As Dianne Sawyer waves “Goodbye America” only to say “Good Evening” on the same channel, it becomes increasingly apparent that national network TV is in severe decline. A few years ago, a lot of folks would’ve thought this to be significant. Now, the only people the networks really cared about for the last few decades- those in the 18-49 age group- don’t notice. Because they’re not watching. The only ones affected are white, male and over 60. And they’re all watching Fox News.
Meanwhile, ABC’s once vaunted radio stations, sold just recently to Citadel Broadcasting in what was perhaps the stupidest business decision of the year, have filed for bankruptcy. Conservative groups claim Citadel was biased against them after which talk-dominated radio’s right-wingers and only listeners- again, white males over 60- ran elsewhere.
As the NBCU sale progresses, you have to wonder what is going to change that will help that doomed empire survive. I’ll tell you: nothing. Broadcasting not only is a corporate culture (it became that way in the 1970s and it’s been downhill ever since). It is a mindset. The mindset is that what they say America does. News, programs, commercials. America’s marched to network TV’s drum for nearly fifty years. We marched to radio’s for about thirty. Because radio did not change its mindset or its corporate culture in the face of media democraticization (technological parity with consumers), it’s now well on its way to self-destruction. TV is not far behind.
If TV and radio had remained a loosely-affiliated industry of family-owned, community-operated LOCAL BUSINESSES it would have evolved faster and remain competitive and relevant to more generations. Instead, mergers, acquisitions, corporate/absentee management and the usual greed disconnected broadcasters from their own homes, alienated and priced out local advertisers, and collapsed when the mega-sponsors they came to cater to- car companies, drug manufacturers, Hollywood and a few others- collapsed with America’s Walmart-reliant economy.
But it didn’t happen. Now, entire generations of potential viewers and customers are gone forever to the Internet, DVDs, video games and other more interesting, relevant amusements and information sources. And unless broadcasting changes fundamentally and soon- beginning with corporations selling off their stations to local groups (if they can still afford them), America’s TV and radio stations, and the people who watched and listened to them, will be gone too. Their sky-splitting towers and empty buildings the only thing left to remind us they were here.
