Published: May 11, 2008 01:06 am            

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Hoping for some good things from the new ‘Green Radio’

If all goes as planned, and I believe it will, we’re on track for a new format for KAND Radio starting June 1.

David Yates and company plan to launch “Green Radio” on both the Internet (www.greenradio.net) and on the broadcast airwaves of 1340 AM. A mix of local news, sports, the every popular “TalkTime” and a lot of new elements that Yates calls “green lifestyle programming” on his Web site.

I must admit I’m a little curious as to how the mix sounds, and how it goes over for them. It certainly will be something you won’t find anywhere else in Dallas/Fort Worth that filters down to our part of the country. And it will be a welcome change from the present music format that has never been a favorite of mine, even when I worked there.

I’m hoping for some good things from “Green Radio” because what is left on the dial leaves a lot to be desired. It’s been that way for a lot of years now, and is one of the biggest reasons I left the industry — it all sounds the same.

Sure, the music may be different among the stations that play music, but the execution is all pretty much the same. It’s all about the ratings points and “quarter-hour maintenance” and worrying about whether or not your job will be lost to a “satellite jock” a dozen states away that costs less than you do. There is far more of that on the dial than you might think.

I really long for a good, all-news station, much like KRLD-AM was back when I moved to Texas in 1987. I could listen to that all day (and all night, too) and feel like it was time well spent. For reasons known only to the high-priced consultants, the days of “all-news” radio, at least in Dallas/Fort Worth, are over. There is a station on 1190 AM that broadcasts the audio portion of CNN Headline News, but the format suffers from so many references to visual elements (“What you are looking at is ...”) that it can be a little frustrating to listen to.

“Hal and Dick” on WBAP — for eight hours a day — some of the best radio entertainment to be found in its day. It’s not the same anymore. I can’t believe WBAP is doing any better as a result of importing national talk shows. Unless, of course, it is cheaper to do so.

It all boils down to “do more with less” at the corporate level for most broadcasters (and, a lot of other industries as well) and that means service and programming suffers. And, that means the audience gets the “short stick.”

To be fair, everybody in the broadcast biz is suffering from more competition than it has ever had — Internet streams, satellite radio, iPods and MP-3 players and even musical cell phones — and the resulting declining revenues from that “scattered” audience. With so much “video on demand” available to so many devices, even the cable operators — broadcasters’ original foe — are finding themselves scrambling, offering new services to keep up with the demand of the consumer.

All of the “great” radio stations are gone. They have been for some time. Even in Dallas/Fort Worth. A few great personalities remain, but their hands (and shows) are so tied up in corporate oversight and consultant tinkering it leaves very little chance of them regaining their once-dominant status.

Here’s hoping that Yates and his “Green Radio” concept is successful. It could inspire others to take similar steps to make meaningful programming again. And for the industry, that would be a good thing.

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Bob Belcher is Managing Editor of the Daily Sun. His column appears on Wednesdays and Sundays. He may be reached by e-mail at belcher@corsicanadailysun.com.

        

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