[ SECRET POST #6290 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #6290 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 21 secrets from Secret Submission Post #899.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

lemme break it down for you, as a former radio host/MD. the short answer is, the majority of radio frequencies are now owned by media conglomerates using satellite programming. and actually have been for at least 15 years.

In the 1990s where I worked it was already common to use satellite programming for overnights or other low-rated time slots so stations didn't have to employ any monkeys to push buttons. It saved money, which was crucial for anyone in the non-commercial end of the FM band and AM. However, technology limitations meant it was obvious that the programming was coming from outside the market. There were no station identifiers aside from the legal ID at the top of the hour (recorded) and recorded jingles IF the station had a computer that could sync with the satellite, while the rest of the time the station was "live" you'd hear them always using the statio ID/tagline to keep the listeners hyped. Well, in the early 00s technology began to allow for better computer/satellite syncing so that more pre-recorded elements could be loaded and remote-triggered by the national broadcaster, so there was one dude in LA pretending to be "live" on 20 different markets from Vermont to Seattle. But even that cost money because the one live dude still had to pre-record all those station IDs, and it was still kind of obvious. So they did away with the pretense of Joe Blow being your live, local DJ entirely, and at that point, stations already cutting corners to make money saw that the cheapest way to run a radio station was to leave it on satellite 24/7 - Iheartradio and Audacy being the biggest corporate blobs now. They only offer a certain number of programming formats, and most of them are not new music. That demographic doesn't listen to the radio - Boomers, GenX, and older Millenials who remember a time before Pandora/Spotify are the demographic still using radio, so the music formats are supposed to appeal to their nostalgia, not current hits.

Which, I agree, sucks, because the music industry is still limping behind new technology and the use of the internet to discover and promote new music. It's great for niche genres and international pop, rock, metal, and rap, but hard on the industry that thinks the mechanism of promotion is still vaguely similar to how it was in 1989. Radio doesn't make money at all anymore, let alone enough money to live-program a format that isn't being provided by Iheartradio or Sirius. Chicken and the egg, in that case.

tl;dr it's because of satellite programming's stranglehold on format and no one wanting to pay for an alternative when they can just rake in that sweet sweet ad cash for zero work.

[(Anonymous)]

I appreciate this post, thank you, anon!

[(Anonymous)]

That explanation is interesting, thank you!

How does it work with the rightwing talkshows, then? Are these actually live or ate these also prerecorded and everyone listens unknowingly to the same guy ranting?

[(Anonymous)]

mind, I didn't work in talk radio, but most of them are live...ish. They're still nationally syndicated, carried on a network or satellite like any tv show, but the "calls" and some interviews may be pre-recorded. Sadly, the bullshit they spew and the idiots who lap it up is real, but the pre-recorded nature depends on how much they're trying to appear audience-interactive. If they legit take calls, it's probably live-ish. At the very least they have to have it on a delay in case something needs to be censored, but that could be a 5-10 second delay only.

At least, unlike hit music, a talk show has to carry the whole time with talking, so there's no real way to cheap out by using pre-recorded material. You're paying for four hours of gasbag regardless.

[arcanetrivia]

I was just gonna say cynically, is there even any new music? But thanks for all this detail. On KFOG, I witnessed (that is, as a listener) in real time this transition that you describe here from the stuff that actually had local character at least part of the day to all bland all the time. I'm basically Gen X but I'm bored of the <2000 "greatest hits/classic rock" format and essentially dropped radio entirely when that happened, so their strategy didn't work to keep me, at least. I use a local community college radio station as my alarm clock in the morning, and extremely rarely may tune into it on my car radio. That's it these days.

(I can recommend college radio to anyone out there who would like to listen to stuff that at least isn't this dull satellite programming. It's not likely going to be new music except maybe from local bands no one's ever heard of, but it'll certainly have a lot of variety.)