A short history of music, generational change, community radio, and WMNF. I started in community radio in the mid-seventies. Everybody at my station – the managers, volunteers and most listeners - was in their early to mid-twenties. My music collection, as well as my community radio friends, was super eclectic: folk, jazz, rock, blues, R&B, world music, country, experimental, new and old ... We especially loved the New World compilation series that went from the first days of recorded music to the avantgarde. It was part of the baby boomer ethos to embrace all great music regardless of genre or time period. And this made a for a perfect marriage between Community Radio and Baby Boomers in the seventies. When WMNF started in 1979 it was able to grab hold of this boomer eclectic ethos and it served the station well. Baby boomers were 15 to 33 in 1979. The staff and volunteers and core listeners were mainly in their twenties. A few years later complications were starting to develop. Somewhere in the mid to late eighties a generational split began to divide the station. Young post-baby boomers (soon to be called Generation X) were not embracing the diversity and the old music of the baby boomers. GenX thought the baby boomers music was for old people - even though the boomers were just a few years older. GenX openly opposed hippy music and lifestyle. Their taste was generally niche based around one of the new styles: hip hop, punk rock, hardcore, techno, industrial etc. They did not appreciate and support the diversity and eclecticism that has historically been part of community radio’s mission. Baby boomers, as eclectic as they thought they were, were having trouble embracing these new music styles of the eighties. Many baby boomers resisted including these styles into their station. The generational split was in place, and three decades later it is still playing out. According to Arbitron, the biggest age demographic at WMNF today is 55-64; a quick calculation shows this age group was 19-28 in 1979, baby boomers who have grown old with the station. Many of the baby boomers continue to maintain that as this remains the biggest audience, they STILL need to be super-served. And many baby boomers still oppose the styles that developed in the eighties; it is common for complaints to come in when hip hop upsets some baby boomers’ comfort zone. In 2014 Baby Boomers still hold most controls at WMNF and most community radio. Gen X has been given specialty, niche shows on community stations but the stations still are mainly governed and given mission by those Baby Boomer values that were central to the founding of community radio.. There is opportunity for community radio in the new millennial generation. Much like the baby boomers, the millennials embrace music beyond todays popular music. Through YouTube and the internet, many young people have discovered and embraced diverse styles of music and old music. With their eclectic taste in music and values that emphasize community over materialism, the millenials seem perfectly set up to inherit and update the promise and values of community radio. The Problem: millenials do not have a relationship with radio as previous generations did. They might listen to it on a car ride - but it is only one stop on the music-and information highway. They get their music and information elsewhere. For stations, trying to figure out where to expend resources, it is not a wise strategy to fish where the fish are not biting. (OK that’s enough metaphors!) In 2014 we are working our way through this morass of generational needs, trying to keep happy the baby boomers who have supported the station historically, give some attention to the GenXers who have been too neglected, and welcome a new generation to community radio.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 16:23:39 +0000
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