Hazlett: Radio not in tune.
Pittsburgh:PBRTV was recently referred to an article by Terry Hazlett in the Washington Observer-Reporter which we quickly realized was a follow up to a piece first published a month ago.
In the original piece, Hazlett talks about the 2 foot snowfall from early February and how he was affected by it - initially by the loss of power and heat. But as it turned out he was more affected by the lack of storm information coming through his old, battery-operated radio. "Who knew that my best friend from the '60s could be so distant and disengaged 40 years later, when I needed it most?" Hazlett asked.
The follow-up shared several emails Hazlett received from many others who tried to do the same thing - refer to their battery-operated radios when the power was out. It seems there are lots of disenchanted listeners.
Still another follow-up looked deeper into the problem. Why are listeners turning to other sources to listen to music? Answers ranged from "Radio isn't fun anymore." to lack of music variety usually based on the "research".
And finally... today, Hazlett gives 'the last word' to John Garry of the former "O'Brien and Garry" morning show. Garry gives praise to Dimitri Vassilaros and Mike Romigh as they attempted to provide some information on their evening programs the night after the big storm but says KDKA, in general, failed. He doesn't have much higher praise for KQV or WPGB for that matter. "As one whose professional career spanned 30-plus years in Pittsburgh radio, I'm embarrassed and saddened. There are many wonderful stories, nationally and locally, of radio rising to the occasion in dire times. This is not one of them," Garry writes.
Readers’ Forum
It’s unfortunate that there is lack of storm coverage on most radio stations. Or news coverage for that matter on a local level. Erie has a news talk station that has one local based morning show & the rest is syndicated fare. As for music, I think people are tiring of the same songs being played over & over on the few formats most markets cater to. People can now choose on MP3 players or a much wider variety of music formats on satellite or internet radio. (See my Internet Radio article posted last week.)
Tom Lavery (URL) - March 15, 2010 at 2:42 pm
Radio was cheapoid when I worked at stations that used live, local announcers. That there is no variety in music and no local touch is just another indictment against deregulation. Cripes, half the stations I listen to when I’m not tuning in AM 740 don’t even legal, local station IDs. It’s sad.
Rick - March 16, 2010 at 3:04 pm