Bruce Theriault writes an excellent commentary today (Feb.18, 2009) about how public radio needs, more than ever, to "fix the problem" of its audience being overwhelming white (82%).
Unfortunately, the first solution he cites is Vocalo, the experimental radio project run by WBEZ in Chicago. The same Vocalo that ChicagoBusiness.com wrote an article about on Feb.16th regarding how a lot of WBEZ donors are furious at how WBEZ routed their donations to fund Vocalo despite major cuts at WBEZ, overall low ratings at Vocalo, and analysis that Vocalo is failing badly at appealing to a non-white audience. (only 29% of its listeners are non-white according to ChicagoBusiness)
Oops.
Bad timing there, Bruce. Doesn't mean you're not right, and I know that Vocalo has been badly hampered by delays in its long-planned signal upgrade that will let it cover more of the target market...but I'd still hustle up a quick re-write to downplay Vocalo as a shining example of how public radio needs to break out of it's "lily white" reputation.
Showing posts with label suckage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label suckage. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Monday, August 18, 2008
Destroy to Create
Word from Current is that Pandora, the "Internet radio service that allows listeners to customize musical selections to their own tastes", is about to die, fiscally. The article says it's chiefly because of incredibly unreasonable licensing fee structures the music labels have set up, and refuse to back down from.
The tone of the article is that, while it'd be sad to see Pandora go away, it might be for the "greater good". In the sense that, in order for the "big, bad, archaic music labels" to ultimately die, every possible revenue source for them must be destroyed first in order to choke them into submission.
I often espouse the "creation through destruction" manifesto...the Tyler Durden Eight Rules About Life, if you will. But here I fear that while it may be the only strategy, it is still a failing one.
I say that because, if I may speak bluntly, many music labels are cockroaches. They're impossible to kill. They're run by soulless, slimy bastards who know that there will always be some wide-eyed doe of a musician willing to sign their life away for peanuts in a deal that makes the label rich and screws everyone else. The music industry seems to attract these kind of people like rats to garbage. Actually that's unfair, the media industry as a whole seems to attract those people. Lord knows I've dealt with quite a few of them in various jobs I've had working in radio, and I've been lucky to only have to deal with a few since I'm mostly on the college/non-commercial side of things. The lessor dollar amounts inherent to this side of radio tends to mitigate the sliminess somewhat.
If you're of the industry and offended by what I'm writing, I say that by no means has everyone I've worked with been a soulless slimy bastard. And I'm not going to say here who I think was one. If you can't handle the potential of accusation, you either don't know me very well or perhaps you need to re-examine your career choice. ;-)
Getting back on topic, the music labels seem determined to pursue a self-destructive model of royalties. A model that guarantees their eventual destruction through alienation of every other participant in the process. A model that maximizes what little short-term gain can be had...and it's not much...at the expense of potentially (and likely) destroying everything in the long term.
But it will be a long, slow and painful death match to that "long term", my friends. These are people who have made a living out of cheating, lying and general scumbaggery for at least forty years. They will learn how to eat their young for a long time before the inevitable finally occurs.
So don't hold your breath thinking that Pandora's death will bring change anytime soon. It will have to get much, much worse before that happens. And it's a damn shame.
The tone of the article is that, while it'd be sad to see Pandora go away, it might be for the "greater good". In the sense that, in order for the "big, bad, archaic music labels" to ultimately die, every possible revenue source for them must be destroyed first in order to choke them into submission.
I often espouse the "creation through destruction" manifesto...the Tyler Durden Eight Rules About Life, if you will. But here I fear that while it may be the only strategy, it is still a failing one.
I say that because, if I may speak bluntly, many music labels are cockroaches. They're impossible to kill. They're run by soulless, slimy bastards who know that there will always be some wide-eyed doe of a musician willing to sign their life away for peanuts in a deal that makes the label rich and screws everyone else. The music industry seems to attract these kind of people like rats to garbage. Actually that's unfair, the media industry as a whole seems to attract those people. Lord knows I've dealt with quite a few of them in various jobs I've had working in radio, and I've been lucky to only have to deal with a few since I'm mostly on the college/non-commercial side of things. The lessor dollar amounts inherent to this side of radio tends to mitigate the sliminess somewhat.
If you're of the industry and offended by what I'm writing, I say that by no means has everyone I've worked with been a soulless slimy bastard. And I'm not going to say here who I think was one. If you can't handle the potential of accusation, you either don't know me very well or perhaps you need to re-examine your career choice. ;-)
Getting back on topic, the music labels seem determined to pursue a self-destructive model of royalties. A model that guarantees their eventual destruction through alienation of every other participant in the process. A model that maximizes what little short-term gain can be had...and it's not much...at the expense of potentially (and likely) destroying everything in the long term.
But it will be a long, slow and painful death match to that "long term", my friends. These are people who have made a living out of cheating, lying and general scumbaggery for at least forty years. They will learn how to eat their young for a long time before the inevitable finally occurs.
So don't hold your breath thinking that Pandora's death will bring change anytime soon. It will have to get much, much worse before that happens. And it's a damn shame.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Let the Pubradio Deathwatch Commence
Good grief. The number of public radio shows that either are rumored to be ending, or have confirmed their ending, is getting ridiculous! Let's do the list, shall we?
I don't really know for sure, but this is a mighty disturbing trend regardless. I especially find it troublesome that several of the most "unconventional" and "experimental" shows are the ones getting killed off. Granted, "experimental" by definition means you're not sure it's going to work...but I really think that most of these "experimental" shows should have worked but either weren't given the chance or were set up to fail.
