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My friend, mentor, and former boss (he tries to block it out because I drove him nuts), Mike McVay, recently shared his thoughts on the dire need for content creators in radio and rightly discussed thinking outside the box in looking for and hiring talent.
Commenters on his social media post mentioned college radio hosts and the restrictions of media contracts, particularly regarding non-compete clauses, and one rightfully compared the lack of young renegades in radio akin to NBC’s resistance to Lorne Michaels and the “Not Ready For Prime Time Players” as depicted in the new “Saturday Night” film. But there’s a bigger elephant in the room, or perhaps better put a smellier 800-pound gorilla in the equation: money.
Historically, pay has been dirt low at the lower rungs of the radio ladder back to its earliest days. There have always been unhinged owners, bouncing checks, deplorable facilities, and dinner coupons, traded-out motels rather than salary and moving expenses, even in medium markets. What has really changed is severalfold:
There are fewer opportunities beyond entry-level and, therefore less opportunity to break in, learn, grow, move around, and move up.
Often, when a bright young person does break in, they get handed “too much too soon,” and by that, I mean they take high-level positions and accept far lower wages than seasoned veterans or union talent could or would.
Outside of the top 25 markets or so, not only are there far fewer jobs, the revenue hits, particularly in the loss of national ad money, has greatly decreased, bringing down local income.
Starting in the 90s and accelerating ever after, the value of the local personality (and AEs, too) has decreased and doesn’t much improve, even for those in large markets or with syndication deals, voice-over work, and the like.
A few examples of what I’m talking about: many dream of getting syndicated and or tracking multiple stations as a way to reach wider audience imprints and make extra income. Whether you’re a talent offered by a syndicator or tracking stations in an owner group the average pay is $500 a month or $6,000 a year often replacing what were easily $30,000 jobs a dozen years ago.
Many states now require employers to share salary information in job postings, and one that drew much discussion in several online radio groups is legendary LA rock outlet KLOS’s offering of “$70-90.” The average rent for a two-bedroom single-family in Los Angeles County is around $3,973 per month; do that math. Similarly, a recent top ten market posting listed PM Drive for $60 and $42 for an OM job in a top 50 Midwest market.
How can radio possibly expect to attract new blood, find and maintain the best and brightest and expect really anyone to survive on wages like that? Radio has always been a passion-driven business where most didn’t get rich, but to pay rock bottom wages with large workloads, zero job security, minimal job growth opportunities, and restrictive contracts, it’s another example of radio acting as its own worst enemy, creating an unnecessary hindrance in landing and keeping the best content creators to compete with new media.
Robby Bridges works for Press Communications where he serves as the VP of Programming for 99.7 and 107.1 The Boss. He also hosts the morning show ‘Robby and Rochelle’ alongside his wife, Rochelle. He’s been with the company/stations since September, 2021.
Prior to arriving in New Jersey, Robby spent decades working across the country in many top markets for many highly successful brands. Among them include Z100, WPLJ and Q102. He has also worked in Detroit, Boston, Providence, Portsmouth, NH, and served as an exclusive guest host for Scott Shannon on the True Oldies Channel.
To get in touch, reach Robby by email at RobbyBridges@hotmail.com.
