The Sad State of Radio Production

The blogs are full of information and expressions of dismay about the Mercury Awards. In case you missed the news, the judges were unable to announce a winner for the “station produced” categories. In short, radio stations failed to present a decent example of production.

We all know some of the reasons why:

• Underpaid, overworked production people
• No training. And yes, this is a position that requires a number of difficult to achieve skills, including writing, creativity and technical ability.
• No time. Quality takes time. We need quantity.
• Commercial copy written by amateurs, including account executives with 6 months of experience in radio.
• Uninspired contests and promotions, with promos written by amateurs, including harried program directors with no writing skills.

I’m sure you can think of other factors.

There is No Separate ‘Program’ Zone

Whether we like it or not:

The programming doesn’t stop when the jock punches off the first spot. To the listeners, we’re still on the air. And we’re continuing to inform and entertain. Or we suck.

Since I don’t go to work inside a radio station every day anymore, I like to think I can step back and listen like a – listener. And I can tell you that mostly, those commercial breaks are not informing and entertaining. So it must be the other option I’m hearing.

We can, with a lot of effort, be a very useful bridge in our communities between all the people who are interacting to buy and sell goods and services.

Or we can abandon quality in the name of saving a few more dollars, and continue to shrink our way into mediocrity if not oblivion.

I don’t care if we don’t win any awards.

But let’s win some listeners and some business. That means doing creative and effective production of commercials and promotions.