Before I decided to write about the Gospel Announcer's Guild annual Convention, I really had to take into consideration the impact of the economic downturn and its affect on the industry and radio announcers in general.
Many of the nation's most notable gospel announcers and programmers were surprisingly absent, among the no shows were Larry Tinsley from Atlanta, Lee Michaels from Baltimore, and Michael Adrian Davis from Memphis. In addition, there was a noticeable absence of Radio One personnel and personalities from the Sheridan Gospel Network. In a time when announcers should be uniting together it's seems that we are drifting apart.
The reality is that Gospel Announcers and Announcers in general have lost control of the craft. There was a time when local radio announcers meant something to their employers and the community. Legendary announcer and programmer Lucky Cordell states "employers thought twice about replacing a popular announcer." Now the announcer is replaceable, the music industry and advertisers dictate to the stations and management the music and personality. There is a new business model that radio operates under today.
Unfortunately, for many who chose to become a radio announcer with the dream of a lifelong career, that will not happen. Radio is for the young man or woman for a limited time. Local radio is slowly and systematically being replaced by syndicated hosts. And it's ironic that many in the business celebrate radio syndication as success while at the same time the death toll of the local announcer rises.
I can remember attending a GAG Convention and hearing the "mantra" of learning and practicing the techniques of "real radio" to elevate your status. Then you find out that even with improvements to your craft and execution you were being replaced through syndication by a gospel artist or comedian.
This year's GAG Convention with the theme "No More Excuses" provided some thought provoking panel discussions about several issues facing radio today. However many of the real issues affecting the radio personality were not brought up for example "Why can't we(gospel announcers) select the music anymore? Many of the panel discussions were slanted towards the artist perspective with the final day devoted partly to radio. Even the HR 848 Performance Rights issue was dominated by "the creative side" or artist perspective. One of the panelists felt the discussion was one-sided because there was not a voice from radio to speak on their perspective. For radio announcers in gospel there is still fog in the air about how the PPM (Portable People Meter) is affecting Gospel radio, however inside the room there was no discussion. And the issue of broadcast ownership surfaced but was not explored deeply.
Of course several artists came in the room to says thanks. Albertina Walker, Dorothy Norwood, Kurt Carr, Byron Cage and Maurette Brown Clark were among those that stopped by. And several indpendent artist performed well during the praise breaks. One artist in particular Pastor Seon Thompson laid everybody out in room and outside the room as he ministered powerfully singing I'm Out.
There was a refreshing twist to the final day of the convention as Al Hobbs reached out to the membership for their comments and suggestions for the 40th Celebration of the GAG in 2010 in Cincinnati. We hope that the will of the people is answered in 2010. All in all the 40th year gathering looks to be a great celebration of the accomplishments of the most overlooked of all radio announcers. The Gospel Radio Angel.
The Prime Minister.
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