Weekly Rant: 2/12/2012-Celebrating World Radio Day

This week's rant is an important one, Now I say this a lot and I know it's getting us readers but let's look at the recent developments here in radio. I wine and cry every once in awhile here about mainstream brick and mortar radio. I recently interviewed for a job in Madison Wisconsin for a job doing mornings with a station. I also did a sit down interview with my friends at All Access this week as well. I love radio but damn there are so many clowns and so many people working or involved in the business that should not be in the business My view on radio is a tad bit screwed up and I will admit that a lot of it is frustration. I have recently done interviews for jobs in Madison WI and Hope Arkansas but we all know where they are headed. I also want to give my view this week on the events of the week that is radio.

I love radio, I bash Mainstream radio and Alternative media a lot in this space. However I love radio, I have always been a giant fan of radio, the theater of the mind as my childhood radio hero, Man cow would say. I think what people have done to change this medium over the years have been great. From Pod casting to Internet radio to the folks on Mainstream radio doing what they are doing is great. However there is a lot of crap going on in the world of radio and mainstream broadcasting. I recently saw a column written about World Radio day which was on the 13th of February. Radio is one medium I have been in love with for years and it's much like a lot of things I have loved it put me through so much pain as well.

My view on radio now a days is simple, No one is thinking outside the box. You have local level where you have several people who run the show for instance at Eagle Radio in Hutchinson Kansas, these folks are not letting anyone new in and not giving up any spots anytime soon. You have national radio where it's all canned and syndication and no one is thinking outside the box with social networking and such. Sirius radio is gotta a boat load of money they gotta pay Howard Stern and losing out on broadcasting legends and people who would go to alternative radio but they are not thinking for themselves either. Radio itself on a local level is not going in any new direction early as well. Radio is stag net and that is why Internet and other forms are kicking their ***. However those forms are not making any money and probably never will, which will mean Mainstream brick and Mortar can continue to screw around cause they are not in any real trouble.

Job Interview with Madison WI this week, I talked with a station who was hiring a morning personality. Now it was a small market station and more than likely I will not get the job and not even be in the running. However that is why I am talking about them here and most likely will be another job that racks up their with other jobs that I have been interviewed for and never given another shot at. Which means they either promoted within or they hired someone who did not stay and posted the advertisement for the same job within a week or so from taking it down. They could care less about my video experience, talk radio background and other things that make me a catch for a station. Nope, they wanted to talk to me and possibly hire me, They loved my background in Community Access TV? Really, you gotta be kidding me, here it's like when Clear Channel interviewed me for a job because they wanted my Photo shop skills?

Job Interviews with a station in Hope Arkansas. Yes a few weeks back I was interviewed for a job in Hope Arkansas for a job on a Classic Country morning show and news person at a station there. Now they were making a change, the Market Legend and you know how I love those kind of folks. Well they were replacing their market legend due to his health. They talked with me on the phone for awhile and did a very lengthy interview. However we all know how this will end, We will call you back. You will hear from us again line, Yes indeed that has not been much of a truth. I love these folks in radio who do not want to hire national but they post their ad on a world wide web site. Yes that means people all over the country and around the world can send you something.

All Access Interviewed me about 2 years ago for what we were doing with internet and radio in general. All Access got in touch with me once again recently and wanted to chat with me about my time on The beach. Yes that is some stupid as hell radio term, that they use for people who are not working or employed in Mainstream brick and Mortar radio. I love this, I wish I was on a frigging beach and not seeking employment back in a business which is filled with folks who have no need or use for technology, for folks who can not and will not embrace change. Finally folks who treat people applying for jobs and trying to find work, like dog crap. I did their interview and by the way whatever chance I had of getting back in will be officially gone after that interview makes the web. Believe me I am going to stab at some scared cows and dispel a lot of myths and call out a lot of the Mainstream folks who are basically just as the legendary Petey Green would say, I would not trust this bonfide pimp to wash my car but you people elected him City Commissioner. {Now I understand the reference makes no sense but I did not feel like calling them all criminals and douche bags because then you would think I was talking about City Commissioners and other public officials in the City of Salina Kansas}

My view on radio has always been something that I have loved. I love the radio and the process and application of radio. I just hate the business of radio and 89% of people in it and the folks who surround the business itself. For instance I love Pro wrestling and I love watching it, however I can not stand the business side of it, with all the backroom politics and ******** involved. Radio has been a great medium for a billion people to get their message out. However the people who are deep seeded in the business have not a clue what is going on, they do not want to embrace change, technology and take any chances. They look at it from 1-2 points and that is all and that is all it ever will be. One thing I hate about radio is no one wants to build upon the next generation, I can name countless stations that have a chance to get new talent and build on the future but they wait and they hang on by every thread of their being, till one day they dont do their morning show because they have died. Then the station is left hanging and have no one going to step in. Another thing about this is you have people who have the chance to build the future and they hold those folks down and never allow them to get it going.

Finally let's wrap this week's rant up by saying this, I like what companys and others like All Access are doing with trying to help get radio people jobs and get them back into the radio business because the folks over there know if they do not build on the future and get the good people who are victims of down sizing and others involved with the business, there will be no radio soon. My view might be a bit off but ask anyone in the biz or out and they will not go on record but they will tell you that these things I say are right and spot on, believe me I have heard it from a ton of radio people in the past in and out of the business I love radio and I see that groups are trying to embrace radio but they just can not do it for whatever reason, I love the advertisements that sayWe need someone with social networking skills and we need links to your social sites. I love that they will not hire people like me who are social networking and speaking at world wide social networking events and know what it would take to get the stations in the new era. Plus they aint got a clue what they are looking at so what happens if I provide my links, you dont know what the hell your looking at anyway. I have high hopes for radio but every day I see stations and companys falling behind constantly and I hate to see it but hell maybe it's evolution and survival of the fittest.

Jiggy Jaguar
http://www.jiggyjaguar.com