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January 17, 2011 I wonder how Top 40 would have worked on radio if there was no TV.
I don't know any 20 year olds who listens to talk radio or care about politics. So why would anybody think the 22 year old psycho in Arizona would listen to talk radio. He'd have to be crazy ... Oops!
Charles Adler claims young people today prefer praise over sex or money. Well that claim if true certainly proves I'm not young anymore.
I think air talent should take a lesson from Eastwood, Stallone and Arnold. In the roles where they didn't talk much most of those movies turned out to be blockbusters and what little they did say was so memorable that people still repeat those lines even to this day.
Warren Cosford claims that You Tube gets 2 Billion views a day. Time to dig out those old unreleased Jury tapes and get after it baby!
While reminiscing with my brother Reg the other day I was telling him that I didn't remember ever getting anything I really wanted by chasing it. Usually I had to wait for it to come to me which in most cases it never did. He responded with ... Maybe you just didn't chase it hard enough Bro. Hmmmmmm if there's any truth to that statement you might want to consider standing back. I'm almost certain your not prepared for the kind of tenacity mixed with intensity that is about to occur.
I've always had a long standing policy about never talking over dead air unless I can get a promo out of it. Now I'm thinkin' it's time to reinstate that policy at a couple of talk stations I currently work with.
I was reading somewhere that the main reason a woman would cheat on her husband would be because their man actually did everything she wanted him to do. Real men don't do that and every once in a while a woman just needs a real man.
I think good Radio becomes great when life is reflected on it with a slightly distorted view.
I'm pretty sure if the only thing we could have watched American Idol on was a black and white 12'' we still would have.
Today I drove by what used to be the most beautiful car in the world ... A Jaguar XKE. But now it sorta just looks funny rolling along on those little skinny tires.
The first rule of show "Show Biz" is to get noticed, but unfortunately if you don't have any talent that's not a good thing.
When I was doing the CLASS/CLASSY format with my brother Reg I always had to bring someone else with me on the road so we could get some work done while doing a market visit. The Manager's job was to inspire and motivate his boss above him plus his staff below him. He had nobody to complain to so he chose me. Seeing as GM's now have no one to get rid of a little steam with may be the reason a lot them are turning into mean spirited people with little or no manners.
No matter how much the "Geeks" so want it to be about technology, it's always going to about the Artists.
I just loved and looked forward each week to reading Claude Hall's column in Billboard even though I never got to be in it. I feel very good now though about finally forgiving Claude for his oversight.
Ermanno Barone claims Shakespeare was just the valet parking guy of his day and was given all the plays. Ermanno is going to shoot a movie about it very soon. He told me that The Bard of Avon was also quite the womanizer, so I'm thinkin' ... Hey maybe "The Play Wasn't The Thing"
Mark Twain said Shakespeare, or someone calling themselves Shakespeare wrote all those wonderful plays.
Anytime JEFF & JER of San Diego do a radio session they claim all they really do is what I taught them to do some twenty years ago. I always write down all the specific examples they use then take them back out on the road with me. Good stuff!
Speaking of JEFF & JER what the radio community fears most is what radio station in San Diego is in trouble. When Jeff and Jer go back on the air soon they will attract a lot of business from clients who they have always had a good relationship with. I figure little of that money is going to be new money so it has to come from somewhere and somewhere ain't going to have a good 2011
One of the things Radio has never worked on and should have was how to make the client so big and classy that the product the client was selling became much bigger and more desired by the mere mention of the clients name in the advertising. Mercedes, Rolex and Tiffany's come quickly to mind.
Speaking of sales I was talking to Brent Farris and Tom Skinner about a KZST project when somehow my involvement with Forever Plaid The Movie came up. I explained that an old buddy of mine from Transcona who owns the movie Ermanno Barone had asked for my help with the :60 he has on the front and back of the early spring showing of his movie on PBS. Brent quickly jumped in with ... When George Johns goes over to the dark side and starts peddling spots we're all doomed.
I recently asked the Multi Talented Rich Stevens what he was best in the World at. He immediately claimed he was the World's Best Self Promoter.
Speaking of Rich he said "My Page" GeorgeJohns.com sucked and he was going to fix it. I can hardly wait.
Ron Chapman recently said I was possibly the only person in the world who could persuade him to go back on the air. BUT DON'T !
Accountants can not tell the difference between good talent and not so good talent, so they of course go with the cheapest talent and that's where we are.
Most air talent are more interesting on the air than off.
Back when Madonna was first becoming very hot I got a Memo from Mr. Fairbanks demanding that she be pulled off all his radio stations because it had come to his attention that she was a "Slut" I called all the PD's and told them we couldn't say Madonna's name anymore. We successfully pulled the "Slut" off the air but continued to play her records.
Dire Straits keyboardist Guy Fletcher after hearing that the group's 25 year old hit Money For Nothing was banned from Canadian Radio because it contained the word "faggot" said well there goes most of the Rap music because it contains the "N" word.
New Media simply means, finally accountable.
I've painfully noticed that Smart Phones aren't smart enough to spell.
The only times field goals make any sense to me is just before the half and at the end of the game for the win.
Most great Radio Stations have a "Cause" but I don't think paying down debt is really a good enough "Cause" to produce anything of any significance.
I've been accused of a lot of things but normalcy is not one of them.
There is nothing more important to a human than his name.
January 10, 2011 Did Reggie Bush, Heisman Trophy loser, turn out to be a disappointment or what. Wouldn't you love to hear about some oil company going bankrupt. Hell even with the millions and millions BP spent on the oil spill they still seem to be doing just fine.
The new jargon that now comes in with nearly every audition aircheck is ... I'm PPM friendly.
I understand in San Francisco they have free WiFi in public housing. Wow!
Everything can be done cheaper except greatness.
It costs $30 more a tank to fill your car up in Canada than it does in the U.S. How's that for free health care.
Somehow someway you have to make your station's image bigger than your music.
I wonder why Arbitron goes out of it's way to diss AM Radio. Kinda like HD did also.
I think cell phone cameras must have scared off all the UFO's
Bill Yde once told me that he wasn't going to marry any more beautiful women because they get you into too many bar fights. This Christmas it was easy to see he got over that. But one can only wonder how well he's doing in the bars.
Radio should simply be a mere reflection of life slightly exaggerated.
I think Lobbyists do society a lot more harm than good but unfortunately the only people who can get rid of them are the only people who derive any benefit from them.
Corporations are just like sharks the only people they are fearful of, are larger sharks.
OK I just checked You Tube again for the hits on WHO DAT? - THE JURY and discovered the total hits for THE JURY now are at 2500. Wow I wonder if Tommy Nast is ready to sign us and record some new product. I know for a fact that Bruce Walker our singer is still writing and my Daughter Candis still has my 58 Strat. We could kick off our World Tour at Tommy's Canyon Club in LA. Hey maybe we could even get my one of my old pal Randy Bachman bands to open for us, what would be better do you think The Guess Who or Bachman Turner. Tommy can you say signing bonus.
The reason I took up the Guitar long ago was because I saw Chet Atkins playing one on TV and he made it look so easy. Kinda like how Ron Chapman and Crew made KVIL sound so easy to do. Good Luck!
Great Radio Stations always did two special things, they got good ratings and they rang the cash register. Both the agencies and the clients were very happy.
PPM now has effectively eliminated the client. Is this going to have a good ending.
It's interesting to me that Mr. Business Man has different rules than the rest of us. Like how does the person who took their company to bankruptcy still get to run the company.
In the PPM world we now live in, you have to be bigger than music if your going to talk. Hows that show prep going ???
When I was a PD in Toronto the station gave me a brand new car and it had FM Stereo in it. One day I turned it on to hear how it sounded, on came Chicago and I went OH OH I hear the future. I was reminded of that moment the other day when my Brother Reg's partner, Hamid Badiozamani turned on his Smart Phone and was listening to a radio station from a couple of thousand miles away. He plugged it into some speakers just like he does in his car and the sound was incredible. OH OH I think I just heard the future again.
Tim Moore and I were exchanging e mails about the fact that there needs to be a higher calling than money to have a successful business. I read somewhere that when Steve Jobs wanted to lure a big executive away from Pepsi he said to him ... Do you want to sell sugared water all your life or come over here and change the World.
It's fairly easy to make money you just have to dedicate your life to it.
My old friend from Transcona, Ermanno Barone has asked me to get involved in a movie project he and Academy Award winning Producer Benni Korzen are doing together. It's called Forever Plaid and is based on an Off Broadway show that has been playing successfully for the last 20 years. PBS has already picked it up for a showing in the Spring. I don't know much about the movie business but as my daughter Candis said ... Dad you've already re invented yourself a couple of times, why not again.
I had dinner a year or so ago at the Ritz in Aspen where I noticed the waiter had a slightly different sounding English accent. I asked him where he was from and he replied, Wales. I responded with, I have a Welsh name and he said, what might that be. When I told him Johns he said, Ahh son of King John. My research project was completed at that moment. Tim Reever recently went through a similar exercise and discovered his family name meant, "Keeper Of The Kings Pigs". Tim's research continues.
Other than irritating people what you think has very little to do with what you know.
I think Women are phenomenal but be careful because like most phenomenons they may fit into the ... "Things that appear too good to be true usually are" category.
It seems our new media star Ted Williams was a no show at his first gig in New York. He didn't have proper ID so they wouldn't let him on the plane. When you live in the street I don't think having proper ID is a priority. Oh and speaking of 2nd chances what ever happened to all those urban folk that Oprah set up a few years ago. Oh I'm sorry was that not politically correct to ask that.
Where is it written that the police are above the law and have totally different rights than us.
Rich people only care about expenses, people who want to get rich only care about how to make more money.
Once you work for Jim Hilliard you're ruined. Your only hope after Jim, is to work for yourself.
January 3, 2011 Ahh 2011 a brand new year but the same old quest for Faster Cars, Older Whiskey and Younger Women continues.
Things you will never hear Michael Vick say ... " Hey I don't have a dog in this fight but. " Jerry Del Colliano claims PPM does an excellent job of measuring all non listening. Ever since I was a young lad I have always wanted to be somebody. It wasn't until I moved my family to California and was sitting there watching my Daughter Candis sing her heart out as the lead in her High School's production of South Pacific and I was thinking about all the ceremonies I had attended through out her High School years where she received many awards for her scholastic achievements that I started to realize I had already achieved my life long goal. I was somebody, I was Candis' Dad. Every once in a while some stations have me come to their market and listen around to see if I can find any opportunities for them. Most times I can usually spot a few things that might improve our situation. But what I started to notice at every presentation of my ideas was the PD's always claimed they were already doing all that. Is there really such a thing as Too Fun, Too Beautiful, Too Fast, Too Big, Too Sexy, Too Wise, Too Strong, Too Funny, Too Majestic, Too Exciting, Too Clear, Too Healthy, Too Good, Too Naughty, Too Mysterious, Too Sensuous, Too Nice, Too Peaceful, Too Smart, Too Friendly, Too Reasonable, Too Truthful, Too Perfect, Too Special, Too Rare, Too Happy, Too Pretty, Too Solid, Too Ravishing, Too Grand, Too Faithful, Too Loyal, Too Successful Too Talented, Too Good, Too Wonderful, Too Together, Too Lovely, Too Hip, Too Today, Too Timely, or Too Much Money. As I sit here at Duffys watching Coach K on the giant flat screen I can only wonder what being the best in the world at what you do feels like. If you ever sexually harass someone at work you better be good looking. Now that Tiger is free to chase women I wonder if he still does. I just noticed on You Tube that the total hits for WHO DAT? - THE JURY was around 1500. Should I be putting the group back together for a World tour. Speaking of the World Warren Cosford says the World's population will hit 7 Billion this year. Everybody buys the media obsession with 25 - 54 demo until they reach 55. Lately when I meet an attractive woman and ask them what they do they inevitably they say, Real Estate Brokers. Is there anyone more attractive than a recently divorced woman. I wonder what wonder diets they found. My favorite license plate in Canada was Friendly Manitoba. I don't think we'll see that one in Quebec. I was just reading that TSL for Radio was down again in 2010. But I think if they added back in that hour or so of early morning listening the PPM device misses each day maybe time spent listening would actually be up. Everybody loves Mr.Free he's kinda like Santa we wish he really existed though deep down we know he doesn't, because there just is no such thing as a free lunch.
December 28, 2010 March 15th, 1972, the day my whole world changed forever. Things before that seemed exciting but nothing like what was in store for me. Earlier in "The Birth Of AC Radio" I had written about how I had just become the new Program Director of CFTR in Toronto. The current ratings there were dismal so we needed to come up with something new and we needed to do it real soon. What complicated the creative process was the fact that our radio license stated that we must program to adults and adults only and believe me they were not talking about X- Rated material. What we came up with would be best described today as maybe soft CHR. We launched it on March 15th, 1972. The format consisted of nothing but softer sounding top 10 hits and we prayed the softer sound would appeal to a lot of young women but kids would be our death knoll. The ratings gods smiled upon us and blessed us with many young adults but very few kids. The big surprise for me was Ted Rogers made me the new Station Manager because of his joy for our early success. Wow, now as I look at it today I'm kinda thinking ... Hey not bad for a Transcona kid going from a board op in Winnipeg to a Station Manager in Toronto in less than four years. But even as good as things were going how was I to know it was merely the beginning of what turned out to be the stuff only dreams are made of.
By this juncture Jim who was headquartered in Indianapolis was now the CEO of Fairbanks broadcasting which owned several radio stations around the country. I could hardly wait to hear Jim's comments about my great air staff. I never really thought the music was that special. To me it was just music to keep our license by and in fact I thought it sounded rather vanilla. Jim finally called me to discuss what he heard on the tape. I asked him right off what he thought of my air talent expecting him to say how lucky I was that I got to start a brand new project with such a superb air staff. But instead he surprised me by saying they all sounded a little stiff to him and he quickly brushed the subject aside because he said he wanted to talk about what I was doing with the music. He claimed he had never quite heard a musical sound like before and really liked how it blended together. He thought that each individual record sounded like a small part of one big record. It was the first time I ever thought about our music being anything more than a defensive move. Jim was convinced that because the music sounded so special and different to him it was what was attracting the listeners, not the Jox. He said he thought I was really onto something. Ahh the music! With Jim's special acknowledgement of it I focused on trying to make it sound even better. One of the things we did was colour (a little Canadian for ya) code the records and put them in their own shoe boxes. The format clocks the Jox followed required them to play certain colours at certain times and in a certain order. These colours kinda represented different sounds and emotions and the colours were a way of blending them together. A couple years later in Dallas at KVIL we took this blend to new heights by adding nature sounds to the special sweeps. You know stuff like, thunderstorms, surf, wind chimes, crickets, birds and babbling brooks. We mixed a female voice into the middle of it all whispering the call letters sorta like the wind saying them. But this is getting a way ahead of my little story. To continue forward with this I have to regress a little. While starting my radio career as a board op at CKY in Winnipeg I was inhaling radio knowledge daily at the speed of sound when all of a sudden Jim resigns and heads back to the States and a couple of the American Jox he brought in also leave. What a shock! A very exciting era in Winnipeg came to a close. CKY never sounded as good again but something positive did emerge out of that whole experience, a bunch of the young Turks who were exposed to those incredible radio days soon went on to run Canadian Radio. Not long after Jim had left and I was wondering what the hell do I do now I get a call from him. Jim had just started a new job as Program Director of WFIL where he was launching a brand new format in Philadelphia and wanted me to come and do all the promos. I got on an airplane for the first time in my life and headed to Philly to talk with him about it. Being at WFIL for a couple of days I noticed they had same excitement in the air we used to have at CKY. That was the good news the bad news was I was a Canadian which brought the job interview to a screeching halt when we found out immigration just put your name on a very slow moving list. Back to Winnipeg I go. But now I am determined to get back that goose bump producing feeling I used to have at CKY. One of the neat things Jim had done for me before he left Canada was make me the Production Director. So next, because I was a musician, I decided to chase the Music Director's title too. I soon turned those two titles into a Program Director's job at CKOM in Saskatoon. I didn't know much about programming but I was a quick study and hoped I would be up to speed very soon. I kinda dedicated myself mostly to improving the work environment at my new station. My philosophy was and still is, " If it's happening in the halls it will soon be happening on the air." Years later Lee Masters (Jarl Mohn) told me he stole my saying and my attitude with which to start his very successful E ! Entertainment on TV. You don't get to Toronto directly from Saskatoon so along the way I had to make a couple of stops in Sudbury and Ottawa. At each station I tried as best I could to install a fun attitude in the building. But in Toronto I for one may have taken that fun part just a little too far. Those Vodka Martini lunches are very dangerous. After a few months Jim calls me again but this time he has two items he wants to discuss. The first being he has just bought a radio station in Dallas Texas and he is very excited about all the possibilities. The second thing was he just found out that my name on the immigration list was near the top of the list after all this time. He then when on to say that with the purchase of the new station the company was getting too big for him to handle by himself and he wanted me to be his new National Program Director. The way Jim ran the company everything came out of corporate so he needed me to move to Indianapolis as soon as possible so we could pick up the tempo. Once again I pack my family in the car and we headed out across the Canadian Border. While going through US customs I swear I heard the thunk of huge Iron door closing behind me. I remember my wife Lana asking me why we are doing this as we headed south to Indiana. Ted Rogers has been very good to us she went on to say and I thought you said things were going very well. I explained to her that I longed for those days when I didn't have to instantly come up with new stuff for the radio everyday and didn't have to fight off lame promotion ideas nor get into fights all the time with the sales department, not to mention the f%*king engineers. I am now going back to what I used to do for Jim. I'm just going to be the implementer all his great ideas. This is going to be just like the old CKY days, I wont have a care in the world and we will live happily ever after. At my much anticipated reunion meeting with Jim he tells me to spend my first week monitoring all our stations. We would have our next meeting a week at the end of the week and discuss all my upcoming duties. On Friday morning as I excitedly sit down with my old/new boss I feel pretty sure I'm ready to have a fairly intelligent conversation with him. Jim begins the conversation with George I'm thinking once we take over Kay - Ville why don't you just put that cute music on you were running in Toronto and we'll fill with it until they combine the Dallas and Fort Worth rating book. We'll discuss what we're really going to do then. Now tell me about your first week here in Indy. Well Jim as you suggested I listened to all our stations and I feel pretty much up to date on everything your doing. Good he says so what do you want to do next. I told him I was standing by to install what ever it was he wanted to do and promised he would be very happy with my implementation of all his usual great ideas. I even went on to say how fun I thought this was all going to be for me and how I was really looking forward to being his Lieutenant again. I thought this was some quality suck up stuff on my part and only hoped it went over well. Jim looked out the window for a moment, turned to me, put his elbow on the desk, leaned in, looked me straight in the eye and said ... George if I knew what to do I wouldn't have hired you! December 14, 2010 Steve Lapa told me that John Eliott pointed out that history shows us the people who end up changing the World - the great political, social, scientific, technological, artistic, and even sports revolutionaries - are always nuts until right, then they are geniuses. Reid Reker said if Bruce Buchanan was still on KVIL he wouldn't need any show prep. Tim Reever told me that in order to truly coach someone they must first give you permission to do so. What you perceive the truth to be in no way ever changes what the truth really is according to my old pal Aristotle. Cheryl Simone Miller claims the reason women say the things they do to men is because they don't have the physical strength to just punch our lights out and be done with it ... So they have to do something ! 23% of the population are born leaders, the rest of us have to act like we are. Just because it's not politically correct doesn't change whether it's true or not. PPM claims 75% of your listening comes from your fans. When your a huge company and you use all your power to try and squash the little guy you better get it done because your f#%ked if you don't. Just ask Jim Hilliard ! Margaret Mayer told me that Edison claimed ... "Many of life's failures are those that did not realize how close to success they were when they gave up". Just because PPM is deaf in the early morning doesn't mean the people are. It has been said that the best time of your life may be to be stuck inside snuggled up to someone you care about in front a roaring fire as a winter blizzard rages outside your window. The way it works in "CPA" radio is, in order to pay the new 60 million dollar deal for Ryan Seacrest the money needs to come from somewhere so I would look for bunches of budget cuts company wide. What's that you say the cuts have already begun. Just got done with a Christmas gathering at my brother Reg's house and have to admit there is just something magical in the air when some very accomplished and fun broadcasters like Roy Laughlin, Reg Johns, Bill Yde, Jack McCoy, Sam James, Ellen K, Jim Smith, Hamid Badiozamani, Ernie Kovaks, Barb Lovenguth and Tracy Johnson all gather together for a festive occasion. Lee Abrams said you are winning the music battle every time you play a cool song. How come they are already referring to Cam Newton as Cash Newton. I think the main job of the station PD is to make the radio station sound as good as it's biggest fans already think it is. In the early days of KVIL we merely eliminated Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll and added the "Celebration of Women" as our secret sauce. William Yde wrote me that 92.3% of all statistics are made up on the spot. Even a bad plan superbly executed has a very good shot at succeeding. Maybe if I didn't have so much fun my whole life I would be much younger now. Too late to stop now! Plato said to become a very successful and well paid morning host you need to be ... "A Principle Of Influence" The responsibility of the Program Director is to make the radio station sound as good as it's biggest fans already think it is. Radio has to figure out how to do product placement as well as Nike did when they got Michael Jordan to wear the shoes. Socrates said it's what's above the bottom line that causes the bottom line.
December 7, 2010 Is it possible to buy anything anymore without them trying to up sell you.
I understand in Alaska that STD's are growing at an alarming rate for some reason. Being originally from Transcona where the snow is already 3 feet high and rising whisky was only one of the 2 things you did to excess while waiting for the snow to melt. The only thing that could slow down their problem I think may be "Global Warming"
I don't know why it is but as soon as a company gets profitable their super friendly service seems to go all to hell.
60 mill for Ryan good for him. Hey those kind of numbers aren't the usual radio chump change. In fact it just may sound good enough to tempt Howard to start thinking about coming back and how far behind could Jeff & Jer and maybe even Ron Chapman be.
Betsy Cameron told me that even Haiti is a nice place to visit if you know some rich folks you can stay with.
The real neat thing about having two strong daughters is if a woman ever does me wrong I will just turn her over to them.
Don't you wonder who it was that informed Women they could say things to us that if said by another man would lead to his barely surviving the ordeal.
Jim Hilliard once told me when he first got into radio he learned every job in the building so someday he would be prepared to run a radio station. Well I guess that just about disqualifies everyone running radio today.
If I wasn't paid to do so I don't think I would listen to much radio anymore.
If you wanted to hear the hit music from "GLEE" what radio station would that be on.
The only way to be happy is to stop managing so many different people. You know, the person you are at work, the one you are with your friends, the other with family, the one with the neighbors, the one with clients etc. I've got it down to two now. The person who is with my daughters and the one who isn't.
I started in radio when I was 20 and my first radio boss Jimmy Darin such a fun work environment that I would rather be at work than home. When I had the opportunity to create a work environment I tried to pay it forward which worked out well for the industry but not so well for marriages.
When I first went consulting I officed at KOGO/KPRI in San Diego. Tom Shadek who was part owner of the company was kind enough to give up his office for me plus also left behind a couple of bottles of Whisky behind to be used for medicinal purposes. Not long after the entire staff would return to my office each afternoon at 5 for "Toddy Time". It became so crowded each day that I had to give Reid Reker his first promotion to that of Maitre d' just to handle all the reservations.
I think each and every project needs a perfect balance between ... What you've always wanted to do, what you like doing, and what should be done.
In 1983 my CPA Roger Snowdon looked up from doing my taxes and said ... Congratulations George your a Millionaire! Wow your kidding, thank you Mother Kay Ville. Uh Roger just one thing are you still holding that Mil for me??
It is said that it is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all. But how many do you get to lose before you officially become a loser.
I used to hear about Bush's approval ratings everyday but I never seem to hear about Obama's very often. Is there some special reason for this.
Mike Vance the Dean of Walt Disney University taught me a long time ago that the great business leaders realize their main role at work is to support what the staff wanted to do. Of course that puts a lot of pressure on the staff to come up with something to support.
When a team gets together and decides they are not going to lose they seldom do.
Rich Stevens said most people don't act stupid ... It's the real thing.
Bruce Buchanan e mailed me that if he was still on the air at KVIL his show prep would all be done because he would just steal all my lines.
November 29, 2010 Isn't the real answer for radio to bankrupt it just like they did GM. How did that all turn out. Once they finally convince us to convert everything to electric I wonder if we can begin to even imagine how much electricity will cost. Time to check again ... Yep I still hate the word NO ! If every politician we elect is finally totally politically correct that's sure going to make for a wussy bunch on the hill. Nobody "gets" a new radio format until it gets ratings then it gets awesome sounding. Most women go through a "Bad Girl" phase. You can only hope you are near by when it happens. Is the reason we don't carry around presentation tapes of great radio stations anymore is because we don't have tape or because we don't have any great radio stations anymore. Jo Myers said she was able to read, absorb, and enjoy my story on The Birth of A/C Radio even with " Chemobrain." Most women will eventually tire of all your great stories. At that point you have but three choices. (a) Stop telling the stories (b) Create new stories (c) Get a new woman and go with the old stories again. Speaking of telling your old stories, when you hear the line ... You've already told me that story and not only that you have told it to me several times. Now it's become time for you to figure out just what part of all the household stuff do you want to take with you. Be careful of what you dream because it could very well come true. A few years ago I had some surgery scheduled and as the day too quickly approached I was getting very uncomfortable with the whole project so I called the Doc and spoke to his head nurse about wanting to delay the operation and get another opinion or two. I expected her to chastise me for waiting so long. Instead she said, Mr. Johns we all heal ourselves we just to need to find a real good assistant that we are comfortable with. 73% of the listeners want the air talent to be some sort a benevolent dictator. They want to be told what to do, what to like, where to go, when to go etc. They just want to be told to do it nicely. Hey, I think thats what America wants too they're just tired of trying to figure out who the hell to vote for. Women are still a mystery to me but Mr. Business man sure isn't. Have you ever noticed that older people seem a little bitter. I must be getting ancient because I'm pissed most of the time now. I just love all the special things money can buy, not the money. I used to remember when there was "0" tolerance for dead air. Engineers lived in fear of it, Dee Jays were scared to death when it happened on their shows, PD's hated it. But It must of been unimportant all along because I hear it all the time now. One of our favorite tricks that my Brother Reg and I used to do when we were doing "The Class Format" all over America, was to find out who the most popular Morning Person was in that town who was still playing music on AM. We would hire them and then put up a Billboard that said if you like So & So in the morning your going to love hearing them in Stereo on **** Jamie Gold once said to me I should consider changing my name to George "ask me about my daughters" Johns. Have you ever noticed a lot of folks e mail addresses are much too cute to remember. Greg Budell says we spent 7.8 Billion Dollars this year on 67,000 TSA Agents looking for terrorists at the Airport. Number of terrorists apprehended so far - 0 In the recent election I don't think we really elected anybody, mostly we just fired a bunch we didn't like and we'll do it again. Old Money is usually philanthropic and understands wealth has "pay it forward' responsibilities. New Money often feels "entitled" and can never hoard enough. Most of us are kinda prepared for the worst but very few of us are prepared for the best. Sharon Henwood said the only good thing about her eventually working for the Government of Canada was she got to do it in Canada's mildest Climate (Victoria) and it was pensionable. There's never been any rewards or punishment it has always been the consequences of your actions that your going to have to deal with. Education is what determines your standing in society's pecking order. When it's perfectly safe at all times and everything is good for you, then what? As the Gold family always say and I whole heartily and enthusiastically agree ... Your freedom ends at the tip of my nose ! I think the GOAT of the game should get equal billing with the PLAYER of the game.
November 22, 2010 I've written about having the privilege of working for three broadcasting pioneers/legends during my early years in Canada. The first was Lloyd Moffat for whom I toiled for as a rookie board op at CKY-FM in Winnipeg back when FM wasn't cool. My job was to roll a bunch of Ray Conniff records together with a lot of very smooth instrumentals that made up the bulk of our beautiful music format. The thing I liked best about Ray Conniff's music was the pretty girls on the fronts of his albums. As I checked out those front covers each day I started to pick up on something. Ray who did adult versions of Top 40 hits only seemed to cover the ones you could sing along with as you tapped your toe. That somewhat strange sound of his was slowly seeping its way into my head. Still, I had no idea that experience would play a big role in the birth of Adult Contemporary Radio. now I plan on trying to appeal to younger adults instead of people my parents age. Are you going to play any rock was their next question. No, I'm going to play artists that younger adults enjoy. Great acts like Roberta Flack, The Carpenters, Bread, and even some of the prettier stuff by Elvis,The Beatles plus a little of the melodic Motown sound. Are teens involved in your new plan they sternly asked. No, I just want all the young adults that are not being presently served on the Toronto radio dial. There was a momentary pause in the conversation then next thing I heard was almost like I hard it in slow motion. We have no quarrel with your plan but we would be remiss in not telling you that if too many teens show up in your ratings we will suspect that your not complying with your adult requirement and we will revisit this conversation. Be assured at that meeting it wont be as pleasant as this one has been today. Thank you for visiting with us. The meeting was over and I think I just heard my favorite word ... Yes ! I was so excited I almost didn't need a plane to get back to Toronto. Bruce Devine was an already there board op who made the final cut. He now is kinda CFTR's historian and recently reminded me about the time the competition approached him to sell them all my programming memos. He claimed when he nervously came to me about it I just laughed and told him he should of taken the deal because I would have written him some very special ones and we could have split the money. It didn't stop there they even had one of their board ops planted on our staff but we had him spotted, you couldn't miss him with all that red hair. They play mean in the big city. November 15, 2010 There appears to be a viscous mob in Chicago running through the hallways of everything Tribune and eliminating anybody who can spell Randy's name. I wonder if as they rape and pillage they are chanting that phony slogan business guys love to use ... This Isn't Personal, It's Only Business. Russ Morley taught me a long time ago that if sex ever comes up in a conversation on a date, thats going to be the extent of it. According to Beau Weaver, Native Americans believe evil people don't have any songs so as long as who ever is around is singing, you have no fear. Charlie Van Dyke a while back told me that the thing he hated most about doing battle with we FM upstarts at KVIL when he was doing mornings at KLIF was all the Ron Chapman Billboards. He said every where he looked all he saw was Ron Chapman and he felt it was a little like being in the middle of an unfair fight not to mention how intimidating it seemed. I told him I didn't know how to break this to him but back then we only had enough money for one Billboard so we decided to put it outside his studio window. My brother Reg reminded me recently about how when we worked in Canada, by law a radio station could only give away $5000.00 a month. We programmers all spent most of our time figuring out how to make it sound like a lot more. You know stuff like a $5000.00 winner on the last day of the month and again the next day on the 1st day of the month. Today radio just wishes it had $5000.00 to give away. If It's true it ain't braggin' For me music on radio is a conceptual thing. Country music is fairly easy to spot but now that kind of music is even getting blurred. The listeners know what they want to hear on each station and our job is to figure it out. But first we have to agree on just what kind of Restaurant we have here. I have worked with a lot of great talent over the years but I must admit this is the first time an on air personality has left us and made me feel proud about it. Joyce Kaufman has been hired away from 850 WFTL by newly elected Congressman Allen West to be his Chief Of Staff. You go Joyce! Oh and when you get to Washington we sure could use a little help with our night time signal. Wait a minute what are all those TV trucks doing outside ... Whats that you say, Joyce is staying. Great! The hell with the night time signal. Who counts the vitamins and calories in all the food. They're not just guessing are they. I have always been overly impressed by people who can do things I can't do. There is only one way to make decent money in Radio is to make management afraid your going to leave. Great humor comes from great pain. The thing I look for the most in air talent is their ability to observe life and then comment on it in a slightly exaggerated emotional manner. One of the few times I have empathy with a radio sales rep is when they introduce them selves to a potential client and the client responds with ... I've never heard of your radio station. I think if we got to vote on whether or not there should be Lobbyists in Washington I'm thinkin' we would vote them out and that would change the World more than any Politician could ever do. November 9, 2010 Jerry Moss (A&M) said talent does best when it does what it wants to do not when they do what you want them to do. Have you noticed that the only people radio are looking for are sales people. They seem to be getting rid of all the rest Cris Conner says everybody hates their job thats why they have to pay you to do it. One of the smartest radio sales person I've ever met is Jerry Bobo. Back in the day at KVIL he would go to Ron Chapman and ask him if there was anything special he wanted to do on the radio that he hadn't already done yet. When Ron would mention something, Jerry would take a few days to figure it out and of course include a sales angle which made it possible for Ron to do be able to do it. I cant ever remember a KVIL promotion not working. If you want to silence a very talkative woman just bring up sex. Success looks totally different when seen through the eyes of the Sales Manager compared to how the Program Director sees it not to mention the rest of the staff including the GM and the Owner. What with having a young Daughter and an even younger Grandson I'm going to have to live forever just to be able to attend all the important functions they have coming up in their life. So far it's going pretty good. Have you ever noticed you know exactly what you should have done immediately after doing what you shouldn't have. When coaching good talent I tend to say the same things over and over again but use different words until the lights come on. Then and only then do we unleash them on a unsuspecting audience. I think Florida is the only State in the union where you have to drive a way up North to get to the deep South. I will never forget the day my singer song writer Daughter Candis sent me a song she had written and recorded for me for Father's day. It was called ... "Here's To The Man Who Will Never Leave" Bob Christy told me the first thing they train you at Mercedes Benz school is how to tell your neighbors at a cocktail party that you sell cars. I guess they have kinda figured out that we are burned out on all political parties because what party the candidate was from was sure missing from all the advertising signs here in Florida. Women don't tolerate nasty women only men do. Mark Hubbard told me a long time ago that to have a successful business you needed to have 3 special people. The Dreamer, The Business Man, and The Son Of A Bitch. Radio for some reason has over loaded on just one of those types. I still agree with the line that we have to support our troops in Iraq and Iran but we don't have to support the people who keep sending them there. During the 60's we used to know the names of a lot of DJ's all over North America. Then in the 70's it was the PD's who became nationally known. In the 80's Programming Consultants became the flavor of the era. The 90's brought us Researchers, and now finally it's the owners who are famous. I'll let you have last line about how well you think it all turned out. The politicians in Canada and the USA have never figured out what all the revolutionaries in 3rd world Countries figured out a long time ago. You take over the radio stations not the TV stations. They're smart enough to know that they just look silly on TV. Tim Moore says yesterday is history tomorrow is a mystery but today is a gift. That's why they call it The Present. Joe Raineri now possesses the secret formula for radio. Guard it with your life Joe the accountants will soon be on your trail trying to track it down so they can destroy it. The client isn't always right but it serves us well not mention it to them. I still remember a great liner I just loved on an old KCBQ air check. "Communication Is The Beginning Of Understanding" signed K-C-B-Q. Dennis Linsin in response to my claim that Government people would starve if they had to live off of tips said the origin of T.I.P. is ... "Too Insure Promptness" Well that definitely wraps up my theory and puts a bow on it don't you think. I don't know why the government hasn't figured out by now that we are very very tired of them spending all their time helping the wealthy and the poor. If they don't start taking care of the rest of us soon we will vote them all out again, and that is a threat. The last time Jerry Brown was Governor Of California he was asked about what his plan for the state was, his reply was ... Plan, what plan, I don't have a plan. So here we are Jerry 25 years later and surely by now you have some sort of a plan because your going to need a good one buddy, your broke! I just got hooked up again with Gary Bachman an old buddy from Winnipeg. Gary runs a very successful real estate company now but the last time I saw him was at a dance my band was playing at in Tuelon Manitoba. The dance was being promoted by J Robert Wood. Gary's brother Randy was playing guitar for us that night and Donny Burns was our singer. Little did we know that night that eventually 4 of us would end up in radio. Gary as I recall was working the ladies real well and was even tripping the light fantastic as he won the Twist contest on that cold and wintry night. Teens I'm told only go to one live concert a year. Who would have thunk. November 2, 2010 Jack McCoy told me a long time ago that the ratings gods always smile best on the folks who paid for the survey.
Speaking of ratings have you noticed that Arbitron has most of us in radio tied now. Back in the day there were always a couple of stations in every market with double digits. Now we all have 4's and 5's. Could it be that ARB got tired of hearing the very loud complaints from all the stations that didn't have double digits and thats how they fixed it.
Now I think they have figured out how to even take it a step further by making sure the PPM device is deaf during the early mornings.
A lot of radio stations of course didn't stand a chance against huge high profile morning shows so a deaf PPM is the ticket to happiness it appears.
As soon as all the big radio stations get rid of their expensive morning shows I think we will all be tied in the 3's. Then Selector and Music Master will be fighting it out for the personality of the year award.
Women figured out when they were in high school exactly what we wanted. They of course pretended like they didn't in hopes they didn't have to give it to us. But like every rule there are exceptions ... My Daughters and my Niece come to mind.
A good sales person to me and one I am impressed by is the one who can sell a station with no ratings. Hell even I can sell a #1 radio station.
Delilah told me that the reason women don't ask each other if they got lucky last night is because they don't have to. They always KNOW who got lucky and even how many times.
Red Robinson a legend in his own right said at a recent gathering of radio folks in Vancouver, Frosty Forst another legend when asked what he thought about radio today he replied with, "I have no comment, radio doesn't exist any more".
When you mix Ego and Fear together it produces a very lethal fuel that when used correctly can propel one down the road towards $uccess at quite an intense and torrid pace.
Woody Cooper claims that if the Mother of invention is necessity then Greed must be it's father.
If government employees had to live off of tips I think they would all starve to death.
Ken Moultry told me he loved Ben Taylor's response to the question about what he had learned from his father James ... "Oh you mean besides how to be on the road for 40 years without ever taking a break".
I keep hearing about all the great talent the Dallas Cowboys have but when I look at them I just see a bunch of very expensive losers.
Speaking of The Cowboys, Ron Chapman who knows Jerry Jones quite well says, Jerry's gotta be thinkin' ... I spent almost 2 billion bucks to showcase Jon Kitna ... ?
I think Lee Abrams forgot one very important rule. No body's for ya!
One of the most surprising things I learned early in my career was that not everyone at a radio station wanted to win. I'm still undecided whether learning that was a good thing or not. One thing I'm sure of though is ... I'm still very angry about it.
When I was a young and very impressionable program director I attended a meeting in Toronto at one of Canada's biggest radio stations CHUM. We were there to form a Canadian Music Network. After the meetings we all went out to the CNE which is a huge fair in Toronto. As we approached the CHUM trailer where they were doing a live remote I noticed this huge line and I thought this must be how it is in the big time. When we got closer though I discovered they were lined up to meet the Board Op not the Dee Jay who was out front. They wanted to meet the person who touched the music. I have never forgotten that.
Texting is a girl thing.
It has been said that I spoil my daughters because I give them everything they want. Luckily for me they don't want much.
Any one trying to raise money to buy a radio station who doesn't have the ability to fix it should of course be turned down and escorted out of the bank by security. It would also be helpful if the police were notified so they could be there waiting to arrest them for fraud as they were being escorted out of the building.
There are only two things important to a radio station, making product or selling time. Seeing as most of the people who run the radio biz at the present time can do neither, I wonder what it is they do all day.
My daughters give me 85% of everything I need from females. But I do have to admit that other 15% is pretty powerful.
For some reason the greeting "Happy Halloween" seems strange to me.
Intelligent People Reasonably Informed Seldom Disagree.
October 25, 2010 I think the saddest thing about America right now is how fearful the media is about reporting that very few people are watching Oprah anymore. I guess it's not politically correct to mention that. But it does make me wonder what else they're keeping from us.
If you want a quick jump start for ratings on your morning show simply substitute the word
" You " every time you feel the urge to use the letter " I "
I loved the line in Wall Street II where Gordon says to Jacob. "Is green the new bubble"
I hear some rumors that my old pals David Wolfe and Sammy James are considering bringing Plato's 2000 + year old theory The Principle Of Influence to the Digital World by merging it with David's futuristic concept of Search Engine Optimization and Sammy's creation of the right now Lead Generation. The purpose being to form a Super Company designed to dominate the quickly growing accountable world of radio sales. It all sounds very scary to me.
Al Mair wrote from Beijing where he is vacationing that there are over 60 TV stations and all of them are controlled by the Government. In our World before ratings programming was selected by the Manager's wife. She did what ever she and her friends liked because she was convinced that what she wanted on the radio everyone wanted. Turned out she was wrong.
In politics I don't like how it's going right now nor did I like how it went. Cant we have a new and better way.
Years ago the rest of the Beatles told Ringo he better start writing some of this stuff other wise he will have to tour for the rest of his life. I understand he's coming to the Hard Rock Casino in Ft. Lauderdale again next year.
When I was but a young lad I hung out with a bunch of guys who I thought were exactly alike with a few minor differences. Turned out the minor differences were who we all really were.
You really don't need credentials you are whomever your boss says you are.
The most dangerous person in the world to lie to is yourself.
When I was with CFRA in Ottawa years ago, we had film of the Prime minister of Canada answering a TV reporter's question with ... " All I know about that is what I heard on CFRA this morning." Ask me how many times we ran that in a TV spot baby!
Robert Murphy gave me his Murf's Radio Theorem #101: The Program Manager who hires you based on his respect and admiration for your talent, will exit within six months of your arrival, to be replaced by some small market hack who loathes each word you speak, does not understand why you can't squeeze in eleven songs per hour, and is livid that you missed the 1/4 hour "More Variety" one liner.
Frank Sinatra said there are only two types of shoes, black and brown and you lose the browns at 6.
The thing I like best about Randy Michaels is he makes the rest of us almost appear normal.
Necessity is the mother of invention = There will be no new thing until we run out of oil.
Seeing as you learn very little from your victories you might as well just celebrate them and move on.
Very few things turn out better than you thought they would.
Life is something you will never ever experience again.
As I reluctantly watch my beautiful young daughter Cami grow into a beautiful young women who spends most of her time dreaming about her freedom. I cant help but think about the fact that her birth took away most of the freedom her Mother and I used to have. Luckily for us I guess is we enjoyed most of our prison time.
I remember Woody Cooper once telling me about a neat new radio format called Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow which was played in 3 record sweeps. It was a complete failure, turned out nobody wanted to hear tomorrow.
It cost me Millions to be as free as I am today but right now I'm wondering if a person really needs this much freedom, because I sure could use an extra million or two right about now.
They're shooting a documentary that is going to use two of the records my band The Jury recorded back in the mid sixties. The only difference is it looks like the documentary may pay us more than the records ever did when they were on the charts.
Most successful radio stations that finally get beaten were usually destroyed from the inside.
The more successful you become the more you tend to stop doing the things that made you successful.
The only interview the folks really want to hear on the radio is an interview with a person who doesn't want to be interviewed.
Things are never quite what they appear to be.
Good radio is just a slightly exaggerated reflection of real life.
Paul Cavenaugh told me that in a recent IBM survey of 1500 CEO's that Creativity was the most important trait that top executives needed to have. Why am I thinkin' that Radio CEO's were probably not surveyed.
I don't think women ask each other if they got lucky last night. It must be a man thing!
Well I can hardly wait to see what creative new ideas the "executive council" at Tribune is going to bring to the table.
It has been said that you should never have a relationship with a Woman who loves cats because they have nothing left to give. But maybe the same could be said for Men who have daughters.
When I mentioned to Linda Stein that I never see young men driving Mercedes Convertibles only young women. She claimed that my remark was sexist and went on to say that maybe the young women bought her own cars and that just maybe, young men do not want to drive a Benz. Right Linda!
October 18, 2010
Change is inevitable except from a pay phone or parking meter.
Giff & Taz may be the only Sales Gurus left in the radio biz now. The rest have been replaced by sales drivers. This is just a crazy uneducated guess but do you think this may be because the driver types tend to work a whole lot cheaper than Gurus. I think the word that best describes today's most successful talent is "Flamboyant"
If radio was easy to do it wouldn't be worth that much in fact It wouldn't even be worth what you paid for it.
The best inspirational tool a PD could ever bring to the table for an air talent is hope. I have always loved working with people who are a lot smarter than. That way when I use logic to explain how you actually should put a winning show together they understand it a lot better than I do. Tim Moore in a recent column claimed I was sagacious which I hope is a good thing. But I suspect it's not really a good financial thing unless your the Godfather.
I have always believed in letting my kids sample as many activities as possible. My theory being, maybe they will find something outside of school that they really enjoy doing . Hey you never know, maybe they'll find something they really love to do and are passionate enough about it to turn it into a lifetime career.
With that in mind my Daughter Cami so far has been given lessons in Ballet, Tap, Drama, Swimming, Tennis, Violin, Horseback Riding, Choir, Gymnastics, and Guitar. The results of all these numerous efforts are finally in ... She loves to text! Now based on how many times she texts each day I'm betting she's probably getting pretty good at it. But I'm just not sure what kind of a lifetime career it will turn out to be.
Speaking of texting Steve Lapa tells me that people read over 97% of their texts. I believe that makes texting the most powerful communication device of all time.
Even though I have spent most of my career directing I find myself to be almost undirectable.
My Brother Reg says the only word that counts in Radio is RESPONSE!
Disneyland is still going strong and it was created way back in the 50's. I wonder why it hasn't gone out of style yet. No of course I don't.
A radio station's greatest enemy is the off button, not their competitor.
It doesn't take any brains to buy a radio station just money.
With a couple of daughters out there in the real world, I think I'm for a lot more prisons where do I donate.
When you have a thing called a sweat equity deal in radio, eventually when you sell the station at the closing you will hear these dreaded words ... What you don't understand about this deal is! Translated what that means is, you are not going to get anywhere near what you were sure you were getting.
Police in camouflage cars lying in wait for unsuspecting speeders on our freeways is chicken sh*t. Get a real job!
Running has a very weird effect on me it makes me feel optimistic even when I have absolutely no reason to be so.
Programming promotions with a sales twist are a hundred times more successful than a sales promotion with a programming twist.
A strong lifetime bond between two men can only be broken by a woman.
Perhaps the only reward for you being a good parent may be that one day you might get to look back and realize you were and that should be enough.
All men speak at least three different languages. One when they are just hangin' out with men, another when there are women present, and the special language they speak when Mothers, Wives, and/or Daughters are around.
After watching a bunch of College Football this weekend I'm thinkin' maybe they should spend a little more time practicing tackling than on the touchdown dance.
Speaking of football what are we politically allowed to call Reggie Bush now that he has single handily dismantled USC's greatness with his personal greediness.
Does anyone have any suggestions when I should let my 9th grade daughter know that even though she hates football right now in less than 4 years not only will she be going to football games but she is actually going to be excited about it.
There is no such thing as Business Ethics there's just Ethics.
October 7, 2010 I began my radio career at CKY- FM a 360,000 watt radio station owned by Lloyd Moffat. Mr. Moffat was known through out Canada as a Radio Pioneer/Legend and was the first of three I would have the honor to work for before leaving Canada for America. I only saw Mr. Moffat a few times when he would bring by his cronies for a short tour of the studio to show them his new special toy, the World's most powerful FM. I doubt Lloyd Moffat knew or cared that I worked for him, but the next two sure did which is a good thing in our biz because it's not who you know but who knows you. What I eventually came to know is ... All Radio Pioneer/Legends are not created equal. I will endeavor to try and make what I mean a little clearer as my story continues with a bit of background. I was hired part time by CKY-FM to roll Ray Conniff type records on I guess what you would call our beautiful music format. The job required suit and tie type garb along with the wearing white cotton gloves so as to not harm the records. The work was pleasant enough and nicely supplemented my small income that I made playing with my band The Jury. Each day I would sit at the studio consul for a couple of hours just spinning the tunes while kinda checking out all the beautiful women on the front covers of the Conniff albums. I couldn't help though but glance up more than a few times and look through the studio glass at the place where I yearned to be, CKY-AM. CKY was the big Top 40 station in town and they playing all my favorite tunes by The Beach Boys, The 4 Seasons and lots of Motown. But I was stuck in the FM station at a time when FM wasn't cool. I laugh now as I think back about those days because how was I to know that those corny renditions of the tunes The Ray Conniff Singers covered on their Albums were slowly seeping into my system and would soon be hugely responsible for most of my Radio Career and the birth of AC It took a little while but I eventually got to CKY-AM with the help of the AM's leader Jimmy Darin. (Hilliard) Jim made me the assistant to Chuck Dann (Riley) in production which was a real good thing because not only did I fall in love with doing promos, but I learned how to do them right from the best. I also started a friendship with Jim that has lasted a lifetime. We have worked together on one project or another for most of our broadcasting careers. Things were going real good for me and I was having a ball while learning as much as I could from anybody who would teach me. Not only was the radio thing coming together but The Jury started cutting records so I was becoming very busy. The next big thing that happened to me was the birth of my daughter Candis. Her birth made me realize I was at the tipping point and there was no room left in my life. I could no longer do Radio, The Jury, and my Family, so I chose my new love, Radio and left the Jury in order to put my head down and devote more learning time to my new craft. When I next looked up and took a deep breath I was the program Director of CKOM in Saskatoon where I got my first taste of some decent ratings and learned how good that felt which led to my addiction through out my life for ratings parties. The celebration was short lived though because I soon heard those dreaded words no programmer ever wants to hear "Hey congrats on the ratings but we cant sell it, your going to have to change it". That was my signal to move on so I thought why not go east young man. I moved my family to Sudbury Ontario and went to work for CKSO AM&FM. I was hired by a great guy George Lund who after a few weeks finally introduced me to his boss Ralph Conner. That's a whole chapter on its own better left for another time. One of the main reasons I chose to go east was maybe by doing so I could get on the radar of legendary radio station CHUM in Toronto. CHUM was the radio station all we young radio Turks dreamed of working at one day. Sure we all had heard the persistent rumors that they were a cold hearted bunch. But we were young, arrogant and bullet proof. They were the very best in Canada so if you got a shot at working for them it meant you were the very best too. One of my old friends from Winnipeg who used to book my band a few years earlier J Robert Wood ended up at CHUM and had recently been named their Program Director. Being the Program Director of CHUM was one of the most powerful radio positions you could ever hold in Canada and only proved to me that a western boy could make it in the east. The man who owned CHUM along with several other stations in eastern Canada was Allan Waters the next Radio Pioneer/Legend I was destined to work for. Sudbury turned out to be a great experience albeit a short one. CKSO already had a very good air staff which I had shored up with a couple of my guys which included my life long friend Gary Russell. Sudbury was where I discovered the fact that if you bring a couple of your people with you things move forward a lot more quickly. They explain to the other Jox that your not as crazy as you appear to be. One of the things I was most proud of at CKSO was we sounded much bigger than our market size. This was possible because Ralph Conner demanded it. Ralph always wanted to live in New York and seeing as that was not possible he wanted the radio station to at least sound as good as the Big Apple and was willing to pay for it. Ralph was just starting to compliment us on our improved sound when Fred Sherratt the V/P of programming for the CHUM group came to town to recruit me. Fred wanted me for the CHUM station in Ottawa, CFRA. I can only suspect that J Robert had a lot to do with Fred's newly found special interest in me. So after only 4 months in Sudbury I packed up the family and headed to the nation's Capital. Wow things are really rolling for me now, I'm on fire. Hard to believe but only a couple of years ago that I was a board op on a beautiful music station in Winnipeg and now I'm in the Majors as a Program Director and I'm working for the CHUM group, how hot is that. When I arrive in the beautiful city of Ottawa I soon realize that I'm the only one there who is excited about working for the CHUM group. The station was previously owned by a guy called Frank Ryan who they still totally worshiped. I guess they didn't notice the part where Frank took the loot and scooted. Anyway the CHUM folks were all openly referred to as the Sharks from Toronto who wore matching sharkskin suits. Fred Sherratt was lovingly referred to as Fred the Rat. It was a strange time for me but I didn't give it much thought because the Toronto folks all treated me fine and even when I met Mr. Waters he seemed to come off more like a pleasant General Store owner than a guy who headed up a bunch of sharks. Hey the way I figured it this was my shot and I was going for it so I just put my head down once again and focused on how to make CFRA sound better. The local staff of course had no interest in any of that they liked how it sounded now. They ran the place kinda like a big old country club with the long time GM deciding who was a member of the Club's inner circle and who was not. I definitely was not. I didn't worry about any of that because the CHUM brass had promised me all the help I needed. This was great news for me because even though I now was in a Major Market I still felt relatively new to the Radio business. They supplied me with two programming consultants, George Davies from Winnipeg and Ted Randel from LA. George was a nuts and bolts kinda guy and Ted was the concept guy. I had regular weekly calls from Fred Sherratt and J Robert and I'm pretty sure Warren Cosford another Winnipeg lad that had made the CHUM dream team must have checked in with me now and then. Even Mr. Waters called me every once in a while just to see how I was doing. I was covered man! While listening to CFRA I noticed fairly quickly that even though the station was a 50,000 watt blow torch, it technically sounded horrible. The station engineer it turns out used to work for the phone company and that's exactly how it sounded. He was most proud of the fact that he had it cranked up so loud that we managed to reach places that were well beyond our coverage map. I argued with him night and day and finally got him to back it off and the ratings coincidentally started going crazy. The full coverage cume went down a little, but the average 1/4 hour just soared. Hello TSL, and bring on those ratings parties. Despite all the bad attitude in the place things on my end were going pretty well so the local management didn't bother with me much. Ottawa is a beautiful city but I saw none of it, I mostly worked all the time. I was on the mission of trying to get every other station in the city to just give up and sign off. The angrier I got with some of the local staff the more determined I was to make the station sound great. What made the place even a little tolerable for me was as usual I had brought a couple of my radio buds with me. This time it was Roger Klein and Woody Cooper who helped me convert a couple more of the staff members around to our way of thinking so now we almost had a gaggle and thats all we needed to do some serious radio damage. Most of my programming conversations and planning were with the guys at CHUM, CFRA's management mostly wanted to talk about how things used to be. Then one fateful day all the communication from Toronto just stopped. Nothing, just silence from Toronto. The only noise was the usual local noise putting down the Toronto bunch and singing the praises of their old owner Frank Ryan. I think they expected Frank to come riding back into town on a white stallion, buy the station back, and get rid of all the nonsense from Toronto. It hadn't taken me long to figure out that they thought I was just the resident shark sent from Toronto to watch them. So there I was working in the cone of silence wondering what the hell went wrong. I heard years later that Mr. Waters had told everyone ... The kid is doing a great job in Ottawa, lets all back off and let him do his thing. I don't know if it's true but it sounds nice doesn't it. In the middle of all this disarray the next Radio Pioneer/Legend shows up in my life, Ted Rogers. Ted along with his right hand man Keith Dancy successfully recruit me for their floundering radio station in Toronto, CFTR. I later learned that some of the staff at CFRA had a going away party for me couple of weeks after I had arrived in Toronto, where they celebrated my departure. Working for Ted Rogers was a wonderful experience for me. Ted seemed to be a great guy and he and Keith always treated me very well. Working for Ted who acted like a regular guy was full of surprises like the first time I went for dinner at his home. When me and my family ring the door bell it was answered by a Butler which was the first time that had ever happened to me. I used to think that kind of thing only went on in the movies. In spite of all his trappings Ted made you feel like he never even noticed any of them or really cared about them that much. Ted seemed only interested in what you were dreaming about and had really great questions about how you were going to make those dreams come true. I will never forget him shortly after that first dinner at his home, excitedly showing me this very strange looking device. This peculiar device that he handed to me had several rows of buttons on it and was connected to his TV by a very long cord. He said go ahead play with it as our children played together elsewhere in Ted's huge mansion. As I played with his new toy he informed me that if I could fix his radio station his new focus was going to move to a new thing called Cable TV. Go ahead push all the buttons he said as I studied this strange looking object I held in my hand, because that's how many channels the folks will soon have to choose from. Wow I said this is great but why is the same program on every 5th button I asked him. That's your problem was his reply your the programmer, I'm just an engineer. Ted always treated me like I was special and was even kind enough to even invite my kids over to his home to take private swimming lessons with his kids all summer long. When I first arrived in Toronto I did what I usually do and that was to bring a few of my radio buddies with me. This time it was Keith Elshaw, Doc Harris, Roger Klein and Super Promotion lady Sharon Henwood. We all went to work hoping to do something special enough to put a dent in the Toronto Radio skyline. One day while I was sitting at my desk plotting our next move, suddenly Ted Rogers appears at my doorway. He looks at me kind of strangely and says, George I just received a disturbing phone call from Allan Waters about you. Oh Oh I thought to myself this cant be good because when two Radio Pioneers/Legends are chatting and your the main topic of conversation what are the odds that ever turns out in your favor. Ted continued on with ... Allan asked me why I would ever hire a untrustworthy despicable character such as you let alone turn your great radio station CFTR over to him and allow him ruin it like he has. I feel he has forever disgraced the much honored Rogers Radio name handed down to you by your brilliant father. Before I could say anything in my defense Ted lit up like a Christmas tree and said ... "George I think we have them on the run lets turn the heat up" With that he turned on his heel and hurried off. The War was on! September 30, 2010 Before I got into radio I had a band back in Winnipeg called The Jury and we just happened to play a lotta gigs with a friend of mine, Randy Bachman (The Guess Who and BTO) This morning I got a call from Tommy Nast inviting me to LA on Oct. 14 to see Randy and Fred who have reunited on a new Album called Bachman and Turner. Tommy told me they are planning to debut their brand new single from the album called Slave To The Rhythm at the Canyon Club in Agoura Hills. He told me that Randy had said that I need to be there so I could see and hear that Neil Young who is also from our hometown, isn't the only one who is still Rockin'. I'm bettin' that Fred and him will throw in a little Taking Care Of Business, You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet, Let it Ride and maybe even No Sugar Tonight like I saw him do with Ringo Star in Ft. Lauderdale a few years ago.
Neil Young says he only likes to do a couple of takes of each song when he is recording a new Album because even though it's true that the extra takes may move you closer to technical excellence. He feels each take moves you further away from the spirituality of the song.
Why do you suppose pro athletes always seem to need to lay back a little when they are leading in a game. Amateurs in the same situation seem to turn up the heat so they can pour it on.
I keep hearing that the recession is over but I don't see it and I sure cant cant feel it or even get a taste of it coming, in fact it still smells real bad out there and the word "over" makes absolutely no sense to me let alone stand up to the five sensing I just gave it as Mike Vance the Dean of Walt Disney University taught me to do those many years ago..
Jim Morrison said, "None of us are getting out of here alive" So I'm thinkin' ... Hey we might as well sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride eh.
Like a lot of people I have learned a lot more from my mistakes than any of the wins I may have had. It was never scary for me try new stuff on the radio because I knew only one of two things were going to happen. Either we were going to kick some major ass or I had another chance at becoming a whole lot smarter.
All I ever hear about is attitude is everything. But I'm thinking if you don't have a little ability mixed in with all that attitude ya still got nuthin'
My Father Sandy Johns was born when the Great War began in 1914. My Dad was already a young man before he saw his first airplane. But by the time he was middle aged he watched a man and on the Moon on his TV. After World War II things really started to pick up speed. There has been more advancement in the World in the last 100 years than the thousands that came before them. The reason being ... Education!
A hundred years ago only the well to do got much schooling. When that was all changed and everybody had a chance to finish school if they wanted the World as we knew it exploded. Turns out there were some pretty smart Peasants out there.
Speaking of education I see no reason to let a person go to college who who wouldn't otherwise qualify just because they are a good athlete. Let the NFL figure out another way to train them.
I still remember the magical nights when both my beautiful daughters were created
I believe the new money for radio is going to come from figuring out how to do product placement and how radio becomes accountable to advertisers like the digital world is.
Some Radio marriages have really worked out well. The reason may have been because when put together they produced great ratings and oodles of cash at the same time. For example Jack McCoy's Last Contest + George Johns' Magic Ticket = The Prize Catalog. The Prize Catalog + American Airlines Advantage Program = Reg Johns' Radio Rewards Program on the Internet.
I suspect somewhere somebody is burning the midnight oil and getting ready to propose. Then before you know it ... The next big thing will be upon us.
I think the most wonderful word you will ever hear in your life time is Da Da. There is no more special moment then your daughter says that to you for the first time. But as special as that is an even better word is on the way and that word is Daddy. It is said that anybody can be a Father but it takes a special person to be a Daddy. You try to hang on to this special part of your relationship with your daughter as long as you can but before you know it she is calling you Dad, which is OK I guess but it's just not Daddy. Then you graduate to where I am now, Dude. Now I'm not quite sure what to think about Dude, but I do know it's a long long way from Daddy.
I have noticed though if I'm in the right place at the right time I get to hear the Daddy word again like when she is wondering about if I'm going to buy her a new car when she turns 16 like I did her sister. Sometimes it shows up when she needs me to take her shopping for the latest hip new shoes or when her Mother has grounded her and could I come and get her. The Daddy word shows up most often when she needs a ride for her and her girl friends to go to the mall and hang out for a few hours. She'll call me when she needs me to come and get them ... But Daddy please don't talk to my friends just drive us OK.
Sometimes I'll hear it when she needs her hair done, or her phone isn't working and for sure I hear it a lot around her Birthday and Christmas. Now that I think about it what am I bitching about, I really cant afford to hear Daddy any more often than I already do.
After being through this twice I have painfully finally figured out that little girls turn into women somewhere between Daddy and Dad with out any warning.
I think the President should call up Bill Clinton and see if he's still got that old sign still lying round somewhere cause it sure worked out well for us. You know the one ... "It's the economy stupid"
Is it true that in all the world there are only 12 humans who look like they do, and they all model for Victoria's Secret.
What the research says people want and PPM says people are listening to is starting to drift far apart from each other. Kinda back like when the people told Ford to build the Edsel
I wonder how many good athletes are good human beings.
It used to be that if you had a good education you could make good money. Now it takes higher education just to make the wages high school drop outs used to make.
If you don't have greed or sex on your Web Page don't expect a lot of visits.
I think whats wrong with America is too many choices. You have to keep clicking your way through the hundred Cable channels all night to make sure you don't miss what you would have really liked to have seen. Way too many radio choices of practically the same thing. Satellite is even worse. How do you settle on one perfect car and which one would that be. It even seems to take forever to order a meal anymore, I wish they would just bring me what they think I should eat.
It didn't take me long when I was just a pup to out earn my father. Alas there is no chance for my kids to do the same and it has nothing to do with how much money I may have made.
Even though the music on computers balanced all the music out and stopped the Jox from playing their favorites it like everything has a side effect. It now takes at least three days instead of 45 minutes to hear your musical changes on air.
Doug Erickson said ... Greatness, true greatness, is always linked to originality.
To be even close to becoming a successful morning show there are two things you must do. Talk about what the people are talking about and then get the people to talk about you.
Until that happens there is no need to talk about yourself.
