Last week leading into the holiday turned out to be a newsworthy day for radio in Chicago. For a change.
It was the last day as a full-time jock for Bob Stroud (pictured), the heart and soul of the Drive (Hubbard’s WDRV). Bob put the wraps on a career that spanned more than four decades in Chicago rock radio.
Stroud’s last 21 years were at WDRV where he repped the station and Chicago radio like no other. I have had the honor of working with some incredible talent throughout my radio days, but none has been more professional and gracious than Bob.
Stroud will still have presence on WDRV, where he will continue to host its famous “Ten at 10,” “One 45 at 1:45” and “Rock n’ Roll Roots” on weekends. His voice will continue to remind Chicagoans of their own musical roots on the airwaves. I wish Bob the best in his “semi-retirement.”
There’s a nice tribute to Bob Stroud from Robert Feder, another Chicago media veteran. Rob is a market icon, having covered the radio beat in Chicagoland since 1980 when he joined the Sun-Times. He is a true journalist, tirelessly covering the Chicago media world with flair and candor.
And last week came Rob’s bombshell announcement. He, too, is hanging it up after decades of reporting on the radio dial. I have had the honor of working with some of the best stations in Chicago over my career – WLS, the Loop, WCKG, Q101, and of course, the Drive. And throughout all those adventures, whenever I was involved with a station that made news, the question was always this:
“What did Feder say?”
After 42 years on the Chicago media beat, I’m calling it a day. Thanks to all of you for your loyalty and trust. https://t.co/KPSfbupkEd pic.twitter.com/ndipveXknD
— Robert Feder (@RobertFeder) July 1, 2022
Everyone in the media world – radio and TV people, advertisers and agency bigwigs, and thousands of avid readers in the metro – followed Rob Feder’s “take” on the media comings and goings. He had power, impact, and perspective – a formidable combination.
While Rob was one of the best at this craft, many other American cities also had reporters covering the “radio beat.” In Detroit, it was Bob Talbert, a wild and crazy Southern boy who took to the Motor City and its many eccentricities unlike many who actually grew up here. Bob’s “Outta My Mind on a Monday Moanin'” was the way you started your week.
In the snippet I dug up (pictured) , Bob mentions a number of Detroit radio personalities, including Jo Jo Shutty MacGregor, Ken Calvert, Lynne Woodison, and Karen Savelly. And that was just a single day’s column.
Like Feder in Chicago, Talbert’s daily column for the Detroit Free Press was must-read. Most media people started their Freep reading with Talbert before making their way through the rest of the paper. And there was no shortage of news being made by local radio stations. A mention in Talbert could make your day. Before there was social media, it was columnists like Talbert and Feder who generated the buzz.
During my time in Detroit radio, Gary Graff covered radio for the Free Press, while Jim McFarlin was the scribe for the Detroit News. Others – Susan Whithall, W. Kim Heron, and John Smyntek also provided feature coverage to the mix. The entertainment beat in Detroit was a huge deal, and radio provided the 24/7 fuel that kept it all going.
And it was competitive. Graff and McFarlin worked especially hard to get the radio (and music) scoop, gossip, and skinny. Along with other reporters for Detroit’s two big dailies, radio was also covered in the Birmingham Eccentric, the Oakland Press, the Metro Times, and others. All that coverage contributed to the “DJ as celebrity” mindset as so many great personalities and shows starred on the Detroit radio airwaves or moved onto bigger markets and more riches.
How much “ink” did radio generate? Every day, WRIF’s promotion director put together a Xeroxed packet of that morning’s articles for the management team so we knew what was being written and said about us. Some days, it was thick. And it was always worth reading.
And when a station actually did something fun, interesting, bombastic, or just plain stupid, the market’s three network TV affiliates jumped on the story, t00.
Radio was newsworthy.
When you did focus groups – and that was my forte – regular folks were actually up to speed with most of the goings-on at WJR, CKLW, WRIF, WNIC, and other iconic stations in the market. They knew the DJs, the stunts, and even the dirt.
So Rob Feder stepping down in Chicago from his media throne is a big deal. The end of an era. The radio stations in the market will continue to change their formats, shuffle their DJs, and raise money for good causes. Tragically, the shooting in Highland Park over the weekend was another example of local radio stepping up when it matters. But the story wasn’t covered this morning by Rob Feder.
Part of the issue, of course, is about the continued death spiral of newspapers in our cities, towns, and communities. Ironically, a story in the Detroit News reported on the bad news about its industry: an average of two newspapers die in this country every week.
