VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

Scott Pollak

Another reason to be SO glad we're doing v/o now:

http://www.radio-info.com/news/feds-report-announcers-annual-salary-gulp-a-median-of-27k
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Scott R. Pollak
Clients include Pandora, NPR Atlanta, Wells Fargo, Cisco, Humana, Publix, UPS, AT&T, HP, Xerox and more.

www.voicebyscott.com

Chuck Davis · Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2012 3:50 am Post subject:

That same topic came up yesterday on "Says You" on NPR. One of the 10 worst jobs in America when you lump in stress and....job security.

Since I left my former employer the stories of further staff reductions, pay cuts and moral fading to black have been coming in regularly....and this was a major market cluster. I hate to think what it's like in small market radio now.
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Wicked huge.....in India.
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glittlefield · Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2012 5:50 am Post subject:

Voice tracking, Chuck. Lots and lots of voice tracking.
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Greg Littlefield
VO-BB Member #59

heyguido · Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2012 5:57 am Post subject:

Chuck Davis · Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2012 6:04 am Post subject:

True, I hear that on the local stations here. Only the Country station is live in all dayparts expect overnights. One word....boring.

Funny, coming from radio less than a year ago, the corporate types would have a "pep rally" every so often to tell us what "great shape" radio is in....then a few weeks later positions would be cut, salarys would be reduced and moral would take another nose dive.

Yeah....radio's in great shape.
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Wicked huge.....in India.
www.chuckdaviscreative.com

heyguido · Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2012 6:58 am Post subject:

It's been sad to watch. CC's latest round of "rightsizing" put hundreds more on the beach, "insourcing" programming, voicetracking, production, imaging, and marketing of dozens of small and midmarket stations to the staffs of large and uppermid market clusters. The majority of content now originates from regional content farms whose voicetracking studios must hum round the clock. Those still working are said to be voicing shifts all over their region under various aliases.

Would you like fries with that? Sarcastic

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Don Brookshire
"Wait.... They wanna PAY me for this?"

Scott Pollak · Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2012 7:10 am Post subject:

And Don, you bring up something with the voicetracking that just makes me steam. Do you think any of those folks who are v/t'ing for multiple stations are getting anything extra in their paycheck? Of course not, and yet they are, in essence, working for multiple stations. Radio has been on a death spiral for a decade or two now and it's only getting worse. There are a very few shining lights still out there, but they're rare. One is the local NPR station that I'm so blessed to be voicing for. They're well-run, well-supported and do a bang-up job. Class act with good, solid content and a strongly supportive listener base. The other group that seems to do a decent job in today's radio cesspool is Salem communications. At least from what I can gather from my friends who work for the local affiliates, while they HAVE had some salary cuts and things are tight, there also seems to be a real sense of loyalty to the employees from the company.
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Scott R. Pollak
Clients include Pandora, NPR Atlanta, Wells Fargo, Cisco, Humana, Publix, UPS, AT&T, HP, Xerox and more.

www.voicebyscott.com

heyguido · Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2012 7:52 am Post subject:

Sadly, consolidation and deregulation have gutted the industry. Before I left, I went from programming one station to programming five, and voicetracking on three formats. Live and local has become rare. Unfortunately, quality of content has suffered as a result, and service to the community is virtually nonexistent. It's a shame. I remember fondly the good old days of live interaction with the audience. It's pretty much gone now, and unlikely to return. Radio has become a jukebox, researched to death, consulted from above, and syndicated into pablum for the masses. The sad part is that many of us blindly drank the kool-aid until it was too late, ignoring the writing on the wall. I, for one, enthusiastically embraced the technology, became a Selector wizard and an AudioVault ninja, and eventually mastered my way right out of a career....

Dumbass.
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Don Brookshire
"Wait.... They wanna PAY me for this?"

Chuck Davis · Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2012 8:05 am Post subject:

I was lucky. My last gig was for one of the great rock signals in the US working for a Hobo Laughing

who truly "got it" when it came to being a taste-maker station. Creativity was expected and encouraged. I started my VO career in their studios, they installed ISDN in my house so I could telecommute and I eventually built my business to a point where I was able to leave on my own terms and go fulltime with VO and production.

At the very end the corporate types were beginning to eye my situation...and compensation with raised eyebrows..but my Hobo Laughing

defended me all the way.

I'm sure if I had stayed even another 6 months though there would have been "changes". My counterpart on the uber successful sports station there was just given a pay cut...after years of cutting edge, award winning work.

Nice "thank you" huh.
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Wicked huge.....in India.
www.chuckdaviscreative.com

Diane Maggipinto · Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2012 8:14 am Post subject:

i had a lot of fun, and a lot of heartbreak, in my radio years. and that was outside my shift (bada-bum). i loved it and loathed it and am ever-so-thankful i'm not thick in it right now, relying on that paltry paycheck and giving up saturday morning personal time in order to set up the huge antenna, the marty, and my happy self to hawk furniture at the outlet.
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sitting at #8, though not as present as I'd like to be. Hello!

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Monk · Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2012 8:33 am Post subject:

The MARTY!

I don't miss those days at ALL. Started at WSAR in Fall River, at $5.oo an hour, moved to WSBS/WBBS at $8.5o an hour..

Afternoon drive time, evening news coverage and weekend remotes! "Where's the PSA Cart!"

Nope, give me a live audience any day. And a nice studio that pays a decent rate...
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Company, villainous company, hath been the spoil of me...

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Ed Gambill · Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2012 8:55 am Post subject:

It all the fault of the FCC.
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Esse quam videri "To be rather than to seem"
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Lee Gordon · Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2012 12:06 pm Post subject:

Chuck Davis · Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2012 12:19 pm Post subject:

True. The Telcom bill was the beginning of the end.
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Wicked huge.....in India.
www.chuckdaviscreative.com

Ed Gambill · Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2012 12:29 pm Post subject:

Ok Lee, congrerss then FCC Wink

. We really know who the blame is but then that would get political. And of late I am enjoying not being in DB’s penalty box.

But the portable emergency radios are a big joke. Some serious weather comes my way, I am sure the local radio station will not provide any assistance. I will get more help from TV. That one reason I have an 8KW generator on standby.
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Esse quam videri "To be rather than to seem"
www.SaVoa.org

No. 07000 Member AES