© 2008-2010 George Johns George Johns
September 20, 2010
Are you aware that a lotta folks are a lot worse off than you?
I for one would never want to follow a legend like Gerry House. I just want to follow the fool who followed him.
I was just reading a fact that in the late 30's very few Germans were true Nazis obviously though they still had enough people on their side to almost ruin the World. With that in mind does it really make any difference if very few Muslims are true terrorists.
I never realized until I got into radio and was producing commercials that the big department stores in town, Eaton's and The Hudson's Bay Company never did not have a sale going on.
Reggie Bush has always been about money, we just didn't know it. Of course he gave the Heisman back it already gave him all the money it could.
Speaking of Football - Lou Holtz said when he was coaching he would always began the season at Notre Dame with a special meeting. At this meeting held in the locker room Lou told the players that every football season should start with a dream. His dream for this season was for Notre Dame to win the National Championship. National Champions! Now boys, wouldn't that be something. But my dreaming about being #1 will never happen until my dream becomes your dream. All was very quiet for a moment, then just like he was going to lead them in prayer Lou asked them if they would all just close their eyes for a moment. See if you can visualize yourselves standing along side your team mates on a very large stage near the edge of the very field where you just conquered your opponents and became #1. See if you can see in your minds eye the tons of green and white confetti swirling about you and the camera flashes going off like strobe lights as your being presented with that special trophy given only to the best in the nation ... The National Champions.
Now with your eyes still closed, can you also see and hear the 100,000 people in the stadium who are wildly cheering for you and chanting your name. I guarantee for the rest of your life you will never forget that moment. Can you even start to imagine the millions of people from all over the world who will be watching you on TV and the millions more who will be listening to you being interviewed on the Radio.
Do you see your folks in the stands with all your friends, man how proud do you think they are. Wait a minute listen to that music. I think it's our favorite song being played by our favorite band and don't you agree that the Irish fight song never sounded so sweet as it does today on our day of days.
Do any of you have any idea what that moment will mean to you. I do, that moment will mean you have just become immortal. Lou let all of what he said sink in for a moment or two before he asked the all important question. Do any of you see what I see. Do you? If you do, I promise you this. I know I can show you how to turn that dream into reality because I already have the plan right here he said as he raised the Notre Dame playbook high into the air.
I wonder what dream our Radio leaders today are dreamin' today. I for one can't visualize anything but continued losses for them.
Speaking of Lou Holtz - I remember once sharing a car with John Lynch to go from the airport in Las Vegas to the NAB hotel. John excitedly told me as we rode that Lou had called his house early that morning to speak with his son. Lou was trying to recruit him to come to Notre Dame. John didn't have a lot of radio on his mind that day I don't suppose.
I have always told my kids what they should do for a living is something where they lose all track of time while doing it.
What does the expression "Business is Business" really mean. It might be a good thing if you own the business but I think it may be a bad thing for the rest of us.
Isn't it strange how the term ... I just got f**ked means something real good or something real bad just happened.
I think maybe the most creative times of radio were done during the days the owners thought they were going to go broke if they weren't #1.
If marriage was as tough to get in to as it is to get out of it would last a whole lot longer.
Do radio people still carry around air checks of great jocks and great stations. If so, who are they.
Have you ever worked at a #1 radio station. Ain't it fun!
Back in the mid 80's, my Brother Reg, Bill Yde, and I bought a radio station in Portland Oregon from an engineering type. We launched it as K103 (KKCW) and It took us a little over a year to make it number one which was very fun. What makes it even more fun today is it still is number 1. Wow that for me pretty well puts them in the same league as WIBC, KVIL, and WRMF. But then again when you start to do the math they just may be getting ready to pull out and pass the other big three in my life. Congrats to whomever it is that's still fighting the good fight.
Thinking about Portland I remember the time I flew to there help launch the first ever direct mail piece that was a promotion, a contest, and a research project all at the same time. My Brother Reg had come up with it and seeing as K103 was in the early development stage (no ratings) we were all in town to help Jason Williams get it started. We were also very excited about the possibility of this new endeavor it being cool enough to blow the market away. (which it did)
Our Sales Mgr. was kind enough to pick me up at the airport and was take me to the Holiday Inn where they had booked me for a few nights. Portland is a beautiful city and I was just enjoying the scenery as we drove. When we were crossing the river near downtown Portland I couldn't help but notice that most of the redevelopment on the river was almost done. I also couldn't help but notice that on the near side of all the new construction was a recently completed brand new luxurious hotel. I excitedly said to the SM, "Hey we should try and get some trade with that new hotel" His reply to me was ... We already have trade with them. Then why are we headed to the Holiday Inn I said to him astonished over his reply. He patronisingly explained that the trade was to be used exclusively for our clients.
A couple of days later still seething I called my mentor Jim Hilliard and said, Hey Jim I remember when Mr. Fairbanks made all those market visits when we all worked together and it seems to me that he stayed at nothing but the best. Now please explain this, I'm an owner just like him but they are booking me at the Holiday Inn, what the hell am I doing wrong. Jim easily explained it ... You just don't have me! It was me years ago who got those places for the Boss, if I left it up to our staffs they would have stashed him in a Motel 6.
Gary Russell once told me the only way you get more money out of a market is when you hire rookie sales people because they are the only people who will call on all potential clients who don't presently advertise on the radio
September 13, 2010 Has there ever been an NFL team that has managed to become anything special without a charismatic coach to lead them. Hello Miami, Indy and Dallas.
Have you ever heard about of any of the "Hey look at me" loud mouth athletes who make huge money ever giving anything back to the communities they came from. Or could it be that's the only thing they want kept low profile. Yeah right!
It is hard for me to understand what with the price of tickets for the college football games, not to mention, concessions, shirt sales, shoe deals, bowl appearance money, TV/Radio rights and such why a college education isn't free for everybody.
You should only do the things you really like to do because they are probably the only things you'll be any good at.
Several times lately I have had a conversation with my Daughter Cami which ends more and more with her saying, I already knew that Dad, I am no longer a child ya know, I'm 14 years of age now. So the other day with that in mind I say to her, hey Cami now that your an adult we need to talk about something very important, at that point she interrupted me with ... Dad I'm not an adult, I'm only 14.
About 15 years ago one of the most embarrassing things that ever happened to me occurred while I was on a skiing trip in Telluride with Kari Summerfield. Kari later became the mother of my daughter Cami, but that's yet another story and best told over adult beverages.
Around the time of this skiing adventure a song called I Swear by a group called All 4 One had recently been #1 all over America for about 7 weeks in a row and now was becoming a #1 world wide hit. Heck there was even a country version of it out so you couldn't turn the radio on without hearing it all the time.
Just before leaving on our ski tripe I put that very popular song on a cassette and put a plan together to play it for Kari at a perfect moment. The perfect moment arrived at 12:01 AM when it officially became Valentines Day in Colorado. At that moment I nervously put the tape into the cassette machine and hit play. So far so good and even much more importantly, everything worked and the song played. How romantic huh!
I chose that song because I loved it and the words in that tune best communicated what I felt inside for her far better than I ever could way back then. It also voiced how strong my commitment to her was. I had it all going on, the perfect song at the perfect moment for the perfect woman.
When the song ended I of course asked her to marry me and she graciously accepted. Whew! I couldn't have been happier at and was also pretty proud of myself for managing to put that special moment together and how rather well I thought it had come off seeing as how nervous I was.
I also think I might just escalated I Swear to the lofty position of record of the year for her because now every time she heard the song the lyrics would have a new and special meaning, almost like they were written especially for her. I was even thinking this tune had to have a good shot at becoming "our song" for the rest of our lives. Hey maybe I could even get All 4 One to play at our wedding, would that be hot or what. I'll have to give my pal Charlie Minor a call and see what he can do for me.
Now as Kari was sitting there admiring her new engagement ring and getting ready to call her folks back home in Florida and I was just sorta basking in the after glow of it all she suddenly turns to me and asks what my reason for playing that strange music was, just before I proposed to her. Huh!
At the time of this very special event, which now was turning into a very strange moment I was living in Boston. Kari lived in West Palm Beach where she was a huge fan of WRMF. She really liked the station a lot and loved listening to all of its personalities. I would with some certainty guess WRMF was probably the only radio station she ever listened to. Well now! Who would have ever thunked it ... Who could ever have predicted it ... Who could ever guess what the odds against it were but It turns out that Russ Morley the PD during the time of this special event, had never ever played I Swear on WRMF.
Kari of course had never ever heard it before and probably would never ever be hearing it ever again. Color me totally embarrassed. Forever!
I know I have written this before but there are certain people whom I love dearly, that need to read this statement everyday. "A Tattoo Is The Permanent Record Of Momentary Insanity."
Merle Haggard said when your young you waste all your time chasing women. When you get older bunches of women aren't nearly as important to you so you finally get creative and try to do something special with the rest of your life. He used a different word for women but I'm sure you get the general drift.
Speaking of women they appear to be very serious creatures which much to your surprise starts to show up shortly after you tell them you love them. Then lo and behold they get even more serious if thats possible immediately after that quick trot down the aisle, when they become experts on every topic known to mankind.
Joe Raineri told me at lunch today that he figured Ron Chapman would tolerate about 10 minutes of all the morning shows in West Palm Beach. Joe also mentioned that Tom Watson had told him earlier that I should leave the radio business because I've lost touch with it. Little does Tom know ... But I have never been in touch with it.
A while back two things occurred almost simultaneously which inspired me to begin writing. First my brother Reg suggested because I was a story teller I should start writing a couple of them down because maybe my kids or even my grand kids might enjoy reading them at some point. Next I discovered spellcheck on my lap top which completely set me free until it claimed I was misspelling both of my Daughters names.
The answer has always been ... Ask the right question!
Just because something is not against the law certainly does not mean that it's not immoral.
Even though I didn't get along well with my father while growing up I find much of what I believe in today was actually taught to me by him.
Knowing exactly what to do brings on an enormous problem. Now you have to do it.
In Canada when the Government doesn't do what it claimed it was going to do there has to be another election called. That of course is just another set of problems, but at least it keeps down a few of the empty promises politicians cant resist making.
When you first become a father along with the joy comes the fear of providing for them so you work a lot harder than maybe you should. With this 2nd time around for me you would think I would be able to change my outlook and be calmer about it all. But no the fear of not being able to provide still pulls at me still
Even gay guys are totally distracted by a beautiful woman.
In Major League Baseball all you ever hear about are the hitters and the pitchers. But what is unbelievable to me are the plays the infielders make. Some of them are not humanly possible, but I know I saw them with my own eyes.
Getting ratings on a radio station is just like trying to seduce a beautiful woman. First you have to get her to notice you, then you do something very special so she'll like you, and finally you have to make her fall in love with you. Good luck!
My brother Reg and I grew up in a household that didn't have a lot of huggin' & kissin' going on in it. In fact the showing any kind of affection was certainly not a big priority at our house. The result of being deprived of that is we both need a lot of hugs, but hey please don't hug us or could ya just make it a quick one.
Sex & Greed are the only two things that make fear disappear.
September 7, 2010
Al Mair asked me how radio was going to handle what he claims is going to be the #1 song of the year. F**K You - Cee-Lo
Don't you wish that just once when a person parted company with a radio station that both sides would say what they really thought of each other.
When ever I read about a new PD being hired somewhere she/he inevitably always tells the trades about how great the station is and how much they have always admired it. Then they go on to talk about the wonderful the staff they have. Hey If all that is so true It's extremely difficult for me to figure out just what the the new PD is going to be doing.
Paul Cavenaugh asked me if I've noticed how quickly those yellow lights go to red now that they've installed those cameras to catch people going through a red light.
The way something or somebody becomes great is through repetition. Radio of course is trying to eliminate that.
It is rumored that the reason The Beatles created Sgt. Pepper was because they had heard The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds album and now the competition was on. Turns out The Beach Boys didn't even play on their records so what kind of competition was that.
When you tell your music system what not to do, you are actually telling it what you want it to do. The problem is you don't have any idea at all what you just told it to do until one day you say ... Why the hell are we doing that.
When I was almost 50 and living in San Diego I hired an Elite World Class runner by the name of Thom Hunt to help train me because I was entering a new age category and thought maybe with the right training I could pick up some hardware.
Back home my nephew Jamie Boychuk was running track for his High School and just for fun we entered a 5K together. I was lucky enough to beat him, which surprised our whole family, what with our age differences and all. A year later Jamie called me up and said, Uncle George I've been training for longer distances now and want a rematch. Oh Oh I say to coach Thom what do I do now, he says just take him long. The young Turks always go out a way too fast and soon flame out.
Back to Winnipeg I go and talk Jamie into entering a half marathon which featured a former great Olympic runner and current author of very informative running books, Jeff Galloway.
Off we go at and at about the 2 mile mark with slightly more than a 11 to go on a very sunny not so cool day, I spot Jamie just up ahead of me. I decide to pick up the pace a bit and as I go by him, trying to look like I'm just loping along very relaxed, I ask him how he feels and he says fine, so I pick it up even a little more trying to throw a little intimidation his way.
During the remainder of the race I just feel like I'm dying because I have never run this far this fast before. I'm thinking Jamie must be right on my tail and is probably just waiting for the last hundred yards to go racing by me laughing
Finally thank God there's the finish line up ahead and with out even being able to breathe anymore I run all out and cross the finish line and almost pass out from sheer exhaustion.
Whew! While still breathing hard, no check that, more like panting like a dog I still manage to look around, but no Jamie. Wow did I actually beat him again. I stand there exhausted thinking he must be rolling in any moment now but hey I might as well do a little stretching while get my breathing back as I waited for him to cross the finish line. Wait a minute what is this. I notice the arrival of not Jamie, but Jeff Galloway. I beat the Olympian, Impossible!
Later that same day and still very excited about my finish time which was 1 hour and 31 minutes which was a new PR for me and good enough for a 3rd place medal, I called Thom Hunt back in San Diego. I give him the good news about my time and also excitedly tell him I finished ahead of Jeff Galloway. Then I cant help but realistically say but hey, I bet he's in these these races all the time and he probably didn't run full out. Well that's his story Thom said ... Yours is you beat him.
Women probably understand what Mrs.Woods did do that got her those million dollar bills in her divorce from Tiger. But a lotta men out there are kinda wondering what she stopped doing that might have contributed to the whole mess.
It is said that it's better to give than receive but I bet even ol' Santa sometimes gets weary of being Santa Clause all the time.
I think Kobe Bryant probably lays awake at night thinking about what more he needs to do to become bigger than Michael Jordan. Now wouldn't you know it, 3 guys show up in Miami who are going to do everything they possibly can to make sure that never happens
I hate the word no so much that I even find myself getting angry whenever I find myself even anticipating I'm about to hear it again .
I think the penalties should be a lot more severe for crooked cops and politicians than for ordinary citizens. Regular folks don't have any shot at covering up their misdeeds.
The Republicans and the Democrats have at least two things in common neither are afraid of the rich, but both are deathly afraid of the wealthy.
The phrase "This isn't personal it's just business" had to have been invented by some wimpy business guy hoping we would buy it and not hit him.
I really like most radio sales folks I just don't trust them, I don't have any reason to.
Jack McCoy once told me that if he didn't say it yesterday it's probably not true anymore. I think I'm gonna go with that myself pretty soon.
Selling radio time never gets any easier, as the ratings go up so do the rates.
I love the "Daddy" word the best, but it still makes me a little nervous about why it is being used at that particular moment.
Athletes always seem to forget that to get into any hall of fame you have to be the best at what you do plus be a decent human being too.
One of the good things I have going is neither of my daughters ask me for much. I would probably would probably give them anything they wanted if they asked and they would have turned out to be terrible human beings. So far it's worked out well for all of us.
Hey as Jim Morrison said, "None of us are getting out of here alive". With that in mind let me ask you this ... When do you suppose would be a good time for us all to lighten up.
The thing about air personalities is you have to teach the audience to like them. They already like the right music.
Brent Farris and I recently did a jingle session together in LA. One of the singers was very excited because he was going on a world tour soon with Pink Floyd as their new lead singer. How much I wonder are they are going to charge us to see a jingle singer.
I wonder if most of the athletes who spend most of their time telling us how great they are ever realise they probably will never be in the hall of fame.
Bobby Bowden said he doesn't want to coach a player with talent, he only wants to coach one with passion.
John Madden says what ever you do, do something that makes a memory.
Inside every older person is a younger person saying WTF happened.
One of the very amusing things that just popped into my head today was the time I was watching my oldest Daughter Candis, tear 'em up with her band at The Roxy on Sunset Strip in LA. During one of her great sets she did one of my favorite ZZ TOP tunes of all time and when she came off stage for her break I complimented her on how well her version sounded. But as I told her I was very surprised that she chose that particular ZZ Top tune to do because It seemed a little out of character for her even though I enjoyed it immensely. To put it mildly, Candis was and still is a kind of a liberated young lady. Color her horrified at my disclosure to her about "Tush". Candis all along thought the tune was called "Touched", and that's what she was singing.
August 24, 2010 Some of the e mails I send to people that don't get responded to always tell me a lot more than the ones that do.
John Lund claims that about 50% of your audience is interested in your station's contest and will probably mentally play along if it's interesting enough even if they don't physically participate.
In the radio biz the only time the spotlight is on you is when you are losing. When your winning you seem to be working in a vacuum and your wins become a very closely guarded secret.
So as I take my youngest daughter Cami to her High School orientation tonight I cant help but think back to my first year in High School and how it shaped my whole life. Things sure were sure simpler then and it seemed a whole lot easier to achieve your dreams. Life now looks a whole lot more complicated to me and I'm frightened for her.
I'm starting to figure out that the expression "It's All Good" isn't really a good thing. It usually means it's all pretty bad, but we're covering it all up as fast as we all can.
Now that we have instant communication all the time, are things better ?
So the word is according to the experts and PPM much more music is the way to go in the AM. Well the experts better just pray that the Howard doesn't come back because all the experts will need to re tool and Arbitron will just say, hey all we do is measure.
I love the line when Chelsea was asked by Hillary before the wedding if she and her fiance had sex yet. Chelsea supposedly answered with ... Not according to Dad.
Bob Christy told me when a sports franchise fails they fire the management and keep the players. At a failing radio station they do the opposite.
Have you ever noticed that even though the Government has the most employees, pays them decently, and gives them great perks, somehow every project that the government is involved in seems to be behind schedule and the employees look very unhappy.
Recently I was traveling east through the Rockies on Amtrak and was having dinner with a couple on their way to New York. They asked me if I had done the train from LA to Seattle. I responded I had a few years ago and found the service and the train staff's attitude to be superb. They said they found the service on the train we were presently traveling on was OK but no great shakes. I told them just wait until you switch trains in Chicago, you'll look back on this ride as a great one. How can that happen they asked, isn't Amtrak all owned by the same company. Well thats another story isn't it.
When I was growing up I was always told by the Chamber of Commerce to be good to the tourists we need them. I started to noticed though that I always seemed to have the same amount of money in my Jeans whether they were there or not.
In Florida where I make my home we swell by several million residents each year come Thanksgiving. But the spot rate on radio stations doesn't go up nor do we seem to have anymore running. Other than I cant get in my favorite restaurant while they are here, To this day I cant understand why the Chamber ever thought I needed these people.
I just got through reading a great article by my friend Tim Moore. Tim was writing about motivation and mentioning the kinds of things that motivated him for most of his life. I was kinda nodding along as I read but it got me thinking that maybe you have to be sensitive to motivation to be motivated. Or better put, you may have to want to be motivated to be motivated.
Everyone seems very upset about the music industry. The Artists, The Songwriters and The Record Companies all claim the Internet has ruined the music business. My daughter Cami who has about a thousand tunes in her I Pod seems happy enough with it though.
When I once asked Joe Amaturo who is heavily involved in Muvico Theatres, why some of his theatres seemed more splendid than others. Joe told me it was because he beleived the theatre in some way had to match the community it was located in. Wow I wonder if that would work in radio(-:
The more I learn about how PPM works the more all the mysteries of the old diary method tend to disappear.
Giving away a lot of money to charity doesn't make you a good person. Just how you got the money your giving away is what determines that.
I think a lot of people misunderstand Arbitron's intention. They are not in the business of searching for the truth about what radio stations people listen to. They are in the business of searching for money and most of their decisions are based solely on that, and that only.
Boy the Dr. Laura announcement that she is hangin' it up come the end of December has driven the sales dogs into an e mail frenzy, all of course claiming their talk client that they represent is the perfect replacement.
I have come to the realization that Art must be an unnatural phenomenon. I have never found it to happen naturally.
After sitting at a red light for what seemed like eternity again the other day and with absolutely no sign of any traffic, I couldn't help but wonder how much they paid the people who set up the systems for all the traffic lights. What ever it is they are definitely overpaid and owe us money.
The goal of every radio station should be to sound like they are not doing it for the money.
August 12, 2010 Where is or better yet, what is the symbol on your lap top to make a smirk instead of a smile.
Everything you have ever done in your life that was kinda bad and your embarrassed and ashamed about it now still make the best stories. But usually you have to be a little little loosened up by some fine wine so as to work up the courage to tell them.
The only people who can control Mr. business man is his competitors.
My Daughter Candis told me that she was driving along the other day with my 5 year old Grandson Nathaniel and kinda heard him singing and humming something from the back seat. When she listened a little closer it turned out to be a JURY tune he was singing from 40 years ago. Go ahead ask me how I feel about all that but only do it if you have an hour or two to waste listening to my answer.
Speaking of The Jury somebody is shooting a musical documentary and wants to use two of our records in it. They contacted me to find out who owns the rights to the songs now. I gave them the name of the publisher and suggested they might also contact my daughter Candis in California because she used to be in the music licensing business before she took on the even more formidable job of raising my grandson and could probably help out.
Turns out the publishing company doesn't exist anymore, so I suggested maybe the rights to the songs reverted back to the writers Bruce Walker, Terry Kenny and myself. Candis said Dad I've seen all those contracts nothing ever is in them that would return anything to the artist or writers. Back when I was singing and writing she said, I just couldn't bring myself to sign them like you guys probably did without hardly even reading them.
Of course now you have four records nicely framed hanging on your wall and people shooting documentaries about your music and I sure don't. So how smart was I after all.
I think Wars are between Governments not people, we just get dragged into it.
I only deceived my oldest Daughter once and that was when walking her down the aisle I did the symbolic gesture of handing her off to her Husband but I really didn't mean it. It was only symbolic to me and always will be. Oh the figuring out how to drive her and her date to and from the senior prom didn't count. I was just being very helpful as all fathers should be.
When Buzz Bennett and Jack McCoy were PD's they were a way ahead of their time. Some of the stuff they figured out even works better today.
It must be weird living in a world where you spend most of your life doing what ever it takes to become famous. Then suddenly you realize some other person can become famous in an instant just by killing you.
My best friend from High school Jim Quail e mailed me the other day to tell me how envious of me he was. He seems to be struggling with his early retirement. He spends most of his days golfing and worrying about whether the golfing everyday is going to tax his stamina because of course each night his fantastic wife will want him to make love to her like she does every night.
Then there is also the added pressure of trying to figure out where in the world they should consider living for 4 months of the winter. It has to be a fun place and there are so many too choose from that it's just exhausting.
He claims that he would give anything to be on the road with me struggling to get through security at the airport, sitting in center seats on jammed airplanes, listening to the endless on board announcements that are only done for our safety, waiting for the ramp to be pulled up to the plane, apparently even though the pilot to the second knows when we are going to arrive they never inform the ramp driver, waiting for the car rental shuttle bus as two or three from the other companies go by empty, lining up for the rental car because once again we are a surprise so there are only two at the desk and ten walking around with sheets of papers in their hand that are a lot more important than us, stuck in traffic on the 405, explaining to the front desk clerk at the hotel that the person who answers the phone knows who you are and they also have your reservation please check with them.
Jim says he still remembers and misses those great late night dinners where they keep working you and all the after hours club somebody always knows about which leads sometimes to you waking up with some woman who somehow in the morning just didn't manage to quite match the beauty she had the night before. You quietly try to chew your arm off rather than disturb her because you've got to get to that very exciting early morning meeting even though you have a big splitting headache.
But hey you live for those meetings man, they are your life. You can hardly wait for the part where some sales type says ... I don't know anything about programming but! His or her about what they don't know explanation takes about an hour. The only thing about their speech that was useful was they were absolutely right about their opening line and maybe in the future we wont have to suffer through another hour of their meanderings.
The best part of it all is you get to head back to the airport to do it all over again in another city only this time you are running a little late because the big guy had to take a bunch of phone calls during the meeting which he claimed would only take a moment. Those little special moments made the meeting run over but everyone said it was a great meeting, even though nothing was decided and no tasks were assigned. Meanwhile your wondering what your going to do if you don't make the plane, so your mentally making alternative plans. You cant even get on your cell phone because your in California.
Johns your a lucky man my buddy said, don't you worry about old Jimmy you just enjoy yourself out there, I'll be OK. I'm just not sure right now if I should take the boat out or do another round of golf. Trying to make all these decisions is about wearing me out. Aw the hell with either of those two things. I think I'll just have my self another afternoon delight.
I understand in the State of Nebraska alone they could grow enough food to feed the whole world. But I understand for economic reasons or something the Government pays them not to grow stuff. Are the people who decided this the same people who decided what ever got us into this current recession.
About 35% of your listeners are listening to you the rest are just hearing you and some reluctantly.
Have you ever noticed the amount of creativity that goes into telling you no. Yes is still just yes.
I wonder if the American women ever have forgiven Oprah for turning her back on a woman and endorsing Obama a while back. Lets check the ratings ... Nope, time to retire.
Tim Moore wrote that his Dad told him a long time ago that the cemeteries were filled with serious people and that maybe he should pick a different attitude.
August 4, 2010 Nobody has ever thought they were overpaid. But I know of a few and after a couple of glasses of a nice red I start naming names.
If nobody in Germany was for Hitler ever who were all the people in those huge stadiums cheering loudly and wildly for him for all those years.
When I google myself I seem to be an entrepreneur, a lawyer, an author of fine books and a military man of some importance. Hmmmmm now how do I turn all those great credentials into something useful.
Robert Murphy recently reminded me about the time he was leaving WRMF in Florida and heading back to Chicago. He remembered me telling him that I really admired the great unapproachable attitude he seemed to have. I knew at the time that I wished I had that same look so the sales department would be too afraid to approach me also.
Robert asked me at dinner recently how come we didn't talk a little more to each other when he worked at the station. He thought it may have been a good idea and maybe little more fun for him and the station too. I told him I was too afraid to. He was The Murph, Man!
Sales departments are very similer to a few women I know. They dont take any responsibility nor do they want to be accountable for their effect on the ratings.
A lot of people ask me why I dislike sales people so much. The truth is I really love hanging out with them they are fun people. I just don't like working with them, they lie for a living!
As predictable as talent is off the air they need to be equally as unpredictable on the air.
I bet in Nashville even the Chinese waiters have Southern accents.
Jim & Pat Felton (Jim Brady) e mailed me while back with the following quote "Your an overrated jerk"
When KVIL in Dallas was in it's infancy stage BILL Gardner, our then midday jock submitted his tape to Billboard Magazine for the coveted personality of the year award.
Bill's tape it turned was the one that the judges liked the best but Claude Hall said we cant have a winner from some station nobody has heard of. So for that year there was a tie for first place. Bill's trophy which he still proudly keeps on his mantle even has the call letters wrong KXIL. But it wasn't too much longer until the whole country had heard of KVIL including Claude.
You could turn a lot of movie stars into great Jox but I don't think the reverse is true.
Have you noticed the latest scam at the pumps. Sometimes when you slide in your credit card it says see attendant. They move that around everyday because it's designed to get you to go inside and maybe buy something, that's where the real profit is just like at the movies.
If you really want to be happy I've been told you have to live a balanced life. You have to spend equal amounts of your time on your spiritual, physical, intellectual, and financial well being. No wonder the rich only smile in photos.
The PPM device is deaf for the first hour of morning radio which means the agencies get that first hour for free.
Speaking of morning radio it's still the only day part with any influence on the listeners because they are listening to it not just hearing it.
I was watching a TV show that had a bunch of comedians on it sitting in the round in the middle of the audience. They were all just kinda chatting but at the same time being very competitive with each other and trying to make each other laugh.
Jonathon Winters was just sitting there not saying anything until somebody said, Hey Jonathon you knew Richard Burton right? Jonathon nodded and the guy went on to ask him if he ever talked about Elizabeth Taylor. Jonathon waited until the room got real quiet and responded with ... Yes he said she was very furry ! The place fell down.
Jonathon also said he tried explaining to all the French people while in France, that unlike them, when an American person holds both of his arms upright over his head it just means, touchdown.
What I cant understand is why shortly after first meeting them women seem to want/need all my money for the rest of their life.
If you have ever wondered if your crazy or not, your not. Crazy people don't have crazy thoughts like that.
Once a player makes the NFL there are only two other things he covets. A Super Bowl ring and induction into the Hall Of Fame. I don't think T.O. will get either.
I told my Daughter Cami who is going into High School in a couple of weeks that for some reason my memory record button didn't kick until that time. I don't remember hardly anybody from the 8th grade or before. But I sure remember and am still in touch with a bunch I started with in the 9th at TCI. Oh yeah and I also remember what I was thinking about, so I will be staying close to my little girl. I bet she loves this part(-:
It used to be that marketing was 70% of the whole deal and product was 30%. Now consumers are demanding the reverse.
Women lose there power over us when we no longer want to sleep with them just like we lose our power with them when we run out of money.
Mornings are still the most listened to day part on radio no matter what PPM says.
There is nothing more powerful than a beautiful woman walking into the room.
Speaking of beautiful things, Lindy Rome who left radio a while back to start her own business proved you don't have to be or look like a man to make Man Sized Money.
My Dad always told me to stay away from the bad girls. I thought that was strange advice at the time because I really really liked all the bad girls. I now know what he was talkin' about.
I was proudly thinking about my niece Christina today. She graduated from High school in San Diego a couple of years ago with a 4.0, but for some unknown reason to me that wasn't good enough to qualify her for UCLA. I have a strong feeling though that some very spoiled athletes who are there just to train for the NFL, NBA and MLB and will probably leave early with out ever graduating got in very easily not to mention free. I don't think many of them attending UCLA at the moment equaled let alone surpassed her grades and yet we the public get to pay for all their training. There's just something wrong with all that.
How come Asian people don't whine about their circumstances in America. Shouldn't they be demanding some special privileges. What's wrong with them.
Don't you just hate that moment when you are in the middle of a very intense argument and you suddenly discover your wrong!
July 29, 2010
It is said that greed is the biggest motivator of all, It like sex makes you immune to fear.
Frank Osborn who came from the financial side of the biz told me he always went with the concept that GM's got two PD's and PD's got two books.
I had always heard that the the character Pig Vomit in the Howard Stern movie really was a combination of Kevin Metheny and John Hayes.
No wonder divorced women are pissed. When they were married they controlled the spending of 81% of the family's income, after the divorce they have to live on 50% which is impossible for them to do
Please tell me this 50 year or older sales trick isn't still being used. ... "If we don't do this immediately the client will cancel. Or the even lamer, we wont get the money if we dont do this.
I always figured that it really doesn't matter who owns Pizza Hut until your Boss says the new concept is, we are going to use a little less cheese in each Pizza now. In radio I think we are a way beyond that and have moved on to no cheese at all in the cheese Pizza. Now would be the perfect time to be running around screaming ... THE SKY IS FALLING THE SKY IS FALLING !
Speaking of Chicken Little, Jim Hilliard once said in a meeting I attended, " Had they just killed the damn chicken that would have ended all that nonsense." It would have made story a whole lot shorter that's for sure.
I always loved Ron Chapman's answer when pressured for an immediate answer to a sales promotion. If you need an answer right this moment the answer is NO he said, but if you give me a couple of days I might be able to turn that NO around. But that's not a for sure. I just need a couple of days to really ponder it. Do you think he got his extra time???
What is the prediction on Idol's ratings show business is based on the Star System (unlike radio) and like Elvis, the star is leaving the building. OK maybe just one of The Beatles like Paul or John. I predict a little curiosity interest at the beginning then the ratings will begin to plummet.
I understand that Obama wants to extend the unemployment benefits. I'm all for it but he needs to add one little thing. They all have to look for work or they get cut off immediately.
When I was on the train recently coming through the Rockies and was getting ready to get off the train the Steward said, Mr. Johns we didn't see much of you this trip in fact you were the quietest person on the train. I told him a lotta people will find that hard to believe so he might as well keep it to himself and not bother to alert the Media.
I never realized until recently when I was meeting with Brent Farris and his morning partner Debbie Abrams, that women actually believe they need all those shoes.
I learned a long time ago how to keep a woman from getting too close to me, but I have no idea how to get them too close.
I for the life of me can't figure out why God made Kari, Cami's mother and me her Father.
It is hard for me to believe that some men are as successful as they are when every 7 seconds they are thinking about the beauty and charms of certain women and not about the task at hand.
It is said that if you want to find an assertive engineer just look for the one who is looking down at someone Else's shoes.
When I was the the National PD of Fairbanks Broadcasting I was always trying to recruit some great air talent for all our stations. One I really liked and pursued for years was a great jock at WAKY in Kentucky by the name of Lee Masters. Lee got so tired of me hounding him that he left town and changed his name. Recently I discovered he is now calling himself Jarl Mohn and is hiding out I understand at some NPR station in Pasadena. If he hasn't lost his chops I'm coming for him again, he can run but he cant hide in a building named after him.
Have you ever noticed that all the airline staff seem totally shocked when the flight is full. You would think someone from ticketing would let them know so they could begin boarding a little earlier rather than giving us all these silly instructions on how we can speed up the boarding process so they can leave on time.
I had to stay at the downtown Oakland Marriott recently so I could board Amtrak early the next morning for my trek through the Rockies. At the bar on the Mezzanine floor I told the bar tender that I was very impressed by the hotel. He asked if it was my first trip to downtown Oakland, when I told him it was he said ... Were you a little bit frightened ?
I stayed in Redwood City a week or so ago and saw literally groups of police cars giving out tickets. I couldn't help but wonder who the hell was fighting crime.
In Florida as I'm sure in other spots around the nation the Police and Firemen have great benefit packages.In Florida there are no fires so I'm not sure what the firemen do other than start their own businesses on the side.
July 20, 2010
I was thinking about the Clear Channel new plan of cutting the wages of Morning show folks who cost more than 30% of the income of their shows. Now of course if the show doesn't cost 30% they will all be getting raises right? Yeah ... Right!
While vacationing in Vancouver I had the privilege of lunching one day with two radio hall of fame rs at the same time Red Robinson and Gary Russell. Luckily they didn't let me say much because what would I say to them anyway. I think maybe my role was supposed be the paying of the check. But I long ago forgot how that tune goes.
Brent Farris said, when the bean counters are the ones planting the seeds, it's time to sell the farm.
The word I think best describes a great morning show is "Unpredictable"
I heard a teacher on the radio up here in Victoria, Canada say that the schools should worry a lot less about a students self esteem and more about their learning ability so they can begin to cope in the real world. Hmmmm I wonder if that would work in America.
With the passing of The Magic Christian I couldn't help but notice that all the stories that have been pouring in about him are exactly the same even though most of these people never worked together but they all worked with Magic. But then who didn't.
My very socialist friends in Canada were asking me while I was on my recent bucket list tour ... What's up with Obama, he seems to be a little over the top.
Jerry Del Colliano wrote a great column the other day explaining how PPM really worked. I was a little upset about the fact that I thought he was giving away all the secrets until I suddenly realized there are very few people left in radio today who would even understand what he was writing about.
PPM has changed a lot of things but it didn't change the fact that most of your 1/4 hours come from your fans. Turns out they just weren't as loyal as they thought they were in the diary method.
Things continue to be what they are, and not what we wish them to be.
Holding on to what you have keeps you from having what you want. Case in point, almost 100% of Americans have some kind of insurance but less than 20% invest in anything. Have you ever noticed that guys never seem to buy their favorite cars until they get 50 or 60 years of age. Why does Government think we have the extra money they need to balance their budget. Before PPM broadcasters spent a lot of time pounding call letters so the "Phantom" cume would mark them down. They never did and all we managed to do was irritate all the people who did know who we were. Speaking of Phantom cume, according to PPM it did exist and wasn't just some phantom myth. What the hell is a SIG Alert? I think the Government spends too much time helping the rich and the poor, neither does much for the country but whine. I'm on what I call my bucket list trip, you know visiting people and places I haven't seen in a long long time. It started Fathers day weekend in San Diego at my brothers house with my two daughters Candis and Cami. When Cami and I headed to LAX to fly her back to Florida I thought I had plenty of pre paid gas to get us back to Enterprise Rent -a- Car but with a couple of miles to go the gauge moved into below empty and I was real nervous. Finally I saw the facility and breathed a sigh of relief and told Cami that when they said bring the car back empty Daddy finally did it because we were on fumes. When we pulled up the rent a car guy jumped in as we were dragging our stuff out of the trunk and yelled ... HEY GOOD JOB ON THE FUEL, THAT'S THE WAY YOU DO IT. I think Orville and Wilbur Wright were the last airline guys to make any money. I have been drifting around Canada and America now for over a month and have come to the conclusion that you cant drift. Friends and relatives need pretty exact times about your comings and goings if you expect to stay with them. Kinda like if you want your listeners to listen to your station you better make an appointment with them otherwise they will be the ones doing the drifting.
July 13, 2010 Have you ever noticed that all estimates are always a lot lower than the actual final bill. So the actual ratings must be much bigger than the estimates ARB gives us also. So I'm thinking the rating party should also be bigger too right???
Whisky lies to you (you really can't fly) as it seduces you into telling the truth when you definitely shouldn't.
If the truth is not politically correct do you still have to tell it in a court of law.
Vic Gold told me that all fiction novels were at least 50% true and you could actually half educate yourself by simply reading more of them.
Another one of the great things about vacationing in Vancouver this time of year is, not only is it much cooler up here than in Florida, but I have already seen two football games and it's only early July. Oh did I mention that my home town Winnipeg Blue Bombers beat up the Hamilton Tiger Cats pretty badly.
I have known and worked on and off with the Magic Christian for most of my broadcast career. During that whole time Magic always claimed he was dying thus needing a lot of time off and a lot of drugs to ease the pain. Last night his early prediction sadly came true but needless to say he has left most of us with a ton of stories that we will never tire of telling.
Men and Women sure live in two different worlds. When a Woman gets engaged it shuts down the whole office for the day as she shows off her engagement ring. When a Man gets engaged the first time you hear about it is when he's already married.
Jim Hilliard and I have worked together so long that now if he just thinks something he expects me to somehow hear it and do it.
Freedom of speech is a wonderful thing but it only works out on the street, it sure doesn't work at the office.
I quit smoking back in the 70's and just happen to notice a bright sign advertising the low price a carton of cigarettes were on sale for today. Wow how can anybody afford to smoke anymore.
I just noticed that Arbitron is bringing out a new and improved PPM device that they claim will measure listening more accurately. But I still don't think it hears the clock radio when it goes off so what good is it.
Radio like the car business used to be all about image. With cars it's still all image until you finally choose your brand then it becomes all price. With radio it's all image until you get in someone else's car.
I have only been in Canada my friend Gary Russell for the last 5 days and have managed to have seen 4 Football games already and I'm not talkin' World Cup. Now that's the way I think one really kicks off an excellent summer vacation.
It's competition that keeps down prices not the goodwill of the owner who yearns for a monopoly.
What ever happened to the coffee break.
Speaking of breaks, don't those people who are milling about outside some building having a smoke look a little sad and lonely to you too.
While I was doing some radio work in Detroit a while back I remember heard a bunch of car spots saying you could buy a Ford today for the lowest price ever. I couldn't help but think wow how could they afford to sell them for a lower price than Henry sold them for. They weren't lying were they.
Chuck Knapp said ... "Finally Magic will have nothing to complain about".
Jay Williams claimed that Magic told him once that the reason he wore such cheap after shave was so his scent remained at the station long after he went home.
Bob Christy said he fondly remembers hearing a girls voice on Magic's show saying, "This is Patty Hearst, and when ever I am hiding out in Boston I always listen to The Magic Christian on WVBF. The FBI called in shortly thereafter.
Christopher Coleridge founder of V Water according to John Picano said ... Mornings were the best times to get some body's attention because they were filled with optimism unlike evenings when they were slightly annoyed and frustrated.
June 29, 2010 Have you ever noticed that most of the things you don't want to do but you are ordered to do so are all supposedly done in the name of safety.
I read somewhere that depression was merely anger without much enthusiasm.
Has a secret relationship ever had a good ending.
My least favorite word is no, and my absolute least favorite line is, "I don't know anything about programming but"............................!
When Jim Hilliard was running Fairbanks Broadcasting he announced that there was only one person who was allowed to see the new ratings before he did.
That person is George Johns. Jim said because George just loves ratings parties and I as some of you may know, believe the sole purpose of my office is to bring good news to the sales department. I am very confident that George will always find me some so he gets the first peek at the rating book.
Is it safe to say that the new boss of Clear Channel wont be a radio guy.
George Burns once said the secret of a great sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending. But to make it very special all you have to do is put the beginning and end as close together as you can. That sage advice sure sounds like it would work real good on radio as well.
I don't believe that all women are as awful as their so called girlfriends claim they are.
How the hell is Mark Mays going to live on a million a year, there has got to be some skimming going on somewhere.
My brother Reg said to me ... How many people do you think reads your stuff. Just the ones I want to was my reply.
Joe Amaturo finally met my Daughter Cami and I think she softened him up a bit which isn't that easy to do. Mr. A went into a very long philosophical dissertation about "Act In Haste Repent At Leisure" which was very interesting to me because it more resembled how I try to get points across than the specific filled way he does it. Later on I asked Cami what she thought of him. She said he was nice and she really liked his story about not getting pregnant.
Cris Conner was telling me that he was thinking about his Dad on Fathers Day and remembers years ago him asking Chris what his plans were for after High School. Chris said he mumbled, "I don't know maybe go to College or sumpin' " His Dad said if you choose something instead of College you will get to put "Dumb Ass" on your resume.
For some reason loud records tend to soften with age.
It seems to me almost all new records are perceived as too loud.
There is no music as fast as a radio station Jingle.
My experience is ... You must grow a morning show to make it better, you cant just order it up.
Radio programming is now in the hands of the mechanics and they continually adjust the Art to fit their mechanics, which of course is the exact opposite of how it works.
Less time should be spent on the decision making process and a lot more time spent on the implementation of the decision.
I think compromise is something you may have to do in your business life but I definitely don't think you should do it in your personal life.
I went away for a week and when I came back I discovered gas is up 10 cents a gallon again. Which one of you scared those oil wimps.
I hear Delilah is getting ready to take on John Tesh in LA.
I think most cars are bought by women but they send a guy (Husbands) to pick them up for them. If it was really up to the guy he would probably be at the Harley store.
Have you ever noticed that the sales folks seem to be what I call "Fair Weather Listeners". They always seem to forget how much they were against things in the early stages of a new format but once the ratings show up they claim they were for it and knew it was a big hit all along. But then again I guess they really don't have to remember because I do.
Back when I was an aspiring young musician I was also a sheet metal apprentice only because my father said ... In this family we work for a living we don't "play" in a band.
When your a programming guy it doesn't matter if you like the music your playing or not. In fact it may even help if you don't. But if your an air talent you'd better like it because the fans of that music can generally tell in a minute or two that you don't unless of course your a great actor. But then again if you're that good then you need to be in Hollywood because as you already know Radio only pays chump change compared to them.
I don't ever think I've heard a woman say she got "lucky" last night.
June 22, 2010
Beefs&Bouquets. ( I'm sure this title brings a small tear to Warren Cosford's eye.)
There's an old saying that pertains I would think mostly to men. If your not good lookin' "You Better Learn To Dance".
Bill McMartin E mailed me my first hug after reading that my Daughter Cami claimed not many people liked me because I was too mean. Bill disagreed saying that he remembers meeting me for the first time when I came to Syracuse to meet with him. He said the first words out of my mouth were ..." Where The Hell Am I And Can You Show It To Me On A Map" Bill said how can you not like a guy who makes you laugh right from his opening remarks.
Jim Hilliard's reaction to Cami's statement was ... I just love that kid!
When we finally go all green I wonder how much will electricity cost. Scary thought huh.
I think both my daughters understand how committed to them I am, but I get the feeling they both wish I would ease up a tad.
While at the Transcona Homecoming I went out with Ermanno Barone and Willie Parasiuk to look at a movie lot Ermanno had just built. After that we had lunch with Willie's old boss the former Governor General Of Canada and Premier of Manitoba,
Ed Schreyer. While at lunch Ed's wife asked me what happened to the Winnipeg music scene that used to be so huge when I was playing with The Jury.
I explained to her that because they built so many Hockey Rinks in the Winnipeg area they also had to build community clubs so the kids could change into their skates. With those Community Clubs came places to play, so bands started forming to match how many community clubs there were.
Then one day they lowered the drinking age to 18 so a lot of 16 year olds got fake ID's and went to the bars to watch the bands while enjoying adult beverages. That of course immediately killed most of attendance at the community club dances. Mrs. Schreyer then turned to her husband and said ... Ed you single hand idly wiped out our great Winnipeg music scene.
I was saddened to hear of the passing of the great John Wooden. Years ago when my daughter Candis was going to UCLA and we were training to run the LA Marathon together. One day we decided to do our training run around the Campus so she could show it to me.
All of a sudden I just stopped running and just stared. Candis said what's wrong Dad, I said nothings wrong this is real right. Honey they named an arena after a legend while he is still alive. The John Wooden Arena and it's not a memorial arena. Wow how neat. Never heard of him said Candis as she ran off.
Your own sales department can destroy your radio station a lot faster than any of you competitors could ever even dream of.
If the first word used to describe something is "illegal". Don't you think it should be the last word as well.
Now that the Airlines no longer trust the flight attendants with cash do they have any other duties we should be concerned about.
Banker Bill Lewis who wrote the song Cherish for his girlfriend while going to College told me a while back that he thought The Association ruined it.
When I was going to High School in Transcona there were several guys like Marshall Quelch and Bill Taylor whom I was real afraid of. I noticed while attending the Homecoming and seeing them again nothing had changed. I was still afraid of them.
Speaking of the Transcona Homecoming it was real neat to watch and hear Bruce Walker sing The Jury's first hit "Until You Do" I asked Rolly Blaquiere if we should join him on stage for a couple more of our hits. He replied ... F**K 'em! Hell It's only been 40 years why would things have cooled off that quickly, what was I thinking.
Seeing all my old High School buds was neat but several of them accused me of now having an American accent. I responded with ... If that is true why do all my American friends break out laughing every time I say the word "about"
Helen Torchia wanted to know when I was going to grow up. I told her not anytime soon, I don't see that many happy grownups.
Egos are great for giving you the courage to climb up on the stage, stand in front of the cameras, or talk on the radio. Other than that they are fairly destructive.
My son Curtis academically I think takes after me more than both my daughters Candis and Cami do which is not a very good thing for Curtis.
I still vividly remember going to the parent teachers night when we lived in Coronado and how I would try to trick their Mother Lana into splitting up the visiting duties with her. I thought she should visit Curtis' teachers where they would immediately put up the sign of the cross when we walked in and introduced ourselves, unlike Candis' teachers who started up the band with our arrival, and quickly crowned us parents of the year. So much for household environment.
You would think psychics would have a real good shot at the lottery but you never hear of them winning. What's up with that???
Wow what a Fathers Day! For the first time in 14 years I was with both my daughters. Talk about a breathless moment.
Speaking of Fathers Day, I was a better father than my Father was. Then I got another chance to become a better Father than I was and took advantage of it. But now I think it's time to leave it there and hang 'em up. But.........
A lot of people don't think I take life seriously enough. but the way I figure it why should you. No matter how you live, none of us are getting out of here alive anyway.
Now that we are all armed with Cameras in our cell phones, isn't it strange that we no longer seem to hear about UFOs
June 15, 2010
One of the things I am very grateful for is my "No Regrets" list is at least 10 times longer than my "Regrets" list.
According to Brian Tracy as time moves forward and you start to look back on your life, the only things that will count will be the quality of your relationships.
People who only have the power to say no always tend to way over use their power.
If you asked the Government to point out to you their greatest accomplishment what do you suppose that would be.
I just finished a home coming reunion in Transcona and I have to say that my boyhood friend who was the one responsible for me getting into music Peter Proskurnik still has great sax chops. I'm almost over him leaving The Phantoms those many years ago because he fell love, or was that lust. Hard to tell the difference back then.
At the same reunion, Jack Wright who played with my Brother Reg in a band together back when they were kids said of Reg's drumming when he sat in with the makeshift band at the affair was that it was memorable, and he was totally stunned by it.
For some reason I seem mostly attracted to broken women, so if for some reason I hit on you, my advice would be that you should make an appointment with a shrink asap.
A lot of people ask me when I took up writing ... The moment I discovered spell check! Now, where is that punctuation button
Jim Hilliard says he cant spell because as a jock you had to write everything out phonetically so you could say it correctly. Even though I wasn't on the air much I'm gonna go with that too.
Everything I read says you should only get into the kind of work you are passionate about, mainly because your probably not very good at anything else.
Women generally like male singers the most because it's the only time they ever get to see or hear any emotion from men.
My Grandfather claimed life was all about Faster Horses, (cars) Older Whiskey, Younger Women and Mo' Money. If I pass all that down to my Grandson Nathaniel I think my Daughter will kill me. I think I'll just go with the Mo' Money part, if he gets that the rest goes with it.
The great thing about living in Florida and California is you don't grow old as quickly as my old friends in Transcona did ... Well that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.
While at the Transcona Homecoming dinner they were rolling tons of pictures of all of us in High School and on sports teams and stuff. They even ran a bunch of great pictures of The Jury. The thing I miss most about the band, is my hair.
What just hit me is ... What the hell is BP doing drilling off of our shores for anyway???
Speaking of BP Have you noticed that even though they are spilling thousands and thousands of gallons of oil into the Gulf, the price at their pumps is going down. Got to be just huge margins in that stuff.
Your children spell Love T-I-M-E
Speaking of time, Ken Schlafmann (LeMann) says "Father Time is a Mother"
A couple of weeks ago as I was having dinner with my super tax accountant Cindy Adair she mentioned that she really liked listening to someone called Delilah on the radio at night. So I asked her if she would like to meet her. I had heard a few days before that she was in West Palm Beach headlining some sort of women's Expo. Cindy was rather surprised that I claimed to know her and just thought I was teasing her as I tend to do. I told her it didn't matter if I knew her it only mattered if she knew me. She asked if I thought we could even get in. I said if Delilah knows me we sure can, do you want to test it. She said I buy a lot of things you say, but I'm calling you on this, lets go.
When we got to the expo there was a huge line waiting to talk to her get pictures signed by Delilah. We kinda worked our way around the side of the line where we could see her and I was hoping she could see us but she was focused on the people in line.
The whole time Cindy is saying how could you know her, your just spoofing me right. I said lets find out right now and I loudly called out Delilah's name. She looked up a bit startled and shouted GEORGE with a big grin on her face as she came around the table with her arms out stretched and gave me a big hug. What a perfect moment that was soon ruined by the crowd yelling ... "Hey back of the line buddy" and some other not so nice things. Our sweet reunion soon came to an abrupt halt and Cindy and I ran for it. It was time to go check her Puppies anyway.
People who are crazy never wonder if they are.
Hey what if its not just paranoia, and they really are watching you.
I've been told my whole life that supply and demand sets prices. If that's really true shouldn't Wine cost about a dollar a bottle.
The Ump who blew the perfect game call is the only sports figure I can recall that admitted he was wrong and offered up an apology. But then again he's not a player is he.
My Daughter Cami recently told me that a lot of people don't like you because I'm too mean. I said that's not true honey a lot of people like me. She responded with ... Most of them are only pretending to like you Daddy because they are afraid of you. I think I need a hug!
In the world of being somebody is Steve Jobs leaving Bill Gates in the dust or what.
They say any plane landing you can walk away from is a good one. But traffic reporter extraordinaire Paul Cavenaugh limped away from his last landing, that's the bad news, the good news is he will soon be recuperating on that yacht the settlement is buying him.
I told everyone at the reunion that would listen that I would have been a Rhodes Scholar had Pete not gotten me in to music. They had to give it to Willy Parasiuk instead but I no longer hold any grudges about it(-:
June 8, 2010 REGRETS? I HAVE A FEW.
Wanting to be somebody a way too much.
Not running track in High School, "I coulda been a contendah".
Not paying enough attention in Mr. Deering's English class.
Not paying enough attention in anybody's class.
Leaving baseball.
Not being in the classroom the day my life long friend Jim Quail punched out our smart assed science teacher.
Never having a great relationship with my Father and unfortunately carrying that tradition on with my own son.
Not being a very good husband.
Never winning one discussion/argument with my mother even though logic seemed to be on my side
Leaving The Jury.
Leaving Transcona.
Not leaving Saskatoon sooner.
Leaving Sudbury too soon.
Being just a radio guy with a radio brain and not fully realizing how neat Ottawa really was.
Leaving Canada.
Not teaming The Magic Christian up with some other jock for mornings somewhere.
Leaving Indy.
Not going to Hawaii enough.
Going to Venice too often.
Not accepting the Shadek's ownership offer in San Diego and beyond.
Buying a radio station in Indy and pissing off all my old friends
Selling KKCW in Portland.
Buying Star in Milwaukee.
Not killing the money guys who didn't show at our closing of WMET in Chicago
Not being a very good older brother.
Leaving Fairwest
Leaving San Diego
Missing some of the neat smaller events my kids were involved in.
Being so intense on all the family vacations.
Walking away from it all and now not even remembering why.
Leaving Boston.
Telling too many people over the years to F**K OFF but still managing to miss a few that so deserved to hear it. Damn!
Not winning some kind of reward so I could thank all the people publicly who made me who I am today.
Not laughing as much as I really feel like doing mainly because people say this life stuff is all very serious and it would be very inappropriate to laugh about it.
Turning down the charms of a few beautiful women while trying to take a rain check. There is no such thing of course.
Not resisting the charms of some I should have.
Never buying a Ferrari.
Not being able to totally calm my rage.
Not completing my mission of getting to everyone on my revenge list, but at the same time feeling kinda bad about even having one.
Not keeping in touch enough with all the great talent I had the pleasure and privilege of working with over the years.
Not starting each and every conversation I ever had with a sales person with those special words ... Don't lie to me now!
May 31, 2010
How come nobody asks the President of Mexico who is currently complaining about our border policies, what his are?
I don't know why everyone at a radio station feels the need to communicate that they once again have spotted something wrong. The kind of people who do this usually dump that stuff in your lap and go home. I for one only love the people that say ... Hey we have a problem but here's how I think we can solve it. My all time favorite people of course are the ones who say .... We had a problem but I fixed it. Those are the types that I'm always begging the big guys to please give them some more money.
Bill Gardner and I were laughing on the phone the other day about Paul Drew. Joe Amaturo who craves specifics and attention to detail would have loved this guy. Bill was working for him at WIBG in Philly at the time and on this particular day was filling in on the morning show. At the top of the hour he did the time and the special ID which ended with his name. But on this occasion Bill also threw in the words good morning as he punched in the first hot hit of the hour.
The hot line went off immediately and it was Paul shouting at him, BILL LEAVE OUT THE SUPERFLUOUS BULLSHIT! Bill asked him what he was talking about. Good morning you said good morning, thats superfluous bullshit and we don't need it. STICK TO THE SCRIPT, and with that bit of wisdom communicated he slammed down the phone leaving Bill speechless.
Carl Reiner said sometimes you have to leave out the best stuff just to make the whole show work.
Jim Hilliard and CBS have been doing battle in the courts for almost 11 years over an on air News person. It was finally over a couple of days ago in his favor. Wow, World Wars don't last that long never mind the battles.
When rejecting The Beatles in 1962 Decca Records said ... "We don't like their sound and guitar music is on the way out" They were all later fired of course and when last heard of were running something called radio.
The biggest perks in the world belong to some Corporate executives and all Government employees. I really think they should try some other incentives like maybe fear, because the perks don't seem to be working. Have you ever seen any more miserable people in your life.
If you couldn't run any commercials on a radio station would you really want one.
Listeners work hard at not listening to or even noticing commercials our job is to make all that impossible.
A good bit always starts with the end already done, then you add a strong beginning, put a little mystery in the middle and you are close to being syndicated baby!
All women want to lose 10 lbs
Are the police really fighting crime like they say they are or are they just mainly handing out speeding tickets for a living that pays great money, with great overtime, great perks and a great pension. They better smile while they're handing out those tickets.
15% of the folks claim they have sex while driving.
So how pissed are the oil companies at BP after they coerced Obama into talking about off shore drilling maybe being a good thing for America again. All of a sudden the oil spill hits the gulf. Hey Mr. president we're ready to vote on it now.
Have you noticed that everything is shrinking. A Lb. of coffee is no longer a pound and those giant bags of everything you used to buy have a little less in them but the price is the same. Mr. business man for some reason thinks he has been given the God giving right to cheat us. Maybe it's called Divine cheating.
How did that Divine right thing work out for those crusades type Kings. I think it's even going to work out worse for Mr. business man.
Tim Reever is a radio sales type I actually like but probably mainly because he's a runner. When I lived in Boston we would go racing every two weeks but Tim who was good enough to go to college on a running scholarship, always finished a way ahead of me. When I called him recently to wish him well on his B day. He responded with ... Now that I'm the same age as you when we first met back I just wish I could run the times you ran back then.
Anybody who just checks off a punch list everyday thinking that's a career, deserves exactly what happens to them.
I think the people of America are the most charitable people on earth and I'm not talking about our Government who just love to give away our money. I'm talking about all the regular folks who send their own money to devastated folks all over the world even with out receiving much love in return.
My brother Reg and I have always had great conversations about everything under the sun but I've noticed lately that he finishes a lot of our chats with ... Hey don't write about this OK.(-:
Just because it's politically incorrect to mention that some people are incompetent doesn't make them any more competent.
I don't think it's right to give special privileges to people who aren't special.
Sometimes being ignorant of the so called rules is good like Jimmy Bowen who was recording Frank Sinatra for the first time. Frank walked into the studio took off his nifty fedora and did his usual "one take" put his hat back on and headed for the door. Jimmy interrupted his hasty departure with ... Mr. Sinatra could we get another take. While the whole orchestra gasped for air, Frank said sure, turned around took off his hat and laid down another excellent take like only he could do.
With the Stanley Cup finals on now it reminded me about when Jack Kent Cook brought The Kings to LA. After their first season Jack said it was a no brainer bringing Hockey to Los Angeles mainly because he knew there were over 2 million Canadians living in the area. But what he missed he said was the fact that these Canadians must hate Hockey and they had moved to LA to escape it.
Speaking of Hockey you didn't choose to play goalie you were chosen, probably because you were the slowest skater.
I recently read a headline that said ... IS BP LYING ABOUT THE OIL SPILL. Hey they're an oil company if their lips are moving we all know the answer to that question dont we..
May 24, 2010
Brent Farris said he was recently standing backstage chatting with his long time friend Tommy Smothers who was patiently waiting to go on stage for the last time ever with his brother Dick as the Smothers Brothers. Brent asked him if there was a secret you had to know in order to have a long and successful career. Tommy replied ... Having talent is good, luck is good, knowing people in the biz is good, but there is nothing as important and powerful as being different. Being different is the only secret you will ever need to succeed.
Last week my daughter Cami and I were walking through the men's shoe department at Dillard's on our way to to ladies shoes to find something to go with the beautiful dress she was going to wear to the 8th grade dance. As we strolled together along the aisle I happened to notice these real good looking Ralph Lauren deck shoes that were in black, red, and navy blue. They also had that special Polo logo on them and I was kinda wondering how much they were as Cami said ... "Dad if you ever wear anything like those I would immediately have to De-Father you."
I have been involved in A/C music most of my life and it's been very very good to me. The funny thing though is I don't even like it which allows me to very cruel and harsh about what I do and don't play on the radio.
After seeing the movie Robin Hood It became very clear to me why the Muslims hate us so much.
I have never heard the words slutty and beautiful used together to accurately describe a particular person of interest.
Income is not based on need it's based only on ability, perceived or otherwise.
I used to hear a lot about South Africa when the world was angry about how it was being run. Has anybody checked lately to see how things are going now. Are they happy?
I saw some research a long time ago that said the 3 main things that caused tune out were. 1- Bad Music 2- Bad Jox 3- Bad Commercials. OK, I'm working on the Music and the Jox, whose got the Spots??? HELLO! HELLO ... CAN ANYBODY HEAR ME? IS THIS WORKING (thump thump) IS THIS ON? HELLO!
Woody Cooper (Gary Housley) said he likes my longer "life" stories a lot more than my liners. Speaking of a liner King, what say you Bill Gardner?
I just got off the phone with David Martin who reminded me about the time we were working on a project together in Chicago back when we were mere pups. But of course we thought of ourselves only as young Turks.
We were winding down a busy day that was filled with meetings about why we couldn't do all the things we needed to do to so as to have have some impact in a town that was already filled with morning legends. We discussed our dilemma high above the city in some roof top bar sipping on a large glasses of wine as we gazed out at the magnificent skyline of downtown Chicago. David claims he can still see the moment clearly in his minds eye when he turned to me and said ... George, what question are you asked the most as you travel around the country visiting your client stations. Like what would you say would be the all time # 1 question, the one you get tired of having to answer all the time. He said that he remembered that I paused for a moment or two before taking another sip of wine then finally turned away from the beautiful view of the city and tiredly said ..."When are you coming back" Yep, that's the question they most want to know, thats definitely the # 1 question by far. When are you coming back.
David said he laughed out loud and said to me, that's real funny because that was my next question.
When your a runner you run slow mostly so you can race fast.
In the movie The Dark Knight, The Joker says ... "If your real good at something never do it for free"
I love women meeting women who refuse to be intimidated by a man mainly because I've tried to teach both my daughters how to become just like them.
Being an experienced broadcaster is like being an experienced football player. Where does that all end up. Not in a good place I wouldn't think.
What happened to all those women going crazy at all those hard rock concerts you see on You Tube. They sure don't listen to the stations that are still playing all the groups they were all throwing themselves at just a few years ago.
I was kind of an irresponsible guy until I held my first child in my arms. I have to admit when she got married years later and I had to hand her off to the man she chose as her husband, that I was just faking it. That hand off to me was just symbolic, I'm still here, I'm still on guard and I'm still watching.
David Mamet claims the audience is not tuning in for information they are tuning in for Drama.
