This time I didn’t expect it. But when the operations manager asked me to stop into this office for a minute and I saw the HR person sitting there I knew. "You’re firing me". I said. They were, but not for poor performance, but because they eliminated my position, Music Director and PM Drive announcer. Monday I get told I am getting a bonus for such good ratings, Tuesday, they eliminate my job.
This is radio. This has happened to me before. Many times. In radio, people are out of work so often; we call it being "on the beach". I prefer "Between frequencies".
I worked for a good company as far as major broadcast groups go. The CEO is a radio guy and they run excellent radio stations. Late last year the air talent was asked to "voluntarily" refuse our yearly contracted increase. They stopped matching the 401K. We lost all our part timers more than a year ago, and we were running pretty bare bones. Our little group in a Midwestern town was doing OK, all things considered. Flat is the new up.
But some of our bigger markets were down, some by as much 40%. So, someone decided radio stations that play music don’t need music directors anymore and our positions were eliminated. Two where I work and I heard more all across the country.
I’ve worked in this town for 30 years, with the exception of a few years in the 90’s. When I first moved here, there were 22 different radio station s and about 15 companies in the greater market. Several AM/FM combos, several stand alones. Now there are three, one being Clear Channel, one a local company and us. Quite a different world for a 59 year old woman to try and find another comparable job. More and more hours are being voice tracked, sometimes from someone who lives in another city and voices shows in several markets. Local? Yeah, right. A guy in, let’s say Memphis, knows how to relate to cities all over the country. HA! How do you pronounce Oconomowoc? I know, does the guy from Memphis know? I doubt it.
In a time when people download more and more of their music from iTunes or get it peer to peer and listen on line to hundreds of music choices, the last thing radio should do lose their local flavor. If there is a major storm in Madison, like a tornado, which is frequent here, there is no one live to pass along the news. OK, weather radios do that, but weather radios can’t tell people that the interstate is closed and there are hundreds of people stranded on the highway, a situation that happened last winter. In the public interest? I doubt it.
As a Music Director, I listened to TONS of new artists every day. I played songs from local artists, some of whom had never gotten any exposure on the radio in their home towns. Will this continue? Probably not.
Everyone loses. For me, it’s mostly just money and an ego blow. For the listeners, it’s a case of money first, you second.