- Radio Open Source (already well gone, albeit "reborn" as a podcast-only)
- Justice Talking (confirmed)
- Fair Game with Faith Salie (already gone)
- Word for Word (confirmed)
- The Bryant Park Project (confirmed)
- The Infinite Mind (rumored at KSKA's "Off-Mic" blog)
- Chicago Public Radio's Hello Beautiful and Right Now (confirmed)
- Free Speech Radio News (I know, not gone...but in dire fiscal straits)
- The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer (also not gone, but also fiscally hurting)
I don't really know for sure, but this is a mighty disturbing trend regardless. I especially find it troublesome that several of the most "unconventional" and "experimental" shows are the ones getting killed off. Granted, "experimental" by definition means you're not sure it's going to work...but I really think that most of these "experimental" shows should have worked but either weren't given the chance or were set up to fail.
Monday, July 14, 2008
NPR kills off the Bryant Park Project
Well, I sort-of-called it back in January, when Luke Burbank bailed on BPP for greener pastures in Seattle's powerhouse AM talker: KIRO. But today NPR officially announced the end of the Bryant Park Project.
I would imagine the biggest reason for the euthanasia was that NPR is not in good financial shape right now. I wouldn't call it a crisis, but the extended Democratic primary battle...while possibly good for the country...was a giant strain on NPR's resources. Not to mention the overall concept of an 18 month Presidential race (ugh!) was daunting enough from a financial standpoint.
Couple that with fewer than two dozen affiliates (no doubt many of which were on HD Radio multicast channels - and therefore with very small audiences) and it's not surprising that NPR claims they spent $2 million over nine months with nothing to show for it.
However, allow me to be among those that give a giant dope-slap to NPR. No crap you didn't get much pickup...it'd only been on the air for nine months! You're trying to convince stations to not air Morning Edition which is, by and large, the biggest moneymaker for every NPR affiliate out there. That's going to take YEARS, not just nine months.
However, as I said in January, Luke Burbank himself also deserves a lot of blame here. Well, okay, I shouldn't pretend to know all the reasons why he left BPP. But the reasons given in the Seattle Times article published at the time sure point to a massive egotistical a**hole. And I have no doubt in my mind that his departure spooked a lot of potential affiliates - who wants to risk your most profitable daypart to pick up a show that's so personality-driven when the host just quit after only two months? I think that skittishness eventually doomed BPP due to lack of affiliate stations.
Frankly, Alison Stewart's (the remaining BPP host) maternity leave didn't help. Is that sexist? (Alison honestly wanted to know) Perhaps, but I think in this particular case it's more of a perfect storm. The bottom line is that Stewart was going to be away from the show for at least several weeks...and frankly, I think that's as it should be. Dammit, are we all such wage slaves that we can't spend time with our newborns? I certainly feel we shouldn't be.
And in an ideal world, it wouldn't have been a problem for BPP because the other established host, Luke Burbank, would be there to pick up the slack for a few months and then Stewart would've returned and all would be well. But Burbank's ill-timed departure (Stewart went on leave barely three months later) meant that you had what was supposed to be a world-class alternative to a flagship program that had no permanent host, right at a time when a lot of news was happening and budgets were also being drained rapidly because of that news. That equals uncertainty and stations' program directors HATE uncertainty.
No wonder nobody else wanted to pick up the show. Hell, I didn't at WEOS...and for all the reasons I just outlined. I was pretty sure that NPR would eventually dump the show and I was right. Damn shame, but shame on NPR for giving up so quickly. Or for not having a plan that could deal with these problems.
I would imagine the biggest reason for the euthanasia was that NPR is not in good financial shape right now. I wouldn't call it a crisis, but the extended Democratic primary battle...while possibly good for the country...was a giant strain on NPR's resources. Not to mention the overall concept of an 18 month Presidential race (ugh!) was daunting enough from a financial standpoint.
Couple that with fewer than two dozen affiliates (no doubt many of which were on HD Radio multicast channels - and therefore with very small audiences) and it's not surprising that NPR claims they spent $2 million over nine months with nothing to show for it.
However, allow me to be among those that give a giant dope-slap to NPR. No crap you didn't get much pickup...it'd only been on the air for nine months! You're trying to convince stations to not air Morning Edition which is, by and large, the biggest moneymaker for every NPR affiliate out there. That's going to take YEARS, not just nine months.
However, as I said in January, Luke Burbank himself also deserves a lot of blame here. Well, okay, I shouldn't pretend to know all the reasons why he left BPP. But the reasons given in the Seattle Times article published at the time sure point to a massive egotistical a**hole. And I have no doubt in my mind that his departure spooked a lot of potential affiliates - who wants to risk your most profitable daypart to pick up a show that's so personality-driven when the host just quit after only two months? I think that skittishness eventually doomed BPP due to lack of affiliate stations.
Frankly, Alison Stewart's (the remaining BPP host) maternity leave didn't help. Is that sexist? (Alison honestly wanted to know) Perhaps, but I think in this particular case it's more of a perfect storm. The bottom line is that Stewart was going to be away from the show for at least several weeks...and frankly, I think that's as it should be. Dammit, are we all such wage slaves that we can't spend time with our newborns? I certainly feel we shouldn't be.
And in an ideal world, it wouldn't have been a problem for BPP because the other established host, Luke Burbank, would be there to pick up the slack for a few months and then Stewart would've returned and all would be well. But Burbank's ill-timed departure (Stewart went on leave barely three months later) meant that you had what was supposed to be a world-class alternative to a flagship program that had no permanent host, right at a time when a lot of news was happening and budgets were also being drained rapidly because of that news. That equals uncertainty and stations' program directors HATE uncertainty.
