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Mike McVay , President, McVay Media
Mike McVay is founder and President of McVay Media, a full-service consultancy, serving Adult Contemporary, Country, CHR, Oldies, Rock, Sports, and News/Talk radio stations. McVay’s 35 years of broadcast experience include stints as an Owner, General Manager, Program Director, and Air Personality.
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One of the articles that was recently posted on this web-site, also in the McVay Monthly Memo was my predications of the future and how I believed personalities would be utilized in the “tomorrow” of our industry. I was shocked at one of my friends, a highly rated and successful air talent dropped me an e-mail and said, “I had no idea you felt this way about air talent. Are you sure I can still use you as a reference if I ever need you?” That e-mailed puzzled me and I had to re-read the original article. I am not sure the article needs clarification, but I am going to do my best with it, regardless.
I, Mike McVay, being of sound mind and judgment or of sound-mind-and-judgment as a radio consultant can be, do hereby swear that I remain a staunch believer in the value of air personalities so help me God!
The point is that I believe networks and syndicated programming will be utilized more and more by large companies as a way to improve product and decrease overhead. It will not be unusual to find an air personality in a market like Syracuse, being syndicated into the nearby town, Binghamton, Watertown, Judica, etc. It make sense to take talent from nearby markets and utilize them in the other markets providing the individual being utilized is capable of relating and communicating to the affiliate market. It saves the smaller stations money and improves their product. It enables the larger station to keep talent for a longer period of time and also raises the bar on the type of talent you are able to afford to hire.
In the future I believe we’ll see nationally syndicated morning shows for every format. It won’t just be for Rock or Urban, but for Oldies, AC, Country and so on.
I also believe we will see some markets where the stations will become 100% 24/7 affiliates. The syndicators I have talked to tell me it’s difficult to get someone to take 24/7 programming, but if you can save money, and you can do it in a fashion that improves your product, and it doesn’t jeopardize your own position or employment then why wouldn’t you? That’s the point I was trying to make. I remain a staunch and proud believer in personality. I believe in really smart personalities to figure out how they are the ones who see their income and roles expand reverses joining the long line of unemployment at the local radio job center.
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