Why Radio Needs DJs More Than Ever

Here's a long-ish read at Hypebot from Alex May from Sidewinder.fm that includes this quote:

The reality is, though, that radio DJs may not be necessary anymore. Technology has provided countless ways for listeners to encounter new music, and automated radio playlists have all but replaced the need for live on-air personalities.

F**k!  I couldn't disagree more.  

If anything, radio DJs are MORE important than they have been in decades. There's nothing like a real, live human being to tell me the stories behind the artists, the songs and the albums.  Being led to a song by an algorithm is fine, but that kind of music discovery is completely and utterly devoid of context and perspective.

Sometimes you need a knowledgeable, patient person to explain why you need to listen to something repeatedly so you pick up the nuances and understand what the artist is trying to say with the music. You need someone to encourage you to stick through a song, even though you might want to bail after the first 15 seconds.  You want a friend that can help you share in the human joy of discovering art.

When I was in my early teens, I hung on every word from my favourite radio announcers.  I trusted them, even when they played songs I didn't like--at least at first.  But if they gave me a reason to listen to that song, I would.  Sometimes I'd end up liking that song or artist. Sometimes I wouldn't.  But at least my opinion was properly informed.

That's the way I approached every on-air shift I ever did.  That's the way I still approach things whenever I'm on the radio.  I want to say or play something that will make as many people go "Cool!  I didn't know that!  Tell me more!"

Great on-air personalities can make the music come alive.  They make it more than just noises coming from a speaker or a set of headphones.  They tell you why music matters.

A machine or some kind of crowd-sourcing algorithm CANNOT do that.  And it never will.  The industry should always be grooming and encouraging new talent, people who can entertain, tell stories and make the experience of listening to music richer.

If radio is to survive and thrive into the future and if it is to evolve with technology, it cannot allow itself to be made extinct by technology.  Removing the human element--the DJ--is the thing that will kill it dead. 

The End of FM Radio? That's a Bit Harsh.

God bless Molly Wood.  She's one of my favourite tech reporters.  But the problem with being a tech reporter in Silicon Valley is that it's tough to see the world through the eyes of anyone who's NOT in the Valley.

And while there's plenty for terrestrial radio to worry about when it comes to new techologies--especially those in the dashbord--we're not about to see the extinction of FM radio.  At least not in Canada.  And at least not yet.

Still, it would be silly if radio people were to ignore punditry like this.  Things are changing.  Give a listen to the following exchange from Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Radio is Asking the Wrong Questions. For Example, What About In-Home Listening?

As someone who has been in the radio industry for more than half my life, I want it to thrive and survive. But radio won't do either unless the industry understands the kind of competition that's resulting from the massive influx of technology into our lives.

Two newsletter articles caught my eye this morning.  The first is from radio consultant Mark Ramsey entitled "Radio Is Asking the Wrong Questions"--that is, the wrong questions about its sustainability.

It’s not about new ways to sustain the status quo.  It’s about giving people what they want in an era when they own the choices and they own the control. Are you “pro-radio” or pro-consumer?

That's the task before radio in a nutshell.

Meanwhile, Radio Ink points out that while there's been much talk of the competition radio is getting in the car, there's also issues with listening at home.

-Radio’s competition is no longer only between stations. The fight today is against all of the other media: Television(outlets like CMT/GAC/TCN), YouTube, Pandora, and even personal mobile devices. 
 
- People are choosing to listen to the device that presents the path of least resistance.  In the car, that remains radio.  At home or in the workplace, there is a much more competitive situation: television, in particular, at home and the Internet at work.

I'm going to incorporate the spirit of both of these messages for when I'm asked to speak to radio stations about what they should do next.

How Auto-Tune Has Distorted Music Appreciation

Ask any recording studio engineer and he/she will tell you that the vast majority of people he works with insist on using Auto-Tune on vocals.  We can't have any bum notes, can we?  Heaven forbid that any singer ever sound real and human again.

If you're like me an loathe what Auto-Tune has done to music, you need to read this article from The Verge:

Since rising to fame as the weird techno-warble effect in the chorus of Cher’s 1998 song, “Believe,” Auto-Tune has become bitchy shorthand for saying somebody can’t sing. But the diss isn’t fair, because everybody’s using it.

For every T-Pain — the R&B artist who uses Auto-Tune as an over-the-top aesthetic choice — there are 100 artists who are Auto-Tuned in subtler ways. Fix a little backing harmony here, bump a flat note up to diva-worthy heights there: smooth everything over so that it’s perfect. You can even use Auto-Tune live, so an artist can sing totally out of tune in concert and be corrected before their flaws ever reach the ears of an audience. (On season 7 of the UK X-Factor, it was used so excessively on contestants’ auditions that viewers got wise, and protested.)

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Another Opinion on How the Music Industry is Adapting These Days

This post by Justin Stansbury appears at Hypebot.

Not too long ago, I was discussing with a friend of mine what we felt our purpose in life is. For some, their purpose may be to become a writer, a doctor, or a lawyer. But for me it’s music. Regardless of how tough and unstable that may be at times, it’ll never change. In the middle of our conversation, in the midst of voicing my frustrations and concerns regarding the future, my friend calmly repeated a phrase his father said to him during trying times, “We just have to adapt.”

Several weeks later, I started work on a new tour and that quote really hit home. I kept running into the same issues over and over again with different promoters, venues, and bands all over the country. It seems to me that the majority of people I come across are operating as if they’re living in a different decade; be it past, or in some far off futuristic land, it makes no difference. They all appear to be completely unsure of what their roles are, standing on opposite sides of the fence, shouting back and forth to one another over who has the better plan of action for the artist.

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