No wonder nobody else wanted to pick up the show. Hell, I didn't at WEOS...and for all the reasons I just outlined. I was pretty sure that NPR would eventually dump the show and I was right. Damn shame, but shame on NPR for giving up so quickly. Or for not having a plan that could deal with these problems.
Monday, June 02, 2008
Fair Game Bites the Dust
So I just heard that Fair Game with Faith Salie has been canceled; the last episode aired May 30th. Primo bummer - one of, if not the, only pubradio shows geared specifically for the twenty/thirtysomething audience and apparently it just never caught on: a stated reason for the cancellation is low carriage. Apparently after 17 months only 25 stations were airing it.
I'll grant ya, that was a more fair shake than what Pop Vultures got, but I suspect they both failed for the same reasons: most pubradio PD's are...regardless of their age, gender or race...effectively acting like stodgy old white men. I say that because most of pubradio's big donors are, in reality, stodgy old white men, and thus the PD's program their stations to cater to that audience. Some don't, but a lot do...you'll be hard-pressed to find a more risk-averse person than your average Program Director at a major-market station. He/she knows that one slip up could cost them thousands of listeners and thus millions of dollars. No wonder they're risk-averse! Thusly, one could argue that Fair Game is ahead of its time (sooner or later those old white men will gradually be replaced with younger generations)...or just argue that when you're up against that ingrained a mentality, it takes a looooong time to break through. Maybe 17 months wasn't long enough...maybe it would've taken five full years. But that is, I concede, a long time to be funding 13 fulltime staff members without seeing much in results.
Oh well, that's a rant for another day. I wanted to focus on something else: the supposed "low carriage". I take issue with that, because while it was only 25 stations, it was 25 stations in several major markets: Boston, New York, Dallas, Seattle, Miami. Also some of the bigger "secondary markets" like Charlotte (NC), Las Vegas and Columbus (OH).
Admittedly, there were several major markets it wasn't heard in: San Francisco, Philadelphia, Denver, Atlanta, Chicago or Los Angeles (well, it was on a Thousand Oaks station, which is near LA to the west, but it's by no means an "LA Station"). But still, to get half of the top ten markets in less than two years is not too shabby, even if the airtimes were, by and large, not so great. And their podcast following is huge, some 100,000 listeners.
I wonder if this highlights the difficulty of getting stations to pick up a daily show vs. a once-a-week show. There's almost always room somewhere on a Saturday or Sunday to shove in another show...even if it's a lousy timeslot. But weekdays are tougher; between ME, ATC, TOTN, and Fresh Air, you've already got at least seven hours...usually more like ten...committed already. Most stations also air Diane Rehm or OnPoint, and often repeat it, and an hour or two of the BBC, so there's one-half to two-thirds of the day (and all of the primetime hours) taken before you get to any of the "non flagship" programs.
Oh well, it's a shame...I was seriously thinking about picking up Fair Game to round out our upcoming Ithaca station, WITH. Probably would've played nicely there.
I'll grant ya, that was a more fair shake than what Pop Vultures got, but I suspect they both failed for the same reasons: most pubradio PD's are...regardless of their age, gender or race...effectively acting like stodgy old white men. I say that because most of pubradio's big donors are, in reality, stodgy old white men, and thus the PD's program their stations to cater to that audience. Some don't, but a lot do...you'll be hard-pressed to find a more risk-averse person than your average Program Director at a major-market station. He/she knows that one slip up could cost them thousands of listeners and thus millions of dollars. No wonder they're risk-averse! Thusly, one could argue that Fair Game is ahead of its time (sooner or later those old white men will gradually be replaced with younger generations)...or just argue that when you're up against that ingrained a mentality, it takes a looooong time to break through. Maybe 17 months wasn't long enough...maybe it would've taken five full years. But that is, I concede, a long time to be funding 13 fulltime staff members without seeing much in results.
Oh well, that's a rant for another day. I wanted to focus on something else: the supposed "low carriage". I take issue with that, because while it was only 25 stations, it was 25 stations in several major markets: Boston, New York, Dallas, Seattle, Miami. Also some of the bigger "secondary markets" like Charlotte (NC), Las Vegas and Columbus (OH).
Admittedly, there were several major markets it wasn't heard in: San Francisco, Philadelphia, Denver, Atlanta, Chicago or Los Angeles (well, it was on a Thousand Oaks station, which is near LA to the west, but it's by no means an "LA Station"). But still, to get half of the top ten markets in less than two years is not too shabby, even if the airtimes were, by and large, not so great. And their podcast following is huge, some 100,000 listeners.
I wonder if this highlights the difficulty of getting stations to pick up a daily show vs. a once-a-week show. There's almost always room somewhere on a Saturday or Sunday to shove in another show...even if it's a lousy timeslot. But weekdays are tougher; between ME, ATC, TOTN, and Fresh Air, you've already got at least seven hours...usually more like ten...committed already. Most stations also air Diane Rehm or OnPoint, and often repeat it, and an hour or two of the BBC, so there's one-half to two-thirds of the day (and all of the primetime hours) taken before you get to any of the "non flagship" programs.
Oh well, it's a shame...I was seriously thinking about picking up Fair Game to round out our upcoming Ithaca station, WITH. Probably would've played nicely there.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Rest in Peace, little Molly
Our beloved hamster Molly took a noticeable turn for the worse yesterday; her edema was very pronounced, she could barely walk, wasn't eating right...and she had stopped grooming herself at all. Plus she was breathing and shaking in a tell-tale way that indicated she was often in pain.