The big thing with a lot of pro Athletes is getting the respect they feel they deserve. I think we all respect their athletic ability but getting us to respect them as decent human beings is another thing. That's conditional, they really have to deserve that kind of special respect.
To be or not to be is not the question ... The question is, how do you make the same old s**t sound different?
As Jeff & Jer prepare to go back on the air again in San Diego there will be a major difference. For the 1st time they will be on the air 7 days a week. Wow isn't that kinda like the big guys learning Karate. What do all the little guys do now.
Alcohol and fame are a lot alike, eventually they both turn into truth serums.
When it's real quiet that usually means something real loud is about to happen.
The boys in pin stripe blues always want the on air talent to be very clear and precise about what they are talking about. But the audience begs to differ they want drama.
The audience wants to wonder about what the talent is really saying, like where this is all going, and what's this all really about. When I listen to the radio now It sounds to me like the boys in blue are winning!
May 17, 2010
It is said that we should all live in New York once but get the hell out before we get too hard. It is also said that we should also live in Northern California once but get out of there before we get too soft.
I've noticed that all the New Yorkers who visit Florida didn't get out in time. Damn!
For some reason I feel more Canadian now than I ever did as a Canadian.
Jeff Blazy says the evil Tylenol person was a woman who poisoned her husband and tainted a bunch of of the pills in stores so it looked like the Tylenol did it. Tom Mullane sends a story out of Chicago that new evidence now links a man to the murders who was charged with extortion years ago in the same case.
You would think that being sold out at a radio station would be the best day anyone could ever hope for at a station with a new format. But with the huge amount of anger I have witnessed when it happens, it has to be the worse day.
John Lund says you have just 3 seconds to get your listeners attention.
Turns out that new research says that folks listen to the radio twice as much as they do any other audio device and three times more while in a car.
During an interview The Beatles were asked about why they didn't speak up about the war in Vietnam, John answered with "because somebody would probably shoot us" ... Turns out somebody did anyway.
One day back at Corporate Headquarters in Indianapolis Dick Yancey walked into Mr. Fairbanks office and told him he had figured out how to double the billing. Why would we want to do that asked Richard M. Dick responded with ... I don't have that answer sir I thought you did.
In the olden days of radio before TV the producers would have the voice actors audition scripts fro a studio where they couldn't see them. The producers would mark down black hat or white hat beside each actors name. The listeners still do it to this day.
Nobody really prepares for success they only prepare for failure.
Holding on to what you have keeps you from having what you want. About 5% of the American public invest in the stock market in hopes making a better life for themselves. A 100% though invest in some kind of insurance, trying to hold on to what they all ready have.
It's a different radio world in all of Southern California. Hell, show producers out there than make a lot more money than the air talent does back here in Miami/Fort Lauderdale.
Of the many things that can ruin your life, one that is most surprising to me is ... Becoming successful at what you were always trying to be successful at.
A couple of weeks ago I was driving with Brent Farris from LA to Palm Springs for meetings we both were involved in. As we creeped along I decided to tune in The Frog which used to be one of my favorite radio stations when Joe Amaturo owned it and Tom Hoyt was the GM.
What a shock! Instead of sounding very fun and friendly like they used to now they just sound loud and angry. The music, the promos, the spots, the jingles the liners, the Id's and even the jox sound extremely loud and angry. KIIS-FM sounded softer smoother and more fun than they did. Maybe they're bummed about the ratings???
Years ago when I was at CFTR in Toronto I had most of the national voices in Canada as my air talent.
I proudly sent an air check tape of my line up to my mentor Jim Hilliard who was running Fairbanks Broadcasting in Indianapolis. I called him in a few days to queried him about what he thought of my great air talent. He claimed they all sounded cold and stiff to him but what really interested him was my music. What was I doing that made it sound so good he asked. I know every tune but for some reason it sounds very different and magical. Hey I think I need you to get your ass down here to the States and put that music on a new station I've just bought in Dallas called KVIL.
A very similar magical musical sound that is different is starting to show up on the air at JILL FM in Orange County.
Had drinks the other evening with "The Socialites" along with "Supertech" Matt Greeney. Their Cocktail Confessions were both stimulating and exciting. The Caveman sounds like quite a character and I can hardly wait to get it all on the air as America goes wild over Sex In The City 2
While watching the Celtics beat the Cavaliers the other night at a sports bar I overheard an older guy say to his buddies ... "The longer you stay around the less you get" They all knowingly shook their heads and laughed a very weary laugh.
When I was with The Jury we had the number one Canadian record in Canada and I never received one penny from the record company. We made all our money playing. Now I hear the record companies want a piece of that. I wish I was still back playing so that the mob that run record companies had to come out and talk to the guys who really run Transcona about who owes whom. The out of towners would have never gotten out of there alive back then.
If your not a household name you better be talking about the neighborhood where their household is located if you expect to get any ratings.
Ron Chapman said my line about the homeless having all the great locations made him think ... Why don't the Jehovah Witnesses also deliver the mail, they're going to visit every damn home in North America.
My Father always said "if you need a task done quickly give it to a lazy person".
Neil Simon's play "It Happened On The 13th Floor" is about the death of manufactured bits.
In a couple of weeks my brother Reg and I go back to our hometown of Transcona for a town reunion. It will be fun to see all the guys I went to high school, played Football, Hockey and started Bands with. Guys like Easter, Termite, Baronie, Fade, Hughie, LoLo, Willy, Shpog, Bruce, Shift and Pete to just name a few of them.
It's time to tally up how it all turned out for us. Some wont be there because they are gone a way too soon, Bomba, Gibby and Ringach will be missed a whole lot at this fun affair. I also can hardly wait to see how all the pretty girls I remember so well, held up.
Rhys Hollyman says he knows he should be more patriotic and stick up for the Habs against the Flyers. But he cant help feeling that would be anti the Toronto Maple Leafs and maybe even more importantly it's anti English speaking Canada. So the final result is, he is very glad they got blown out.
OK one more time here's the formula that superstar air talent use to make over a mil per year. T+S=A+(p+i)+(Ee)xP+I=$uccess
May 11, 2010 The most important word an air talent can use on air is "YOU" Most air talent and me over use the word "I", but then again I'm not on the air.
Have you ever noticed that the only part of show business that sales moves in front of the art is radio. I wonder how thats working out for us compared to Movies, Broadway, Cable, TV,Concerts, etc.
It has been rumored to me that Roy Laughlin when he was the GM of KIIS-FM in LA was once approached by the sales department who wanted to know why he treated them like s**t compared to how he treated Seacrest, Ellen K, and the rest of the KIIS on air staff. Roy responded with ... Because you are s**t -- you're sales people.
How does the hostile work environment law work for the workers male and female in Iraq?
You can order an on air talent to be excited on the air about your new promotion but that never gets it done and ultimately they are in charge of weather or not your new promotion is successful.
Does anyone have the name of the guy who screwed with the Tylenol containers years ago and poisoned a bunch of people. I'm sure by now some liberal judge has let him out of prison and I don't really want to hurt the guy (well maybe a little) I just want to go over to his place and beg him to help me get this shrink wrap off this container I'm trying to f***ing open.
The scan button don't stop on unfamiliar.
Have you ever noticed the person who is lying to you (Airlines and Stuff) always claim that they're not in charge and cant do anything to rectify the situation. The people in charge of course always seem to be too busy elsewhere to deal with us.
The worst person in the world to lie to ... Is yourself!
Why don't they hire the homeless to wave all those big signs at you ..."We Buy Gold", "We Do Taxes" Etc. They have the absolute best locations.
Have you ever noticed that errors on the log always occur with more spots running than should be, never less. How do it know.
In this world of no radio jobs you get people cheaper but they are all so happy to have a job that they move immediately into the "CYA" mentality and have no creativity to offer up.
How do all the food companies know how many calories are in their products. They wouldn't cheat would they.
If you didn't get any of the blame you cant get any of the credit.
Sales folks can sell anything they are excited about. You only need good ratings if they are not excited.
There is a lot of money being made off of shipping and handling. That's the business to be in I figure.
I think the people who complain the most about problems, are the problem.
While watching The Jersey Boys in Vegas I started to realize that The Four Seasons were never as good as these guys.
William Shedd wrote ... Ships in the harbor are safe but that's not what ships were built for.
How come charity executive positions seem to pay more and have a lot better perks than regular executive positions.
It is fairly simple for a singer to become a musician, but it is very difficult for a musician to become a singer.
Speaking of musicians I saw Van Morrison in concert the other night. Wow he was so good it made me want to play again.
Is there such a thing as an underpaid under perked Government employee.
How many people who work in service related areas today could get a job at Starbucks do you think.
May 3, 2010
April 26, 2010
Have you ever noticed they don't ever use the word genius when describing any Government employee including the President.
Dana Horner said you've got to include Chris Mays in your "Last Programming Conference" she did some great work when we all put KLSY in Seattle together. I agree. Chris c'mon down!
In 1927 H.M. Warner of Warner Brothers said "Who the hell wants to hear the actors talk" I think radio today has come around to his way of thinking.
I ran into one of my all time favorite FCC attorneys John King at Ron Chapman's induction into the Radio Hall Of Fame.
John reminded me about the time I came up with a promotion called the "Magic Ticket". The promotion had produced incredible numbers both in ratings and billing at both KVIL Dallas and WIBC Indianapolis.
In Indy though our competitor turned us into the FCC and bragged to their staff that we would never be able to run that promotion again.
John handled that whole mess with the FCC wonderfully, in fact he came out of there with which we laughingly referred to as the only FCC approved contest in America. Dick Yancey of course immediately put it into syndication, and the "Magic Ticket" ended up buying me my first Mercedes. Thank you Mr. King.
Just in case you were thinking that finding more off shore oil might lead to lower prices at the pump check out the $4.35 per gallon price in Canada where they could never run out of oil. But then again that could be all taxes as the oil companies claim. Gotta pay for that free health care somehow.
Lets see if I've got this straight. The way radio fixes itself is to get the multiples back. The multiples come back when the stock rises. The stocks rise when there is financial growth. There is financial growth when listener ship increases.
So when does the meeting about how to increase listener ship begin. When do we get back to the basics. Not going to happen anytime soon it appears, they are all a way too busy doing another series of endless sales meetings. I must be missing something.
I don't think very many radio people are working on the radio station owners mission. I think they are mostly are working on their own.
If you want to know how the Government run health care system will work go to the post office like I recently did. They invented the word no and love saying it.
Just talked to Pam Cesak about some of the plans they have for the Jeff & Jer weekend syndicated show. Very very exciting.
People understand real well and vocalize loudly how they need specific tools in order to complete their assigned tasks. But somehow they just fail to understand why you do.
Shortly after being inducted into the Radio Hall Of Fame, Ron Chapman kindly said from the stage. "When I first met George Johns he taught me never to get into anything I didn't know how to get out of. Turns out George was talking about more than a radio bit ... He was talking about life."
If your not getting any complaints about your radio station you don't have a very good one.
Wow! Jerry Jones did a quick fly in and was a surprise special guest at Ron's induction into the Hall.
It's always what you do say and how you say it that counts, never how much you say or didn't say.
The word sexist doesn't just pertain only to men as racist doesn't pertain only to white men.
How come all women except my Daughters and my Niece of course know what a Lap Dance is.
I think the best radio ever done is on some tapes somewhere in someone's garage disintegrating. They can never be played again so they remain the best radio of all time forever.
There was a time when I couldn't believe I got paid to listen to the radio. Now I almost don't listen unless I do get paid.
Speaking of listening to the radio, I was out in LA checking out JILL FM and I do have to admit that Rick Shaw and Bill Gardner have the music sounding so good I couldn't turn it off.
So with the recent make nice agreement between the PPM Coalition and ARB will the ratings be moving closer to the truth or what a few want the truth to be.
Who ties all the knots in your charger cords.
If they are not racial profiling on I 5 North at San Clemente in California what are they doing?
Any other words other than yes still mean no.
Why does it always take so long to explain why I cant have what I want?
Radio Stations don't realize the image of the client washes over them when the clients name and the station call letters are side by side as in ... Presented by!
The difference between National spots and Local spots is ... The Nationals talk to you and tell little stories. The Locals yell at you. Someone has got it very very wrong.
April 20, 2010 A short time ago my good friend Gary Russell visited me in my Florida home so he could take a little break from the Winter's gloom in Vancouver.
Vancouver of course was just coming down off it's Olympic high what with Canada winning the most gold ever and maybe even more importantly, the winning of Hockey gold in overtime against the USA.
Gary was the first air talent I ever hired as a PD and even though I didn't know it at the time, it must have been a great hire on my part because much later Gary went on to being inducted into the Canadian Radio Hall Of Fame. I am very proud of him, what a great career he had. Gary when I hired him was a self professed hippy and proudly claims he still is.
We sat around my Florida condo for a few days drinking a little wine and checking out my view as we reminisced about those early days in Saskatoon.
That time was very special to us because we were learning first hand what we would and wouldn't do in our broadcasting future.
I'm also pretty sure the amounts of red wine we were consuming made us feel like we had a whole lot more fun back then, than we actually had.
My daughter Candis who is really into nutrition told me that drinking red wine is good for you but I can never remember if she said a glass or a bottle.
As I sat there chatting with Gary my mind started wandering back to the day I was loading my wife Lana and our six month old baby girl Candis into the car on a frigid life changing afternoon. I still remember how unsure I was about the whole idea of leaving our home, family, and all our good friends behind and plunge into the unkown.
But I had made the decision to leave and I had made it for the right reasons. There was no turning back now so it was time to head to Saskatoon and the beginning of my brand new radio career as a Program Director.
As we drove away that cold winters day waving goodbye to the rest of our family, we had no idea that we would never live in Transcona again.
My plan was to just get my programming chops in Saskatoon as quickly as I could and become competent enough to get a PD's job back home in neighbouring Winnipeg so we could live happily ever after.
Even though we were barely on the road but for a few minutes we could hardly wait to come home again and reunite with all the Grandparents, Aunties, Uncles, Brothers and friends we were leaving behind. What a great party that was sure to be.
As we headed west to Regina on the Trans Canada we were listening to CKY where I was recently the Production and Music Director for a short after leaving my band The Jury.
A bunch of the great folks I worked with at the station, Porky, Jim Coghill and John Wells were saying goodbye to us on the radio and even though they were all wishing us well, it had a kinda ominous sound to it that made me feel sad and scared at the same time. But I knew I couldn't show any of this to my family.
Once we reached Regina we headed north out across barren prairie on highway 11 to Saskatoon. It was cold enough doing the trip that way there was no way I was taking the shorter 'Yellowhead Route' out of Brandon which was even more barren and even a lot colder.
As we drove Northward I remember quietly pushing aside a bunch of clothes we had hung on a rod in the back just to check on Candis who was back there sleeping in her Bassinet.
As I peeked back through all the hanging clothes, there she was on her tummy all stretched out and just looking back at me with a big toothless grin that seemed to say ... It's all going to turn out OK Daddy.
As we approached Saskatoon late that night I finally picked up what was to become my new radio home CKOM. The station seemed to be doing some strange kind of programming as we listened. I though It just must be some special weekend show that didn't turn out as good as someone had anticipated. I'll fix it first thing. I never suspected that weekend show was a sneak preview of things to come.
Management earlier on had decided they wanted me to spend a week or so in the Motel and just listen to the radio and make notes before I came in to the station. When I was ready they would introduce me to everyone, show me my office and then decide what time we should sit down and discuss all my findings. They were quite anxious for me to get on with the fixing because the ratings were dismal.
Much later when we finally arrived in Saskatoon, we checked into the Motel the station had provided and tried to settle in as best we could.
It was so cold outside that we had to turn the heat on high in the room and leave it there which soon made the air unbearably dry which wasn't very good for our daughter We had to keep wetting bath towels and hanging them on the heating vents so she could breathe properly while Daddy did his radio thing.
As bad as the conditions were in the Motel, I still couldn't believe they were paying me to do what I would do anyway ... Just isten to the radio.
I got up early the next morning and turned on CKOM. The morning guys name was Easten Wayman he was kinda just OK and was playing what I guess you would call MOR ( middle of the road) music. You know Patti Page, Dean Martin, Frank, Tony, and all the rest of the usual suspects.
There also was some News done by Bill Stovin Jr. and Gord Hume. Sports was handled by Wally Cameron whom I found out later on also sold used cars on the side.
I was just starting to pick up the rhythm of the whole morning show and get an idea of what Easten's style was all about when suddenly he was joined by a piano player. Easten and Mr. Piano just kinda chatted on and on about nothing and I believe if memory serves me correctly they even took a few piano requests.
The thing I picked up on as this nonsense continued was the fact that they hated each other. That was their problem mine was trying to figure out why this show is on the air or even better yet find out who is the piano player related to at the station.
Mercifully soon the morning show was over and on came a pleasant enough sounding guy by the name of Dale Heath. I liked Dale's smooth sound right away. He had one of those those rich warm Peter Jennings type voices that a few Canadian announcers possess. Jim Hilliard says I'm a sucker for that sound to this very day. That was all good but for some unknown reason Dale was playing Country Music. He didn't look or even sound anything like a Cowboy.
What the hell happened to all the MOR music was the next notation I made in my note book. I was glad the tinkling piano was gone, but Country.
I didn't know much about Country Music other than I didn't like most of it. I did sorta like Buck Owens though because when I weekend toured with my band The Jury sometimes Country music was all you could get on the car radio and as I remembered it Buck's band sorta rocked.
I will always remember teasing Dale about how I thought Tammy Wynette's days were numbered now that Patti Page had her version of "Stand By Your Man" out. As I recall he just laughed at me.
What a strange sounding station this was turning out to be I thought as my listening marathon continued. I had never heard anything like this before but most of the surprises were still ahead.
Next up was a kid by the name of Ken Sebastian Singer. Ken also referred to himself on air as The Psychedelic Banana and as he came blasting out of my radio lo and behold he was playing rock. My note book was filling up and I was only about halfway through the day.
Later when I met Ken I found out Ken was a musician who like me was coming off the band thing and this was his first radio gig so like me he was a rookie too.
I hadn't seen Ken since I left Saskatoon but I got to catch up with him last year in Ottawa at Gary's induction into The Radio Hall Of Fame. Ken laughingly told me he remembered when he me for the first time. At that brief meeting he said he asked me what what a PD did. He claimed I said ... I hire and fire the jocks. I got it he said, then quickly disappeared.
When The Psychedelic Banana finally said good night on came Gordy Brown who was not only married to the Continuity Director but like me was also from Transcona. Gordy played some more MOR music and this went on for a couple of hours, till it happened!
Are you ready for this ... Are you sitting down. Square Dance Party hit the air! You've got to be S**Ting me, I thought to myself. Square Dance F**King Party, are you kidding. Is this some sort of trick my old station CKY had prearranged with these folks. Naw!
I'm going to bed this has got to be a giant mistake. It's got to be some disgruntled engineer who has gone mad and taken over the transmitter and locked himself in. Someone hopefully will soon break down the door and drag him out while I'm sleeping and all will be well with the world by sunrise.
OK then! I'm up and at 'em again bright and early the next morning thinking it must have just been one of those strange Monday's where they were filling some CRTC (FCC) requirements or something. I'll find a better place to hide that kinda stuff soon as I go in.
Nope 2nd verse same as the first. As I go threw the day it seemed to follow the same pattern as the day before but with one big exception.
This time after the MOR serenade we didn't go to the Square Dance Party which was a blessing in it's self ... We went to Schizophrenic Anonymous.
I'm not kidding that was the name of the show, Schizophrenic Anonymous. The crazed engineer who had locked himself in the transmitter shack last night must back in there again tonight, only this time he has put himself on the air.
That's it, I cant take anymore, I'm going in coach! This place needs major construction. The only thing I could consistent about CKOM was it's inconsistency.
I think the real reason I was really going in was because I was afraid to listen any more. I knew I would be frozen in place out of fear.
My going in away ahead of schedule and blurting out to the man who had put it all on how much the programming all sucked cost me a year and also introduced me to the monster whom to this day I have never mastered. Politics!
But all of that some other time because another meeting has broken out here in South Florida and this time it's sales. They claim they really need my help. That's radio speak for they want my promos.
April 13, 2010
Women are a lot more current than men.
When my oldest kids Candis and Curtis were both very young, they saved up their allowances and baby sitting money so they could present to their Mother and I, a quit smoking plan called "One Step At A Time". I have never ever smoked again. It turned out my children were and are lot more influential and powerful than any Teachers, Politicians, Doctors, Wives or Bosses in my life.
It's been said that if you think you can or you think you can't your absolutely right.
Morning shows should take tip from Garth Brooks when he was on stage at all his sold out concerts. He sang to the people in the back row not the ones in the front row.
Thinking about my "Last Programmers Conference I thought hey who have I missed that needs to be there like Paul Dunn who had a pretty good run in West Palm Peach and George Francis said we've got to include Dick Orkin. George also wondered if the odd SM could sneak in. I told him it would be OK as long as they were prepared to serve drinks to the rest of us. I know I've gotta be missing a bunch of super radio guys. Bring 'em if on you've got 'em. george@georgejohns.com
Radio needs to entertain the people who are only hearing it, not just the ones listening to it.
You cant make anybody love you more, no ratings there. But if you can turn like into love, a whole bunch of ratings waiting there.
Now that Jeff & Jer are going National on the weekends, I wonder what station in San Diego is going to be savvy enough to put them on weekdays. They then of course would have Jeff and Jer on the air 7 days a week. How the hell do you beat that.
Other than our Government can you find anybody else that believes anything the oil companies say.
One of the big reasons Ron Chapman is being inducted into the Radio Hall Of Fame today is because Ron has always been a champion of women, and they could hear it everyday on his radio show.
Speaking of Ron Chapman, We have put together a little partnership we think could cause a little radio damage around America. Details at GeorgeJohns.com
Have you ever noticed that when your impatiently waiting for a red light to change and it finally does you still sit there anyway because all the very slow drivers always manage to be first in line. How do they get there first.
I'm working on a new radio concept called "Cocktail Confessions Of The Socialites" with four very beautiful Miami women, Marnie, Angela, Beatriz and Josette. At some point Angela turned to me with a sly smile on her face and said, your a Cuchacho. A Cuchaco! Yeah an old guy who acts young was her response.
Jo Jo Holotka sent me a couple of her unmixed tracks from her upcoming album that seemed very hot to me but still nothing a cold shower couldn't take care of.
My old pal Bob Christy all going well, will take possession of what was a lifelong dream for a lot of us, his own Radio Station. The station he is buying is even in his favorite city Boston, and he is doing it with no debt. That will make it kinda tough for him to fail I figure. Congrats Bobby.
The best location for radio station facilities is where the talent can bring 'em to work, then send them home.
I've had a lot of pleasure from being a part of the radio industry but none as great as sitting at Gary Russell's table as he got inducted into the Canadian Radio hall Of Fame and now as you read this I'll be proudly sitting at Ron Chapman's table as he most deservedly gets inducted into the Radio Hall Of Fame at the NAB in Las Vegas.
I remember the day I sat down with my son Curtis and explained to him that it was the end of the money supply from Dad. But I said should he want to take any courses to better his career opportunities, I would gladly pay for that. He said he had a feeling for a while now that this little chat we were having was coming. I asked him if he had any idea what he would like to do or what courses he would like to take. He responded with ... I just wanna hang out Dad! I've watched you work hard my whole life and you don't look that happy to me, so I think I'll just hang out.
In June my brother Reg and I are headed back to my home town of Transcona for a big reunion of people born in the 30's 40's and 50's. Each group probably thinks they are the most important, but our group invented Rock&Roll and nothing else has lasted as long as that, so we win.
In 1964 a momentous occasion occurred when Elvis and The Beatles met for the very first time. There must have been so much electricity in the air that special day that everyone one must have been frozen in place because not one picture was taken at the historic meeting.
I read somewhere that a tattoo is the permanent record of temporary insanity. More@ www.GeorgeJohns.com
Radio Performance Legends Ron Chapman and George Johns Launch Talent Coaching In order to do something uncommonly well, you simply can’t do it for everyone. Yet for a select group of radio companies and their talent, two of our industry’s most prolific personalities will soon be available to help craft advanced skill development for people with an unassailable commitment to rise above the field. Through the seventies, eighties and into the nineties, NAB Hall of Fame inductee Ron Chapman and KVIL were synonymous with the rare air of achievement. KVIL was acclaimed “AC Station of the Year” season after season, while its revenues set records for the vaunted Fairbanks Broadcasting group. Chapman’s versatility shined brightly when in Paul Harvey’s later innings, Ron became Paul’s go-to pinch hitter, proving that inordinate talent belies set-piece roles. Behind the scenes—though not by much—says Audience Development Group’s managing partner Tim Moore, was George Johns; architect of Fairbanks’ uncommon success in Dallas-Fort Worth, Indianapolis, Boston, Philadelphia, and West Palm Beach. Neither Chapman nor Johns have been sitting quietly polishing their trophies. Both continue to be active in multi-layered consulting projects or in Chapman’s case, sustaining talent involvement. Soon, both will be accessible to select radio stations and their talent, through in-field station working labs or on-line webinars. Select companies will tap the creative gifts of this acclaimed tandem. Moore adds, “The irony of this development is its ‘back-to-the-future’ implication. Here are two gifted people who bring incredible stylistic techniques from the past, into today’s talent void, bereft of most of the secrets of pyrotechnic stylistic delivery, at a time when its arguably more critical than at any time over the last 30 years. Ron and George’s presence in a radio environment equate to master painters or sculptors as visiting faculty at a great university. Their ability to transfer rare skill-sets to good radio talent is game-changing.” George Johns recently wrote in his radio blog, “There are three types of people in radio: the gifted, the creative, and everyone else.” For the creative in search of a winners edge in our over-communicated society where consumers are drowning in a sea of sameness, Ron Chapman and George Johns are ready and willing to be the difference-maker in your stations or clusters where winning still matters, and “talent development” has meaning. Tribune CEO Randy Michaels said " George Johns is synonymous with Fairbanks, Ron Chapman, Jeff and Jer, Class FM, creative contesting, and unique, powerful impossible to duplicate talent. We've all stolen from him." Scott Shannon of Citadel Broadcasting adds "With George and Ron, You Have Two Radio Legends, Who Also Happen To Be Great Teachers, Thats A Lethal Combination!" Ron and I look forward to working in a myriad of ways with a variety of talent. We have partnered with Roy Laughlin former GM of KIIS FM as well as a new player in the private equity entertainment world to negotiate and select our projects. You can contact Roy at roylaughlin@gmail.com to start the ball rolling. April 6, 2010 I think Delilah is an incredible woman, not only is she the Oprah of radio, or is it that Oprah is the Delilah of TV, but no matter when Delilah is not helping people on the radio she is helping them in person all over the world. She told me that she just got back from Haiti where it's even worse than she imagined.
March 29, 2010 Hello Radio, It's concept first and details later.
If you talk about what Rush, Hannity, Beck, or Savage talk about on their shows, they then become unbeatable.
Negativity is the killer of Creativity.
If we all evolved from Monkeys how come they still exist, or were they just the smart ones that decided not to come along.
Hugh Heller who did some brilliant jingles for us at Fairbanks, told me it was real tough mixing Black and White singers together because Whites tend to sing a hair sharp and Black folks tend to sing a bit flat. The result kinda produces a dis chord.
Rhody Bosley once told me if he owned a radio station he first would find out where his signal was the loudest and cleanest. Then he would go door to door and ask the folks who live there exactly what do they want to hear, and just do that. Rhody that's a way too simple, we radio folks need it to be a lot more complicated than that.
Having dinner with The Murph, Robert Murphy the other night he told me that the greatest thing that happened to him in radio was getting fired.
It seems the station he was working for wanted to change to an Urban Format, so they cleaned house and paid his contract off.
That sudden move allowed him to get all his financial ducks in a row. The best part of it all he says is now he no longer has to have anymore meetings with GM's & PD's.
When your past is bigger than your future ... It's time to start writing.
Before I hang 'em up I would love to put together "The Last Programming Conference".
At this final get together I would really enjoy talking a little radio trash with some fine folks like ... Buzz Bennett, Lee Masters, Bill Tanner, Ron Jacobs, Bob Pittman, Randy Michaels, Kevin Metheny, Claude Hall, Jerry Del Colliano, Scott Shannon, Reg Johns, Ron Chapman, Jeff and Jer, Brent Farris, Reid Reker, Bobby Cole, Tim Moore, Jim Hilliard, Lee Abrams, Jack McCoy, Bill Gardner, Cris Conner, Delilah, Gary Vidler, Chuck McCoy, Keith Elshaw, Woody Cooper, Doc Harris, Ken Singer, Bob Christy, Pam Cesak, J Robert Wood, Red Robinson, Pat O'Day, Jo Myers, Rollye James, Chuck Knapp, Rick Shaw, Little Tommy, Russ Morley, Bruce Munson, Ken Moultrie, Jason Williams, Gary Burbank, Bobby Rich, Warren Cosford, Charlie Van Dyke, and Mike McVay.
I'm not sure that radio sales people are too much different than any other sales people. But I do believe that on air talent are unlike any other human beings I have ever met.
Robin Garret claims money is an aphrodisiac.
When Jim Hilliard owned WRMF we were billing over a million a month and were #1 biller in the market. WRMF is still the #1 biller in town but I hear now they bill around Four Hundred and Fifty Thousand a month. That I think about sums up how radio sales is doing.
Roy Williams said unsolicited advise is abuse.
Jake (Scooter) Hagen said all the smack talk used in all the Olympic Hockey games by all the teams from all the different countries represented, was all English.
I guess the F bomb just doesn't sound as special in other languages as it does in English.
66% of the Canadian population watched the Canada, US, Olympic Gold hockey game. My old good friend from Transcona Jim Quail said, it's lucky Canada won the gold, otherwise there would have been a mass funeral immediately following the game and the NHL would be looking for a whole bunch of new hockey players.
Gary Ryan Blair says life doesn't go according to plan, if you don't have a plan.
Scott Shannon told me that he likes the musings where I write about my daughters the best. He and I both intensely agree that if anybody hurt our daughters they better hope they get put away quick because they would never make it out of the court room alive. We figure the worst that could happen to us is, we would be judged by our peers. Fathers of Daughters.
60% of Americans believe that if off shore drilling is allowed that oil and gas prices will drop. The oil companies of course are very very quiet on the subject or should I say ... SILENT!
My Brother Reg said there are no sales nor ratings without one simple word. Engagement !
Frances Frei says you cannot change a persons behavior until you change their beliefs.
The only people who want radio to be different today are the folks who are listening and the folks who are not.
I keep noticing that when I hit spell check on my computer it always claims I have misspelled my name.
I learned very early in my radio career that those who made all the decisions also made all the money.
Have you noticed the more deregulated the big companies get, the more regulated we the folks become.
John Hayes said to a KKOB staff member in ... Would you please drive me to downtown Albuquerque. We are downtown the staff member said. "Then you need to drive me to the airport" was John's reported response.
Gary Miles said to me after I had just spoken to a gathering in Toronto of all the Rogers Radio stations in Canada ... " George even though we didn't pay you to do this, I still feel we overpaid."
Cat Simon once pointed his finger at me and said, I, I, I, I get it now Johnsy, I got it! Even though on your clock you don't have any room for bits, I, I, I can do them anytime I want to as long as you laugh ... Right?
I don't think PPM reacts well to radio slogans and radio jargon.
I doubt very much that many people would pay for what most radio gives them for free.
A huge ego is not a very pretty thing.
Jack McCoy once told me that when they took the word please out of the instructions, more people filled out even more listening in their ARB diary.
Jarl Mohn (Lee Masters) just told me that even though they were actually naming the 24 million dollar studios they were building at KPPC in Pasadena after him ... His main job at the station was to write the liners.
Jeff Vidler says a new study shows that radio in the United Kingdom is now gaining listeners unlike North America where even though Satellite Radio is not that successful, it is still a big enough force to prevent any listenership gains by Traditional Radio.
"Got Scoop" Just received a very early draft from Marnie Howard of a new book she is writing which serves up a 101 ways to have and hold on to the worlds most beautiful women. Color me fully armed and loaded with insider info.
Ford Wilson who has this whisper act going, wants to know if I have enough juice to get him on American Idol.
Roy Laughlin told me that PPM hurt morning shows two ways. First, the device doesn't capture the total listening time early in the morning. Secondly, it discovered that the P1s didn't listen as often nor as long as they thought they did when they used to fill out a diary.
March 21, 2010 In "The New Beginning" I was writing about how I went from just a guy in a rock band to a Program Director of a radio station in about six months time.
To explain how I had the audacity/courage to load my baby girl and her Mom into the car, wave goodbye to the Grandparents and head out across the snow laden prairie all the way to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan where I would become CKOM's new Program Director and start a whole new life, means I have to digress a little.
Around the time I was thinking about leaving my band The Jury, three exciting things happened in about a weeks time that kinda sped up the need for me to make some lifetime decisions.
First I started hearing a rumor that the Radio Station was getting set to give me a big promotion. If this rumor was true it meant my part time job at CKY would soon turn into full time. As I was contemplating how I would handle that because it would surely end my band days, my old boss Jimmy Darin calls me.
Jim had been the afternoon drive Dee Jay and PD of CKY when I first started working there part time. Hey every artist needed a day job to help finance their run for fame, and I was very lucky because mine was very very cool.
You would think that would be enough excitement for the week, but no within a few days I also got a call from Randy Bachman who heard I might be leaving The Jury, so he called to recruit me for The Guess Who.
When I told Randy I wasn't near good enough to play for them he said, George I can teach you all the music stuff, it's that other stuff you do that The Guess Who needs.
The call from Jimmy Darin though turned out to be the mind boggling event of a very eventful week. Jim at this point was the newly appointed PD of WFIL in Philadelphia.
His new job was a career maker and he took himself off the air forever so he could totally focus on making the station #1.
Jim was a great Jock back then, but now he had his sights set on a whole new vision, and jockin' just didn't cut it anymore. He also no longer needed his stage name, so he went back his real name, Jim Hilliard.
During our very brief but very stimulating conversation on the phone, he explained he didn't have enough time to really explain all the details, but he needed me to jump on a plane as quickly as possible and fly to Philly. He said he wanted to talk to me about me doing all the promos at The Famous 56.
Turns out he had always loved the way I did the promos for him at CKY when I was the production board op. He claimed they all sounded like movie trailers to him and he wanted a whole bunch of that on the new WFIL that he was presently in the middle of creating.
Just writing this of course brings back to me a few of unusual things that went on when I was a rookie and didn't understand a lot of stuff.
One of them was a line Jim said that took me about four years to figure out. Jim said ... I came to Canada as a Democrat but I will be leaving as a Republican.
I completely understood what he meant instantly when I opened up my first big paycheck after hitting the big time at CFTR in Toronto.
I stared in horror and disbelief at the total of all the tax deductions and I remember thinking ... Boy this free health care is sure expensive ain't it. Good morning America how are ya!
But much more on all that much later, lets get back to Jim's unexpected but promising phone call.
His proposal was very scary and very exciting all at the same time. The most difficult part of it for me was just figuring out how you get to Philadelphia quickly.
I had two problems I needed to over come. First of all I had never been on an airplane before and secondly I wasn't even sure where Philadelphia was exactly. Back then I had never been east of Kenora.
When you live in Western Canada unlike what they think down here in South Florida, you don't speak French, and you don't look east you only look further west at places like Calgary or Vancouver as maybe a good place to live when you finally can't take the winters any more. As the saying goes, "Go West Young Man" Not east!
You don't even go anywhere east for vacations. Hawaii is the chosen dream destination of western man, not the Bahamas. The Bahamas are even further east than Florida, why would you want to go there.
Even if for some reason when you were drinking with all your buddies and someone shouted out " Lets drive to Florida" you would only head out to the west coast of Florida. There are no Western Canadians in Miami, not even drunk ones, trust me on this.
Those easterners are a way to too stiff and serious for we westerners. We like to say strange things like, good morning, how are you doing, hows your family, how are you feeling etc. We even smile at each other.
But then again there is something about the people of the east that we do love. We love to stomp them in the Grey Cup. The Grey Cup is the Super Bowl of Canada and pits the best of the East against the best of the West.
Just picture the differences between the folks in the North and the folks in the South here in America and you come a little closer to the feelings held in Canada. Whats that, What are you saying ??? The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are in the Eastern Division of the CFL now. You've got to be sh**ing me!
When Jim finished up his surprise call to me about my coming to Philadelphia, he told me not to worry about anything because he would have a travel agent take care of all the details, she would be calling me shortly.
He told me I needed to arrive hungry because he and Barb were taking me to dinner at a very special restaurant called Bookbinders which was a world famous fish place in downtown Philadelphia.
When the travel agent finally called me with my trip details she informed me that I would be flying from Winnipeg to Toronto where I would change planes and fly to La Guardia in New York.
Once at La Guardia I would board a Helicopter for the short flight to JFK, there I would board my flight which would take me directly to Philadelphia.
Say what ... Do What?? Are you kidding, there has to be another way. I have never been on an airplane before and that's going to be scary enough. There is no way I'm getting in a helicopter, are you crazy.
She informed me that the only other way I could do it was a milk run that went from Winnipeg down to Minneapolis where I would start changing planes and landing in every city between Minneapolis and Philadelphia. I said ... I'll take it!
Much much later that evening when I finally arrived in Philly I was by now of course a seasoned flyer that was very anxious to stop flying
Jim and Barb picked me up at the airport in a bright red Cadillac convertible and off we went to Bookbinders. Jim asked me when I had left Winnipeg, I told him around dawn. He asked what took so long, when I told him he said I should have taken a bus it would have been a lot faster.
We get to Bookbinders and spend a very enjoyable evening chatting about a bunch of the folks we all knew when we worked together back in Winnipeg.
The meal was excellent but as we were eating and I was kinda looking around drinking it all in, I just have to describe the whole scene to you as I saw it that night.
First off Bookbinders as I remember it, was kinda old looking with a very conservative feel to it. The place was filled mostly with lawyers who were very easy to spot because they were all wearing the Brooks Brother suits with yellow or red power ties.
Even a radio rookie from Winnipeg could pick them out of a crowd, they looked exactly like they do in the movies.
Jim and Barb on the other hand to put it mildly just didn't seem to quite blend in with this serious Pennsylvania crowd.
Jim was wearing a wine colored Nehru suit with a huge gold medallion around his neck that hung down to about the middle of his chest.
Barb on the other hand was decked out in what can best be described as a very short white Toga. She had on gold Grecian sandals that went perfectly with all her ancient looking gold jewelry.
The sandals had very long straps on them that kinda wound up and around her legs from her ankles to her knees. Her blond almost golden hair was piled a way up high with long ringlets that cascaded down to her bare shoulders.
Wile we were chatting I was also looking around a little and I started to notice the whole place was staring at our table and maybe even whispering to each other a little.
When I mentioned this fact to Jim he said they were just pissed because he made more money than them.
The next morning we went into the station which I thought was really neat looking because the building was round and sorta looked like a stack of 45 records to me.
Once inside It was time to fill out a bunch of the company's paper work. I of course also had to swear that I had never been nor planned on becoming a member of the Communist party.
That was the only kinda boring part of the whole trip. But it soon started to heat up real good when I got to meet all the great jocks who were fast on their way to becoming radio legends, Dr. Don Rose, Jim Nettleton, Jay Cook, George Michael and Long John Wade. The sad thing when I think about that exciting day now is, they are all gone except for Jim Hilliard who is the only one from that very special day that is still with us. Wow, how sad.
Once I finished all the paper work and meeting the Jox, I went back into Jim's office where he told me he needed me to join his team immediately. He wanted me to start producing some great sounding promos right now
I later learned that Bill Drake's right hand man Paul Drew was coming to WIBG to do battle with him, and up until that time the Drake format had never been beaten.
Jim said I could send for my then pregnant wife Lana later, because we had a lot of work that needed doing and we needed to get at it as quickly as possible.
At some point during the time we were discussing all this, I remember someone in human resources mentioning to him that it just wasn't possible to have a Canadian just start working in America.
You need to apply, and the way you applied was by filling out a bunch of complicated immigration papers. A mere formality, Jim snorted ... We'll have you here in no time squirrel!
By the time that mere formality came through I was the Station Manager of CFTR in Toronto.
But that story and how I got there is way way down the line, and I may be too bored by then to write it and you will probably be too bored to read it.
I returned to the station and did get the promotion I heard the rumor about, in fact I got two promotions. I became the Production Director and the Music Director of CKY and soon after the birth of my daughter Candis, left the band business forever.
A few short months later I got the offer to become the new Program Director of CKOM in Saskatoon. I didn't have hardly any radio experience which kinda made it a very scary proposition.
But what popped into my head and gave me the courage/arrogance to accept that position I think was ... Hey if I'm good enough to work with Jim Hilliard, Dr. Don, Gentleman Jim, Jay Cook, King George and Long John in Philly, plus be good enough play for The Guess Who ... How tough could Saskatoon be!
March 12, 2010 There are only two types of people left in the Radio Biz these days. Those who are scared to death they are going to be fired and those that hope to be.
I was driving along I-95 North in my car headed for West Palm Beach from FT. Lauderdale with a buddy. Being originally from Canada and having no idea about these sort of things but kinda curious nevertheless I asked him how many people in America way back did he suppose owned slaves.
He looked around a little, I think even checked out my back seat before he said, maybe 3 or 4%, 5 tops
I asked him why he was looking around before he answered. He said we can't talk about this kinda stuff man! I asked why not and he replied because it's politically incorrect and people's careers have been ruined for even saying less than we just have.
Why are the reputations of used car salesmen and politicians so terrible, surely they don't deserve them.
You can become whatever and whomever you want to be mainly through repetitious action.
Tommy Kramer said Walter Cronkite spoke at the rate of about 120 words per minute when he was on TV. Most people speak at a rate of 165 - 200 words a minute. Walter knew that by speaking slowly he would stand out, plus he would be understood.
I do lean a little to the right, but not far enough as to not know The Oil Companies, The Banks, The Medical Insurers, and the Government are probably all my enemies.
You don't see any young men driving fancy cars only young women.
Now as we head away more and more from fossil fuels and consume more and more electricity, how long do you suppose it will be before the Electric Barons start kicking our ass.
As quickly as women forgive themselves I wonder if they just assume that the men in their lives have done likewise.
Do I need an Auto Tuner so as to better communicate with my fourteen year old.
In Olympic Hockey, what language do you suppose all the players from around the globe were using to trash talk each other with.
We all kinda know what the other person should do, it's what we should do that's most difficult.
I'm hoping at my 100th birthday party that my two beautiful daughters push the very good lookin' nurse out of the way and both roll me in together.
I've noticed that the sales folk seem to becoming a lot more sensitive lately, it may be I think because they want to be recognized as part of the art form.
Not going to happen!
What I have never figured out about NFL football coaches is why they predictably do what the other team knows they are going to do and have been practicing how to stop it all week. Hell I'm only watching and I know. The one time last year when the Dolphins didn't, was against the Patriots (Wild Cat) the Patriots couldn't stop them.
The folks who got fired in the early days of Consolidation were the lucky ones.
They got to sell their stock and became rich or at least almost rich. The unlucky ones who weren't fired had to helplessly stand by and watch their stock fade to the almost worthless state.
Sales systems will never replace good ratings as a sales tool.
I think the corporate executives who are lecturing sales staffs all over America using various electronic delivery systems should have to make a market visit and go out on the street really show us all how it's done!
If your not a poet can you still use poetic licence.
Have you ever noticed if your in a room and no one else is around and sometimes you might start to mumble out loud to yourself, but you immediately start to sing what ever you were talking about if someone happens to walk in on you.
One of the tricks I used to use when I was doing "The Class Format" was bring Major League Talent to Minor League towns, it worked every time. Hey I think it would work right now in LA.
You can't over play someones favorite song.
Jerry Del Colliano says that 40-60% of a station's revenue comes from the morning show, not counting all the forced buys to other day parts if you want to get on in the morning. Yet, and someone needs to help me with this, the big companies seem to be firing all their morning stars.
Color me very confused!
Way Back when I was at CFTR in Toronto I decided it was time for us to play the hits, but according to CRTC regulations we had to broadcast only Adult music. I went out and bought every Ray Conniff album I could find and played the original versions of everything he covered.
You cant get any more adult than that.
I used to imagine when women had sleep overs together they all wore baby dolls and stuff from Victoria's Secret. Turns out most of them were really wearing flannel pajamas with bunny feet in them.
What ever happened to "The Customer Is Always Right" Last night I had a small dispute at a local sports bar with the bartender about a ruling concerning their special rewards program. I asked to see the Manager to see if I could get it cleared up.
The Manager came out and opened the conversation with ... I was wrong and I was also rude. She wouldn't let me even state my case, in fact I never even got a chance to open my mouth.
Radio has always been under attack, TV, then MTV, then, The Internet, then Satellite, now there is a bunch of different kinds of technology competing for the consumers attention.
Through it all Radio prevailed mainly because it always looked for the new thing to do and always found it. Why do I get the feeling now nobody is even looking.
Tim Moore is a brilliant writer amongst other things and every time I read him I just marvel at how he crafts his pieces. Then suddenly it hit me, we write about mostly the same things, mine is just the blue collar version ... Ok I feel much better now!
I bet more people saw the Olympic Gold game between Canada and the USA than have ever seen any other Hockey game.
What's got radio in such dire straights today is the single digit multiples of course. Growth is the only way the multiplies will go up, but unfortunately it's only audience growth that can do that. Do you think anybody is working on more audience, are there any meetings about figuring out how to get more people to use radio.
© 2008-2009 George Johns George Johns
March 1, 2010
Last year I went back to Indianapolis to visit some friends and I happened to catch Orly Knutson doing a little fill in work on the radio. I was amazed at how young he still sounded.
When I bumped into Orly a couple of days later in a restaurant I mentioned it to him, he laughed and said he gets calls all the time from people telling him that they used to listen to his Dad.
Passion and Emotion are entirely two different things.
I guess it's good thing that women don't watch much porn because if they did, a bunch of them would be horrified to see themselves starring in it.
Jim Hilliard was a father figure to a lot of our staff at Fairbanks. So when he told you he thought you deserved that exotic new car, swimming pool or even a new house, you went ahead and got it. Next thing though you were working like a dog trying to make the payments.
The great thing about having Daughters is you are their hero for their whole life. Can't say you will be to their Mothers though.
Speaking of daughters, a young woman approached me in the parking lot of the restaurant I had eaten at tonight and said ... Sir, the gas light in my car is on empty and I don't have any money to get back home can you help me. I reluctantly helped her with a few dollars
Now my daughters will suffer because of it because now I think they both need a lot more education. I will not allow them to be in the situation that young woman was in, and only education will keep them from it.
Russ Morley said ... You throw one cart down the hall and somehow it becomes your life long reputation. Russ when you did that, WRMF was one of the finest sounding radio stations in North America. I think you may need to do it again !
I think the only time technology becomes as important as the product is when the technology enhances the product like FM did.
I was having lunch with old friend Chuck Knapp this week and just seeing him reminded me of when we were working together at All New WIBG in Philly.
One day I was listening to Chuck just cookin' along like only he can do when all of a sudden he comes out of a record and starts lecturing us on the evils of smoking.
He made smoking sound so bad that I had to smoke a whole pack of cigarettes in five minutes just to try and calm myself.
Doesn't it get a little boring when you and your friends virtually agree on everything.
Jim Quail said if you have to think about it, you should never start a fight in Hockey, especially not with him.
Ermanno Barone told me he was getting ready to shoot a movie about Marilyn Monroe. I think he said I could help with the casting but I wasn't sure because he kinda mumbled it.
When I said to Warren Cosford after hearing Dale Hawkins died that I thought he might be The Hawk's cousin. He replied, George everybody in Arkansas are cousins, just like in Transcona.
Tom Skinner told me the research on 40 year old women was finally in. 50% Landing Strip, 25% Brazilian, 25% All Natural.
Bill Gardner says he is tired of staring at the Ocean. "Put Me In Coach"
When the Fall Arbitron came out in Santa Rosa, Gordon Zlot said if the total shares of our 3 stations beat their 5 stations, we're bringin' the Champagne. That project took Brent Farris about 2 minutes to complete, the delivery of the Champagne took 15.
When I first became a PD all my creative time was spent talking to upper Management about the length of the Jox hair.
I wonder how many times a day a Government employee uses the word no.
The more successful you become the more you tend to stop doing what made you successful. Just ask Toyota.
I think when a new President takes office all Civil Servants should have to reapply for their jobs and explain what they do, and why they should continue to do so.
My Father used to tell me to stay away from the bad girls. The problem with that advice was they had a hell of a lot more influence over me than he did.
Reid Reker says after you finally get past Monday and Tuesday even the calendar says WTF.
There is absolutely no money in pointing out what's wrong with this picture. All the money is in coming up with a solution of how to fix it.
In a court of law if the truth is not politically correct, do you still have to tell it.
Jerry Bobo claims that there are some sales types in in The Texas Radio Hall Of Fame. Hmmmmmm I wonder what the All Star Cast of the original KVIL who are all in there think about that.
I want about half of all the women I meet, but that's down from the 90% of only a few years ago.
In Radio today I feel a way way too much time is spent on things other than Ratings & Revenue.
I don't think society has the right to seek revenge for a crime that has been committed no matter how horrific, but those personally and directly affected sure do.
Whom do you think the public dislikes the most ... Oil Companies, Banks, Medical Insurers or The Government.
Is there ever a convenient time to put gasoline in your car.
I think the Star system works this way. On stage the Actor is the Star. Backstage it's the Director.
Because the Saints won the Superbowl and The Jury had a record out called Who Dat? the same year The New Orleans Saints were born, there seems to be some renewed reaction with a lot of hits on our old tune on You Tube http://youtube.com/watch?v=XDmGSgLikvk
Who Dat? Turned out to be my daughter Candis who was born that same year.
February 22 Delilah who was born Delilah Luke said that her parents named her older brother Matthew Mark Luke as a bit of a joke. They went on to name her after the notorious woman in the Bible who sheared Sampson's locks, as a cheeky exclamation mark.
When I moved to Indiana from Canada, I knew about Hockey not Basketball. It wasn't long until I learned I was in the hot bed of basketball and that the two topics talked about most were the Indy 500 and IU Basketball. If you didn't talk those two subjects there wasn't a lot of conversation.
IU was led by Bobby Knight who seemed to be winning national championships or being on the verge of winning them most of the time.
When I moved to California, I later learned that the school had tired of his antics and dumped him. Hmmmmmmm I wonder how their recruitment program is going these days.
A few years ago I had lunch with Trace Adkins who told me he was afraid to go back to his home town because he already had three #1's under his belt but unfortunately no money.
He was sure his hometown could hardly wait for him to show up because they probably expected him to build a new wing on the hospital. The only thing Trace had received so far for his efforts was a pick up truck for doing a TV spot, which he gave to his Daddy.
When he called his friend Tim McGraw and asked him when he thought some f***ing money would show up. Tim thought he was still about 3 hits away.
Who was it and when was it decided that all lands, businesses and holdings should go back to the original owners of the losing nation after a war. Was that shortly after the Indian Wars and who forgot to tell Castro.
We are all equal as long as we continue to fight our natural instincts.
I wonder what Peyton Manning really thinks of the two most recent big decisions made by his rookie coach. The first being not to go for the perfect season and the next, playing the Superbowl not to lose. ( prevent defense).
The way I see it that's two! I don't think even Peyton will have to worry about it because I think the Indiana season ticket holders will decide how many more he has.
The way it works the best in show biz is, you mimic your idol and what you generally end up with is the next real you.
Don't you think some entertainers are so drunk with applause that they didn't even notice when they were over.
What I like most about Arbitron's PPM is it takes most of the lies out of the results.
Maybe the perfect rating service would be the one that only measures people who buy things.
A few years ago I went to a seminar in DC that George Burns put on. At the start George said ... I see we have the Godfather of A/C in the house, George Johns. I turned to my associate Jamie Gold and whispered, Godfather of A/C, I like that, and I think it sounds very neat. She whispered back ... I believe he said Grandfather!
How come every time you see those men working signs you never see any men working.
Is there any doubt that LeBron James is New York bound, he just looks "New York".
There are 3 coverage maps for each and every radio station. The Owner's is the largest, the Sales Department's is only slightly smaller and the Engineer's is the smallest of all. The PD of course claims he cant hear the radio station anywhere.
Robin Marshall told me she wants to be the "Anti" Delilah. I can hardly wait to hear what that is. But what ever it is I'm sure Delilah has done it in real life.
Women forgive, but they never forget except of course for their own little indiscretions.
A lot of support people think that the place couldn't run without them, little do they know that there is a meeting going on right now trying figure out how to do that very thing.
On air radio people are the only people in the whole show biz world who think they can conceptualize, write, produce, and perform a radio show all by themselves. I wonder if that's why they are the least paid in all of the entertainment world even though they have the larger of all the audiences.
Lets review again the four topics men talk about when they are hangin' out with each other. (1) Sex (2) Sports (3) Work (4) Sex
Canadians on a whole don't think they are really as good as Americans. Australians on the other hand think they are a whole lot better than the Americans.
I don't know where either of them got their thinking.
Leaders are very visionary and it's the passion they use to attack their vision with, that causes people to follow them.
It continues to amaze me that air talent want to make a big deal about it being the end of their show each day. All the hit TV shows don't end, they continue week after week after week, until everybody is rich. Then they end.
Dion told me at breakfast that he came home from school one day to find his kitchen filled with looked like the cast of Sopranos. One of them said to him, hey your father here has been bragging a lot about you in the bar down the street. He claims you and your buddies The Belmonts have a hit record. Well we know how to help you with that kind of stuff so we are here to listen to the record and see what we got.
Dion put the record on and after about 30 seconds the same guy say to Dion's Father ... Your son sounds like he's singing through a dish rag, then they turned around and left. Dion said, it was the luckiest day of his life.
Many years ago when I left The Jury to get into radio, Randy Bachman tried to recruit me for The Guess Who. I told him I wasn't good enough to play for them. Randy said he could teach me the music stuff, but it was all that other stuff I do that the Guess Who needed.
Carole King said most of the songs she wrote back in the late 50's and early 60's were about sex, and women's fear of having it.
Contrary to public opinion I do think radio sales is a very worthy profession, hey everyone cant sing or dance somebody has to sell the tickets. I just wish they didn't make such a big deal about it.
Don't you just love it when the ticket sellers come out of their little booths up front and approach the stage to give us a little free advice on how they think we could and should fix the play.
Oh oh! I'm going to hear from Barry O' Brien now because he especially loves it whenever I give out my little "sales hugs"
Because New Orleans won the Super Bowl I guess, Who Dat ? - The Jury has been posted on you tube. We recorded it in 1967 the same year as The New Orleans Saints and my daughter Candis was born.
February 17 Dana Horner told me that his wife Lindsay claims that he doesn't hear so well anymore. My response to him was ... We always hear what we want to hear, but as we get older I have noticed we tend not to hear what we don't want to hear.
The bad news is ... During my career I have blown several million dollars. The good news is I'm much happier than most that haven't.
Dale Gold warmly told me many years ago "George sometimes the squeaky wheel gets replaced rather than greased". Mrs. Gold I have a bunch that need replacing immediately and I sure could use your help.
Several months ago while driving my youngest daughter Cami to one of her events she turned to me and said ... Daddy, yesterday I asked Mommy if she thought you were going to buy me a new car when I turn 16 like you did for Candis. Mom said I should consider myself very lucky if you even managed to buy me a used car.
Daddy if you buy me a used car you know someone probably smoked in it and I always get a migraine when I smell smoke.
Daddy when I get a migraine It makes me throw up, if I do that while I'm driving I will probably crash.You don't want that do you.
It's hard to argue with this kind of logic especially when she used the "Daddy" word 3 or 4 times during our short conversation instead of "Dude"
I wonder why there is no Radio Hall Of Fame inductees from the sales department, or did I just miss that session.
The other say I was thinking about fear and how paralyzing it can be. When I was but a wee lad I was deathly afraid of the ball.
My Dad used to put me up against the shed out back and throw a base ball at me real hard, thinking I guess that the repetition of him doing that would drive away my fear.
I don't think I ever caught one of his throws. Every time he threw the ball at me I just ducked or moved out of the way in fear. Finally he just gave up which was fine by me.
A few years later a good buddy who was really into baseball talked me into practicing with him because the little league try outs were coming up soon.
Sure enough my worst fears were realized, I got hit in the head. But It didn't hurt near as bad as my fear told me it would, in fact all it really did was just make me angry, and I'm still very angry to this very day.
USA TODAY is a great national newspaper, but it is nothing locally in any town in America, the school paper is bigger. What part of why that is, is radio not getting.
Does anybody know what they are saying on the drive through speaker at McDonald's
What does a woman really think ??? I don't think you really want to go there.
The infamous third eye doesn't let silly things like logic or reason deter it from his ultimate goal.
Have you ever noticed that during bad economic times the oil companies, health insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies seem to still have record breaking months and years.
Shortly after saying "I love you" your whole life starts reversing direction.
I heard "YES" a couple of more time last week. Things may be picking up.
People aren't really sure what they want to hear on the radio but they sure know what they don't want to hear.
Breathtaking moments are what makes up most of your memories. I for one sure I could use a few more of them.
I wonder why the speed of light is absolute.
When I lived in Transcona a lot of people including Sandy and Betty Johns used to drive south to Grand Forks N.D. and spend the weekend there just because all the service was so good. I bet the Canadian folks don't bother to do that now.
The thing bosses need to understand is, they don't need any credentials.
I recently explained to my daughter Cami that a lot of people claim I spoil her. I totally agree with their findings, but as I explained to Cami they don't realize I am only teaching you yet another life lesson
My life lesson for this subject is ... As long as you continue to do well in school I will continue to spoil you. This is no different than what all the companies in the work world will do to you and all their employees who over achieve. Of course under achieving brings all that spoiling to a sudden halt a lot faster than it ever got started.
I've had a lot of adventures in my life but I've got to admit that going from Da Da to Daddy to Dad to Dude is still one of the all time best.
How come when anything goes wrong you only get to talk to the people who claim it's not their fault. Why is it then that the person whose fault it is who could probably fix it is always unavailable.
I think whomever got all the stuff done for the handicapped folks should be running our country.
If the pursuit of happiness is happiness, why isn't the pursuit of profit, profit.
The listeners know more about good radio than most radio people do.
The toughest thing to handle when morphing from V/P of programming for Fairbanks to my own consulting company was dealing with the fact that all my ideas no longer instantly got on the air.
One of the things Ron Chapman taught me was sometime you have to lose to win.
The best example was when we had a tug a war with one of the big local TV stations over the Trinity river in Dallas. Ron instructed our very competitive staff to lose. KVIL got 10 minutes in both of the newscasts that night.
OK OK I just noticed that the gas prices are very slowly coming down again. Now you have to promise me that you'll stop scaring those wussy Oil Barons.
I don't think content is king on radio anymore, it's performance. You can get all the content you want from many many sources. The same is not true about performance.
When is the President going to figure out that unless the economy gets fixed there is no way we are going to be able to pay for his health reform. How does that go again ... Oh yeah! It's about the economy stupid.
What ever happened to Joe Biden.
Hey have you seen the Valentine Video from Robin Marshall, It's so good I can't show it to my 14 year old daughter Cami. Google Cuppa'Jayne scroll down a couple and click on the video of ... What's Underneath That Little Black Dress.
February 10 Is there such a thing as too much "Wine, Women or Song". What say you Tiger.
It is said that the average male thinks about sex every seven seconds even while running a Marathon. So if your sexually addicted what number could that possibly be.
It seems to me that wives get a lot of credit for their husband's successes, but none for his failures.
Why does one missed belt loop ruin your entire look.
The thing I think that Ron Chapman and I most have in common is the pleasure we both derive from successfully teaching creativity to gifted people and the art of manufacturing to the creative folks.
PPM is a lot closer to the truth than the diary ever was, but it misses about 30-45 minutes of radio listening every morning, so it's still not there yet.
If you force your PD to listen to his/her radio station once a week I guarantee he/she will change most of it.
Why do government employees need so much time off. Covering your ass all day can't be that exhausting.
Surely all women aren't as dumb as the wives who even though they were living life very very large, all appear to be in total shock when informed their husbands were being arrested for illegally gathering all the funds that they were enjoying so much.
I have learned so much more about diary only markets now that I work mostly with PPM.
This radio thing isn't going to end well so you better enjoy the journey while your trying to figure out how to get in charge of the way it ends with you.
Sociology is already much more important than technology.
We all agree that doing the detail work is super important. Unfortunately the person doing this all important work isn't paid very well so nobody wants to do it.
Walt Disney claimed there was no such thing as motivation, only inspiration ... You can not make anybody do what they don't want to do.
You are whoever the guy who pays you says you are.
Obama is very charismatic but he doesn't hold a candle to Churchill, Kennedy or Trudeau. In fact speaking of candles I think his is almost out.
At the Grammys, Kings Of Leon won record of the year. The oldsters said who the hell are the Kings Of Leon ? The Youngsters said ... What's a record?
Doug Erickson said that a new radio operator in today's world has a good shot at making 10 million profit which is pretty exciting compared to one of the old guard radio operators who need a 100 million profit just to come close to breaking even.
Some traditions die more slowly than others, like have you ever noticed a woman no matter how much money she may have ever pick up the check.
In the olden days of radio the only ones making a lot of money were the owners, but they never shared. Now they are not making any money but they sure don't mind sharing that part with us aren't they.
Joyce Kaufman said "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction"
There is no need to invent new product for new technology, just use the new technology as an excuse to leave out some product that you feel didn't keep up with the times.
I'm still a student of the "Biz" and I'm still curious about life in general. Unfortunately though there is not really much going on in radio that I want to learn about so I'll just continue to study life until this part is over.
It's never been about the government it's always been about us. How many times do we have to blow them out of office before they get that.
Now if we could just cancel their pension plan and medical coverage when we get rid of them wouldn't that be sweet.
I just checked radio again, it's still the same. No Money, No People, and No Time.
It doesn't mean anything if you get fired in radio today so you might as well do anything you want. Hell It might work!
Shakespeare was so good that he even figured out how to give the actors instructions and make those instructions part of the play
Back when there was a big controversy going on about whether it was really Shakespeare who wrote all those great plays. Mark Twain, a great pen man himself commented ... Shakespeare or someone calling themselves Shakespeare wrote those plays.
Tim Moore recently told me that back when he was in Dallas working his way up the corporate ladder at TM he heard the early KVIL that Ron and I were putting together. He told me he couldn't believe he was the only one in "The Biz" that realized that this new sound was going to kill everyone.
Turns out that Tim was the only one that had his ears on back in the day. No wonder he ended up running TM.
