This afternoon, I had a great, constructive conversation with former WNCI/Columbus night personality Maxwell.
Like many of our fellow radio friends, he was let go due to budget cuts earlier this year.
During his time so far on the beach, he hasn’t been just sitting around. People in Central Ohio know him and listened to him all the time and loved what he did. Shortly after being let go, he was being offered opportunities. Not full-time radio, but other opportunities to use his personality and talent in other mediums. He’s ventured into television reporting and hosting live events. He’s been learning about online media. Maxwell has some great new projects in the works to utilize his talents and content that he creates to entertain and inform Central Ohio on different platforms. He’s been staying busy.
Maxwell learned something very quickly that I think many haven’t learned yet.
You aren’t just a radio DJ.
You’re a content creator.
Radio is just one medium you distribute your content through.
The days of the “radio DJ” are numbered. Voice tracking is here to stay. Syndication is growing by leaps and bounds. Board operators are becoming a thing of the past with every single NexGen software update. Stations that were live and local 24/7 just a year ago are now ‘tracking shifts and using more syndicated products.
If you’re still sitting around just waiting and hoping for your next full time radio gig, I wish you the best of luck as your breed is slowly starting to die. Maybe you should have a conversation with those who performed with the live orchestras or the engineers who worked those boards on the radio back in the 1920s through 1940s. Or the voice actors that would perform live radio shows with props back when. (You know those shows… you can hear them now on an automated XM/Sirius channel.) I’m sure they would share the same feelings as you right now.
NOW… Before you start throwing eggs at me and trying to find where my Hyunadi Elantra is parked to slash my tires, hear me out, ok?
You’re a PERSONALITY. You create CONTENT. If you’re just planning on being someone who talks on the radio, you’re numbered. You just can’t sign up for a prep service and read the lines that come off of it. You aren’t needed anymore.
If you’re someone who CREATES COMPELLNIG, RELATABLE CONTENT that people want… AND you use MORE than just radio as a medium to deliver it, you’re starting to get it.
Now is the time to embrace your BRAND. Now is the time to be the CONTENT CREATOR that you are, and not just a talking head on the radio.
Radio is just a medium you get it out with. We’re so stuck on our old fashioned title of “radio personality.” The title is no longer as valid as it once was. We don’t need just radio DJs to be there and push buttons, talk into a microphone and pay them a full time salary with benefits.
Not needed anymore. Not coming back.
Don’t believe me? Do you not get what I mean by a content creator?
Look at Ryan Seacrest.
Say what you want about Seacrest, love him or hate him, love his shows or not. But Ryan gets it. Along with being the American Idol host, he’s the host of a daily nationally syndicated radio program, American Top 40, morning host on 102.7 KIIS-FM/Los Angeles, host on E! Television, and owner of Ryan Seacrest Productions, which produces many of the shows you see every day.
Ryan isn’t just a “radio DJ” or a “TV host.” He creates content. Radio and TV are nothing more than a distribution tool. He uses RyanSeacrest.com as another very successful tool to get his brand and content that people want out there. His twitter account has over one million followers. His website actually gives his viewers and listeners what they want (content) on demand, 24/7!
Look at Glenn Beck.
Whether you agree or disagree with his beliefs, he’s a content king. He creates content that you either agree with or are very angered by. He uses radio as just one distribution tool. His Fox News Channel show is the top rated cable news show at 5pm eastern. His website is full of content and available for people 24/7.
Glenn isn’t just a “radio personality.” He creates compelling content.
I’ve heard many radio personalities say “I don’t get Facebook, Twitter or blogging.”
Well, if you’re a content creator, Facebook/Twitter/etc should come easy to you! It’s nothing more than another outlet, another medium, for you to get that creative content out to your audience. It’s another way to be YOU! It’s not about broadcasting or advertising. It’s not about plugging what’s coming up on your show. It’s about doing what you do and just delivering it in another form.
Your job should actually be easier with social media! Not sure what content you should give the audience? ASK the people that get your content! Find out what they want and GIVE IT TO THEM. That’s so much easier than opening up a radio mic, staring at wall and thinking “oh shit what do I say now?! What do they want??”
So what do you do with YOUR content?
Do you even know what your content IS?
Broadcast schools are still teaching people how to be “a star on the radio or TV” and stealing thousands of their hard earned dollars. I truly feel bad for their current graduates. Are you learning about just how to push buttons or are you learning how to use your talents to create compelling content and utilize every form of distribution to deliver it?
Are your learning to build YOUR brand? Are you learning CONTENT?
Nothing drives me up the wall more than hearing some radio personalities gloating about how they’re “live and local”… and some will spend an entire break talking about this fact. In this day in the age of the internet, where anyone can get whatever they want at anytime, does that really give the listener a reason to stick around? Shouldn’t you be giving CONTENT and not telling a listener you’re there physically pushing buttons?
Listeners want compelling content. They want to be entertained. They don’t care how. Give it to them.
Are you just someone who comes in and pushes buttons and talks into a microphone and consider yourself a radio DJ? Or are you someone that has a brand and content that you can utilize on ANY platform at any time, INCLUDING online?
We are not going back to the old ways. If you’re going to wait for that, enjoy being in the poor house and waiting around for positions that are disappearing more and more every week.
If you’re willing to open up and learn more, go to the library or bookstore and pick up a copy of “What Would Google Do?” by Jeff Jarvis. Open it up and read pages 130-136 first.
After you do that, let’s chat. Email, Facebook, or even an old fashioned phone call. I’d love to chat. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Onward!
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