yoga49019

Although Im a voiceover artist, I remain in radio. not because of the great pay, recognition, fame and fortune, but for the same reason I entered the business 31 years ago I happen to love what I do.

While radio was my full-time career for all but the last of those 31 years, I now do weekends only. The pay stinks, there are no benefits and I do not get to do what I love doing more than anything else in the whole world! Rubbing elbows with my listeners. Meeting our listeners via remote broadcasts, personal appearances, meet & greets, etc. but, there is one thing that seems to remain constant. radio listeners (and Im talking about terrestrial radio here) remain loyal to disc jockeys and formats to which theyre accustomed, despite the fact that disc jockeys are no longer required to be licensed by the FCC, that radio formats, because of consolidation, now seem to supply only cookie-cutter formats. Dont believe me? next time youre on vacation anywhere else in the country, turn on the radio and tell me what you hear. It will be that same list of about 250-400 songs rotated over and over again.

Think about this! commercial radio today can be likened to managed health care the difference being, radio is still free. Enter satellite radio. The predictions I made about this form of our medium several years ago are now coming to fruition. one of those predictions was that people are not going to pay for a radio subscription merely because their listening choices are endless. You may provide the format, but is there any substance? Subscriptions have not met expectations and as a result, the two satellite radio services are merging (sound familiar?).

Also, I found it unconscionable that those very services had to use commercial radio and TV to advertise their commercial-free services. plus, the fact that commercial-free is a misnomer. they just arent presented in same way as they are in terrestrial radio.

Some have argued that the same thing happened with the advent of cable television all those years ago. Many complained and protested that they would never pay for television they could watch for free. Boy, that sure didnt work out to be so, did it?

but until commercial-free radio realizes that they cant merely provide the same programming as terrestrial radio sans commercials, theyre not gonna grow, let alone succeed. The business model hasnt been completely thought through in my opinion. Oh, they figured theyd offer free subscriptions for a year through auto dealers. The idea seemed good enough. but, what they didnt take into account was that after a year of free satellite radio, those subscribers discovered that what was being offered isnt worth $12 a month ($144 a year) to listen. The marketing plan seems backwards to me. As a result, those over-bloated subscriber numbers seemed to melt away after their free year was up. Oops!

I just purchased a creative Zen 60 GB vision W media player. Im in the process of loading it up with what I want to hear.

So what are you listening to?

Doc Phillips has been providing voice work in one way or another for 30 years. He is also an internet entrepreneur who hosts and manages several sites. He built, maintains and "markets" his website, http://www.docphillips.com