iHeartradio-Firings-Bankrupt-Media-Future-Bob Davis Podcast 893

iHeartradio-Firings-Bankrupt-Media-Future-Bob Davis Podcast 893

Radio Talk

I don’t always talk about radio in my podcasts these days. However when something most noteworthy happens, I do. Learn more in iHeartradio-Firings-Bankrupt-Media-Future-Bob Davis Podcast 893.

Displacements Or Firings?

Recently the biggest radio company in the United States unexpectedly announced it was firing over a thousand employees. Especially relevant is the fact that the company used such obtuse language in its press releases, it confused news writers and listeners.

You Got A Future?

Moreover this event has kicked off a lot of discussions about the ‘future of radio‘ in this country. In addition suddenly all my friends and clients are asking me to comment.

Not much

First of all, radio doesn’t have much of a future. At least not as we have known it. I’ll tell you why in iHeartradio-Firings-Bankrupt-Media-Future-Bob Davis Podcast 893 and in a recent podcast I did about the history of top forty radio. You can find it here.

Content Creators Struggle Too

Furthermore all not rosy in the digital media world either.

It’s All About Revenue

While it seems like everyone who has ever worked in the radio business has an opinion about how iHeart ‘screwed up’, the bottom line is revenue. An industry that scaled to a certain point based on the old business model, simply can’t support that scale anymore.

Digital Marketing

In contrast various forms of digital marketing are all the rage, sucking all the revenue from ‘traditional’ forms of advertising as well as media production. Digital platforms are producing huge numbers while we haven’t quite figured out how to monetize individual content creators very well yet.

Disruptive Technologies Rule

Finally we’re living through an extraordinary moment in history. Due to disruptive technologies we’ve seen more traditional businesses destroyed and whole industries laid to waste. Broadcast radio and television are just two of them.

Tower of Babel

Even more, considering the tower of babel that is American Corporate Business Speak, I wonder how well other industries and businesses are actually doing.

On The Beach

In conclusion it’s tough to lose your job no matter what you do. Because of the realities in radio these days, I am afraid there will be many more people on the beach.

Sponsored by Reliafund Payment Processors

iHeartradio-Firings-Bankrupt-Media-Future-Bob Davis Podcast 893

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Remembering Art Bell-Radio Stories-Legends-Podcast 714

Remembering Art Bell-Radio Stories-Legends-Podcast 714

Radio legend Art Bell passed away on Friday, April 13th 2018. Bell’s show, Coast To Coast, was creative and unique. Time to talk about Art’s impact on me and reminisce about radio in Remembering Art Bell-Radio Stories-Legends-Podcast 714.

All Night Wonder

Many stayed up all night to listen to the show. Who got any work done when we stood around talking about Martians, ghosts, aliens living in the hollow earth or The End Of The World?

Saving AM Radio For A Time

These days, radio has become a wasteland of partisan political operatives shouting, cajoling, attempting to persuade. Many broadcasters have given Rush Limbaugh credit for ‘saving AM Radio’, and he certainly deserves his props. On the other hand, many forget that Art Bell probably had as much to do with resurrecting the AM Band for a short time during the 1990’s. For a kid from Chicago who spent summers sitting on the front steps all night listening to the radio, that meant something.

Creating A World You Could Never Forget

Furthermore, it isn’t the political shows I will remember from the past twenty years. It’s the Art Bell shows. The guy from Area 51. Father Malachi Martin. Gary North. Ed Dames and every other crazy person on that show. You knew it was nuts to believe this stuff. But when you’re rolling through the wastelands of Wisconsin at three in the morning, struggling to pull in a thousand watt AM station out of Rice Lake, it seems real. Because Bell was so good at creating a world where anything was possible and probably true.

For radio people, the ability to create a new world, using only spoken word, is truly significant.

The Broken Down Radio Station On The Edge Of Town

Art Bell had a big impact on me because he brought me back to my roots. The radio station in a corn field. On the edge of town. A single tower blinking red in the wilderness. The possibilities endless.

When The Guy On The Radio Was Your Best Friend

So it’s time to tell some stories. A tribute of sorts from someone, like many, who never knew Art Bell. As a listener we felt we he was our best friend. A throw back to the DJ’s of the 1960’s and 1970’s on the big AM stations in the big cities. Or to struggling to pull in a radio station with a big signal in a far away city.

A Voice In The Night

Most noteworthy is the fact that the experience of listening in the night is gone. Replaced with artless and amateur You Tube Channels predictIng the end of the world.

Making Magic

It is good to remember the magic that Art Bell created as a guide for podcasters. I doubt seriously radio will ever be able to accommodate a talent like Bell again.

Sponsored by Reliafund Payment Processors and Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul

Remembering Art Bell-Radio Stories-Legends-Podcast 714

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Podcast 240

Media Fatigue. A voice mail from a friend sets a podcast about media in motion. ‘The Media’ occupies a big space in our society these days. Especially television. Especially the cable news networks. With people of a certain political persuasion, especially Fox News. At a recent political meeting, people were asked to raise their hands to answer three questions; How many attended a recent Basic Political Unit meeting (about ten), how many are precinct captains (about three), how many watch Fox News (everyone). Yes people are tired, frustrated, burned out, angry and confused, but they keep watching, and watching, and watching! Media is taking time away from citizen action to actually change things. What IS ‘The Media’? What effect does it have on society and individuals? Modern media has taken the space occupied by the fireside, by ceremony, by the shaman and priest. We think we are modern, but human nature hasn’t changed much. For all the things media does (entertain and inform), its primary purpose is to persuade. Print, radio, television and digital have different origins and textures, and are used for different reasons. Americans think they’re being informed but they’re being bombarded with emotional appeals, especially during elections. Reason and intellect are not in the media’s lexicon. We are ill served by poor reporting, story lines to keep people viewing and listening, and of course bias. There is nowhere to escape this constant stream of emotional persuasion, as long as you keep watching, hoping it will change. Are there times when television reaches high points? Absolutely. Does it happen very often. No. People have to learn to develop a strategy for what they watch, how they watch, and what they use the media for. (Editor’s Note: I counted 16 different things we can do and I list them in this podcast). People are constantly saying, ‘The mainstream media is biased, it has to change’. Why wait for the leopard to change its spots? Learn to use tools to watch, listen and read what you want, when you want it, how you want it. As things stand right now, media is making us more ignorant everyday. Expecting to BE informed from the mainstream cable news, talk radio and broadcast television, is a lost cause. Sponsored by Baklund R&D. 

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