From Wagons to Tractors: Where Is Radio’s Evolution?

Mike, great submission!

I have been out of the radio business formally since year 2000. Admittedly, and as it has been said many times, by many people, “Once you’ve got the [radio] bug, you always have it.” So true. I have / and have had the bug for a long time.

I started in the radio business in marketing and promotions, before moving to on-air talent, but I always had a soft spot and strongly valued the local aspect of radio, and importance of interacting with the audience in the studio AND out on the streets.

When the telecom bill came about, my mentors saw something in me and started advising me to “go do something else other than radio.” They saw the end of what radio once was, before I even had a clue what was to come. I followed their advice. They were correct in their assessment of me. My entrepreneurial spirit landed me in a space to start and build companies outside of radio. But I never lost the radio bug. I just didn’t any longer see a place for me as a younger fella, who had opportunities presented to me, and my highly ambitious style allowed for me to make the most of those opportunities in radio – so I did. I loved every minute of it, and, yes, never felt like I worked a day in my life. The downsizing and acquisition culture changed all that for me as I experienced longer hours, workload increases, less pay, salaries flatlining, and I can only guess there is not as much money in the business for talent as there once was. Or, perhaps, not in the same way it was.

Just last week, as my wife and I were traveling from our home in metro Atlanta, GA, to visit family in North Carolina, we engaged in a conversation about radio. She did not know me when I was on the air. But she has heard stories. She acknowledged she knew I loved the business, and she detected a certain affection I still have for it. In fact, part of what sparked the conversation is the fact I am back in the business – to some extent. I have maintained relationships with friends and colleagues over the years, and have kept abreast of the industry, asked questions, and have read articles from you and other former colleagues. After all, it is a pretty small fraternity. After ongoing conversations for some time with a close friend and principal partner about his terrestrial radio stations and streaming content, I agreed to get myself back into the business. Who knows where this might lead me but I’m having fun and I can afford to do so now.

Wow! What I have realized is, as another industry friend said to me recently, “Gone are the days of a jock sitting on a stool for 4 hours.”

The very thing that drove me out of radio, I am doing NOW. In minutes, even with show prep time, I crank out several hours of content from my studio in suburban Atlanta, press ‘save’, upload, and walk out. I can be engaged in other activities, even talking to a friend, and we both listen to my voice on the radio during the conversation, because it was produced hours – or sometimes days – in advance. But it sounds live and local. The technology and software has come along so well that it doesn’t sound like the voice tracking I experienced in the late 1990s – wherein those of us in the industry could easily determine it was previously canned material because the mix was too wet and such.

My gosh, that is very different! The only time I pre-produced material in my previous radio career was when I produced specialty content, weekly music countdown shows, etc.

These are very different times.

You and others write about it constantly. And you professionals, whom are still very dedicated to the industry, absolutely nail it with your contributions.

In 1995, I was hired to be a co-host on-air talent & producer for a live radio show called “Cryin’, Lovin’, Laughin’ or Leavin’.” Back to the conversation my wife and I had during our recent Thanksgiving holiday drive to visit family, I was sharing with her the wild success of that program, which aired on WSSL in Greenville, SC. WSSL was #1 in the market, and that show’s ratings beat the #1 morning show on the same station. That show was 100% this: (excerpt from your article)

“Can your talent be so interesting that they create habitual listening from an audience that is afraid they’ll miss something if they don’t listen?”

It was a live caller intense show, with a 6 second delay. We were playing a fewer number of songs during that show at night, than the other dayparts. The clock was more like a morning show. Crazy! The show had such a following in the market that one listening truly would never know what they might hear, and the culture was “they couldn’t not listen.”

Greenville, SC is approximately 1.5 hours from my primary home and I am in Greenville frequently for a variety of reasons, business and pleasure. It is a rare moment that I don’t drive by the radio station(s) downtown Greenville, still based in the same building where I worked daily. The iHeartRadio cluster has a gang of station vehicles in the parking lot. For what reason, I have no idea. It does not matter what day, time, weekday or weekend, that I casually drive by, the vehicles remain parked.

Here I go….with my own “once upon a time” remark, it was rare to see station vehicles parked in the parking lot in the early-mid 1990s. They were always out traveling the market with live broadcasts, call-ins, or just out and about randomly engaging with the audience and promotions staff gave away items. If a personality was available, we would ride along. It was fun. Engaging. Constantly.

In the few weeks I’ve been back on the air, the owner has texted messages to me;
“You sound really, really good on the radio.”
“Sounds like you haven’t missed a beat.”
“Damn you sound good on the radio.”

That is not intended as braggadocios. It’s more a testament to my realization that it is what it is and I’m just having fun with it. I imagine it is the same for any of us whom have had a hiatus – press that microphone button and it comes right back to us. Perhaps that is further evidence I have the aforementioned bug.

