The "De-Peopling" of a People Industry

During the Great Depression of the 1930s the famous Pennsylvanian chocolate magnate, Milton Hershey, took advantage of the low cost of building materials and set out to construct a community building, a hotel and a school. In making his announcement, he said, “Regarding the steam shovels that do the work of 40 men, take them off this job and hire 40 men.” And so they were hired—40 of them—during the Great Depression. Some lessons can be drawn from this, still many more from Hershey’s life, but that’s another article.

At the risk of waxing sentimental, I would like to reminisce about how the Radio business used to be. Over the years, we in the business have scaled back on our most valuable resource— people—all in the interest of technology and economics. Not that long ago there was at least one person in every radio station overnight, and a handful in the evening complete with a live local news cast at 10 or 11 p.m. Now, many radio stations are deserted after 5 p.m. with everything running on one of the various software systems that enable voice tracks and run a fully loaded music library in a box.

Even the look of radio stations has changed. I’ve been in some that look more like high-tech firms, very corporate, quiet and blah. Where are the posters and records (or CDs) in the halls? Where is the loud music from the studios? What about the oddly-dressed announcers (and producers) talking to the sharp dressed sales people… you know, “the suits and the dungarees” of WKRP in Cincinnati fame?

I remember a time as an evening announcer having to jam the request lines after 10 p.m. because I didn’t think I could handle another request for Bon Jovi’s You Give Love A Bad Name, (which most kids called “Shot Through the Heart”). I remember settling music trivia arguments between late night revelers, helping high school students with their homework and explaining to young listeners why I couldn’t play their songs on other radio stations. Then there was the distraught woman who called me up wondering what to do about the duck that had been defecating on her front lawn for three days straight. True story. (Not quite knowing what to say, I told her to stop feeding it. I don’t know if that worked but she never called back.) Those calls were genuine people moments.

I believe listeners miss hearing and connecting with their favourite night-time announcers. It was a good time when people knew that they could call them up to request a song or to just chat. It made listeners feel good and motivated announcers. Now if I’m in the station after hours, I’ll often hear the studio line ringing down the hall in the booth. It’s just too bad that there’s no one there to pick it up.

The radio industry, hung up on the bottom line, seems to have lost interest in people—and therefore, people have lost interest in it. By “going virtual” (read: cheap) in most day parts, I think we’ve cut off our noses to spite our faces for radio. They say things change but I don't think everything has to change.

Here’s what I think. Radio—especially Christian radio, in which I now work—needs to return to an earlier time and “people up”. Years of “people-cutting” and selling stations to large media conglomerates hasn’t led to record profits. Building relationships is what this business is about. Let’s hire evening and overnight jocks to do live local shows and have someone in our stations all the time. Live night-time radio was special, so let’s bring it back and the buzz that went with it will return as well.

I say this believing that there is still room for local radio (and TV) stations in the communications universe. This could very well be local radio and TV’s time. Is this just a pipe-dream? You don’t think you can afford it? Sure, money is a big concern, but when it came to investing in people, Milton Hershey, who died a multi-millionaire, knew he couldn’t afford not to.

A slightly altered version of this article appeared in Broadcast Dialogue magazine in July 2009