Oh No! My Favorite DJ Just Got Fired!
It’s happening more and more these days. You wake up in the morning, expecting to hear your favorite DJ playing some music, talking about the news of the day, cracking jokes, whatever. But he/she’s not there. You figure “oh well, must be on vacation,” but then you pick up the morning paper and find out the voice you wake up to every day has been fired!
Like many businesses, in this challenging economic time, radio is currently going through a spate of layoffs. Revenues are down, for many in 2007 and for just about everyone in 2008. When the money starts drying up, the radio station has to start cutting. And that means sometimes, DJs must go.
10 years ago, all but the most expensive jocks were pretty safe, because the station always had to have somebody there to push the buttons that played the music, and more importantly, the commercials. Not so now. Almost every radio station in 2008 uses computers with big hard drives to play all the audio, even the between-the-songs DJ patter. Except for most morning shows, most DJs are pre-recorded and often from another city entirely, known in the industry as “voice tracking.” So, when budget cuts need to be made, it’s often the DJ who pays the price. In most places, a regular “live” DJ can be replaced by a voice tracker for a quarter of what they paid the local DJ.
As for the big, expensive morning DJs, there a trend away from those, too. It used to be a station would give a new morning show at least 2 or 3 years to begin to get good ratings, paying them very well in the meantime. On the other hand, successful shows that had slid in the ratings often were still given a great deal of money because of their longevity, or the hope that they’ll be able to regain better numbers. Not so much anymore. Any show that’s not dominating it’s target demographic (women, men, 25-54, 18-34 age groups, etc.) can expect a pretty quick pink slip when times get tough, and they’re most certainly starting to get tough now.
Remember, Radio is a business, and businesses exist to make their owners money. Anything or anyone who doesn’t pull their weight often simply has to go.
Look for more of this in 2008.
