DJ Layoff Season

Posted by admin on November 15, 2023 Audio | Blog | Parody Spots | Tags: , , , , , | No comments

It’s that time of year again. No, not the holidays. It’s DJ Layoff Season. The time of year when the big radio corporations decide to terminate some of your favorite radio personalities.

As fall turns to winter, many deejays fear for their livelihoods. As far back as I can remember, all of the big radio station layoffs have happened just before Christmas. That’s nice, right?

The fall ratings period, typically, ends in early December. Radio is a business, and it’s the fourth quarter. How is the station going to finish of the year, financially?

When I was in radio, the rumor was that the companies had to let people go before the end of the year or there would be tax implications for the upcoming year.

Then, of course, the general managers and higher ups get paid bonuses on keep expenditures down. I assume this practice is used at many corporations.

So, if Corner Office Dan wants his big, yearly bonus, and his sales staff is not performing, costs must be cut. Soon after, a radio DJ loses his or her gig.

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You can chalk it up to the 1996 Telecommunications Act which allowed corporations to swallow up large quantities of radios stations. Before ’96, one corporation could not own more than 40 stations and not more than 2 AM and 2 FM sticks in any market.

The result, nearly 30 years later, are less jobs and homogenized radio product. Every station sounds the same. They syndicate talent into multiple markets. There’s less localization. It’s why nearly every station has a “nationwide contest” giving away $1,000 in every city in America.

Combine that with digital audio listening competition via YouTube, Spotify, Amazon Music and others, radio has a smaller piece of the pie. That means ad revenue is in decline. So, of course, the DJs must go.

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To my radio brethren, I wish for your survival in what is the most dangerous time of the year for those who crack a mic, DJ Layoff Season.