What a wasted opportunity.
Before there was the famous Howard Stern who made mega bucks for the listeners he draws, there was the not-so-famous one who was lucky to work at one radio station at a time who appreciated his talents.
The reason he exists today is because he came up through what used to be a very viable and lucrative talent system the Radio industry adhered to.
It worked like this: acquire unique talent capable of being local, promote them, and then let them blossom. Longevity and consistency are essential factors that contribute to success in this business. Instead of looking for a quick or generic fix, its too bad Infinity is not willing to let the local markets and local managers actually do their job and find the “right” replacement for Stern that matches the needs and pulse of each market.
Of course, with Stern’s exit, Infinity stands to lose millions in revenue. But, there’s no assurance any Stern replacement will be able to stop that runoff of dollars.
Besides, the real core Stern listeners are going to blow their wad and jump over to Satellite Radio. What each market will have left are the half-committed Stern listeners and one big hole – a hole each station would be better served by hiring the right talent – not just a replacement talent.
Radio’s history demonstrates quite clearly that it is the individual performer; the iconoclast; the talent that could not be restrained; the new voice with a unique twist which usually has garnered the most attention and loyalty.
There are scores of morning shows ready to move up who just need a break. These are the people Radio should be nurturing. They cannot only entertain, they can be local and listeners and clients like that. There’s something else local morning shows can do that syndicated hosts general can’t: give the station some real heart in the community instead of being a generic, Tin Man operation.
Howard Stern leaving Infinity and going to SIRIUS Satellite Radio is nothing less than a death in the Infinity family. The five stages of grief are: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance and the high level poobahs at Infinity should realize an era, in a sense, is over for them (and terrestrial Radio) and its time to find the inner strength to accept that and move on.
Truthfully, there really is no replacing Howard Stern. He is evolving – and rightly so – and quite honestly, Stern didn’t leave terrestrial Radio – it left him.
In my opinion, AM and FM Radio is at a crossroads.
And just like the Big 3 TV Networks are slowly being made irrelevant by their own unique rivalries, the competition from Satellite Radio, Internet streams, iPods - and whatever else is next we don’t even know about yet - is slowly squeezing the life out of terrestrial Radio.
It would be a grand gesture for Infinity to demonstrate belief in the local managers at the stations they own by realizing there IS radio after Howard Stern and it can just as easily be found among the numerous and lesser-known talents who - if given the chance - have the ability to also keep their company profitable.
This would be a great time for a great company to make a bold move.