Yesterday I called the nice folks at Cats & Critters here in Rochester and made an appointment. Tonight at about 7:15pm, after much cuddling and a tasty last meal of cucumbers and cheese, we put Molly to sleep and she was cremated.I know it was the right thing to do. So does my wife. But nonetheless it was a very, very sad evening for both of us.
I miss our hamster.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
I Won't Say it Stinks, but it Sure Could be Better...
It has not been a good week. And it's only Tuesday.
As I had to boldly proclaim on the www.weos.org website, there was a major power outage in Geneva on Saturday thanks to the ice storm/blizzard. Triggered by that was a rash of major equipment failures: our automation system (Enco), our satellite downlinks (Pacifica demod) and our mix board system (Logitek). The first one seems to be mostly up and running again, the second one is down for the count and we're scrambling to find alternative means of acquiring Democracy Now and Free Speech Radio News. But the last is truly maddening...there's some glitch in the triggers table that crashes the entire Supervisor software (that controls the Audio Engine) whenever the wrong trigger is fired. Plus I'm still finding bizarrely-routed audio and commands everywhere; the system is amazingly intricate and complex...lots of flexibility but lots of places to go wrong.
And of course, this week we were supposed to have two live lectures and three sports games.
Arrrgh.
And to top it all off, our (meaning my wife and my) beloved hamster, Molly, is not doing well. I had to take her to the vet today because she was rapidly getting "fat". It turns out she's not fat at all, she's got tumors/cysts and has protein/fluid leakage...which is probably making it hard for her to breathe and is definitely making it hard for her to move around and also to groom herself properly. No wonder she's been sleeping so much.
I believe she's actually much older than we thought. The MSPCA wasn't sure, but they were told she was maybe 2 months old when she was donated to them, and subsequently we got her. But even then she was much too grown up to be that young...so we thought maybe she was six months old. Given what's happening now, and that we got her last July, I'm thinking she might've been over a year old back then.
But the inescapable fact is that Syrian hamsters only live maybe 2 or 3 years. So the bottom line is that she's dying. And that bites.
The vet didn't expect her to make it much beyond a few weeks, maybe a few months at most, before she got to the point where she'd be in so much pain and discomfort that we'll have to put her to sleep. Best we can do in the interim is some anti-inflammatory meds and to keep her as happy and comfortable as possible.
I haven't had a real pet in well over a decade, and I'd forgotten how much of a part of your life they become. Even little hamsters.
This sucks, man. :-(
As I had to boldly proclaim on the www.weos.org website, there was a major power outage in Geneva on Saturday thanks to the ice storm/blizzard. Triggered by that was a rash of major equipment failures: our automation system (Enco), our satellite downlinks (Pacifica demod) and our mix board system (Logitek). The first one seems to be mostly up and running again, the second one is down for the count and we're scrambling to find alternative means of acquiring Democracy Now and Free Speech Radio News. But the last is truly maddening...there's some glitch in the triggers table that crashes the entire Supervisor software (that controls the Audio Engine) whenever the wrong trigger is fired. Plus I'm still finding bizarrely-routed audio and commands everywhere; the system is amazingly intricate and complex...lots of flexibility but lots of places to go wrong.
And of course, this week we were supposed to have two live lectures and three sports games.
Arrrgh.
And to top it all off, our (meaning my wife and my) beloved hamster, Molly, is not doing well. I had to take her to the vet today because she was rapidly getting "fat". It turns out she's not fat at all, she's got tumors/cysts and has protein/fluid leakage...which is probably making it hard for her to breathe and is definitely making it hard for her to move around and also to groom herself properly. No wonder she's been sleeping so much.
I believe she's actually much older than we thought. The MSPCA wasn't sure, but they were told she was maybe 2 months old when she was donated to them, and subsequently we got her. But even then she was much too grown up to be that young...so we thought maybe she was six months old. Given what's happening now, and that we got her last July, I'm thinking she might've been over a year old back then.
But the inescapable fact is that Syrian hamsters only live maybe 2 or 3 years. So the bottom line is that she's dying. And that bites.
The vet didn't expect her to make it much beyond a few weeks, maybe a few months at most, before she got to the point where she'd be in so much pain and discomfort that we'll have to put her to sleep. Best we can do in the interim is some anti-inflammatory meds and to keep her as happy and comfortable as possible.
I haven't had a real pet in well over a decade, and I'd forgotten how much of a part of your life they become. Even little hamsters.This sucks, man. :-(
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
When 50,000 Watts Isn't Really 50,000 Watts
Caught this story in Current about "Community Wireless" (public radio) in Park City, Utah.
I don't have much to say about the situation in general, but I did want to point out something the article didn't touch on much. Let me set the scene...
The overall story is about how Community Wireless shrewdly sold a transmitter/facility they had in Coalville for a significant profit, and used the proceeds to buy 1010AM in Tooele, UT (a close-in suburb of Salt Lake City) with the idea of getting access to the more lucrative (population dense) Salt Lake City market.
Seems like a good idea in theory, but here's the problem. While 1010 is a nice 50,000 watt AM station during the day. It's still a Class D daytimer with a weak 3,100 watts during Critical Hours (the short time around sunrise/sunset) and a miserable 13 watts (yes, just thirteen watts) at night. Fortunately that 13 watts is right next to downtown SLC, so there's some chance that it's reaching a more densely populated area. But with all the sources of RF interference out there these days (wi-fi, cellphones, lamp dimmers, power lines, computers, etc) that 13 watts might as well be nothing.
