Shouty's back

Dear 95bFM board,

I love your radio station to bits. It is the one constant media source throughout my adult life. I was a member of your team back in the late 80s, and I have popped back from time to time to give whatever little I could back. These days, I live on the other side of the world - and I still listen.

I am not your target audience, and nor should I be. Nor does it matter. I am, like many of my peers, repelled by most of what radio considers suitable for my demographic.

That said... your decision to put Mikey Havoc back in breakfast is both alarming and deeply disappointing.

I can understand your reasons. Good talent is hard to find. Advertisers are hard to please. Doesn't matter what I think about Mikey on the radio. I'm not your problem. But regardless of his qualities as a broadcaster, the sheer fact of what Mikey represents means that he's not the answer to what genuinely is your problem.

Mikey represents an old solution to what is currently manifesting as an old problem (sagging ratings, loss of advertising), but one whose causes are new. The simple fact is that you're not losing out to other radio. I mean, really - where else on the dial would a disgruntled b-listener head?

You're using traditional radio wisdom - which has always been fairly suspect. Increasingly, in the new media environment, it's absurd nonsense. But your immediate problem, for whatever reason, is talent.

Putting Mikey back in breakfast screams "There's nobody else here who's any good!" - which is both undoubtedly wrong and disastrous for morale. I also don't happen to believe that Mikey's former track record for pulling an audience still holds. Being shouted at that early in the morning has lost much of its appeal.

We already know why advertisers are so hard to please. But do you have any idea why that talent you're clearly crying out for is proving hard to find?

They're out there - but here's the trick: they don't need you.

Some of the best broadcasters - the smart ones, the ones with drive and passion - they're already making radio. They're doing it without your help. They're making their own media. They don't need your transmitter or your advertisers. They don't need your record library or your studio.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if large sections of your voluntary constituency start to figure this out in droves.

But you need them. Boy, do you need them.

You don't necessarily even need to put them on the air - but you sure as hell need to bring them into the fold.

The good news is, there's no scarcity for you any more. You're not bound by schedules. Everybody can have shows. As many as you like. They can exist as podcasts or streams on the website. Broadcast the best of them - or select and compile. But foster, train, encourage. Let them make mistakes, and help them make it better.

And from there - your next breakfast host.

You've still got me for The Wire. Let me know when I can come back for a nice, fresh helping of breakfast.