According to Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media and Integrated Marketing Communications, there were 6,377 newspapers in the U.S. at the end of May, down from 8,891 in 2005 – a drop of 28%.
And that goes right to the increasing disappearance of “radio” in so many people’s lives. Slowly – but surely – we see increasing evidence that radios at home, at work, and in the car are vanishing. Part of the medium’s omnipresence had to do with its ubiquity. Radios were everywhere you were – in your dash, on your belt, on the workbench, and on the nightstand.
You could read about radio most days in the newspaper (when there were newspapers), and everywhere you looked (especially in the spring and fall) station call letters, logos, and personalities were plastered all over billboards, bus sides, and car bumpers during the days when radio was marketed.
Not anymore.
Last week, Nielsen released yet another report touting radio’s reach, a shopworn story most people – listeners and advertisers especially – don’t believe. We keep promoting that everybody listens to the radio (OK, 93% of Americans every week) as the metric that matters.
Everybody breathes, too. And we take them both for granted.
Radio will not dig itself out of this ditch – OK, trench – by promoting the same data, without doing the things that truly resonate in what has been called the “attention economy.”
Radio’s troubles aren’t about passive reach, they are about a lack of relevance. We react to what’s new, what’s different, what’s unpredictable. Not utilities that provide the same things, day in and day out.
Whether it’s on social media, video streaming platforms, or our own stations broadcasting on the FCC regulated airwaves, consumers want an experience, something that’ll make them sit up, and pay attention, In a media world oversaturated with too much choice and not enough enchantment, that’s a heavy lift. But it’s what has to be done if radio is to have any prominence in the new media order.
I call it “the two guys in sitting in a bar test.” I blogged about it five years ago. When those two regular dudes are sitting around sipping a cold lager, and one says to the other, “Did you hear about what that radio station did?” – well, your station or show has passed the test. 
But in recent years, these moments have sadly become too few and far between. Radio simply isn’t making much news because it does the same things in the same ways ad nauseum.
“New” formats are merely versions of the same retreads we’ve heard for years. When was the last time a truly new and different format signed on in your market?
And even launches have taken on a certain perfunctory sameness – 10,000 songs in a row, commercial-free.
Woo hoo.
So, that bring us to a recent radio news items – in Canada – that broke through and truly made headlines and noise.
In case you missed it, KISS-FM in Vancouver – owned by Rogers, one of the “bigs” in Canada – went into stunt mode last week. They played Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name Of” for an entire day. That followed the announcement their morning show was leaving the airwaves, informed by management “we won’t be part of this new chapter” on the station.
To the station’s/company’s credit, they worked the stunt well, earning a retweet from Rage’s Tom Morello, as well as coverage by CBS News, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, and many others. Yup, for playing the same song all day long:
@RATM @tmorello a pop radio station in Vancouver 🇨🇦laid off all of their staff yesterday. Whoever is on the controls this morning has been playing Killing In The Name Of on repeat since 6am (it’s now 9:30). @KevinLimOnAir @Sonia_Sidhu It’s beautiful. pic.twitter.com/kXi9BLKWb0
— CDJ (@RR7349) June 29, 2022
Unlike other radio shenanigans, the Rogers team managed to mix in intrigue and mystery. As the CBS story noted,:
“It is unclear if a disgruntled employee put the song on loop or if it was the radio station’s odd way of saying goodbye. CBS News has reached out to KISS FM’s parent company Rogers Sports Media, as well as the three DJs for comment and is awaiting response.”
The stunt was sold well, including call-in’s requesting the song, and well as other audio that made this unpredictable moment even more interesting and newsworthy.
In radio in 2022, that’s as good as it gets.
When news of KISS’s stunt broke, especially on Twitter, I heard from a number of people asking what I made of it. As a jaded radio guy who’s been involved in scores of these, I wrote it off as just another radio non-event, a “nothing burger.”
I was wrong. Even though this version of playing-the-same-song-for-an-entire-day has been done again and again…and again, this one took off. Maybe the denizens of Vancouver and the news media are looking for something – anything! – else to cover.
But it served as a reminder that a well-executed on-air event, with just enough intrigue, can still break through on the usually pedestrian airwaves into the mainstream media.
And that should encourage everyone in radio that it can be done, that radio still has the ability to excite, amaze, perplex, and generate buzz.
Oh yeah, KISS is now an Alternative station (the format is hot in the Great White North) called Sonic.
Hi! We’re SONiC. The New Alternative.