85% of the reason a person turns on an FM station is for music, but it's only 25% of the reason they stay.
Recognizing what is artful is an art in its self.
Steve Lapa said that is going to be real tough for a woman to make it in Sports Talk Radio because of all the strip club spots. The spots will embarrass her and excite her listeners, but they wont be thinking about her and sports.
Arnold Segal said rivalry is a good thing, it's what keeps America rolling.
Talent is only one of the tools you'll need to have to become popular. Too much talent in fact will probably get in the way.
Your inability to become anything like your heroes allows you to become yourself.
Anyone can learn how to play guitar. But you cant learn how to play guitar like Eric Clapton & Jeff Beck.
Was it just me or was the interview with the President (Katie's little editorial) about health care total out of place during the Super Bowl coverage.
I only tease people I like. Now if I love you, it becomes almost unbearable as my Daughters Candis and Cami plus my Niece Christina I'm will attest to.
The thing I like best about PPM is we can give the listeners what they want instead of what we need them to have. Now what was it they wanted again ???
February 2
As I write this I am flying at about 35,000 ft. on my way to a client meeting in San Francisco. I'm kinda just sitting here all relaxed, having a glass of red wine and marveling at the fact that I can check my e mails, watch a football game and write this piece on my lap top, as I wing my way from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Travel it seems has always been involved in the the way I make my living. Back in my early days traveling with The Jury, we were touring in cars dragging trailers filled with gear behind us. Now I'm flying along almost at the speed of sound with all the gear I need in my head.
Speaking of traveling I hate to think about it but I have flown over two million miles on American Airlines alone, not to mention probably the same amount on all the others while I've been doing this thing called radio.
As I fly west through the darkened skies, I can't help but peer out at the blackness and wonder about how this all came to be.
I guess the story really begins at the end, by that I mean the end of my band days. Strangely enough I started to feel like maybe it was time to move on just about the time we had the # 1 Canadian record in Canada.
But shortly before having that #1 record, a couple of very exciting things were in motion that I had little control or knowledge of. These events though turned out big enough to cause me to start thinking ... Maybe it was time to give up the dream and hang up my guitar.
The first exciting things that happened was I got promoted at CKY to Music Director and Production Director almost simultaneously. These promotions took me from a part time day job, to a full time career job.
The next life changing event occurred not too long after, it was the birth of my Daughter Candis. Candis' arrival in my world was possibly even more exciting than my hearing The Jury's first record played on the radio for the first time. I must admit though the thrill of her birth has been much longer lasting.
During the time my wife Lana was carrying Candis, I was wrestling around with the fact that I just couldn't see myself raising a family with the limited amount of musical skills I possessed. I had put years and years into the band, but now I was going through a few changes mentally and I needed to deal with that soon.
Everything seemed to be happening all at the same time, as the promotions at the radio station were being offered to me our record company was also pressuring us to go on an extended tour. I knew I couldn't do both so it was choose time.
I chose the one that I believed had some sort of future to it and maybe even some stability. What was I thinking, right? But nevertheless, that was the day I put my guitar down for good and gave up on the dream. I became a full time radio guy, which I have been ever since.
As I had written earlier, the beauty of having both titles led quickly to me getting a job offer to become the new Program Director of CKOM in Saskatoon.
So there I was about six months after Candis' birth, loading my baby girl, her mother and a few essential items into the car for our long cold drive to Saskatoon for the beginning our new future.
Taking the PD's job at CKOM was a excellent career opportunity for me. But I have to admit it was also very scary. We were leaving family, friends, and our hometown for the complete unknown.
I sure wasn't very popular guy with either of the two sets of Grandparents while making this career move. I was taking away their first grandchild, the one they all had been waiting a long time for.
I knew any small hopes I may have had about becoming son of the year, son in law of the year, husband of the year, or father of the year were definitely out the window with this new adventure of mine and what a long adventure it turned out to be.
The scariest thing about this first move was, I really wasn't sure what the day to day details of being a Program Director's were or even what they really did.
The only PD's I had ever known were Jimmy Darin my first, and for a short while his successor, Bill Grogan.
Bill and Jim each ran things a lot differently, and seeing as I had no way yet, I thought the best thing I could do would be to try and emulate Jim's style
The way Jim did it seemed to produce a bunch of wins for the station, not to mention we sure had a bunch of fun too as we were doing it.
Oh and did I mention that because we were having so much fun a few of us worked more hours than we ever got paid for.
Come to think of it I still work a couple of projects for Jim even now, and I still work more hours than I get paid for. How does he do it. (-:
The real truth to it was back then it was a lot more fun to hang out at the station than any place, so that's what we did. I wonder how many radio stations today have a bunch of radio types hanging around, long after their shift is over.
When I got my my first PD shot I decided that was the kind of work environment I would try to create.
When I worked for Jim as a pup, It didn't take me very long to figure out that he spent most of his time thinking about how to get more people to listen to the radio.
He always did big promotions and those promotions always caused talk. He also always had very colorful characters on the air. That all got so ingrained in me that to this day I cant think of a better way of doing it
Of course more people listening to the radio resulted in more ratings. More ratings led to fancy cars, fancy clothes, and big homes, Jim has always had more than his fair share of all that, and I sure needed me some.
My short term goal was to figure out how to get ratings as quickly as possible. I needed ratings quickly in order to achieve my long term goal, which was to get a job offer to return home to Winnipeg as a Program Director and live happily ever after.
But of course deep down what I really lusted after was to become the Program Director back at CKY, the station where making records and making radio had all started for me.
When I was growing up I always spent a lot of time just dreaming about becoming somebody. Trying to be somebody probably was the driving force behind a lot of things I did.
I played most sports and was pretty decent at them, but I wasn't very big, so I turned to music and started a band.
The band thing was very very exciting, there is nothing that feels like the feeling you get when your on stage performing. During my youth I spent most of my waking hours just wondering about stardom and how really good that must feel.
One of my fondest memories is Rolly (Termite) and me, plus a few of the other band members toasting each other and shouting ... "Lets get drunk and be somebody" as we downed our CC and Cokes and headed back to the stage for another set.
But eventually as fun as it was the band thing started to stall, and to make things worse I really didn't feel like I was anybody yet. Besides that, doing the band thing wasn't even coming close to satisfying all the pent up drive left in me.
So I had turned to radio, I figured if I ever was good enough to become the Program Director of CKY in Winnipeg, then I would definitely be somebody. Right ???
How was I to know as we drove through that frigid prairie night towards the future that we would never live in Winnipeg again. Hello Saskatoon, hello new beginning.
January 26 When my Daughter Candis turned five all I wanted to become was the man she already thought I was. When about 25 years later my Daughter Cami turned five I realized I still had some more work to do. My Brother Reg told me this week that I'm still much better at being inspirational than I am at being an A** Hole. He said he has met a bunch of them in his travels and most of them were a lot better at it than me. Damn! And I thought I was getting pretty good at it. There is a simple way of achieving happiness ... Just simply say what you mean, and mean what you say. Hey that ain't that simple! How long do you think the FCC is going to tolerate the nationalization of local radio. When I was discussing with Marnie Howard what I thought she should do with her great book "Giving Is Living" she said ... Your just fearless aren't you! I'm not sure she meant that in a good way. Robert Murphy told me that when he had a job interview in Dallas, to do mornings, he turned on the #1 Morning guy, Ron Chapman to hear how tough he would be to beat. Ron at that moment was taking a call from a woman who said she was calling from Arlington. When Ron asked her whereabouts in Arlington she told him and he said ... Oh your almost across the street from that old Texaco station they're tearing down. Robert said he was outta there, he couldn't possibly love the Dallas area as much as Chapman. Speaking of Ron Chapman, I can hardly wait to be sitting at his table in Vegas in April when the NAB inducts him in to the Radio Hall OF Fame. My main role in this affair is of course to carry his bags and park the car for Nance and him just like I have always done. There is nothing more powerful than a song, it just kinda sneaks up on you and changes your life. I only trust the people who love me. Boy that list sure could stand to be just tad longer. Shouldn't there be a little trainin' on what to do if you fall in love. It's the best and worst thing that will ever happen to you. I'm really lovin' the word yes lately and maybe that's only because I finally heard it a couple of times last week. As foreign sounding as it was, it still had a nice warm glow to it, just like I remembered. Canada is very proud of being a unprejudiced Nation. But when you hear the English speaking population talking about the French and vice versus not to mention how they both speak about the Indians, ya just gotta wonder where they came up with all that pride. Disneyland/World is just a bunch of roller coaster rides like any other park, but their image sure ain't. Hmmmmmmmmm Unfortunately it seems you don't accumulate wealth by being very nice. I wonder what's worse, being married to someone you don't love or being married to somebody who doesn't love you. After all these years, hearing my record with my band The Jury on the radio for the first time still ranks right up there as one of my all time favorite breathless moments. Joe Amaturo loves the word specificity but by the time you even learn how to say it ... It's already too late to live by it. There has got to be a good reason why there are not more statues dedicated to or honoring Mr. businessman. Jerry Del Colliano says that when Steve Jobs brings down his Tablet to us it will have access to virtually everything on it but Terrestrial Radio. If you can figure out how to get your listeners to listen to your station for an extra day a week, you'll blow the ratings apart. My daughter Candis asked me the other day if I won the lottery what would I do. I replied ... Remodel my Florida Condo, maybe by a little place in California for the summer and I guess a new car. She said no, what would you do work wise. I told her I wouldn't change a thing because right now I only work at what I want to work at, and and I only do it when I want to do it. Why would I want to change any of that. Back in the fifties, young adults had money for the first time in history and became a commodity called teens. They instantly invented Elvis, I wonder what they are inventing right now? I've noticed that your taste in women doesn't seem to evolve much as time goes on. When I was 15, twenty year old women sure looked great to me and they still do. I think radio folks at the moment are too busy working on things that have nothing to do with ratings to have any chance of getting any. I think all rock stars wish they had the charisma of movie stars and all movie stars wish they could sing like rock stars. I wonder what kind of people want to start a radio career these days. I only want women I cant have. The folks would rather listen to bad commercials than bad music. How could possibly not take it personally when you get fired? January 18
In part four of Buried Treasures I was wrote about how my hearing The Jury's first record on the air for the first time was a very special breathtaking moment for me, to put it mildly. I didn't think there ever could be another moment as strong again. But as usual I was wrong.
Being a member of The Jury as a kid was mostly just a lot of fun in our early days. Becoming a recording artist of course was an unbelievable experience, the stuff dreams are made of. But as I wrote before, I guess every up has to have it's down that's how Yin and Yang works
All that travel without any kind of serious money coming in, and none on the near horizon that I could see eventually took it's toll. Being a member of The Jury started becoming kinda frustrating for me.
At the same time the frustration was beginning to build, my part time day job at CKY on the other hand was becoming more and more fun.
I'm not sure if it was the fun or the curiosity about how radio worked that was turning me on but what ever it was I found myself spending a lot more time at the radio station and a lot less time with my guitar.
I had no idea back then that a couple of other things were already in motion and those other things were going to make the decision about what road I should take pretty easy to decide.
The first thing in a chain of events with my name on them happened shortly after Jimmy Darin ( Hilliard) left the radio station to head back to the States. Shortly there after Chuck Dann (Riley) also decided to leave, but before Chuck left he convinced management to give me his off air title. Chuck besides being an excellent on air talent was also Production Director of the station.
His claim to them was ... Seeing as I was doing all the production work anyway, I deserved the title. They agreed, and that was the beginning of the end for me and my band days.
Chuck later went on to become one of America's greatest voice over talents, so I think you could easily say that I really lucked out during my early impressionable radio years because without me even having the chops to know good from bad, it turns out I had been trained by the very best.
As I said goodbye to Chuck and thanked him for his vote I had no idea that in the not too distant future we would work together once again. Only the next time I would be his boss. I write that part with a smile on my face, because I doubt if anybody could really ever be Chuck's boss. What colorful character !
But the radio gods weren't done yet, wouldn't you know it but only a couple of months after Chuck's departure, another event occurred that really sped up all the big changes that were about happen to me.
It was sorta like the stars were all aligning with the next one, Daryl "B" ( Burlingham ) decided it was time for him to move on to a larger market so he resigned from CKY to accept a new on air position at CFUN in Vancouver, and went to work for the legendary Red Robinson.
Before Daryl left, he like Chuck also gave me with a wonderful going away gift, Daryl convinced the brass that I should have his Music Director's title. My fate was now sealed.
Those two special gifts from a couple of very special guys set up a whole new world of opportunity for me and that world of opportunity showed up in the form of yet another "Moment"
The next "Moment" jumped started a whole new exciting life for me and my family that has yet to end. A whole new life that allowed us to live a way beyond any dreams we may have had. But much more on that a little later.
Daryl like Chuck, went on to bigger things such as Jockin' on CKLW the BIG 8 in Detroit, after he left Vancouver then on to Radio Mecca in Canada, Toronto. In Canada, if you haven't played Toronto you haven't played. Daryl played and he played well.
Sadly as I mentioned before, both Chuck and Daryl have passed. I still miss them both. But I still have all the great memories of all the laughs and all the good times we had together, so they both still live on for me.
When I became both Music and Production Director of CKY it turned a part time job into a job full time job, something had to give and it was about to give real soon.
Meanwhile at the same time I was being promoted at the station the band had decided we needed one last shot at the big time and the only way to do that was improve the quality of our recordings, so we booked a session at Kay Bank studios in Minneapolis.
These studios had already produced a few top 10 hits for some other big acts, so maybe it could do the same for us.
What we needed was to record something good enough to get us American release so maybe we could go onto national fame like our band mates, The Guess Who and Neil Young.
The session in Minneapolis produced what was to to be our final record. The session itself was miserable, we had decided to take the train down and as usual somehow when we got together we always drank. By the time we hit the studio we were very hung over and sounded like S**T. But when we heard the first play back through those giant speakers it perked us up and pretty soon out came "Please Forget Her b/w Who Dat" which went on to become our biggest record. In fact it even went on to become the #1 Canadian Record in Canada.
Someone just told me the that they just saw it up on E Bay the other day for well over a hundred bucks. Oh and yes we did get that American release, but alas still no call from Dick Clark, no national fame, just more traveling and feeling a whole lot older at a time when the crowd appeared to be getting a whole lot younger.
I'm not sure if anyone could even come close to imagining what a tumultuous time this was for me. I had just become the Music and Production of CKY in Winnipeg plus had the #1 Canadian record in Canada on the charts. Hey you would think that would be enough excitement for one guy wouldn't you.
But no! Look out now, here comes that other "Moment" I was writing about earlier. But this moment though was of the breathless moment variety, a moment that calls my bluff and forces me to decide whether I'm a musician, or a radio guy. My Daughter Candis was born.
The real funny thing about Candis' birth that we both still laugh about was, for the nine months her mother was carrying her I was positive she was carrying around my son. I had his whole life mapped out for him, and wanted to get started on it as soon as we could after his birth.
Can you imagine my total surprise when they presented to me one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen in my life, my daughter. A daughter, are you kidding me ... What the hell do you do with them?
Years later at Candis' wedding I explained to the gathered guests that not only was I in complete shock after being presented with a brand new baby daughter, but even worse, I was without plans for her.
I told them she was a complete surprise to me then and she still is now. Candis who has done many exciting things in her life and made a father very proud many many times, now raises my Grandson Nathaniel. For Nathaniel I have a plan, it's an old and almost withered up plan, but it's a plan.
I love and live for breathless moments. I was told years later while studying with the Dean of Walt Disney University that life was really measured by them and if you don't have them you wont have many memories.
I just wonder how many do you suppose your allocated in a life time. I think I have had more than my fair share because another real big one showed up showed up about fourteen years ago, when my daughter Cami was born.
As I said I live for breathless moments but enough all ready with the daughters. I'm getting tired of them pushing me around, and putting me in my place.
The birth of my first daughter Candis woke me up big time. I wasn't much more than a kid, and barely able to take care of myself let alone a wife and a brand new baby girl. But I was starting to figure out that my raising a family and playing in a Rock & Roll band was just not coming together for me.
The strange thing that really forced my hand though was surprisingly, the success of our new record. We had also just gotten our American release which we were all very pumped about, but with that also came the pressure from the record company.
The record company wanted us to go on the road to expose the record to a whole new audience and see if we could make it a world wide hit which would get us the national fame we all had been craving.
I thought about this long and hard because I had spent a good portion of my life dreaming about this day. But deep down I knew I was not really a good enough musician to play myself home should the band break up on the road.
I had never dreamed about becoming a great guitar player, I just wanted to play a guitar on stage with a band and if I was lucky enough maybe bring a record out. Hey mission accomplished so I decided to walk away from it forever.
I must tell you, that first Saturday night at home in years was a weird weird feeling, which gave me great pause.
I guess I officially became a radio guy the day I hung up my "58 Strat". Yep I still have it and the funny thing is, I often think about if the radio business today was anything like that back then would I have still walked away.
Come to think of it there's nothing like the present, maybe I should just dig out the old Fender and put it in tune I could be Rockin' and Rollin' soon.(-: Hey c'mon, Burton, Randy, and Neil are still playing.
Although I had made my decision to be radio guy and was only a couple of months into my new full time radio gig, I was kinda getting buyers remorse. Most of my radio friends had left the station and without them radio seemed pretty boring. Just in the nick of time though wouldn't you know it, another "Moment" showed up.
One day when I walked into the on air studio to put a new album in the record bin, midday jock George Dawes was on the phone and I heard him say ... Thank you so much for the offer but I'm happy in Winnipeg and I want to stay here. When he hung up I said, hey "Doody" what was that all about. He told me that a station in Saskatoon that he had once worked at, was looking for a new PD, and they had offered him the job.
I said, wow I would love to be a PD. "Doody" then said he would call them back and tell them I was interested if I wanted him to. The next thing I knew I was on a plane to Saskatoon for a job interview.
I realized a long time ago that I got that interview mainly because of those two going away gifts I had received from Chuck and Daryl in the form of my two new radio titles.
I knew how to do Production and I knew a little about music, but I knew very little about being a Program Director. When Jimmy Darin was my PD I just carried out the tasks he needed done, but I wasn't sure what he did and I wished I had paid more attention. The thing I remembered most about Jim was he was a very inspirational guy and the work environment he provided at the station was total fun. I knew for sure that was something I was going to try and bring to my first PD gig.
Luckily I guess, I turned out to be a quick study for the rest of it because becoming the Program Director of CKOM in Saskatoon soon turned my career into a rocket ship.
Getting into programming "full time boogie" I was consumed by radio and never thought much about my band days. But when that new CD showed up with the seven Jury cuts on it a new sense of pride swelled up inside of me as I listened to it, and once again I was very proud of being a member of The Jury
I totally understand what Sir Paul McCartney meant when he recently said, that he is more amazed now by once being a Beatle, than he ever was while he was one.
I have come full circle on this whole issue. I had spent most of my teenage years in high school writing songs and day dreaming about becoming a rock star, instead of learning much and my grades showed it.
I was sure when you had records out the world would become your oyster. I couldn't figure out what school and being a Rock Star had in common with each other, but after years and years of practicing and playing I woke up one day and said, this sure isn't what I was dreamin' about. So I put all my energy into radio and forgot about the band
But now as I drove along listening to the new CD, "Buried Treasures" I cant help but wonder how many of the people driving beside me are listening to a new CD with seven of their tunes on it.
The Condo complex I live in must have at least thousand folks living in it in, how many of them do you suppose ever had a record out.
Once having a record out is now a special thing with me again after all these years. My daughter Candis who lives in the record star land of LA says she never runs into anybody that ever had a record out.
But now I'm so over the top about it all, that I'm converting one of the rooms in my condo in West Palm Beach into a music room. I have framed all my old 45's and I'm in the midst of hanging them, along with a bunch of pictures and memorabilia I still have. Can you say obsessive.
Hell If nothing else I figure doing this will give the folks from up north something to stare at while they are visiting when the snow flies in the Motherland. They may cut short their stay though when they figure out they have to hear the hours and hours of stories that go with all that stuff hanging there.
Here's to Chuck Dann,(Riley) Daryl "B", Mark Parr and Jimmy Darin,(Hilliard) four great Winnipeg Dee Jays who all went on to bigger and better things and left me behind with some very high standards to live up to. But they were also kind enough to leave behind some great left overs, big left overs that I soon used to jump start a great life for a kid from Transcona.
I had no idea that as good as I thought I had it back then that I was really only in Kindergarten. As time started picking up speed, It turned out that Jimmy Darin who had done so much for me in my early days by giving me enough rope to succeed or hang myself, hadn't really even started with me yet. Turns out he had a lot more rope waiting waiting for me.
I'll need a few adult beverages before I can get in to all of that though.
January 13 Radio for me is merely the soundtrack of life or maybe better put ... "Should be the sound track of life".
Do we have the name of the person who first came up with " Politically Correct." Do we also have the correct addresses of his or her family members ?
Men are into what "IT" is, Women are into why "IT" is.
It is said for every hour you exercise, you live two hours longer.
Everybody is for or against everything until it affects someone you love.
As the poor people of the world starting numbering into the many millions was it just sheer luck for all The Kings and the rest of the rich folks of the era that the "Ten Commandments" conveniently showed up in the nick of time.
While living in Florida it is easy to spot the snowbirds, they are the ones driving around with the top down as the rest of us occasionally have to bundle up in sweaters and jackets.
Doing music for a radio station is pretty simple ... Just play more of the music folks like and less of the music they don't like. Now what should go in between the tunes. Well therein lies the problem grasshopper.
It's not about the athlete it's about the game, it's not about the actor it's about the play, it's not about the artist it's about the painting, it's not about the musician it's about the music. But there is always the exception isn't there. It is about Tiger and not about golf.
There are a bunch of radio stations in America who have achieved the lofty position of "Good Enough" The problem in beating them is even though your station may sound better and even be more exciting, their listeners are not really dialing around to find anything else.
Bruce Munson told me he wants the new Miranda Rights to go as follows ... You have the right to remain silent for 15 seconds when the 15 seconds are up certain parts of your body will begin to hurt and will continue to hurt you until you tell us everything you know.
Hey once in a blue moon finally happened and it happened on New Years Eve.
Scott Shannon told me that a lot of Dee Jays need lessons on how to be appreciative and thankful for the generous people who mentored us in our strange business.
The economy is still not bad enough for the service to get any better.
If the pursuit of happiness is happiness then the pursuit of profit must be profit. Wait a minute that doesn't make any sense, I'm going to have to rethink this whole thing.
I'm a very focused individual but you put a beautiful smart woman between me and the project and I know I'm soon saying ... What project ???
Ron Below said that a great advertising slogan for an airline would be " We Profile"
John Picano wanted to know who my favorite talents were that I had coached. Hmmmmmm!
Well in no particular order here goes, Delilah, Jeff & Jer, Ron Chapman, Loren & Wally, Jim Harper, Cris Conner, Chuck Riley, Brent Farris, Bill Gardner, Cat Simon, Don Bleu, Buster Bodine, Russ Morley, Don Wright, Robert Murphy, and Jo Myers
would round out my top 15, with a bunch more to be named later, bubbling under.
From Canada it would go Gary Russell, Woody Cooper, Sandy Hoyt, Rick Moranis, Ken Singer, Keith Elshaw, Roger Klein, General Grant, The Magic Christian and Doc Harris who are all in my top 10.
When you have talent it gives you an opportunity to create your image, from that image comes your popularity.
Women tend to forgive but they never forget, men tend to never forgive.
Kurt Johnson said 90% of the traffic information on radio is irrelevant to 99% of the people listening.
Tim Moore said, before you can solve a problem you first have to figure out if it's a Puzzle or a Mystery.
Fear is a great motivator but the problem is I feel unmotivated because I'm not afraid of much anymore.
I've always felt that I was one of the best, but at what has always alluded me.
Only the government can be politically correct because they are playing with house money (ours) For the rest of us it means sanctioning incompetence, which leads only to bankruptcy.
I just heard from Joasia Holotka ( Jo Jo ) who tracked me down by e mail. We've lost touch with each other for about a decade. When I asked her if she was still beautiful she sent me this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Me5WFYWzkzI&feature=email
I'm much smarter on an e mail than I am on the phone.
When the then owner asked the then GM Ivan Braiker why he couldn't get his station to sound like WRMF, Ivan relied ... Because it's what George doesn't do on WRMF that makes it sound the way it does.
December 30
In Buried Treasures part three I was writing about The Jury recording our first tune "Until You Do" the details of which came back so vividly to me as I was driving up I 95 in South Florida listening to a brand new CD called Buried Treasures which just happened to have seven of our old hits on it.
As I was driving down the road, listening and humming along to all those old tunes of ours, it sorta put me in a trance and forced me to kinda reflect on all of the good times we had together as a band. But as they say, the good comes with the bad, so unfortunately I still remember the bad times and all the disappointments too.
All bands I think go through a lot of bad stuff, you know the long drives to the gigs, the long nights playing for four hours, the hangovers, the band fights, the not getting paid, and the real bad part that breaks most bands up ... Running out of topics to talk about while talking to people who only have the music in common.
I could handle all the bad stuff OK but it was the big disappointment of Dick Clark not calling to put us on Bandstand that brought me to my knees and ultimately ended my band days.
Hey that's how I heard it was supposed to be when you had records out. You know the limos, fine women, fine wine, fame, movie deals, and lots and lots of spending cash. Hey I always heard all this stuff kinda just showed up right after your first appearance on American Bandstand.
Dick never called man, so I think I'm outta here! But having a record out did provide me with one of the greatest moments of my life
But I think I'm getting ahead of myself here because first I want to tell you about how I accidentally stumbled into radio and I'll get back to "The Moment" part later.
When "Until You Do" was released I thought my future and what I was destined to do had finally showed up. Later, much to my surprise I discovered I wasn't even halfway to what was to become my destiny. Music was going to be my life alright, but just not this way.
Don't get me wrong I was very lucky and privileged to become a recording artist. Being in a band though led to something that turned out to be much more important in my life. Being a musician had put me in touch with the four four guys who would introduce me to what I was always intended to do.
The Jury was just part of my journey and it taught me things that I would need much later down the road a piece.
Two of the four guys who are responsible for my life as it is unfortunately are no longer with us. I just hope I was smart enough to have communicated to Chuck Dann (Riley) and Daryl B. (Burlingham) how generous they were back then for giving the band a shot at our dreams.
Daryl and Chuck were the ones that recorded our first record and you would think that would be enough but they weren't done with me yet.
Another special person of the four who figured so prominently in my life was Mark Parr. Mark was another one of the great Jocks at CKY I hung out with quite a bit. We did a little after hours drinking now and then and I thoroughly enjoyed watching how he charmed all the ladies. In fact Mark would have given Tiger a run for his money back then and maybe even still today.
One day when I went up to the station to see what plans Mark had for after his show, he talked me into trying a little board work just for grins. For some reason even though it all looked very complicated, I picked it up fairly quickly. Pretty soon Mark was bugging everyone in command at the station that CKY needed to hire me part time to help out.
Unbelievably Mark got it done. I vividly remember thinking at the time ... Hey this is just fun and now Mark you say they're actually going to pay me. You've got to be sh**ing me.
The way I figured it was until you get famous every band guy needs a day job. My day job was the best I couldn't believe my lucking out like this. The rest of the band had jobs that seemed very boring to me, I had the exciting one.
What I never even suspected was, I was working part time at something I was destined to do for the rest of my life. I thought I was a musician but It turned out I was a much better radio guy. I just didn't know it yet.
I was assigned everyday to fill in at noon on CKY FM as a board for the full time went for lunch. I got to spin beautiful music discs in stereo for an hour, back when FM wasn't cool.
The rest of my work time was spent hanging out and learning from the earlier mentioned Chuck Dann who was the Production Director. Chuck ended up shortly there after returning to America as Chuck Riley, and soon became one of the world's best voice over guys. Chuck who had taught me most of his production tricks before he left, also recommended that I replace him as the Production Director when he left the station.
Daryl B. by this time was almost a member of the The Jury he by now MC'd most of our gigs and even joined us on stage to compete with me on who could scream the loudest. I'm thinkin' now, that couldn't have been too good for his voice, I know because mine is still shot from it.
Daryl much too soon went on to bigger things in Vancouver and Toronto, but before he left he was kind enough to recommend me for the Music Director's position.
Those two moves, Chuck recommending me for the Production Director's job and Daryl also getting me the Music Director's job had sealed my fate and jump started my brand new career, long before I even knew I had one.
A side bar about Daryl here is Randy Bachman told me a few years ago that he used to listen to Daryl on the air and heard him say all the time ... This is Daryl B. "Takin' Care Of Business". Randy claimed the phrase just stuck in his head for years and one day just popped out one day as a world wide hit.
When I began working at the CKY I sorta just hung out after my short shift was over, just trying to learn the radio ropes while I waited for Dick Clark to call me with the date he needed The Jury to appear on Bandstand.
Learning all about radio was fun for me and I was very very curious about all the programming aspects and why they did everything they did. After all I had nothing else to do while I waited for Dick's call. He definitely turned out to be a Dick and not a Richard in my life.
Jimmy Darin who was the Program Director of CKY and my boss, turned out to be the fourth and probably the most influential member of that special team of four who completely changed my life.
Jim used to say to me all the time ... Hey squirrel can you do this project for me or that one over there and when your done with that do you know how to do this.
Jim was a real different kind of boss for me, It was the first time in my life that I worked at a place where you called your boss Jim, instead of Mr. Darin.
I of course told Jim that I could do all his projects and more bring 'em on. Then I would run around the station looking for someone who could teach me how to do it.
I remember one day being invited to the Jock meeting, which for me was a very rare privilege as I was the only board op to do so. At this meeting Jim was explaining some new twist to the format and at the end he asked if there were any questions. Like a fool I put up my hand and he kinda glared at me and asked what my question was. I told him I didn't think his new twist to the format was going to work because me and my friends wouldn't listen to stuff like that.
He told me that my job at these meetings is too shut up and just listen. he still says that to me to this day as we work on a couple of projects together.
Jimmy Darin of course was Jim Hilliard and still one of my best friends even to this day. When Jim left CKY to return to America we stayed in touch. In fact when he was making history at WFIL in Philly, he tried to hire me to board op the promos because he liked the little twists I gave them. I had a knack of making them all sound like movie trailers and he wanted that sound on The Famous 56.
But just popping across the border wasn't going to happen but it did start the necessary paper work Jim and I would need a little later. By the time Jim called again I was full tilt boogie into my radio career and by this time was the Station Manager of CFTR in Toronto. Jim called to say, it's time for you to stop fooling around in Canada. You need to get down here and take America on, boy!
Jim by this time after blowing apart Philadelphia was back in Indianapolis and was running Fairbanks Communications with a piece of the rock which was unheard of in those days.
Jim was busily buying up new stations as the new CEO and he was trying to run them all by himself. He said he needed me as his National PD because he had just bought a station in Dallas called KVIL and he was out of time.
Now just like when I was cutting my first record and got no premonition that my life was about to change nothing showed up when I heard the call letters KVIL for the first time. No chills, no wind chimes, no nothing to warn me that those now famous call letters were going to change my life again for the third time.
Four guys, Mark, Daryl, Chuck and Jim were instrumental in making come true everything I had ever dreamed about. As a kid I desperately wanted to be somebody when I grew up. It took all four of them to make that dream even possible.
I have just recently reconnected with Mark, but as I mentioned sadly both Chuck and Daryl are gone. I still do as I mentioned do a couple of projects with Jim but mostly we just kinda hang out and laugh a lot just like we did when we first met.
But I do have to confess that I have noticed lately that he is starting to get a little grumpy. Maybe that's just because he is so much older than me.
Another strange side bar to all of this radio stuff is ... The Jury's original singer Donny Burns also ended up in radio as a Dee Jay and big voice over guy in Toronto. J Robert Wood who booked a lot of our appearances went on to become a legendary Radio Programmer in Canada. Even Randy Bachman who played a couple of gigs with us when we were Phantoms now does a National Radio show himself on the CBC in Canada. Terry Kenny our lead guitar player became a Radio and TV engineer when his guitar pickin' days were done.
Radio it seems trapped a lot of we unsuspecting lads from Winnipeg in its sticky web.
Before getting hooked on radio I remember thinking that when you signed a record deal your moment in the sun had arrived. But I soon found out that wasn't true when yet another disappointment showed up as Chuck and Daryl explained the bad news to me. They told me other than bragging rights nothing was going to happen with the band until you get your record played on the radio. How do I get that done I innocently asked. You've got to figure out how to get Jimmy Darin to add it to the station's play list was their reply.
Well I guess I would try to figure out how to deal with all of that getting a record played type stuff come Monday when I got back from a weekend gig in Brandon Manitoba.
Once again how was I to know one of the greatest thrills of my life "The Moment" was about to happen. That moment is something very few people have ever experienced
I still remember it being a beautiful sunshine filled afternoon with nothing but a blue Manitoba sky above us as we driving out of town listening to Jimmy Darin playin' the hits. All of a sudden we hear Jimmy Darin say ... Here's the KY Instant Discovery "Until You Do" by The Jury, turn it up Winnipeg !
He didn't need to tell us to turn it up because we almost blew the speakers out as we sang along at the top of our lungs with the first ever playing of our first record. Even though many breath taking moments have occurred in my life that will always be one of the best.
I need not conjure up that unbelievable moment any more because good friend Chuck McCoy another Winnipeg boy who made good and is the V/P of all things Rogers in Canada not too long ago found the air check of that special moment in the archives of CKY when his company bought the station.
Chuck was kind enough to burn it to CD and send it to me. How precious do you suppose that is to me.
Ahhh gotta stop now because my favorite thing to do has showed up again, another radio meeting (-: But I will tell you this, the moment anybody agrees about anything I'm outta there before they talk themselves out of doing the right thing.
When I get out of the radio meeting I think I'm going to write about how recently I finally understand what Sir Paul meant when in a recent quote he said ... The Beatles are much bigger to me now than they ever were when I was a Beatle. And also how I used the two gifts I received from Chuck and Daryl to propel my radio career along at warp speed, as the Buried Treasures saga continues.
December 22, 2009 Brent Farris told me that radio used to be a part of Showbiz but when they pulled the Show & The Biz apart the magic escaped.
Have you ever noticed that kids are just mildly amused by magical tricks. That's because they believe in magic, we don't so we are totally amazed wondering how he did it.
My Daughter Candis said to me, the new catch phrase should be " If you don't fix it ... It's going to break."
Robin Garrett said the only talk she ever hears about President Obama, is just on talk radio
I was taught early in my radio career that the only two things that mean anything are Ratings & Revenue. Either I was lied to, or the guys at the top are definitely over paying themselves.
It takes a little talent to recognize talent.
My brother Reg and I were talking about the fact that radio sales people never seem to realize when they are trying to get a sales promotion on the air that it is never been about who pays our salaries or whether or not the station needs the money or not that gets our attention.
With programing people it's only about the image the promotion comes with good or bad.
Warren Cosford wrote ... There doesn't seem to be any room for mavericks in radio anymore.
What would you ever TiVo on radio even if you could.
When did free air go up to 75 cents ?
Well it looks like Obama is just like his predecessor, afraid of big business. They are all still doing whatever they want, whenever they want to, just like they all were doing when the economy nose dived. I can hardly wait to hear as usual, how it's entirely our fault.
I was just reading that Nielsen did a study with adults in America and found out of all the audio they heard 50% of it was to radio and 8% to Satellite radio. What I can't figure out is why the NAB spent so much money fighting the Satellite merger.
If they need a project why don't they spend it on trying to get car manufacturers to install regular antennas on cars rather than the hidden in the windshield type.
Have you heard how good radio sounds on a real antenna lately?
Did you ever wonder why so many recording artists moved to Canada in the early days of Rock&Roll, believe me it sure wasn't for tax purposes.
But the flight over the border all seemed to happen right after Jimmy Rogers was mysteriously beat up and hurt real bad.
The only thing besides the music these transplanted Americans had in common was, they all happened to record for the same label.
In Canada where the citizens pride themselves on being an independent nation.
But the Canadian Government of course just about copies everything America does, while speaking out against said same.
Canada like America also decided to go consolidation, even though most radio stations in Canada were making money. In fact it was said you had to try real hard not to.
The result of Canada's consolidation move is the same as the US, layoffs 900 at a time.
Now the CRTC (FCC) for some reason is beginning to grant a bunch of brand new licenses.
I can only think that the reason for that must be so all the unemployed radio people will have more choices to listen too as they sit at home with nothing but time on their hands.
What men want most from women is unconditional adoration or they might just have to wander off to find it. Ask Tiger.
Jeff Katz told me that he is so fed up with taxes that he is going to take up bunch of Floridians with him to Washington to do a Boston Tea Party Reunion.
For the last little while the wholesale price of gas has been going down but the pump price has been pretty stable. But now I've noticed the wholesale price is headed back up. They aren't going to raise the pump price are they? They wouldn't cheat us would they? Huh, the pump price is already up!
During my life I have known a few married guys who get hit on by women all the time, if they give in to temptation I would call that 2nd degree cheating as opposed to married guys who hit on women. That in my opinion would be called 1st degree cheating, and should be dealt with accordingly.
How long do think Arbitron can withstand pressure from the government to fudge the ratings for Urban and Hispanic radio stations. What do you mean check Chicago ?
I just got an e mail from Scott Shannon in New York after reading my piece "Buried Treasures." Scott said ... I know Neil Young, The Guess Who, and The BTO Boys and I also know that they like you are from that same God forsaken city in Canada, but I never heard of The Jury. How did I miss them ?
Russ Morley e mailed me that he thought bad decisions made good stories. This man knows of what he speaks.
Ron Chapman wrote ... There's not much radio left in which to practice our craft, but as the Trail Boss said in " City Slickers"; 'The Day aint' Over Yet'.
America is frightened and the more frightened it gets the more it will seek returning to the familiar womb.
Jo Myers was walking her small dog recently in Chicago when it was suddenly attacked by a St Bernard. Jo successfully wrestled the huge dog off of her little dog but was cited by the police because in doing so she had to drop the leash to save her dog's life. Don't you just love America.
Billing always follows the ratings but ratings seldom if at all, ever follow the billing.
Unfortunately women don't go to bars where men hang out but the reverse is certainly true.
Often an E mail is really only for someone who is on the CC list.
I think 50 year old women like what 40 year old women like, but I don't think the reverse is true.
I over heard Nance Chapman say to Tom Skinner with a soft Southern drawl ... Tom would you rather marry a woman who had 20 lovers in 20 years or a woman who had 1 lover in 20 years. Tom said, I would rather marry the one who only had one lover. Nance responded with ... See that's the real difference between men and woman.
It seems to me that the thing most women want in their life is choices. But my experience has been when they finally get all the choices, they seldom choose.
Scott Carpenter said ... For every dollar of income an personality makes, he pays $10.00 in Alimony.
December 15, 2009 The reason I started writing Buried Treasures in the first place was because when I was visiting a client radio station in South Florida, WFTL I had gotten a phone call from Shawn Nagey, who was calling to tell me he was putting a reunion concert together in Winnipeg with a bunch of the bands from the 60's and 70's. He was calling to ask if I would consider reuniting The Jury for the event. I had done one earlier with Neil Young, The Guess Who and Bachman Turner Over Drive in 1987, but as I told Shaun, as fun as all that was, that was it for me.
I had left my band The Jury shortly after my daughter Candis was born even though we had the #1 Canadian record on the Canadian charts. In fact it was just listed on E Bay the other day for a hundred bucks.
At the time of my leaving the group I was just beginning my radio career, and because it took off so quickly it took up most of my waking hours, so other than my brief appearance at the '87 group reunion, I hadn't given a lot thought to my old band days.
Even my daughter Candis mentioned to me that she really loves reading all this stuff about my band because it's all new to her. When she was growing up she only knew me as Dad, the radio guy. Of course she knew I once had a band and all but she had never heard me talk about it much.
Candis also told me that she was very proud of the fact that her Dad once had records on the charts before she was born. The whole thing was a very big deal to her
Candis' much younger sister Cami on the other hand has a much different opinion. Cami questions the reason we would even bother to record such lame sounding music. She's deathly afraid her friends might hear it and she will be banned from the 8th grade forever not to mention her embarrassment about it all..
When I returned again to WFTL again a couple of weeks later, the receptionist informed me that this time a CD had arrived in the mail for me. I thought it a little odd someone would send a music CD to WFTL which is a news and talk station. But OK it was free so what the heck.
The CD turned out to be an oldies album called "Buried Treasures" and as I flipped it over to see if some old favorites of mine were on it, just try to imagine my surprise when I discovered, lo and behold there were seven cuts by The Jury listed there. Wow how cool was that. I wonder what The Jury sound like in digital after all this time.
There was only one way to find out if this old Jury stuff was even listenable anymore, but I was going to do it in private. I quickly headed out the door and jumped into my car, dropped the top and pulled out of the station's driveway on my way to I 95 for the fairly long drive north to my home in West Palm Beach.
As I whipped along the interstate I shoved the CD into the player and turned it way up because I thought if might be a little noisy with the top down on the old Benz. But that might be a good thing, if The Jury sucked on this CD.
Not to worry though about the noise. The wind and traffic sounds were no match for Terry's unique sounding guitar opening for "Until You Do" as it cut through the speakers just as well as it had through those giant speakers in the studio where we had first cut it, those many years before.
When Bruce's voice hit my speakers I suddenly felt like I was being transported back in time. Magically there I was with the rest of The Jury being led down a dimly lit hallway of a radio station by two of radio's greats Chuck Dann (Riley) and Daryl B. (Burlingham)
Chuck and Daryl were two Dee Jays back then on one of Winnipeg's most popular radio stations, CKY which interestingly enough was located on what was reportably to be the coldest street corner in Canada, Portage and Main. But yet others claim it's actually the coldest street corner anywhere on the planet earth.
Even now as I think about all that transpired that night of all nights I wonder why as Chuck and Daryl led us to the studio on that cold December night I didn't get some kind of a premonition of all the things to come. I know now that before that night was done, my life was never ever the same again.
I like you, have seen all those movies where the main character always looks around, surprised by something he thought he heard, an eerie sound or maybe he just felt a sudden chill come over him as his life was about to change big time.
But those things just happen in the movies I guess, and this was real life. But come to think of it my life sure seems to resemble some kind of movie.
The whole reason we were walking down that hallway on that very frigid night was because The Jury desperately needed some kind of demo we could use to send out to concert promoters and such. We were even kinda hoping that if it turned out near good enough maybe we could also use it to get a record company interested in us.
But we all knew the odds of that were pretty slim because we were in a little bit of a bind at the moment. Our long time singer Donny Burns had recently skipped town to cut a novelty Christmas record on his own in Toronto called " Cool Yule."
I remember being really bummed out about it all because not only did we have this session booked, but we still had a bunch of dance commitments left to do with local concert and dance promoter J Robert Wood.
What with Donny's disappearing act, all we had left to record were a few original instrumentals which really wouldn't show us off as well as I would have liked, but they would have to do because I in no way was going to cancel this session after Chuck and Daryl were nice enough to arrange it for us.
Luckily for the group Terry Kenny our lead guitar player had recently recruited Bruce Walker the singer from his old band, The Chord U Roys to join us. But unfortunately we were still many rehearsals away from him helping us finish up all our dance dates let alone help us tonight. Bruce came along anyway just to kinda hang out with all of us.
I can still see in my minds eye the studio as it looked back then as we entered it through this huge sound proof door that closed with a soft swoosh like thud. To me it felt like we had just entered the cone of silence.
I can still see the once white acoustic tile on all the walls, kinda yellowing probably from the hundreds of cigarettes that had been smoked in there when all kinds of different bands had performed live on the radio from here, so many years before. Some of the old tiles over time had fallen off and were just stacked over in the corner waiting for someone to reattach them.
In the opposite corner were some neat old music stands just kind of pushed together and out of the way. Right In the middle of the studio was this huge black grand piano that seemed to be begging to be played again like it always was, back when it was still popular to have live bands on the radio. I couldn't resist so I pounded out a couple of bars of some old Jerry Lee Lewis tune on it.
Even the unsightly cigarette burns on the studio furniture looked like they belonged as I stood there breathing in the moment. Even now I can still smell the old cigarettes mixed together with the the not so good aroma of stale rancid beer and lord knows what ever else that was hanging in the air.
As I waited for are session to begin I wondered what tales this studio could tell us about all the musicians and singers that had performed here. Was The Jury destined to become another one of it's many many stories of the famous and not so famous who had all played here hoping something special was going to happen.
I knew for sure of one special person who had played here when he was a kid. He was playing for his Mom and Dad's band when they all played live on the radio every Saturday morning. He called himself Hal Lonepine Jr. back then, but it wasn't long before he was known to the music world as Lenny Breau, one of world's greatest guitar players ever.
On the nights we got to play in town we used to go to the all night Jazz clubs where Lenny was playing after our gig. We would just sit there and watch in awe as Lenny played.
I think even Randy Bachman who at one time was lucky enough to get private guitar lessons from him, would probably agree that with out Rock& Roll Lenny probably would have been the only one playing anywhere and the rest of us would have been s**t out of luck.
They say hind sight is 20-20 and I now remember the moment my whole life was about to change. I just sitting there with Terry tuning our guitars while the rest of the guys were setting up the rest of the band gear and helping Chuck and Daryl place all the mics where they needed to be.
That special moment occurred with out any fan fare as Bruce approached Terry and me saying that he was working on a new song. He asked us if we could help him with it because if we finished it up in time, he thought maybe it could tagged on to the end of the session and give our demo tape a little variety.
Terry and I jumped in with couple of words here and there that sorta rhymed plus worked out a few of the chords and added some guitar parts.
At some point the rest of the band drifted over to see what was going on and they too were soon adding their own creativity to our on the spot creation.
As we shaped the tune we started getting a little excited because the more little things we added to the song, the more English it started sounding. The British invasion was in full force by then, and we like all the bands in Winnipeg were trying to capture that great new sound that was sweeping the world as quickly as we could.
Earlier when Donny Burns was our singer, he sounded just like Elvis, that Elvis sound had served us well for a good many years but as Dylan had aptly put it, "The times they was a changin'."
With Bruce in the band now we knew we had a pretty good shot at sounding a whole lot more like today and sounding today meant sounding a lot more English.
Not only after this session did our sound change but so did our look. It wasn't very long until we started looking very English. I have to laugh even now as I remember Rolly Blaquiere our Bass player having to comb his hair back like Elvis each morning when he went back to his day job at the CNR shops.
At the shops and all over Transcona the worst thing that could ever happen to you was being called was a phony. Being a phony was the biggest crime you could commit in our town even though we had more than our fair share of gangsters living in it.
To all the blue collar union types in the shops all the Brits just looked like phony girls. So for Rolly, Elvis it was.
Finally our recording session got underway and it went fairly smoothly as we struggled a bit learning how to be a recording band as well as a performing band. We had our instrumentals down pretty tight after playing them so often at gigs, so we layed them down rather quickly.
Now the moment we were all waiting for, it was time to get on with Bruce's new vocal. We were all quite anxious to get started on it because we felt we had something a little special going on with it. But we needed to hear if it sounded as special as we thought it did once we got it on tape.
The first thing we did was lay down the instrumental backing together with Bruce's vocal all mixed together at the same level. This little technique enabled us to keep our guitars loud and very thick sounding, it moved them right up in front of the speakers. On the next take Bruce simply sang along with himself which just popped his voice right out there, without us having to turn the music track down.
After only a few takes we were done there was nothing more we could do to it to make it better. The time had come to join Chuck and Daryl in the control room and hear what we had. As the final mix of "Until You Do" played through those giant speakers we all looked at each other and smiled. With the sound of disbelief in our voices we said ... Are we just tired, or does this sound pretty damn good. Not only did it sound pretty damn good, it also sounded very very British.
Even later when our drummer Ray Stockwell bumped into Gary Peterson of The Guess Who, Gary told him when he first heard our song on the radio he thought it was a new one by The Beatles. But I'm getting a way ahead of myself here, more on how "Until You Do" got on the radio comes later on that.
Back in the control room we listened to the master several more times and I thought the repeat playing of it, just made it sound all the much better. The real burning question of the day though was what do we do with it now.
Chuck and Daryl suggested that we needed to play it for Jimmy Darin. (Jim Hilliard) They claimed that If anybody knows what to do with this it will be him. Jim was CKY's Program Director and he picked what tunes got played on the station, so he should know.
Around noon the next day Chuck, Daryl and me meet Jim back in the same production room where we had cut our song.
I only knew Jim slightly then and only because he had MC'd a couple of our gigs. I still remember standing there just scared to death as Chuck threaded the tape onto the big old tape machine. Daryl turned the pot up real loud and hit the start button. A new day had dawned and I wondered as I nervously stood there, if our new tune from the night before could stand the light of the new day.
Terry's guitar intro suddenly blasted out of those huge speakers, then when I heard Bruce's voice start singing I got goose bumps. I couldn't believe it actually sounded much better today than it did yesterday. But it was over much too quickly for my liking because now good or bad it was time for me to hear Jim's opinion. There was only silence, which to me was much louder than the song.
Jim finally broke the silence by saying ... Hey there's a guy by the name of Hal Ross from London Records coming into see me late this afternoon. Hal is on some kind of a PR tour for his label and I'm thinkin' we should make him hear this tape before I let him buy me dinner. He then turned to me and said, George do you think you can hang out till then. Right, I was going somewhere!
A few hours later Hal showed up for his appointment with Jim and once Jim got off the air we took him right back to the production room and rolled the tape. "Until You Do" thundered through the speakers one more time. I still remember as the last chord fades away, Hal Ross saying ..." HELL I'LL RELEASE THAT". Wow and just like that we were London Recording Artists. I'm talkin' label mates with The Stones man! They'll probably want us to open for them when they hear.
Even today it is too hard to explain what hearing the words "Hell I'll Release That" meant to me, and just how exciting they were to hear.
Hal true to his word went on to give us a great record deal, you know the one where the record company gets everything and the band gets nothing. But what did I care back then I remember just being ecstatic.
I literally flew down the station's stairway about ten feet off the steps, and at about the speed of sound. I was real anxious to get home and share the unbelievable news with everyone.
About halfway to the bottom I pass Neil Young who was headed up the stairs. Neil had Guitar in hand and as we nodded at each other as we passed, I remember thinking ... I wonder what he hopes to produce with just that guitar. I know he cant sing, I've heard him!
Damn they're calling me for another radio station meeting, maybe I'll use a little humor at this one to lighten it up a bit. Maybe after the meeting if we all have time, I'll tell you about the four guys who gave me two careers and more importantly got me the hell out of Transcona.
Oh yeah and just when I though there would never be another special moment another better one comes along that I can still hear anytime I want to now as the Buried Treasures saga continues.
December 7, 2009
In part one of " Buried Treasures" I wrote about getting a call from a Shawn Nagey a concert promoter who had tracked me down at WFTL in South Flotida.
Shawn had called to see if I would be interested in putting my old band The Jury back together for a 60's and 70's band reunion he was doing back in Winnipeg.
I told him thanks, but no thanks, I had already being there, done that back in 1987 when I had reluctantly gone back for the first big band reunion at The Winnipeg Convention Center.
This one had featured famous Winnipegers, Neil Young,The Guess Who, Bachman Turner Over Drive, The Jury, and a bunch of other local 60's bands. I surprisingly had a ball at that one and even ended up unexpectedly playing.
But the band phase of my life was a way over back then and was even more over now. As I said I had already done a reunion so I couldn't see any sense in returning to do it again, not to mention the fact that all the bands he had regrouping were from the later sixties and early seventies. The Jury was popular in the mid too late 60's, so this was a little after my band time, and more in my brother Reg's era when he had his band Saffron.
Reg who was in attendance at this reunion said it was kinda sad because the Rock & Roll wars that had started some forty years ago between these bands continued right up to show time.
One of the new disputes was which band is still big enough now to close the show. Reg told me the funny part was the show was running so long that by the time they figured out who was closing the show most of the crowd had already left.
Earlier when Shawn had told me all about his plans for this new reunion he had mentioned that a couple of the old Dee Jays were coming back to MC the whole affair. After I hung up the phone with him I started thinking back about all the great Dee Jays of that era.
I wonder what they are all doing now are they still alive, what ever became of them. I had spent endless hours listening to them teach me about Rock & Roll when I was just a kid growing up in Transcona. I dreamed of being just like them, hanging out with all the stars and all.
I had no idea that I would get to live the life they lived only I got to do it in double time. Hey wouldn't it be fun to reunite them at the same time as all the bands were reuniting.
These were the radio Guys I spent most of my waking hours listening to as I was trying to learn how to become a musician. I even was lucky enough to get to know a few of them when they MC,d some of the dances we played around Winnipeg.
What fun it would be to to see and talk with some of these legendary Dee Jays again. I for one would like to have an opportunity to just thank them for being a great inspiration to me when I was but a young Turk, trying to be somebody. Trying to be somebody was what fueled me through a lot of hard times later on.
The guys I can hardly wait to see again are the giants like PJ The DJ, Deno Corrie, Mark Parr, Jimmy Darin, Gary Todd, Daryl B and Chuck Dann from CKY, Frank Todd, Boyd Kozak, Don Slade, Harry Taylor, Dave Palmer, Doc Stein, Ron Legge, Bob Bradburn, Bob Washington Jim Christie and Jim Paulson from CKRC
These were the legends in Winnipeg and all of them were so much bigger than the records they played.
They were the guys that influenced so many of us kids back then who like them got sucked into the not so glamorous world of show business. Four of those special guys later changed my life forever..I have a way too many of my own stories, but for an opportunity to spend a night with these guys, even I think I could shut up for once and just listen to what they had to say.
I am still in contact with a few other Winnipeg pups from back then people like J Robert Wood, Chuck McCoy and Gary Russell who all went on to much bigger things after serving as board ops and gophers, when the legends were on the air rockin.' We all watched and listened and I know I often wondered what it must be like being them. I think we all hoped someday we would find out.
I know where a couple of them are but it's going to take some time finding the others. Warren Cosford another Winnipeg radio guy who made the big time we thought would be the perfect person to spearhead this project.
But it was not to be, there just wasn't enough time to round everybody up in time for the scheduled band reunion. But I think with the way things are going we've got this done before it's too late.
Hey this just in ... Warren says that BTO is reuniting in Winnipeg for Manitoba's 2010 homecoming ... I'm thinkin' that's when we are going to do it!
All this talk about reunions and stuff though has got me thinking once again again about my own musical beginnings. I'm talking about a way back when my obsession with music first started. Back when I was not such a stellar student at TCI in Transcona.
I wasn't very popular with all my teachers back then mostly because I used to just sit around in class all day writing songs and uttering the occasional smart assed remark instead of paying attention to my studies like I was supposed to. Well at least I finally gave up one of them.
Luckily for me one day I got invited to join the local vocal group called Shayne and The Devines and just like that my whole world caught on fire.
After only very few rehearsals we started playing at a bunch of community club dances, and school functions. I to this day still remember how terrified I was going up on the stage in those very early days
Butterflies use to just fill up my stomach all the time, but thankfully they soon just became part of the "high" of playing. Many years later when they went away, I knew it was about time to hang 'em up.
Shayne and the Devines as I mentioned were a vocal group but I always wanted to be in a band so I talked the rest of the group into adding some great musicians to our act. Talented people like Peter Proskurnik on sax, Gordy Duke on drums, Lawrence (fade) Balaquiere on Piano, Lawrence's younger brother Rolly on bass and me on guitar and just like that we became The Rebel Raiders and started playing a lot of instrumentals that were very popular on the radio at the time.
Even though I now was a so called professional musician I still hadn't given up my dreams yet about becoming a running back for The Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Hey I had to have something in my back pocket if this band thing didn't work out.
When I was going to High School I played halfback with Transcona Nationals along with my rather large best friend Jim Quail who was a line man. I think I kinda suspected if me being called a "Devine" went on much longer, Jimmy was sure to put the boots to me. ( a Transcona tradition)
As time went on even the name Rebel Raiders started sounding jive to me so we became The Phantoms, which to this day I believe was my best band.
When we went from Rebel Raiders to Phantoms we started adding a few new band members like Jimmy Harrison on another sax, I moved over to rhythm guitar when I found this kid by the name of Perry Waksvic. Perry was a huge pain in the ass, but as Chuck Berry said, he could play guitar just like ringing a bell and man could he ever wail.
Next we added Jerry Zenchuk on drums. Jerry was the first guy I had ever seen wear Hollywood shades on stage, he just looked too cool.
You would think that would do it but we also decided to add a great vocal group along with two feature singers, Gerry Anderson and Donny Burns. Gerry looked like Fabian and Donny sounded like Elvis.
The Phantoms were by far easily the best band in Winnipeg. Man what a sound. There was only one huge problem with the Phantoms, when it came time to divvy up the spending cash each night there was never enough to go around. I knew then it couldn't last, but I still remember it as being so fine.
Sometimes it's just good to be King and if nothing else for a little while we were the Kings of all the bands in Winnipeg.
But now It was time to get back to reality and reality meant we had to get back to the basics of Rock&Roll and stop fooling around. We needed to make some serious money if we were ever going to upgrade and get all the stuff we needed like bigger amps and stuff so we would have a shot at the big time.
Hey come on Rock and Roll all started with three guitars and drums. So three guitars and drums it was and The Jury was born. It didn't take too long for The Jury to become the most popular band I ever played in. We even got open for people like Ral Donner,Gene Piney, The Bill Black Combo, The Crickets Peter and Gordon, Manfred Mann, The Zombies and even legends like Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison. Not to mention eventually having our own #1 record.
The Jury consisted of Terry Kenny on lead, me on rhythm Roland Blaquiere (termite) on bass who had been with me since The Rebel Raiders, Ray Stockwell on drums and Donny Burns who had been a Phantom as well, was our vocalist.
When I think back on this band stuff I cant ever remember when anybody elected me Captain of all of this, but for some reason I turned out to be the leader of the band.
Maybe I was Just the most intense about it all and could persuade the guys into doing a lot of different stuff. I know for sure I wasn't qualified to do it but I ended up deciding the fate of all the bands I was involved in plus consequently of course each band member.
Being the band leader though wasn't much fun as it sounds. It meant mostly just calming down all the disagreements the guys had with each other. I now think was just in training for what I was about to become a little further on down the road.
Maybe it was just like Randy Bachman said to me after I left The Jury and he was trying to recruit me for The Guess Who, a very nice honor but I turned him down saying that I was not even close to being a good enough musician to play with them. Randy said to me ... George I can teach you all the music stuff, it's all that other stuff you do, that The Guess Who really needs."
Oh Oh they are calling for me to board the plane,time to head for yet another meeting in yet another city.
I wanted to get into how a new CD hitting my desk took me all the way back at the speed of sound to one very special night and how four Jocks and no phone call from Dick Clark changes my life again. But all that will will have to wait for yet another time.
December 1, 2009 A couple of days ago I was sitting at a spare desk at WFTL a radio station in South Florida, waiting for another meeting to break out. I'm not a real big fan of meetings mainly because they never seem to accomplish much. But when your a radio programming consultant you get to go to a bunch of them anyway. As I sat there waiting for the call I kinda was just looking out the window enjoying all the sunshine, flowers, palm trees and tropical paradise of the place I now call home. This is sure a far cry from the cold place I was soon going to get rocketed back to. My solitude was broken by the receptionist buzzing me, not with the start of the expected meeting but with the fact I had a phone call from a Shawn Nagey. Shawn it turned out was a concert promoter who was putting together another sixties band reunion at The Winnipeg Convention Center, he wanted to know if I would be interested in putting my old band The Jury back together for it. He said a lot of the old 60's bands reuniting for what he was hoping would be a major event. The Jury was once one of the bigger bands in Winnipeg back in the sixties so he thought a lot of our old fans would love to see us again. As Shawn was telling me about his upcoming reunion concert I couldn't help but reflect on the one I reluctantly went back to in 1987.
The '87 reunion was a pretty big one and was even shown on TV. The reason for the TV coverage was because It featured some very famous Winnipegers like Neil Young, The Guess Who, Bachman Turner Overdrive, The Jury plus a whole bunch of other bands that had been popular in Winnipeg through the sixties and early seventies. After leaving The Jury in the late sixties and until the 1987 reunion concert I had been spending most of time working on my growing radio career which mostly consisted of fighting never ending radio wars all over America and Canada. These ratings battles also necessitated living in a lot of different cities like Saskatoon, Sudbury, Ottawa, Toronto, Indianapolis and San Diego, so I kind of lost touch with the band and the Winnipeg band scene while moving around so much. I hadn't thought about The Jury in a long time let alone talk about them which was just as well because when you talk about being in a band that had records out most people just want to hear about all the groupies not the music. Well If there were any I've completely forgotten about them which I'm sure my daughters are very thankful for. Besides that if any of that really went on with the rest of the group I wouldn't know because I seem to clearly remember going quickly to my own room after each out of town performance and falling asleep dreaming about having beautiful daughters someday. Do you think Candis and Cami are buying this part?
I'm not really not sure what dragged me back home for that '87 reunion maybe I just missed seeing all my old band mates and was feeling a little guilty about not keeping in touch with them as much as I should have. I had thought mostly about radio and how I was going to make my way through life now that I was no longer a musician. But I do have to admit once in a while I kinda wondered what all the guys were doing and how their lives had turned out. Going back turned out to be the highlight of the decade for me. It was it was an absolute ball, and will remain a treasured time in my mind forever. ( nothing at all like those scary High School Reunions you always hear about) Back in '87 when I landed at the Winnipeg Airport I don't know if it was returning to the city of my birth that was getting to me or not, but things I hadn't thought in years started to slowly creep back into my head and started picking up speed as the day continued.
It was early afternoon when I landed and I had lots of time to get to the Winnipeg Convention Center so after retrieving my luggage I caught a cab and had him drive me around a little just so I could see the old town again. As we drove through the streets of downtown Winnipeg I realized that even though a lot of time had passed since I had last been here things looked exactly the same as they always had. It was like Winnipeg was caught in some kind of a time warp. When the cab dropped me off at the Convention Center and I went inside it was alive with a lot of action. Stage hands were very busy setting up all the special lights and stuff as roadies from a few of the current bigger bands were busy setting up the ton of a equipment that later would turn into a giant thunder storm of sound. Just watching all these people setting everything reminded me about when The Jury was current. The only difference back then was we had to set up our own gear. We had a little help from"Q" but "Q" was mostly our bodyguard. A body guard you say, yes we definitely needed a bodyguard because as The Jury got more popular with all the girls we became less popular with all the boys. It would get a little nasty in some of those small towns when the local farm girls were crowding around the stage with that pick me look in their eyes. Those big farm boys didn't take too well to that but they were no match for "Q"
Meanwhile back at the Convention Center I picked up my credentials and wandered around back stage looking for The Jury. I finally caught up with them as they were busy tuning guitars and stuff while getting ready for their performance that evening. They all looked great and thankfully seemed healthy enough to my eyes. We unfortunately had lost a few of the other bands members to some abusive life styles, but The Jury was still intact and at this moment just buzzing with the nervous anticipation I remembered only a way too well but it was sure great to see them again after all this while.
