So if you OTTO a radio station in let's say Portland expiring a full time DeeJ that makes approx 40k a year, how much does the CORP lose in revenue for a crappy sounding not so local station versus a good sounding localized broadcast with a live DeeJ?

Forgive my inability to put this question out there clearly, but I am not the thinker Kicking Bird is.

they will tell you none. But, since "GOOD SOUNDING" is a relative term, number crunchers will tell you OTTO is a plus. I believe that a good jock is "SELLING" the station every time they crack the mic, and live reads of spots are a plus. You can debate it ad infinitum, but as long as management does not recognize the value added that live broadcasting brings, then you will continue to see underperformance of many stations from the safety of their cozy clusters.

Right on, Roger. I've always thought an "Otto" approach plays into the hands of an "internet only" station! (That remains true if the recent royalty flap is resolved in webcasters' favor.)

Live and local wins...but it seems like it's getting increasingly difficult to get that concept past the bean-counters...

Of course live and local is better, (most of us in the on-air/programming side will agree with that), but here are some questions to ponder:

Let's say a music station drops a live midday talent and tracks in someone. Assuming the station is doing somewhat decently ratings-wise, and the spot rates don't drop, the only immediate cost is a few hundred a month for the tracker. From a business standpoint, it makes sense. And unless that lost salary doesn't go into the owner's pocket, perhaps it could be used to more effectively market or promote the brand. (Utopian idea, huh?)

The bigger, more longterm question is will this lack of a live talent eventually cause listeners and advertisers to slowly desert the station? The million dollar question. We can argue that one all day, but the art of radio has and always will be combined with the business of radio.

I'm not advocating anything here, just pointing out that there is another side to all this, a side that needs to be, at the very least, understood by us who in the end still believe in live and local.

(BTW, can you tell I've been walking the line between programming and management for the past 17 years?)

Yes.
IMHO, a listener point of view, it really depends on the target does it not? I mean the older demographics of which I am party to still remember and appreciate the live aspect of radio whereas the younger groups today may be just satisfied with no live talent and maybe a splash of music between the spots. Your oldies, country, and classic rock formats may have a more demanding audience and the younger ones don't really care. If they don't hear the music they wany they IPOD it of surf till they do. I do not believe the younger group has the loyalty to one station or another as the older groups do. Quizing my son about his music preference I get I just flip till I find the music I want to hear. I may be all wrong but as I said....my opinion!

I am curious though Paul whether as a whole radio lost all across the board when it introduced sat or otto.

Did we lower our own bar by going OTTO?

Sure, we know that live local is better, but where did we take ourselves? Did we collectively go from an 8 share down to a 2 and thought a 3 was pretty good and easy to live with?

Has anyone ever done a study in our business to see where we have cut off our nose to spite our face?

Good questions, Mikel. There are different forms of "otto" as you call it. Some just run liners/jingles between songs (you'll find this in the micro-markets...Roseburg, Burns, LaGrande, etc. as examples.) Satellite over-the-air has been around for decades and usually offers a national voice broadcasting the same words to all stations receiving.

Most today are utilizing tracking. The technology has improved greatly in this department. There are many who can track very well and manage to sound more local than actual local jocks!

But, ultimately I have no answer to your question. Radio has changed. Times change. Unfortunately, we can't magically bring it back to 1976, where this poster endlessly enjoyed listening to the excitement that a very live and local Andy Barber brought to the airwaves.

Long before "Otto" many jocks, were forced into becoming liner readers by tight assed p.d.'s who wanted to eliminate "tune-out" factors. In doing so, these p.d's achieved a couple of things: one: they set-up an easy transition from jocks who had become boring "liner readers" straight into "Otto" and they also eliminated most of the quirky personality items that were the "tune-in" factors.

You have to wonder though whether radio would be the dominate media today if it were not for the introduction of sat and vt.

