This blog post was inspired by MTV and their once famous and even influential Video Music Awards (or VMAs).
With all the other stories swirling around the news cycle last week, there was the realization that for the first time ever, “Rock” would no longer be an included music category at the VMA show next month (September 27 on CBS and MTV).
But if you work(ed) in radio during the past five decades or more, you might miss those days when Rock was one of the most exciting, powerful, innovative, and humorous format brand on the radio. This is to take nothing away from Country, Top 40, and Pop, all of which have been around as long as Rock, providing joy and entertainment to millions of Americans, as well as people around the world. But the irrelevancy of Rock has generally coincided with broadcast radio’s lack of influence and meaningfulness. As Rock has gone, so has radio. Or vice-versa. I’m not sure of the chicken-egg-of-it, but I think both format and the medium have been on parallel paths.
It’s not about reach, it’s about relevance. It’s not about three minutes, it’s about engagement. And it’s not about no programming two female artists in a row, it’s about strategic risk-taking. When the Rock station
in town (assuming there is one) becomes the second or third punch when people are driving, it mirrors radio being overshadowed by the glut of music and entertainment being offered by DSPs, podcasts, YouTube, social media, and TikTok videos.
The premise of today’s post—as Rock has gone so has radio—isn’t supported by research or metrics. Most of what you’ll read below is my general observations from my 50+ years in radio, coupled with the reality that most of those years have been focused on the “Rock” family of formats.
What got me started on this slippery slope of a topic was Keith Cunningham’s column in Barrett Media about the “Rock” genre’s VMA snub. In a story titled “MTV’s Decision to Drop the Rock Category From the VMA Awards is Ridiculous,” Keith interviewed Rock mavens including Matt Pinfield, Ryan Castle, Mike McVay, Derek Madden, and yours truly to gain some insight into MTV’s decision.
It may be more about the reality that it has become virtually impossible to populate music and perceptual tests with enough current Rock artists to make research viable. In most studies, we’re tasked with coming up with three (or six) popular, well-known artists from the past five or so years to represent a format. When you struggle to do that—as MTV perhaps did—you begin to question whether you have a viable genre of music.
The other thing that hit me across the forehead was a Netflix promotional stunt for a new show, The Last House, that was ripped right from the Rock Radio Playbook. It involved a guy living in a billboard above the high-traffic, showbiz-centric Sunset Boulevard in L.A.
The story was picked up by dozens and dozens of media outlets, along with scads of social media sites and platforms. So, a tremendously successful stunt for Netflix and its new show.
But Rock radio did this stuff with some degree of regularity decades ago. I remember WQFM/Milwaukee’s Tim “The Rock n’ Roll Animal” U’ren sitting on the ledge of a 21st floor building to convince the Who to play a concert in Brew City in 1982, nearly 45 years ago. Tim remained in place for 14 days until receiving the long awaited phone call from the Who’s Roger Daltrey who agreed the band would play a show in Milwaukee.
Back in the day, many artists were truly interesting, funny, and smart people. Somehow, without the benefit of social media, we got to know them. The Beatles, AC/DC, KISS, Springsteen, Ozzy, and many others were clever, against-the-grain, and not afraid to say something the mainstream press might push back over. Those moments helped keep the format—and its “personalities”—vital, current, and relatable. 
Today, once you get beyond Jack White and Dave Grohl, it’s a small group of artists trying to keep the Rock genre fresh and spirited. It has not been easy.
Back in Rock’s “golden era,” bands would experiment with storytelling—rock operas, theme albums, collaborating with symphony orchestras, or even marching bands (Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk). Album artwork was also part of the aesthetic of albums, making their release all that more fully layered.
I expect to hear from programmers and consultants who will take exception to this premise that Rock radio is the straw that stirred the radio drink. As it has diminished in importance to broadcast radio, so has FM.
There are fewer Rock stations that still truly innovate and take big, calculated risks have become too few and far between.
How to get out of the current doldrums with the format and its new music? That’s a challenging one because most of the New Music takeaways revolve around this idea there is just a handful of new music worthy of consideration and the strongest rotation possible (which for most stations is no big deal).
I seriously don’t know whether the state of the Rock Radio format is symbolic of FM radio’s current struggles. But it feels like that to me.
I also don’t know how you “fix” this situation…or if you even do. While it is easy to lay the blame on corporate, Wall Street, consultants, AI, voicetracking, and music research, many of the technological innovations that have powered the aforementioned evolution were going to happen anyway. MTV, streaming, the Internet, iPods, smartphones, social media, and AI were going to happen whether FM radio was great—or not.
Could radio broadcasters have played some of them differently earlier on? Of course, but that wouldn’t have changed their cataclysmic impact.
I do believe, however, that existing stations could benefit from knowing what radio’s leadership was scheming and dreaming about back in those glory days. When it came to personalities, the local community, marketing, promotion, events, merch, and THINKING BIG, many of the programmers back in the day had it figured out and dialed in.
As for the VMAs, maybe the thing to do would be to just skip it that Sunday night and watch The Last House on Netflix.
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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Too much trying to be new and not enough of the greatness that music, radio and real experience developed.
Did you consider TripleA stations like WXPN and KEXP in your observations or were you just confined to commercial radio? They are certainly pushing the envelope.
That could be part of it, Clark.
Or maybe, it’s run its course, like ragtime, bebop or madrigal singing.
Maybe so, Bill. But what about Gregorian chanting?
If a genre is on a downward spiral, there’s generally little we can do to “prop it up”. In this case, I cite the recent flip of longtime Active Rock station KCAL in the Inland Empire region of Southern California (literally next door to the Los Angeles market) to Classic Rock.
KCAL stayed true to the original format, with a complete airstaff that included part-time weekenders, but the ad revenue was going off the edge of the cliff.
So now, it’s an automated Classic Rock jukebox that can be more easily sold in combo with sister Classic Hits KOLA.
It appears that even when you try your best to keep something alive, there comes a point where DNR* applies.
*-the medical term on a patient chart to “do not resuscitate”.
While it’s well-meaning to keep the patient comfortable for now, K.M., that doesn’t mean it’s a good strategy for the long haul.
You could expand this whole discussion to cover a certain technology (AM/FM) which some may say has run its course. With revenue shares now being fragmented by digital vs. AM/FM, and more music sources than ever before, something’s gotta give. These days I hear more about podcasts than I do compelling reasons to stay with a given radio station. They’re telling me to turn off the tuner and plop on the podcast, or check out Punk Polka on the app. I recall a station that, many years ago, ran an advertising campaign that told the market “Don’t Listen”. Sadly, their attempt at reverse psychology did what the message suggested. A great product on AM/FM/Streaming could have a cumulative effect on an audience. Don’t believe me? Ask the NFL. MLB. NBA.
Dave, your premise that when radio is (incessantly) promoting listening to podcasts, it makes a statement about it’s own entertainment and information value is a good one.
I thought about this question back in the 2000’s when groups began to give up something that used to be called “Mainstream Rock”. I remember thinking if you can’t have a mainstream format – how do you have a format at all? Since all other branches rise from the center. Took a while. What are today called Active Rockers seem to be on life support in many cases…As others have pointed out – its difficult to prop up a format once the spiral begins…
Good points all, Fred.