It had been twenty years since I had seen any of them and I kicked myself for that. They all looked a little bit different but father time all in all had been pretty kind to them. They like me had lost a little hair except for Bruce Walker our singer, his hair even seemed a little thicker to me now than it was back then. I never liked him that much anyway! (-: As we stood around chatting and catching up on what had been going on during the twenty years that we hadn't seen each other, they presented me with a maroon colored satin jacket with my name on it. The jackets it turned out was what they were going to wear on stage so I was all set to join them on stage if I wanted. they said. I thanked them very much for the jacket but I told them there was no way in hell I was going up on that stage with them. Terry Kenny the lead guitar player told me that they had been rehearsing for a little while and even had played a couple of small warm up gigs to get their playing chops ready in anticipation of the big reunion concert. He mentioned that he was sorry I didn't live a little closer so I could have rehearsed and joined them on stage for the big event. I just laughed and said, Terry those playing days for me have been over for a long long time and I don't miss them for a minute. But hey I'll be back stage rooting for you guys, so break a leg man! After hangin' with the whole band for as long as I did I figured it was time to leave them alone so they could get ready. I spent the next hour or so as we got closer to show time just wandering around back stage renewing acquaintances with the guys I knew from all the other bands. The reunion was well underway and just rockin' by the time I got back closer to the stage so I would be there when The Jury went on. As I stood there waiting Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings ( huge World Stars by then) walked up and gave me a big hug. As I stood there talking with them, I had no idea that they were about to turn on me. Burton then mentioned that he was pretty sure The Jury were on next so I edged a little closer to the stage so they could see I was at least supporting their brave efforts. They were shuffling around nervously waiting for their introduction but I think I was more nervous than they were and I wasn't even playing. Then all of a sudden and with no warning, Randy and Burton shove me out on to the stage. They yelled as they pushed me out onto the stage ... It was your band George and without you up there it's not really The Jury.
Oh no there's those butterflies again in my stomach along with an old Bob Seger tune pounding in my head ... Here I am again ... Up on the stage again ... Turn the page. Is this crazy, what the hell am I doing up here in front of this huge sold out crowd. I certainly didn't come all the way from California just to start playing again, and what's worse yet I don't even know how to anymore. I hadn't touched my guitar in over twenty years. But yes I still do have that '58 Strat that I traded my Olds trumpet in on when I was going to TCI back when Elvis, Chuck, and Buddy were screaming up the Charts but they played guitars not trumpets. I have my guitar still hidden away for some future Johns' that might get the music bug but I sure hope they don't. Otherwise I'm pretty sure Randy, Neil, and maybe even Eric Clapton would love to get a hold of it but I'm going to keep it around for just a little while longer. But there I was again through no fault of my own and with absolutely no desire to do so, I am never the less standing on that cold dark stage once again. The whole band by this time is just laughing at me and it helped them get rid of their nervous tension I guess as they waited to go on. What do I do now was all that was going through my mind. As I was thinking about how do I get off the stage before the lights went on, a stage hand handed me a guitar and plugged it into an amp. I quickly turned it all down just as I heard those dreaded words I never needed to hear again ... Ladies and Gentlemen would you please give it up one more time more for Winnipeg's own The Jury. How am going to fake my way through this was what I was wondering about as the crowd roared and the huge colored stage lights came on about the same time as the all to bright spot lights hit us. I just just stood there frozen praying I didn't look near as stupid as I felt. The Jury was on one more time!
Miraculously as I tried to duck in behind Bruce and Terry all the chord patterns came back to me. By back I mean they came back to my hands only because my brain was still saying WTF are we doing up here. My hands though knew exactly what we were doing up here 'cause they were rockin'. Amazing! I have no idea how I got through the whole thing but I finally relaxed and tried to enjoy my myself as we played all of our hits. The crowd seemed to enjoy us and almost before it started, it was over. The other big moment of the evening for me after we got off stage, and were signing autographs on a bunch of our old records that people had brought to the event with them, was watching a much too short twenty minute version of American Woman. You haven't lived until you've seen and heard Burton Cummings howling the all too familiar lyrics as Randy Bachman and Neil Young traded ear piercing guitar licks with each other. Man that was too good. What an unexpected absolutely wonderful night it turned out to be and what a thrill it was to once again relive a little of the good part of the past that I hadn't even thought about for such long time. Then suddenly the concert was over. We all hugged and said our goodbyes with well meant promises of this time staying in touch for sure.. The evenings festivities of course had turned me somewhat nostalgic so I decided to rent a car and drive back to my hometown of Transcona and revisit where I used to live. I thought I might even drive by the old school and maybe some of the community clubs where I played hockey and made musical appearances at on the weekend when I was just a kid. I wonder if there are any bands playing in them now, kinda searching for a sound like we used to do. As I was driving around I started to get a little hungry as my excitement buzz wore down so I looked for a late night bar and restaurant that I could slip into and get a bite. I was also in the mood for a couple of pops to wash it down with. My drug of choice when I was a guitar carrying member of The Jury was Canadian Club and Coke. ( the drinking kind ) Right about now I was thinking a couple of those babies on ice would go down pretty smoothly as I let the past gently swirl around inside my head.
Transcona unlike Winnipeg had gotten a lot bigger since I went to school here I realized as I got a little lost driving around looking for a restuarant. I finally found a sorta Sports Bar that was open late so I parked the rent a car and in I went. As I walked through the door, it was like they were expecting me because much to my surprise a loud chant broke out ... Transcona, Transcona, Transcona. A lot of people who had been at the concert were in the bar, along with a lot more who had seen it on TV. I guess that night they were just as proud as I was that one of Winnipeg's biggest bands back in the day, had it's early beginnings deeply rooted in Transcona.
The noisy bar quieted down a bit as another hometown hero Wilson Parasiuk was being interviewed on the late night TV news. Willy at the time was Manitoba's Finance Minister and had attended that nights reunion with his wife Wilma. He was telling the news reporter how much fun it was for him and his wife to once again be dancing to The Guess Who and The Jury just like had done those many years ago when he and Wilma were just dating. "Oh what a night" late December 1964 I hummed to myself as I sat there sipping my CC and now "Diet" Coke (you've got to make adjustments) and thinking about that special night in '64. Then I found myself slipping all the way back to where it all began What's that you say ... The meeting is about to begin. Okay tell them I'll be right there. I guess how I we went from a little Transcona vocal group to a band with the #1 Canadian record in Canada will have to wait. And what about the four guys who originally jumped started my band, then turn me on to some new dreams, which completely change everything I had ever dreamed about. It's just all part of a lifelong story that not too many kids from Transcona get to tell, but the telling will have to wait for a more convenient story telling time to tell them. Right now I've got some Radio that needs tending to. November 24, 2009 Ron Below agreed with Jamie Gold that a lot of my stories need a lot of editing. Ron thought though she should have used the killer line on me ... "It's not a diamond till it's cut."
I told Marnie Howard that when she writes a sequel to her popular book Giving Is Living she should use the line ... If giving isn't really living how come in all the pictures you see of Santa Clause he's always laughing or smiling ?
A person is always the answer !
Radio can not be fixed until most of it goes into bankruptcy, the longer it takes to do so the longer it will take to fix. But soon there will be nothing left to fix.
When John Lennon said, The Beatles are just a band Yoko's my life. I don't remember anybody going ... Ahhhhhhhhh ... Isn't that sweet.
The people your always a little nervous about having in your home are always the ones who are the most fun to listen to on the radio.
How come all those athletes who are making 20 million a year always need advances before payday. What the hell do you spend that kind of money on ?
I recently heard that the only difference between making Five Thou a month and Fifty is just figuring out how to get it done. OK I'm all over it ... But just so you know nothings come to me so far.
A couple of years ago at an NAB conference in San Diego, Jeff & Jer were keynote speakers. They said at their session that when they first came to San Diego they had a big meeting with me, and to this day they still remember everything I told them that I thought they should do. Not only that but they said they still do. I wish I had written down back then all the things they claim I told them to do. I sure could use a few of them for a couple of projects I'm working on right now.
Harvey Wharfield just checked in and wanted to know what the name of that (pin head) Jock was, that wouldn't go on with out a big pay raise. Nice try Wallbanger but I only remember the names of people I love or hate(-:
I have often said that there are two types of talent Gifted, Creative and the public really can't tell the difference. The Monkees were totally manufactured but lots of times sat in the #1 position on the charts ahead of the gifted Beatles.
A couple of weeks ago a new CD came out called Buried Treasures with 7 cuts on it from my old band The Jury. Just hearing all those again got me remembering and writing about my band days which my oldest daughter Candis just loves. When she was born I became a radio guy so all she heard around the house when she was growing up was radio stuff. My youngest Cami is just embarrassed by it all. She cant believe that I'm proud about being in this lame band.
I've been involved with a few women in my life but the only ones so far who have changed what I think about life, have been my daughters.
I was telling David Gifford the other day that surprisingly to me, the two things in radio that can make you very successful are seldom done.
In sales it's making cold calls, in programming it's show prep.
David suggested that perhaps they need a name change to make them more appetizing. How about Opportunity Calls & Communication Preparation.
Giff even went on to say that the title Program Director was a little out of date, he thought they should be called DADS. Directors Of Audience Development.
"If its not broken don't fix it" I have gone round and round on that one. But seeing as the mere passage of time breaks things so I have come to the conclusion that it is breaking so you have to fix it all the time.
The further away from things you are the clearer they become.
A couple of years ago I figured the answer to that age old question ... If a tree falls in the middle of a Forrest and there is no one there to hear it, does it make any noise?
My answer is ... It makes the same noise whether any body is there to hear it or not.
But the one that still has me puzzled is ... If a man alone in the middle of a Forrest makes a statement and there is no woman there to hear him, is he still wrong?
I think in this CYA world we live in a no that in retrospect that should have been a yes should be a punishable offense.
The only meeting I feel that are worthy of attending at a radio station are the ones about how to get more people to listen to the Radio Station or get more money to come in. Most of the meetings now seem to be about something else.
Its the tunes on your iPod that are the miracle not the iPod.
A year or so ago I read in the trades that the station Jeff&Jer were at in San Diego got a new PD. When I work with Jeff & Jer I don't get involved with the station I just work with them exclusively so I seldom know the station people.
When I was talking to Jerry I asked him how the new PD was. He claimed he was great and according to Jerry was the best one yet. He went on to say that the new PD came around and introduced himself when he first got there and asked if there was anything he could do to help them. Jerry said yeah stay the f*** away from us! We haven't seen him since. We love him man he's the best.
When Jim Hilliard was the president of the Blair Company they owned WHDH in Boston. Jim noticing that the station's women numbers were great, gave the staff a project to work on. Figure out how to get some more males without hurting the females.
Al Brady Law told Jim to cancel the project because he had already figured out how to do it. Play one more Blue an hour he proudly told Jim.
How many great morning shows do you suppose there are in Canada and America ?
My daughter Candis asked me the other day what I would do if I won the Lottery. I told her I would probably buy a Maserati Spyder, I really like them. No she said, I'm talking about would you retire. I said hell no, why would you stop doing what you love to do.
My Brother Reg told me that Ringo was the perfect drummer for The Beatles because he wasn't too busy on his drums. The Beatles had a lot of subtleties in their music and Ringo was kind enough to let us hear them.
Before I was a consultant I was the National PD of Fairbanks Broadcasting. One of the things I liked to do was call all the PD's and ask them what new thing(s)
were starting this week on their radio station. When I got to Ron Chapman at KVIL, the answer I swear took up most of my day. Color me always confident about what the book was going to say. The only question was, how large should we make the victory party.
November 17, 2009 I've been told that a lotta people don't "get me" Joe Amaturo claims he got me right away when he figured out I was logical not mystical.
Jo Myers asked when her new book "Good To Go" came out, could I get her hooked up with Delilah and would she have to make a sordid deal with me to get that done.
I told her I was taking Sordids up front now because of all the collection problems I was having.
Tim Moore recently wrote that after Lou Holtz had complained to his old friend Bobby Bowden in a midfield meeting about why Bobby had left in his starters and ran up the score, which embarrassed Lou. Bobby replied I can only coach one way and one team at a time. I suggest that you just need to get better players and to coach them better so something like this doesn't happen again.
Radio used to be just like that. When did they get so brilliant that they now can coach a whole bunch of stations all at the same time.
Damn I've just been informed that my old English teacher from TCI, Mr Deering just passed way at 101 years of age.
Had I known he was still alive this long I would have begged him help me with all this writing thing. I think it's becoming fairly obvious that I didn't listen to anything he said in his English class.
I was telling Candis my oldest Daughter about a beautiful exciting woman I just met. But when she found out how much younger than me she was Candis didn't seem nearly as excited about it all as I was. She just wanted to make sure I wasn't dating her.
I guess she probably wont buy into the formula either that we men use to calculate if a woman is too young for us or not ... 1/2 my age + 7
I just love the word yes it usually leads to all my dreams and fantasies coming true.
Brent Farris told me with a frustrated tone to his voice, that the willingness to accept average is the enemy of greatness
The most popular music has always been when a white person sounded like a black person or a black person sounded like a white person or a boy sounded like a girl. The Beatles took it to a new level when they as white English men sounded like black girls from Detroit.
Giff told me he is getting ready to do what he thinks will be his best work ever. He thinks it may be his swan song so he wants it to be real special.
Even though the project doesn't start until sometime in January, he is already working night and day on it.
Jerry Del Colliano says the Beasley radio group is going back to a PD for each each one of it's radio stations. Can some real good programming be that far behind.
Tom Hoyt told me it's time to not look foolish again and he claims he is really up for it.
I think the saddest day of all for radio is still ahead of us. I dont know why it will happen I just know it will. That sad day will occur when these clowns who are currently running radio, get elected to the radio hall of fame.
How come special days are called by their name's like Valentines day, Veterans day, New Years Day, Boxing Day,(for the Canadians) Presidents Day, April Fools, Cinco De Mayo, Memorial Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Election Day, Thanks Giving, Martin Luther King Day but Christmas is referred to as Happy Holiday and goes nameless ?
Betsy Cameron told me that shortly after having she first met me, she confronted me with fact that she felt I was ignoring her and she definitely wasn't used to that kind of behaviour from men. Her claim is my response was ... It's just my way of hitting on ya baby!
When I was the National PD for for Fairbanks Broadcasting I would always do a pre book visit to all our stations.
Ron Chapman in Dallas loved these little visits because I always came with gifts that I would use to try and entice entice him to give more than the 110% he was already giving.
On this book tour I ended up in Boston where the night jock the day before the book started said he wasn't going on without a huge pay raise. I asked him to step out of the office for a moment while I called my boss back in Indy, Jim Hilliard.
Jim said he has us over the barrel George your going to have to pay the ransom, give him whatever he wants but you know what to do. On the last day of the rating book guess who was back there waiting to see him right after he got off the air?
In the movies the good guy always gets the girl, but in real life it's tough to get the girl unless you don't want the girl You can get a bunch of those girls they're easy, but the one you want is very hard to get. There's a lesson somewhere in all of that.
If it doesn't change your life style it's not important enough to worry about.
I've never understood why sales people are always trying to figure out what the client wants to do. I figure if the client knew what they wanted to do they would already be doing it.
When you watch pro football it's pretty easy to figure out not many of the coaches of players ever went to any classes in college.
There is no such thing as a Rock & Roll Christmas.
Holding on to what you have keeps you from having what you want.
Russ Morley told me that his ex father in law said to him when they were once driving on a long journey together ... Ya know Russ all women are exactly the same, they just look different. Then he drifted back to sleep and left Russ to ponder that as he drove on through the night.
Years ago a friend of mine was involved in meeting at USA TODAY where founder AL Neuharth was ranting and raving at the gathered staff about the pending doom of USA TODAY.
His claim was the paper had no chance because he was surrounded by morons.
How are we ever going to make this paper successful was his question as he held up a copy of that days paper.
Look at this story it's wonderful ,it's what the public wants. "All American Girl Wins National Cheer leading Competition"
Look how beautiful she looks. There is just one huge problem with the story. YOU IDIOTS PUT HER TITS BELOW THE FOLD !
Barry O' Brien is going to be very proud of me because I think I have cut way back on the "!" word. (Barry this wasn't good enough to go above the fold)
I wrote story about my remembrance of recording my first record over 40 years ago with The Jury.
The story turned out pretty good I thought, so I sent it to Jamie Gold who works at the the LA Times. I wanted her to give me some tips on how I could make appear like a real writer wrote it.
She said it was interesting but a little disjointed and a way too long. I tied it all together a little better and even pulled out a bunch of good stuff from the story in an attempt to shorten it and sent it to her again.
It's even longer was her reply, who do you think is going to have enough time to read this. You have got to Edit Edit Edit.
Back at it again I go, editing, pulling, squeezing, reshaping, smaller words. Her reply was ... Your not listening to me, I told you it has to be shorter, a lot shorter.
Now I finally know what it must have been like for all that air talent who had to go to all those sessions with me over the years. Pay back is a bitch!
© 2008-2009 George Johns George Johns
November 10, 2009
I had lunch with a very beautiful woman yesterday by the name of Marnie Howard. Marnie is an author who has just come out with a new book called Giving is Living.
At lunch we were talking about if my friend Delilah would enjoy the book, because if anybody understands Giving is Living it for sure would be her.
Marnie was reading a few quotes to me from her book and one of her personal favorites is #54 "Find a penny, pick it up and all day long you'll have good luck unless it's on tails." Create some luck! The next time you spot a penny on tails, flip it over to heads. Leave the penny there for someone to find and pass on the luck.
I don't know if you've ever been read to by a beautiful woman but let me assure you it is an incredible experience. But even more incredible was my discovery that Marnie turned out to be even more beautiful on the inside.
I just read somewhere that at the recent U2 show in LA preferred parking cost almost $80. I'm so pissed ! Why wasn't I informed that the recession was over and the economy is once again in great shape.
I used to be a real believer in passion on the radio, but now I'm thinking I love real emotion better.
Do you suppose that the reason sales people make so much more than most other people at a radio station might have to do with the fact that most of the people who make the decision about how much they make come from sales. Just askin'
Joe Amaturo told me that ratings were simply Statistical Justification.
Are there really right wing and left wing people? I would tend to think we're all both depending on how close to home the issue is.
Red Skelton said the number one cause of divorce was Marriage.
This week I had to rip my old radio buddy Keith Elshaw off the dance floor in Montreal where he seemed to be doing an amazing heated version of The Tango
I needed his help on a special project I'm doing that I hope to launch in January. You know, the same old shit but in a different order, this one though has a little twist to it..
Jim Brady recently wrote that me, nor my brother Reg had anything to do with the success of CFTR in Toronto. Hmmm I wonder why Ted Rogers lied to me about it.
Back in the days of quarter hour maintenance and recycling we were all trying to trick the diary. The result was more often than not the ratings went up.
I really believe it was because all the Jocks thought they were working with a secret so they just kinda sounded hotter, more emotional, and very very confident. More like leaders than followers.
As I've said before I enjoy hangin' out with radio sales people I just don't like workin' with 'em.
Jamie Gold after reading one of my stories commented ... "Editing is the essence of Art"
I have no idea why she said that it didn't seem to have anything at all to do with the story line.
I don't think I have ever been really happy, I just don't know how to get that done. But I have figured out that when I'm excited I'm definitely not sad. I think I'll go out chase me a little more excitement tonight.
The difference between a good woman and a not so good woman is ... A good woman never tells you that you've already told her that story. Apparently good women enjoy hearing them again and again and again.
I think the only kids most women like are their own.
Before the wedding money doesn't come up that often, during the marriage it comes up a lot, at the divorce it's the only thing that comes up.
Reid Reker recently told me that according to our daughters we're pretty decent guys. With that in mind he says we should stop running around with all the broken women and get someone decent. He claims we deserve it.
My Mother told me a long time ago ... George don't stay alone too long you have a tendency towards becoming a Hermit. I think she's right, I'm really starting to like it. I better start looking around.
I think the best motivation you can give a gifted air talent is to explain to them how they get what they want while accomplishing your mission.
One of the best motivational techniques I've ever come across is " Inspiration "
I've noticed that he one thing that all business men have in common is they do everything as cheap as they can. Now I've done the math on this and discovered that cheaper just takes longer. The cost of doing it turns out to be the same we're just all much older when it's done.
Recently I sent out a question to a few folks I know that said, If you saw me in the back seat of a police car being taken away what do think the charge would be ?
Impersonating Roman Polanski - Bobby Cole.
Contributing to the local FOP fund - Roy Cooper.
Someone getting hurt because of something they did/said/or implied too one of your daughters - Candis Marko Johns.
Aggressive, frightening and suspicious behavior aboard an airliner - Reid Reker.
Something to do with and involving sheep at a garden party - Ermanno Barone.
At first I thought it was because you got caught robbing a waggon but now I do believe it was because you were caught waggon your robin - Bill Taylor
DUI - Chuck Knapp.
I would think you would be arrested for something lecherously delicious - Jo Myer.
Accused by the mother of your youngest on some trumped up charge - Jim Hilliard.
Caught getting what President Clinton claimed did not constitute sex, in a booth at Ruth Chris' steak house - Russ Morely.
Obviously my image needs a little work - Geo. Johns.
Hey I'm looking for some brilliant morning type characters who just love Southern California, and want to spend a lot of the show showing that love. Love to hear from you at www.radiogeo@gmail.com
November 3, 2009
Back in the early days at WIBC in Indianapolis and KVIL in Dallas I think it was almost an unfair fight with other radio stations.
Our on air talent was so much better than the competition's that it was almost scary. Even our part timers sounded better than anybody elses full time Jocks.In fact they were only part timers because they just couldn't break into the full time line up as nobody ever seemed to be leaving.
The real talent battle really went on inside the station ... Which on air talent was the best on our air. That was the question.
Barry O'Brien says I use the " I " word too much. I totally agree which is kinda tough to do with out using the " I " word.
Why are we always in a hurry to get to our destiny ... Isn't that the end ?
Bobby Bowden recently said that he can't retire because that only leaves him with one more big event.
Lawrence Amaturo said as we were roaring south on the 405 towards Orange County that he had no problem bending over backwards to help someone. It was the bending forward he was tiring of.
With all the cuts in the news rooms of all media, I wonder what news gets reported - or not.
Jack McCoy once told me the reason they didn't seem to make any changes at WNBC was because we knew they were unsuccessful but they didn't.
Is it just me or do the people who make the biggest money at any establishment seem to be the ones making the biggest noise about how little they make.
Have you ever noticed that most people look at their biggest year financially as their normal year. All the other years were just fluky bad years.
I have never met a man I couldn't make laugh, but then again I never met Hitler. I have met some radio people though that I think could have given him a good run for his money. Names soon at this same location.
My brother Reg and I have the same hang up, we are filled with rage which was genetically induced. We handle it very differently but both agree that it is much better used as a fuel for energy rather than as a motivator.
I think I do my best radio work outside the station by listening to it and making adjustments so as to better reflect the world it is trying to inform and entertain. When ever I go into the station they spend most of the time trying to talk me out of doing any of those adjustments.
When men get together they only talk about three subjects Sex, Sports, and Business. But Reid Reker claims I left a very important one out. Sex !
OK I agree so I guess that makes it four now, Sex, Sports, Business and Sex.
I was never really much into survival, I wonder what that cost me .
The only women worth dying for I figure are the ones you love.
Some people are very gifted and creative at the same time these folks are a singular force that is hard to reckon with. Then there is those who are gifted and just need a little guidance but are generally pretty lazy.The ones that are creative are usually the hardest working of all. These three talented types are followed by all the others.
Seems to me right now radio is mostly filled by all the others.
I hear a bunch of artists like Beyonce and Mariah Carey on all kinds of different radio stations, but we all only hear them endorsing one kind of radio, Urban.
Speaking of Urban, you don't hear much of that style on Christian radio do ya !
Death is the only thing that makes life worth living as losing is the only thing that teaches you how to win.
Are you sure that the NFL coaches graduated from college. We really need to see some stats on that because if they did, it had to be the same one.
Jim Hilliard asked me what I had in mind for Jo Myers, when I told him he said I know you want to do that but it's on the radio I'm talkin' about.
When I worked with Cris Conner in Indy he was so smooth that one of the beautiful Indiana Pacer Pace-Mates actually asked him to marry her.
I think telling the truth is the only thing to do unless it unnecessarily hurts someone. Then avoidance of the truth then may be the order of the day.
My favorite radio station promotions were always the ones the air talent brought me and said they would take care of everything all they needed was a yes from me. Those promotions for some reason always turned out great.
Contrary to what half the population thinks, a mere stroll down the aisle does not change a relationship from conditional love to unconditional love.
Isn't the best and worst thing that ever happens to you at the same time is falling in love.
Brent Farris told me that women are like phones they like to be held, talked to and touched often, but push the wrong button and your instantly disconnected.
PPM misses about 30 minutes of morning radio listening a day because of a technical issue.
All you have to do is figure out how many mornings a week your average listener listens to your morning show then X it by 30 minutes and add it to your ratings. Now your getting a lot closer to the truth, and a lot more money. The truth has always seemed to be an on going problem with ARB over the years.
Ken Barnett told me that dumb people will listen to smart radio, but smart people wont listen to dumb radio.
Years ago at WIBG in Philly we came up with a what I thought was a great concept.
It went like this. We ran a promo on air that said, for the next little while we're not going to run any commercials but eventually we will of course because we need to pay some bills.
If you hear us play one, be the first one call xxx xxxx and we will instantly give you a brand new 100 dollar bill, with a big ol' picture of Ben Franklin on it.
Imagine my surprise when we played a promo, the phones blew up, when we did the news, the phones blew up, when a jock did a bit, the phones blew up.
I soon found out that the listeners perceive anything they don't like as a commercial.
You try telling a disgruntled listener who thought they had just won a hundred bucks, what they heard was not a commercial.
That ended that so called great concept rather quickly.
During a recent visit to my place in Florida, Gary Russell and I were discussing ... Why does it and who decided that it should go Back & Forth, instead of Forth and Back, or Up & Down, In & Out, This Way & That Way, Faster & Slower, Up Side Down, Yesterday & Today, Big & Little, Small & Large, Backwards & Forwards, Winners & Losers, Hot & Cold, Ham & Eggs, Black & White, Good & Bad, Young & Old, Mom & Dad, Fish & Chips, High & Low, Oil & Vinegar, Over & Under, etc etc.. We obviously had a way too much time on our hands
I was once asked a great question ... Was Mr. Fairbanks a Richard or a Dick ?
What is it about my 6th decade that makes me feel more Canadian than ever before.
Warren Cosford claimed in his blog that Jaye Albright was the leading Country Consultant in America. I wonder if Ken Moultry, Rusty Walker, Charlie Cook, Bob Glasco, Etc. are cool with that.
Have you ever noticed that if proposed changes mean less work for some folks they seem to be made instantly. But on the other hand if they appear to cause more work or harder work, there are hours and hours and days and days of debate about whether or not the changes are really necessary.
When you are in a band you discover real early that what it sounds like on stage has little to do with how it sounds to the audience. Just like what comes out of the speakers sounds nothing like what was planned inside a radio station.
Maybe Barry is right, I counted using the I word 21 times in this piece (oops there's two more) that is a little excessive isn't it. But what the hell it's my piece!
October 27, 2009 Don't you wonder some time whether those radio guys have any idea what all those inspirational words really mean when they just kinda pop those Vince Lombardi type quotes into the middle of a creative conversation you thought you were having. If your a Notre Dame fan, don't you just wish your coach was as talented as his ego is telling him he is. Tom Mullane says that music is much better than religion at bringing people together because nobody dies. But he also says his research might be a bit flawed because he hasn't checked the stats on rap music yet. Joe Amaturo recently asked me how long I thought a project we were working on together was going to take. I told him I thought about six months. He said isn't that a little too quick plus just a little unrealistic. I responded with ... Nah! If I give myself more time it will just take longer. So with all the interns that were involved with David Letterman my only question is .... Was he doing them or were they doing him? Bobby Cole told me a long time ago that the definition of diplomacy is the Art of simply letting others have your way. A life changing moment occurred in my life and I think maybe for the rest of The Jury when we for the first time heard Jimmy Darin play our record "Until You Do" on the radio. I'm unconvinced that I could be convinced to let the law run it's course should anyone hurt the woman I love, or even worse, harm my daughters. If there were no birds would there be any airplanes ? If most of the people of a nation were peaceful but it's leaders were not. Does that still mean it is a peaceful nation ? Another life changing moment occurred when my daughter Candis was born. The next one occurred 28 years later when my daughter Cami was born. Have you ever noticed the most irritating thing about voice messages is the fact that you can't say "Got It" halfway through the message. Dreams are not built on logic so if you ever hope to achieve any of yours, know this ... It's going to take a lot more than logic to get them done. Radio is a mere reflection of life but even as the world has changed dramatically in the last couple of years radio has not. Bono said on an awards show that all musicians wonder if after they pass on will anybody remember them. He went on to say that in the building tonight was one musician that didn't have to worry about that because the world will still be singing his songs three hundred years after he was gone. Then he introduced Sir Paul McCartney. A big market will not listen to a smaller market. A small market will listen to a larger market. The only way to get back the large market listener to his small market radio station is two things. Eliminate completely any small market sound and add local content. There are two ways to communicate, one is to say what you think, the other is to say what you know. I prefer the latter it's much shorter. I love my daughters unconditionally, but what keeps me in total awe of them is when they do something deserving of love. The next King of England is going to become that just because he is a member of the lucky sperm club, not because he did something to deserve it. Kinda sorta like your boss maybe huh. Your job is to figure out how your going to handle it. Most of the morning shows I have had the good fortune to coach over the years became millionaires. In exchange for the bit of help I gave them, they gave me their secrets. USA Today is not a factor in any market. The local newspaper still is. I came to the U.S. because of Capitalism. Now that America has moved on to Speculism, I feel it is doomed unless it comes back to Capitalism. Thank God that I'm still a dual citizen. I don't believe the folks know in what order to put the tunes on their Ipod. That's what radio people used to figure out for them. If a person who is paid to listen to a radio show (the PD) doesn't. The radio talent begins to think there is no hope, and the show soon deteriorates. I just love the sound of a Cello and French Horns mixed together. During the 70's, 80's & 90's at KVIL in Dallas the income simply over ran the expenses so management stopped worrying about them. I think even the sales people would agree that it had a lot more to do with the on air product then the sales systems. In any successful business the formula works this way. The customer is always #1 the employees are #2 and Mr. businessman is #3. What about that formula doesn't radio get ? A long time ago and far away Lawrence Amaturo pinned a note up on the bulletin board that read ... I know how difficult it is "to get" George Johns. But the only people I need working at our radio stations are people who get him. I understand that all people don't get him so if you don't get him I will accept that as your resignation. At the next staff meeting a miracle occurred. I think for the first time in my life everybody got me. Some people have been put into power for reasons that don't seem readily apparent. But I do know this about that. Things better go their way while they have the power or you get to suffer the consequences. Don Bleu once had a great offer I believe from KFRC. The management of K101 who were paying him pretty large asked me if I could talk him out of leaving. I told Don ... Once you touch oldies it's very hard to ever appear young again. Most of the hit records of all time were never Rock&Roll. I once had a discussion with Jim Harper of WNIC in Detroit that I felt he had to become the new PD or they would just send in another fool. Let me see if I have got this straight, the price of gasoline is going up again because a few folks think that we will be using more of it in the future, Now that's good for America because ... Words fail me here. Tim Moore recently wrote that there is no such thing as business ethics, there is only "ethics". October 21, 2009 I have worked with Joe Amaturo on and off since the mid 90's. I'm sure if you've heard of the legendary Joe Amaturo, you have also heard that he isn't the easiest guy in the world to work with. In fact it's part of his legend. Joe's tough but he's always been very fair with me and that's the part I care about most. But tough as Joe is we always manage to have a few laughs when we travel together. Sometimes though I kinda suspect Joe would rather not have quite as many laughs as we do, because even though he grumbles about how busy he is all the time I think he really loves to work. Me being the type of guy who doesn't likes serious stuff much, I had enough of that growing up,try to keep things lighter and remind everybody that this show business. Joe claims I have the show part more than covered so he was going to stick to the business side if I didn't mind or even if I did mind. With that in mind I try to save some of the frivolity for the dinner table but it doesn't take long before Joe has us all talkin' business. The thing I really like and respect about Joe is he is a self made man of humble beginnings and even though he graduated with a MBA from Harvard he is one of those very rare Harvard graduates who doesn't feel a need to bring it up every five minutes. One day Joe put me in a real tough spot. During the time period I'm talking about he owned radio stations in Riverside California, Austin Texas, and West Palm Beach Florida. I was involved in the Riverside and Austin properties and it was during one of those visits that I got to meet Joe's son Lawrence for the first time. Lawrence who worked for Johnson & Johnson in the agency business for a while, was the only other Amaturo I think besides Joe, who was interested in broadcasting. In fact he mentioned to me several times that he was traveling with Joe sucking up as much radio information as he could as fast as he could because eventually he planned on buying his own stations. Seeing as his father was running some of the most successful radio stations in America, he thought what better way to learn how to do it right than to hang out and help out at a few of them for a while. As time went by I started hearing a couple of rumors that he was close to buying some groups in some smaller markets, Palm Springs being one of them. Palm Springs I thought, now that could be fun, I hope I get a shot at helping out if the rumors are true. But neither he or Joe were talking much about it so I didn't give it much thought other than to think that down the road it would be interesting to get involved in a new Amaturo project. I remember wondering at the time, what if any the differences would be with Lawrence heading up the new project instead of Joe. As I look back now I realize I was entering the world of ... Be careful of what you dream for they may come true! When I left Indiana to start The Johns Company I moved to California because that's where my first client was. Even though I now live in Florida I have always managed to keep a few clients in California which enables me to get back there quite often. Most of my immediate family still live there, so that does tend to make the long plane ride worth it. But then again who knows. It's starting to feel like maybe it's time to live there again, because I am currently working on two brand new projects that are also in California. When I first started my consulting career one of my very early clients was KZST in Santa Rosa. I just love going to Sonoma County it's a very beautiful community located right in the middle of the wine country. My on going working relationship with owner Gordon Zlot, Tom Skinner the GM, and Morning Man/PD Brent Farris couldn't be better, and consists mainly of doing a little radio, drinking a little fine Sonoma County wine, doing a little more radio, discussing and drinking a little more Sonoma County Wine etc. This special kind of consulting project in this special place has been going on for me for over twenty years now, with only one interruption. Oh and did I mention while most radio stations these days are firing people, these guys are still wandering around the station handing out profit sharing checks to the staff instead of pink slips. They must do it radio a little bit differently than most huh. It's that one interruption that this piece is mostly about. One day Mr. Amaturo calls me and asks me if I could come to his office as soon as possible for a brief meeting. Who doesn't have time for a meeting with one of their biggest clients. If I remember correctly think I asked him if right now would be too soon. When I get to his office he has some very exciting news Lawrence it turns out with Joe's help has just bought a radio group. That's the good news he said, now here's the bad news for you. Damn I remember thinking, I'm not going to get a shot at this. Joe then says to me, this group is in Santa Rosa where I know you already have a client. He then went on to say that Lawrence would be moving to Santa Rosa shortly to start running the stations and they both would like me to help Lawrence on the programming end. He claimed he knew I was in a very difficult position, but he just couldn't have me going against his son, during his first radio venture. I swear I heard the God Father theme playing as he said it Whew, I was kinda shocked and a little speechless too. Of all the markets in America who would have predicted this dilemma, and how was I going to handle it The first thing I did was get on a plane for Santa Rosa because being a lover not a fighter which is just a more fun way of describing a real coward. I decided to make it the Santa Rosa folks problem. I would let them make the call on what I should do. Isn't that what any red blooded Canadian/American coward would do. I was morally and ethically bound to them, so I figure they got the right to tell me what I should do. When we sat down for dinner and we ordered up some of that fine Sonoma County wine I love so much, they say it's good for your heart. I quickly laid out the situation for them. It got very quiet for a while then I think Tom said, well this is sure a good way to ruin a very nice red. Then Gordon turned to me and said ... You've got to go with the Amaturos, there is too much money involved in all of this. George you are part of our family and always will be. Families do what's right for the family members so we have to do what's right by you and what's right by you is for you go with the Amaturos. Wow ... Now you can see why these guys are so special to me, and probably why good things keep happening to their stations. How do you say it ... What goes round comes round and around and around. So I report to work with Lawrence and we do some pretty good work together. The outstanding result of this endeavor was, Lawrence along with the help of our good friend and mutual colleague, broadcasting attorney Betsy Cameron, sold his stations rumor has it for almost sixteen times cash flow. And I remember it the cash flow was stellar. I think maybe this was the last deal of it's kind in the radio industry. I do know this for sure, radio values started to crumble shortly there after. When Joe Amaturo and I were discussing the excellent deal Lawrence had made asked me what I thought of the deal Lawrence had cut I told him I thought it it was a bad deal for the new owners because they had no chance at succeeding. The new owners dont have anybody to put in there that was going to work near as hard as Lawrence did and I don't think he is going with the deal. In fact I think the new owners wont even try to replace him and will just try to spread what they think his work load was amongst the rest of the staff. My feeling has always been that no deal is any good with out very strong leadership to pull it all off. But hey I'm not a business guy so what the hell do I know. A little later as the new owners were in the midst of taking over, I was called to town by Peggy and Lisa the two GM's. They were in the middle of doing the new budgets and both had the same question for me ... What is it you do? We see you around here occasionally they said, but you always seem locked up in meetings with Lawrence or Joe and sometimes the air talent. We were never sure what you guys did in there they went on to say and maybe it wasn't our place to know, but now it is. We have to account for and justify all the costs of doing business here now. We need you to specifically explain to us how you are going to help us achieve our new goals so we feel a little more comfortable including your fees in our new operating budget. It is often been said that the definition of luck is where preparation meets opportunity. Man oh man, at that moment I could hear lady luck pounding on my door so loudly that while they were quizzing me I could hardly hear what they were saying. I responded with ... The answer to your question, what do I do is ... Absolutely nothing! I really don't do anything that I think you would find of value. Lets just say I'm just a good friend of Joe Amaturo. His son Lawrence knows I like radio so he is just kind enough to let me hang out here whenever I'm in town. I then explained to them the good news you are going to be heroes when you cut my fee out of your new budget because I'm sure you have other things you would rather be spending that money on. They both thanked me for being so forthright, and excitedly dismissed me. I was back at KZST that afternoon and have been ever since. October 13, 2009 When Ron Chapman said Kay, Vee, Eye, LLL, he said it like he was saying his own name, and he said it with such pride that years later when he was long gone they had to change the name of the station to Lite 103.7.
It seems a research study had come out that claimed when ever an air talent said KVIL, the listeners heard Ron Chapman.
The thing I wonder about when flying from Ft. Lauderdale to LA which takes about 5 1/2 hours. How does the pilot know to the precise second when we are going to land but more times than not we seem to be a complete surprise when we show up on the other end because nobody is there to get the ramp to our door.
Speaking of flying, who was the first guy to land a plane on an aircraft carrier or what ever it was called back then. What kind of cajones did that take I wonder?
Being very gifted is not enough, it still takes an enormous amount of hard work to ever achieve greatness.
If you take all the records that reached the top ten since the forties and put them in the middle of a room you would find some Swing, some Jump Music, some Jazz, some Pop, some Doo Wop, some R&B, some Rock& Roll, some Western, some Rock, some Country, some Smooth Jazz, some Hip Hop, some Rap, and even some Spoken Word. But you wont find any A/C Records.
Jerry Del Colliano wrote ... You can't have a radio show without radio people.
I remember with chills my first time on the air. Whenever I put the mic switch on the silence seemed deafening!
I went car shopping with Jim Hilliard yesterday. Have you seen the new McLaren Benz. 210 mph top speed, MAN O' MAN Oh Man!
It's just even seeing those kinda cars that keeps me forever car poor.
The smaller the signal the more special the programming has to be. Can you say unique ?
Lest we forget " Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely"
I think in the new world of radio advertising the word accountability will loom the largest.
How many leads did the advertising generate will be the question of the day.
In the early 70's Buzz Bennett told me that putting a winner on the air that had won something worth less than a hundred bucks was stupid. I think he's still right.
Moby told me that before he went country he was a Rock Jock for about 20 years. What he remembers of it, he thinks was a lotta fun.
I don't believe they teach a course on how to become gifted at Harvard, but I will check for sure with Joe Amaturo who is headed back there for his 60th reunion.
When a gifted person starts adding creativity to their arsenal you start calling them names like Johnny Carson, Jerry Seinfeld, Jay Leno, David Letterman, Jeff & Jer, Ron Chapman, Scott Shannon, Delilah, Moby etc.etc.
Tim Moore says right brained creative people with a business sense, are soon going to be the " IN " people in Radio.
Why do so called programmers think that the same old tunes played in a different order is a new format.
I see a lotta young women driving a Mercedes but not a lotta young men. "Just askin' "
I do a lot of work in California but I live in Florida.
I find the big difference between the two States is in California there is two or three Starbucks on every corner but no drugstores. In Florida there are two or three drugstores on each corner, but no Starbucks.
Of all the outstanding things said to me in my life the one I remember most was said by a female. She said ... I want to do something with you that you have never done with any other woman.
If you only do your radio contests for people who wont play them, your ratings will go up.
Very talented people are very excellent at very few things but they aren't sure what they are. How you tell them what they are not talented at tells them whether you are very talented or not.
All of us are gifted at something and just what that is unfortunately sometimes remains a mystery forever.
With the diary method of retrieving listening habits, P1's were the people who claimed they listened to you more than they really did. With PPM your P1's may be folks who dislike you immensely but are forced to listen to you.
Julie Heath said she took Barry Smith's and my advice to add even more sex to her book "Private Lives Of Private School Moms under serious consideration but wisely decided instead to just to add a little more sizzle. It seems to be working well as the book is selling very nicely on Amazon.
Every time I ask a radio staff whether we should have one winner of big prize or a bunch of winners of smaller prizes, most of the time they answer ... Smaller prizes with more winners. I guess that's why the state lottery people never seek their advice.
You can see Celine Dion almost anywhere in America for about 50 bucks. But if you see her in Vegas it will probably run you about $500.00.
She sings the same songs as the $50.00 performance but they add a bunch of glitter in Vegas. That glitter costs you $ 450.00.
Maybe radio should add some glitter. I'm just sayin' !
There is a new book out that claims there are 237 reasons why women have sex. You would think with that many reasons it would happen more often.
About 40 years ago today a great event happened that changed my life, the birth of my daughter Candis.
It happened once again almost 30 years later with the birth of my daughter Cami.
I think it all really started for me back when I was about 8 years old.
I remember sitting between my Fathers legs as we were driving down the road then all of a sudden he said those magic words ... OK son why don't you go ahead and steer.
I've been addicted to cars ever since.
It's not about what you did yesterday, It's all about what you did today. Oh and you might want to throw in a little exaggerated emotion.
Al Gardner just told me The Charlotte Symphony later this month is going to perform a special piece he composed called " Music Box Waltz " Wow!
Radio just seems too black and white to me right now.
I think it needs a whole bunch of color added to it.
My voice mail message says, leave me enough info so I can call you back.
Nancy Cole recently left for me this .... I'm Five foot eight and a half, 119 lbs, natural blond, with green eyes. Is that enough info for you ? Yeah Baby! I'm turning the car around now and coming back. Tell Bobby he's out.
When my Brother Reg and I owned Fairwest together we were well aware that only 5-10% of a station's cume would participate in a radio station promotion.
As we were dreaming up new ones we always went a way out of our way to try and make sure that at least some of the new stuff we were dreaming up would at least cause a lot of talk.
Now Reg says at m2o he has figured out how to get more than 30 % involvement and even some word of mouth.
If the sales folks think it's tough out there sellin' spots, they should try the part where you have to get somebody to listen to some of what they have managed to sell.
When Jim Hilliard owned WRMF in Palm Beach we had a 7 share and he was miffed at all of us because he felt he deserved a 10 so he sold it.
Now they have a 4, but the big difference is they seem happy about it.
October 6, 2009
It is not important who you know, but it's real important who knows you.
Being remembered by quality people for some of the deeds you've done in your life is a very worthy goal. Now if per chance these same people are also your good friends they usually are kind enough to erase from their memory all the not so good things you've also done.
Isn't it funny how doing great things is never convenient.
My cousin Irving Vince with whom I've just recently reconnected reminded me that my first public performance as a musician wasn't with Shayne and The Devines. It was a solo act done in the small town of Erickson Manitoba where he lived.
As a kid I was a trumpet player so once while I was visiting him we crept out in the middle of a very quiet night and
headed to the center of town where we thought the echo would be perfect for what we had in mind.
I took out my trumpet and proceeded to blast away for several very long minutes. We then we ran for it before the police could show.
I'm sure the reviews were mixed.
I remember returning to WRMF in Florida in the 90's to do whatever I could to help bring it back to the dominance it once had.
Just winning there was never near enough. Dominance was what they liked to sell.
It seemed the cowboy station in town had just tied WRMF in all the important demos which was making everybody in sales very uncomfortable.
Once while making a visit to the market I attended a sales meeting where the GM, George Mills was explaining to the sales staff that he expected WRMF still get most of the money even though we were virtually tied with the Cowboys in the rating book.
His claim was that the Country station didn't have a chance to out bill us for one very important reason and that reason was he said, because our sales folks never had to hear those dreaded words that their sales staff hears day after day after day ... But It's Country!!!
Wanting to be great is not the solution to greatness but it sure is one of the most important requirements.
At KVIL, WIBC and WRMF we didn't do traffic reports, we did helicopter reports. We did helicopter reports for two reasons, we owned a bunch of them, and even more importantly at those stations "The Promo Was The Thing" and we just couldn't get enough promos out of traffic reports.
I wonder if NFL coaches have to sign a pact before they are allowed to coach in the NFL that they will use the Prevent Defense even though it automatically results in the other team scoring quickly.
One of the things that Delilah, Ron Chapman and Jeff & Jer have in common is they all speak one on one to their listeners even though some of them have a lot of cast members. The cast members only talk to them but only they talk to the listeners whether they are on the phone or just listening to the radio.
I notice a lot of morning shows across America seem to talk only to their fans. It would serve them much better to talk only to their casual listeners.
Their fans have nothing more to give but their casual listeners have tons of TSL waiting ... They just need to be seduced.
It used to be that radio promotions were thought up by the programming people and were aimed specifically at the listeners. Then somebody figured out how to tie the client in which was OK because usually the prize got bigger.
The promotions then evolved to the point where the programming people thought it was a programming promotion and sales thought it was a sales promotion which was even better because the prizes just got huge.
Now all radio promotions seem to be created by sales and/or clients with a very small tie in to programming and very small prizes. I wonder how that's working for them ?
John Picano just told me that kids laugh an average 200-300 times a day, adults just 17 times. Well there goes any thoughts I may have had about growing up.
The quality of life index ranks France as the #1 place on earth to live. Switzerland was second and The USA was number three. The thing about France though is I don't think they took into account the people who live there.
I had to go to the courthouse in West Palm Beach the other afternoon to pay a speeding ticket. The place was jammed, people everywhere even spilling out into the hallways.
I took a ticket and noticed that even though there were about 25 windows you could pay at, only three were being manned.
That's when I noticed the sign apologising for the delays, and thanking us for our patience. The sign went on to explain that recent budget cuts by the State had caused this. The sign even showed a pretty graph of traffic tickets increasing and people to deal with them decreasing.
As I stared at the sign thinking that cutting staff here made no sense at all because more people coming in to pay fines meant more money.
Then I noticed the strangest thing of all, the staff cuts weren't being made until 2010. I guess they were just practicing.
When I was growing up the big rule at our house was don't do anything to tarnish the family name or there will be hell to pay.
When I turned 21 my Dad said to me ... Son the family name is yours now do with it what you will and I could care less what you do with it because it's your problem now.
I hope my brother Reg is on that project because I don't think I have spent enough quality time worrying about it. As I think back I know I should have.
A couple of weeks ago I was hangin' with Ron Chapman, Bobby Cole, & Brent Farris in the Wine Country doing what you do in the Wine Country. The only distraction we had was Bobby's breathtakingly beautiful wife Nancy. She kept us from just talking about radio all night long
Seeing Ron again though reminded me of all the hours spent perfecting every second of his morning show.
The result was a hugely successful award winning morning show that sounded kinda like Ron was magically making it up as he went along.
Owners of businesses always seem to have have a little money for radio stations they personally listen too.
A hundred dollar bill wrapped around a commercial doesn't make sound any better unlike that same hundred wrapped around a new record.
Mac Anderson wrote " Gratitude is the king of all virtues, without it you cannot be happy." Come to think of it have you ever seen a happy rich guy?
I hung out with Cat Simon the other day who was in West Palm Beach visiting his son. We got to talkin' about our careers and the fact that Cat was on what I affectionately called the travel team when we were all doing the CLASS/CLASSY format and he was involved in a lot of them back then.
Cat now has a new start up company in Austin that installs alarm systems in new homes so I guess he has hung up his earphones for good. But I bet a smooth talkin' "Slick" could entice him back in.
Any way we were talking about how fragile a radio career is and how the littlest thing can seem to knock it off track.
Cat at one time had worked with Scott Shannon when he launched Z100 in New York and went from worst to first.
So when a fellow jock who was moving to LA to try his hand at Voice Over work asked for help in getting weekend work at Scott's new effort in LA, Pirate Radio to tide him over, Cat said no problem and called Scott up for him.
Scott took Cat's call even though he was in the middle of a jock meeting, so Cat quickly told Scott the situation. Scott shouted out the jock's name to his gathered staff and asked if anybody in the room was familiar with his work. A voice from the back of the room said, yeah he's light. Scott got right back on the phone with Cat and said, he's light man who else ya got ?
September 28, 2009
When your an air talent the thing to do is reinvent yourself, become someone most people generally like. You know, Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, George Clooney, Clint Eastwood, those kinds of people. Why be yourself if you can become even more special and precious.
I think talent needs to be greedier, if you want more you become more. That's why it is really important to chase what you want not what you need.
Everything is in a state of destruction. Creativity is the only thing I know of, that is the opposite of all that.
If you want to be the biggest thing ever on the radio you must become what it takes to be that. Hey we all saw Caddy Shack didn't we.
You are who you act like.
A radio station needs a good strategy long before it needs promotion tactics.
Out of the box thinking is what all the creative giants use. Unfortunately the instructions on how to get out of the box are written on the outside of the top lid.
The radio station with the best staff seems to always win.
I still hate the word NO! In fact I am desperately looking for a person who is wearing a T shirt that reads; The Answer Is YES, What's The Question ?
Now if worn by a beautiful woman ... I agree, that is asking for too much.
Tom Feltenstein told me you gotta fire all the turkeys and hire nothing but eagles.
In a creative war it's your staff against their staff. Not your boss against their boss.
As an air talent when you look around at life and see exactly what your listeners see, than you need to be a listener not an on air talent.
Jim Hilliard told me that a bad plan is a lot better than no plan at all.
A small organized staff can always beat an unorganized staff ten times it's size.
It is impossible for one person to get the ratings by themselves, they must get the assistance of others, which is no small task in it's self.
The only way you can get listeners is to be one.
The ability to stay focused on all the important things that help you win, is the beginning of superior intelligence.
I always loved it when a good air talent played me a great bit they did on their show, rather than tell me about it.
The more you care about your listeners the bigger community you all live in.
Have you ever noticed in a department store the perfume counter is first, that's because they are selling hope. I think a radio station also should supply it's listeners with hope first.
The great thing about radio is you can take the smallest thing and blow it all out of proportion. Just like when Ron Chapman at KVIL in Dallas asked his listeners to send him $20. He didn't tell them why or what the money was going to be used for.
In two days he got Two Hundred and Forty Three Thousand dollars and had to beg the listeners to stop sending him the money.
Ron ended up on the cover of People Magazine, The Today Show, not to mention all the local media.
Trying to figure out on air what to do with the money combined with all the publicity, gave Ron his biggest rating book ever.
I have always said to air talent that they shouldn't open the mic if they don't know the end of what they are about to start.
I would prefer they just roll another tune because as Yogi Berra once said, "If you don't know where your going you might end up someplace else.
90 percent of what and how you say things wins the mornings so you should only spend 10% of your time on the other things, what ever that may be.
The thing I love the most about advertising is it kills bad products.
I like Billboard advertising for radio stations the most because of two things. One they make the radio station and/or it's personalities bigger than life. Two, your potential clients see them as they drive to their business location so when your sales rep shows up, for some reason which they cant remember they have heard of you. You need gigantic ratings if your ever going to sell anything to a client that has never heard of you.
Bob Vistotcky told me that when he launched highly successful Jammin' Oldies in LA a few years ago the project almost never got off the ground because the powers that be wanted to call it something else. Bob pleaded with them that Jammin' Oldies is what we do guys!
Why do all the new laws they pass always seem to benefit all the people I don't hang out with.
When Scott Shannon created Pirate Radio a few years ago my brother Reg and I heard it as we were driving from San Diego to Vegas for some radio convention. Man the station was great, the music was all over the place and we were singing along with most of the tunes. As I think back about it Pirate was the original Jack format and I loved it.
But then someone must of talked Scott into going with the researched music and that was the end of that. Damn!
I left Canada in the 70's and with time going by so quickly now and starting to pick up speed I am researching all the pension plans to see what they pay.
In Canada old age pension pays $12,144.00 a year but if your status is Refugee you get $28,920.00 a year.
So I think what I am going to do is when my Social Security kicks in here, I am going to apply for a Canada pension as a Refugee from America.
With what's left of my IRA and both those pensions I think I'm going to be in hog heaven, and might even get meaner.
Tom Watson told me that the reason Jammin' Oldies didn't have a longer shelf life was because they couldn't freshen the music. Nobody was making new Jammin Oldies I guess.
September 21, 2009 If the President's proposed health plan isn't good enough for all the people in Congress to be covered by, then it sure as hell is not good enough for me either.
In the year 2000 The Beatles were offered one hundred million dollars to reunite for one concert at Dodger Stadium in LA with potential of earning up to five hundred million with pay per view etc. thrown in.
They turned it down because they didn't think they could live up to what the fans would expect of them and they didn't want to tarnish their image.
I think all the big acts who are reuniting today would also go down on all their fans immediately following the concert, for that kind of coin.
Bobby Cole told me that he remembers everything that legendary Tom Donahue taught him while he was at KSAN.
I find that totally amazing considering all that went on there.
If anymore than three people are working on a radio project it will never be any good, if it even gets completed.
Brent Farris told me that the only thing that moves slower than evolution is politicians .
Ron Chapman recently told me that when he retired from Dallas Radio he bought a great condo on the good ship World, which was his dream come true.
But after going around this planet earth almost three times he finally turned to his beautiful wife Nance and said ... Can you get me off this merry go round?
I am the toughest guy in the world to sell your agenda to unless of course you are one of my daughters who will laugh out loud when they read my tough guy statement.
I am very proud of the results of a lot of projects that I have been involved in, but it's the ones I'm not very proud of that make for better stories.
Have you ever noticed that you cant really understand the names that they are paging at the airport, but if it's yours or even if it's the community you live in mentioned, the sound is clear as a bell. Just like on the radio.
When The Beatles first played Sgt. Pepper for Bob Dylan and before anybody else had heard it his only comment was ... Oh I see The Beatles aren't going to be cute anymore.
Is there anything more powerful and distracting than the moment a beautiful young woman walks into the middle of a very important meeting. Can you say end of meeting !
I learned a long time ago that one of the best things you can do on radio is play someone's favorite song. There is only one thing better than that. It's when a listener's favorite personality while talking over the front of their favorite tune, passionately claims that this tune is their favorite too.
An on air talent's main purpose is to enhance the music they are playing. It's kinda a lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way thing.
Tom Feltenstein recently told me that the way things are going in America it's much smarter to marry for money the first time around. You can always do it for love the next time.
Paul Martinelli told me that the only difference between making 50 thousand a year and 50 thousand a month is the knowledge of how to do so.
One of the smart things I always thought that Rogers Radio in Canada did was ... They always recruited the best GM they could find, if that persons background was from programming, they also became the PD. Then all they had to do was find a strong Sales Manager to back them up.
If the persons background was from sales they also became the sales manager with a strong PD to back them.
This all reminds me of football which of course most of radio does, not to mention life.
The head coach is usually an expert from the offensive or defensive side of the ball. When they get the big job most of them are smart enough to get a great assistant coach, who thinks about things kinda opposite to the way he does.
OK lets check my radio formula once again to see if it still will result in success when used. T+S=A+(p+i+t)xP+I=$uccess. Yep it still works!
You are where you came from.
You also are who you are acting like on any given moment.
I love it when an air talent sends me their best show ever. That way I can try to figure out how they could do that everyday or perhaps even improve on it.
It is always fun to save a "best ever" show to review in a couple of years. If you're a little embarrassed by it, your still rockin'.
A radio hosts job is to give their version of what life is all about. If their version is any good, they get paid gobs of money to do some more.
How we used to it be probably doesn't pertain anymore because all the conditions have changed.
A small change in how you language things could make a big change in your life.
My brother Reg was telling me last week while I was visiting him at m2o Labs in San Diego that the reason over 70 % of people who visit your station's web site, do so for greed, and he can prove it. No greed, no traffic.
When a woman says to you ... You already told me that story, your going to need a new woman.
When did a PD staying home and listening to his station at least once a week stop working ?
The only thing that hasn't changed in radio is what the listeners want.
The music trick on radio is to simply play the tunes the folks like more often than the ones they don't. Figuring that all out is a whole other story.
Most women found their new favorite radio station by hitting scan. Now that PPM is with us it's not so important to be her favorite radio station, but stopping her from hitting scan sure is.
September 14, 2009
In a couple of other pieces I wrote about how some folks would come to me and want me to a little construction on their stations even though they were in pretty good shape. Most of the stations I usually got to work on all needed an extreme make over.
As I have written many many times my consulting career took off a lot faster than I anticipated so I didn't have a plan in place to handle what happened.
Isn't it funny how we never seem to plan for success. Anyway one of my solutions to my new found success was to talk my brother Reg into joining me in San Diego as my partner so he could help me handle all the new clients that were coming on board.
Reg had just married his brand new bride Savvy who was from Boston and was newly working for Fairwest out of Dallas at the time.
Reg and Savvy hadn't been in Dallas that long so they hadn't put down any roots yet and the move to San Diego looked great to them.
Fairwest was owned by Fairbanks Broadcasting my old Alma Mater and was headed up by Jim West who also happened to represent me.
Mr. Fairbanks was starting to sell off his stations, and Jim Hilliard was going with them so I figured this was the perfect time to have him join me.
I think that the announcement of Reg and I joining forces was one of the few times I ever remember my Dad being very happy and proud at the same time.
The funny thing was he really didn't have any idea what Reg and I did for a living, but he was very happy we were doing it together.
Reg was quite successful in radio in his own right having being a great Jock and even better PD at CKGM in Montreal and CFTR in Toronto, where he kicked CHUM's ass.
The whipping he gave CHUM was payback for a childish act they pulled on him a few years before. Reg at the time was being hired out of Winnipeg to do production for CHUM, which was an excellent career move, and I was very excited for him.
But when they found out he was my brother even though I had left Toronto years before and was working in America, he no longer had the gig.
Hard to believe huh that a supposedly big company like CHUM could actually be so small.
But in the end it cost them big time. Nothing like the energy of revenge to keep you going for a few more hours each day.
After his CFTR success Reg joined WVBF in Boston as Program Director and was the one responsible for putting the big time duo of Loren and Wally together.
He had and had a nice run there before being transferred to Fairwest in Dallas to help run the programming side of this up and coming company.
Fairwest had a huge recording studio and did things like record local music acts, jingles, production music, plus they syndicated a few popular formats notionally like Continuous Country for George Burns, Music Of Your Life for Al Ham, and Fairwest A/C which I consulted.
Once Reg joined me in San Diego the synergy was so good that our little company exploded.
Not long after we started working together we actually bought Fairwest, the company he had worked for only a short time before.
The reason we bought Fairwest was to give us sort of a business base so we could get real serious about fulfilling our life life long dream of owning some radio stations.
I just couldn't imagine any bank loaning a whole bunch of money to two guys running a consulting business out of our basements.
Of course by then though Reg and I had already moved into new offices in La Jolla which I think by far were the neatest in California.
Our very hip and plush offices hung right over La Jolla Cove and you could even see the whales swim by on their way to Mexico.
Things couldn't have been any better even though we were very busy.
Pretty soon we bought KKCW K103 in Portland Oregon which was very exciting for a couple of Transcona lads
Then shortly there after it was The Apple in Indianapolis, Star in Milwaukee and we were in the middle of negotiating for a station in Chicago, WMET when I got a call from Jim West who neede me to come to Dallas to meet with someone very important right at DFW.
So off to Dallas I go and Jim introduces me to a man by the name of Tom Hicks.
Tom owned Dr. Pepper, 7up and some other big companies all over America but this day he was there in the airport to talk to me about how radio worked.
He asked me a lot of specifics about all the projects we were working on and was also interested in all the people who worked with me and what they did.
I had no idea where this conversation was going but I knew Jim West would not have me fly halfway across the country just to pass the time of day chatting with someone.
Tom was very gracious that day and I really liked him. He talked very little about what he did because he was there to find out what I did.
He did mention that he was very heavily involved in the stock market and explained that's how he had acquired several big companies in such a short period of time.
Finally our time was up and he thanked me for flying in to see him. Then he says, my brother Steve loves radio and we own a few radio stations together but I really think he needs a guy like you and your people to help him.
I'm going to figure out how to best do that and make it well worth your while. With that we shook hands and parted ways.I jumped on a plane and headed back to America's Finest City.
Before I know it we are merging our two radio companies together into one, which we named CAPSTAR.
It turned out Tom and Steve owned some stations in Tulsa, Baton Rouge and Austin where Steve was headquartered.
The Hicks station in Austin, KEY 103 we all figured needed a little construction work to help make this deal fly.
It was a background A/C with mediocre ratings and I felt if we took it foreground just maybe we could pop the ratings which would give us a shot at better billing which the merger really needed.
I had just split up with my wife so I moved to Austin and brought Reid Reker with me.
