I am a radio geek.

I have wanted to work in radio for about as long as I can remember. I don’t care what position, I’ve just wanted to be in radio. Think about it…everywhere you go there is radio. Well at least for me, I wake up, boom alarm clock is playing whats on the radio, I get ready for work I’ve got the radio on, I get in the car radio playing, I go to work, leave work get in the car radio is on, come home and unless I go straight to bed I usually have the radio on. I am a bit of a radio fanatic. Number one, I love music. Number two, I love the dynamic that is a good (or heck even sometimes a poor) radio station.

I’ve taken many steps to work towards achieving that “dream” even my current job is somehow backhandedly a way for me to hone my “skills.”
Sadly though, I am watching my hopes and ambitions go down with just about every other part of the world right now.

Radio needs one thing to survive: Advertiser dollars. Unfortunately, like everything else that requires dollars those are hard to come by right now. The majority of advertising dollars for most radio stations comes from car dealers and well, we know how car dealers are doing right now. Think about 10 months ago the amount of car dealers you heard advertising on the radio compared to now there is probably a significant difference.

With a loss of advertising dollars comes cutbacks, or station owners/managers/program directors coming up with creative and not-so-creative ways to cut costs. Our smooth jazz station here in Tampa recently went completely automated, there is only one live and local talent and frankly I fear that her days are numbered. Our alternative rock station essentially programs and provides the talent and who knows what else they share for our 80’s and 90’s hit station. Checking out the boards this morning I found out that one cluster of stations has now combined their entire promotions departments into one department which will inevitably end up in layoff’s. The state of radio right now is sad and it’s not because of the music, or the talent (or lack thereof). It’s not because of executives trying to raise their profits. It’s because station owners/managers/program directors are faced with challenges they haven’t faced in years.

Those of us who are die hard radio geeks, who know whats going on in every station in our market who have been looking for our “big break” for years are seeing our dreams float away with voice tracked DJ’s from Washington DC, L.A., and other large markets. We’re seeing quality local talent who has been on air for YEARS replaced by the likes of Ryan Seacrest and John Tesh who, are both GREAT talents. I just wish more of radio was local and not tracked from all over the country. Many of you don’t realize this but the vast majority of the talent you hear, especially those of you in smaller markets, is piped in from other markets. Technology is so amazing now that you’d probably never realize it.

Support local radio. Support what live, local talent still exists. Call in, tell them how much you love their station. Go to remotes and live broadcasts not just for a free shirt or bumper sticker but, because you support their station.

We have a crap load of radio stations in Tampa and I am dedicated to only a few. One station to me demonstrates everything that radio should be and I wish more stations would follow their lead. Their program director/morning show host is one of radio’s best. The rest of their crew, for the most part, has been with the station since it’s incarnation 10 or so years ago. I jam out as much as I can to their station and while I am certainly not the type of person you’d expect to be listening to their station I do so because I love the wild community they have created.

Show your support for your local station today.

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