The unfortunate reality is that in today's on-demand / instant-gratification age..."super D" AM's, that essentially disappear once the sun goes down, are damn near impossible to make work financially. You can't have your signal go "poof" right in the middle of morning or afternoon drive...or worse, miss it altogether. Well, okay, with some niche/block formats you can do it because listeners tune in for a specific show, regardless of the time of the day. But while public radio is somewhat inherently block-formatted, there's no denying that the two big listener draws are Morning Edition and All Things Considered...otherwise known as when everyone's driving to and from work. During the summer it's not as bad as there's more daylight, but during winter it's a giant bummer when the sun sets at 4pm and your signal disappears.
Even worse, you've got to make enough money to keep that 50,000 watts pumping out during the day; transmitters that big are not cheap to operate. At least it's an non-directional facility. I can't imagine how expensive it'd be to shove 50kW through a directional array.
I wish the article had focused on this more...it'd make the initial shrewdness of Community Wireless's owners seem more foolhardy, but that's kind of the point; CW spent a lot of money to try and make this work, and now the station is struggling financially. It appears the struggling is as much due to fiscal mismanagement (if not outright fraud) by CW's managers, but this transmitter point might be something you could point a finger at, too.
Or maybe not; I don't know enough about the background of the story to really know for sure. But my point still stands about how a lot of these Class D AM stations are in an inherently difficult...if not impossible...situation.
I don't have much to say about the situation in general, but I did want to point out something the article didn't touch on much. Let me set the scene...
The overall story is about how Community Wireless shrewdly sold a transmitter/facility they had in Coalville for a significant profit, and used the proceeds to buy 1010AM in Tooele, UT (a close-in suburb of Salt Lake City) with the idea of getting access to the more lucrative (population dense) Salt Lake City market.
Seems like a good idea in theory, but here's the problem. While 1010 is a nice 50,000 watt AM station during the day. It's still a Class D daytimer with a weak 3,100 watts during Critical Hours (the short time around sunrise/sunset) and a miserable 13 watts (yes, just thirteen watts) at night. Fortunately that 13 watts is right next to downtown SLC, so there's some chance that it's reaching a more densely populated area. But with all the sources of RF interference out there these days (wi-fi, cellphones, lamp dimmers, power lines, computers, etc) that 13 watts might as well be nothing.
The unfortunate reality is that in today's on-demand / instant-gratification age..."super D" AM's, that essentially disappear once the sun goes down, are damn near impossible to make work financially. You can't have your signal go "poof" right in the middle of morning or afternoon drive...or worse, miss it altogether. Well, okay, with some niche/block formats you can do it because listeners tune in for a specific show, regardless of the time of the day. But while public radio is somewhat inherently block-formatted, there's no denying that the two big listener draws are Morning Edition and All Things Considered...otherwise known as when everyone's driving to and from work. During the summer it's not as bad as there's more daylight, but during winter it's a giant bummer when the sun sets at 4pm and your signal disappears.
Even worse, you've got to make enough money to keep that 50,000 watts pumping out during the day; transmitters that big are not cheap to operate. At least it's an non-directional facility. I can't imagine how expensive it'd be to shove 50kW through a directional array.
I wish the article had focused on this more...it'd make the initial shrewdness of Community Wireless's owners seem more foolhardy, but that's kind of the point; CW spent a lot of money to try and make this work, and now the station is struggling financially. It appears the struggling is as much due to fiscal mismanagement (if not outright fraud) by CW's managers, but this transmitter point might be something you could point a finger at, too.
Or maybe not; I don't know enough about the background of the story to really know for sure. But my point still stands about how a lot of these Class D AM stations are in an inherently difficult...if not impossible...situation.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
The Payola Elephant in the Room
Radio World editor Paul McLane has a commentary in the latest edition: We Need to Mend Some Fences. Paul talks about how broadcasters and music labels are at each others' throats and how the arguments have gotten ridiculous.
Well of course they have, both industries are based on ridiculous concepts...namely profitability through the restriction of access to intellectual properties...that simply is not viable in the internet age. You can draft laws, you can sue college kids, but in the end...it's just too damn easy to share an MP3; the margins on music have always been fairly thin (despite the image of the filthy rich rock star) and internet file swapping just demolishes them.
So both sides are attacking each other for every dime they can because they can't deal with the real problem. I'm not speaking metaphorically, I mean literally the entire music industry and radio industry is based on concepts and restrictions that cannot adapt to the free-access model and maintain the necessary profits to sustain the existing infrastructure. In other words, sooner or later they'll have to destroy themselves in order to rebuild themselves. But they ain't there yet, and in the meantime many corporate suits have mortgages to pay so lock and load those lawyers and lobbyists!
Anyways, Paul's commentary has a glaring omission: payola. The practice of music labels paying broadcasters to air certain songs. Or, perhaps more accurately, the practice of broadcasters refusing to air certain songs unless paid by the broadcasters. Payola is illegal, but the statute is weak and, since Alan Freed in 1962, hasn't really been enforced too much...save for a much-hyped but arguably ineffectual crackdown by then-NY Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.
From the music labels' perspective, it's bribery pure and simple. The perception of most of the so-called "independent promoters" or "indies" that are a buffer between labels and stations (to skirt the payola laws) as being one step removed from Mafiosos (or not even one step) certainly doesn't help the image of extortion. I direct you to the infamous tale, told in Fredric Dannen's excellent payola expose "Hit Men: Power Brokers and Fast Money Inside the Music Business" of how Pink Floyd's 1980 monster hit "Another Brick in the Wall pt.2" was not heard on a single Los Angeles Top40 station until their label coughed up the indies...and how within 24 hours of payment, the single was everywhere. That dynamic had been in play for over twenty years in 1980, and it's only gotten much, much worse in the 28 years since.
