I admit I’m a little biased here because I’ve made a living being a DJ and radio personality all of my adult life. But, who among us cannot remember at least one DJ who made growing up more fun, made traffic jams less of a hassle, or made lonely nights less abandoned. DJs never judge you, never monopolize your time (you control the knob), and carry on the conversation even when you’re too tired to answer.
DJs are always there for you even when you forget their names or the stations they work for when you fill out an Arbitron diary (the crucial moment that could make the difference between them having a job or not in the future). Besides dogs, DJs are about the only other thing in life that will give you unconditional love no matter how much you take them for granted.
Lousy and repetitive programming
You’re probably right on this one. The current state of Radio is not a banquet, it’s a TV dinner. There are a limited amount of formats to be heard from city to city and stations jockey back and forth between them. Playlists for these formats many times seem stale and repetitive. Part of the problem is the Radio industry operates under paranoia: radio stations fear an unfamiliar song or an unproven one will cause listeners to tune out. Tune outs mean lower ratings, and lower ratings mean less revenue. And revenue is essential because remember: you are not paying the bills.
As a I mentioned in an earlier article, we now have “New Radio” like Satellite, Internet, and even Podcasting. Then there’s “Old Radio” like AM and FM. Instead of just bashing it as useless and full of flaws, maybe we should try and put it into perspective and realize like a grandparent who has toiled hard for the family, it is old enough to at least warrant a little respect for what it has been and what it still is to some.
