Well I’m about to open up a can of worms and make a lot of
people really on edge with this blog!
The truth needs to be spilled as to the goings on in our
fair metroplex, and what the corporate suits think of YOU, the patron, the listener,
the person who is going to LISTEN to the advertiser on their station!
THEY DON”T CARE! PERIOD!
They really don’t… from the Station Manager, to the Sales
Manager, the Program Director, the only person that might care are the on-air
personalities, and that’s just pushing it!
These people don’t give a rat’s ass, if you listen or not,
as long as MR ADVERTISER buys a schedule and the Account Executive can sell
them a bunch of crunched numbers that anyone can manipulate and make work for
them, to promote and sell their shows!
This goes for talk shows, or music stations!
Lets put it more on my level! Sports Talk Radio, in this
market sucks!
There is a revolving door going on over at CBS Owned 105.3FM
the FAN—and their AM sister station KRLD 1080, a station that has a legacy in
this market, is nowhere to be found on the ratings sheets, unless there is
severe weather, or really breaking news. WBAP AM and FM have more of a chance
of beating 1080, but that is a toss up.
Let me give you some insight about how this business really
works.
Twenty years ago, I ran into a young man at a place in
Arlington, called Fatso’s Burgers and Blues, where a radio show was being
produced on Tuesday Nights for 17 weeks, called Cowboys Live, starring Cowboys
Star Running Back Emmitt Smith, and Channel 11 sportscaster Timm Mathews! The radio station was KGBS AM1190, and one of
their mainstays on the station was a man named Morton Downey Jr.
Now this young man that was working at Fatso’s comes up to
me, and asked me if he could get a job working at the station, and I told him
to arrive at 5AM the next day, and he did, and was an intern for a mere 2 weeks
before they put him on payroll to be the associate producer for the Gerry Oher
show, then later the Tony Hill Show (yes the same Tony Hill that caught a Touch
Down pass from Roger Staubach against the Washington Redskins)… in any case,
this young man works for the station for a year or so, before he jumps ship and
joins a start up station on 1310 AM frequency, their calls become KTCK the
TICKET!
This young man works for one of the shows called the
Hardline as their producer, and he later leaves and goes to work for KCMO, a
legend station in Kansas City.
He returns as the program director of KTCK the TICKET and
joins the ranks as the PD that secures a Marconi Award, the tops in the
business, and when someone calls him up to congratulate him, or ask him if
there is an opening for a job, or just to say HELLO!, and you he doesn’t return
any of the calls, one starts to wonder, what sort of EGO does this young man.
Short memory, and a large ego will do it to you every time!
Jeff Catlin, when someone opens the door to you and allows you into our hallow
fraternity, and you don’t give the time of day to the person who allowed to
walk through that door, you show me that you have no integrity, nor honor!
I could have sworn I taught you better than that, but like a
parent who’s child has turn their back on them, I guess I feel that same pain
in my heart, because, all you had to do is return the call, or say “sorry my
friend, but I just don’t have anything available right now.”…. you would think
just that gesture alone would be suffice, but I guess not!
So now the revolving door at 105.3 THE FAN, has caused some
un-ease among some of the mainstays of the station!
Lets see, first, Jasmine was let go from the morning show,
and what is on the air is very questionable, I like RJ Choppy and all, but they
teamed him with someone who he has no idea anything about this market, and they
don’t know each other. I mean what makes the TICKET work, is the fact that
every talk show host are friends with each other, they know how they breathe,
they know how they think, and they know what buttons to push to get the best
out of the other!
The FAN, they throw people together for no reason other
than—oh this might work, look at Shawn and RJ Choppy, or Mark and Slatter in
the mid-day, at least Greg and Richie Witt had some history before they were
thrown together on the air, but personally I never like Richie on the air, I
believe he was a great writer, but as a talk show host, he lacked the punch you
need for the afternoon drive and especially for five hours on the air.
Gavin Dawson and Chris Arnold in the evenings are good, but
then again, I know Chris Arnold and he can work with just about anybody, I know
how good he is—its not just that he is professional but also he can fit with
anyone on the air!
YOU CAN”T THROW talk show teams together in the fourth
largest market in the country, this is not the 125th market—this is
FRIGGIN NUMBER FOUR!
That means New York, L.A., and Chicago are only bigger!
REALLY!
Corporate America, and especially Radio, will tell you that
they know best, really—you went to college and got a degree and all, but the
fact is—YOU know NOTHING about marketing, because what made local radio work,
was the fact that there was a connection with the listener to the station but
once the cluster of stations started—that went away.
.
In the mid to late 70’s, a station in Dallas/Ft. Worth
created such a sensation that they were the number one station in the metroplex
in most day parts for over 10 years! TEN FRIGGEN YEARS!
KVIL 103.7FM with Ron Chapman and the promotions department,
made it exciting to listen to local station with their give a ways, and their
prizes like cars for the rest of your life, and money and trips.. bumper
sticker promotions for cash, and other fun and games!
They had a jingle that asked “Whatever happened to radio?”
Damn good question!
Someone needs to take back the airwaves and concern themselves
to the business of the listener because you are loosing them to IPODS, Iphones,
and Ipads…. Along with CD’s and other devices that we listen to for our
entertainment!
You want to win them back, you have to convince your
advertisers to jump a bit and get into the deep end and start contest that will
involve them and your listeners, the best interaction with your station and the
listener is give them something worth while to listen to, and win something for
doing it!
WHAT A CONCEPT!
You think for one moment that corporate America will do
that—you got live visions of CBS, Culmus, Disney, and others would do this? Not
a chance in Holy Hell!
Because remember—they know more than the old timers—I have
bad news for you 30 something year old PD’s… NO YOU FRIGGIN DON”T! So deal with
the fact that there are some people out there that do know MORE than you do!
And LISTEN TO THEM!
Just a thought!