Reg stayed in San Diego to keep those offices humming. We were all very excited because nobody had dreamed this big. Well maybe Tom Hicks had, in fact this was probably just a tiny dream to him
According to the FCC, I was not allowed to touch the station because I going to be an owner of it. That was main reason I brought Reid with me.
He was to be the main programming guy.
I of course was just officing there of course so I could be closer to all our consulting clients in the midwest.
The next order of business was ... Lets blow this puppy up!
You know the drill, here comes the very talented bad boy travel team riding into to town like a bunch of gunslingers out of the old west.
Somehow we always had guys like this standing by for these kinds of situations. Special guys like, The Magic Christian, Jeff McKee, Mike Donahue, Mike Keneally and we brought in a brand new member of the team out of Houston by the name of Bill Taylor.
Bill was part of The Morning Zoo in Houston headed up by morning legend John Lander so we knew he had good chops
Bill became our new morning news guy and sounded just like Peter Jennings. It was just the touch of class we needed to balance out all the crazies.
Man what a sound, what a great group of guys.
Of course it was not too long before our giant mind blowing promotions hit the airways and it was also not too long until the GM was reading those now famous words to the TV cameras ... We never dreamed, nor did we anticipate ...
I'll never ever forget the look on Steve Hicks face a few short months later when he got off the elevator on the programming floor and was looking down at a piece of paper in his hands.
I just happened to be be walking down the hall at that very moment and he turned to me with an astonished look and said, George the ARB advances are out, and I don't know how we did this but we beat KASE, nobody has ever beat them before.
We are number one by a tenth of a point KASE has a 13 and we have a 13.1. But even better than that the money demos are off the chart.
The rating party was killer then the next thing I know Tom Hicks is whisking me off to Wall Street. Wall Street, are you kidding me man ! I'm from Transcona, I don't know from Wall Street.
Tom assures me it will be very good because I'm going to be the featured speaker so I'm in charge of making it good. Say what ?
Tom says yeah don't worry it's just a bunch of lawyers and investors who are interested in funding our little project.
They don't know anything about radio so just explain to them how you do your magic
They're going to love you, your a funny guy.
Up the elevator we zoom to the top of the financial world, and the next thing I know I am sitting at the end of this huge conference table looking out the floor to ceiling glass windows that over look most of Manhattan. Tom Hicks must have done meetings like this like this a thousand times because with absolutely no strain in his voice he is ever so smoothly telling the attendees about what kind of a genius I was. Yeah right, if I were a genius I wouldn't be sitting here as scared to death as I presently am.
Let me tell you about all the cold looking people grouped around the table, not even bothering to pretend they had any interest in what was going on. I remember they all had blue pin striped suits on, and were wearing red or yellow power ties. Talk about your uniforms.
All of a sudden I hear Tom say ... And now I want you to meet our star of CAPSTAR, George Johns, and I was on. I got up and hoped my trembling knees weren't making any noise as my knees banged together and I prayed didn't have sweat stains showing through my suit jacket because I felt like I was in a shower.
I looked around the conference table at all these power brokers who just sat there with a look of indifference on their collective faces. I remember wondering how they managed to have it go, red tie, yellow tie, red tie, you know much like the seating arrangements of, boy girl, boy girl, boy girl at a dinner party. Are there people on wall street that take care of those things I wondered.
They just all sat there and kinda stared at me like, hey kid we all know that your from Transcona, what the hell do you think your doing here. Exactly!
You could have heard a pin drop when I finally spoke and said ... Gentlemen when Hollywood makes a movie about my business they don't even get it close, but they sure nailed you F#^ing guys!
There was complete silence for it seemed like eternity, then the whole room just broke up and we had a great meeting except now that I think about it what followed was horrendous because I just realized that I was possibly at the meeting that may have given birth to Consolidation.
A couple of weeks later Reg said it looks like this deal with the Hicks Brothers is moving forward which meant soon we would own seven markets, and be looking for more. So now would be time to take a little vacation he said, because we are going to be real busy real soon. I resigned all my clients and headed off to Europe where I boarded The Orient Express in Paris then just bummed around over there for about a month.
When I got back the CAPSTAR deal was off and I had no clients.
September 7, 2009 I Think I Have a Thinkin' Problem Lawrence Amaturo who owns a Nissan car dealership in Santa Rosa Ca. claims he has lots of money for great radio ideas, but none for radio spots. Tom Skinner GM of KZST told me to go ahead and give him a bunch, but be sure to bring back an order.
Have you ever noticed that most of your real good stories come from most of the real bad decisions you've made along the way as you aimlessly wandered through life.
You can not overplay somebody's favorite song. Repetition only begins the very next time you play a tune they don't like.
When I was but a lad my Grandfather sat me down to explain the facts of life. According to him there are three ... Faster Cars, Older Whisky, and Younger Women, and they are what makes the world go round.
Why do I think my Daughter Candis wouldn't approve of me passing this wisdom on to my Grandson Nathaniel.
An angry woman recently emailed me that after reading my blogs and having worked with me for a short while that she has come to the conclusion that my ego was way out of proportion to my talent. She even went on to suggest I should grow up and get over myself.
Hmmmmmmmm I don't remember her, but I wonder if she was from sales per chance ?
Just because it's legal, doesn't make it right! Reid Reker recently returned to Chicago to disprove my theory that missed opportunities hand out no rain checks. He said he met up once again with the opportunity he had left on the table a few years before and after a few pops opportunity presented it's self once again. But with all the liquor they consumed ... Reid had to take another rain check. Unfortunately with all the health care reform talk that is going on you would think a lot of people like how it is now. Are you shi$ing me. We hate both. I think the pursuit of happiness is the pursuit of truth. Are you ever happier than the moment you discover a new truth. I don't think that growing up is conducive to the pursuit of happiness. I mean how many happy adults have you encountered compared to happy children. I think I will stay right where I am.
By law, lawyers are the only people allowed to lie, the rest of us have to tell the truth. Oh Oh!
Got an email blast the other day from some company asking if I would like a price quote on a new BMW. I responded with sure, how much is a new 3 series hard top convertible.
Within moments I got emails from two BMW dealers in my area, both singing their own praises and asking me what time would I like an appointment to look at all the neat cars they have in stock.
I responded with ... Nope, just need a price quote on a 3 series hard top convertible.
Never heard anything more for a while. Then I get another email from both dealers asking if I was still interested in a new BMW.
This time I respond kinda angrily saying hey I don't want any sales boogie, I just want a price quote. They both responded with, we didn't know you wanted a price quote.
Still no quote as yet, but something new did show up today.
The original company that asked me if I would like a price quote are back asking if I would mind participating in a survey about what my experience was like with the two local BMW dealers they sent to take care of me.
Someone recently told me I was just very lucky. That may be true but I have found out over the years that the harder I work the luckier I get.
In some circles Bill Gates is a very big deal until Steve Jobs walks in the room.
Plans for things we want to do move ahead at a much slower pace than plans for things we don't want to do.
Things are what they are, not what we wish them to be. But if you are not working on what you wish them to be, they will never be.
I love all the new technology but I still believe it is only a new stage for the play. I think they will watch and maybe even listen to American Idol wherever you present it.
I have often said that if you work at Pizza Hut it doesn't really make much difference who owns them until you hear the words ... We're going to use a little more cheese from now on. That's when it's time to think about a new career. Radio cut out all the cheese a long time ago.
Walt Disney got so frustrated attending so many corporate meetings about non creative things at Disney, that he and six people walked away,formed another company and created magic. I think my brother Reg may be doing the same.
Ted Kennedy had more effect on America than his other two brothers put together.
One of the only things Ron Chapman, Jeff & Jer' and Jim Harper have in common with Howard Stern and why I think they are all so successful is ... Show Control!
Controlling your own show reminds me of a tale I heard about Bob Newhart. It seems that he had a steadfast rule that he would never play the part of a Dad because those TV sitcoms always portrayed the Wife and Kids as very smart and Dad as the dumb ass.
One day the writers who were running short of story ideas after a very long run of The Bob Newhart Show approached Bob and said, hey Bob we have this funny new premise where your wife gets pregnant. May we run some of the scenes and spin off scenes by you. Absolutely he said.
During the presentation Bob was howling with laughter and at the end said, this is great stuff, I love it all, but I only have one question ... Who plays Bob ???
Tex Schramm once said ... Hey I'm trying to run a football team here and I don't think the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders have anything to do with football so I don't have any time for them. Ron Chapman kindly said(-: Hey Tex, KVIL will gladly do our part to help The Dallas Cowboys by taking them off your hands.
Tex I'm sure was forever grateful.
You can learn business, but you can't learn gifted !
September 1, 2009 Jerry of San Diego's Jeff and Jer said he needs me to make them a little bit richer. My instant very macho response was ... Yes sir! www.jeffandjer.com
Years ago when Jim Hilliard was Jimmy Darin in Spokane he had to fire one of the best Jocks of all time.
It seems that a brand new car had just hit America called the Volkswagen Beetle and Larry Lujak had a live spot he had to do every night on his show for the local car dealer that sold them.
But It seems every night at the end of the spot, Larry claimed the cars were just a front to raise money for Hitler, who he claimed was still alive and hiding.
The car dealer freaked out and Hilliard had to reprimand Larry and tell him to cut it out or he would have to fire him.
The next night most of the live read went well until Larry got into the part about where he thought Hitler was hiding, and what with the low low price they were selling these cars at how could they possibly sell enough of them to keep him hidden in the style he was accustomed to.
Hilliard had no choice but to fire him. I guess that it must all go under the heading of ... If you've got good copy you've just have to go for it !
Ryan Seacrest is living proof that if all you do is work all the time you can be rich and famous.
Radio has to get back to doing what the person who listens and shops wants, not what the client wants.
When John Lennon said ... The Beatles were just a band but Yoko was his life. I think we were thinkin' what the hell was he thinkin' ?
The reason bands break up is because musicians come from all walks of life, when the music talk dies down while your on the road together, you suddenly realize your traveling with some idiots.
They are having a big reunion in my home town of Transcona next year but I'm having a problem relating to all the old people who are planning on attending.
Speaking of Transcona my brother Reg reminded me of the Transcona Rules that we must pass on to our children.
The Transcona Rules are but one rule. You can do anything you want except be a phony. Boy a lot of people in radio would have a tough time making it through the night there is what I'm thinking.
What we have to figure out is what the wealthy want because both the Democrats and the Republicans are afraid of them. Neither of them are afraid of the rich so If we can figure out what the wealthy are telling their puppets in Congress to do we could get rich too. Not wealthy mind you, just rich. But hey why get picky, rich is not very powerful but definitely good enough for me.
When you go into a very popular crowded restaurant for lunch that is filled with those beautiful creatures radio covets so much, 25-54 year old women, but you soon discover the two subjects they are not talking about are Radio and Music.
Commercials have always been ranked third in what makes a person leave and go to another station.
The off button has always been radios biggest enemy, not another station.
The scan button has always been a new radio format's best friend, but it's a very fickle friend and will turn on you in a second.
My Brother Reg is back in his radio laboratory working on something special that he claims will last into perpetuity both artistically and financially.
David Wolfe dwolfe@wolfemedia.com, my old running partner was bragging to me that he still is getting lawyers to send him checks instead of the other way around.
He claims he is willing to share this money with special radio stations all over North America. He is so excited about all of this that he even made a movie about it. http://bit.ly/14zUW2
Bob Christy has a great plan for an AM radio station he is trying to buy. But the Mr. Business man he is trying to buy it from keeps changin' the deal at the last minute. You know nickle and diming him to death.
I told Bob he should walk away from the deal because what ever he was going to pay for it was a way too much now that C.C. has started giving them away.
Bobby Cole told me he has temporarily left radio since he became construction foreman of the pool and spa project at his beautiful new home in the wine country.
Once the pool and spa are done he claims he is going to become the design supervisor of the room he calls "The George Suite". I can hardly wait to visit.
Steve Lapa told me that Eric Rhoads had recently published the list of the forty most powerful people in radio broadcasting today.
I'm thinkin' for equal time sakes Eric should also publish the top forty of the people most responsible for the state radio is in today.
Surely the list would be different ???
I don't know why Obama isn't talking to Kiefer Sutherland about health reform, after all his grandfather invented it in Canada.
Bill Stairs once sat me down and interviewed out of me how I wanted the music texture to sound on the radio. He then typed my answers into Selector.
It was the closest I ever came to having the music sound I hear in my head actually appear on the air.
Have you ever noticed that most of the radio stations that claim hey play The Best Of The Eighties, Nineties And Today, play mostly stuff from the 2000's
I think PPM is a predictor of things to come in the diary markets.
The way things are going here in America I kinda expect to hear pounding at my door as I write this stuff. They didn't amend the free speech part while I was sleeping did they ?
Another thing I've noticed is that if your ever having a conversation with someone who graduated from Harvard it comes up in the first five minutes no matter what you are talking about.
This just in ... Jeff and Jer just walked away from a new deal at STAR in SAN DIEGO because CC wanted them to get rid of several people from their show. Jerry told the press in a TV interview that these people were like family so that made the new offer unacceptable.
While Jeff and Jer were being interviewed on camera, Jerry was holding a ratty cardboard sign that read ... WILL DJ FOR FOOD! jeffandjer.com
Neil Simon said that even though he wrote mostly comedies he never hired comedians do to do any of his plays. He claimed they were always in too much of a hurry to get to the punch line. Neil demands respect for all his words not just punch lines.
I've never been a big fan of commercials even though back when I was a kid I won a couple of awards producing them. I've always been a promo guy. Now my brother Reg informs me that even the promos aren't working any more. But thank God he has discovered what does. No that's the end of that story for now. (-:
When my Brother Reg and I bought Music Of Your Life from Al Ham I went on the road with a great guy who now is a big honcho for the RAB by the name of Ron Ruth. Our job was to inform all the MOYL clients that the tape service was going away and we were going up on Satellite.
We had a fist full of airline tickets and a bunch of hotel reservations. Ron it turned out was a great guy and in those couple of weeks a lifetime of memories happened to us.
Now besides discovering that Jim Davis worked at every station we called on, my favorite story was when we hit Baltimore. I had never been there before so Ron said I should just put myself in his hands and soon I would be in love with Crab cakes etc.
Meanwhile we were trying to check into this brand new fancy hotel and Ron was in charge of all the confirmation numbers and stuff like that and I was just hangin' back.
Of course at the front desk they never heard of us. So Ron pulls out his trusty itinerary and hands the confirmation number to them with a warm smile like only he can conger up. That smile I think has got Ron in and out of more marriages than he cares to talk about.
The front desk then informs Ron that he didn't have the right confirmation number, and in fact it couldn't be one of theirs because it didn't have the correct amount of digits in it .
So of course a rather intense argument broke out and while it was going on I caught the eye of another hotel person and pulled her aside.
Ron and the front desk were getting rather loud so I quickly asked this woman if they had any rooms. She said they were wide open, so I asked if I could have one and she replied, certainly.
We quickly did the paper work and she handed me my room key. As I was leaving the front desk I interrupted Ron who was still arguing with his two people and informed him of my room number so when ever he was finished up with what ever he was arguing about maybe he could call my room and we could get a cocktail before dinner.
August 24, 2009 Still Thinkin' Out Loud A lot of people over the years have asked me what the real secret of KVIL in Dallas was. Well try this on for size ... Most of the air talent I had the privilege of working with at KVIL are now in The Texas Radio Hall Of Fame.
I'm in awe of all the people who can do all stuff I can't do. The rest of ya ... Well that's another story.
The thing that makes running different than other sport is ... Your either running or your not.
My daughter Cami recently told me that not everyone gets my humor.
Lawrence Amaturo said not very many people get anything I say.
Joe Amaturo says that's because you speak logically and most radio people are listening cosmically.
A long time ago we tried to kill Disco but we never got it done, just ask any woman.
I think most Women who have problems can trace them back to their Fathers. We are all guilty of not telling our daughters what it was really like out here.
We chose to protect them from that much needed knowledge and just prayed that they would meet and fall in love with some man who would give up his life to protect her, like we would.
I don't know why we figured there was no need for her to know what we were protecting her from.
I'm around young teenage girls quite a bit because of my Daughter Cami. ( aren't you sorry for what flashed through your mind ) What I have noticed is they all talk very very fast, and they all talk to each other at the same time, but I noticed nobody is listening. I think they need a designated listener.
Is it just me or does NASCAR seem to be fading a tad, kinda like Country Music seems to when it gets too poppy and the core starts to erode.
I'm a much better Father than my Father was, and maybe that's just because I got a couple of shots at it. But my Father was a much better man than me and you only get one shot per life time at that.
I think I can trace back the downfall of my Marriage to Ratings. I have always loved good ratings because they always led to good rating parties.
The bigger the ratings the bigger the party. When the ratings eventually moved from good to great it seemed my marriage couldn't handle those great kinds of parties.
When I was a kid the Dee Jays were bigger than the music they played, I wonder what happened, did the air talent get less talented or did the music get a lot better?
When I worked for Fairbanks Broadcasting we were headquartered in Indianapolis along with our two great local stations WIBC and WNAP in a two story brick building that most of the local broadcasters had to drive by to get to their own stations.
Our employee parking lot was always filled with Cadillacs, Lincolns and Corvettes. But seeing as we were kinda into intimidation we decided to turn the heat up a little bit for their drive by viewing pleasure.
Hilliard got a Lamborghini, Dick Yancey our sales V/P got a Ferrari, and me being from programming the best I could do was a Mercedes.
It takes a helluva of an ego to even get started in the radio business, but it takes a little talent to succeed at it. The accountants have more than enough ego that's for sure, but counting I guess didn't turn out to be a real talent.
A long time ago Jack Collins said to me ... George your wasting your time explaining the format and the texture of the station to our sales people. They work for the clients, we just pay them. All they really care about is how many free promos your neat new format can give them so they can throw them in with the bonus spots and the rest of the value added.
Radio even though we are trying to ruin it still is the only business in the world that can call someone at randomly on the phone and say this is so and so from KWAT and the person on the other end says ... Yes ?? Everyone else just hears a loud dial tone as the person hangs up on them.
Have you ever noticed how forgiving business men and politicians are of each other.
PPM misses the first 30 minutes or more of a wearers listening habits each morning because they are not wearing it yet. So if you figure out how many days your average listener listens to your morning show and add 30 minutes to your TSL then do the rest of the math, you get a lot closer to the truth and bonus time.
Chuck Riley told me that not all Doctors graduated from the top of their class someone had to graduate from the bottom. He told me this shortly after our GP had incorrectly diagnosed my daughter Candis with having Leukemia and I was totally freaking out ... And yes I did cry.
When you put your call letters together with any other business whether it be in a promo, billboard, newspaper add, TV add, or whatever, you take on their image. They are trying to take on yours but unfortunately the image goes to the bad apple.
The dark side is at least ten times more powerful than the good side.
Most countries leaders unfortunately are measured by their charismatic attraction more than they are by their deeds.
With the economy as it is, I see America coming back to the traditional, not so glittery formats, just like in the past.
OK one more check ... Yep, NO is still my least favorite word. Isn't it weird that the stupidest people are the first ones to use it.
Have you ever noticed that the Condo boards are always headed up by someone who was no one all of their life.
It's real easy to get rich, just aim your whole life at it. What do you mean you have to call your mom, forget all that nonsense, you have no time for trivial frivolities.
A very learned man told me that unlike all the other countries in the past that were the most powerful countries in the world in their day, America would never fall from grace because we zig zag we never go in a straight line we change directions abruptly. I guess what we are going through now is a sharp left turn.
Hey I'm starting to think it wont be long now till I can serve up a little justice of my own. I mean what can they do to me ... Free room and board for the rest of my life, now that's a scary thought. But am even scarier thought is it makes me a very dangerous person.
Well hopefully if I can get that word out it will make all the Johns girls a little safer.
August 16, 2009 If Babe Ruth had all the special advantages that Barry Bonds and a few others of his ilk had, he would have made them all look like school girls. August 10, 2009 In Construction Zones (part one) I had written about several radio stations being turned over to me for some major construction work even though they were doing quite well already. Management had their reasons, and I was up for all kinds of radio projects if they made any sense at all. When I left Indianapolis and Fairbanks Broadcasting for San Diego and the beginning of my new consulting career, I will always remember Jim Hilliard running along behind my car as I was leaving yelling ... Are you crazy, are you out of your mind, don't leave, don't leave. Don't you know that the California sun is going to get in your eyes and you'll just end up on the front cover of some magazine with your broadcasting career in shambles all around you. Well some of that wasn't quite true. But I did leave, I did end up on the cover of a magazine, and my career has always been in shambles. Hey three out of four ain't all that bad. Back then I was very lucky to start out my new career having the legendary Jim West represent me. Jim was the only sales guy I ever met that could get certified checks hand delivered to him without ever leaving the office. He was the King of giving good phone. One day Jim called me and said he just got off the phone with a guy named Bill Lacy. Bill had just bought an A/C station in Oklahoma City called KLNK. Jim had done some work with this guy in Enid Oklahoma earlier where he had owned a little station. But now he was excitedly calling Jim because as he said, hey I'm in the big time now, and I want to be the KVIL of Oklahoma City and I want George Johns, and I know you can give him to me. Jim told him I was pretty busy and he thought he probably wouldn't be able to talk me into going to Oklahoma City anyway. But he he told Bill he had some guys that had worked very closely with George that he could send and they would do a great job for him. Nope Bill said, I want George and I'll pay double his going rate to get him. Needless to say the next thing I knew I was flying into Oklahoma City and the very next morning bright and early I was standing in Bill Lacy's brand new office in his spanking brand new location. Bill seemed very excited to see me but kept pacing and muttering as we chatted ... Damn, George Johns is in my office, damn. In between mutterings Bill explained to me that he wanted to change the call letters from KLNK to KZBS for two reasons. He had visited Zuma Beach in Malibu once and totally fell in love with it. The other reason was KLNK spelled clink or clunk to him and wanted his station to be a power house not a clink or clunk. He wanted KZBS to be as close to sounding like KVIL in Dallas as he could get it and he was willing to pay what ever it cost to get it there. About then Bill turned to me and said, I am so excited about this project but one thing bothers me. I asked what that was and he said I have heard about you for years. I've always admired you and I think I have been one of your biggest fans. You have no idea how long I've wanted to work on a project with you. In fact I think I may have just bought this radio station in OK City because I knew I couldn't get you to come to Enid, is that nuts or what.. So what's bothering you I asked. He said if your as big as I think you are what the hell are you doing in my office in Oklahoma City. I responded with, don't worry about it Bill it won't happen often. Bill had just purchased this station from a big radio research guy named Bill Moyes and it was doing fairly well with it's highly researched music, and very laid back air talent. But Bill didn't care he just wanted to blow it all up and start his station with his call letters and a whole new staff. We talked him out of that by saying Bill lets just kinda evolve it, but do it in a very exciting way. I personally have never been into revolution much, I have always liked evolution much much better. I explained to Bill that if we evolve it, you get to hang on to the revenue and maybe we can save some of the decent ratings that the station already has so we don't have to start with a 0 share. This project turned out to be my favorite evolution project of all time, and it took a crazy owner crazy enough to let us do it. Little did we know at the time that what goes up must come down. I guess it's just the laws of nature at work.
The local owners in the smaller markets where they were couldn't believe they had such great talent working at their stations even if it was only for a short period of time. Just the fact that they were there for a while gave the stations a real good shot at a lot of young up and comers who were attracted to their stations because and wanted to work with some of these pretty famous Jocks. Albeit a lot of them were of the bad boy variety. I had two special guys working with me back then that headed up most of our projects. My brother Reg was one, and Reid Reker was the other. Reg and Reid were the masters at handling all the, lets just call them sometimes difficult to handle kind of talent. Although now Reg I think has lost his appetite for most of the jox and their egos Reid was the one who headed up this project so we get started by bringing in Cat Simon, The Magic Christian, Tony Maddox, Bill Bailey and if memory serves me correctly, I think even The Old Captain, Bill Gardner did a tour of duty there also. Plus we wanted keep one of the KLNK crew named Jan Jefferies who at the time was a decent jock but we had plans to turn into a newsman, which we did and sounded damn good. Jan later on also turned into a real good team member and we used him a lot in the future as Reid's right hand guy. I don't think Oklahoma City was ready for that all star line up. But Bill Lacy was in heaven, I think he felt like he was Jerry Jones This show had our new call letters on it, new jingles, new music, plus some very big exciting promos that we had pre cut plus some great contest stuff and even some cool liners. We strung this tape up on a special tape deck in the on air studio and Reid who was in early had a cart with strange sounding static noises on it that he kept in his pocket. At around same time each morning he would walk into the studio, tell the current laid back much more music morning guy not to panic, because everything would be back to normal in a moment or two. Reid would then shove the cart into the machine, play the static on the air and fade up a portion of the new sound under it while fading down the current sound of the station. There would be Cat just honkin' talking about Oklahoma, playing cool jingles, promos, and liners, but of course selling the hell out of the new KZBS call letters. After a while wouldn' you know it the static would return and the new sound would start fading away and KLNK would fade up again.
It kinda sounded like a new entity was trying to take over but the old thing would fight back and take back the station again. It wasn't long before the station's phones would be ringing off the hook. The switchboard girl wasn't in on the deal so she didn't know what the people were talking about. When she asked the morning guy if he knew what they were talking about he just shrugged his shoulders. By not telling the switchboard girl what was going on she didn't have to act so she acted perfectly.
But it seems all good things must come to an end my friend. They are all in the conference room drinking champagne while they wait for the limos to pick them up and take them to a big celebration dinner. They were kind enough to call me and share their joy. I wished them big congratulations,hung up and went back to my dinner feeling very good about it all. It had been a fun ride and the staff deserved the great results. They call one more time still yelling and screaming as they head out to the limos and the big night ahead of them Yep in a little over an hour it went from ecstasy to, were outta here! It seems at the big rating dinner when it came time for some little speeches Bill lacy the owner stood up on the dinner table, yes right on top of it and proceeded to tell the staff how he was sole responsible for the whole win, and he took all the credit with a mean and nasty voice. Don't you just love owners. Their only part in the play is to take the risk but I guess don't have anything else to do so they whine like little school girls about it the whole time and some of them just seem to go out of their way to screw it all up. July 31, 2009 The life rule has always been ... Men are soft when they are hard and hard when they are soft.
Michael never got to be a Kid, now he doesn't get to be a Senior either.
I remember years ago attending a Sandusky Radio seminar in Phoenix. At the time they seemed to have stations every where in America and their newest one in Kansas City had been turned over to me a few months before to become the 2nd CLASS/CLASSY station in America.
The GM, Steve Dinkel and I were sitting at a table together looking a little out of place with all the rockers present. But were soon joined by Dana Horner the GM of Sandusky's AOR operation in Seattle.
Most of all of the Sandusky stations at the time were some kind of AOR except for us. I think we were looked at by everyone as Sandusky's wimpy A/C experiment at the time.
We were all sitting there listening to each station's presentation tape which were all very good but consisted mainly of a bunch of music sweeps with nice segues.
Now it was time for our little tape from Kansas City. Man it just blew out of the speakers with some very exciting sounds of crazy Jox jumping out of airplanes live on the air plus another pair doing live reports from all over the world as they raced each other around the planet in opposite directions.
Then of course there was the Mayor of Kansas City on our air and local TV spanking us for blowing up the phone system and putting the city in danger.
All of this was mixed together with some very tightly edited music which made it pop and listeners sounding like they were having orgasms as they won some very exotic prizes
I'm not sure what the rest of the Sandusky folks were expecting from us, but not this, thats for sure.
I think they were kinda expecting a pretty sweep of The Carpenters, Bread and maybe even a little Barry Manilow.
All I remember is the whole room breaking out in shocked applause when our tape ended.
The President of the group at that time was Toney Brooks who was MCing the whole affair. After the tape was done Toney brought the mic over to our table and said ... George the reason I have Dana Horner sitting with you and Steve Dinkel at your table is this, I am very proud to announce that his station is going to be our next station to do your CLASS/CLASSY format, and in fact we already have the new call letters standing by KLSY.
Now George do you have any special advice for Dana that might better prepare him for what is about to happen in Seattle. Toney then quickly shoved his microphone in my face and I said yes, Dana, your going to need to get a brand new Mercedes immediately.
Wow I just got an e mail from Mark Parr who stumbled across georgejohns.com I haven't seen or heard from him since the early seventies, so what a great surprise his e mail was to me.
What makes Mark so special was he was the person responsible for me being in radio to this day. Back in the day when I was playing for THE JURY the local radio personalities would be hired to MC the dances and throw out free records to the crowd.
Now this was pre Beatles time so the DJ's were a very big deal and were much more of a draw than we the band were.
Mark was the night time DJ from CKY, Winnipeg and was very popular with the ladies, his prowess with them was, and still is legendary, just check with Lainie Kazan.
The Jox didn't stay at the dace the whole night because some of them like Mark were very busy attending to the responsibilities of having fans. So I would have to go to the station on Monday to pay them. That's how I got to know Mark.
Mark's recent e mail brought flooding back, the memory of a very very special day in my life. I was at CKY one Monday around noon to give Mark his money from a weekend gig we did together.
The receptionist told me that he was in the FM studio and was expecting me. Now this was in the day when FM wasn't cool, and Mark had a duty at the station he really disliked. He had to be a board op on the FM station for the lunch hour, while the regular board op got some lunch.
There sat Mark behind the FM consul as I walked in to pay him, and he says to me, George have you ever thought about working in radio?
I responded with, hell yes but where do you go to learn how to run all that equipment. He said that's the easy part, here sit down and I'll teach it to you right now.
At that time in radio there was no automation equipment, so the time was on a big reel of tape as was the temperature. The liners and public service announcements were on another separate tape deck and the commercials were on two cartridge machines. The music was on four turntables.
Mark proceeded to show me how it all worked and I was kinda doing it, all nervous and very excited of course when he scares me to death with ... Hey there's Daryl B in the production studio I have to go see him for a moment, and out he goes.
A little while later the station owner walked into the FM studio giving a small tour to some business men. At that moment I have everything running at once. Different sound was coming out of all the cue speakers at the same time. Music, temperatures, times, liners, psa's, commercials all playing at once and all coming out of different speakers, I couldn't figure out what was on the air and what wasn't.
I was in a panic but didn't want to show it with the owner present, so I was casually waving at Mark whom I could see two studios away. Mark just waved back at me and smiled.
By the time he wandered back into the studio everything was back to normal, and I was a radio man forever. Thank you Mark!
My Dad had one of those great winning smiles. You know the kind, one of those big ol' salesman smiles. His smile was so good that my friends use to say ... It must be fun living at your place 'eh ? Yeah right!
After I finally left home, my brother Reg said that our parents turned to him and said ... We only took our eye off your brother for a moment and now we have no idea what's gong to become of him as he heads off to the radio world. But you, you we are watching every second of everyday. That must have been a fun ride for Reg.
My Daughter Candis and her husband Charlie are both extreme athletes. They both are very assertive and competitive. Candis also is a singer, actress and intense business person, who became a mother. Charlie in his spare time is saving Mountains.
When they had Nathaniel we all wondered how he was going to turn out, what with all that aggressive DNA churning in his body.
Candis recently told me that the wait is over and the results are in. He's a four year old teenager!
I guess most of radio missed the passing of Michael Jackson. It seems that voice tracking and what's happening right now live don't exactly go together.
Now if those hurricanes just stay away from Florida we should be OK and wont need any live radio.
Yeah thats the ticket, just turn up some Jimmy Buffet and pass me another 'Rita we'll be fine we don't need your stinking hurricane warnings.
Years ago Jack McCoy told me that he recently discovered in a research project he had done that there was only one reason a person went back to AM radio after switching to FM. It was to get the weather because FM didn't seem to do it. I think it might be true again.
Is it just me or do radio sales people seem to do a lotta lotta talking but very little listening. How does that work out for them I wonder.
The first radio sales person that I ever had any kind of strange dealings with was Cy Brownstone in Winnipeg at my first radio gig. I was the production board op at CKY.
Sy would always whine at me first thing everyday to get his stuff put up front in production, even though he followed none of the rules.
Sy was also the first to ask me who I thought paid my salary. I've been asked that many times since but he was the first. Cy also always had an emergency a day that needed to be recorded right now, you know the type, I see you nodding along and substituting a name or two for Cy's.
But hey for my extra help he would always reward me with one movie ticket, yep one! I don't think I still have an issue with any of that, surely I've let it go by now ?
When my daughter Candis was going to NYU we went out to dinner with Rick Moranis who had an office in New York at the time where he did most of his script writing.
He claimed he was working on a script about all the goings on at the early CFTR. He explained it was the perfect scenario for what was going on in the world at that time. I asked him if he was going to play a part in the movie and he replied that he was going to play the part of The Magic Christian. How are you going to do that was my next question. He said, oh that's easy I'll just smoke two packs of cigarettes during the playing of one song.
I still remember all the things that used to get my attention on the radio before I became a radio guy.
They still work to this day.
Women seem to love menus, is that because they are always hungry, or do they just like lots of choices.
I have chased women on the radio it seems for most of my life. I was forced by necessity to do a lot of research with them in order to learn as much as I could about how to attract them.
By now I think I know more about women than most men, and I know next to nothing.
Back when I was with Fairbanks Broadcasting in Indianapolis and my boss Jim Hilliard was busy flying around the country trying to sell the Indiana Pacers I had to deal with Mr. Fairbanks for the company's programming needs until Jim got back.
At that time almost every station in town carried The Indy 500 live, but the ratings weren't going during that period so we had no idea what station most of the folks were hearing the race on.
I came up with a plan that I needed to present to Mr. Fairbanks. I told him that I thought we should commission ARB to do an overnight rating survey on race day. My theory was that seeing as the national network that originated the broadcast used most of our guys to call the race in kinda sounded like it was our broadcast and hopefully we had most of the listeners but who knows. Mr. Fairbanks agreed and as I tried to continue my well thought out presentation about how if the survey showed us # 1 next year during race month we could really charge some good rates, he interrupted me with ... George you've already got a yes from me, if you keep going you just might manage to turn that yes into a no. I left his office immediately.
When I was officing in Boston a few years ago Tim Reever and I used to run along the Charles a lot and we even spent quite a few weekends racing all over New England. One winter we spent the whole winter indoors training on the tread mill for a 1/2 marathon in sunny San Deigo at the start of spring.
When we got back to Boston I overheard Tim telling Hilliard about our trip. He said, Jim you now intense George gets well I met his daughter Candis during our trip and she makes George look almost mellow as I'm sure you know. But Jeez have you met their dog!!!!!
The real person inside you is the person you are when you think nobody is watching.
I think America might have a lot of trouble getting out of this financial crises we are in. The people in Congress trying to fix it are mostly lawyers and other than charging their exorbitant fees, what the hell do lawyers know about money.
When my daughter Cami was in the 5th grade I asked her if she had any male teachers. I asked because her older sister Candis had her first male teacher around 5th grade and he had really had a big impact on her and turned her on to super grades and how to get them, which served her well all the way through college.
Cami said she didn't have any because they only taught the ungifted.
My good friends Betsy Cameron and Barry Smith have a new product out they are presently marketing to clubs, hotel bars, and cruise ships called LIQ.
It looks very much like a Popsicle but it's made of alcohol in a few different flavors. I guess it's supposed to be delicious and very entertaining to watch it being consumed. Hmmmmmm I'm keeping my daughters a long way from that kind of activity.
But I may need to check it out for my own research purposes. A guy needs to stay sharp don'tcha think.
We tend to like the people best that like us.
Toney Brooks claimed that at an important meeting, one of his PDs gently explained to me why he thought it was a bad idea to "hype" the station's call letters on the air. Toney said I turned to him and said "Get McDonald's on the phone! They've got to pull those arches down immediately!"
The legendary Magic Christian was a whole lot funnier off the air then he ever was on. In an attempt to get some of that great humor on the air I hot lined him once and said ... Magic I'm going to pay you per break today and here's how it works. After each break I will call you and tell you how much I thought that break was worth.
There will be $5 $10 $20 and $50 dollar rewards. After each break I would call him and he would of course argue with me about what he thought the value of the last break was worth.
By the end of the show they were all $50 dollar breaks and on one I even had to give him a $100, I was on the floor!
Magic was definitely the jock of the year that day.
I think the problem with the financial crises is none of the people working on it have a financial crises.
Unfortunately the man ingredient in becoming somewhat wise is the passage of time . The other day I was thinking about an old Canadian friend of mine Doc Harris. When I was just a pup PD, I had Doc join me several times at several different radio stations.
The problem getting him hired at each one of these stations was management never liked his audition tape, but they would go with my decision anyway because I was in my" honeymoon " period. Doc's first show would always blow the room away and the same management who were not in favor of his hiring would be calling me halfway through his show saying this guy is incredible no wonder you wanted to hire him, what a bargain.
What I just now realized was Doc's first show was the real gifted him. The rest of his shows were just his impersonation of what he thought a good Dee Jay sounded like.
I don't think he has any tapes of any of his first shows. Pity!
There is and old song that goes Accent The Positive Eliminate The Negative And don't Mess With Mr. In Between. What that always meant to me was that it was my jog to figure out what gifts the air talent had, then exploit them. The best way to get this done I found was through begging. Once the begging was accepted I tried to convince them to use their gifts so often that the rest of the ordinary stuff they used to do, just disappeared.
One of the biggest dilemmas in a persons life, is becoming successful.
The 3 things that a man most regrets on his death bed is #1 - Not spending enough time with his family. #2 - Not making love to all the beautiful women he could have. #3 - Not spending enough time with his real friends because he was tied up with all his acquaintances.
In a novel written by a female the novel usually ends with the wedding and takes the whole final chapter to describe it. In the same type of novel written by a male, the wedding is in the middle of the book somewhere and takes no more than a page to describe.
I think radio sales brought these low billing days on them selves. I remember a long time ago hearing the theory that 20% of your clients do 80% of your revenue, so you need to Super Serve them. Super Serve them they did and now that 20% is backing way off, and radio forgot who the other 80% of their clients were.
Bill Finginshu told me that most sales guys he gave stripes to, turned into art directors and immediately started designing the new station logo.
When I turned 50 I went back to Winnipeg for a Half Marathon that I was going to run with my young nephew Jamie Boychuck. I arrived a few days before the race and noticed that Olympian runner Jeff Galloway was there and was having a little warm up fun run a couple of days before the big event.
I have read most of Jeff's books on running so I took Jamie with me and we ran and chatted with this great Olympian runner, what a thrill.
Because I had just turned 50 I had hired a running coach a year earlier by the name of Thom Hunt a World Class Elite runner, to get me ready for my new age group.
On race day I started like Jeff's books said to do nice and easy, then started to pick it up in mile two. About mile three I caught up to Jamie and went by him.
For the rest of the race I was sure he was right behind me waiting to whip past me near the end. That thought kept me going a little faster than I wanted to.
At the end of the race as I was stretching, waiting for Jamie to come across the finish line I noticed Jeff Galloway come running in.
Later on when I called my coach to tell him I got third, I also mentioned that Jeff was there and had finished behind me. Thom of course knew Jeff so I quickly said, I bet he does these races all the time now to sell his books, and just takes it easy.
Thom said, well thats his story ... Yours is you beat him!
MORE @ www.georgejohns.com
July 12, 2009 I work with a couple of radio stations in South Florida one of them being a sports station, WFTL 6-40 Sports. The station recently just hired a new GM and it turned out to be Dave Manning who I knew years ago, I wondered what had happened to him. Just seeing him again brought back some fun memories of when I first met him in Nashville. The only down side to seeing him again was he still has all that damn hair. During my consulting career I've had a few stations turned over to me that I like to refer to as being put under construction with me. Some of these are stations were already doing quite well, but for reasons of their own management wanted to change them anyway. WLAC FM in Nashville was one of of those stations and I still remember how it all started. One day I received a phone call from then GM Vic Rumore asking me if I was up for doing a special secret project he had in mind. He said he had heard from the grapevine that if anybody could pull off what he had in mind it might be me. He wanted to know if I could jump on a plane and come to Nashville as soon as possible so we could chat about it before he lost his nerve. Being very intrigued by all this I thought what the hell and was soon sitting in his plush office. After exchanging pleasantries and a few radio war stories about folks we both knew, Vic got right down to business about what he wanted to do with the station. At the time of our meeting WLAC FM was a CHR station, but Vic wanted to know if I thought there was a way we could quickly turn it into an A/C station with out his owner noticing he had done so. He claimed that his ratings were pretty good doing CHR but they consisted mostly of teens and there was only so much sugar money to go around. He said he needed a shot at all those big female buys that he was currently missing out on. Vic went on to say that this project was super confidential and if we do it together there couldn't make any announcements in the trades about them being a client of mine because then everyone would know that WLAC FM was about to do my CLASS/CLASSY format. He was very worried about that word leaking because if it did the owner would soon get wind of it and put a stop to it. I told him the trades haven't noticed anything I had done so far so even if I did announce it which I wont, they would probably ignore it anyway. They're too busy reporting on the activities of their friends to worry about what we're doing. I cautioned Vic in order to pull this off we would need to do a lot of crazy stunting type activities which would hopefully distract most people from noticing all the musical changes we were making. He said that was OK with him because his only concern was he just didn't want to hear or read anything about WLAC going A/C. He asked if I thought we had any chance pulling this off. I told him it was a little weird but very exciting also, and I thought maybe we could. I then handed him a little card that I had written this liner on ... "We never dreamed nor did we anticipate this kind of reaction to our fun promotion." Whats this he asked. It's a get out of jail free card Vic, your going to need it when all the TV cameras are pointed at you and the newspaper people seem to be all up set about something your station did. Plus the Mayor and the Police Chief will probably be on their way over to chat with you at the same time and it would be nice for them to hear your prepared statement before they got there. If I were you Vic I would consider think real hard about maybe memorizing that line pretty quick. You not going to do anything illegal he asked. Not if you didn't dream or anticipate the enormous results that are about to happen, I replied. Vic looked a little nervous about all of this as he said, George if you can pull this off, not only will I pay your exorbitant fee, but I will also send you and as many people as you can get into a private jet that I will charter to send you anywhere in the world you want to have a fine dinner and maybe even a bottle or two of your favorite wine. As we shook hands on the deal Vic said there is only one other person who knows I'm even thinking about doing this project, his name is Dave Manning but we all call him Hollywood. Dave is our Sales Manager and he is very excited about the potential of all this, and your going to love him he claimed. I knew I was going to need a lot of help from sales because we might have to figure out how to limit the obvious teen spots, although a lot of them sounded fine because they were soft drink jingles which are usually pretty good. But acne spots etc. would never fit. I also need a bad boy morning man and that usually took getting them a car on trade so we could sweeten the deal. These special needs of mine usually forced me to make nice with the SM. I was just hoping this "Hollywood" character I was about to meet, was a halfway decent guy. I've learned through painful experience that most sales types are a lot of fun outside the station but usually aren't much fun to work with. Right on cue in walks Hollywood Dave Manning. Let me see if I can describe this piece of work to you if I may. He wore his hair all long and slicked back like, plus he was sporting at least a thousand dollar suit on his back, Dave later claimed it cost him two grand, and was hand made by a tailor who constantly comes to his office just to measure him up for new ones. I thought that that claim might just be sales talk, I mean after all these guys lie for a living But the staff confirmed the story and said, hell he even has his custom made shirts done the same way. And did I mention that he also drove a Fire Red Ferrari and owned a 45 ft.Sea Ray he couldn't drive. It sure didn't take me too long to figure out why they called this character Hollywood, I think I had it the instant I met him. Vic quickly introduced us and as we shook hands and I started getting a little nervous about the nice firm hand shake he had mainly because I was wondering if my watch was still going to be on my wrist after we were done. Dave has one of those little shy smiles and speaks with a soft soundin', slow talkin' southern drawl with just a touch of hillbilly mixed in. I was warned about these kind of people when I first moved to America but I thought they were just talking about Texans. I think your hip to what I'm talking about. You know the kind I'm talking about, the ones where you hold on to your wallet full time when ever you are communicating with them. But Dave was very cool and I just loved how he was laying it on me pretty thick with good stuff like ... So your the famous George Johns that is going to help us with this great project and I've heard your name a lot and wondered if we would ever get hooked up and Vic says you have the ability to make us all rich with your magic etc. etc. I've got all day to listen to this kind of stuff, pour it on baby! As I stood there enjoying the mental massage I couldn't help but notice that even in all his splendor there was just something a little off about his look. I checked out his tie, perfect. His hankie in the upper suit pocket, superb. His custom shirt, nice. I didn't think the belt buckled to the side was what ruined the look but something just didn't get it. Then it hit me, of course, it was his patent leather shoes. They matched his suit man! I guess he didn't get the memo from Frank Sinatra that claimed there are only two kinds of shoes black and brown. And you lose the brown ones right after the sun goes down. The shoes not withstanding I instantly liked old Hollywood, you couldn't help it, he was a charmer from the "git go" and he sure turned out to be a lot of fun for me. The part I liked about Dave the most though was he was very very connected in Nashville which I needed badly if I ever had a shot at pulling this weird project off. My next step to move this project forward as quickly as possible was find a morning man that could shake things up and maybe cause a little talk of his own around town while we were doing some huge stunting during the rest of the day that was designed to get us some of that much needed outside publicity. The whole plan as I said earlier was to try and distract everybody from noticing our big musical changes by getting them focused on all the special promotions we were doing. I told Vic I needed the type of morning guy who was real talented but seemed to keep getting fired anyway. I said you know the type, the listeners love him but management doesn't I explained to Vic that the way I liked to do A/C was to play very wussy music all mixed together with very hot jocks, loud promos, and some wild and crazy promotions. The fact of the matter is, about the only thing soft on the station will be the music. Back in Texas I always used to tease Bill Gardner who was a great jock at KVIL whom I thought occasionally sounded a little too soft and sleepy for what we were trying to do with a never heard before format. I would ask Bill once in a while if he thought he could find it in his heart to Pick Up The Tempo as good Ol' Willie used to croon. Bill was doing mid days for us at the time and even won radio personality of the year while he was there. But I had this sound in my head and that special sound I heard, needed him to sound a tad hotter. Bill complained to me about how tough that was to do, what with the music being so soft and everything. I persisted though with lame things like ... Can't you just turn up the music a bit louder so you cant hear yourself, that will force you speak up a little bit I would think, or couldn't you just lean back from the mic a touch etc. I guess Bill got a little pissed at me though because one day he popped into the programming office just after his show to say he thought for sure I was going fire him or at the very least Hot Line him. Fire you I asked, why would I do that. He claimed he had screamed his whole show and was sure he even coughed up a little blood when he was screaming so loudly. I told him I listened to his whole show and thought he had some great moments that we surely could make some promos out of. But Bill you sure didn't sound like you were screaming to me, you just kinda sounded happy and up. Thanks for a great great show Bill. I know I know, I always get side tracked now where was I again, oh yeah, Music City baby, Nashville Tennessee. So we get our new morning guy Hollywood gets him a Benz, and he sounds just great. Now we are all set and it's time to start turning up the heat. It's not very long after that until I'm just relaxing in my hotel room having a toddy and watching Ol' Vic on TV in the middle of a small crowd of reporters saying my all time favorite words ... We never dreamed nor did we anticipate ... and playing softly in the background on WLAC FM was just another pretty Carpenters record.
I later heard that Vic had a piece of the station when it sold. Maybe that's why I'm still sitting in this lonely airport waiting for that private jet to show. Do you think I'm at the wrong airport or could it be that Vic really was an owner all along, and he like all owners just hate sharing that big up side. The only thing they seem to like to share very quickly is the down side. On a side bar to all of this was I was there when Bridgewater resigned, he said he was moving to Hollywood. I said Hollywood, what for. He said I was in a movie recently with Gene hackman called Mississippi's Burning and I think now I want to be an actor full time. I saw that movie I told him but I didn't notice you, what part did you play. He said he played a klansman. A klansman,didn't they all wear hoods in the movie. Yeah he responded but I scrunched mine down on the side so everyone would know it was me. So he gave the station back his brand new Mercedes and rode off into the sunset towards Rodeo Drive. Oh and by the way, I sure hear a lotta stations today that need a lotta construction work. Some even need to be demolished ! July 3, 2009 It is said that you get a speeding ticket every 45 times you speed, so it has nothing to do with that guy who just whipped by you just before the cop pulls you over. It just wasn't his turn !
When I was the station manager of CFTR in Toronto I had a guy who did a national TV show doing mid days for me by the name of Sandy Hoyt.
Sandy was a very warm and very straight looking guy, looking is the key word here.
When we would go out at night for some serious radio philosophy sessions (drinking) we would take along one of the station's board ops by the name of Rick Moranis, yeah that one.
Rick was very funny even then as I'm sure you can well imagine. But for some reason Sandy had his number and could easily break Rick up which would cause Rick to turn right around and break Sandy up.
When all of us would be walking down Yonge Street towards our favorite watering hole, Rick and Sandy would have us in stitches most of the way.
There it was, probably potentially one of the best morning shows in Canada right before my eyes and I didn't have the balls to put it on the air even when all my instincts were screaming ... Do It !
I mean how do you go to Ted Rogers in Canada's biggest market and tell him you want to put your mid day guy on with one of our board ops as his partner.
I didn't have the balls then but I sure do now. What do you mean it's too late?
Back in the day when I first decided to get into the consulting business the first order of the day was to find a client who had a radio station in a very neat city and would let me office there. The next thing I knew I was living in San Diego and officing at KOGO doing a new format with Jack McCoy called the Radio Magazine which later evolved into the news talk they still do today.
I loved doing this format and just writing about it makes me want to do it again in today's radio world. The fun thing about this format was it was all features and you could run as many as you wanted, all you had to do was come up with a page name like The Sports Page, The News Page, The Music Page, The Funny Page, The Weather Page, The Contest Page Etc. Etc.Etc.
As the format was starting to get some traction in San Diego my consulting career exploded and I didn't have enough time left to dedicate to the project so we evolved it as I said to NEWS/TALK.
But when the format was in full swing we decided to hire a famous person as host of the morning edition of The Radio Magazine.
An actor by the name of Martin Milner who had starred in some big TV shows like Route 66 and One Adam 12 plus a bunch of movies happened to live in San Diego. I talked Martin into being our morning host explaining to him that all he had to do was introduce each magazine page as it came up.
This was all going to be very exciting and at the cocktail party where we introduced him to all the clients and media buyers they all just fawned over him so we had a tough time getting him out so he could rest up for his first show the next morning.
I'll never forget arriving early the next morning and being met by Martin who was in a panic saying nobody has his script. I assured him he didn't need a script all you have to do is say stuff like ... Now from the Traffic Page of The Radio Magazine here is so and so and you do that all morning plus throw in some of your own stuff during The Gossip Page.
Martin then turned to me and said, George I don't do anything without a script! Ahh is that why you Hollywood guys make millions and we radio guys make chump change.
I have worked for a lot of different types of radio owners during my career and none of them were cut from the same mold.
But four of them Joe Amaturo, Jim Hilliard, Ted Rogers and Gordon Zlot had a small thing in common with each other. They always seemed a little curious about what I thought about all kinds of different things.
There was no radio winner this year in The Radio Mercury Awards now if that doesn't say it all what does.
Jeff & Jer are so big in San Diego that they are actually changing some California Laws.
Have you ever noticed that all the YES MEN in the major markets don't have the power to say yes.
Has any great radio ever been created at a major market radio station.
One of the many things women have over men is, at least they don't have to waste a bunch of money on sex like we do.
McDonald's creates a new meal every once in a while just so they can get excited about saying McDonald's over and over again. I think radio should do the same.
My buddy from Transcona, Ermanno Barone is producing a new movie called Forever Plaid that is going to being shown in 500 theaters via a special simulcast on July 9th, the 20th anniversary of the conception of this off Broadway culture monster. And I foolishly thought my brother Reg and I were the biggest things to come out of Transcona.
Death makes life worth living.
A few years ago when I asked my youngest daughter Cami what had happened to my little girl. She replied, she went to pictures daddy.
Bill Gardner told me that he recently attended a VIP function in Las Vegas where Garth Brooks was featured. Garth said when he was a kid he told his Mom that when he grew up he was going to be a musician. She said ... Garth you can't do both!
As bad as radio is right now I think the worst is ahead of us.
Most Born Agains seem to come from a very very dark place.
There are very few sales people left in radio. The folks who call on agencies should all have some kind of accounting title.
My Father was on his own and earning a living when he was fourteen. As smart as all my kids are, I cant imagine them doing the same.
When I worked for Fairbanks Broadcasting I was home based at WIBC Indianapolis which was one of the greatest sounding radio stations I ever was associated with.
One of the many reasons for that great sound was the quality of the commercial content. We coded every commercial with an "A" for great sounding, "B" for good sounding, and "C" for OK.
When the station got close to being sold out we started pulling the "C" commercials and started replacing them with "A" s.
In real busy months we even started even replacing the "B"s with "A"s
The programming people loved being sold out because we sounded a lot better.
Last week I had a meeting with Tom Watson in LA and like all meetings between radio people we got around to some radio war stories.
I told Tom that I have always considered programming a radio station like trying to do a symphony. I love the way the music soars and flows in a symphony and have tried to get many radio stations to do the same.
One of the many road blocks in achieving this sound is the the unpredictable sound of the commercials and the fact that the sales department want the commercials to be an island.
There is no island in a symphony.
Of the two Johns Boys my brother Reg by far is the better business man, what with him being President and CEO of his own company M2O which has his special loyalty products on over 500 radio stations World Wide.
But, and I'm just guessing, I think he finds business work as distasteful as I do.
My old running partner David Wolfe dwolfe@wolfemedia.com was bragging to me the other day that he is NTR ing it big time popping $100,000 dollar bids on stations in LA, Las Vegas, Kansas, Chicago etc. The trick he says is, he's figured out how to make the client and the station rise in the Google listings.
© 2008-2009 George Johns George Johns
June 24, 2009
My Daughter Cami said something to me the other day that convinced me she knew more about what was going on than she was letting on.
She said,
Dad how come
the parents
who insist
that their
kids can't
go to the
mall unless
they are
closely
supervised
by an adult
are the only
parents who
don't have
the time to
participate
in the
supervision.
A couple of
years ago I
got in the
mood to do a
long drive,
so I thought
I would go
see my buddy
Reid Reker in
San Antonio.
I
started out
in
Ft.
Lauderdale
one
sunny hot
humid
morning and
brought
along a few
CDs in case
along the
way I ran
out of radio
signals.
Radio
everywhere
was so
boring that
I resorted
to listening
to
Broadway
Show
tunes for
most of the
trip. But it
must be
better by
now, right?
I have
always
disliked
Dee Jays. It's
the
Characters on
the radio
that I have
always loved
and yes I do
treat them
differently,
and yes I do
have
different
rules for
each and
every one of
them.
The law is
only for
lawyers and
judges who
use it
mostly to
financially
take care of
each other.
The intent
of the law
is what the
rest of us
are hoping
they
eventually
will get
around to.
When I was
growing up I
was afraid
of my Father
so when I
first became
a Father my
goal was to
make sure my
kids weren't
afraid of
me, I think
I might have
over
succeeded in
this area.
Later on in
life when I
got another
chance to be
a Dad again
I thought
that maybe
there should
be more to
Fatherhood
than just
the lack of
fear so this
time I got
as involved
as I could.
Not only was
I better
Father than
my father,
but I think
I also
became a
better
Father than
I was the
first time
around.
But what I
didn't count
on as I got
more
involved was
going from
Da Da to
Daddy to Dad
to Dude in
what seemed
like the
blink of an
eye.
I was
thinking the
other day
that
continuous
measurement
probably
killed a lot
of
creativity
on radio.
When
Arbitron
used to
measure us
only a few
weeks at a
time, you
had to come
with your
"A" stuff or
get killed.
They say
that
necessity is
a "Mutha"
and from
that
necessity
came
legendary
rating
bender
promotions
like ...The
Treasure
Hunt, The
Millionaire,
The Big
Kahuna,
What's In
The Black
Box, Don't
Say Hello,
The Great
Rip Off, The
Great Race
Around The
World, The
Last
Contest, The
People's
Choice, The
Magic
Ticket, The
Hunt For The
Great White
shark, The
Prize
Catalog, The
Search For
The Fountain
Of Youth,
Pirates
Plunder,
etc. etc.
etc.
What I
remember
most about
this era was
you sure
didn't want
to be one of
the PD's who
woke up one
morning and
heard one of
these coming
against you.
A majority
of Americans still
hear the
radio each
week, but
most of them
are not
listening.
A lotta
radio guys
do radio for
a lotta
other radio
guys. Those
guys are
very easy to
beat.
I've always
wondered why
broadcasters
were
surprised at
their
bad collections.
Aren't they
themselves
the worst in
the world at
paying
bills?
It has
always
amazed me
that even
though radio
people are
in the
advertising
business
they don't
seem to
believe in
advertising
themselves.
Jim
Hilliard
said to me a
couple of
days ago ...
Johns you
have always
been a poet!
I don't know
if he meant
it as a
compliment
or not .
When I was
about 15 I
remember it
like it was
yesterday,
Easter, Lo
Lo, Shift,
Bomba, and
me sitting
around the
shops class
looking out
the window,
California
Dreamin' big
time.
I finally
made it
there 25
years later
and
celebrated
my 40th at
the Polo
Lounge with
a few
friends from
around the
country.
Recently my
Daughter
Candis
said, Dad
you dragged
the whole
family
including
Uncle Reg
and
Auntie Savvy
all
the way out
here to live
your
California Dream.
Now your the
only
one whose
not here.
Whats up
with that?
My Sister
Sandra
died when
she was four
of Measles, and I
was only a
couple of
years older
than her at
the time.
Since then
the closest
I've ever
come to
having
another
sister since
is
Barb
Hilliard.
She feels
compelled to
beat me up
all the time
about how I
live so she
must be
family.
In fact Barb
and I get
along so
well that
Jim once
said if
anything
happened
to him
I would have
to marry
Barb and
take care of
her. I said
you got it,
just make
sure you've
got me in
the will,
because I
know for
sure I can't
afford any
of that
freight.
Last weekend
I was
sitting
around
smoking
cigars with
some very
successful
business
guys in
Denver.
We were all
there
celebrating
Barb
Hilliards 50
th Birthday. Was
that it,
well it was
50
something.
With us was
a young Turk
who was just
beginning to
be
successful
and had been
recently
married and
we were
all putting
him through
the paces of
marriage.
His uncle, Barry
Wallack said,
Steven
I am a
trained
Lawyer and I
was taught
to
carefully listen
to and pay
strict
attention to
every
question
that comes
my way. But
I have to
confess, I
sure missed
this one on
the first
morning of
my
Honeymoon.
Your
Auntie
Sharon
that
morning asked
me if I
wanted her
to prepare
breakfast
for me ... I
told her no
no just
relax.
How was I to
know I was
answering
for the rest
of my life?
When I was
growing up I
was always
told to
watch my
tongue
because it
could affect
my future
adversely.
Well it's
too late now
I am already
living in my
future so
you JUST
might want
to step back
a hair you
never know
how mean
this may
get.
When my
brother Reg
and I owned
a company
called Fairwest
together we
were smart
enough to
try and find
a guy
smarter than
us to run it
and tell us
what to do
so we could
maximise our
financial
opportunities.
We found a
guy we both
really liked
and made
him the
president of
our company.
Later on
when I
complained
to
Jim Hilliard
that he kept
asking
Reg
and I what
we wanted
him to do
rather than
doing what
we wanted
... Telling
us what we
should do.
Jim laughed
and said,
George in
our long
career
together I
was always
afraid to
tell you
what to do.
What makes
you think
this guy has
bigger Cajonies
than me.
I have been
involved in
several
deals during
my
career and
have been on
all sides of
the table of
those same
deals.
But it must
be bad
timing on my
part because
for some
reason what
ever side of
the table
I'm sitting
on in the
deal never
ends up with
a big slice
of the cake
when it's
being cut up
and served
at the end
of the deal.
Do they
really mean
it when your
on hold
waiting for
a live
person to
pick up and
the recorded
voice says,
thank you
for holding
your call is
important to
us.
Ron
Chapman
when queried
by a livid
GM and Sales
Manager about why
he had
played taps
immediately
following
the
final playing
of the
client's
jingle on
his morning
show.
The client
of course
was very
upset and
demanded the
station get
back to them
with an
explanation.
Ron said
...Tell them
when you've
got good
copy you
just have to
go with it.
John and
Paul told
Ringo
he needed to
write some
songs for
The Beatles
albums or he
would be
playing
drums to
earn a
living for
the rest of
his life.
So he did
and when he
presented
them the
rest of the
band would
fall down
laughing.
Turns out
that every
song that he
wrote was
Jerry Lee
Lewis' Great
Balls of
Fire only
with
different
lyrics.
Both of my
daughters
have dreams
one wants to
be a lot
younger, the
other much
older only
ones wish
will be
granted but
I think it
falls in the
... "Be
careful of
what you
dream for
your dreams
may just
come true"
category.
Sometimes
you win by
losing. I
remember in Dallas when
the big TV
station in
town
challenged
KVIL
to a tug a
war across
the muddy Trinity
River.
We got some
new white T-
shirts just
for the
event with
no logo on
them, just
huge red
call letters
front and
back.
Just before
the start
Ron Chapman huddled
up the jox
and said
these words
the staff
had never
heard before
... We Lose!
By losing
Ron went on
to say we
get more
camera time.
I think we
dominated
the TV news
that
evening.
John said,
The Beatles
are
just a band, Yoko's my
life. I get
the concept
but I'm
wondering
when the
last time
was he had
his
prescription
checked.
When a guy
falls in
love two
things
happen
immediately.
First he
will protect
the woman he
loves with
his life.
Next he
dedicates
his life to
making her
happy. Now
the first
thing gets
you no
points. As
most men
have found
out by now
is, it's
impossible
to make a
woman happy,
so we are
kinda doomed
from the
start.
It is
possible to
make a star
out of a
regular
sounding
announcer.
It takes two
things on
his/her part
to even have
a chance to
get it
done.
First they
need to
really
really want
it. Second
they need to
give someone
permission
who knows
how to do it
to show them
how to do
it.
Most people
don't
understand
that there
are actually
4 types of
death. The
most common
one of
course is
the one that
seems to be
happening
recently a
way too
often to
some of my
dearest
friends.This
is the one
where your
heart
actually
stops
beating.
Another form
of death is
when you
stop
learning.
Yep I know a
few folks
that know it
all, nothing
more for
them to
learn.
Aren't they
just a joy
to be
around.
A kinda very
sad death is
the next
one, this is
the one
where you no
longer
recognize or
have time to
notice all
the
breathtaking
beauty
around you.
Time to just
jump into a
hole and
have them
throw some
dirt on ya.