Whether we in radio believe that the general public can't make out the difference from a VT show and live show, most of the folks I talk to, seem to be able to tell the difference.

I remember growing up that all you did was listen to the radio until you turned on the tube at 7:00 pm. After that, you went to sleep with the radio on. Woke up with the radio and spent most of the day trying to get back to it after school, during breaks etc.

It was the music, the jocks, the overall friendliness and the pal that got you through the tough times.

Why did we in the biz, kill that friend?

I believe that radio was supreme until the introduction of the otto's.

Otto von Mycrofone was born at the top of the hour to the proud parents. His was a very precise student and was never late. As a matter of fact when the city would suffer a blackout he was the only one not taking advantage of the moment and would never complain when they occured. You couldn't hear a peep from him. Bosses have thought highly of his ethics of the radio business, that is to say he is like clockwork when it comes to board work. That Otto, seems to find work everywhere, too much of it as a matter of fact but he doesn't complain. His present boss, G. Imtightwad mentioned that he had not had such a great employee since his longtime employee Si Pee Yu.

Mikel- I think the "average" radio listener cannot tell the difference between live or good voice tracking. We seem to think that the average listener somehow holds their collective breath with every word we speak. Not true.

What Paul said is so true about the state of radio today especially when you get down to the jock cracking the mic. If you are a good communicator and the technical stuff is working right, VTing can be as effective as a live jock.

Don't get me wrong. I still believe live is best, but as one who does VT I am seeing some unusual benefits from this side of mic. Mainly working from my own home. Talk about good office morale.

Toot...Toot...Toot...was that a horn I just heard?

I could work 90% from home....but I can't!

Well maybe someday DT.

Having a recording studio at home brings on it's own challenges especially now that school is out and our kids and their friends hang out here during the day. A phrase everyone hears from my wife and myself is "No thumpin' or bumpin'-we're recording"

Still- I wouldn't trade this for anything. Not one Toot!

Mikel, automation has existed for many decades. Yes, with tracking, it is more prevelant today. I'm not by any means saying that is a good thing.

I think I have made the point that I prefer "live and local", and it goes beyond just the expression. It means being able to answer the request line and respond to either a request or a question. It means being able to respond to changing weather conditions. It means being able to talk about a breaking news event or traffic problem. It means living in the moment.
It means simply BETTER radio!

With all that having been said, times are changing, and I don't think adding more automation caused that change. Radio is simply not as relevant to today's consumer, and again, I think that would have occurred regardless. The explosion of our multi-media world is much more to blame than going to voice-tracking IMHO. A lot of people moan and groan about missing the good 'ole days (including myself, at times!), but the part of the equation that always seems to be missing is our world is ever-changing. Want proof, look at the last century and all the changes that occured. Who isn't to say the 21st century won't bring as many, if not more, major changes, both socially and technologically.

Again, you are reading a post from someone who probably has over 100 hours of 70's and 80's radio airchecks, and enjoys listening to them occasionally. But, I also realize that time marches on, and at some point, if we don't "move with the cheese", we will be toast. Just reality. Again, this is coming from a radio fan of the highest degree.

That's cool man. I envy the office you got. No office or freeway BS to deal with.

DT. Bingo!!

How well is the pay? Thats what Im curious about Chris Taylor.

BTW, while this has been a very interesting discussion, I would like to add that I am very fortunate to be currently working for a five-station cluster that is live from 6a-6p on all four of the FM's. And my market is not large, or really even medium! Nice, huh? (OK, so it isn't live 24/7 like back in the day, but can anyone point to many stations (besides KNX, WBBM, WINS, etc. big-city all-news stations) that are live 24/7? OK, there may still be some out there...who are they?

I am of the opinion that the radio industry has, perhaps unwittingly, been in the process of "dumbing down" listener expectations for the last 20 years or so. We have all heard of the research that said listeners want more music and less talk, and less commercials (hey wait, that's how I get paid!). I would have liked to have seen the surveys that said listeners DIDN'T want the weather forecast with current temperature. Or, listeners DON'T want to know the name of that new song they're hearing. Or, the current time.

