“Take Your Blog…” – an open response to Fred Jacobs’ article on “quiet quitting”

By Ryan “Elwood” Bjorn

Mr. Jacobs,

In your Jacobs Media blog article this week discussing one of 2022’s workplace buzzwords, “quiet quitting,” you share a definition from LinkedIn career guru Blair Heitmann. “For many, it’s a way to achieve better work-life balance, and is the latest move away from hustle culture. It could mean seeking some more appropriate boundaries at work, like leaving work on time every day, or it could mean saying no to projects outside your job description, or outright refusing to answer emails and team messages outside of working hours.”

Another description of “quiet quitting” was featured in a New York Times article earlier this month: “you’re not outright quitting your job, but you’re quitting the idea of going above and beyond…. You are still performing your duties, but you are no longer subscribing to the [idea] that work has to be our life.”

Appropriate boundaries. Standard working hours. The ability to refuse unreasonable requests. Apparently we are not allowed to want those things in the radio industry, because you believe “There’s no ‘quiet quitting’ in radio.”

“In our post-pandemic world, many of us have some thinking to do about what we really want and what we’re willing to endure in order to achieve it.”

You expect radio employees to be the type of people who brag about their long hours and low pay as a badge of honor. But some people are starting to realize that “enduring” unreasonable work expectations, the loss of personal time, and the additional strain on their mental health aren’t worth what employers are giving in return. That’s actually what the concept of “quiet quitting” is all about, but you seem to have it turned around.

In your article, you use phrases like “so-called,” “unattainable goal,” and “myth” when talking about work-life balance – as if the concepts of a personal life, vacation time, or getting through a meal without having to respond to a co-worker’s text message are part of some imaginary fairy tale that a radio employee must give up for the sake of the industry.

We’re not talking about someone sticking around to produce a late-arriving commercial on a Friday evening or helping hand out t-shirts at a weekend remote. Radio companies have spent the last three decades increasing content expectations and adding digital platforms while eliminating positions and making the remaining staff “do more with less.” 

The number of jobs in the radio broadcast industry has dropped over 15% since 2012, from over 101,000 to just 82,867 as of May 2022, while the number of radio stations remained near 15,000 during that time period. Our industry is requiring staff to operate the same number of signals with only 85% of the personnel on hand a decade prior.  In your own Jacobs Media air talent survey, those struggling most are clearly the individuals wearing the most “hats” who are responsible for roles that used to be handled by multiple employees, not just one.

Radio companies somehow find employees who are willing to move their families across the country for a gig that expects them to work the jobs of at least two people from the time they wake up until the time they go to sleep, seven days a week, 365 days a year, for $30k a year and a bare minimum of benefits with no guarantee of pay increases or advancement. Or job security – the company may decide to cut them with no notice when a new GM wants to “put his stamp on things” or some VP from an outside market decides to flip the station’s format. All so the stockholders get their dividends and the CEO gets his bonus at the end of the fiscal year.

Why, Fred, do you sound so shocked and angry that some people may not want to “hustle” for the chance to be exploited and unappreciated like that?

You cheer the 11% in your Jacobs Media air talent survey who claim “It’s radio – there is no work-life balance,” calling them “realists” and your “favorite people.” 

By implication then, the 79% of air talent who called work-life balance “very important” in your survey are… delusional? Wrong? Should they all leave the radio industry – “move over” as you put it – because they want personal lives in addition to their radio careers?

I know several people in your favorite 11% who aren’t the enthusiastic  you’re imagining them to be. When I hear someone say, “It’s radio – there is no work-life balance,” it’s usually because they’re exhausted, burned out, and resigned to the belief that they will always be overworked by this industry. 

“…speaking for those putting in overtime as they try to do their level best to keep their stations on the air and in the black, move over and let someone have your job who’s not debating their life or career trajectory at the moment.”

Are you assuming that “those putting in overtime” are actually getting paid for it? Many radio employees I’ve known have to “fudge” their time card to claim that they only worked a 40-hour work week, have been expected to work unpaid events and “volunteer” their time for the station, or work at a smaller company that legally isn’t required to pay overtime at all. Ownership reaps all the benefits of unpaid labor to help keep themselves “in the black” while the individual receives the “privilege” of remaining employed and a never-ending fear of losing their job if they aren’t “hustling” hard enough in their boss’s eyes.

You say “we need everyone to be ‘all in’ for radio,” but where’s the call for radio to go “all in” for its employees, the ones actually generating content, building audiences, and delivering for clients? Rather than asking employers to invest in talent and give workers an incentive to stay, your article told employees to “move over” instead.

You know what, Fred? The smart ones will. The ones who have great skills for radio will take those talents to other industries where they may earn larger salaries, receive more respect, and –yes– even achieve a more satisfying work-life balance.

A lot of them already have. So many of the most creative and talented individuals I’ve known in radio no longer work in radio. Some have transitioned into the record industry, while others moved on to become digital consultants, schoolteachers, police dispatchers, yoga instructors, and marketing managers. The funniest afternoon host I’ve ever worked with is now a firefighter. My first Program Director is now a lawyer.

These are not people who couldn’t hack it. These are not people who weren’t willing to “hustle”. These are not people who were “taking up space while… looking for ‘what’s next’”. These are individuals who knew their worth and left an industry they loved because they were valued more elsewhere. All that talent. All those skills. All that passion. The radio industry let it walk away because they assumed it was easy to replace or cheaper to automate.

“Apparently, no one subscribes to the Johnny Paycheck School of Broadcasting anymore.”

Maybe not, Fred. But in the spirit of Johnny Paycheck and every radio employee who’s ever been told they need to “do more with less” or give up their personal life with no additional compensation, all for the sake of a corporation’s bottom line… I say to you with the most “exuberant, over-the-top, in-your-face,” way-back radio attitude I can muster… that you can “take your blog and shove it.”

Ryan “Elwood” Bjorn is the Operations Manager at Mid-West Family Springfield, Illinois and Brand Manager of 97.7 QLZ and 102.5 The Lake – where he is striving to create an equitable, collaborative workplace with realistic expectations and fair compensation for its people. You know… a place someone would WANT to work.

He can be reached at elwood@mwfbmedia.com