Now the
fourth death
is easily
fixable, all
you need is
a little
cooperation.
It claims
that you are
dead when
you stop
making
love.
But hey
there is
hope here
because
everyday I
seem to
notice quite
a few people
that could
save my life
immediately.
Fear is only
a great
motivator if
your the
boss, if
your not,
whoever is
afraid of
you will
dedicate
their life
to getting
you before
you get
them.
Is it true
in
Canada
that
when Gay
Marriages became
legal legal
not very
many
Gays got
married.
Why is is
that the
moment a Sales
Manager
gets GM
stripes they
immediately
want to
start
picking the
tunes.
June 13, 2009 How much money do you suppose all those very rich athletes put back into the communities they all came from. America is the World's customer and because of that, I wonder what plans the rest of the world is coming up with to help us with our economy so we can continue to purchase their products. Jamie Gold told me she had finally figured out why a lot of people in the building didn't like me. She went on to say it seemed that all the very talented people loved me, but the others were afraid of me, so they tended to dislike me. Except for my daughters Candis and Cami and my niece Christina, I find that women in general are not as innocent as they appear to be. By failing a couple or three times I finally figured out what I should have done in the first place. It is said that to be good at anything takes 10,000 hours of practice, so I figure with this writing thing I'm trying to learn how to do I've got about 8000 to go. I hope you can hang in there with me. Jim Hilliard said, Johns, I've been reading your stuff, why are you giving away all the secrets. I told him not to worry because I didn't think there were many people left in radio anymore who understood much of anything I was saying. Lennon & McCartney said they were too busy trying to rhyme their stuff to be able to also have hidden meanings between the lines also. My stuff doesn't need to rhyme so I have a ton of stuff between the lines. Charlie Minor once said to me as we were leaving Herb Alpert's office at A&M that even though his boss liked me and liked my special project, nothing would happen because what I wanted to do would take some work. He said they just like to record new acts, and even though they are wrong nine times out of ten, they are all Billionaires. My Brother Reg said to me right out of the blue as we were sitting on the deck of our place in the beautiful Canadian Rockies one evening over looking Okanagan Lake, he was sipping Tequila, I was drinking Canadian Club ... Hey Bro. I'm not into pretentious s#%t anymore he said, I just don't need it, and I don't want it anymore. I nodded to him continuing to drink my whisky and wondering where this was going. He then said, but of course I still need to live in a nice place and I guess I still need to have a decent ride parked in the garage. I thought about his statement for a moment or two then turned to him and said, so what your really saying to me Bro is your just not going to dress up anymore. When I was a kid back in the mid 60's my group The Jury had the # 1 Canadian record in Canada. Does anybody know how long it takes for the Royalty checks to show up ? My Dad said ... Son in this house we work, so you have to get a job. If playing the guitar was work it would be called working the guitar. I've noticed when I pick up my now 8th grade daughter at school all the girls seem to have cell phones in their hands and are texting. Very few of the same age guys are but then again most of them are still riding bikes and the girls wouldn't be caught dead on them. My Brother Reg and I have a lot of things in common, one of them being that fact that school just didn't seem to finish up in our top 5 of what you would call great achievements. But his daughter Christina is headed off to England to do some courses at Cambridge. My Daughter Candis ended up on The Dean's list at NYU, and graduated from UCLA with honors. My youngest Daughter CAMI is going into the 8th grade gifted program at Wellington Landings. What I'm trying to say here is another thing Reg and I have in common is we obviously chose the right Mothers for our children. Jim Hilliard was once queried about why he tolerated my ranting and raving which I generally did in the vicinity of the sales office. He responded with ... I hate when George does that, but something wonderful always seems to happen soon after he's done. Greg Tantum said to me one afternoon at the 5pm cocktail party held daily in my office at KOGO/KPRI in San Diego ... So George there I was lying next to this beautiful young radio groupie and she says to me, Greg do you want me to (Wait a minute, wait a minute, I can't finish this line, my daughters read this stuff) All women understand the need for alimony and child support until it has to be sent to the EX. Who you know has always been a way over rated. It's who knows you, is where all the money is. Gene Pitney told me at a party in Winnipeg 1963 that we would all be wearing our hair like his little boy look soon, because a group was coming that was going to change the world. That group was four guys that had opened for him all over Europe and they were called The Beatles. Jack McCoy was the only guy I ever knew that could go out and sell a product first then come back to the office and invent it. But I would recommend the rest of you just stick to selling the product. What do you mean they took all the product away. Stop whining, just keep pretending you have one like you've been doing. Tim Reever told me that selling without ratings creates character. Ron Chapman told me when we first starting working together that he wanted to become so big in Dallas, he would have difficulty walking down the street. It is tough to lose when someone has that attitude. We didn't, and I still don't think Ron can walk down the street. My daughter Cami just finished 7th grade and I said to her on the way home ... Now that you will be going into 8th grade in the fall will you be treating the new 6th grade girls who are coming to scary middle school, better that the 8th grade girls treated you when you first appeared. She said no, In fact I wont even talk to them. Dad they are all still wearing Limited Too ! I mentioned to Bill Gardner the other day that you can't play music on AM unless it's very special. He told me a few days later that line became his new on air slogan. Didn't the old owners of GM get free cars with their deal ? Now that we own it I'm thinkin' maybe I should try that new Corvette for a while. OK so I finally figured out why things like the money angel needed to be forwarded to all my friends and family instantly or great harm would come to me. They of course were collecting e mail addresses. Now I'm ready to investigate why even when my hands are completely full, no matter how small or how big the purchase is they insist I take the receipt. Why do I have a feeling that receipt isn't about us ? I think most things done for safety reasons today have nothing to do with safety. There is no morale problem at a wining radio station so you don't have to have any of those silly motivational parties, but rating parties, well that's a different story.I've been lucky enough to have attended a few of those, and the only way to describe them is ... Life changing. My Daughter Candis told me recently that she embarrassingly lost it with my Grandson Nathaniel and was ranting and raving at him ( I don't know where she got that kind of behavior, must be from her Mother.) about how he better stop his whining and also stop being so wimpy because when he went back to school in the fall, someone was going to beat him up. Her husband Charlie then interjected with ... Candis he is going to Kindergarten, not a prison. As a few people have come to painfully be aware of over the years. I tend to only tease the people I love. June 5, 2009
I was having
breakfast the other
day with Joyce
Kaufman a very
popular talk show
host on WFTL in
Ft.Lauderdale , that
I work with.
She brought along
her good friend
Dion, yeah that
Dion, the Rock and
Roll Hall Of Famer.
Can you even imagine
what a great thrill
it was for me to
exchange old band
stories with him.
Hey he knew Buddy
Holly man!
I asked Dion if
he ever went
through his at
his tree to try
and figure out
where all his
talent came
from. He replied
that so far on
he hadn't found
anybody on
either side of
his family.
I told him that
I thought my
musical
abilities slight
as they might be
may have come
from my
Grandfather on
my Dad's side.
My Grandfather
was a band
leader of a
pretty good band
I'm told.
My Grandmother
it turns
out was the
piano player in
that very same
band, whom my
Grandfather
graciously married
when the band
was getting all
set to tour
Europe.
In those days
you couldn't
have an
unmarried
seventeen year
old girl touring
all over Europe
with some band,
that would have
been
scandalous.
So the result of
that great
sacrifice on my
my Grandfather's
part was six
kids.
My Father Sandy
was the youngest
of the brood,
but
unfortunately
both my
Grandparents
passed away
while my Father
was only a child
so I never knew
them.
On my Mother's
side of the
family
there were various
singers dancers
and musicians,
albeit
mostly the
bagpipe playing
types from
Scotland.
In my close
family my
oldest daughter
Candis turned
out to be a
great singer and
everyone assumed
it must be from
my side of the
family, but I
think not.
Her Grandfather
John Boychuk on
her Mother's
side, was a very
talented
opera style
singer with a
magnificent
voice, who I
guess couldn't
pursue his great
gift because he
had a family to
feed. I heard
him sing many
many times at
family
celebrations,
what a voice.
Instead of him
singing for a
living he became
a railroad man
as did his three
sons and also
their sons.
The unusual
thing about all
of this as I
told Joyce and
Dion was
that even though
I'm the least
musically
gifted of anyone
from our
families, I
think so far I
may have been
the most
successful.
I was lucky
enough back in
the day to have
four records
released with my
band The Jury.
I'm not sure
having four
records released
represents huge
success, but hey
I can't find
anybody else on
my block that
even had one
record released
but I do know
one thing, it
sure makes for
good
conversation at
cocktail
parties. As I
think back now
about all those
great old band
days I totally
understand where
Paul is coming
from when he
says he is a lot
more amazed now
about being a
Beatle than he
ever was when he
was a Beatle.
Playing for a
rock band for a
few years was
fun but
eventually I
moved on from my
band days to my
radio days. One
of the most
interesting
things I got to
do in my early
radio days was
study with The
Dean of Walt
Disney
University.
And one of the
many special
things I learned
during that time
was that Walt
realized early
in his career
that there were
two types of
talent
... Gifted and
Creative.
Each he
understood had
to be treated
and inspired in
different ways,
because both
come from two
very different
places and think
about things in
a different
way.
Gifted of course
your born with
... Creativity,
thank goodness
you can learn.
I think the
most interesting
thing about all
of this is even
though they come
from two
different
places, when you
examine the
finished product
it is very
difficult to
tell which was
done by a
creative person
and which was
done by a gifted
person.
But not to worry
I found out a
long time ago
that most of us
are gifted at
something but
singin' &
dancin' just
might not be
our cup of tea.
With all of this
talent stuff in
mind I told Dion
and Joyce about
how proud I am
to be the father
of my very
talented
daughter Candis.
Candis was born
with the same
kind of talent
that Dion has -
She can sing.
Singing of
course is one of
those things you
just cant learn
how to do it's a
gift.
When she was
going to High
School she would
always get the
musical leads in
all the school
plays like
South Pacific,
which wasn't
really a
surprise to me
because ever
since she was
born she seemed
to be singing
all the time.
But knowing how
tough show
business is the
thing I think I
was most happy
and relieved
about was ...
Not only was
Candis a great
singer but she
was also very
scholastic and
always got very
good grades at
school.
One of the kinda
scholastic things
she did back
then was join
her
school speech
team just in
time to enter
the local school
competition.
For this contest
you needed to
prepare for the
first part by
reading three
books. Then you
needed to find
some
special words
that you thought
linked the three
books together.
The second part
of the contest
consisted of you
coming up with
some original
prose and
poetry.
She banged out
the
first requirement
pretty fast but
decided to leave
the prose and
poetry
for later.
I don't know if
it was
the singing, the
gymnastics, the
cheer leading,
the track, or
boys that got in
the way but come
competition time
she didn't have
any original
prose and poetry
ready.
At the beginning
of the
competition she
went up on
stage and did
the prepared
with the three
books, still
hoping that when
it came time to
do the next part
she would have
something and it
would come to
her while she
was waiting to
go on stage
again for part
two.
Now it comes
time to do the
prose and poetry
part and she
still has
nothing written
down.
So she goes up
on stage
anyway and just
makes it all up
on the spot.
Now as a talent
coach, which is
mostly what I do
now, I preach to
all the time to
all the morning
show talent I
work with,that
just like the
rest of show biz
you have to have
a script.
I don't know if
this is one of
those the
exception makes
the rule moments
or not, but
maybe it has
something to do
with gifted
people just
being so
different that
the normal rules
don't apply.
But I do know
this Candis
discovered she
had another gift
that day. She
discovered that
not not only
could she sing,
but she was also
a gifted song
writer.
The result of
her winging it
on stage that
day was she blew
the room away
with her
original prose
and poetry. Oh
yeah she
also won the
whole
competition
because of what
I like to call
her spoken song.
Her speech
teacher is so
excited about
Candis'
performance that
she entered her
in the city wide
competition. Now
she will be up
against the best
from all the San
Diego schools.
Her teacher of
course has no
idea that she
just made her
winning stuff
all up.
I think you
all kinda know
where this is
going.
Yep she wins the
San Diego
competition with
yet another
instantly made
up piece that
came to her
while she was
standing on the
stage.
Now she's off to
the State finals
and her speech
teacher is very
excited about
her new little
star and
just how well
she is
performing.
But even though
things couldn't
be better, she
says to Candis
... I notice
that you don't
use your script
for the original
prose and poetry
part of your
speech and each
time you do your
speech I have
also noticed
you seem to
change it a lot.
Do you think
that it is wise
to rewrite it
all the time and
then memorise it
again. Why don't
you just read it
and take the
pressure off
yourself
Candis,
reluctant to
tell the teacher
that she's just
making it all up
says ... I like
to change it
around a bit so
it's fresh each
time,
because then I
don't get bored
performing it.
Candis by
now figures
there is
no sense
in changing
horses mid
stream so she
decides to just
rely on the
muses to give
her more great
copy as they
have done in the
other
competitions. They
do and she wins
the State finals
too plus a
trophy as big as
she was.
What Candis
discovered
through all of
this was not
only was she a
great singer but
now she was also
a gifted song
writer and
soon melodies
along with
words would be
filling her head
with song.
Turns out all
along all she
was doing on
stage was
just writing
songs which is
just another
form of poetry
anyway, I think.
I bet to this
day if you asked
Candis to start
singing a new
creation right
now, I think she
could do it
instantly.
In fact when she
went to NYU for
a couple of
years, she
joined their
speech team.
They traveled
everywhere first
class and she
had a great
time.
Her favorite
moment though
was when they
went to Harvard
for a
competition and
she had to face
off against all
those over
prepared
brilliant
Harvard folks.
The competition
was pretty tight
until they got
to the part
where the judges
just threw out a
word and you had
to make up a
story right then
using that word.
Harvard didn't
have a chance,
Candis was so
good at this
part she won the
whole
competition
I think about
all the stress
though she must
have been going
through while
waiting for the
muses to give
her something as
she stood on
stage all by
herself with
nothing but an
open mind ready
to receive.
As I was leaving
the breakfast
with Dion and
Joyce I was
still thinking
about Candis'
dance with the
muses which
brought back
memories of a
similar
experience I had
with them.
At one time my
Brother Reg and
I owned Fairwest
together and we
had client
stations in
about Forty
markets.
In those days
before the
accountant
period of radio
we have now, you
did it all. The
owners kinda
turned most of
the radio
station over to
you.
So you had to
recruit all the
Jox, pick and
schedule the
music, create
all the
promotions. etc.
etc.etc.
As fun as all
that was it was
very time
consuming and
because of all
the time it took
to do all this
it was becoming
very difficult
to visit
everyone as
often as they
wanted so Reg
came up with the
plan to have
them visit us.
We started our
own seminars!
The fact that we
lived in San
Diego and had
spectacular
offices hanging
over a cliff
just above the
blue Pacific
Ocean in La
Jolla kinda
helped out the
sign ups. Having
the seminar in
January didn't
hurt either
So the first
seminar is on
and it's sold
out. My job was
to act as MC and
simply introduce
the very
talented
speakers we have
lined up.
Legends like Jim
Hilliard, Jack
McCoy, Ron
Chapman, Hugh
Heller, Jerry
Bobo etc. etc.
The first
morning we all
gather together
about 8:30 for
some quick
coffee and maybe
a danish, the
sessions slated
to start at
nine.
Reg
finally gives me
the final line
up for the days
activities which
I desperately
needed so I
could come up
with some cute
introductions
for our very
special guest
speakers.
But as I look at
the list the
first thing I
notice is that
there is no
speaker listed
for the 9 am
start. So I say
Reg, hey you
forgot to write
in the first
speaker who is
it?
He says you are
Bro!
What are you
talking about I
don't have a
speech
prepared what
the hell am I
going to say for
an hour ?
He says c'mon
George you talk
all the time
and nobody can
ever get a word
in, so just go
up there and do
your thing man.
Now there I am
on stage staring
at the big crowd
of broadcasters
from all over
America who are
staring back at
me quietly,
waiting for me
to say something
brilliant and I
have nothing for
them. Talk about
an empty suit.
I have to do
something so I
quickly come up
with a stall
technique that
goes something
like this
... Hey
everybody
welcome to
Fairwest's first
of what we hope
will be many
informative
seminars. We've
got some
legendary
speakers lined
up whom have
promised to
share some of
their secrets
with you.
I've got a bunch
of new exciting
stuff that we
are going to be
doing with you
this year that I
can hardly wait
to tell you
about.
But first of all
seeing as we are
all basically
doing the same
kind of format I
thought before I
get started I
would like to
get everyone to
individually
introduce
themselves to
all of us, with
Call letters and
the city your
station is in.
I don't think
many of you know
each other and
maybe if you get
to know each
other we can
develop a system
in the near
future where you
guys can
communicate with
each other about
upcoming
situations that
some other folks
might have
already been
through.
I figured while
they were all
introducing them
selves this
would buy me a
little time so I
could quickly
jot down some
notes to talk
about that would
take me through
the hour. You
know the
brilliant stuff
they expected.
The first
broadcaster gets
up and
introduces
himself and for
some reason a
funny story
about him pops
into my head.
After he
finishes I go
ahead and tell
it and get a
couple of much
needed laughs,
in for me a
tense situation.
The next guy
gets up and
another story
just pops into
my head so I
also share it
with everyone.
The same thing
just keeps on
happening again
and again and
I'm thinking to
myself, this is
going real good
and if I can
just keep it up
a little bit
longer most of
my time will be
gone and wont
have to say much
because so far I
still have
nothing.
As I look over
at Reg, for some
reason he's
giving me the
wind up sign. I
look up at the
clock and
discover an hour
and a half has
quickly gone by.
I can't believe
it so I take the
blank piece of
paper in front
of me, on which
I was hoping to
write some
brilliant
broadcasting
stuff, crumple
it up, throw it
on the floor and
say ... Well I
had the meaning
of life all
prepared for you
guys but it
looks like we're
out of time, so
with out further
ado let me
introduce to you
broadcasting
legend Jack
McCoy.
Whew got away
with that one,
but just barely.
Talk about being
stressed out,
man I think I
needed to change
my shirt a
couple of times
during that
first session, I
was sweating so
much.
Come the next
seminar though
the following
year now I am
totally prepared
nobody is
catching me off
guard this year.
I've got stuff
man, this is
going to be hot.
I wasn't sure
how brilliant
any of it was
but I've got it
and It's all
written
down. I'm ready
to rock babe!
I go through it
all slowly,
carefully making
my points. I'm
taking my time
and even
remembering to
breath every
once in a while
because even
though I'm
prepared, it's
still very
stressful.
As I near the
end of my notes
thinking I'm
glad I did this
because it's
going so
smoothly. I look
up at the clock
thinking I don't
want to go over
like the last
time, because it
screwed up the
whole day what
with when lunch
being served
late and
everything.
We wanted to let
them all go
early in the
afternoon to
enjoy the
California
sunshine
To my
astonishment
when I looked at
the clock only
15 minutes had
gone by. Surely
that clock must
be off, yeah
that's it, so I
look at my
watch, oh oh
same story
What do I do now
? Only one thing
I can do I have
to go back to
last years
premise so I
just apologised
to the crowd for
weighing in on
my topic so
quickly, which I
said wasn't very
polite of me. I
asked them to
please forgive
me and promised
to continue with
some more good
stuff right
after we all
introduce
ourselves so we
can start to get
to know each
other which will
be very
beneficial to
all of us in the
near future
Wouldn't you
know it the same
thing happened
as happened at
our first
seminar. Funny
stories of
everyone popped
into my head as
soon they
introduced
themselves to
all
the participants.
I just had to
share them with
everyone.
It wasn't long
before Reg was
once again
giving the wind
up sign I was
longing for, and
I was done.
From now on I
knew what I was
going to do at
future sessions.
I was going to
go with the copy
the muses give
me, a very
stressful way of
doing a speech I
know, but as
long as they
were kind enough
to provide it I
guess I should
use it, don't
you think.
The strangest
thing though
happened at the
next seminar and
it totally
caught me off
guard.
By now as I said
I had totally
dispensed with
even bothering
to try and come
up with
something
brilliant to
say, and went
straight to the
fun
introductions.
By now I was
very excited and
in fact could
hardly wait and
see what kind of
stuff the muses
had planned for
me this year.
But this time as
I introduced
them, the
attendees turned
on me as they
all got up to
introduce
themselves. I
guess they had
all done their
home work before
hand because
before I could
pop in with a
funny story
about them, they
all told funny
stories about
me.
Talk about
payback is a
bitch, color me
embarrassed. I
certainly wasn't
ready for any of
that. But all of
it it was very
very funny and
the best part
was not only
didn't I prepare
anything, I
didn't even have
to say anything
because once
again we were
all out of time.
There is still a
lot of gifted
and also a lot
of creative
people left in
radio.
Occasionally I
have had the
privilege of
working with
gifted people
who have added
creativity to
their arsenal.
These people are
almost
unbeatable, and
most of them
make well over a
million dollars
a year.
All you can hope
for is that they
get lazy and go
back to relying
on their gift.
When this
happens they are
very vulnerable
to creative
people.
I would venture
that 9 times out
of 10 a creative
person will beat
a gifted person.
But once a
gifted person
adds creativity
to the project
... The fat lady
starts singing!
May 31, 2009
When your a runner
there is a saying
that goes, just run
the mile your in. In
radio that
translates to ...
The only on air
break that counts is
the one your doing
right now!
When
President Obama is
talking about all
the hard working
Americans, he's not
talking about
government employees
is he ?
I've always been a
promo freak because
I guess it is true
you are where you
came from. I've
always felt there
are two mixes, the
group mixes, that's
where the singer(s)
is no louder than
the band or the one
I prefer the "
Elvis Mix "
You use the
Elvis Mix
only if the words
are important and
need to be heard.
No band ever drowned
out The King.
Mel
Karmazin
told
me on the phone that
he didn't want to
meet me unless I
wanted to sell him
my radio stations.
A couple of years
ago on
Memorial Day
my brother
Reg and I
were standing out
side a store in an
out door mall in San
Diego waiting for
his wife
Savvy and
their daughter
Christina to
finish up shopping
when we were
approached by a
young woman who
asked us if we
wanted to try this
special lotion she
was selling from a
nearby kiosk.
We
noticed she had a
slight accent and
asked her where she
was from. Turns out
she was form Israel
and was kinda just
working and touring
her way across
America before she
headed back home to
Israel.
When we asked her
how she liked
America so
far, she said she
found it to be a
strange place.
In her country she
claimed, on Memorial
day people went to
the grave sights of
fallen soldiers and
it was a very very
sad day.
In
America she
said,
Memorial Day
just seems to be an
excuse to have
another sale was her
sad comment on us.
I wonder who the
"they" are in ...
They say ...
As my Daughter
Candis told an
attentive group the
other day at her Son
Nathaniel's school
... You are who you
are, not who you
marry.
Is it the singer or
the song ?
Is it the welfare of
the troops or the
accomplishment of
the mission, do we
finally have that
answer ready yet?
When I took ski
lessons years ago
the instructor had
me on the bunny hill
the first day, scary
stuff. The next day
he dragged me up to
the middle of the
mountain. Real scary
stuff all I did all
day was fall down.
Next day he takes me
kicking and
screaming all the
way to the top of
the mountain for the
last day of my
lessons.
Are you kidding me,
I don't know why I
even bothered to try
and stand up because
soon as I did I was
back down again. I
couldn't believe I
was paying big money
just to look this
stupid and be this
frightened.
But for the rest of
the week I skied the
middle of the
mountain with no
problem and I even
ventured up to the
top again and made
it back down with
only a couple of
small problems.
This experience
taught me a huge
radio lesson, if you
don't try something
new on the radio
that scares the hell
out of you the
chances of you
becoming a great
radio person are as
they say ... Slim to
none.
Jimmy
Darin's
prediction made
years ago at one of
my first jock
meetings turned out
to be oh so true. The
Beatles had
just changed the
world on the
Ed Sullivan Show
the night
before.
At the meeting the
next day he said,
this will end top
forty radio as we
know it. In fact he
went on to predict
that there would
only be one in each
market and maybe
none in some because
even though the
British Bands all
sound very different
to the kids, they
all sounded like
The Beatles to
all the adults.
Adults need variety
he said and they are
not going to get any
for a long time now.
I learned a long
time ago that people
watch television
they don't listen to
it. That knowledge
sure helped me
select what kind of
TV spot I was going
to use for my radio
station.
People listen to the
radio they don't
look at it, but
occasionally you
need them to look at
it or you just fade
away.
Being the artist
type and I say that
very loosely I have
been in a few
business deals where
I guess I had no
idea what was going
on.
All I know is at the
very beginning
of each deal the
money guys always
claimed that there
was no deal without
me and in fact they
were taking out key
man insurance on me.
But at the end of
each deal when it
was time to split up
the profit, somehow
they could never
remember what I did.
Does anybody know
what the hell those
people are saying
over the out side
speaker in the drive
through lane of
McDonald's
It is very possible
to reinvent
yourself, I know
I've done it several
times.
You can get over
love, I know I've
done it several
times.
I've always loved
doing radio from the
outside looking back
in.
It looks and sounds
totally different
out there, and a lot
less politics.
I've always been a
student of radio but
lately it hasn't
been teaching me
much.
If you do every show
only for people who
don't know who you
are or what the hell
your talking about
you will soon be a
STAR.
I did another check
and I still hate the
word no, but I'm
sure I'll come
around soon, it's a
very popular word
these days.
Walt
Disney
was
smart enough to get
someone better then
him to continue the
drawing of Mickey
Mouse.
Now
that
Cumulus
is
installing cameras
in their radio
stations, I wonder
if any of what they
capture will show up
on the porn
channels?
Good product
produces a lot more
revenue than good
sales does.
Angels and Demons are
always talking to
gifted people trying
to get them to do
things.
Unfortunately for
the gifted, they use
the same voice.
Mr.
Fairbanks
once
told me that what
America needed
was stronger rats.
Francine Reed
once sang to
me ... "Wild Women
Don't Get The Blues"
and she meant it.
Would someone tell
the oil barons that
the long weekend is
long over and they
forgot to lower the
prices again.
May 25, 2009 Vic Gold told me that sometimes the squeaky wheel doesn't get greased, it gets replaced.
I guess the quote ... "The
way to a man's heart is
through his stomach" turned
out to be a hopeful old
wives tale.
Years ago when
The Guess Who were
scheduled to play and record
a live album at
Carnegie Hall. Burton
Cummings got so
excited about this gig of
all gigs that he stayed up
all night partying and
missed the event.
Wow I wonder
if the same thing happened
to him for
Chuck McCoys recent
induction into
The Canadian
Hall Of fame.
Do you think there might be
too much money standing
between us and the cure for
Cancer ?
They say from the birth of
Christ to the
Renaissance Period mankind
doubled it's knowledge, then
from the Renaissance Period
to the French Revolution we
did it again.
From the French Revolution
to the Industrial Revolution
we once again doubled our
knowledge. Now they say we
double our knowledge almost
every two years.
When I listen to the radio
these days I find the last
statement unbelievable.
If women are so fashion
conscious how come they
never ask us what were
wearing when they talk to us
on the phone ?
Radio talent are the only
people in Show Biz who work
without a script, is that
because they are more gifted
than the rest of the people
in show business or maybe
they should compare
paychecks with the scripted
people for the correct
answer.
I'm looking for some
courageous PD's that would
like to take on the so
called big guys.
www.radiogeo@gmail.com
Walt Disney said
everybody is self motivated
you just have to find out
what they would like to do,
then let them do it.
I have always believed in
the inverted pyramid
management style. That's
kinda where the boss is at
the bottom inspiring the
troops above him to succeed.
Once when I was explaining
this concept at a seminar I
was speaking at, some one
asked me if what I was
talking about was some
kind no Japanese business
philosophy. I said no, it's
called democracy and it's
how our country is supposed
to operate.
How come women claim they
don't understand what men
want yet almost immediately
after the divorce becomes
final they drop 20 pounds.
Years ago I
got a call from
Jack McCoy who said
George you've got to get out
to
San Diego as quick as
you can and check out this
kid Kevin
Metheny.
He is doing this little AM
that you cant even hear and
he just went #1.
Jack are you telling me
that if the product is
unique enough you don't even
need a good signal?
There are four major things
that affect ratings, to be
number one just dominate one
of them. Or simply be the
fourth best in all four and
you will be # 1.
Sounds simple enough huh ...
Good Luck!
Someone told me that the
only way you figure out if a
guy watches porn, is just
find out if he has access to
a computer.
When I played guitar for The
Jury, just like
The Beatles we had a
rule no wives or girlfriends
at rehearsals or the gigs.
One New Years Eve we decided
not to play and have a band
party instead. We thought
maybe we would jam a bit
plus bring our wives and
girlfriends who never got to
hear us.
Big mistake, lots of arguing
followed by Terry our lead
guitar player breaking down
the bathroom door because
our bass player Rolly was
locked in there with Terry's
girlfriend playing in the
bathtub.
Party broke up about 10: 30
pm with everybody yelling at
each other and we went right
back to, no wives, no
girlfriends, not ever again.
I wonder how it worked out
for
The Beatles when
Yoko started hanging
around.
All men can speak three
languages, the language they
use when no Women are
present, the language they
use when Women are present,
and the language they use
when their Mother's or
Daughter's are present.
If radio really is a mere
reflection of life, then
there is going to be a lot
of suicides out here real
soon.
My old Transcona
pal Willie Parasiuk
who escaped Transcona before
the rest of us could even
start to think about how we
were going to do it.
He managed to do it by
sneaking off to Oxford
as a Rhodes
Scholar.
Anyway recently he told me
that you only need three
things to be successful
Tenacity Tolerance
and
Curiosity.
My daughter Cami said
to me as I finished my 1st
race in over 10 years ahead
of my goal I may add ... Dad
I'm glad you got in when you
did, I think they were
getting ready to pack up
everything.
During my tenure in radio
I've only heard and seen two
slogans that I
thought affected the ratings
and felt in fact that they
were better than the
stations music.
Kick
Ass Rock & Roll and
Young Country.
Plain women know exactly
what men want, it's only the
good lookin' ones that seem
confused.
Buzz
Bennett
told me a long long time ago
that the first rule of Show
Business was to get noticed.
Wow gas has started shooting
up again who scared those
wussy executives at the oil
companies this time.
I see the
FCC is looking into PPM
to find out what
happened to all those
inflated ratings that some
stations had using the diary
method. I've got a clue for
them ... You cant find what
was never there. But I don't
trust either because they
are in the business of
making money and to make the
FCC go away, which
would be good for business,
they just may put back what
was never there.
I've studied and
now understand PPM
pretty well.
But what I don't understand
is ... Just who the hell
would wear one.
Does anybody have a up to
date list of our new radio
heroes?
Why does married life
resemble mostly the way the
bride lived before the
wedding.
If it's true that radio
stations are now selling for
less than 5 x cash flow you
would think that would
entice someone to take a
shot at making radio a force
again.
But of course you would have
to hire a staff, I dont
think there are any at the
stations that are being
sold.
May 12, 2009 Got Yer Quotes and Stuff Right Here!
Dave Charles said
... "Stay where you're at and
I'll come where you're too". I
think you have to be a
Newfie or from
Maine to understand what
he meant.
It is said that you need twelve
laughs a day to be healthy. No
problem, morning shows provide
that and more as a free service
everyday on the radio.
What do you mean they fired all
the funny people.
I think radio's only shot is to
go bankrupt. That way it can be
all redesigned for the new
market place with new leaders
who know how to do that.
When did it start that you have
to wait in line for some service
while the people behind the
counter finish discussing what
they did last weekend and what
they are going to do tonight.
I've noticed lately that
Starbucks is now trying to up
sell me every time I order my
tall non fat two splenda latte.
It kinda spoils the ambiance for
me and sort of signals the
beginning of the end I think.
When you an air personality the
trick is to figure out how to
get famous.
Famous people can be sold even
without ratings making them as
close to indispensable as one
can ever get.
One of my quests has always been
to figure out what the folks out
there were talking about so I
could get the morning shows I'm
associated with to talk about
those topics also.
Here's what I've found out so
far ... They are not talking
about radio, nor are they
talking about music. Oh oh!
Most men are not making love as
often as they would like to but
most women are making love more
often than they would like to.
I think if all the
Cumulus people who were
forced to take a weeks unpaid
vacation booked it through the
same travel agency or even the
same airline that company would
be having a tremendous 2nd
quarter and handing out bonus
checks. What do you mean they
don't do that any more.
I understand last weekend the #3
biller in the nation went
jockless not as a promotion but
because they couldn't afford
jox.
Things are how they are not how
we wish them to be. But if your
not working on how you wish them
to be what then ?
When you work or play with
people better than you a strange
thing happens - You get better
too.
Years ago when I asked Jamie
Gold how you get a job
at The Washington Post she told
you have to speak to and get
hired by the guy on the top
floor located in a corner
office.
I then said, do you call up and
ask for an appointment or do you
just send in a resume or
something. She said no, because
he doesn't take appointments
nor answer the phone and he
doesn't open his own mail.
How do you get it done then I
asked. She said you have to
figure it out because his theory
is it's a hell of a lot easier
to get to him than the President
of the United States. To be any
kind of writer you have to get
to the President. So if you cant
get to your future boss he knows
you will never get to the
President so talking to you is
just a waste of time.
What ever happened to the coffee
break. Was it replaced by the
smoke break.?
Have you noticed that your car
works a whole lot better than
your computer or your cell
phone.
Modern technology is great as
long as you have time for a
little down time.
My old high school buddy from my
football playing years in
Winnipeg,
Jim Quail was telling me
that he couldn't sleep one night
so he got up to do a little
paper work and turned on the
radio to keep him company.
Nothing was going on as he
listened to Winnipeg
radio so he started dialing
around and found a talk show
that interested him from America
so he kept it on while he
worked.
One of the calls the host took
was from a women who said I'm
calling from a place called Winnipeg
Manitoba I bet you
don't know where that is.
Jim said he immediately turned
up the radio when he heard her
say Winnipeg
just in time to hear the radio
host say, of course I know where
that is it's the home of
The Guess Who.
Then host said and here's one
that you probably don't know
about.
Winnipeg is
also the home town of one of
America's finest radio
programmers George Johns.
Jim said he fell over on his
chair and woke up the whole
household.
Thank you Rollye James.
If your an assertive your
halfway there already. Now if
you get to do do something your
really passionate about you have
a 75% jump on most people before
they get out of bed each
morning.
The only way to avoid sexual
harassment charges ... Be
attractive !
When Roy Disney
told Walt that
he was sure if they put little
fences around all the flowers
they would save a bunch of
money.
Walt
said fences are ugly so no. Lets
work on making the park more
beautiful so more people will
want to come then it wont matter
if the people walk on the
flowers or not.
Looks like Roy won because I see
little flower fences everywhere
at
Disney now, but then Roy
was an accountant wasn't he.
There are only two ways to make
commercials palatable on
the radio. Embed them or do them
like they do the Super Bowl
commercials.
Brent Farris told
me that a couple of years ago
Hall & Oats asked him why
he thought their reunion tour
wasn't doing well. Brent told
them that they still get so much
radio play on so many stations
that nobody realized they had
been away. The folks thought
they were still current without
a current hit so why would you
want to see that.
They cancelled the tour.
When you over pay for your home
and can no longer make the
mortgage payments people
generally start out yelling at
you then they take your home.
There must be a different rule
for radio stations and why would
that be ?
All radio
stations need a cause, and all
radio personalities need their
own causes. Just ask
Jef & Jer who are getting
laws changed in
San Diego.
Saturday I go in my first race
in about 10 years. My 13 year
old
Cami is convinced I'm
going to finish last so she is
bringing a friend and they are
making banners and everything
just so I don't feel bad about
my finish. I'm telling you right
now that if I'm running last
when I see the finish line
somebody better feel sorry for
the guy in between me and the
tape, cause I'm running right
over him.
May 6, 2009 Some More Quotes And Other Stuff ! Tim Moore said to me that Citadel's recent move of making a Sales Director V/P of Programming was just an old retailing device that simply cuts out the middle man and passes the losses on to the customer.
You really don't need
any credentials in life.
You are who ever the guy
who signs the checks
says you are.
My daughter Candis said
to me, Dad do you have
any idea what a shock it
was to me when I got out
in the real world and
found out I wasn't as
precious as you always
convinced me I was. Your
not going to do that to
my sister
Cami are you?
Ahh, well ...
Is it true that if you
disagree with any of
President Obama's
policies your instantly
labeled a racist ?
Even with all the
technical advances made
over the years in
recording studios, I
still love those old Elvis Sun
Sessions the best.
The Government only
protects minorities
which of course includes
the rich. The rest of us
are on our own.
Why do they call what
sales people do when
they visit an agency,
selling.
I think selling is when
you are explaining
directly to a client how
you plan to put people
into his store using
your radio station.
That's real selling, the
rest is just accounting
stuff.
Joe
Amaturo told
me ... Use Becomes Abuse
Becomes Law.
Jim Hilliard
recently said ... Amen
to that!
What ever
happened to
Satellite
Radio.
Music
Radio
is just like a
restaurant to me. First
you find out what kind
of food the folks like
to eat most of the time
then you serve that food
up all the time.
Bill
Gardner's Father
in law didn't pass on a
message to him that I
had called because he
figured Bill wouldn't
want to talk to a
Gypsy.
When Bill asked him why
he thought I was a
Gypsy he claimed
Johns was the
name most of them used.
My definition of
Marketing is
doing something that
appeals to the
listeners, the client,
the air talent and the
sales people all at the
same time.
I kinda know what's
wrong with me and why,
but I have no idea how
to fix it so I think
I'll just play on.
Have you ever noticed at
a popular restaurant
while waiting for your
name to be called you
cant really make out
what names they are
calling out until they
get to yours. Some how
your name is
always clear as a bell
to you.
I wonder what happens to
all those notes those
people take who never
say anything at
meetings.
Ed Shadek
told me that every
GM he
ever hired all wanted
the same thing ... A new
logo and a client party.
He just took the cost of
both projects out of
their bonus money.
I have noticed that the
person who used to take
the minutes at meetings
seems to
have disappeared.
Ted Ruscitti
told me he could always
tell what the hot new
format was going to be
by the amount of toe
tapping that went on to
a certain style of
music at an auditorium
music test he was doing.
While CC
was once again firing
people, Gordon
Zlot and
Tom Skinner of KZST
in Santa Rosa were
busy handing out profit
sharing checks to their
staff.
To be really great at
anything you have to
spend most of your time
in uncharted waters.
If your not a little bit
frightened about what
your doing it's time to
turn the heat up because
you've got some head
room.
Now lets see if I've got
this straight, they
changed the brand name ABC to
Citadel. Does
that mean if they buy
Coca Cola change
that to
Citadel also.
I read somewhere that
success was just as
stressful to you as
losing a loved one or
divorce because nobody
knows quite how to
handle it.
Lawrence
Amaturo
told me
that when he was single
and had just bought a
group of stations in
California that it was
time to sample the night
life and see if he could
find the woman of his
dreams. When he started
chatting up a lovely she
asked him what he did,
he replied that he was
in radio and she just
lit up.
What show do you do she
wanted to know. Wait
till she hears this he
thought to himself, oh I
don't do a show I'm the
owner! She said, oh your
not on the air, then
turned around and walked
away.
When you're part owner
of an entity and the
time comes finally to
split up the profits
from the sale of the
company, the words you
don't want to hear, but
absolutely will hear are
... "What you don't
understand about your
part of the deal is".
This is when they
patiently explain to you
that what you understood
is not really the real
understanding as you
understood it.
Dave
Charles
thinks
that today's radio needs
a little
Pirate attitude
to become something
again.
Dave
Brewster married
a woman that he had to
stop taking to bars
because when she was
with him he always ended
up in a bar fight.
Is leaving out the truth
a lie?
Jason
Williams said
when he first heard
KVIL for the
first time years ago
everything they did was
different than anything
he had ever heard on the
radio before.
The upside of each
project must match the
potential down side or
nothin' is going to
happen but the down
side.
At the first meeting I
ever had with
Jeff n Jer in
San Diego they
told me they loved the
city and loved the fact
that they were the only
males at an all female
radio station. I think
they hired
Little Tommy to
help them with more than
the show.
Bob
Gaudio told
me that he had to almost
beg to get back the
tunes he wrote early in
his career, from what he
described as the look a
likes from the cast of
The
Sopranos.
Well it
looks like Obama's
afraid of
the same evil characters
all the Presidents that
came before him were.
The Oil Companies, The
Banks, and The Drug
Companies
April 21, 2009 More Quotes & Stuff Jim West called me one day and said George I know you are over booked but I have never been able to turn down a certified check, so it looks to me like you've got room for one more.
Do You Believe In Magic? If not,
than I can hardly wait to hear your
explanation of what love is.
Jamie Boychuk said Uncle
George it looks to me like in your
business you use a lot of
inspiration as motivation. In my
business the only inspiration or
motivation we use is ... We pay them
a lot of money and just kick their
ass to get things done.
Paul
Ski e mailed me that they
moved
CKY
in Winnipeg to
CKY
FM and the PD's job was mine
if I wanted it. Wow another dream
come true after all these years.
But Paul I hate to be a nit picker
but I think it's still snowing there
and would I also have to do the
weekend jock schedule ?
Bruce Munson told me that the
more dealings you have with banks
the more you understand why
John
Dillinger became a folk hero.
Most instincts are not good.
When sales people get angry with me
I know that I must have done my job
extremely well.
I am a firm believer in it's how you
say it and not what you say that's
most important. Case in point some
of the nastiest swear words become
very erotic when said in a very
special way.
Most people don't realize that
telling someone what's wrong with
this picture pays a dollar an hour
tops. Fixing what wrong with this
picture pays a thousand dollars an
hour. Sure a lot of over paid folks
out there.
Is there a course on ethics anymore
at Harvard or
was it abandoned for lack of
interest.
You don't immediately become some
kind of a Doctor just because you
married one.
I think women on the air should try
and sound more like women, not guys
with higher voices.
Why do the untalented always seem to
have bigger egos than real gifted
people.
When sales doesn't like the music
you better stand by for an excellent
rating book.
When gifted people appear to be nice
normal people, you kinda wonder what
else they are lying about.
Now a days it is almost impossible
to make big money on radio, the
accountants wont let you.
Dreams don't fit forms.
The funniest material and the
funniest folks usually come from a
real sad place.
When the creative department of an
advertising agency runs out of neat
things to say about a Big Mac, McDonald's just
gets a new advertising agency ...
They always have lots of new neat
things to say about the
Big Mac.
Working harder may look very
impressive to some folks but it
never produces as much as working
smarter.
My father told me many times that if
your not sweating your not working,
so just who is the President talking
about when he refers to all the hard
working Americans. I think the only
people sweating are the illegal
aliens.
If you don't have more questions
than answers your not really living.
A woman I was going with said to my
Brother Reg one day ...
You don't really like me do you? He
replied to her that he was kinda
hoping his brother would find a
woman that would calm his fire, not
throw gasoline on it.
When I first arrived in
America, Jim
Hilliard said we are going to
have to use a thing called the 24
hour rule so we can always be honest
with each other.
I can't fire you and you can't quit
for 24 hours after what was said
brought us to that point.
A while later he said were going to
have to change that rule now to 48
hours.
I thought originally consolidation
was supposed to save local radio,
they wouldn't lie to the Feds would
they.
When you do some spectacular work
for someone either they pay you for
it or the next guy does.
George Martin wasn't paid any
money by the record company for
producing
The
Beatles, but he was sure paid
a fortune by everyone else who
wanted
The
Beatles producer to produce
them.
Toney Brooks once said to me
that he thought I was wrong putting
all my eggs in one basket by
promoting
Ron
Chapman so heavily both on
and off the air.
What if he leaves he asked, what do
you do then. I told him my job was
to make sure he never wanted to
leave.
Would you rather receive a dollar
from every person that listens to
the radio or a dollar from everyone
who doesn't.
I just noticed that
Citadel made a Director of
Sales their new V/P of programming,
that should speed things up nicely
don'tcha ya think.
April 9, 2009 More Life Thoughts and Quotes From a Radio Head!
Your freedom of speech generally ends at
the front door of your office building
unless of course you own it.
The battle was on and it was a good
ol' mean one with none of us making
any money. But the rating gods were
on our side and we prevailed.
But wouldn't you know it the losers up and bought WKLB.
On the day they all came over to the
station to take it over, and as it
turned out to get their revenge,
they were met by Bob in the outside
hallway, who had all his stuff
packed up and was on his way out of
the building, because he anticipated
what was coming.
As they passed each other in the
hall, Bob greeted them with the
always friendly country greeting ...
F#&K YOU GUYS!
Women purchase 81% of all products and services. I figure America's debt is theirs right ? So now we can stop worrying about it, grab another beer and just watch some more football.
The words you use to say it on
the radio are only about 40% of
what is communicated. How you
say it is most of it.
Am I the only person in
America that our
government is not afraid of.
It takes three types of people
to make a successful business, A
Dreamer, A
Business Man and
A Son Of A Bitch.
I think radio is a little top
heavy right now with the latter.
In the radio world I come from
my heroes were always people who
could either sell some time or
figure out how to get somebody
to listen to the radio.
What do the people who are
running our industry do again ?
I learned a long time ago that
radio people were like children,
if you treat them any other way
than you would treat a child,
you deserve what happens.
I keep hearing this rumor that
the folks who run radio are
purposely driving the stock down
so they can buy their stations
back pennies on the dollar.
It is a lot easier to beg for
forgiveness later, than ask for
permission to do something new
right now.
There are no rewards or
punishment in life only
consequences.
Have you ever noticed that most
of the people who still smoke,
don't appear to be able to
afford to do so.
What I always tried to do for
great talent that I have been
privileged to work with, is to
simply help them conjure up the
courage to do only what they do
best.
I love reading novels because I
get to escape from the real
world. One of things I've
noticed is that if the novel is
written by a woman the sex
scenes usually last less than a
page. But in a novel written by
a male the same sex scene goes
on for a chapter or more.
A few days ago while having
breakfast with
Dion we were discussing
how you went about getting a
record released. Dion
had his first at 17, I
had mine at 23.
We both agreed that mostly it
took being young and stupid to
get it done. Once you become
older and wiser you figure out
that it's impossible to do so.
Santa Clause
once told me that the reason he
was so jolly was because he was
a giver. Only the takers are
unhappy he claimed.
The more successful you become,
the more you tend to stop doing
the things that made you so
successful,
My daughter
Candis who is an
Iron Man ran in the World
famous Carlsbad
5000 a couple of years
ago. I said to her, that the
course must be very flat because
of all the
World Records that are
set there.
She said no actually the course
is a little hilly and quite
difficult. I asked, then how do
you explain the
World Records. She said
it's the money Dad, they pay
huge money to any person who
breaks a World
Record on that course ...
So they do!
Orly Knutson recently
claimed that years ago when he
asked me for some help on his
midday show he was doing on
WIBC, that I said to him; Orly
just figure out how to stick
your C#%K into the microphone
and you'll be fine.
The golden rule still is ... He
with all the gold makes all the
rules.
Barry Smith
claims nothings changed, I'm
still an acquired taste.
How come all women except my
daughters know what a lap dance
is.
Have you ever looked up at the
heavens and asked to have the
woman beside you who is way over
communicating to you, turn into
a man for just for 30 seconds.
Chris Conner's
favorite chant at
WNAP years ago seemed
to be ... Get the ratings drag
Seeley, get the ratings drag
Seeley, get the ratings ...
When
Fred Heckman, news
director of WIBC would
send
Tom Cochran out to cover
a story he would make Tom cut 3
versions of his report.
I wonder when that stopped
working.
Bill Drake said
that the
Drake Format would have
been a complete failure if he
had launched it during the
John Denver era.
When I was at
WIBC/WNAP in
Indianapolis, Linda Duffy and
Judy Ramsey asked me at
least once a week if I could see
through their dresses, as they
stood in front of a huge sun
shiny window. Now a days we
would all be doing time for
those kinds of questions.
The only meetings I like to
attend are the ones I call.
When things aren't going well
you have to make sure you attend
every meeting you can work
yourself into because what ever
is going badly, will be blamed
on the person(s) not there.
When I think about all the
morning teams I have ever worked
with, married couples are the
toughest to coach, no sexual
tension.
When I first moved to
America I thought I must
have lived a sheltered life
because everywhere I looked were
signs that read, this way to
Jerry's famous this Tom's famous
that and Tim's World famous
whatever. I had never heard of
any of them.
What with all the technology
advances made in the movie
making business over the past
few years, I cant say I've
noticed a change in the acting
because of them.
Gone With The Wind is
still a hell of a movie.
The biggest change in the radio
biz I think is ... Nobody is
looking for the next new thing,
the new secret, the hottest
greatest element of the moment
Everybody is just trying to get
by. They are playing not to
lose, and I think we all can
predict what happens when a
sports team plays not to lose.
Shakespeare
said ... "The
Plays The Thing" but he
also said "Kill
All The Lawyers." David
Wolfe said, no no no
don't kill' em! Just take their
money like I do. www.ntr.com
Arnold Segal
told me that not letting them
see you sweat wasn't the thing,
not sweating was the real goal.
Moto told
me that he just wanted the
opportunity to prove that money
didn't buy happiness.
Wasn't the
Telecommunications Act put
into law originally to break up
the phone company to make sure
they couldn't overcharge us.
Have you looked at your phone
bill lately ?
April 2, 2009
Long before I started my career in radio and moved on to America I had some other dreams. I was dreaming about becoming a star running back for THE WINNIPEG BLUE BOMBERS. But I also dreamed of being a big rock star.
These were the kind of things I
thought about most of the time
instead of studying while going
to high school at TCI in Transcona.
One fall while I was playing
football for
THE TRANSCONA NATIONALS
and struggling with the 9th
grade because I was too
busy writing songs instead of
paying attention to what was
going on in class, I was invited
to join a singing group called
SHAYNE & THE DEVINES. I
kinda suspected all along why I
was invited to join this group
but I didn't care that it might
be because I had just traded in
my trumpet and bought a
spiffy brand new guitar with
amplifier and was just in the
midst of learning how to play
it when I got the call.
Shayne who was the singer/leader of the group, didn't have an amp at the time so lo and behold he got to plug into mine when
I joined
THE DEVINES. So it turned
out that by me joining the group
... SHAYNE
& THE
 DEVINES like DYLAN went
electric.
Shortly after I joined them we
began playing some small gigs
around town and in fact I made
$15 dollars my first night.
Man I thought I'm on my way, I
don't even know how to play my
guitar yet but I have to have it
on stage with me just fakin'
it, because we all figured it
looked real good. Some of my non
musical friends claimed the
group sounded a lot better with
two guitars I now laugh about my
musical career because It
started with me fakin' it and It
ended for good with me fakin'
it.
A few years ago
John Einarson wrote a
book about the WINNIPEG
SIXTIES ROCK SCENE.
The book must have done quite
well because the next thing I
know I get a very excited call
from
Terry Kenny our lead
guitar player in THE
JURY.
He tells me that they are doing
a big reunion with all the
Winnipeg rock bands from the
sixties at the convention center
and he is putting
THE JURY back together
again to
play at it.
I was very pleased to hear about
the reunion and excited to once
again after all these years have
the opportunity to hook up
with my old band whom I hadn't
seen in some twenty years or
more.
It should also be great fun I
figured to get together with
some old band buds like
Randy Bachman,
Burton Cummings and Neil
Young.
But I was definitely not excited
enough to consider playing
again. I had lost my guitar
chops many radio years ago so I
had no interest in
that part of the reunion.
I had put my guitar down when my
daughter
Candis was born and I had
also had discovered my new
love, RADIO.
At the time I had done this, we
had the #1 Canadian record in
Canada; PLEASE
FORGET HER / WHO DAT and
the record company wanted us to
go on the road and promote it,
because we had just gotten an
American release.
I figured I wasn't a good enough
musician to be heading out on
the road what with a brand new
baby girl at home and what ever,
so I left
THE JURY and went into
radio full blast and I'm still
at it after all these years.
I was almost tempted to come
back once when
Randy Bachman called to
recruit me for
THE GUESS WHO. I laughed
and told
him I wasn't near good enough to
play with them. But he said;
George I can teach you all the
musical stuff it's all those
other things you do that
THE GUESS WHO need.
I guess it was all those other
things I do that even better
served me in my new chosen
career path,
RADIO.
As I headed back home for the
big reunion I thought about how
quickly the years went by, wow
where did they go.
I guess the old saying, time
goes by fast when your having
fun was very true. But as super
quickly time has gone by for me
I thought I must have been well
over served on the fun part.
When I finally get to the
reunion after a long plane
flight from
San Diego, I'm surprised
to find out it's spread over a
couple of days so
we got to just hang out and
catch up with each other before
the big concert. It was sure fun
seeing everyone from all the old
bands
and checking out what they were
all doing now.
Back in the day we all weren't
so friendly with each
other because the band scene was
very competitive for those good
gigs.
Winnipeg
for a lot of reasons had a lot
of bands but there were just not
enough good ones to go around.
But all that was forgotten and
now it was like old home week as
we went around hugging each
other and catching up.
They even brought back some of
the old Jox that were kind
enough to help us all out a way
back then. Great guys like
Ron Legge,
Harry Taylor, Doc
Steen, Boyd
Kozak, and
Bob Burns just to name a
few.
So it was double cool for me
because I turned out to be a
band guy and a radio guy, and I
was back where it all started
for me.
I will tell you about this
though, you haven't lived until
you have seen and heard a live
20 minute version of
American Woman with Randy
Bachman on lead, Neil
Young on rhythm, and Burton
Cummings on piano, just wailin'
along with with various members
of some
of the other bands that were on
stage helping out.
Man oh man oh man, the hairs on
the back of my neck still stick
up just re living it right now.
A little earlier when I was
standing out front waiting for
THE JURY to be
introduced, Randy and Burton
grabbed me and pushed me
towards
the stage saying George you've
got to get up there, THE
JURY was your band man!
Billy Jaques of
THE GALAXIES handed me
his guitar
as I was being kind of herded on
stage with the rest of the guys.
Wow, talk about old band days
flashing before my eyes. I
looked around at all the people,
the bright lights and TV cameras
that were already
rolling because they were
going to make a big TV special
out of this very special night.
I was kind of in a fog looking
around and trying to will my
legs into stop shaking when one
of the equipment crew guys said
to me ... Hey I'm
plugging your guitar into this
amp right behind you, is there
anything else you need.
I said thanks and yes you can
you do me a huge favor, please
turn the amp down all the way
and leave it down until I leave
the stage.
He just looked at me strangely,
shrugged his shoulders in
agreement and soon left.
As I'm standing there thinking
what the hell am I doing, I
suddenly hear one of the Jox
introduce us and a way we go. I
remember thinking at
the time, this is how I started
my musical career, how
appropriate that this is how I
am now ending it ... Fakin' it!
But then a very strange thing
began to happen as we went
through our set playing all of
our recordings. The chord
arrangements all came back
to me.
To this day I couldn't tell you
what they are because it has
been many many years ago since
we recorded and played those
tunes together.
But on that very special night,
once again I could play them.
When we finally finished up our
set and I finally got off the
stage where I belonged I was
very relieved and happy that it
was finally over.
But I've got to admit as I
headed out front to watch the
rest of the bands do their
stuff, thinking to myself ...
Hey that was kinda fun !
What a rush it was seeing all
those guys playing again and as
I watched and clapped I couldn't
help but think back to my early
band
years.
As I wrote earlier it all
started for me with a group
called SHAYNE
& THE DEVINES which
really was just a vocal group
not a band. But I was
so excited about being on stage
that the band thing didn't
bother me for a little while.
But I was very into bands so
before long very I
started inviting some musician
friends of mine to join the
group. Guys like
Peter Proskurnik on sax,
Roland Blaquiere on Bass,
his brother Lawrence
on piano and
Gordy Duke on drums.
Now that we were a real band I
thought the name
DEVINES was rather wimpy
for a rockin' band, so we soon
became THE
REBEL RAIDERS.
Shayne left in a snit I
guess because I also decided his
name was not needed out front
anymore.
Looking back now I think I must
of been kinda pushy for a guy
just learning how to play
guitar. Thank goodness later on
in my radio career I got over
that kind of nonsense. (-:
As time went on and we rehearsed
as much as we could and even
played for a few dances I
started to think that maybe the
name
REBEL RAIDERS
was becoming a little old hat
sounding so we became THE
PHANTOMS, and bulked up by
adding a singer, Donny
Burns, another sax, Jimmy
Harrison, and a vocal group, THE
CASTAWAYS.
Man what a great great sounding
band, but the problem was with
all those people it sure sounded
good and we quickly became one
of the top
bands in town but you can forget
about making any money.
So as time went by some of the
guys fell in love, got married
and had to get real jobs so they
moved on and we just didn't
replace them.
During this period of my life
though I learned a valuable
lesson that I have never
forgotten. It happened one day
when we were playing one of
these
big shows that had a bunch of
bands playing on it.
I spotted a guy named
Terry Kenny who was
playing lead guitar for another
band. Terry I discovered was
much better than me.
I loved being lead guitar,
but Terry was so much better. I
made the life changing decision
to hire him to replace me.
Terry brought with him his
singer pal Bruce
Walker and I moved over
to rhythm guitar. We became
THE JURY and started
cutting records.
Always always get somebody
better than you! That lesson has
served me well over the years
because I was lucky enough to
have figured
out early in life that
the smartest guy in the room was
the guy who surrounded himself
with people a lot smarter than
himself.
Oops wait a minute, hang on,
I've just got a an e mail here
that says they are doing another
Winnipeg 60's bands reunion
again in September.
Wow that's sounds like it could
be fun and I've already got
myself all fired up again just
with the writing of this
piece. I better get my '58 Strat
out of storage and seriously
start practicing.
Man maybe we should consider
going on a reunion tour, those
things are quite popular now and
the bands are making some good
bucks for a change.
Bruce has even started to write
again so maybe we could do
another recording session, plus
we still have one more song on
the master that we never
released yet. And better yet how
about a greatest hits package. I
wonder who could design some
tour t-shirts, big money in that
I hear.
I think most of the guys
still have their chops and are
still playing around a bit. This
would be so cool and I think we
should get a big old Silver
Eagle to
tour in because all that driving
I used to do back then, dragging
the party trailer behind us,
almost killed me.
We could have Daryl B MC for us
and sing some back up like the
old days, no can't do that he's
gone. How about Chuck Dann
helping us produce the recording
sessions again. Nope he's gone
too. Do you think CKY would play
our new stuff, I guess not it's
gone too. What has happened to
CKRC ?
Wait a minute, wait a minute
we've got other problems too how
are we going to sort out all the
differences the band had with
each other.
Even at the last reunion Rolly
(Termite) refused to go on stage
because he was still mad at a
couple of them for losing his
bass or something a hundred
years ago.
That's right and Terry I
think is still very upset at
Rolly because years ago he used
to shout out very loudly before
each and every gig ... Lets Get
Drunk And Be Somebody! And the
thing was, he really meant it
and even more frightening he did
it.
It's all starting to rush back
to me now, and I'm getting all
exhausted and nervous again just
remembering and thinking about
how it all was.
Hey why don't you guys just
go on without me. I'm sticking
with radio where we just
pretend we're working.
March 27, 2009
Quotable quotes from quotable people I remember once attending a 2 hour meeting/session with the Buzzard Boys at WNAP in Indy back in the day. Kevin Metheny was there explaining in great detail a new concept called music research that we were bringing to the BUZZARD.
At the end of his very long explanation
Kevin asked it there were any questions.
Adam Smasher raised his hand and
said to Kevin ... Hey buddy, what is it
you do exactly?
Jack McCoy
said to me once, hey if you don't want
me to use it don't tell me.
I once heard Ken LeMann say on
the radio ... If you get up on your
tippy toes right now you can almost see
the weekend from here.
I heard the Magic Christain on
CFTR say ... Here is a very
important message for all you liberated
NOW organization type ladies. "Hi
Toots"
I overheard Harry Lyles telling
Jim Hilliard at a programming
presentation say Jim ... Once you
go black you wont go back"
Al Ham
told me that when he created his very
successful nostalgia format, Music Of
Your Life, he had hired a guy to dub
all the music tapes so he could send to
his client stations. Turns out the guy
stole a set of the tapes and started his
own music service with them. So Al stole
his wife.
Bobby Cole
told me that it is impossible to have
three good relationships going on at the
same time. Because just as you think
you've got it going on, one of them will
invite you to a special lunch and all
three will be there waiting for you.
Woody Cooper
said on an an air check I heard ...
"Somewhere between the eyes and ears
lies the sound of Simon and Garfunkel"
and hit the post. I had to hire him, and
did so a few times.
Terry Keilty
asked me why I foolishly
had hired Roger Klein, he's a way
too good for us he claimed, and will
just end up leaving.
He was right, because when I left for
Toronto I took him with me.
Joe Amaturo
asked me while we were landing back home
into FT. Lauderdale after a long
trip to one of his stations if he had
signed anything during the flight. I
said no why do you ask. He said he had
such a good time on the flight that he
just wanted to make sure he hadn't done
anything foolish.
Years ago in Ottawa, General
Grant asked me what the newly
installed count down clocks were for. I
told him that if he looked at his play
list he would see the intro times for
each tune now printed there. The count
down clock will tell you when to stop
talking because the vocal is about to
start.
He said what if I'm not done talking
yet. I told him not to worry about it
because I had instructed his board op
just to shut his mic off.
Jo Myers
told me that when she was working in
Florida, she went shopping for a new
Church for her family to go to when they
arrived.
During the service the Minister said the
choir was now going to sing, Long Train
Running. Jo chuckled to herself and
thought, I wonder if they realize that's
the same title as a well known Doobie
Brothers tune. George she said I
almost fell down, it was the Doobie
Brothers song!
What the hell has happened to the Church
since I have been away.
When I had just launched the new CFTR
in Toronto I heard Earl
Mann intro a tune as being done by
The Chicago. I knew right then
that we still had a lot of work ahead of
us.
Jimmy Darin
told me when the kids who called in on
our Ask The Pastor Show on Sunday
night and started to use obscene
language after tricking him at the
beginning pf the call with some sad tale
of woe, to Just start fading the pot
down. But fade it real slow he said,
because that's the real reason the show
is so huge. Now that Jim is an owner he
denies ever telling me that.
At the KVIL reunion last year I
asked Jack Schell where all the
people were who had claimed
responsibility over the years for K-
Ville's success. He said they were all
out front parking cars.
Shortly after our 19 share book came
out, I was told that Don Nelson
told his staff at WIRE in
Indianapolis, that WIBC would
never run the Magic Ticket again.