The broadcasters really don't have any defense here. They could refuse to accept the "indie's" payments and just hire people to, amazingly, review the music internally and weigh it on its own merits and grant airplay accordingly. But they don't, and with over $40 million annually at stake, it's not hard to see why: greed.
So viewed in that light, the oft-touted broadcaster defense that they shouldn't pay any extra royalties for playing a label's music because they provide value in the form of promotional airplay, suddenly doesn't ring very true any more. Frankly, the label is paying through the nose to the station for that hard-to-define "value"...value that is arguably losing influence every year as more and more kids tune out AM & FM in favor of iPods and file sharing.
This does not change the fact that the RIAA is arguably the greatest shakedown artist in the history of legitimate businesses. Well, perhaps not "legitimate" but they are technically a "legal" business, anyways. Even that's open to debate. Regardless, RIAA is slime...and the music labels are coated in their slime, too. But it's not like radio stations are coming up roses...at the very least they are "pond scum" themselves, if not full-bore "slime".
I admit, I'm not truly impartial here. I run a college radio station, and I don't deny there's a part of me that only wishes I could get my share of those millions of payola dollars. But we don't...we choose music the hard way: we review the dozens (sometimes hundreds) of CD's that are mailed to us every day, and pick which ones we feel belong in heavy rotation and write reviews for our DJ's help them decide as their program their own shows. It's a lot of work, and probably 90% of what comes through the door never gets played at all...and at least half of that 90% is just flat out "crap" anyways. But we do the work because that's what it takes to be a "new music" station.
Unfortunately, thanks to labels, RIAA and stations all trying to kill each other, we're likely going to get caught in the crossfire; forced to pay additional royalties on a scale meant for multi-million dollar radio conglomerates. Ugh, thanks a lot. Guess we'll go news-talk only when that happens.
And as always, who gets hurt in the end? That's right - the struggling musicians themselves; denied one of the last few "pure" outlets for their music.
Well of course they have, both industries are based on ridiculous concepts...namely profitability through the restriction of access to intellectual properties...that simply is not viable in the internet age. You can draft laws, you can sue college kids, but in the end...it's just too damn easy to share an MP3; the margins on music have always been fairly thin (despite the image of the filthy rich rock star) and internet file swapping just demolishes them.
So both sides are attacking each other for every dime they can because they can't deal with the real problem. I'm not speaking metaphorically, I mean literally the entire music industry and radio industry is based on concepts and restrictions that cannot adapt to the free-access model and maintain the necessary profits to sustain the existing infrastructure. In other words, sooner or later they'll have to destroy themselves in order to rebuild themselves. But they ain't there yet, and in the meantime many corporate suits have mortgages to pay so lock and load those lawyers and lobbyists!
Anyways, Paul's commentary has a glaring omission: payola. The practice of music labels paying broadcasters to air certain songs. Or, perhaps more accurately, the practice of broadcasters refusing to air certain songs unless paid by the broadcasters. Payola is illegal, but the statute is weak and, since Alan Freed in 1962, hasn't really been enforced too much...save for a much-hyped but arguably ineffectual crackdown by then-NY Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.
From the music labels' perspective, it's bribery pure and simple. The perception of most of the so-called "independent promoters" or "indies" that are a buffer between labels and stations (to skirt the payola laws) as being one step removed from Mafiosos (or not even one step) certainly doesn't help the image of extortion. I direct you to the infamous tale, told in Fredric Dannen's excellent payola expose "Hit Men: Power Brokers and Fast Money Inside the Music Business" of how Pink Floyd's 1980 monster hit "Another Brick in the Wall pt.2" was not heard on a single Los Angeles Top40 station until their label coughed up the indies...and how within 24 hours of payment, the single was everywhere. That dynamic had been in play for over twenty years in 1980, and it's only gotten much, much worse in the 28 years since.
The broadcasters really don't have any defense here. They could refuse to accept the "indie's" payments and just hire people to, amazingly, review the music internally and weigh it on its own merits and grant airplay accordingly. But they don't, and with over $40 million annually at stake, it's not hard to see why: greed.
So viewed in that light, the oft-touted broadcaster defense that they shouldn't pay any extra royalties for playing a label's music because they provide value in the form of promotional airplay, suddenly doesn't ring very true any more. Frankly, the label is paying through the nose to the station for that hard-to-define "value"...value that is arguably losing influence every year as more and more kids tune out AM & FM in favor of iPods and file sharing.
This does not change the fact that the RIAA is arguably the greatest shakedown artist in the history of legitimate businesses. Well, perhaps not "legitimate" but they are technically a "legal" business, anyways. Even that's open to debate. Regardless, RIAA is slime...and the music labels are coated in their slime, too. But it's not like radio stations are coming up roses...at the very least they are "pond scum" themselves, if not full-bore "slime".
I admit, I'm not truly impartial here. I run a college radio station, and I don't deny there's a part of me that only wishes I could get my share of those millions of payola dollars. But we don't...we choose music the hard way: we review the dozens (sometimes hundreds) of CD's that are mailed to us every day, and pick which ones we feel belong in heavy rotation and write reviews for our DJ's help them decide as their program their own shows. It's a lot of work, and probably 90% of what comes through the door never gets played at all...and at least half of that 90% is just flat out "crap" anyways. But we do the work because that's what it takes to be a "new music" station.
