Necessity, it is said, is the mother of invention.
And that was on display last night at the Oscars – a tired, overproduced awards show that has lost much of its magic over the years. And in the face of declining ratings, eroding interest, and more box office losses thanks to Netflix and its streaming video siblings, this was shaping up to be another mediocre year.
And then disaster struck when comedian Kevin Hart pulled out of the hosting role over a controversy about homophobic tweets. In a year where African-American actors, filmmakers, and other pros were up for those coveted Oscars, a talented black host had great appeal.
Until it didn’t.
And rather than scramble around for a replacement, the Academy opted to try something a little different:
They went “jockless.”
With no host, they were taking a huge risk. Or were they?
The show has floundered, along with most other awards fests and live TV spectaculars. The Grammy Awards continues to suffer, and the best the Super Bowl could do was book a second tier act for its halftime show.
So, without a host, the Academy cast its fate to the fickle Hollywood winds…and came out a winner.
I was on a plane last night, so the best I could do was “watch” on Twitter. And the reactions were more than a little interesting. About midway through the show I tweeted this:
#Oscars Does the show need a host?
And the reactions were fast, furious, and consistent:
Now, realistically, the show’s producers did a nice job of “programming” under duress, starting with a riveting performance by Queen (featuring Adam Lambert).
And as it turned out, Rami Malek capturing the gold statuette for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury was the perfect Hollywood ending for a rock n’ roll film that was not especially well-received when it was released.
And luckily for the Academy, “Green Book” took the Oscar for Best Picture, besting out the favored Netflix film, “Roma.” There had been much controversy in the weeks leading up to last night over the possibility that a streaming entrant could take the Academy’s biggest award. How weird would it have been to turn off the Oscars during its credits, pop on Netflix, and watch the Best Picture on-demand?
The show ran more efficiently, too. Despite the usual overwrought speeches and other Oscar strangeness, the show wrapped up much earlier than its usual exhausting midnight ending. Like a “jockless” radio station, there was more room for actual content with all that “banter.”
Hopefully, no radio executives were watching, because the idea of “going jockless” has been on the drawing boards for many stations these past few decades. Highlighted by the Jack-FM format where the only “personality” is the often brilliant writing and voice talent in between songs, the temptation to “mail in” radio without the expense and aggravation of an airstaff has always been a temptation.
Yesterday, The New York Times made the case for personality in a story by Alex Wong, “Their News Isn’t New; Sports anchors in the Era of Social Media.”
Focusing on ESPN anchor, Scott Van Pelt, the story made the point that sports highlights are now everywhere. While “Sports Center” was once
“must see TV” at the end of the day, we now know the scores and in many cases, have seen all the great clips by the time Van Pelt mics up.
So, what’s his and ESPN’s secret sauce?
It’s personality, humor, humanity – all the quality that makes for a great morning or personality show on the radio. As Van Pelt points out, “It’s a great reminder of the power of the microphone we hold in our hands.”
As highlights become as disposable as say, songs, what makes for an entertaining broadcast. Van Pelt explains that every sports reporter – just like every radio DJ or host – is trying to solve the on-demand Rubik’s Cube:
“Every person covering sports is trying to figure out the riddle.”
Fox Sports host Jay Onrait believes “Personality is what’s going to rule the next phase of television.”
Don’t tell that to the board of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences who may be celebrating this morning. They’re thinking they not only dodged a bullet, but may have inadvertently innovated their way out of their hosting quagmire.
Radio shouldn’t take solace in Oscar’s lucky break. As the ESPN story clearly shows, these same principles are very much in play on the FM dial.
What can a midday host bring to his radio show that you cannot get from a Spotify playlist or streaming songs on YouTube?
How do radio programmers address the fan experience challenge presented by music streaming, subscription playlists, and commercial loads that make it difficult to “stay tuned?”
Meantime, one aspect of the Oscars show incorporated radio in the best possible way. The fantastic female booth announcer you hear last night was none other than radio star, Randy Thomas. 
