Interesting comment from "George" on my previous post about XM and Podcasting. It's worth quoting:
Everyone is in the
storytelling business. Not just radio. I watched Ron Howard on Leno last week,
and that's what drives his movies. So are Opie's movies a threat to radio? I
doubt it. The only reason XM and Sirius aren't in the storytelling business is
because they haven't realized it yet. Give them time. Then what do you do?
To
Mark, the "powerful suits" aren't the people you have to convince. It's the ones
who work for them that make the decisions. Quit turning a handful of owners into
the enemy. Because if they were to pack up go, who'd be left to pay everyone's
salaries? I had a dream that the big companies all got into subscription radio
business, taking all the big talent and events with them. Leaving nothing for
terrestrial radio but ethnic and non-commercial broadcasting. It's not that
outrageous.
George - I'm guessing that's not really your name since you gave a fake email address - I think you understand only part of the picture, and only part of what I was trying to say.
I'm not trying to turn a "handful of owners into the enemy", I'm merely pointing out the deadly nature of pretending we don't have problems. One of the problems is slothful, Wall Street-driven management that can't look beyond today's stock price for a vision of the future. That's not negativity, it's acknowledging reality.
Yes, everyone is in the storytelling business (or at least they should be). I too have read Seth's new book.
I don't think there's much danger that XM and Sirius will wake up and figure that out, because that's typically the behavior of small start-ups, not of big Wall Street companies...and because there's too many people on the "programming committee" at each of those companies.
Same is true for big radio. In general, there are too many people on the committee when it comes to making decisions about programming and marketing the radio stations. Storytelling is done by individuals, not by organizations.
Stephen King writes great novels, not the layers of execs at Viking Press. Howard Stern does a great radio show, not Infinity and all their P.D.s, V.P.s, and G.M.s.
Ron Howard makes great movies because he has gained enough power to be able to keep his story alive, even after the committee has put their grubby fingerprints all over it. Enough of Ron's (and King's, and Stern's) story survives that it still breathes, and the public responds.
Sometimes organizations are smart enough that they can allow the storytellers room. Sometimes. Sadly, that's the exception and not the rule. Usually it's one iconoclast at the top who keeps the storytellers alive and free - and when that leader is gone, the pasty bureaucrats rush in to quickly squash any storytelling as quickly as they can. Look what happened to Infinity when Mel left. Look what happened to Citadel when Larry Wilson was shown the door.
I'm not looking for radio to become decommercialized. Anyone who knows me will testify that I am a devout Capitalist. I just think there's a difference between smart business and dumb business. And right now in our industry there's plenty of dumb business, and most of it is wearing thousand-dollar-suits.
So, can XM and Sirius wake up? Sure they can. But I'm not holding my breath in hopes that they will. Podshow was a step in the right direction, albeit it's podcasting stripped down, homogenized, and obviously "committeed" near to death.
Of the two satellite services, Sirius appears to be the one that might actually "get" it. They were smart enough to hire Howard Stern, and now Podshow. This is all because of Mel, no doubt. Maybe there is hope for them - though they've got plenty of hurdles yet to jump before the race is done.
As for terrestrial radio...
I think Radio Programmers and Air Talent need to start thinking of themselves as storytellers, George, you're right about that. Perhaps they should, in fact, think of themselves more like movie directors - and go looking for those small, independent film studios that will let them tell their stories, in their own way.
Are you up to that challenge?
If so, then go do it, and light a signal fire or two to let the rest of us know where you are and what you're doing there.
That should be an interesting story.
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