By Walter Sabo
A.K.A. Walter Sterling
Host, Red Apple Audio Networks
On the list of imagined crimes committed by the act of consolidation upon the radio industry is the myth that it killed the “farm team” for emerging talent. There never was a farm team.
Radio, like online video web stars, is built on the blind ambition of self-cast stars. Hey kid, if you want to be in radio, you’ll find a way. I can’t recall radio industry recruiters hanging around high schools or colleges listening for compelling voices and story tellers. Radio talent did whatever they had to do to slip into the nearest radio station. Rookies still pester their way past the gate except now their odds of finding a launch pad are much better. Simple math.
America’s radio station count has more than doubled since 1970 – from roughly 6,800 to more than 15,600 total AM, commercial FM, and noncommercial FM stations. AM climbed to nearly 5,000 stations around 1990 before declining approximately 500 to roughly its 1970 level. The expansion came on FM: commercial stations more than tripled, while non-commercial stations grew more than elevenfold. Those totals don’t even include the thousands of FM translators and low-power FM stations now on the dial.
Ironic, huh?
There have never been so many stations which is ironic for a dying medium. More stations, better odds of landing a job. A formal structure for bringing in a new radio talent has never been stronger. Today there are paid internships, training courses, and of course campus radio stations – all formal paths to gaining employment.
There is a whole industry called “on boarding” with which many media companies engage. My on boarding was the owner let me hang around Saturdays, dub commercials to cart and bought me my first cup of coffee. Thanks Nick, owner of WCRV, Washington Boro, NJ
Walter Sabo has been a C-Suite action partner for companies such as SiriusXM, Hearst, Press Broadcasting, Gannett, RKO General, and many other leading media outlets. His nightly show “The Other Side of Midnight” is heard on WABC, New York and the Red Apple Audio Network 1:00 am – 5:00 am. His syndicated show, “Sterling On Sunday,” from Talk Media Network, airs 10:00 pm-1:00 am ET, and is now in its 10th year of success. He can be reached by email at sabowalter@gmail.com. He can be phoned at 646-678-1110.