This wasn’t Randy’s first Oscar rodeo. Far from it. She’s provided her voice artistry for the 10th time for this show, making history when she was the first woman who handled this duty for the first time in 1993.
For Randy, it’s not about personality, but efficiency and accuracy. As she told CTV News, “I read the copy that’s written for me, generally what you’ll be hearing me do is introducing presenters and reading the winner walk-up.”
Nothing more, nothing less, but doing it with class and style.
But the Oscars needs more than a great voice artist, comedy schtick, and musical performances. Last night’s show was reminiscent of a new radio station that signs on “jockless.”
Oftentimes, the reaction from listeners is overwhelmingly positive – at the outset. It can be refreshing to hear a clean, smooth broadcast – “without all the talk.”
At least for a while. But it doesn’t take much time before the audience clamors for more. Music alone just isn’t enough to sustain interest and enthusiasm. Like “hostless” sports highlights, consumers can program it themselves.
Like live radio and TV, the Academy will have to innovate its way out of its rut with personality, creativity, and making an emotional connection with its audience.
Next year, the Oscars will have a host.
Thanks to veteran broadcast executive, Barry Drake, for the inspiration.
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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Yes, the show was missing something, but there was so much glitz it wasn’t apparent Overlooked among the real stories were Jennifer Lopez’s fantastic, very sparkly gown (thank you Rainman), the teaser ad for Irishmen (the next big Netflix movie), and the very lovey Julia Roberta trying to figure out how she was supposed to do the end of show sign-off.
Steve, by all accounts, a weird night. But aren’t they all?
It was like buying the Kroger store brand instead of the high end expensive brand. We still got alot from the presenters who made the show flow .
So it was a TEAM win instead of just one host . Every memeber of your brand is important to the whole production as in radio. The Top GM to sales ,production , consultants, jocks , pt timers, engineers, even your receptionist at the front desk to the listeners….all make for a great team
Agree, agree. It reminded me a little bit of an All-Star Game where everyone gets to pitch one inning.
Think it’s a disservice to Randy Thomas as a talent to compare the Oscars broadcast to “jockless” radio stations. Many radio personalities rarely go off script, are efficient in their presentation, yet they are the glue that holds the “stationarity” together when on-the-air. Would prefer to look at the commercials as what they always are, the awards presenters and winners speeches as the songs. Randy’s warm and inviting voice wasn’t less anything. She knows the drill. I enjoyed the less talk, more music Oscars.
Paul, my intention was to compliment Randy for a job well done, under very different circumstances this year. All of us in radio should be proud of her. Thanks for the comment.
Yes, we are proud and you did give her credit. As you wrote, “Radio shouldn’t take solace in Oscar’s lucky break.” My concern was that jockless in terms of stationality (w/o auto-correct putting an “r” where the “l” is this time) can be misinterpreted. I would also would have edited out “disservice” as I look back on my comment. Thanks for your clarifying reply.
🙂
Love your comments, Fred–and for once I LOVED the show Sunday night. Imagine, it was 36 minutes shorter. 36 minutes of irrelevant “jokes”, comments and hemming and hawing from people who didn’t rehearse enough was left out. Nothing against Amy Poehler, Tina Fey and Maya Rudolph. but as radio people have professed for decades “focus”. The name of the show is “Academy Awards”. Not comedy, not variety. The show was people handing out awards. Randi was “the jock” introducing the presenters. She didn’t stop by dropping one-liners or trying to get laughs. Does the show need a host? Yeah. Does the host have to slow down the show ? No. Does the host have to be on camera ? Maybe not. Randy was the host. Melissa McCarthy handled some comedy, and lady gaga showed emotion. For once we got what was promised. The Academy Awards.
Dave, great observations for a show that’s been troubled for a long time. The pacing thing stood out to me. Major League Baseball has struggled with the length of games for years, and in one night, the Academy Awards figured out how to present a more efficient show where most people feel like you do. Thanks for those comments. It will be very interesting to see what they opt to do in 2020, but I have to believe there will be many lobbying for a repeat of this year’s format.