Fired: Jim Ladd, America’s Last Unrestricted Radio DJ

As a result of an industry shakeup and a series of corporate mergers and acquisitions in the American media landscape, legendary Los Angeles radio DJ veteran Jim Ladd has been fired from his post at KLOS (95.5 FM). Ladd was the last mainstream DJ in America who had complete control over the music he played.

In the North American radio world, it has become common to generate playlists by computer algorithms. The software tracks programming, marketing and demographic trending data. In essence, this means that most on-air personnel has little or no creative choice left, but must pick from a programming list generated by a corporate computer system and designed to please the advertisers.

Explanation for those of you not connected to the media industry: commercial broadcasting in America views programming and creative personnel as cost of doing business. Their only purpose is to make viewers and listeners stick around for the commercials, which is the real product the industry is selling. And in case you are wondering why American commercial stations tend to play the same music tracks over and over: the computer generates playlists designed to attract a specific target audience, because specifically targeted commercials are more attractive to advertisers, and therefore command higher prices.

Since the fall of FCC restrictions that once existed to preserve diverse and independent ownership of commercial radio stations, a huge consolidation wave has set in. Today, commercial stations are usually owned by larger multi-media corporations.

Case in point: KLOS was owned by Nevada based Citadel Broadcasting (which also owned KABC), which in turn was just taken over by Cumulus Media, headquarted in Atlanta, GA.

The Los Angeles area is the largest radio market in the United States.

My take: The bean counters running commercial media conglomerates are killing network TV and terrestrial radio with their blatant lack of understanding for emerging technologies. There is now a whole new generation of people completely married to the Internet and to their mobile devices.

I could, for example, download a BBC news program or a program on Chinese opera into my iPhone, then listen to it on my car stereo on the way to work. Or, with wireless Internet, I could stream tens of thousands of radio programs from all over the world — on my phone. At home, I could do the same over my WiFi network. There are even dedicated Internet radio sets which plug into an Internet router (or connect to a WiFi network) instead of a regular antenna. (For example: http://reviews.cnet.com/best-wifi-radios/

With all these options, why should I listen to an impersonal, bland computerized playlist and unappealing commercials from a local, terrestrial broadcaster who plays the same tracks over and over? (If I like these tracks, I probably have them in my iTunes already).