Sure, it's a new day and times must change and all that. But I have worked next to Otto most of my career. Otto won't be losing his (her?) job any time soon. Tracking is here to stay. Chris Taylor is right when he says tracking can sound as good as live, but how many can do it as well as Chris? And what about Jocks who have tracking as their ONLY frame of reference? Can't track well if you don't have a good foundation in live/local. And then you have to trust Otto to carry out your wishes...

Much of radio's "wow factor" has been systematically removed from the dial in cities of all sizes through the use of Otto. Of course on some stations "wow" has been replaced by "shock", but I don't think they're the same thing.

Anyone remember when radio was a companion? A person to talk to when you were lonely? A place to find out the latest local news?

Had this dumbing down not occurred, perhaps the door wouldn't have been opened for Ipods and the like.

Solid stuff Paul...as usual.

Buns- We’re not voice tracking to get rich. Our income is certainly not anywhere near a full time salary, but for me it goes well beyond what we're being paid. It's still radio and I still love it! Thankfully my wife and I have built up a very nice audio production company with voice over work as its main income base.

Since my wife and I consider it still a privilege to be on the air in any market we want to sound as good as we can. Our professional pride and ego are still very much attached to our work. It's like when I first got started some 25 plus years ago, but now I have all that experience and new technology that allows me to "play" radio from my basement.

I have an electric keyboard that can sound like an entire band. We have cars that get satellite feeds to guide us. We can listen to an entire warehouse of music from the palm of our hand.

I learned back in the mid 90s when we were changing over from analogue to digital that to fight technology was useless.

What has hurt radio is not voice tracking, because as Paul mentioned stations have been doing that for years. Radio was hurt by deregulation (blame Reagan and Clinton) and the idea that duopoly was going to make things better. That was the first step to where we are today.

As a former DJ I cant count how many times I cringed when someone I knew said that they turned the dial every time that the "stupid dj" talked.

now of course they were not speaking of any one specifically...

But haven't we all heard that before?

I think there is a certain percent of the population that would rather control exactly what music they hear and would rather not hear any DJ talking about anything.

I believe there will always be that certain percent.

I also believe that those people are NOT radio's audience.

Somehow with all these "shuffle" type formats radio thought those people might be its audience... Radio could never really satisfy that person becuase ultimaty they want THEIR music. They don't want suprised or talked to, they want THEIR MUSIC.

It does not really seem to be working as well as back in the day when a station was DEFINED by its personalities.

Competitors came and went and they had one thing in common, the music of the day, but what really made KISN, 62 KGW or 97 KYTE stand out in their respective days were the PERSONALTIES that took the music and added to it with relevent banter or comedy, they tied it all together.

When, due to researchers listening to those people who no matter what hate "dj chatter," stations became "more music less talk" they did open the door for some other form of content delivery that did not rely on the delivery of a strong personality. hence otto and vt.

I would sincerely hope that radio as a medium is ripe for the pickin for talent that understand the old way of personal communication and connection as a way of developing audience share.

It's up to you Obi-Wan to make sure young luke realizes the true depth of his powers as a Jedi DJ.

CT, I have a home office too for website development I do on the side. Honestly, I hate it sometimes. Although, my only companion some nights is my trusty old radio, there is still no water cooler goofing off, nothing really to look forward to. Sure, it is cool to spin around in my chair and kiss my little dot on the head, but something is lacking.

It is the same with radio. If you remove the human element, it just is not that fun anymore. I am not a real big fan of polished liner card sounding shows. I like it when a jock goofs up a little. Lord knows I do my fair share of that at my station. But, even the best VT lacks that human element that off the cuff spontaneous burst of something, anything.

How many takes do you do before you upload that psa you just read off into your otto? With live radio, it has a human element that can't be achieved with even the best otto.

