Happily, I caught some of the Charlottesville...Right Now program on WINA (4-6 M-F at 1070AM). I love that Chville has this program, I hate the commercials and constant interruptions (I will complain about that more in a future post).
Today on the show Coy discussed with Rob Schilling an ad put out by the Dem City Council candidates. I had not even heard/seen the ad (although amusingly enough the ad came on during one of those interruptions), but Coy and Rob were slowly going through the ad to point out the 'negative' parts of it.
I did not hear the beginning of the segment, later a caller alluded to the introduction which seemed to me was focusing on negative tone in politics and alienation of voters. What I loved about the segment was how many calls Coy received in response to it. I am a big fan of the show so I always hope people are listening, and boy howdy today they were.
My take on the matter and I wont bore everyone with the details when you will likely be innundated with the ads over the next 7 days. BUT Rob has voted against every single budget without offering any substantive alternatives. Is he voting against the police dept budget or the school budget or transportation improvements ... which part of the budget is he actually against? The size? The scope? The services we all depend on? It is a fair question- I would like Rob to answer it and not just with sloganeering but with real life proposals.
So while the ad may be negative, the ad does add a new dimension to the dialogue. In my opinion anyway. It can not be said enough though, listen to Charlottesville...Right Now the community is better for having the show in it.
4 comments:
"boy howdy..."?? new one to me!
You know, if it wasn't for the ads, there wouldn't be revenue to pay Coy to do the show. As someone who has worked in commercial radio for the last 13 years, I can tell you that a 2 hour program like the one you're so happy to have in C-ville takes, on average, 4 hours of off-air work to make happen. That's a full time job right there. So unless Coy or any other person who would host the show is independently wealthy enough to work a fulltime job for free, I say be happy that you have such quality local programming available for you to listen to and quit being so annoyed by commercials.
Well thanks Kay for your opinion. I do know it takes advertising to run the program. I frequently listen to NPR so I am spoiled. What I would prefer are less interruptions,so conversations could flow more naturally. WINA has a lot of interruptions for news, weather (not just at the top and bottom of the hours). Having no experience in radio my thought is the interruptions could be better spaced.
With a show that runs during afternoon drive time, it's crucial to any successful radio station to hit on "the basics" in terms of information...that includes time checks, weather checks and traffic information primarily. What constitutes an interruption to you is important information to another person. People listen to radio in vastly different ways and are creatures of great impatience when it comes to getting the information and/or the entertainment they want or need. Fingers fly to push the next button at the speed of sound. So the onus falls on the radio programmer to balance the delivery of that information and entertainment in each hour in order to keep a broad range of listener appeal. It's not an easy task, let me tell you.
As for NPR, it's not free either. None of those people who are on-air volunteer. In fact, they have tremendous benefits and generous salaries--which most commercial radio people do not get I might add. We truly do it for the love of the business. Only a small percentage of radio people make a decent salary. When I worked fulltime radio in C-ville I made less than $25K a year and raised a child solo on that salary whereas my NPR counterparts were pulling in well over $50K a year. Your tax dollars pay their salaries instead of Jim Price or Ntelos.
Drawing a parallel to your industry, it would be like me saying that I wanted to sue someone for (whatever) but I wish I didn't have to deal with the lawyers in the courtroom. I want a successful court case without the help of any lawyers. Think that's gonna fly? Of course not. Because just like commercials to a radio station, lawyers are a necessary part of the judicial process right?
Anyway, sorry to barge into your journal and stir the pot. Feel free to stop into mine any time and do the same if I ever touch on a topic that strikes a nerve with you too.
Cheers!
K
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