We cannot get numb to this as an industry. While this is the umpteenth day that one of the big station groups has made major reductions in staffing this year, we cannot just roll over and allow th. From iHeart’s mass-purge in January to all the pandemic related cuts that have followed, the radio industry is getting slaughtered from the inside out.
Many of the pandemic related talent cuts and moves towards regional and national programming were probably going to happen eventually anyway. Broadcast radio’s inability to adapt to the digital media changes of the past decade on top of the debt load of the large groups has led us down the path to less localization and less jobs overall. Doing more with less have been buzzwords for years.
The concept of utilizing your best talent regardless of location is a good one. But so far we’ve yet to see any company truly integrate national and local seamlessly. The national programming either feels like an outlier or the local programming is made to be just as safe as the national. I hope Entercom solves that puzzle because we need better programming to retain and bring listeners back to the medium with unlimited other choices now available.
But how do we move forward as a collective whole and better the industry?
If you’re currently employed in radio treat every day like it may be your last. These Entercom cuts are not happening in a bubble. The moves at Alternative and Country will be replicated at other formats sooner rather than later. Other companies like IHeart and Townsquare have made similar moves in cutting dayparts. Beasley is launching a syndicated show on all their Country stations next week. Promotions and production departments have been eliminated and regionalized during the pandemic. Companies will not just roll those decisions backwards.
Do whatever you can to make yourselves more valuable to your current or future employers. Most of the open positions at the big groups are in sales or engineering right now. Being able to generate revenue and keep the lights on will only make you more valuable to an employer when on-air, programming or whatever other jobs come back open. Why settle for being a Program Director if you have sales abilities to become a General Manager and help sales utilize programming tools better and vice versa? Learn more digital skills and how to use emerging platforms like Twitch interact with your audiences. Don’t settle for status quo.
If you care about radio do anything in your power to make the medium better with the tools you have. Complacency in believing that how we’ve always done things is how we continue to do things has led radio down this path. Take chances. Get out of comfort zones. Do not get numb.
Radio will survive these staggering losses. It is up to the rest us now to ensure the product that survives is worth it.