Case and point, I am listening to K-Earth online. The jock on the air was reading a promo, goofed a little, ad libbed out of it and went on with the song, sounded friggin beautiful. Would you submit an ad libbed promo with a little goof in it to your otto?

Believe me, I know all too well to not and try blocking technology; I am big fan using technology as an assist. Assist the human. Play back his spots, sweeps jingles etc. But only assist. There was a time where the only thing I did was install and implement otto's. I regret getting behind the f-ing things to this day.

every time I had to fire a guy because he was replaced by otto, I felt like some sort of assassin, killing off another great communicator.

I am blessed to have a live show today. But I can't help but to remember dashing the hopes of some future jock by putting otto to work.

I think we would have had the iPod no matter what.

I also think the portable media players are just as ripe for the picking, where solid radio talent and production values are concerned. Do it right, with content that has a high daily relevance, and not only will you get listeners, but paying ones as well.

The subscription podcast is likely to be one of the most potent content delivery forms ever. It can be as granular as necessary, it's portable and growing quite simple. Won't be long before it's as simple as this generation of HD radios will be.

It's got time shifting built right in too. Listeners can consume when and how it makes sense, on a very wide variety of devices. It's also appropriate for a lot of formats above and beyond just music as entertainment.

There will be almost zero regulation where content is concerned as well, and being subscription has controls adequate for concerned parents. The potential sharing among people is a concern, but that's a concern no matter what content form one is talking about.

Those same people, developing and evolving the skill set and mind set necessary to make VT work, can easily extend these things to the subscription podcast.

Additionally, the content produced, given it's appropriate for airing, can be repurposed onto broadcast systems with relative ease.

There are some payment, distribution and legal matters coming to a head, but these won't be show stoppers, particularly when said podcast can be produced anywhere in the world.

Going forward, there will be little overall difference between a short burst of data, good for a nice listening session or two, and a live broadcast for a majority of potential listeners.

The fact that the podcast can be consumed on the listeners time also means it's not a zero sum game. Radio listeners could easily subscribe and still be radio listeners!

Finally, the rise of blogs and the ease with which word of mouth promotion can be leveraged via the Internet, means getting started is largely an investment in time and some dollars to work through payment and legal issues.

That's not a very high barrier to entry, all things considered.

What if you could get that 62 KGW sound, on a daily basis for some reasonable amount per year. Each show would be produced and "aired" (distributed) each day, or every other day --whatever makes sense. Would you consider this medium, particularly if radio was not offering much to satisfy your niche 24/7?

Would you participate in online venues associated with said production, given participation from the producers and talent?

These things are happening in radio right now. IM / message board forums, e-mail, etc. are all connecting listeners to those that entertain and it's working nicely. There is zero reason why this cannot be leveraged into a premium --or just highly differentiated show that would be attractive to nearly any targeted audience.

A show, broken into segments (tracks) could be consumed in bits that make sense, and or formatted in such a way that listeners can easily focus on the bits they are most interested in, if one is producing a show that is fairly loose where targeting is concerned.

A good friend of mine is seeing success with one such format, that is not yet subscription. It's regular talk podcasts that focus on the implications of peak oil. Some of the programs are Art Bell type stuff, but others are actually solid. I've been a guest on some of the shows and it's a kick, and easily done to boot!

The other success is a format called 10 Minute Lessons. The idea is to pack some specific know how into a 10 minute or so audio production. Currently, ads are driving the scheme. However, this can and likely will be extended to subscriptions on areas of interest where the lessons from preferred producers and topics of interest are regularly delivered, sans the ads, to the listener on a regular basis, framed with some commentary to tie the package together.

Lots of potential there, if one is willing to surrender the "gotta be live to matter" element, the rest of it all applies huge, IMHO. I'm actually eager to see this come to fruition for those times when there is nothing on the radio. Or, I hear great programs on the radio, that I would much rather subscribe to and receive ad free for consumption, archive, etc... on my time.

