In Like A Lamb, Out Like a Lion

Jimmy Carter in his homebase Nashville.

This will be a working weekend for those putting together the Oklahoma Tornado fundraisers. The victims sure don't get a holiday in Moore or Shawnee, Oklahoma.

The news business is so fascinating in that you never know what will happen in the world each week. The unpredictable and often the unimaginable. Blake's NBC special is next Wednesday from Oklahoma, and Toby's is under construction but coming along later.

Radio did what it could as the storms approached and began to kill. In most places, radio just carries the far superior coverage of the TV stations. Radio stations don't have news departments anymore, remember? Lives were saved by the radio signals since TV ain't in the cars! The job got done is the bottom line. I watched OKC TV on an iPAD in my car! The iPhone listening to the OKC fire from an app ... amazing what high tech can do now for reporters.

Radio kicks in after these events when TV has to go back to regular programming ... and radio can begin doing what it does best. Oklahoma City stations still know how, but do it with combined pod staffs equaling one good station per owner ... again, gets the job done. Maybe all you need is one good station per owner on a bad day?

God forbid this ever happens in Nashville ... zero radio news departments with any mobility and staff ... a few weekday, daytime headline readers but nothing compared to the, say, WSM 650 radio staff of the late '70s ... That unit was impressive ... a different day and time. We got hit by a big tornado and radio and TV were there ... that was in '90s; not sure what would happen today.

How do you do a Moore, OK on local radio with the growth of all these chain network morning shows? Just asking ... no one is there! Not even a board op -- who doesn't talk in many spots. And will the companies do the same to midday and afternoon and have no local people other than someone doing production?

How many of you work in the building with radio stations in a closet? Two stations I worked on years ago ... not live, in a closet ... they just run out-of-town programming. So sad ... do the corporate owners think they can keep selling these remotes with no staff or with people the audience doesn't know? To be seen. Has automation EVER won a ratings book in any city bigger than market 150? Just asking. Does a jukebox station create any passion? Or love for a station?

But that is the past ... not important. I just know I hear a lot of teen Country jukebox stations that no teen or child I know listens to. I never see my 10th grader listen to ANY radio station and barely any live TV. The road we are on was created by broadcast consolidation and record companies looking for teen downloaders.

Where is this going? I don't thing the corporate banker bosses are going to like the results ... Look at "Idol" ... You get better or you get gone ... adding rock jocks to do morning shows for Country female audiences is a magnificent leap of creativity. But it will take time ... that's what they say ...

The older-than-40 artists are in a heap of trouble in this universe. CMT added Hell's Kitchen reruns this week. Who is flying these planes?

Sometimes it takes a disaster like Moore to see what broadcasting can and should do. It is immediate and must-see/hear. I hope the audience will demand broadcasting like it was and can be when pushed. Don't listen to crap. Support the good stuff and the sponsors of things you like. Avoiding the inferior is the only way to remove it.