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I don't think standards are better today than 10-30 years ago, the main reason I think is the talent pool is shallower these days due to networking and automation. I can understand why operators do this from a financial angle, however, gone are the days when a newcomer could ply their trade on say mid dawn shifts out in the country.
These days, newcomers are thrown in the deep end of breakfast or they work their way up through bigger markets by starting as a production assisitant or promotional car drivers....(eg Black Thunders). Quite often, you'll hear certain people on air in markets like the Gold Coast, Newcastle, Wollongong or even the cap cities who would never have been considered for such roles 10-15 years ago. On top of this, many talented people are moving onto other industries which offer better stabilty and financial rewards, networking and automation have certainly created less job security.
As a teenager I'd spend every possible moment listening to the radio. It was live, it was interactive, it was unedited, it was exciting, it was cool.
I would wait patiently to hear Waynie Poo Roberts 'chrome plate' a listener in the old 4IP days. I remember being huddled around the radio waiting to hear what he'd do next.
I remember the hysteria when Boy George opened the office of Stereo 10 on Milton Road. It stopped traffic. It made the news. It was so damn cool.
Obviously times change and radio is just one of a million things people can now enjoy.
Now commercialism dicates programming. As a teen listener I naively thought radio was 'about the music'. My ignorance was bliss. I can even remember the first song I ever requested. It was 1981 and the band was Split Enz.
But I grew up and soon realised radio wasn't about the music. It's about formulas, the commercial gain, the personalities, the ratings.
Think back to the time you yearned for airtime. Think back to the time you wanted to be noticed. Think back to when you lived and breathed every radio moment.
Is it just me or are those moments becoming fewer and farther between?
Commercial pressures and interests have changed the radio landscape. And, let's face it, why wouldn't they. Radio licences are big biccies. A lot of revenue has to be generated to maintain those.
But it's sad to see the passion for the product filtered through the commercial filter. Now we've got to worry about filling the station's obligation to a client instead of what sounds good to the listener.
Who is radio for these days? The client V the listener?
We've got to admit - the client pays our wage. So should we bite the hand that feeds us?? And does radio in 2008 give us the appetite?
Yes, radio is different to what it was 20 years ago. But so is the world. It's simply a sign of the times. And programmers have to find that new balance in the ever-changing world of media technologies. I wish them luck ... because our jobs depend on it.