A few days later we got a formal request
from the FCC asking for every
produced promo plus any written copy or
anything that mentioned The Magic Ticket
be sent to them immediately. After their
study was completed we ran it 5 more
times but I heard Don missed it because
he had left town.
Scott Ginsburg
shortly after he
bought K101
in
San
Francisco was heard saying in the
halls that all
K101
needed was a little more rhythm. KOIT
has been the big winner ever since.
My
Father said ... George you need
to get a job. He knew that I did pretty
good financially playing with my band
The Jury, but he claimed that
playing with the band was not work. He
said in this house the
Johns'
work and the key word when you play with
your band son is the word play.
I remember Roland Blaquiere (
Termite ) The Jury's base player
shouting out almost every time we played
a gig, "Lets get drunk and be somebody"!
He meant it and he did.
Mr. Fairbanks
asked at a weekly corporate meeting that
Jim Hilliard could not attend ...
What idiot came up with a limited
commercial load policy at my radio
stations ? We quickly served up Jim's
name.
Tracy Johnson
told me that in order to afford Jeff
& Jer in San Diego he needed
to add more commercials to the morning
show. In order to do that he had pull
all of their music. The result was the
billing and the ratings both went up.
When I asked my history teacher Ben
Forman in the 10th grade what my
studying British History had to
do with me becoming a Rock & Roll
Star in the future. He responded
with, George ... The Roots Of The
Present Lie Deep In The Past.
Chet Tart told me that the day he starts a new job he immediately begins to look for a new one.
Tim Reever
in a very rare sales meeting I attended
was telling a story about the fastest
mile he had ever run while
attending college.
Somehow I think this story was supposed
to morph into something the sales people
could use on the street.
All I know is it took Tim slightly
longer than forty minutes to run the
race but his step by step telling of it
took over an hour.
Randy Bachman
told me that the intro to American
Woman that he played so well on
multi million selling record, was just a
Led Zeppelin song intro he liked,
in reverse.
Mike McVay
recently said some very nice things
about me. But there is no sense getting
into them because he will just
deny saying them (-:
Lou Palmer once disgustedly
said ... But it's blue! As all of us
hurried out into the
WIBC/WNAP parking lot to take a
peek at
Dick Yancey's new
Ferrari
Dion
told me at breakfast the
other day that he was both blessed and
lucky. When he was 17 he had the number
3 record in
America but
it seems one day his Father was loudly
bragging about it to some friends at the
local Tavern in the Bronx.
That afternoon when he got home from
school there was his Father and some
guys who looked like they starred in the
Sopranos
waiting for him.
Hey Dion
the meanest looking one says, we
hear you have a big national hit, and
we're thinkin' we could help you with
your career, may we hear the record
please.
Dion puts
the tune on and after about 30 seconds
the mean one disgustedly says to
Dion's
Father, your kid sounds like a
dish rag, and they all left.
Dion
says that was the
luckiest day of his life.
Jim Hilliard once said
to me, never get get in a fight with a
guy who buys ink by the barrel. I wonder
how much ink this computer of mine has
in it I'm all fired up and ready to find
out.
When I lived in Indy,
Mario Andretti said if everything
is under control your not going fast
enough.
Hugh Heller said
to me a few days ago that when he
escaped the busy world of
Los
Angeles and moved to a remote
spot in
Arkansas he left the noise of LA
far behind. Hugh recently though
figured out that he left all of his
friends behind also.
Aristotle said
... You are what you repeatedly do.
© 2008-2009 George Johns George Johns And the name droppings just keep on coming! What I feel Jeff and Jer do better than anyone is the set up to a planned bit. They always have the end pre done so that they can just wander all over the place and sneak up on you after they have dropped in all the localizations plus made you see exactly what they are chatting about then all of a sudden, BAM! Rick Moranis said to me at dinner once in New York that the only actor in the hit movie Ghost Busters was Sirgourney Weaver, the rest like him were writers and they wrote there own parts everyday. On the set you were never sure what your fellow writer was going to say to you when the cameras started rolling. The tension created magic he claimed. Martin Milner told me there could never be a Route 66 reunion special because his co star got into so much trouble in every one of the little towns they shot the TV series in along the old route 66, that those little towns were still looking for him. When Paul Page was at WIBC, Fred Heckman told him him that the rumors about his extra curricular affairs were getting out of hand and he had to cut it out and become a good family man. Imagine Paul's surprise when the elevator at a downtown hotel in Indianapolis filled with all the Fairbanks brass from all over America who were in town for our first Fairbanks summit, stopped halfway down and there waiting to get on was Paul with a sweet young thing. Vic Rumore said to me, if I could convert his station in Nashville from CHR with big numbers to A/C with big numbers and even better demos, without his owner or tha trades picking up we did it, he would send a jet plane to take me anywhere in the world for dinner with as many people as the plane would hold. Vic I'm getting kinda hungry but the food at the airport where I'm waiting is terrible. Dave Hollywood Manning showed me that you instantly could ruin the look of a two thousand dollar suit with matching shoes. Dick Dresner told me if I wanted to get more listeners to sample my stations I should do it the same way they track the big horned sheep. You just have to figure out where they are going, and be there waiting for them. Donny Deutsch recently told me on the phone that the best thing that ever happened to him was when he was working for the family business, his Dad said get out of here and find something to do that your passionate about. Reid Reker told me that dogs don't bark at parked cars. After a meeting with Herb Alpert at A&M records I asked Charlie Minor how he thought the meeting went, he said it went well the boss really liked you. I said great do you think he will do my project ? Charlie said hell no it's too much work for him, what you don't understand George is these guys are wrong 9 times out of 10 but they are all Billionaires anyway. When I explained to Tom Hoyt at Spago in Beverly Hills as we sat there waiting for my date and his blind date that there comes a time when dating young beautiful women just becomes silly and you just end up looking stupid. About then the bar went silent and Tom said God I hope these are our dates. I looked around and said yep do you think we look stupid? He said, who cares they're with us! My Grampa Vince told me that life was really about faster cars, older whisky and younger women. He neglected to tell me they can also ruin your life. My Father said, Don't you ever do anything to taint the family name 'cause if you ever do you wont make it through the night. My Mother said, Just wait til you Father gets home and she had to say it quite often. My Father
said congratulations to me on my 21st birthday bought me a drink and said,
the family names is now yours son and I no longer care what you do with it
because now it's your problem. Roger
Snowdon told me that nobody moves to Florida to work harder. The muses
have told me a lot of things over a lot of years but they only told them to
me in very dark places where one could get some good Canadian Whiskey. March 14, 2009 The Passion Begins To Heat Up
As I wrote in an earlier piece, I've been reading a new book by Donny Deautsch called THE BIG IDEA
When I talked to Donny on the phone a few days ago I laughingly asked him what book he read that helped him be so successful. He claimed he had read a couple, but he wished he would of had a book like this book to read back then. It would have saved him years of mistakes plus sped up the whole process.
He said though that the main thing learned over the years was that you should always follow your heart and only do what ever you feel very passionate about.
I sure agree with Donny now, but back when I was but a young pup I had worked at so many different jobs that I hated and was convinced that I was just destined to be unhappy. Like Donny said, I sure wasn't following my heart. But during my early years I heard over and over again from my parents, how tough the depression was. So I thought my unhappiness must still be a long way up from there. Hey maybe I should just count my blessings even though at the time they sure didn't feel like blessings. Hey but what the hell lets rock! So rock I did, I started up a couple of bands and recorded a few records but even though we wrote them, produced them, and they all charted, no money ever showed up. Very hard to get me feeling sorry for the record folks today, as they get a taste of what they have been handing out for all these years. Even Bob Gaudio of the legendary group THE FOUR SEASONS told me he is still trying to get back all the songs he wrote. The only money we ever got as a band was when we played dances and concerts every weekend. We drove about a thousand miles every Friday and Saturday playing in big and little towns all over MANITOBA, NORTH DAKOTA and MINNESOTA.
But wouldn't you know it, we ended up spending most of the money on late night liquor purchases and partying. I don't know what ever happened to that rumored perk for rock bands ... Free booze and broads.
My radio beginnings began as I said earlier, as a board op. I started on a giant 360,000 Watt FM called CKY FM.  My main job with the group besides playing guitar and screaming back ground vocals was to keep the rest of the band from killing each other. That extra duty plus all the traveling was starting to wear on me big time and I wasn't sure how much longer I could last. About a year earlier though I had gotten a part time job at CKY in WINNIPEG as a board op. I was getting married very soon and my folks thought that playing with the band was not a job, so I got a job that wasn't a job. Radio turned out to be for me all the great things I thought the band would be. I just loved it ! But being a good husband on what I was being paid at the radio station still meant I had to keep on rockin' in the free world as fellow Winnipeger Neil Young would later sing. So I still played and traveled with THE JURY, while spending most of time learning about my new love, radio.
In those days of course FM wasn't very cool. As I sat there playing Ray Conniff, Percy Faith and The Ray Charles Singers while wearing white gloves so I wouldn't scratch the albums, I thought to myself I've got to get out of this place.
Everyday I could see the place I've got to get to. It was right across the studio window from me and was called CKY AM and they were playing stuff by THE BEACH BOYS, ROY ORBISON, ELVIS and very soon THE BEATLES. Part of my new part time job was to learn production for both the AM & FM so that I could help out the Production Director, CHUCK DANN (Riley).. I had to figure out how to get more work on the AM because that was where the music was I loved, and it was the place that was igniting my new found passion.
Luckily I knew all the Jox because many of them had MC'd for my various bands over the years, and now were kind enough to teach me what I needed to know so I could become one of the AM guys.
Pretty soon I was volunteering for every bit of extra grunt work that came up and was even starting to make a few extra bucks. Hell I was always hanging around the station for about 12 hours a day anyway but now I was starting to get paid for some of it. What with the band money, the now lots of extra cash from extra radio work and my wife's salary, things were really lookin' up, so we bought a big house and a brand new rag top too. As everything started to come together a funny thing happened as they always do. I became the father of a brand spankin' new beautiful baby daughter named Candis. Bye bye rock&roll band.
I never was the best musician in the world so I could not imagine going on tour and leaving my family behind. In fact I was starting to feel real old at that time.
I was about 25 and thought, how does a 25 year old keep making music for teens. So I quit the band and became a full time broadcaster.
My boss by the way at the radio station was an American DJ by the name of Jimmy Darin who later became an even bigger factor in my life.
We hit had hit it off pretty good right from the start and still do these many years later. Jim and I in fact went to the very first James Bond movie and have seen everyone of them together since.
After Jim and all the crazy American Jox he had brought to Canada left to go back to the USA, I thought I better turn up the heat on my own career. So the next thing I knew there I was in Saskatoon at CKOM as the station's new PD. I really didn't know what I was doing but hey I had already proved I was a quick study and with the help of some great talent like Gary Russell, Keith Elshaw, Woody Cooper. Ron Andrews, Ken Singer, Doc Harris and Dale Heath we did some real damage in Saskatoon, and a lot of people tell me that they still remember our antics to this day. Now it was off to CKSO Sudbury for four months where I met Roger Klein, then off to a big job working for the CHUM group in Ottawa at CFRA.
The ratings there were pretty decent and the next thing I knew Ted Rogers came calling and said that I should do what I do in Canada's largest market, Toronto.
So after telling Roger to pack his bags then tracking down and bringing with me Keith Elshaw and Sharon Henwood ... There I surprisingly was at CFTR Toronto only a very few years after being a board op in Winnipeg.
Now speaking of surprises, here's a real big one they make me the Station Manager. Station Manager are you kidding me.
When I called my folks to let them know Transcona boy makes good, they asked me what a Station Manager of a radio station did. I told them the truth, I absolutely had no idea.
But the one thing I did know for sure was I had just gone from the highest paid program director in Canada, to the lowest paid Station Manager in an instant. The thing I think I liked the best about becoming the Station Manager though was it came with a spiffy new car. The new car had a big stereo radio in it with lots of speakers. Even though I was an AM guy and had worked extra hard at becoming that a few years earlier in Winnipeg, I just had to check out the stereo man. So as I breathed in that wonderful new leather seat smell, I popped on CKFM FM because every once in a while they worked their courage up and played the odd pop tune, and I thought just maybe I could catch one. Wham something by CHICAGO came thundering out of my brand new stereo speakers at me and almost blew me into my back seat. I instantly became an FM guy again. Holy S#%T did it ever sound fine.
The future then came to me in an instant. AM should talk, FM should play great music of all kinds. Got it!
But this sure wasn't going to happen in CANADA anytime soon, too many rules from the CRTC, thanks to Pierre, T & J. Can you say good bye Toronto hello Indianapolis. It seems my old boss and buddy from my early days at CKY, Jimmy Darin who had by this time come off the air, and was using his real name Jim Hilliard was putting together a string of FM stations across America.
My timing was perfect because he told me didn't have enough time to run them and program them too so I became the National PD for the new mostly FM company..
I had a special new way of doing music on CFTR, Jim had heard it and wanted to use the style of it on a station he was buying in Dallas. I could hardly wait to hear it on FM Stereo. How was I to know what was really waiting for me and my career in the U. S. I also came to realize how far behind FM was in Canada at the time. I pack up my Family to head for Indiana where my scary new future in radio is about to begin only now it's in double time. Johns I thought, you better put on your learnin' cap because you are about to go to the big time university of radio. When I arrive in Indianapolis the headquarters of Fairbanks Broadcasting, I arrive right in the middle of March Madness so I quickly learn about the Basketball God, Bobby Knight and his great final four team, IU Hoosiers.
I also learn that my duties would include being the local PD of the AM cash cow WIBC that the whole company refers to affectionately as Big Mama.
Little did we know at the time that the recently purchased FM in Dallas was soon to become Big Daddy and change my whole life, but that well deserved name never stuck because Kay Ville turned out to be too much of a very special lady to be ever called Big Daddy but I'm sure you get the drift.
Down the hall from WIBC was the FM WNAP, which they called the Buzzard. Some jock that was there before I got there took the name with him when he went to Cleveland. Anyway I was the National PD of that one and had my first meeting set up to meet the PD Cris Conner the next morning. Cris also did afternoon drive on The Buzzard, unlike what I was used to in Canada, it seems everyone in the States was already into multi tasking.
I was so busy getting my act together that I hadn't had much time to check out WNAP yet, so I figured a good time to do that would be to listen in this afternoon, so I wouldn't appear too ignorant about what he and the station did when we met the next day.
Imagine my surprise when I fire up my new giant stereo speakers in my office and the first thing I notice right off is he doesn't call himself Cris Conner. He keeps referring to himself as Moto Groove. Moto Groove what the hell is that and why did he change his name.
What I did know and understand completely though was he was playing all the long versions of great tunes like ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH, TOMMY, FRANKENSTEIN, ROCK&ROLL HOCHIE COO, COME TOGETHER and STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN.
Man I had thought CHICAGO sounded SPECIAL on my car radio in Toronto earlier, but this was paradise for an old band rocker like me. ROCK ON MOTO !
I was used to hearing all these tunes only on AM in Canada, but his was how they were really supposed to sound.
Thank Goodness Cris was also playing some tunes and groups that I never heard of so at least I would I have some interesting questions for him at our first meeting the next day. Now as I think back I seemed to always have those interesting questions for Cris. I have my part of the meeting ready, but what I am not ready for is the arrival of Cris. In he walks with a giant Afghan Hound at his side called Kahlua.
He was barefoot and dressed in what can best be described as a mechanics smock with auto and music group patches all over it. Perched on top of his shoulder length hair was a top hat and he was wearing cut off shorts that had seen better days.
At the time I was in my Pierre Cardin stage of life, and thought ... What the hell is this and is that dog that looks like a horse, friendly ? We had a great meeting and Cris and I hit it off instantly. To this day are still very good friends and chat all the time about the funny things life has brought to us When I hit Indy the culture shock was enormous. I soon found out that if you weren't into Basketball, Movies, or Auto Racing you were out of luck, there wasn't much else to do, and the racing part only happened in May. But It was the INDY 500 that turned me on to Chris' gifts. I discovered them one warm spring day right in the middle of 30 days in May.
Moto pops into my office and says hey G you wanna go to the track with me and grab a little lunch out there before my show.
What non Hoosiers dont realize about the 500 is the cars are there the whole month of May and the public is welcome to come out and watch them as they do laps and dial in those magnificent machines to the track as they get up to speed for Qualification Day and hopefully the big show on Memorial Day They do lap after lap after lap and you get to watch as they try and mold their car to the track in order to pick up more speed. Mold the car to the track, hmmm ... I wonder if you molded your station to your city maybe you could pick up a little more speed getting on your way to higher numbers. Anyway back to Cris' gift. We jump into his truck which was a real early version of an SUV and was in fact a Chevy Blazer. Picture this he had two giant speakers mounted in back that were just blasting the Buzzard at us from every and all directions it seemed. Earlier in the month we had hooked up two Mics at the track about a 1/4 mile apart and kept them turned on and up the whole month of May.
As we headed to the track it got us pumped hearing the race cars screaming by from one speaker to the next as NAP rocked.
Occasionally some real good magic would happen like a race car hitting the post of a tune perfectly at two hundred miles an hour.
Talk about molding a station to the city.
While we are driving to the track Cris keeps saying, G look over there is that weird or what. At the next stop light he would notice something else very strange. Everytime Cris did see something unusual, he would write it down on an old clip board that he kept by his side in the rockin' truck. By the time we got to the track he had a bunch of pages of stuff, and we still had the trip back to the station to go yet. That afternoon listening to him, he had me in stitches as he retold with a little embellishment what he had observed during our short journey that day. Cris always had some wild and crazy theory about what was really going on with all those strange and wonderful things he had observed.
The trip to the track that very fine day in May proved to me once and for all that the definition of ART ... The comments made by the Artist after having observed life is really true.
Things I guess are just too good to last, because slowly over the months I noticed Cris' attitude begin to change. He just didn't seem to be the happy go lucky crazy guy I had first met when I had crossed the border.
I was was very busy by then and traveling a lot. KVIL was going full blast and we were launching the All New WIBG in Philly plus a brand new FM, WRMF in Palm Beach and we were doing them both, almost at the same time.
All of this was causing me to go long stretches of time between my hearing Cris, but I could really hear the difference each time I got home. I wasn't sure what was wrong, but I knew something sure was..
It all finally came to a head one day when I was just back in town. Jim asked me to attend a meeting he was going to have with Cris the next day in his office.
Cris by now was doing mornings and he still was the PD. So soon as Cris got off the air we could meet in Jim's office first thing in the morning we got to
Cris and Jim were already seated and chit chatting when I walked in. Jim waited until I sat down to begin the special topic of the meeting.
He began with, George, Cris has recently discovered that his Sales Manager, Don Seeley is making more money than him and he is very upset about it.
I need your help in explaining to him why that is. I said, Hell Jim I really want to hear that explanation myself !
March 11, 2009 Thoughts on Life and Radio If you dig into Arbitron's methodology and then also examine very closely the type of person who would wear ever wear a PPM device or might even fill out a diary you probably will realize as I have that you've got a 50-50 chance of going up or down in the next book.
Anything you can do to
improve those odds I figure would be in your best interest.
Most men fantasize about
women they know, and most women fantasize about men they do not know.
That's why I have always
wanted the air talent to be a little bit of a mystery.
Most women are a lot better
lookin' on the hit lines than in person.
Every radio station needs a cause, but making more money for the owner ain't it.
In Canada they will give you
an FM license if you turn off your AM station. What do they know that we
don't?
I wonder if they deregulated
sports like they did Radio and Wall street if the games would turn out
any different. Would we even go ?
If women spent as much time
taking care of their bodies like they do their hair, I think they might
need armed guards to escort them every where.
We are all gifted in some
way but we are not gifted at most things. Only other gifted people know
what your not gifted at. But don't you just hate it when they tell you.
It's even worse when an ungifted person who thinks they are gifted,
tells you what you don't want to hear.
I wonder who women would die
for ?
Have you ever noticed that
when you are trying to come up with a solution that will fix a problem,
you tend to look up as you ponder it.
Have you ever noticed in the top down management style in radio, they fire from the bottom up. Walt Disney managed from the bottom up but what the hell did he know. Radio management pays them selves more than he was paid so they must know better.
The only way you make any
money in our biz is to make management afraid that your going to leave.
One of the many great things
about being famous is it unveils who you always were all along.
Women love to share everything but their money. For some reason we tell our sons our son the truth about what's out here waiting for them at any moment, but we lie to our daughters about it. We all know what everyone else should do, but it's what we should do that's the real unsolvable mystery. Have you ever noticed that when your in a tormented relationship the only advice you ever get is you should leave them. Hell if you could do that you would have done it a long long time ago. Being in love or even married doesn't in any way change what 20 year old women look like. Has anybody noticed that while the media is distracted talking about Rush Limbaugh and also about how the Republicans are fighting about just who the boss of the party is, that Obama is getting a ton of legislation passed through Congress almost with out notice. Maybe that's why he keeps mentioning Rush's name.
If the air talent added
punctuation to their on air presentation I think they would sound a
hundred times better.
If the clients cant hear you they wont buy you no matter what the ratings say.
I was listening to a station
today that was all excited about promoting the hell out of the give away
of tickets they called The Mega Ticket.
This mega ticket
supposedly got you into three different shows with 3 different sets
of Superstars.
The whole time I was
thinking wow I wonder where that event is. They never said.
They just forgot one thing
... It's the event not the ticket stupid.
As I was driving my 13 year
old daughter Cami to school yesterday she handed me a pair of skimpy
shorts and asked me to drop them off at her mother's.
She then said tell Mom to
bring these with her when she picks me up for gymnastics.
I said why don't you
just tuck these in your bag so you will already have them. She looked at
me like I was crazy and said because this is a book bag Dad, you don't
put gym shorts in a book bag.
I said where is a list of
all these rules are they written down somewhere? She said they don't
need to be written down, you just need to use common sense.
March 8, 2009 "Passion" I was talking to Donny
Deutsch of CNBC on the phone the other day. Donny has just written a book
called "The Big Idea". March 5, 2009 More Name Droppings Robin Garrett told me when
she was assisting her PD with the picking of tunes for a love song show. Tom went on to tell me that
she didn't say no, so he thought he had a very good shot. Out they go on a typical Santa Rosa beautiful sun shiny day and as they slowly wind their way up the breath taking hills, Tom starts to wonder if she has stashed a blanket and maybe even some champagne somewhere along the run. This kind of thinking is getting him so worked up, he finds it difficult to even continue running. As they continue their run Tom starts to notice some neat spots where if he was in charge of all this, that that's where they would of done it, but they just keeps quiet because this is her gift to him, so he just hangs on and keeps on running. Now Tom starts to feel a little nervous tension because he knows they soon will break out of this beautiful tree covered area they are in on top of the hill, and are about to go down the other side and out into the open. Sure enough much to his
chagrin they don't stop any where, and just end up at home. The first thing he said when
he opened the mic was Hi Ya Hi Ya kids ! I knew right then that along with
his long hair and the self confessed fact that he was a hippy, was going to
lead me to a lot of office time with the GM. I carefully sped up to pull along side so as to point it out to him. Lo and behold it was our singer Donny Burns who was hanging on to Terry's door handle and kind of skiing along at about 50 mile an hour and Terry was yelling at him to jump. I think we all had too much
anti freeze that night. I don't know whats got into
'em General Custer they all seemed friendly enough at the dance last night. The interview went real well
and Fred asked him to start in two weeks. As Tom was leaving in a hurry to
tell his wife the good news, Fred said oh by the way get that hair cut! I told Charlie that at the
time we could only afford one billboard so we stuck it right outside of his
studio window. I told him you better
tell them, he did and the job offer disappeared. February 28, 2009 Life & Radio Roll On My 13 year old daughter Cami who has been living with me for a few weeks now was quite excited about the new adventure with Dad, I think, until I went from my usual fun position of entertainment director, to Mr. Mom.
If for some unknown reason
you need to get your thoughts or ideas across to me you better do it
through a song, a novel or a movie because I think those are the only
times I have my heat shields down.
You can play any tune you
want on the radio as long as your explanation of why you're playing it
is an interesting one.
According to Robin Williams
we should have known we were in trouble when the smart Bush's name was
Jeb.
Which one says they're not
in the mood tonight in a gay relationship.
A question the rest of the
world is still asking is ... What if there are no weapons of mass
destruction.
Is it just me that thinks
the jox who have nothing to say take a way too long to say it.
My favorite breathless
moment of all time besides the birth of my children was when I heard on
the radio, Jimmy Darin introducing my group the Jury as he played our
record for the first time. I think I blew the speakers out in my car.
Anybody needing help in
anyway from the government, will never be anything.
There is no up in a down
economy.
Young and old will listen to
a young person, but only the old will listen to a old person.
Did you ever notice how many
laws and protection devises are put in to place to protect Mr. business
man from us, but if any one mentions we might need some laws put into
place to protect us from him, he gets totally outraged.
Maybe if I took my two
daughters and my nieces off this list I could really get into the good
stuff, what do you think ?
Speaking of daughters my 13
year old told me today that she really dislikes boring people and she
dislikes annoying people even more. I think she was trying to
communicate to me.
Where did all the engineers
go that used to work at all the radio stations and what did they do ?
How much money would a radio
group have to bill to make the stock go up. I'm sure somebody knows but
they ain't talkin', because they know there is no hope and they would be
out and they all have sweet deals for producing nothing, well actually
less than nothing.
When I asked Al Mair what
the hell he was doing in small time Saskatoon buying me dinner, he said
because I don't think you will be small long and I want to come see you
again then. When I finally made it to Toronto I guess I lucked out
because Al had moved from records to film.
Sales folk must have really
sucked back in the day because I think stations bill more now then they
did back then when a lot of stations had double digits.
How come it only takes about
8 weeks of boot camp to get our soldiers ready for combat but years to
get the Iraqis ready.
Is there anything more
distracting than a beautiful women walking into the room while you are
having a business meeting ?
When Chuck Knapp was in
Philly with us I remember hearing him do a bit on the air about how bad
smoking was for you. It made me so nervous I had two cigarettes before
he was done.
When we hired Bill Gardner
for KVIL we got him out of Minneapolis, Ron Chapman and I were going
together to pick him up at the airport, so never having met Bill I asked
him what he looked like, his simple reply was that he looked like a
Dallas Cowboy with long hair.
So of course me being the type that always likes to flaunt our assets, we immediately put a billboard up with Bill stretched out all the way across the top of it. The caption read, "Bill Gardner, Six Foot Five, Single and Sounds Like It." I'm not sure what it did for Bill's night life, but I know for sure it did wonders for the our station's ratings.
Don't you just love the
lame line, "It's Not personal It's Just Business". Some person is trying
to destroy your life but its not personal. I think that line was created
by a little business guy who was afraid we were all going to hit him.
I think most women are up
for almost anything as long as they don't have to talk about it the next
day.
The big thing I learned
growing up in my home town of Transcona was ... Go south young man go
south!
Two very bad things happened
in February. The Music died February 3rd 1959 and Radio died February
8th 1996.
If you have a radio station
for the youthful they will find you but if you need any adults you will
have to find them.
Am I being unfair when I say
that if the guys in radio who are presently cutting folks pay were in
the middle of a windfall they would not be handing out bonus checks.
I am still not mature enough
to handle the word NO !
Jim Hilliard gave us freedom
of choice, we had enough rope to hang our selves or do something better
than he could do it.
I was just in LA listening
to radio and it sounds exactly the same as it did when diaries were
king. I guess they don't realize it's a PPM town now.
One of the many things I
don't understand about the stimulus program is it's in the hands of
lawyers, other than over charging what the hell do they know about
money?
February 24, 2009 Random Thoughts about Radio and The Real World For most of my life I just
wanted to be somebody, now all I care about is being a good Dad, a good
Buppa, a good Brother, a good Uncle and a good Friend. Jim said, hey I've got a
lotta money invested in you guys, somebody better make me laugh pretty
quick. Loren without missing a beat said ... Show him your dick Wally ! When he crumpled over on the
floor she stood over him and said ... Your not going to take that from me
are you? During my talk I explained in great detail my formula that would turn you or someone on your staff into a million dollar morning man. At the end of my talk I asked
if there were any questions. Almost everyone shouted out at the same time
... What Are The Two Secrets ? February 19, 2009 Did they really mean all this ? Delilah proved to me that her
not sounding radio enough was a very very good thing. February 18, 2009 They Wouldn't Lie To Me Would They? My Father once said to me ... George stay away from the bad girls. Jim Hilliard said, I'm giving you the right to be wrong.
Mark Hubbard preached to
me that you only have three choices, be first, be best, or be
different.
Barry Smith claimed that
sales has never been about rates.
My Brother Reg said
everybody thinks their part is the biggest part.
My Daughter Cami whined
that my recordings with The Jury weren't very good when ever I force
her to hear them.
Ted Ruscitti once told
me that women lose their appetite for new music after 30.
J Robert Wood said that
you have to ask for ownership it is never offered.
Mr. Fairbanks told me he
was selling KVIL because the bubble was going to burst.
Buzz Bennett said that
if a record didn't make it to the top 10 of the CHR charts hardly
anybody would ever remember it.
Jack McCoy claimed that
if you controlled the language you control the budget.
My daughter
Candis convinced me that Art was just exaggerated emotion.
Jim West said to me a
long time ago, make sure those sand dollars in California don't get
in your eyes.
Hugh Heller told me that
you don't need somebody who can do everything. You just need to
get a person who is the best in the world at one thing.
Frank Osborn said to me
a radio station manager gets two PD's, a PD gets two books.
Jeff & Jer said you have
to marry the city if you want to be successful in mornings.
Ron Chapman told me that
when he was pressed for an instant answer his answer was always no.
That always bought him a lot more time to think about maybe a
different answer.
Randy Michaels shouted
at me in a bar that my brother Reg was the real Johns genius.
Chuck Riley told me to
make sure the suits never ground me down.
Gary Russell informed me
that if you want more billing get more sales people.
Randy Bachman said I can
teach you all The Guess Who music, it's all that other stuff you do
that we need.
Rick Moranis told me
that being bankable is the ultimate show biz position.
Martin Milner said I
can't go on the radio without a script.
Ted Rogers told me that
sometimes you have to go on without the people that got you there if
you ever want to be real successful.
Gordon Zlot said I'm
stickin' with the people who got me here.
Tom Skinner asked me if
I had ever heard about client run.
Brent Farris reminded me
that a consultant is a person who advises you about women, but
doesn't have one.
Bob Christy taught me
that when you sit at a bar you are marketing yourself.
Jamie Gold told me that
most women leave the bar scene at 27
Vic Gold reminded me
that most communication is done with the eyes, so you must make me
see what you are saying.
Mike Vance taught me
that managing from the bottom up sometimes produces a super success
like Disney World.
I figured out myself
that women only make sense if you love them.
Arbitron proved to me
that some listeners lie.
Cris Conner showed me
that sometimes all you have to do to have a great radio show is
observe life.
My Mom taught me that
reading is the real great escape.
I learned that
surrounding yourself with people smarter than you, makes you the
smartest person in the room.
Russ Morley told me that
having too much stuff takes away your freedom.
Reid Reker shouted to me
! Why can't we have it all.
Steve Hicks looked at me
and said ... We just went #1 how can that be possible.
Tom Hicks said to me you
are exactly what my brother needs.
Tim Reever said he
thought he could even sell the squeal of the pig if someone would
hold it.
Sales folk have told me
a way too often that if they missed a sale it was because of the
ratings. If they made a sale they didn't need the ratings to do it.
Rich guys taught me that
they always love to share the downside with you, whether you wanted
to or not.
Lee Abrams told me if
you want the ratings to go up you have to play more Super Stars
music.
Shakespeare wrote that
the plays the thing not the client.
Disney taught me that
you can turn fame into fortune.
Dave Charles told me
that the rest of the world was standing by and waiting for America
to come up with the new radio thing.
I learned from the
Disciples that ... He's the Son of God works much better than I'm
the Son of God.
US Air taught me that
when you charge for Cokes & Water it makes the drink cart move much
faster.
Ryan Seacrest showed me
that you can turn fame into a radio career.
My niece Christina
proved that when you mix English, Scotch, Korean and Italian
together in equal portions, you end up with a very beautiful and
intelligent woman.
My son Curtis has
finally convinced me that work doesn't have to be your life to have
a decent life.
Tracy Johnson said to me
that a tune was either up or it wasn't.
Ann McMartin told me
that women are just looking for the right guy to play the part of
the groom at the wedding ceremony, they have the rest of their life
already picked out.
Ed Shadek once said ...
If George Johns or one of the people who work for him don't like a
spot on the radio either do the Shadeks.
Keith Elshaw wrote that
the staff who worked for me loved me, and the people I worked for
were afraid of me.
Joe Amaturo told me that
use becomes abuse becomes law.
Betsy Cameron convinced
me that she is a very serious person, and only laughs when I am
around because she can't help herself.
Jan Hall claimed I would
only last two minutes with her.
Barbara Hilliard told me
that there is more to life than sex.
Kari Summerfield said
either I wasn't very deep or I wasn't showing it for some reason.
Most of my teachers in
high school tried to convince me to leave school.
Jim Quail told me that
if I ever went for his bad knee I better be sure I knew which one it
was because it was the only way I would come through the
experience alive.
I believe I shouldn't
write a book because I have to leave out all the good parts that
would really sell a book.
My daughters I
think, read this stuff.
Governor Charlie
Crist told me if I sucked up to him before he announced his
candidacy for Governor of Florida, it would be worth double.
Mike McVay told me a lot
of stuff and I stole it all.
Kevin Metheny taught me
that the only way to find out what tunes the folks were tired of was
to do music research.
Paul Ski showed me that
it was a lot smarter to go to night school and get your MBA then hit
the bars with the rest of us when our air shift was over.
My sister in law Savvy
might be the only person I know that is even close to figuring me
out.
February 12, 2009 A Little Radio & A Lot Of Life You can sell anything at any
price as long as it is not ordinary. February 10, 2009 Enough is Enough! Last week, my daughter
Candis, her husband Charlie, and my Grandson, Prince Nathaniel flew to
Florida from LA for a nice week long visit with me and Auntie Cami. February 5, 2009 "We Caught the Ball" Last year I was having dinner
with Jim Hilliard and Mark Hubbard in Florida at the Bone Fish Grill in FT.
Lauderdale. February 3, 2009 Remember when the NAB was spending tons of money fighting the Satellite merger. They failed and so did Satellite radio.
A quick trot down the aisle does
not change love from conditional to unconditional.
A good host only needs to be a
good highlighter they need not be an expert on anything.
Radio needs only to anticipate
where the money and the listeners are going then be there waiting for them.
Kinda the same way you track the Big Horned Sheep.
Does Mr. Businessman really
think we don't notice that gas prices go up more quickly than fall.
Billing after a short lag time
always follows the ratings.
Just like in football practicing
systems will get you one or two yards but talent gives you the long run for
a touchdown.
Ratings are only an effect its
the product that causes them according to Socrates.
It goes Fame then Fortune or
Fortune then Fame.
There has never been nor will
there ever be a Rock & Roll Xmas.
Personalities and DJ's are not
the same thing.
Even the coldest shrewdest
businessman in the world cannot focus on the subject at hand when a
beautiful woman walks in the room.
To be successful on the radio
you put in all the perfect systems but then let the character on the air
call an audible when the time is right and they feel courageous. When the
call was wrong you beat them, when right you applaud them.
When I first got into radio it
was so exciting that I hated the weekends because I just got to live a
normal life. Now I long for the weekends.
What ever happened to "Tight
Bright and Brief"
I think the best weather cast is
the answer to the question, what's it like out today.
Did you ever notice that when
you get married your life resembles mostly how your wife was living before
she married you.
Why is it then when guys are
together they start laughing almost immediately, but when woman are together
the talk gets very serious.
Men have four styles of talk.
The way they talk when there are no women present, the way they talk when
woman are present, the way they talk when women are sitting at their table
and the way they talk when their Daughters or Mother are sitting at their
table.
If all AM's had a half a million
watts that would solve all the interference and coverage problems.
Most good actors can sing.
With diaries it worked this way,
you had to get the people who didn't know they were listening to you to be
aware of it. Then you had to get them to like you, then you had to get them
to love you. It's the like and love part that gives you most of your
ratings. With PPM it changes the first part, but the rest is still the same.
Most comedians are left handed.
Guys get into bands and radio
and such to get chicks. Why do women get in ?
If Canadians and Americans spoke
a different language they would understand each other better.
Radio ratings consist mainly of
the listening habits of passive people but is programmed and sold mainly by
assertive people. How does that seem to be working out.
When you have a 100 share the
PD's job remains the same, he has to figure out how to make it sound better.
Have you ever noticed that
Contemporary Christian music is just white love songs.
Jim Hilliard taught me a long
time ago that ratings are nice but if you can ring the cash register for the
client it all becomes a lot nicer.
One of the things I've managed
to do kinda well is to get crowds to show up where I want them to.
One time a client at a fine
jewelry store called me in a panic and said ... What the hell am I supposed
to do with all these people that showed up.
Dick Yancey who was in charge of
sales when we worked together at Fairbanks Broadcasting once went into Mr.
Fairbanks office and said, I've figured out how to double the billing on
WIBC.
Mr.Fairbanks said why would I
want to do that. Dick said I thought you had that part so I'll leave now and
re think it.
I think I think too much, in
fact I think I have a thinkin' problem!
People use radio as a drug, they
hope it will kinda just let them escape for a little while.
I once attended a George Burns
seminar in DC where he said we have the Godfather of AC George Johns with us
today.
I turned to my companion and
said ... Sweet! Godfather of AC, very cool I think I really like it. She
replied I'm sure he said Grandfather of AC.
I truly believe you can reinvent
your self. Shotgun Tom actually became the character he plays on the radio.
You are where you came from.
When Buddy Holly asked Dion to pony up 36 bucks for a seat on the plane he
just chartered, Dion couldn't imagine telling his folks that he paid 36
dollars for a seat when he had an already paid for one on the bus.
He passed, so the Big Bopper and
Ritchie Valens got to go.
January 31, 2009 I was thinking about comedians the other day after reading an interview with the brilliant playwright Neil Simon He mentioned in the article that
even though he writes mostly humorous dialog he would never think of hiring a
comedian to do any of his plays. January 29, 2009 There are only two types of radio, Foreground and Background When I was in the middle of all
my radio wars, my wife Lana and I split up. When My Mom heard about it she said
thank God your father is not alive because this would kill him. January 28, 2009 "A few weeks ago I received an e-mail from Kevin Metheny who is now the Big Kahuna at WGN in Chicago"
A few weeks ago I received
an e-mail from Kevin Metheny who is now the Big Kahuna at WGN in
Chicago.
It seems though at this time
he was trapped at the DFW
International Airport.
While ther Kevin decided to dial around the FM dial and listen to a little Dallas radio hence the e-mail I received from him which read .... What the hell happened to KVIL, it's unlistenable? Well Kevin that's getting a way ahead of our selves.....that's the 3rd of the three most asked questions I ever hear about KVIL. But it is the one I hear most often now. So using something my 10th grade British History teacher Ben Foreman taught me: The roots of the present lie deep in the past.
I remember thinking what the
hell has that got to do with Rock&Roll. (At the time I was
convinced I was going to be
a Rock star. Later on
I did have four
singles released, but I still think star
was still a little
bit ambitious)
But speaking of roots lets go all the way back, way
back to when KVIL was the
darling of the industry
plus it made a few people
real rich and was also
responsible for enhancing a
career for a few others,
my self included.
Question #1.....Back in the day, what made KVIL so special?
That kind of question has a
very simple answer that
unfortunately is extremely difficult to accomplish. There is an old business adage that goes....BE FIRST, BE BEST or BE DIFFERENT ! KVIL was all three in a world where you only needed to be one of them. KVIL was I believe the FIRST radio station in the world to use hit records to attract women exclusively. KVIL was FIRST to have the Mayor of Dallas as it's sports director.That of course was also very DIFFERENT. KVIL was the FIRST to have a color picture of it's billboard on the front page of the big Dallas news paper. KVIL was the FIRST station in Dallas to sell a spot for a thousand dollars ( it actually sounded like a promo) KVIL was the FIRST station to actually run the competition for what females became a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader and this was when the Dallas Cowboy cheer leaders were bigger than the team and even a national phenomenon. Ron Chapman actually played himself in a movie about their fame. (You should have seen some of the audition pictures we received.)
I'm sure some of women
who didn't make the squad went on to dance at places my daughters wont
let me go into.
KVIL was the FIRST to get station bumper stickers on BMW's and Mercedes. KVIL was the FIRST to have after work parties and did them at 2 or 3 different places at the same time, for women who were to shy to leave the house for any other
event but felt very
comfortable at a KVIL $100,000.00
after work party.
KVIL was FIRST to speak to women like they were successful executives. In fact we had a huge picture of one hanging in the studio, with instructions that said "Seduce Her" KVIL was the FIRST to hire the best voice in America, Ernie Anderson to do a 15 minute promo that we even pre promoted the time we were going to run it.
This produced promo unveiled
all of our promotion plans for the 1st six months of the year.The
playing of this promo also caused a lot of Dallas stations to cancel
their promotion plans out of embarrassment and try to do their act
mainly with much more music because research showed that KVIL's music
sucked.
This promo sounded very DIFFERENT and was also the BEST using the best voice in America at the time Ernie Anderson.
KVIL did a ton more firsts
but I see your eyes
glazing over and some of you are even starting to fall
asleep so lets move on to
more Different and Best.
KVIL's talent lineup was the BEST I ever heard. All the talent were morning men doing morning shows
on all day parts.
They also were very very
DIFFERENT sounding.
In fact most of them are already inducted into
The Texas Radio Hall Of Fame
already.
KVIL had the BEST sounding jingles anybody had ever heard and talk about DIFFERENT? (Hugh Heller out of L.A.) Lots more BESTS but that would be bragging wouldn't it ?
I'm not starting to sound
like a proud Papa am I?
KVIL's News sounded DIFFERENT than any other station. KVIL's Traffic was DIFFERENT and FIRST to do it from a Jet Chopper. KVIL's weather was DIFFERENT and FIRST to do play by play weather using it's own color radar. KVIL's promos were DIFFERENT Ron Chapman on one version, Hugh Lampman on an other plus even Jack McCoy's special sound on some very extreme versions.
Not very today or should I
say not very radio today.
KVIL's promotions were DIFFERENT than any other radio
stations.
From Ron Chapman racing the
late Mike Selden around the world to Ron jumping out of an airplane
in early morning for his first ever sky dive then on to swimming under
water with sharks when Jaws the movie was huge and most people were
afraid to go into their pools and the best part was all of this was done
live.
How about the promotions
that ended up being nationally syndicated after KVIL did them first
...The 50% off free fair, The magic Ticket and The Prize Catalog all of
which produced great ratings and huge sales.
Most of KVIL's DIFFERENT things were very subtle for radio peoples ears and also too numerous to mention. All of the above led to something that I think will never be duplicated in Broadcasting again. KVIL with all of this going for it quickly became the only station in America and maybe beyond, that each and every month billed more money than Mr. Fairbanks originally paid for it.
Let me say that again KVIL
billed more each month than
it cost to buy the station! Wow that is so hot I think I'm getting wood all over again just reliving those wonderful moments and the funny part was people were telling Mr. Fairbanks that Jim Hilliard had over paid for the station when he negotiated the deal for Mr. Fairbanks.
But of course Jim Hilliard
knew what was going to happen in the new DFW Arbitron that was going to
come out soon and put Dallas and Fort Worth together and enter the top
10.
He often told me that with
the future in mind KVIL was a steal
But that incredible revenue every month in fact still humbles me to this day and I still fondly remember each and every person who was part of that magical crew. Ok ok enough of all that and for those of you still reading lets get on with the second most popular question about KVIL. Question #2 George, maybe you can tell us who was most responsible for the success of KVIL? That question was posed to me by a smart assed GM in San Francisco with a smirk on his face when I was visiting his station one day with the company President Mark Hubbard. My answer of course was very quick but I've got to admit it did get me thinking about all the people over the years who have claimed responsibility for KVIL's huge success over almost three decades. Most of them I never heard of and even Ron Chapman would even call me to check out a couple of them that he also never heard of but were writing stories about how they created KVIL. Most of them never even set foot in the station let alone run anything. Maybe they spent some quality time at DFW airport listening and taking notes. All Ron and I can figure out is some of them must have been Jim Hilliard's limo drivers when he was President of Blair Media and was commuting from Dallas to New
York.
At the recent KVIL reunion I
asked Jack Schell where all these guys were that claimed they were the
real driving force behind KVIL, and could I meet them. He said they were
all much too busy out front parking cars.
Wait a minute where was I before I started ranting, oh yeh the smirking GM.
My answer to him was ....
There is only one person responsible for the enormous success of KVIL.
That person of course is
Richard M. Fairbanks you don't think they would give that huge check to
the wrong person do you?
Well all of that thank god leads me to the beginning of the end and question #3.
(Sorry it took me so long
Kevin, to get to your original question, but you know all to well
that the telling of all this would even take me even longer).
What was your question again
?
Oh yeh, What the hell happened to K-VIL question #3 It all seemed to start slowly on a downward spiral when Mr. Fairbanks said to me one day, George you know why I sold KVIL dont you. No I sure dont, why did you sell it sir ?
Well George he said (somehow
he managed to talk down to me even though he was a small man)
I sold it because
that bubble is going to burst soon and I'm getting out before it does.
He claimed that KVIL didn't
sound special enough to his ears to last much longer.
Turns out the old dude was right, that bubble did burst and it only took about 20 more years for it to happen.
But hey whose counting
right.
The folks at the station said the demise of KVIL though really started to pick up speed when then PD Bill Curtis was overheard often referring to his station in the halls as KVILderly and complaining that Ron Chapman was really killing him. So they shuffled Ron off to their oldies station across the street and let Bill do his thing. I understand they even stopped calling it KVIL and refered to it as Lite 103.7 or something. Is that lame or what ? Surely this cant be true somebody must be making this this stuff up. Even Mr. Fairbanks who bailed out early wouldn't have allowed all of that. I hear it took Ron only one rating book to completely demolish the legendary K-VIL or should I say Lite 103.7 I was told that shortly there after, Bill Figinshue an executive for CBS at the time and who was over seeing
all of their
Dallas properties, was overheard saying ... Curtis always told me that
Chapman was killing him and
this time he was finally
right.
Ron, Fig said it turns out
did kill him and I'm only giving him 1 hour to get out of the building,
and out of town before I kill him again.
I have no idea if this was all true but trust me my scources are the best. Here's to a great radio station and to some great very magical people who walked those very special halls
those many years ago.
January 25, 2009
"Back to Radio Land" We are always on our best
behavior in front of our daughters. Maybe that's how we should do radio too. January 16, 2009
"Late last fall I went to Ottawa in Canada for the induction into
the Canadian Radio Hall Of Fame of my long time radio pal, Gary
Russell" To
celebrate this occasion we decided to have a guy only weekend in New
York then wrap it up by seeing our football hero Brett Farve play in
the Meadow Lands on Sunday afternoon.
One of the other guys we
invited was Rhys Hollyman an ex hockey player from Canada who I've
known for years and lives in South Florida. But Rhys couldn't get a
weekend pass from the little woman so it was me and Gary and we had
a plan.
Our weekend goal was to
be hung over when we got to the stadium for the game. Not a lofty
goal I know but it kinda reminded us of our youth I guess.
Back then it seemed we
did everything hung over.
Anyway we showed up in Manhattan Friday evening and checked into a fairly nice hotel near Times Square.
After getting our stuff
put away we headed out and quickly found a fairly decent Deli where
we had a quick late supper so we could get off to bed fairly early
because we figured we had a pretty full day coming up on Saturday.
Saturday morning we were
up bright and early and off to Central Park for a little run.
It was a kinda brisk
morning just like you would expect in New York in early November.
But the red and orange and gold leaves were still on most of the
trees and the run was breathtaking in more ways than one.
Now after the jog and
a quick shower we met down stairs for some breakfast then we
were off to explore Times Square in then slightly cool misty
conditions.
We just walked all over
the place, checking out all the sights, sounds and of course all the
people.
When we strolled by
the Broadway theatres we almost did an unmanly thing like trying to
buy a couple of tickets to a play, albeit the Jersey Boys.
But the $350 dollars
price tag kept our manhood intact.
Just walking around
gawking at all the huge neon signs was an incredible thrill for me
I'm always awe struck by that kinda stuff I just can't get the
Transcona out of me I guess.
While cruising around
Times Square we manage to find an even better Deli. Their portions
were a way too large but we needed something in our stomachs for the
long day ahead and hey it was almost time for our first glass of
wine too if we hoped to be at our intended goal of being hung over
at game time.
After we finished up our
huge lunch we headed back to the hotel to clean up for what we hope
will be an exciting night. Little did we know that it would turn
into an adventure we would always remember.
Soon as we got all
spiffed up we checked in with the hotel's concierge to ask him where
some decent restaurants might be and could he also recommend a fun
blues club or two.
He told us about a
couple of blues clubs that were a short cab ride away and restaurant
row as he called it was just down the street and well within walking
distance so we had lots of time to figure out the club scene and our
participation in it after dinner.
But just as we were
leaving the concierge also mentioned we might want to check out a
club located right there by all the restaurants called, Don't Tell
Your Mama's, not a great place to eat he said but he thought we
might have a little fun there. We tucked that bit of info into the
back of our minds and headed out for some chow.
We arrive at restaurants
row and find all kinds of great restaurants so it was real difficult
to make a choice as we wandered around checking out all the menus
hanging outside of each establishment.
We finally settled on an
Italian place and the food turned out to be a good choice because
the food was superb.
After dinner we just
kinda strolled around checking out all the sights and doing a bit of
people watching while we tried to figure out what we were going to
do for the rest of the night. But It was still fairly early so no
rush.
Then we saw it the Don't
Tell Your Mama sign, and decided what the hell lets go in for a
quick pop.
The quick pop turned
into a very long and exciting night as Gary informed me about when I
woke up the next morning at about 11:30 which really blew our
planned second run in Central Park.
It turned out we
didn't depart the club until almost three am. Gary also mentioned
that we also weren't walking too well as we weaved our way back to
the hotel.
What the hell happened
to us last night I asked him as I stumbled around looking for some
aspirin to ease my aching head.
He said we were
doing just fine until we started drinking Tequila shots. Tequila!
Why in God's name were
we drinking Tequila I asked him, I seem to remember we were drinking
red wine most of the night and besides that I don't really like
Tequila that much.
He said your right we
did start out drinking wine but then these good looking ladies
started buying us shots.
My head was killing me
as he related all this to me when I suddenly realized I had attained
my planned on hung over goal for game day. What a stupid goal.
But more on all that
later let me tell you about this club which I shouldn't ya
know, cause you'll just go in there and ruin the whole thing.
We walked into the dimly
lit place and found a couple of chairs at the bar, then ordered up
two of house reds and started to look around.
Lo and behold at least
80% of the people there were females, and no they didn't look like
they played for the other team.
Wow not a bad find for a
couple of single guys who just flew into town. Hey I'm
thinkin' maybe we should have another glass or two of wine before we
head out for a blues club. No sense rushing out into that chilly
night.
The entertainment was a
guy playing piano and singing some Broadway tunes and even
doing little pop stuff by Elton John and Billy Joel, he sounded
decent.
Gary and I were just
sitting there at the bar taking in the great view the bar had
provided us with when all of a sudden one of the servers who was
walking by me stops and reaches over me to pick up a mic that I
hadn't noticed hanging there, and starts singing harmony with the
piano player as she stood next to me ... Very cool I'm diggin' this.
It took us a little
while but we finally figured out that all the hired help were
really Broadway talent in between stage gigs. They all sang
background parts as they served everone their food and drinks.
They just kinda leaned
into one of the mics that were everywhere in the club, even
with food and drinks in their arms when it was time to sing their
part.
Of course each and
everyone of them got their own shot front and center with the rest
of their coworkers of course singing back up for them. Just
wonderful, what fun.
Maybe just maybe we
should stay for at least one more drink, this was getting real good.
But I did notice one
strange thing, it seemed every time I got up to go to the men's room
or even left my bar stool for a moment some girl was always sitting
in my seat chatting Gary up by the time I returned.
I dont think they were
about to sing him a tune but they looked like they had something
special in mind for him.
What a great place just
me, Gary and a few lucky Marines that had stumbled into the place
sorta rounded out the male patrons present.
Hell the Marines
even sang a couple of tunes and they weren't too bad. But I
think they were a way too occupied to do much singing, because a
bunch of the ladies were busy doing their patriotic part trying to
give them a good send off I guess, so when they went back to war
they would feel very inspired and motivated and they would also
finally know what they were were fighting for.
Oh what a night was the
tune pounding in my head.
Gary claimed we were
having a wonderful time until for some unknown reason while in the
midst of sitting there with all these beautiful ladies who were
also buying us drinks he casually turned to me and asked me what I
wanted to do now.
He said I suddenly
just stood up and said I want to leave. So leave we did.
I think the mere passage
of time in my life finally brought to me what I had been missing for
a lot of years, a little wisdom. Damn!
As I mentioned we were
up a little late and now this was game day so we gulped down a
little breakfast and headed out into the street to flag down a cab.
Lets go time is running
out and we have clutched in our cold hands our very expensive stub
hub tickets for the game at 1pm.
A cab stops and we say
take us to Giants Stadium in Jersey ( the Jets use the same stadium
as the Giants). The cabby says where is that, so we hurriedly get
out and jump in another with the clock ticking towards the kick off
now 45 minutes away.
This cabby calls someone
and gets directions. Wow who would have thought that anyone in New
York wouldn't know where Brett was playing today.
We finally get on the
freeway and there is absolutely no traffic, I'm sure we must be
going the wrong way. But we come over this hill and there it is
Giants stadium, all right!
We get out of the cab
and hustle in and find our super seats just in time to see the kick
off ... Perfect.
We are sitting on the
Jets side of the field surrounded by raucous Jet fans, which is cool
and speaking of cool it was a brisk 50 degrees but the sun was
shining right on us so we were very comfortable and our boy Bret had
us a nice 34 to nothin' lead at the end of the first quarter so all
was well as we did some leaping high fives with the folks around us.
Bret went on to a 50 something to 3 score so Gary and I were very
happy, but how the hell do we get back home?
As we leave the stadium
we resort to an unmanly thing and ask one of the stadium people
where a cab might be. He points us to a place that is about a half a
mile or so walk away, so off we trudge as the sun starts to go down
along with the temperature.
We find one beat up old
cab there and we ask him if he is for hire. He says where do you
want to go and we tell him Manhattan and he says that will cost you
a hundred and twenty five dollars plus tolls. For a hundred and
twenty five you would have thought he could afford to throw in the
tolls.
We passed, and then I
noticed a bunch of people lining up for buses a short walk away. We
went over there and inquired about whether they had a bus for
Manhattan, the answer was yes but it was back on the other side of
the stadium about 3/4 of a mile away.
We rushed as fast as we
could thinking a lot of time has gone by and all the buses might be
gone. Not to worry as we rounded the corner we saw a line so we
relaxed and walked to what we thought was the end of it. But no it
went around a corner and another corner and yet one more corner.
Two hours later we were
on the bus headed for Manhattan, but we had no idea where the bus
went. When we got into town it went to some kind of bus terminal
which turned out to be right at Times Square. Great!
As we left the terminal
I noticed a big ol' statue of Ralph Kramden from the honeymooners
out front ... Very neat.
Gary nor I could believe
how many people were in the streets man it was hard to walk,
shoulder to shoulder and it was a Sunday night. What were they all
doing there. We headed back to our favorite Deli over ate again then
went back to the hotel for some more aspirin and an early to bed
night.
What a great trip, it
turned out for me to be much better than I expected. I'm sure Gary
felt the same. Now if I could just get rid of this headache life
would be perfect. My goal was to be hung over for the start of the
game but not for the rest of my life.
The next morning Gary
and I jumped on the plane for the ride down to Palm Beach in Florida
and little warm up for him before he headed back to his home in
Vancouver and just back home to paradise for me.
But as we flew along
above it all I remember thinking ... Wow what an adventure! Then it
suddenly hit me.
I had been in New York
since Friday and now it was Monday and I hadn't turned the radio
once. New York city man and I never bothered to turn the radio on.
This was the place we
used to steal ideas from this was the place we wanted to make it to.
What changed, what happened?
Did I miss anything do
you suppose, or am I just losing it, or could it be that New York
radio is losing it, surely not.
January 14, 2009
"The only way to get a piece of
the rock is to ask for it" No amount of loyalty or success
ever ever brought on an offer of said same. January 10, 2009
The other day I was thinking
about the three lies The other day I was thinking
about the three lies........You know the ones. "The Check's In The Mail" always
followed of course by by two more that are ever changing depending on the times
I guess? January 8, 2009 I Tried To
Leave Radio Land But It Kept Dragging Me Back The two things radio
staffs hate doing are probably the only two things they really need to doing if
they want to be successful. January 5, 2009
"Radio just needs to just say
what it means and mean what it says" My thirteen old
daughter Cami wants to know when I'm going to put a radio station together for
her and her friends. She has to listen to five right now to even get close. January 2, 2009
The first rule of Show Biz is
"Get Noticed" It used to be that each PD got
two books, and each GM got two PD's. December 30, 2008 Things I noticed while strolling through radio land Part Deux! By George Johns Great radio personalities are all
great story tellers and all their fans tell great stories about them. © 2008 George Johns George Johns
December 29, 2008 Things I noticed while strolling through radio land! By George Johns A good attitude with out some
aptitude doesn't produce very much but the reverse is also true. © 2008 George Johns George Johns December 22, 2008 10,000 Hours
By George Johns I read a thing almost every day called Warrens list. It's an interesting blog out of Canada that has contributors from all over North America and beyond. In one of the recent issues Warren was mentioning a new book that's out that the author claimed having talent is way over rated or some words to that effect. He stated that The Beatles, Tiger Woods, Bill Gates and other similar great phenomenas had one thing in common. His claim was that they all had put in 10,000 hours practicing their craft long before they launched their very successful careers. He then went on to state that he thought that the 10,000 hours that they put in was the most important thing they ever did, and that's the real reason they are so successful. I think I'm a little late on this book because I'm guessing our new fearless leaders of radio must have got an advance copy, and have used it to figure out a new way of doing wall street radio. In the last week or so they have exited some super talents like Steve Dahl in Chicago, John Lander in Boston, Russ Martin in Dallas and a long time before all this didn't they push out Howard Stern, and now he has virtually disappeared into that thing that was supposed to kill radio, Satellite. I'm not positive but I'm sure they think that talent is just a way too expensive. I'm guessing that their new scheme is to just hire some ordinary people who may have put in their 10,000 hours but will work a whole lot cheaper than gifted people. I may be wrong but I cant imagine even in wildest dreams that even after practicing for 10,000 hours that Yesterday by Paul, or Imagine by John would just suddenly pop into my head or that I could walk out on the stage like Elvis, and bring the place to it's knees. The world of course just wants it to be about hard work and a good attitude. Oh there is a lot of hard work involved alright, but with out a little bit of magic going on, ain't nothin' going to happen. When your gifted it just seems to make it all easier and it all happens a lot faster. If you’re not gifted, I'm not sure 10,000 hours is near enough. Radio for me it's always been about that unique voice pouring out of the radio. You know what I'm talking about, those voices with a whole lot of character in them. Those scratchy pipes that conjure up in our minds a life they must of led to sound that way. We can only imagine what it must have been like to live like that But the wild life we imagined they lived from the sound of their strange voices was probably created by having too many cigarettes, and a way too many adult beverages. I loved those folks, they were so cool they introduced me to Frank, Elvis, John, Paul, George, Ringo, Mick, Elton, Bono and hundreds of others. They were very cool because they hung out with and knew all the stars and the stars all knew them because they were stars too. Dave Spence who was the GM of KVIL in Dallas during it's hey day, told me the other day that Jim Hilliard once said to him that he should try and stay out of the lime light and just let Ron Chapman be our spokesman for the station. Dave said no problem the people already think he owns the station anyway, why and what would they want to hear from me. It is the on air talent that makes the whole difference. Most stations are playing the same music, or if they are not they soon can. But you can't duplicate the sound of a great talent. The talent are very special to the people who listen to them and even adore them. When I went to Jeff and Jer's 20th anniversary party in San Diego recently they were kind enough to bring me up on stage in front of four thousand people and introduce me as their coach. As I wandered around later on checking out the crowd, a bunch of people came up to me and said they wanted their picture taken with me. They all adored Jeff and Jer so much that they like anybody that Jeff and Jer like and if Jeff and Jer like you, you must be special, because Jeff and Jer sure are. The folks who run radio now will never get this part or ever get to experience the thrill of being special in any way like they are. Lawrence Amaturo whom I work with on a project in LA was telling recently about the power of the on air talent as he experienced it first hand a few years ago. It seems at this time he was a young swinging bachelor searching high and low for the woman of his dreams. He figured he had a lot to offer them so he thought it shouldn't be that tough. So there he was one cool California night in a very trendy bar in the wine country, chatting up a beautiful blond who looked very worthy of his attention in his quest to find the perfect woman. When the talk finally got around to what do you do for a living, he told her he was in radio. She excitedly said are you a DJ? He proudly responded with what he thought was a killer answer that would win her over instantly ... No I own the radio stations baby! She looked at him with a scrunched up face and said ... Oh you’re a suit! Then just faded off into the crowd. I'm kinda thinkin' now that I wish back in the day we had given all those accountants a better office than those little cramped ones we provided them with that were located all the way in the back with the engineers. I think they are still really pissed about it and of course fondly remember how over paid we all seemed to be compared to them. I guess also the fact that we didn't share any of the radio groupies or restaurant trade with them hasn't helped our cause either. Hey but it's not our fault that there are no finance action figures. They've showed us now though haven't they? They have the big corner offices with even bigger salaries and huge bonuses. And talk about your golden parachutes. Wow these boys were really ready when they got their chance weren't they. But I have a feeling that they are not near done yet, they are coming for our biggest stars, and hell bent on turning radio into a mere commodity. And just like the early computer geeks who didn't bother to put the year 2000 into the software because I guess they knew they wouldn't be around to suffer with the rest of us. Well guess who else won’t be around when it all crashes. So how much much do they really care. Radio has survived the onslaught of a lot things predicted to kill us, TV, CB's, Satellite, Computers, Video Games, I Pods, Etc. Etc. We stood tall through it all but we may not be strong enough to survive our newest enemy ... The accountants. © 2008 George Johns George Johns Home | About | The Blog | Contact | Photos | Links
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Man
I had no idea how great this was I loved it. 
driver's
side front tire, that way he doesn't have to take them with him while runs and
have them jangling and bouncing against his leg.
