When do you know it’s time to hang ‘em up? It’s always been the case that radio people try to hang on even when the jobs dry up and the medium has passed them by. It’s also true that radio programming hasn’t changed all that much in 30 years, so it’s understandable that someone who’s been doing this for all that time would think that it’s still an option. For some, it is.
There’s always the progression from Top 40 to Classic Hits to Talk, right? But with fewer jobs, voice tracking and automation, and the dreaded AI looming on the horizon, it might not be realistic for someone in their 50s or 60s to keep going in the business. I’m not saying that’s good or fair – and I am saying that a lot of it is blatant age discrimination – but at some point in your career, you have to step back, assess your career and your options, and make a decision. It just doesn’t get easier as time goes on.
And you have less time because you knew I had to address the mortality issue. That’s where I am now, and I made a decision based on that consideration. But more on that later.
If you’re one of the guys – it’s almost all guys – who post on Facebook dreaming about starting a station aimed at the 55+ crowd, unless you put together a solid business plan, buy a good signal on the cheap, and have a ton of local business who don’t care about demographics and ratings so much as just getting the word out, it will not happen. You’d need to do the full WOW Factor plan, and that is a lot of work. If you’re 55+ yourself and wondering why you aren’t getting responses when you apply for a Top 40-morning gig, it’s fair to say that you’ve aged out of being relevant to the target audience.
So you have to decide what your game plan will be, and that goes for everyone, no matter how young or old you are. We don’t yet know what the remaining shelf life of broadcast radio will be, and we haven’t hit on the formula to make podcasting a revenue (and salary) generator, “What do you see yourself doing at age 45 or 50?” has never been more relevant.
That’s a long way of saying that I’ve decided on my own career, such as it was:
I’m out. Oh, I’ll continue to write this column every week as long as Jason offers me the platform, but in the ten months since All Access imploded, I’ve been taking stock of where I am and what comes next. And I’ve been looking at the coming years and thinking that I don’t know how long I’ll have, but I don’t want to spend it reporting on format changes and lineup shuffles and conventions.
I want to spend it with my wife here in Medicare Country, enjoying lunch on the Intracoastal, taking driving trips, and not waking up at 3:30 AM every day to get the news ready for the morning. I want to have a life, and at some point several years ago, radio ceased to play a positive role in that life.
If radio still provides you with a creative outlet and a decent salary, by all means, keep going. One day, however, you may find yourself wondering if this is all there is. You may lose track of what day it is. You might realize that you’re not spending enough time with your family, or you just don’t care about what you’re talking about anymore. It’s hard when your entire identity is tied up in being a “radio person,” but there is life after radio, life after podcasting, and life after video.
What happens to me now? I have no idea, besides sticking with this column. (I cannot stress this enough: I am going to continue writing this column, more for this site, and, ideally, other pieces not about radio. You are not rid of me yet.) Hey, I might even get back into radio or podcasting, if a miracle were to occur.
I just know that I didn’t want to stay on the same track until it was too late, and if I’m unofficially semi-retired early as a result, well, I can live with that. Besides, the lines at Flakowitz Deli are a lot shorter if you go to lunch early, and now, I can.
Perry Michael Simon is a weekly news media columnist for Barrett Media. He previously served as VP and Editor/News-Talk-Sports/Podcast for AllAccess.com. Prior to joining the industry trade publication, Perry spent years in radio working as a Program Director and Operations Manager for KLSX and KLYY in Los Angeles and New Jersey 101.5 in Trenton. He can be found on X (formerly Twitter) @PMSimon.
What a timely (for me and many like me) column, Perry. It has triggered a key question: are we talking the Flakowitz and Federal Hwy in Boca OR the one in Boynton Beach? Where are you in Florida? We need to connect over the winter when I make the trek. (Can you check on my condo? Just kidding.) – Fred