Does Radio Remember What Made It Great?

To get an historic perspective, one must return to the beginning of radio’s phenomenal rise in popularity and growth. This dynamic period began during the 1940s …also known as “The War Years.”

Making Waves

World War II played an enormous role in radio’s emergence as this country’s most prominent medium for that period and for a number of good reasons. Along with reporting the daily news from the battle fronts, radio was an active and involved participant with many supportive activities on the home front. Among them… scrap metal and paper drives, promoting the sale of U.S. war bonds and stamps, reminding travelers to save fuel by car pooling and presenting morale-building radio programs like “Millions for Defense.” In addition, all radio networks, featuring their top stars, cooperated in programs which were sent, via short wave, to our troops overseas. Popular entertainers of the day included Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Fred Allen, George Burns and Gracie Allen…plus the big bands of Goodman, James, Ellington, Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, Basie, to name just a few. And all broadcasts were live!

Granted, today’s media playing field has expanded in many directions, bringing with it more players who are vying for the attention and involvement of listeners, viewers and readers. Thus radio, along with newspapers, magazines, and television, is experiencing the impact of the “new social media”…the Tweeters, Bloggers, Texters, Facebookers, YouTubers and Myspacers, along with iPoders. So where does today’s radio go from here?

For those radio operators who are currently experiencing listener losses and revenue reversals, this could be the opportune time to reinvent, to review your present game plan and to investigate other programming possibilities and opportunities.

And the “Golden Era” of radio, with all its success stories, may be the perfect place to uncover some helpful hints and approaches.

Radio:

“The Theater of the Mind”

There were a variety of factors which contributed to the “glory years” of radio. And Eric Rhoads’ quote from his book, “Blast from the Past,” best defines the essence of radio’s rise in popularity during its heyday. According to Rhoads, “Radio is a more personable medium. People can relate to the people on radio more than the ones on television. They can interact with them by telephone and actually feel that they can get to know them. And radio allows creativity unsurpassed on television--because all the vision is in your head. To create the vision, the listener need not watch anything; he/she must only listen and imagine.” And radio. during the ‘40s, capitalized on this “listen and imagine” aspect of the new medium by broadcasting a variety of programs to its audience.

From dramas, situation comedies, variety, game and children’s shows to sports, news and music offerings. On any given day or evening, families were “glued” to their sets to catch their favorite personalities or programs. The kids tuned in to the exciting episodes of Superman, Tom Mix, Dick Tracy, Jack Armstrong while the adults listened to Arthur Godfrey, Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, Walter Winchell…the choices were endless. And the driving forces behind these growing audiences were the major radio networks. Among them, the dominant NBC Radio Network, which included the Blue and the Red Networks.

And as the forties were coming to an end, radio was enjoying increased acceptance, popularity and financial success.

However, the approaching decade would offer a considerable challenge.

Competition In Sight

When the U.S. entered the 1950s, so did television, the new medium that provided sound, along with pictures and eventually color . In addition, it offered a variety of programming similar to radio’s…comedy, drama, variety shows, soap operas, sports, news and radio’s favorite performers who, with their individual shows, made the transition to the new medium. Thus, television audiences now could see and hear their favorite radio programs live. This brought a tremendous challenge to a relatively young and successful radio industry.

Radio’s Resiliency

FM, an earlier radio invention, with its higher sound quality in radio music, made itself heard in the late 1950s and became more popular in the sixties and seventies. This era of integrity programming allowed the “personable” disc jockeys the freedom to play what they wanted, including album cuts from progressive rock swing, jazz to country and pop. The industry’s musical emphasis helped to offset, to some degree, television’s impact on the industry.

However, in the ensuing years, radio faced even more challenges as a result of decisions made by the Federal Communications Commission. One major aspect of these decisions was the consolidation of many radio broadcasters and the introduction of extensive syndication programming. Then the 1980s, brought with it MTV, music television, which many pundits believed would “kill” radio.

Fortunately, radio has survived, and in some instances, thrived, during these periods of change and distress. However, in today’s “new media” world, radio is faced with additional obstacles which make survival a constant and on-going process. But radio has proven to be a survivor. And much of today’s new technology will play an important role to keep it an active player. However, it is this author’s opinion that the emphasis on technology alone is not enough. Content is the key. Content is the essential and necessary ingredient for remaining competitive and relevant.

In Search Of A Sound Solution

This article is by no means an attempt to persuade today’s radio industry to return to the “glory days” of the ‘40s with its large competing networks and huge variety of live, popular programs. In today’s new media world, that would be unwise, as well, as impractical and financially foolish. What this article suggests is for struggling radio owners to consider various programming options and new marketing approaches based on today’s economic conditions, the new media environment and listener preferences.

As a starting point, it may be prudent to re-examine what makes radio different from the traditional and the unproven social media. Again, quoting Rhoads, the listeners need only to, “listen and imagine.” For this, it is further recommended that radio should explore ways to become more “personable.” To some degree, and as an example, various talk radio programs are successful due to a “personable” approach. One might even refer to this type of programming as “Reality Radio” because it gets the amateur, call-in listener to become a part of an unscripted program by talking to the show’s on-air personality and to his/her audience. In this author’s opinion, talk radio can be just one form of “Reality Radio.”

A variety of simple, low cost audience participation shows, in-studio or on location, can and should be developed to augment current music and other established formats, thereby holding on to your loyal listeners and advertisers while attracting new ones.

Is Radio Tuned In?

Obviously, making a format change to include an element of “Realty” during these economic times, is a difficult decision. It involves considerable evaluation, planning and research…while keeping in mind what sets radio apart from the other media. Remember, radio is more personable.

So it follows that becoming more personable, may be the first step to becoming more profitable.

An Opinion Article
By Bill Greenwald
bcgrnwld@sbcglobal.net