Could Local Radio Actually Be Fun Again?

Article written by Eddie Coyle. Radio Air Personality / Guest Speaker

I debated on whether to write down my thoughts on this whole subject. I tossed it around for days in my mind wondering if anyone would even care. So here we are 23 years after the Telecommunications Act of 1996. I don't think any of us actually knew what was to come. In the years prior we were having so much fun I don't think many of us thought that far ahead about all the negative possibilities that were about to confront thousands of lives and families throughout the wonderful world of broadcasting. So what happened? Not a real easy one to answer. I remember my Dad telling me if I always wanted to have a job making great money, be a plumber or an A/C-heating expert. I found out years later that he was right when I met a guy who retired at the age of 52, sold his A/C-heating business in New York, and moved his wife and 10 kids to Marco Island, Florida. He spent the rest of his life playing golf, meeting friends at his favorite beach bar, and lying in his backyard overlooking the water. However, that wasn't going to be my passion in life. I had already been to Woodstock and I loved music. The local Philadelphia disc jockeys would come to our sock hops in high school and I would watch them and think wow, what a job! They actually get paid to to do this. They were local celebrities. Their faces were on billboards. They and the songs they played for us were such a major part of our lives. Little did we know how MUCH a part of our lives. Memories that would never leave us and would help shape our futures and relationships. Local radio stations were part of the community. They were the heartbeat of local business. Of course like today, ratings meant money, and lots of it.

My Dad passed away when I was 17. I cannot explain what a loss it was to my Mom and 4 siblings all younger than me, one being handicapped. The family business was sold and my Mom began a new life in Florida. She had to get away. I did not follow immediately because she paid for me to go to broadcasting school in downtown Philly to get my license. The school was owned by local WFIL air personality Long John Wade. one of my idols. He later moved to WIBG and got me a job in the promotions department driving the "Summer Gold Dune Buggy" around Philadelphia and the Jersey shore for $1.60 an hour. I was 19 and living the dream. At that time John Records Landecker was doing evenings at WIBG before he went to Chicago to be a legend at WLS and he would let me sit on the studio floor and watch him do his show. There was no turning back now. I wanted to be him.

I finally had to make the move to Florida too and follow my family because I wasn't nearly good enough to be on the air in a top-5 market like Philly. So the trek began. First Naples, Florida, then Ft. Myers and Augusta, Ga. before heading back to Philly to actually teach a class 10 years after I attended. One of my students is a guy I'm very proud of, the radio play-by-play announcer for the San Antonio Spurs, Bill Schoening. It was at that time when I received a call inviting me to be part of the airstaff for one of the radio stations I grew up listening to, the great WFIL. Those call letters led me to Cincinnati, Orlando, New Orleans, Miami, and finally a wonderful 25 years in Dallas-Ft. Worth.

So what does this all have to do with local radio today? Actually, not much. I guess that's my point. Before the Telecommunications Act was passed, most people in the industry could lose their job at one station today and have another job by tomorrow. That wasn't going to be possible when only a handful of companies own all the radio and TV stations in the country. Now we're not going to change that. The monopoly will go on, but what about that question at the beginning of this whole thing. Is it possible for local radio to be fun again? There are actually a few smaller owners and executives today realizing what radio did to itself. Not to mention all the talented people who lost their jobs because of ridiculous consolidations. It did not have to be this way. Forget about all the excuses of the internet, cell phones, satellite, YouTube, and whatever else you can bring into the equation. The bottom line is money, and radio got greedy, and they ended up with a bullet right between the eyes. I had the pleasure of working for businessman, politician, and radio station owner Cecil Heftel. He gave us a million dollars to give away on the air. Literally. The largest prize in radio history when I worked in Cincinnati. He paid large salaries because he was smart enough to know it would all come back to his wallet one-thousand-fold because he hired the best. In New Orleans at B-97 we were the SOUL of the community. We were everywhere and people came to see us in droves. Why? It wasn't just the great promotion stuff we would always give away. The whole family from age 8 to 80 listened to a top-40 station with disc jockeys having as much fun as them. They just wanted to hang out with us for a couple hours. In Dallas at KEGL we gave away Porsche 911 Carreras on a regular basis, hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, and even the keys to a new home to a very lucky family. Everybody was making money. I knew account executives who made more than most doctors. So what really happened? To be honest I don't think there are many who would step forward and admit to making some very bad decisions and sucking the fun out of local radio. We'll probably find out how the great pyramids were built before we get the actual reasons for such a downfall. Today listeners try to win $100 on the radio not knowing they are competing with another "network" of stations owned by the same company at the same time making it a national contest. It's an insult to the listener. It's pathetic. It's sad. It did not have to be this way, and I refuse to believe that local radio deserves a tombstone just yet. This might sound a bit egotistical, but if I had the money to buy my own FM station, I definitely would know what to do with it to make money and gives listeners something fun again. Streaming could also show others how we can pull this off. It's mind-boggling how the big broadcast companies suddenly came to the conclusion that actual live people on the radio did not matter to listeners anymore. I still have people tell me they have an autographed picture of me on their refrigerator that has been there for over 30 years! For God's sake I'm NOT Tom Cruise! What I had to make myself realize is that picture MEANT A LOT to that listener who took the time out of their day to ask me for it. The business took these moments away from the very people who they were trying to get more of. How in the world did these corporate executives get their jobs? Who are the bright individuals who decide to change a radio stations' format 3 times in two years? What happened to the patience and the nurturing to fine-tune a station and give it a chance to be the best? A Super Bowl or World Series is not won overnight. One other thing my Dad would say to me...he said you can have all kinds of diplomas on your wall, but without common sense none of them are worth a damn. How right he was. Common sense is something that is used and tested many times in our lives, but cannot be bought and there is not a course you can take to learn it. Either you got it...or you don't.

Well, I have literally no idea how this article will be perceived. Some of you might agree with some things I have said, others might view me as a complete naive idiot who has a hard time grasping what's really going on in today's local radio world. Radio has always been the ultimate "theater of the mind." There's no doubt that slogan has taken a long vacation, but I believe it could work again. I don't care who owns what. The money will be there for all if the decision-makers have any clue at all of what they're doing.

Can local radio ever be fun again? Yes, it can. All it needs is a little common sense.