📻: 107.5 Chilliwack l 92.5 Abbotsford l 104.9 Vancouver. Smart Speaker: “Play SONiC RADIO” pic.twitter.com/BACXQKNlPU
— SONiC (@sonicradio) June 30, 2022
The new morning show features Angela Valiant (pictured), billed by Rogers as “the first solo female-fronted morning show in Vancouver.”
In Canada, I guess that’s newsworthy, too.
It’s easy to write off this stunt as another same-old same-old radio prank with a flip to yet another Alternative station, but these crafty, cunning Canadians may be onto something.
It begs the question, if a radio station changes format and it’s not reported anywhere, did it really happen?
So, what’s newsworthy on your radio station?
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This also seems to be about shrinking newspapers too. Reported content overall and staffs shrinking at newspapers almost everywhere. A “local media” beat might be sustainable in Chicago, NY, LA. And it used to be a thing in markets down the ladder.
What sized market was Charlotte in the 1980’s? We had a morning and afternoon paper and I think both had a media reporter. Mark Wolf, Jeff Borden, Lawrence Toppman. They did EXTENSIVE coverage, Often long features on our personalities and at least mentions of promotions some times. They had weekly columns that it seemed I could get something into fairly often at WBT and our little classic rocker WGSP if I just cooked up a quick press release about our special weekend programming schtick even. I have tons of clippings from that market.
Of course, as in many markets, the evening paper went away in Charlotte and the morning papers have shrunk in sheer content size everywhere, I’d stopped subscribing to the hard copy of the Albuquerque Journal for its online edition here in my home of 30+ years. When I had occasion to buy a hard copy for an article I wanted hard copies of, I was shocked at how slight and light the paper was. Felt more like a “Penny-Saver” than a serious newspaper. I’m guessing that’s happening in all but the biggest markets – maybe some there too.
Anyway, good thought starter on how to make news if you’re running a station. I just hope there’s someone at the paper who even listens to radio there to report on it. That’s the beginning of a new part of the problem.
Thanks for churning out these (almost) dailies on our dear precious playground. I’m just glad to have had a slice of time in its golden era.
Paul
Ben Fong Torres was the radio journalist in my hometown, San Francisco, back in the day, writing for both the local paper and Rolling Stone–and very good at it he was. He cared because we (readers/listeners) cared. You’re right to put the question, Fred: Who cares today? Why would the public care if it’s obvious that broadcasters don’t? You can’t fake sincerity, however hard you try.
Fred, you are simply outstanding.
After the KISS stunt, what can be next – a radio not broadcasting for a day to punish its audience for not listening? That’s what a race to the bottom looks like.
Ouch. Good to hear from you, Steve.
Some quick thoughts:
1) No one cared about radio’s reach when it (radio) was newsworthy and they don’t care about it now. I sold a lot of radio ads locally and nationally and met with many media directors and planners. Virtually none bought radio because if its reach, most did because of its targetability and ease of creative and placement shifting.
2) If radio wants to be in the news, it has to do things that are newsworthy. Matt Siegel once told his audience that The Stones were at that moment, playing at the Insquare Mens bar in Cambridge. Traffic quickly snarled, a real mess ensued and the stunt was covered by local media, for the most part referring to WBCN as “a local radio station”. I remember when Howard Stern said the wished the FCC commissioner would get cancer and die. Not something he’d likely endorse or do now, but it made the national news. Steve Dahl (speaking of Chicago radio) had his moment too. Radio just isn’t in that business anymore – and neither are a lot of advertisers..
3) The decline in newspapers is the saddest part of your, as usual, really thought provoking column. Social media isn’t news, people don’t have to and almost never fact check memes before sharing or believing them. It may be that the decline of newspapers has more to t do with the spread of misinformation that its given credit for.
That lack of thinking big, Bob, is a big piece of that. I just don’t think many station people are encouraged to go for the big score. We see this all the time in format flips which couldn’t be duller. That’s why I was pleasantly surprised to see Rogers score with the RATM stunt.
And yes, the newspaper piece is, in fact, a big part of the “rub.” And I think when it comes to disinformation, the decline/disappearance of newspapers is definitely a thing.
Nice stuff, Fred. Even in 2022, radio can get coverage from other media by-working on it. How much? Probably not much. Let the other media know you’re doing stuff. Establish relationships with media managers. Include other media in the development when possible. Radio’s experts in promotion and marketing (there are still those who exist) can make it very easy to see the path to increasing that elusive cume. Of course, having a product worth listening to helps as well. TV, (what’s left of) newspapers and other media area always looking for “interesting” stories and events to cover. Radio doesn’t have to shy away from throwing things at those media.
