Juliano, Tom Leykis, Steve Goldstein, Doug Reed, and Rob Greenlee for offering excellent insight on my "The Future of Everything" panel. Next? I'll be on panel about podcasting with Seth Resler, Dave Beasing, Sheryl Worsley, and Michael Brandvold at The Conclave in July in Minneapolis. After that, I'll be at Podcast Movement in Philadelphia in July, where there'll surely be a lot of folks who would be interested in radio, too. Maybe I'll see you there.

Perry Michael Simon Vice President/Editor, News-Talk-Sports and Podcast AllAccess.com psimon@allaccess.com www.facebook.com/pmsimon Twitter @pmsimon Instagram @pmsimon