One of the things I like about AM 740 is that it is staffed locally. The only exceptions are “Back to Live” on weekends, which is a one-hour program from Montreal and “The Real Jimmy Hollywood,” a 3-minute feature each weekday afternoon. But locally-based full-time staffs are becoming increasingly rare in North American radio.
It seems to me that radio is becoming more and more like television: Importing a lot of programming. Much of the imported radio programs come from the States, which has been the case with a lot of television for quite some time. I’m not saying that these programs are bad. It’s just that they’re not local. One of the major advantages, in my opinion, that a radio station can have is it can speak directly to its city. Imported, syndicated programs can’t do that because their hosts don’t live here. In Canadian radio, for example, we have imports like Ryan Seacrest syndicated in many major markets. The same goes for John Tesh, “Delilah” and others.
Now, in disclosure, I must say that in some ways, I’m an import. I first came to Canada from the States in 1972. One difference, though, between Ryan Seacrest and me as it relates to the subject of this blog is that I live here. I pay Federal, Provincial and local taxes, plus the taxes on the goods and services that I buy here. And, since I live in Toronto and have a long history of living in Canada, I feel I can relate to local tastes and interests.
I don’t blame foreign syndicated hosts for wanting to be on the radio in Canada. I assume that it makes money for their syndication company and, therefore, for the hosts. The thing that puzzles me is this: I applied to live and work in Canada by, first, getting a “Labour Market Opinion” from the government, regarding the need for my particular qualifications in Canada. Then, Citizenship & Immigration approved my application, although they could have rejected it, had they seen fit.
Today’s technology allows easy importation of foreign programming. It can be brought in live, via satellite or downloaded via high-speed internet and played back later, for example. Under the current system, I’m supposing that, had I wanted to and been made the offer, I could have bypassed all of the paperwork and broadcast some of my past programs to Canada from the U.S. Don’t get me wrong: I love America and, again, I don’t blame foreign hosts from wanting their work to be heard here. It just seems strange that foreign radio and TV hosts can bypass applications, taxes, etc. Doctors, brick layers, crane operators, etc., can’t do that without permission. I guess that’s because they must, physically, be here in order to do their work. Satellite and internet transmissions appear to eliminate the border.
Ryan Seacrest, “Delilah” and John Tesh are a few examples of foreign hosts who do entire multi-hour programs on Canadian radio without living here. These are JOBS that, not long ago, were handled by local personalities who were paying taxes, buying goods and services and, hopefully, addressing the interests of the local audience. The end result is that we’re losing local jobs and losing a local connection to the audience.
The U.S. is doing the same thing in a different way: Many U.S. radio stations are cutting out local personalities in favour of syndicated programming. In this case, most of the imports just come from another state or city, as opposed to another country. But it’s still an import. It’s still not local. It eliminates a local job. In most cases, it saves money for the large broadcasting company because they can take, for instance, a Los Angeles host and put him/her on, let’s say, 50 of their radio stations across the country, effectively eliminating 49 jobs.
This all adds up to a homogenization of culture. These companies are taking the MacDonald’s approach. A Big Mac in Berlin is the same as a Big Mac in Philadelphia. But should we feed a listener’s mind the same way we feed his stomach? I’m just asking. 
Tags: local radio, ryan seacrest, u.s. stations
