The Editorials

Playing God

Written by Jeff Krasky

It’s an issue that has been beat into the ground. It’s been discussed and argued about so many times that even I’m almost sick of hearing about it. However, I had to touch on it once again. It might be all the controversy of “Goodbye Earl” or it might be the fact that a number of incredibly talented artists are still getting screwed daily on the radio. Where do radio programmers think they have developed the power and been appointed the position of song selector for the general public?

For those of you unfamiliar with the song selection process it goes something like this. A number of radio station employees sit around in a meeting and listen to the new singles. Then they pick the few that they feel are hit material and force-feed them down our throats for months. This is made even worse with the slow moving chart that the industry has adopted. Who wants to listen to the same song for months at a time? Artists are only releasing a couple of singles a year and that alone makes radio incredibly boring. There are also stations that actually pay people to perform some kind of bogus report on what kinds of material people want to here. What a waste.

Radio obviously needs a serious kick in the ass. Radio listenership continues to plummet. I’ve got an idea. It’s so insanely simple that it might just work. How about the DJs and radio station personnel quite wasting their time and their money in their clueless attempts to select songs and artists that people like. How about they take the new songs and throw them all on the air and see what is popular and what isn’t? Let the listeners decide. After all the only reason that these people have jobs is because we take the time to listen to their station. It doesn’t seem like a lot to ask that we get to determine what music they play for us.

We could even make it an Internet experience. Most radio stations are getting online now. How about generating a listening booth section of the sites? List all the new singles that are up for adds and then let everyone vote. You’d quickly see what songs are popular and what songs aren’t and the ones that are obviously popular go on the air. It wouldn’t cost them anything except someone’s time to occasionally update the chart. Seems a lot more cost effective than hiring people to try and explain bogus listening preferences or holding pointless meetings that take into account only the opinions of a select few. The end effect is that people would be more actively involved in their radio station and it would make them more dedicated fans. Why can’t these people see that?

I only listen to the radio in the mornings during my commute and sometimes even that doesn’t happen. Quite frankly, when I do listen it isn’t to country radio anymore. I’d much rather listen to a morning show on a pop/rock station where the DJs have some personality, there is some good talk and some variety in the music (hell, with all the country artists crossing over you still get your dose of country music). They’ve lost a listener due to the stagnant feel and the fact that I’m completely left out of the process of selecting what I’m listening to. I’m obviously not the only one.

Hey radio, wise up and quit playing God. Otherwise you might not be around much longer. You might just turn around one day and see that by cutting your fans out of the process they’ve turned to other options like albums and Internet radio.

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