Mikel, your K-Earth reference amused me! Because over the years I have always encouraged my voice trackers to leave in little mistakes, just for the human element of it. Manipulation? OK, sure. But it works! Isn't that weird...make a mistake, deliberately leave it in, and it's better radio! How is that for irony? Maybe says something about simply being "human"!

And, Missing...you said you may not be heard as much around these parts anymore. Glad to see that hasn't occured quite yet. PDXradio w/o Missing would be a major loss. Please try and stay connected! You offer so much intelligence that this site would be dumbed-down quite considerably by your lack of posting. So, say it isn't so!

Mikel-For sure when my wife and I do a major flub we do a retake but not always. We leave in some mistakes because after all we are human and we do laugh at ourselves.

Plus I don't have time during a day to do retake after retake to make a perfect show...just not possible. So we leave in that very human element you say is not there. Having my wife to play off of is really helpful. We have visited the small market town we broadcast in. We've emceed concert events and know places and some people. We do a weekend events calendar every Friday as our last break together. LOCAL LOCAL LOCAL...is our battle cry.

I have said this before but since you're relatively new to the board I'll repeat it. Ted Rogers, a well loved and one of the top personalities we've had in Portland (now retired) said to us over and over again, your job is to inform and entertain the audience, but don't give them a reason to turn away.

I taught one semester out at Mt. Hood Community college's broadcasting school. I shared with my students three important aspects to on air broadcasting. To this day some of those who were in that class that have gone onto radio careers tell me it was the best class they had while at Mt. Hood. Not tooting my horn because all I did was reiterate what I was taught.

Also Mikel we have met many of our listeners and their positive feedback gives us the encouragement that we are doing the right thing.

So I was listening to some old tapes that I recorded off Z100 back in the mid to late 90's.
It was Stacey Lynne and she was doing an all request show, where she was taking butt rock requests from listeners but instead of Butt rock, she came on the air and said "Butt hair" requests. It was the damn funniest thing i have ever heard. I also have some tapes I recorded off NRK with Mike Chase, where he goofs on a story and tries to cover it up, some of the most entertaining live radio that we will never hear again. Hearing talent trip over words and try to cover them up was what made radio so great! Human Error is normal, and you never get that today! Every talk break sounds so flawless, which to me is BORING and not realistic because EVERYONE makes mistakes. I miss the old Z100 days were talent were really Turning the mic on and going lIVE! You just don't hear it anymore and thats a damn shame!
thats what made talent so great back in the day! The really good ones, knew how to cover their mistakes when they made one. With technology today anyone can get on the radio and sound flawless because everything is pre-recorded! So SAD!

Justin-
Thanks for bringing up one of the bright spots on my resume. I got to work with Stacy and Mike when all of us worked at Z. Certainly was a blast to be around such talented folk. Jock meetings were entertaining as well. Even us part timers and weekenders felt like we were apart of something special.

Just so you know those phoners for the most part were pre-recorded and edited back for airplay, but because the jocks had great talent it sounded like it was live....it was "live" playback.

Sometimes I'd record a phoner one weekend shift and play it back the next weekend which was not uncommon. When digital editing replaced the reel to reel machines that did phoners you had much better equipment to archive certain callers for later playback. It's all part of the theatre of the mind that even back in the mid 90s many of the elements were not live.

Paulwalker: Thanks. That is a high compliment --I'll take it to heart as I get put to the test for a while.

I have to limit some stuff in order to get to this next level. So, until I'm there, I'll read and contribute where it really adds value. I'm gonna make this a long one, and then sit back for a while.

As I mentioned on the politics side, I enjoy my conversations and friends met online more than any of you know. It's really helped through some very ugly life / family matters. I've also learned a fricking ton. It sort of creeps up on you --this kind of learning. One day, one finds they've sorted out some elementary things. Just happens, but only if one engages in a real way.