As you note, Dave, some of it is (or was) relationships. I recall going out for the occasional lunch with some of the people mentioned in today’s post. It not only gave you a chance to inform them (OK, spin them) on what you were up to, but usually pick up some intel (OK, gossip) from them about your competitors.
I was planning to comment on an earlier post by referencing George H.W. Bush’s public love for WMZQ. While I didn’t comment at the time, I did enough research to confirm it–via an archived “On the Dial” column from the Washington Post that didn’t just lead with that, but also had a reaction comment from then-morning co-host Mary Ball.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1988/08/02/on-the-dial/01eb30c5-3f93-4799-9d28-6a6894ce0354
More generally, I’d compare the current state of industry coverage throughout North America (not just the U.S., but also Canada and likely Mexico) with that in, say, Australia, the UK, or Ireland. For example, the latest ratings for Australia’s main metros just came out–and, as usual, there was plenty of coverage in both the trade and general press.
Features like “On the Dial” legitimized radio, giving it credibility among advertisers, and in an age with no social media, providing a view of radio most fans never got to see. If it the death of newspapers, same-old same-old radio, or a combination of the two. Thanks, Eric.
I’ve always loved those kinds of stunts. And although I know that in the United States they have been carried out permanently for years, the truth is that in markets such as Latin America they are much less common.
Therefore, I have enjoyed some great stunts that we have done for the launch of new formats, especially in Colombia and Chile.
However, it is still very difficult, in our countries, to sell the idea of carrying out this type of activities.
The directives of the radio stations do not conceive a day or two without commercials. In addition, they tremble with fear just thinking that the same song is going to be played 24 hours a day or when we leave a heart beating for a couple of days with its respective countdown.
In this part of the planet, they continue being disrupting ideas, but the owners and the managing teams continue to be less likely to take risks…
It is interesting, Tito, that there really wasn’t much risk involved in Rogers’ stunt, nor was there any expense. These stunts require planning and (on occasion) bringing a key advertiser up to speed with what you’re doing so they don’t freak out. Thanks for the response.
Two different comments, although to the same post.
First, Robert Feder was indeed an institution in Chicago. I remember arriving in the market in 1990 and people freaking out if their photocopy of his column from that morning it wasn’t in their mailbox by 9:00. He held an amazing amount of respect and power, yet he left the daily newspaper business many years ago because the daily newspaper he worked for evidently decided maybe radio wasn’t that important. But he covered TV as well. He’s been an online columnist for years and he will be missed by both the pros and the fans of Chicago media.
Comment two, radio has moved itself into a vacuum because it is no longer the innovative, exciting, cutting edge, content factory that it used to be. Changing call letters and playing 10,000 songs commercial free has gotten kind of old so it doesn’t make real news and without any kind of media columnists it doesn’t even have a chance of getting into print or on TV or anywhere but on that station’s own air. I might suggest that radio stations did that to themselves by not doing the outlandish stuff like you mentioned in your post, but for whatever reason that’s the way it is. And the sad fact is only something very bad and unfortunate will bring coverage of radio or the people in it to other media, and we really don’t want that now, do we?
Mark, you’ve distilled it well. Feder was a special one, but between the death spiral of newspapers and radio’s “play it safe” mode, there simply aren’t the column inches available. The fact Rob was able to sustain his column through Vocalo and the Daily Herald says a lot about just how popular his column was over the year.
Tru dat. Plus there were some truly monumental pricks in the corner offices of radio and television stations in the Windy City for many years. Somebody had to keep them honest.
Especially in small and middle markets, smart broadcasters and newspaper publishers should see the value in strategic partnerships. With larger newsrooms, and at least some beat coverage, newspapers can help radio stations provide meaningful news product, and radio stations can provide new channels for writers with personality, not to mention great cross-promotion. Amps up online offerings, too. Sadly, too few have thought outside this box for too long. It’s a strategy for mutually-assured survival.
Howard, there’s no question mergers, acquisitions, and collaborations are becoming table stakes – especially for brands that don’t have the time, the money, or the personnel to develop their own assets. Appreciate the comment, Howard.
Nice tribute to Feder and all the local columnists who covered radio. Also a great analysis on why they’re not needed anymore… there’s nothing to report. Nothing creative, no fun, no real reason to listen. Damn, Damn, Damn!
Appreciate it, Eric. It is a different day, to be sure.