Over the weekend, I watched the excellent 1999 documentary “Rock and Roll Invaders: The AM Radio DJs” for probably the sixth or seventh time (it’s available to buy on Amazon and eBay and is free on YouTube to watch).
It’s a great watch for several reasons; you get rare footage like Dewey Phillips, Hoss Allen, and Wolfman Jack in studio in color, interviews with folks like Lonnie Napier and Alan Freed’s kids, plus then-current in-studio footage of Cousin Brucie, Rufus Thomas, Martha Jean The Queen, Jack Parnell and Joe Finan.
That’s not to mention Georgie Woods, Jocko Henderson, and more. If you aren’t very familiar with or have never heard of any or all of these, it’s worth the lesson in music radio history for yourself. Moreover, the opening portion begins with a quote I’ve shared before from RCA head Robert Sarnoff (they owned NBC) in 1952: “Radio is Dead.”
As the documentary outlines, TV had rapidly taken hold, and the network and its executives were actively moving their clients over from radio despite still having an enormous and robust radio division. Many stations, particularly in smaller markets and independents, were looking for something to keep them afloat when the network resources and Madison Avenue ad dollars seemed to be gone forever to the shiny new tech.
All of this sound familiar? It was true, radio as it had been in some ways was dead as the kind of programming commonplace from its inception to that point would fall away from “The Lone Ranger” to Bob Hope to the NBC Symphony Orchestra. But what was coming began quietly with locally hosted music and entertainment programs (Martin Block’s “Make Believe Ballroom” was an early major success) but would explode as the rise of the rock and roll DJ came.
The jock of the era was as big an attraction on air as the music they spun, with unique on-air styles (sometimes personas), publicity stunts, and games; they lived the music they played, discovering and championing artists, plus hosted concerts and, yes, even tv shows.
Without the competition for ears as we have today in the digital era, often these radio invaders commanded 70% of the audience in their local market and more in adjacent areas the signal traveled.
Imagine today if a talent like these existed with the power of social media to further expand their footprint. And today, unlike in 1952, while radio’s future is challenged, it’s still a critical mass, multi-billion dollar industry.
Is the answer to reimagine radio’s promise unleashing unique characters on the air to create their own content and playlists independently (so long as they sign payola documents)? It might be a fairly cost-effective experiment.
Is it a return to national network radio? Is it something totally out of left field? Well, for certain, at this moment, the share of ear remains on radio’s side and the reach still strong enough that if programming truly exciting, unique and compelling returned, it would get attention.
What are we waiting for?
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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.