Yep, it is very different now. I will need to learn new ways to engage but I still value the early roots and believe strongly that the magic of radio is engagement and making the listeners a part of “our“ family, while also becoming a part of “their” family! Do that, and you win! That is my belief system. Right or wrong, it’s in my radio DNA.

Thank you for what you do! Great work, Mike! Those of you who work tirelessly to help your clients – and ultimately the industry – will likely be the ones who transform and lead the new way in the ever-changing world of media. Keep it up!

Hey, Mike! Absolutely does this business have a lot to learn. I would love to have been in that “Showcase Studio” WING had downtown that I visited so many times as a child. I can probably do and should do, my own podcast about radio history. My, Lord! I taught it in a college for 12 years. What do we have to get away from? Mind numbing voice tracking that sounds like no effort was put into it. We should outlaw breaks that start with “Hey did you hear about this?” and INSIST on something local being said at least a few times an hour. Time? Temperature? You can do it with a computer and do it accurately. Say the call letters (or code call) PROUDLY! Could anyone imagine Robert W. Morgan or the Real Don Steele starting a break with “Here’s our d-bag of the day?” EVEN IF you voice track from out of town, there is NO EXCUSE for not saying the call letters or slogan, or not identifying a song or artist on a voice track. I have always thought of myself as an audio actor all the way back to childhood. Ruth Lyons always sang, “Let me entertain you”, not, “Let me really bore you”. Yes, I can think of 100 ways radio can do it better. Maybe I should write up that list some day and maybe someone would give me a platform to do it.

“Radio and TV are wagons that have YET to become tractors.” – Mike McVay

Print, Cable, Direct Mail…all seem to be booming now that they’ve become TRACTORS.

Mike, I respect you, and your background. However, I have to take you to task. I remember consultants in the 80’s whining about MTV or the threat from Sony Walkman’s! Usually, these guys had the capacity to take a last-place station, and eventually put them somewhere in the middle of the pack, with the format template they used elsewhere. They were simply incapable of creating dominant stations, either due to the client’s budget, or their misread of the market. Next the research companies came along and pushed their agenda, which was based on what focus-group listeners complained about. This helped sterilize music stations with “less talk”, “fewer interruptions” and “10 in a row”. In reality it was “less tune-in attractions”, less personalities, and ultimately less expectations from the listener. This was decades before social media, and digital music.

We all know what a sheer disaster the 1996 Telecom bill was, thanks to the NAB mafia and big corporate players, it was looked upon as a rebirth of the medium. Everyone knows how that turned out.

Now, the excuses is “look at Television” how bout newspaper, their dying, it’s not just us!. This whataboutism is just another excuse. Look at the top of the corporate decision makers, why are they still employed? They misread digital media and f d up streaming, most stations can’t even fill a 5 minute spot break on their internet stream. Their websites, are static garbage, their syndicated morning shows think “War of the roses” is cutting edge content. I don’t want to hear about excuses where are the solutions.?

Hi Mike, Frequent reader. First time commenter. I’m all for expanding the “brand” on other platforms. Your radio station gives “legitimacy” to these other endeavors which helps with succeeding. Will owners be willing to pay their local talent more to do these additional things? I would hope so, but I don’t think it will happen on a large scale even if that suggested Youtube show is making money. One more thing, a lot of radio stations, big and small markets, need to get their “house in order” before they even think about things you’re talking about.

As always Mike, great read from you. Maybe Radio’s biggest challenge is not how to attract and retain an audience. We spend all our time worrying about that while the real problem is how we chase away our own audience with 8-10 minute stop sets. Before we address attracting and holding an audience, maybe we should address the real problem. Debt. Nobody has the courage (or power) to fix that. More breaks, shorter music sweeps, maybe even edited, shorter songs, shorter spots, fewer spots per break and never away from non commercial content longer than three minutes. Craig Scott

And this is why I chose to work with you. We are the same. Great insight Mike. But is radio listening? I don’t think it’s the lack of ideas that radio people consider. I think it’s the fear of taking the leap. What needs to happen in the industry is reducing the fear of the failure. Radio needs to be disrupted. Great article!

Radio is being covered like it’s the stone ages. It’s a Social Media Communication world. You think Rogan has the largest online audio audience because of “Listen Bait”? Nah. He delivers great guests with honest conversations…. no one cares about contests (Freddy will dig up some small survey that says otherwise, although radio keeps losing traction), call letters and commercials. Radio has become low-paid talent trying to squeeze in funny one-liners over an 8 second intro. America doesn’t need that when they can find patient, authentic and edgy conversations on their phones. Also, they can find end-less music too.

The FM station can’t offer anything that most people are looking for, whether it’s talk or music.

Mike, this is top shelf stuff. And I think “listen bait” could become something that all programmers aspire to create. You said something very novel and very important here.