Abrams: Clock Is Ticking on Outdated Terrestrial Formats

Lee Abrams

Veteran media consultant Lee Abrams might seem the least likely person to complain about the corporatization and sameness that afflicts today’s traditional terrestrial AM and FM radio stations, according to Variety.

After all, it was his infamous tightening of playlists at rock radio during the ‘70s that ushered in the AOR (Album-Oriented Rock) format, which replaced the progressive free-form FM and, some would argue, led the way to today’s bland, consolidated broadcast landscape.

But now it’s Abrams sounding the alarm about playing it too safe risking death knells for terrestrial formats. “Radio should be going into creative overdrive. Instead, it’s going backwards, contributing to its own demise by getting more vanilla when they should be alive and well in technicolor,” he says. “Nobody’s bringing their A-game.”

The 67-year-old pioneer — a member of the Rock Radio Hall of Fame — started the AOR format as a DJ/PD at WRIF in Detroit before installing a similar streamlined rotation, dubbed SuperStars, at WQDR in Raleigh, NC.

“That was a style of radio that was right for the times — it was extremely successful and brought economic gains to FM radio,” he says, defending his programming decisions, versus what’s become of similarly formatted stations in 2020. “Today, radio has become too corporate, too consolidated, too boring.  But that was a different era, with a competitive opportunity which we took advantage of. We valued personalities, though. We gave Howard Stern, Steve Dahl and Sonny Fox some of their first on-air gigs.”

In March, just before the pandemic hit, Abrams launched MediaVisions, a consultancy which promotes his new “reimagination” of radio, incorporating news and information, video content and music innovation.

As part of the launch, Abrams’ company is touting a “reimagining” of TV news with “NewsMovie,” “Radio Free Earth,” a 24/7 streaming service aimed at the 40-and-over crowd, and a documentary charting the history of music and radio in the 20th century, “Sonic Messengers: When Music and Radio Changed the World.”

Abrams insists radio needs a complete overhaul, “blowing up the ‘80s focus-group mentality and starting to reinvent themselves.” He wants stations to go back to supporting new music and emerging artists, not just the familiar oldies.

These days, he’s bullish on Spotify, comparing it to the influence MTV once had in breaking new music. “As a radio programmer, I would embrace that totally. It’d be silly not to,” he says. “Those who say no one will turn to Spotify during a hurricane are simply arrogant.”

In that vein, Abrams agrees radio becomes more valuable when there’s a crisis, like the current COVID-19 virus, as news, talk and sports rapidly take over the AM and FM dials.