The Producer And The Product

It's been a long time since radio program directors -- we're not used to calling then "brand managers" yet, are we? -- actually had time to listen to everything that goes out over the air. Most are juggling multiple stations and all kinds of additional responsibility, piled on them when GMs and corporate types realized that they might be able to get away with making one person do the jobs of four or five, all the better to scratch a few more salaries off the books. You know the saga, and perhaps you've lived it.

I'm lucky. I moved out of programming just as the industry was in the early stages of the Great Consolidation, so I only had to deal with one station at a time. That's not how it goes today, and so, things happen. I was reminded about that by the Buffalo story, the one in which a rock station's morning co-host went where a host should know not to go and tried out some racial humor and is now unemployed as a result. When you hear about something like that, you have to ask yourself how something like that goes out over the air, and why there was nobody to say no when it mattered. Maybe it couldn't be the PD, but SOMEONE should have been there for the host to run the bit by before blurting it out on the air, and if it was entirely off the cuff, someone should have pulled the plug on it one way or another, whether it was the co-hosts who should have immediately said something -- sorry if that goes against the impulse to never derail another comic's bit, but sometimes you just gotta -- or a producer. That, however, didn't happen, and so we have a firing and suspensions and advertiser blowback and a reputation needing repair. Didn't have to happen. Did happen. That's radio, 2021 style.

That's all kinds of business, 2021 style, because radio's far from the only industry in which the product doesn't get the TLC it needs and disasters occur. But radio can't blame the pandemic for this one. The biggest problem is how radio rarely values producing as a job that deserves respect and, not incidentally, an executive-level paycheck. This has been going on for decades. There are exceptions, but, let's face it, in most cases, at most stations, regardless of market size, "producer" means "morning show character," or "stunt boy," or call screener, or some measure of subordinate. I've worked at major, major market stations where producers were culled from the intern and call screener pools, no experience necessary. We were putting people with no demonstrated aptitude for making a good radio show in a position charged with the responsibility of, well, making a good radio show. Some rose to the occasion, but some didn't, but, hey, the GM didn't have to worry about another high salary.

The Producer position should be one of the most important, highest-ranked jobs on the content side of the business. That's what "Producer" means in movies and TV (okay, it's also an honorific bestowed on the star's agent or best friend, but it can also be an actual job). In radio, it should not be a step down from anything. And a producer -- at minimum, one for each show -- should be empowered to be in charge of everything that goes out over the air on that show. It should be someone who works closely with the hosts to help them perform to the best of their abilities, makes sure they have everything they need -- content-wise and otherwise -- to do their shows, and advocates for the show in dealings with management and sales. And in that case, the producer, working with the talent, would be the one to immediately know the danger topics and find a way to dissuade the host from doing them, defusing the situation before it becomes a problem.

Radio is not the only medium trying to come to grips with what a producer does and how they should be valued; podcasting is grappling with the same issues, except that, as a relatively new business, it's become a labor issue, with producers beginning to stand up for themselves and unionize. Exactly what a producer does for each podcast is variable, but the people hired to make those podcasts sound good and do the research and create valuable audio content are not meekly taking what the podcast network people are feeding them. Over at Hot Pod, Skye Pillsbury wrote a very good piece this week on what's happening on that front, which you should read once you're done here, but one thing that jumped out to me was how, according to a staffer, a corporate manager who was in charge of a prominent podcast admitted that she hadn't listened to a single episode of the show while the podcast in question plodded along with management allegedly considering the employees interchangeable and replaceable, leaving the staff to make it up as they went along.

Sound familiar? Yeah, been there, too, both in radio and podcasting. Which means that someone ought to define exactly what a producer does for audio and make it a bigger, more secure, more important position than what management seems to think it is. YES, I KNOW THAT NOBODY WANTS TO PAY FOR THIS AND IT'S UNLIKELY TO HAPPEN. But the indistinct job description radio has laid upon "producer" means that in many cases the job of quality assurance isn't being done. The PD can't do everything, the station won't give the producer the respect and responsibility the job should have, and the next thing you know, someone's doing racial "humor" or spouting election fraud falsehoods on the air and it's too late.

You want professional content? Make the front line job that's in charge of the content a professional position. Treat the producer as a professional. What it costs you in salary will be returned several times over in quality, salability, and peace of mind knowing that you have someone responsible in charge.

And a good producer (okay, editor, since we're talking about the written word) would have told me to shut up several paragraphs ago.

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Producer or host, someone's gotta gather material for your show, and that's where All Access' show prep column Talk Topics can help. Click here and/or follow the Talk Topics Twitter feed at @talktopics with every story individually linked to the appropriate item. Also check out "10 Questions With..." WIBC/Indianapolis afternoon co-host Jason Hammer, who co-hosts a talk show that is definitely not the typical radio talk show -- think of "Hammer and Nigel" as more like a rock morning show with a dose of politics amongst the comedy that somehow ended up on a talk station and you're closer to it. He also hosts a sports betting show on WIBC's sister station 107.5 The Fan, so there's some of that in the interview, too. It's a good one and you should go read it.

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Do you need another reminder to register now for the 2021 virtual All Access Audio Summit? Okay, then here's a reminder that I'll be on the agenda with my panel on moving from radio to podcasting, with Atlanta's Jeff and Callie Dauler and Steve Goldstein as the experts who have done what you're thinking of doing, and me as comic relief. It's on April 21st. Register now. Jason Aldean just got added to the agenda, if you're into Country music. You can send in questions for Joel to ask Bob Pittman (I have, and they're what you'd expect I'd ask, so it could get quite interesting.) You should be there, and you don't even have to travel to do that this year, so come on already.

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