There is huge value in human to human interaction, that just does not happen with machines, but it can easily happen through them! Believe me, I've explored both in depth. I've done so, because I need to learn things and would much rather just go learn them, than pay for people to hold my hand learning them. The learning is the same, if one actually engages it, but the cost is far less overall.

Funny, but I can read a ton of reference material to get past a problem. Given somebody to talk to, that whole process happens often in an instant flash of communication by comparison! This is not something we should take lightly, but we do and I just don't know why.

Of course, this is exactly why we really should be teaching young people how to communicate and reason, rather than teach task based, often rote, facts, figures and processes. (another thread, another day)

Machines (and that means radio stations too) can and do enable communication to happen in new and often potent ways. This is such an obvious thing, I am at a complete loss for words to even describe my confusion over why it is not considered more than we see currently being done.

Cool only exists in people. Same for tastes, moods, drama, etc... Take the cool person and make a list of what they think is cool, and you've packaged cool right? Well, ok. I think that's probably accurate, but cool fades, ages, becomes irrelevant rather quickly. Put that cool person in a venue where people can tap in and get the daily or weekly cook, and now you've got something. In particular, you've got what hip people are looking really hard for. Trends, etc... are all people things, always changing, always worth communicating about.

It's how we stay relevant. So, why is radio working so hard to diminish it's daily relevance? That is where the money and the value is!

IMHO, none of this devalues VT at all. It's no big deal to connect on a short time delay. We can and do bridge that gap on a regular basis. Read a great novel? E-mail the author, and get a reply back years after the fact! Loop is closed. More importantly, people know it can be closed and that's often good enough. And that's the key right there. You don't actually want or need tons of callers in, or e-mail feedback. Too much of a waste of time and it's just silly. But, making sure people know others are communicating is all it takes to establish that seal of relevance! With that comes the spark that sets people powered communication apart from machine powered content delivery.

At the end of the day, should any of us encounter something excellent, who do we share it with?

Others, of course! In the case of a dead author, sharing with others, and perhaps alive authors can close that loop. All is good.

Everybody remembers great composers, authors, etc... When is the last time a machine produced something that had that kind of value?

If our friend Otto happens to stumble shuffle in something great, it's hollow and just a matter of chance. Who do we communicate that great feedback to? The guy that tweaked the settings and perhaps got a bit more lucky than usual?

If the same thing happens with a warm body behind the scenes, there is a place for that feedback to go and know it will be appreciated. The loop can be closed and, I believe that matters --even if it's just knowing the loop can be closed, but not choosing to do so. This is why a great PD stands out, even though they don't get behind the mic all that often.

The more you put between that great PD and his listeners, the more feeble the perception of a connection that is possible becomes. This is true regardless of how many actually choose to close the loop and connect, IMHO.

I've settled on the term daily relevance for this complex dynamic. People can tie things together, tell stories, build themes, or just reach out and touch others, for no particular reason other than it's good to do, or will be appreciated.

Machines do none of these things and therefore really cannot achieve relevance, without people driving them.

My experiences online have shown me that simple communication is where all the power is at. We've this powerful Internet, and what do we use it for mostly? Communication by a mile!

(and that's exactly why I think the subscription podcast is gonna kick hard!)

Despite all the technology advances, nothing about our core nature has changed. Essentially, this means that nothing about core radio has changed. If communication is happening, then people are interested period. The expressions, elements and tunes have changed, but connecting just hasn't.

I don't think it ever will, until we change in some core fashion, and that's gonna be a while from what I see.

Funniest thing that ever happened to me live (Conservative talk radio) was a somewhat large arachnid, one of those big fat suckers managed to make it's way to my collar, I did not see it but the county commissioner I was interviewing did. His friggin eyes got big as saucers. while I was in some political rant he mouth words "BIG SPIDER" and pointed to my collar. I did not react at that time, made no sense. In my head I think he says "NEED WATER". I am thinking I will get you a water at the break, sit still.

