From the Chicago Tribune..this one covers a lot of issues in a fairly short length including the cost of getting airplay these days.. http://www.interprep.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000292.html

Great read Shannon! But were in the hell does that clown from Clear Channel get off saying that they are responsive to the listeners and the so called mom and pop stations were not? I worked for a few of those single owner stations over the years and a good many of them were very responsive not just for listeners but to their communities as a whole. The only reason that the majors get away with what they do is that have eliminated any competition by buying up entire markets. That idiot sounds like those other clowns in Washington who remind us just how lucky we are to have our taxes increased every year.

Hey Shannon-
thanks for the info, very enlightening. I agree with most of what the article says, regular radio is dying unless these big guys change their ways. Most of what's left around here is oldies, meaning late 50's to early 70's R&R, talk radio, and pop bland.
The only stations I listen to with regularity are a contemporary christian, then NPR for news, and a local college station for jazz (not smooth) and a similar one for classical. That makes up a total of about 2 hours a week. The rest of my music listening time (40 or 50 hours a week, while I work mostly) is CD's of what I WANT to hear.
My biggest concern (with Dave) is keeping the government out of this, they already screwed up giving monopolies control of the airwaves (a little Orwellian?) and now with the tarriff per play per listener for streaming content, it will kill innovation and uniqueness in internet radio. Hopefully those with powerful voices in music will side with the artist and see the internet as a huge distribution channel, and work out some other way to deal with royalties. It always always comes back to money.
Sad but true.
Thanks again, that was a good read. For your sake, I hope radio survives, but I also hope you have other career plans just in case.....things can change rapidly with a fickle consumer commodity like "taste" and "art", especially when "money" is involved.
Later
TonyY

Ok, I'll provide the subtitles so you can see in plain English, what Randy Michaels, the CEO of Clear Channel, said.

"Bend over deep, you'll really enjoy this!"

Now my response to him,

"If you don't play what I want to hear, then I ain't gonna listen!"

We used to have several full time jazz radio stations in the area. Tony probably remembers WFAE out of Charlotte. They were a public radio station that played jazz most of the time. Thanks to them I learned about bands like Kilauea, Skywalk, Rush Hour, Pocket Change and other less than nationally known groups. But now they are strictly Public Radio, or at least they were last time I listened. Then we had another one that lasted for several years but didn't last. Tony may know if there is another jazz radio station in his area, since I don't cover that territory anymore.

But the percentage of CD play to radio play in my Jeep is about 98% CD. There is one college station in town that plays an hour or so in the morning, then goes to Gospel and other types of music that I don't care for. Then on Sunday, there is a Sunday Morning Jazz show on a station that I believe was bought out by Clear Channel at the same time that Shannons was. Nancy had her own sponsors for the show, so I guess that is the only reason that her show survived. She picks her own songs to play so she has full control over what is played. But unlike Shannon, she usually just plays what she sees the BIG BOYS think should be played. She does throw some older songs in, like early Spyro Gyra and Jean Luc Ponty, but Sade is usually heard every Sunday. But then she is the one that turned me on some vocalist such as Marylyn Scott and a Fillipina named Kuh. The latter being one of the better CD's that I have.

But once again, if there was a jazz radio station in town and all it played was the same 20 songs day in and day out, then I would still play my CD's all day. I can't get Shannon's Sunlight here at work, because they block all Real Player and Media player type files. Otherwise I would be playing it 8 hours a day. But at home over the weekend, I'll keep it going, and listen for a song that I really like but don't know the name of. Then I write it down so I can look into buying it.

If Advertisers realize that people aren't listening to radio, because people don't want to hear what they are playing, they will pull the dollars out from underneath them, and maybe that will get their attention.

------------------
Layne-NC

I am one of the lucky ones..being an ADHD case has its benefits. I have other things that I love to do that I could get paid for. By the time I was downsized by AM/FM (which eventually became Clear Channel) I was already making a decent income teaching group fitness. At the time I was working 7-mid and all night and overnight airtalents were being replaced with voicetracking but the station kept me on part time..When Cox bought us I started voicetracking my old shift (they certainly weren't going to pay Clear Channel to have one of their people voicetrack it!) so I was still part time but got a lot of hours. When our station totally automated with no live DJs I moved into writing and producing commercials..which is much more creative than being on the air reading liner cards anyway. I ended up making more money doing radio and fitness as 2 PT jobs than I did in radio full time..I always intended to work with either plants or animals at some point and I lucked into the horticulture job and I will probably move more into garden and floral design (so if any of you decide to plan a wedding keep that in mind ) I also was in retail management for quite a while and did Administrative Assistant work..so I am not one of the ones freaking out because they have never done anything else and have always lived, walked, ate and talked radio and now either have no job or have a job where they are not allowed a bit of creativity or personality. I know so many people who are at loose ends because radio is all they know and all they thought they would ever need to know..and if they have to get a job to get by they end up taking something they don't enjoy. I still yell over loud music..just in front of a class instead of in a studio..
The only thing I miss is my Sunday AM show and what I miss about that is the process of sharing this music with the listeners in my hometown. After youve been on for 10 years it is more like hanging out with your friends on a Sunday AM than doing a radio show AND there are so many great artists that I could expose to a really large audience that listeners loved but the music wasn't making it past the gatekeepers and onto the air at the corporate full time stations (cases in point: Jeff K.s first 2 CDs, SteveOs "First View", Richard Smith..lots of Acoustic Alchemy and so much more).
The irony is that I put "Sunlight" up because former listeners were always asking me where they could hear their music, and people in the offices where I do the plants wanted the music too..but a lot of them can't listen at work for the reason Layne mentioned above,,files like that are blocked at their workplaces because they apparently really clog up the servers..or something (thats Kat and Nathans territory..I just play with the toys I don't know how they work!)

