With With a Dallas-based, afternoon-drive radio show that is syndicated in some 31 markets, veteran jock Doug Banks and his co-host, DeDe McGuire, bring a fun mix of humor, popular culture, and information to the airwaves as they spin the hottest in adult contemporary music on The Doug Banks and Dede McGuire Show, which is syndicated by ABC Radio Networks. This week, BlackEnterprise.com went behind the scenes with Doug and DeDe to get their take on the radio business and where they think this ever-changing industry is headed.

BlackEnterprise.com: What are your thoughts on syndicated radio and its impact on black radio?

Doug Banks: Being a person who is syndicated, I’m all for it. I think it’s a great way to get entertainment to the masses as opposed to just having it on a local level. With syndicated programming, stars of TV, music, and film who come on our program to promote their projects are exposed to a larger stage—on a national scale—versus on a local level. Syndication is important for African Americans because it gives us a platform to stand on in terms of the initiatives we support, such as the Million Man March and Jena 6.

Critics of syndication, however, say that localism is lost. What are your thoughts on that?

DeDe McGuire: That is so not true. That’s the perception that everyone wants you to believe. But what people don’t understand is that to do syndication they way we do it is hard work. We pay attention to every market. We cater to every market. We have people on the streets in our various markets who call us and fax us to let us know what is going on.

DB: The key to do this is that you can’t be too one-sided with regard to any one market.  The name of the game is to get as much audience as you possibly can and as many stations as you can. It’s rather generic, but I’ve found out over the years that a simple mention of a specific market or a location in that market does wonders.

Radio is facing intense competition from a lot of other audio entertainment. How will this competition impact black radio going forward?
DB: It’s going to separate the people who are on their A-game versus the people who are just playing and dabbling in it. There are too many other options: iPods, satellite radio, CDs, mp3s. When you’re tuned into my show in the afternoon, I want to make sure the show’s compelling enough to hold you, because the toughest thing in the world is to get someone to come back to you once they’ve tuned you out.

With syndication, you’re able to connect with a broad range of African American listeners. What have you learned most about the audience?

DM: I’ve learned that our audience is much more educated and much more concerned about what’s going on in the world today and their community than people think, and I think that’s a beautiful thing because there are so many times the media wants you to believe that our community is not interested in what’s going on, that we’re not interested in politics, that we don’t care about education and that we don’t value marriage. That’s just not true. And it’s no different for a listener in Augusta, Georgia than it is for a listener in Chicago. The thing that I love so much about doing black radio and what goes on in our culture is that when something happens, whether or not it’s the Jena 6 situation or the Sean Bell situation, it affects all of us. We pay attention to it because we know that if it happens someplace else, it could happen in our hometown. So that means that by being syndicated, we all become this one big family who cares.

What are your thoughts on the future of black radio?

DB: Black radio has always been a force. Sometimes it’s been pushed to the back, but it always seems to rise back up because black radio is more community oriented. Ask African Americans about their radio station and they’ll know every aspect of the  jocks’ lives: your kids, what you drive, where you live, how much you spend at Target. It’s just not the same with a white station. Black radio is never going to be bad to us.

DM: I think black radio is headed in a direction that is very positive. Radio has helped achieve a higher conscience level for a lot of listeners. Black radio is one of the few things left for African Americans that’s directed to you, for you, and about you. Black radio isn’t going anywhere. It’s getting better. And I love it.

However, Banks launched a new radio show for ABC on Jan. 11(national syndication begins Jan. 14) called The Doug Banks & DeDe McGuire Show, which will air on WVAZ-FM in Chicago.

Some experts say the cancellation of Banks’ syndicated program reflects the troubled state of radio. “In addition to the poor economy, the radio industry is struggling to find ways to compete with new media such as the Internet,” says Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers magazine, an industry trade publication covering talk media. There is also a glut of syndicated programs. “Most radio stations have more syndicated programs than local programming. There are actually more programs produced for syndication than places to air them.”

“It’s cheaper to run a syndicated show in a market than it is to hire a local announcer. The station gets the added benefit of having a celebrity who brings with him or her immediate recognition and listener loyalty,” says Kevin Ross, founder of RadioFacts.com.

But black radio faces added obstacles. Shows such as The Doug Banks Morning Show, says Harrison, are viewed by advertisers as niche programming unable to reach a broad market. “[Advertisers] are still using the old method of determining where to place ad dollars,” he notes. “They are looking at the number of people a show attracts rather than the culture of the show, the host’s relationship with the listeners, and if they act to buy based on what they hear on the show.”

Ross says the blame doesn’t lay with advertisers alone. He says besides declining advertising, black radio has failed to reinvent itself. “I’d like to see urban radio be more progressive. We’re pretty much doing the same thing today we were doing 10 years ago,” he says. “One of my greatest concerns is the lack of new blood in the programming departments. Urban radio has recycled the same program directors for the last two decades. Urban radio stations are also missing an incredibly viable tool by continuing to ignore the Internet and their Websites. The station’s Website could be such a great tool for additional branding, listener participation, client benefits and most important a revenue generator.”