Unfortunately, thanks to labels, RIAA and stations all trying to kill each other, we're likely going to get caught in the crossfire; forced to pay additional royalties on a scale meant for multi-million dollar radio conglomerates. Ugh, thanks a lot. Guess we'll go news-talk only when that happens.
And as always, who gets hurt in the end? That's right - the struggling musicians themselves; denied one of the last few "pure" outlets for their music.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Holy Crap It Snows a LOT Here
Okay, so I'm from Boston, right? I seen snow. A not inconsequential amount of snow, mind you. I survived the blizzards of 1984, 1993 and 2005 just fine.But even by my jaded standards...this is a bit much. First month in Rochester and we are getting BURIED in snow. It's basically snowed nonstop for two days...it's hard to say exactly how much is out there; it's been pretty cold so the snow is really powder-ish...blows around a lot. But this pic of my grill kinda says a lot. Maybe 8 or 10 inches plus?
And this is AFTER about four inches fell four days ago and then melted before this storm hit.
Oh yeah, and anyone who says "lake effect" doesn't really reach the Thruway? Completely full of it. Yes indeedy. Plenty of snow on the Thruway.
Friday, June 22, 2007
The Power of Norms, or "Are Bostonians Hard Little Bastards?"
This morning while riding the Red Line there was a middle-aged woman wandering back and forth in the train, panhandling for a dollar.
Sound run of the mill? Not so fast...
I won't speak for the Blue Line, which I rarely ride...but over my eleven years in Boston, I've regularly commuted on the Green, Red and Orange Lines for four of them. And I've never seen anyone actually panhandling on the trains. It's pretty rare in the subway stations, too.
Granted there's lots of panhandlers right next to the entrances to the stations...but not in the stations themselves, and definitely not on the trains. I mean, it's a pretty serious faux pas to even talk to someone else on the train unless you know them. "Nobody botherin' nobody" is the motto.
So in this case, the best I could describe the vibe on the train was almost one of stunned surprise. You've got to be a bit hard to live in any city to begin with, and Bostonians are notorious jerks to boot. But people seemed blown away that someone had the audacity to panhandle on the train.
Interestingly, this woman seemed outwardly "normal". She certainly didn't look like your stereotypical bum beggin' for change. In fact, I think most people would've thought she really did need the dollar for the bus...if it weren't for her rather loudly (and melodramatically) bemoaning the fact that her parents died here, she's just visiting because her children are in foster care, and Boston is a nasty town and the people in it are mean because they won't give her a lousy dollar even though she's not drunk and "doesn't look dirty and nasty like a bum."
But back to what I wanted to talk about: the reactions of the people on the train. People weren't really ignoring her, they were practically staring...like it was a car wreck. The expressions on their faces really did seem like: This just isn't done! What the hell is going on here!?!? I don't know what to do?!? This...just...ISN'T...done!!!! The social norms had just been shattered by this one poor woman begging for a dollar...who, regardless of whether or not she was telling the truth, was obviously very upset over the whole thing.
I have a degree in psychology, and I work for a show about mental health and psychological issues...so I'm sure someone, somewhere, has done a study on this effect. I'll have to look around and see if I can find it; after living it this morning I have to think it'd be a fascinating read.
Ed.note: I didn't give her a dollar, either...I was a little too creeped out by her diatribe.
Sound run of the mill? Not so fast...
I won't speak for the Blue Line, which I rarely ride...but over my eleven years in Boston, I've regularly commuted on the Green, Red and Orange Lines for four of them. And I've never seen anyone actually panhandling on the trains. It's pretty rare in the subway stations, too.
Granted there's lots of panhandlers right next to the entrances to the stations...but not in the stations themselves, and definitely not on the trains. I mean, it's a pretty serious faux pas to even talk to someone else on the train unless you know them. "Nobody botherin' nobody" is the motto.
So in this case, the best I could describe the vibe on the train was almost one of stunned surprise. You've got to be a bit hard to live in any city to begin with, and Bostonians are notorious jerks to boot. But people seemed blown away that someone had the audacity to panhandle on the train.
Interestingly, this woman seemed outwardly "normal". She certainly didn't look like your stereotypical bum beggin' for change. In fact, I think most people would've thought she really did need the dollar for the bus...if it weren't for her rather loudly (and melodramatically) bemoaning the fact that her parents died here, she's just visiting because her children are in foster care, and Boston is a nasty town and the people in it are mean because they won't give her a lousy dollar even though she's not drunk and "doesn't look dirty and nasty like a bum."
But back to what I wanted to talk about: the reactions of the people on the train. People weren't really ignoring her, they were practically staring...like it was a car wreck. The expressions on their faces really did seem like: This just isn't done! What the hell is going on here!?!? I don't know what to do?!? This...just...ISN'T...done!!!! The social norms had just been shattered by this one poor woman begging for a dollar...who, regardless of whether or not she was telling the truth, was obviously very upset over the whole thing.
I have a degree in psychology, and I work for a show about mental health and psychological issues...so I'm sure someone, somewhere, has done a study on this effect. I'll have to look around and see if I can find it; after living it this morning I have to think it'd be a fascinating read.
Ed.note: I didn't give her a dollar, either...I was a little too creeped out by her diatribe.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Discover(y) the meaning of irony
I'm sorry, but I can't be the only person who sees the irony here...(source: Current.org)
4/05/2007
Discovery plans to launch an earth-focused channel and turn its Silver Spring, Md., headquarters "green" as part of a $50 million project it's calling PlanetGreen, Broadcasting & Cable reports. The cable network will relaunch its current Home channel as the as-yet-unnamed eco-friendly channel next year. Programs will focus on eco-design, organic food and "green" architecture, among other topics.