[This message has been edited by Shannon West (edited April 22, 2002).]

Shannon,

Thanks for the link to a great read. I too agree with Dave, Tony and Layne. Dave and Layne, I wish you would stop sitting on the fence and really share your true inner thoughts with us. ;> )

One other thing that's a burr under my saddle is the recently increased prices of cds, with in the last 4-5 months. I think this price inflation, coupled with what is happening in radio formats and the proposed financial hit to internet streaming, will have a detrimental impact on Jazz. Who am I kidding, it has already happened. My hope is that there are people who are "mad as h@!! and won't take it anymore."

Thanks again for the read and follow-up opinions and comments.

Happy listening.
L.

Shannon, glad to hear you have found other ways to keep going.....you're right being ADHD has it's advantages! HA! Hey, nothing wrong with having a variety of interests and talents....as my schizoid alter ego sez, the more the merrier! Throw in some memory loss, and it looks like Florida is next on my list of places that will have me (and my 6 other faces)....Seriously, I'm glad you are not only surviving but actually growing out of all this. Way to go, girl.....
Layne, yeah, I used to listen to WFAE day and night- I would play it at my day job and when starting my business after hours and at night, would have on the headphones for hours. Played it in the car too. Now it is NPR. They MAY do a jazz show once a week or something, but I don't know anymore, I gave up on them when the gave up on contemporary jazz. There is a station out of Greenville, SC that does a Sunday afternoon show, don't know the call letters right off, around 98.9 I think....haven't listened in a while.
Why bother? Between MP3's (usually free!!) of great but unknown talent, used CD's (yeah, I paid 13 bucks for the new Ripps, but it was because I had a 5 buck off store credit- these new CD's at 17 to 19 bucks is ridiculous)- and streaming internet, I have no reason to turn on the radio. I may just pull it out of the car.
Now the satellite radio idea is good though- I could go for that, if the rates were like a few bucks a month or something.
Gotta go, time to run the shuttle bus for my son.......
tonyy

You have my sympathies....so was I!

LibraLady..True That!! At first it was OK because Camelot was still owned by the people who founded it but when they sold it to a big corporation all the stores became cookie cutter..we all had to promote the same CDs and could no longer program any of our own listening stations, we even had a script we had to memorize to greet customers when they entered the store (which scared them mostly!)..It was great training for post-deregulation radio (I left Camelot in '96 right when radio culture was becoming corporate and cookie cutter). In their eyes I was a horrible supervisor too because I can't treat people like dirt.
Tony..the station in Greenville/Spartanburg was WSPA formerly Lite Rock98.9 now Magic 98.9. My former PD became PD there a little over a year ago and at the time they were doing "Smooth Jazz" on Weeknights and weekend evenings, he was used to the way our shows sounded down here and he sent me their database to see if I could fix it..it was all covers and real RnB based stuff..lots of Kim Waters and Waymon Tisdale..no Rippingtons and hardly any Boney, Peter or Rick. Totally incompatible with the audience they had (you cant be pop in the daytime and go Urban at night, you end up lising listeners from both sides that way..if youre gonna do CJAzz on a pop station it has to be the pop side of the genre) I burned a whole music library for him and did the database but the ratings had been horrible for a long time and the company believed strongly that to win the station needed to sound the same 24 hours a day so they don't do CJazz anymore. However since my friend took over they have doubled their ratings and they are beating their Clear Channel competition for the first time.
Any blow against a CC station is worth whatever it takes!



[This message has been edited by Shannon West (edited April 22, 2002).]

Shannon-
Glad to hear your former PD is doing well there- I haven't listened in several months, so I didn't know they had given up on CJazz...too bad, but I understand the reasons; it's all about ratings. Yeah, anything that hits CC is good to me, too....what a soul-less monster.
It would be nice to see a resurgence of CJ around here- one of the best venues in town is doing jazz concerts again- Fourplay, Check Loeb and Jeff Kashiwa are all coming within the next two months, and I am emailing Russ REGULARLY to get them here- it takes a local promoter willing to ante up, I wish I knew of one, I'd be calling him too!
BTW, love this weather today, it is wonderful- spring fever has hit me between the eyes....oh, no, that would be the pollen hitting the sinuses I guess.....feels the same. Get out and breathe when you get the chance!
Thanks
Tonyy