In the fast paced world we live in, do you ever hear someone say, “That’s not how we used to do it”? Perhaps you find yourself saying the same thing when faced with a change to your familiar routine. Well, I’m glad that’s not how we used to do it!
That’s right, I’m thrilled that’s not how we used to do it.
“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything”. George Bernard Shaw
For some of my Radio friends that are too young to remember the Federal Communications Commission rule that required the board operator to take transmitter readings every 30-minutes! Today, it’s much easier. I’m glad that’s not how we used to do it.
At my first Radio job, the business office did the commercial logs by hand! Nobody could afford a computer to do that! The traffic staff would start with the 6:00 am hour and start writing the commercials on the log. Today, a traffic person can do logs for many stations for many days in much less time. I’m glad that’s not how we used to do it.
Before we had smartphones in sales, I needed to carry around coins to use in a payphone to call the office for any messages. Oh, what is a payphone you ask? The telephone company used to have telephones in public places. The phone had a coin slot and for ten cents, a dime, you could call back to your office for your messages. I’m glad that’s not how we used to do it.
Try communicating with a customer in another city without email and see how you like that. We used to use the United States Postal Service to send a proposal to a media buyer to get on the buy. I’m glad that’s not how we used to do it.
We take color printers, computers and PowerPoint for granted sometimes. We used to use colored markers, cutouts and glue to make a presentation. I’m glad that’s not how we used to do it.
When I started selling Radio advertising, I could only offer one AM Radio station and one FM Radio station. If I didn’t have an audience for an advertiser with those two stations, I had to move on. Today, most Radio sellers have multiple Radio stations to sell covering many different listening groups. I’m glad that’s not how we used to do it.
Before computers and voice tracking, some unlucky person pulled the short stick and had to do the Christmas morning, or worse yet, the New Years Day morning show. Now we can have one of our best announcers produce a morning show a few days earlier and get to sleep in late. I’m glad that’s not how we used to do it.
Wait a minute. I’m conflicted on that one. On one hand, I like the fact we can have a great show prerecorded for Christmas morning. But on the other hand, how can a young person get in to Radio today. That’s how I got into Radio. They needed someone who wanted to be on the Radio so bad, they were willing to work the overnight show on Saturday night Sunday morning. Most of us would have done it for free. We thought minimum wage was awesome! I haven’t quite figured out a way for new people to get in to Radio like we used to.
For all of the naysayers who complain and say AM & FM Radio is dying or even dead already, I have to ask, how come there are more people listening to AM & FM Radio now, more than ever before? The latest tally is that AM & FM Radio has 249 million listeners every week. Seems like it was 238 million just a few years back.
The worlds largest advertiser, Proctor and Gamble recently reported they were coming back to Radio advertising because they couldn’t reach 18-44 year old consumers on television anymore. P&G even scaled back their digital advertising because of their concerns with click fraud, non-human interactions and ad placement in objectionable content.
And with all of the other new technologies, the average Radio listener spends about two and half hours each day listening to their favorite Radio stations.
So, when you look at the big picture, there are a lot of reasons to be happy that’s not how we used to do it.