Now, I hate the damn things. always have. I hate them, I hate them. I know some of you will think I am a 6 foot 4 398 lb wussy. I don't care, I hate friggin spiders.

SO as I am ranting, this commissioner points to my collar again and this time utters ever so gently near the mic, "BIG SPIDER, COLLAR". THIS TIME I HEARD HIM THROUGH MY CANS. I freaked, I did not just freak a little I freaked alot. I started swiping at my collar, knocked over my chair, bumped in to the mic, knocked over this huge CD rack which made a huge crash and made my way to tearing off my shirt.

On the tape, all you hear is crashing, grunting, an "AHHHH" and a commissioner laughing his ass off. Then commercial.

Priceless.


KSKD - Your posts are deep. I read your post about human element in this thread a couple of times now. To not have that insight available in these boards on a regular basis is a crime. Just my two cents.

Darktemper, your son and my wife have the same policy with the radio and she's(pregnant pause)18, yeah, that's the ticket!

Management needs to remember that if they think people flip stations when the dumb jock starts to talk, they also flip when the 5 in a row breathless commercials start. Sure, OTTO can smooth things, but if that is as far as managment is willing to commit to excellence, then they aren't addressing the quality control issues that arise when no one is home after six pm. Too many times I hear Monday evenings weather at 4am Tuesday, or Saturdays weather forcast on Sunday evening. When you pre record the weekend weather at 5pm friday you have quality control issues. Same with sports. You get some generic sports brief because no one is around to cut a sportscast including last nights score and todays matchup. There is more to radio than running a tight board which OTTO does very well.

Yes expectations are lowered. Maybe younger listeners have no loyality because they didn't get to experience "THE GOOD OLD DAYS". They only know what they have been exposed to, and I don't think that radio does a good job of creating a loyal listener. The idea seems to be... Here is our MOSTEST, BESTEST, MORE ROCK, LESS TALK FORMAT.
do you like it? Well yeah, except for the commercial part.

So maybe better to weave the spots throughout the hour? If I know I can safely tune out for the next six minutes. I'm gone! I might forget to come back because the button I pushed is more interesting.......

We all view the radio with different perspectives.
Increasingly, the industry is presenting the listener with only one perspective. Formatically, they have created a streamlined plug and play sound. The formats may be different, but everything else sounds the same. It gets so that you can anticipate what the announcer may say next. Oh, artists coming up this hour... oh, contest tease...oh, upcoming remote tease, oh weather with more of my favorites just ahead......
Outside of mornings, there exists a boring predictability, and with in mornings too many show getting their prep from the same service, and running the same morning contests, trivia, morning mystery tune,

Sometimes it seems that radio is becoming almos like military training with no room to stem outside pre determined guidelines.... You read these cards, then mid morning VTer reads the same ones, PM Drive guy reads the same stack, as do the night and overnight TRAX.....

Hell, I worked in a place that sometimes had no more than 3 linercards.... the cards were always numbered, and you did two per hour at predetermined times, not where they might best fit. Orders were, read them as written, don't read them out of order, and have fun with them and the FUN PART of course was left out?!?!?

Does that really do anything to keep a listener interested

CREATE A LISTENER, don't just expect them to find you........PROMOTE>>> KEEP THEM INTERESTED AND INVOLVED. Strive to creat ACTIVE listeners not passive ones. OTTO does a good job with the passive. Talent creates the new and the active.

Or not.

Yep times have changed, but we only can live in a time we created. We tell people what they want then give it to them. We told them they wanted OTTO and his friends. That's what we gave them. That has become the expectation. People have all of the options that were given to them. Radio can't compete on the same field as I-Pod. So radio needs to play on their home field and get back to what they do best. COMMUNICATE!

Babble babble babble from a irrelevant usedtobe.

Hey Roger, I thought that might be you!
We ARE sitting in the same boat!