4/09/2007
Discovery today cut approximately 200 staffers, or roughly 3 percent of its workforce, Broadcasting & Cable reports. Network management let go roughly 20 percent of the aggregate staffs of the Discovery Channel; Animal Planet; the Education group; and some Corporate Service groups.
So everyone at Discovery must've felt great about how their company was investing $50 million dollars in "going green" for four whole days...until they realized that $50 million could've been used to save their jobs. That's gotta sting.
Ed.note: Yes, I know I'm oversimplifying here...these things really have almost nothing to do with each other. I'm just commenting on the lousy timing of these two news reports. I can't believe there aren't some laid-off Discovery Staffers that aren't thinking exactly the same thing. Even the Associated Press showed a little cheek in their report.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Tough little iPod!
Oops. Left me 4G iPod in my winter parka's pocket on a trip through the washing machine. Three seconds in the dryer quickly made a sound I knew shouldn't be there, and revealed the nestling iPod.
Yeah, I think the neighbors were a bit startled at the string of profanity I let loose. It had been a long day to begin with. :-(
Knowing it wouldn't dry out as it was, I pried open the case, pulled out the hard drive, unscrewed the PCB and propped everything apart a bit to dry out. After leaving it for three days, I cautiously reassembled everything and tried to start it. Not surprisingly, the battery was dead...but after plugging it into the charger...the iPod booted up just like normal!!!
Wow! That's a tough little iPod! Even my cheapass Griffin Earthumps survived; I was pleasantly tapping my shoe to the Squirrel Nut Zippers within seconds. We'll see if I've destroyed the battery's runtime, though, but regardless...Apple's engineering of durability is impressive!
Yeah, I think the neighbors were a bit startled at the string of profanity I let loose. It had been a long day to begin with. :-(
Knowing it wouldn't dry out as it was, I pried open the case, pulled out the hard drive, unscrewed the PCB and propped everything apart a bit to dry out. After leaving it for three days, I cautiously reassembled everything and tried to start it. Not surprisingly, the battery was dead...but after plugging it into the charger...the iPod booted up just like normal!!!
Wow! That's a tough little iPod! Even my cheapass Griffin Earthumps survived; I was pleasantly tapping my shoe to the Squirrel Nut Zippers within seconds. We'll see if I've destroyed the battery's runtime, though, but regardless...Apple's engineering of durability is impressive!
Monday, December 11, 2006
Who was that masked man?
I got to play Tech Director at Living on Earth today. They're a few stops up the Red Line subway from us, and their TD had jury duty today...poor bastard. :-)
Since my regular job had a slight problem with fire last Friday and is kinda shut down today, and since I already knew their setup, he asked if I could fill in for him. No problemo, my man.
It was kinda fun, actually. Not that I loathe my current job or anything, but it's always fun to see how other folks do the same thing you do...it's not unlike going to a conference. Speaking of which, if you're thinking of going to NAB in Vegas in April 2007 (and you damn well ought to be thinking of that!) then you'll want to book your flights and hotels right away. Even Vegas fills up amazing fast when there's 130,000 radio and TV geeks descending on it for a solid week...last year at this time NAB-reserved block was already booked at 53% capacity a full four months in advance!
Since my regular job had a slight problem with fire last Friday and is kinda shut down today, and since I already knew their setup, he asked if I could fill in for him. No problemo, my man.
It was kinda fun, actually. Not that I loathe my current job or anything, but it's always fun to see how other folks do the same thing you do...it's not unlike going to a conference. Speaking of which, if you're thinking of going to NAB in Vegas in April 2007 (and you damn well ought to be thinking of that!) then you'll want to book your flights and hotels right away. Even Vegas fills up amazing fast when there's 130,000 radio and TV geeks descending on it for a solid week...last year at this time NAB-reserved block was already booked at 53% capacity a full four months in advance!
It'll be a hot time in the old towne tonight...
Well, don't count on as many blog posts over the next week or two. As you may have heard, the building where The Infinite Mind's studios are located had a major fire on Friday. Fortunately everyone in the building got out okay, although sadly an NStar technician died (see below) and about 100 people had to be treated for smoke inhalation. Those of us at Infinite Mind are shaken but otherwise okay.
A quick visit on Saturday seemed to indicate that our space escaped any major damage from smoke or fire. We won't know for sure for several more days; an NStar utility worker was killed in the transformer explosion that caused the fire, so a full investigation is being done. Plus, since it was a transformer fire, there's a risk of all sorts of toxic chemicals (PCB's, asbestos, etc) having been dispersed throughout the building by the smoke. Again, so far initial reports are that we're lucky and there wasn't any toxic chemical fumes...but the tests won't be done for several days. So the building is completely closed...we can't even get in to get our equipment out. Until then, I'm working from home and scrambling to keep the bases covered.
A quick visit on Saturday seemed to indicate that our space escaped any major damage from smoke or fire. We won't know for sure for several more days; an NStar utility worker was killed in the transformer explosion that caused the fire, so a full investigation is being done. Plus, since it was a transformer fire, there's a risk of all sorts of toxic chemicals (PCB's, asbestos, etc) having been dispersed throughout the building by the smoke. Again, so far initial reports are that we're lucky and there wasn't any toxic chemical fumes...but the tests won't be done for several days. So the building is completely closed...we can't even get in to get our equipment out. Until then, I'm working from home and scrambling to keep the bases covered.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)