A Threat to Radio Talent?

Posted on April 1, 2012 by Ed Richards

Shawl Electronics, LLC - testing site in Buford WY

In an effort to stave off high unemployment in a western town, Shawl Electronics LLC of Buford WY has released the Model 401 AM broadcast transmitter and automation.

The system will be built in Buford at their factory. According to a spokesperson for the Buford Chamber of Commerce, the factory will be entirely staffed by people who live in Buford. The company will also receive a tax break on their complex, and 10% goods sold at the Buford General Store.

The new Model 401, built by the town’s folk will utilize a state of art RF system, and high power computer systems. The Model 401 can mimic the actions of an entire station.

The station physically resides at the base of a tower and is controlled by a wired, or wireless TCPIP connection.

The transmitter and radio automation are essentially in one or two rack cabinets. Sales and programming accesses the station by the Internet. This allows one owner to control his radio stations from his home office.

“The Model 401 is the next real generation of radio”, said Jerome L. Horwitz, CEO of Shawl LLC. “The transmitter is controlled by the computer server, and all programming is played from the server to the transmitter. Content is FTPed to the server. The server makes all the decisions for playback, what liners are chosen, and elements such as time and temperature. It is The Station.”

According to Director of Engineering, Louis Feinberg, the idea for the Model 401 came while watching The Weather Channel.

The present Weather Channel model includes a server which accurately detects local conditions, such as temperature, humidity, barometer, and wind speed. Forecasts from the N.W.S. and local conditions are turned into speech at a cable system’s head-end, which are spoken during “weather on the eights. The Model 401 takes this technology to the next level. Along with the power of the computer and Internet, it can make snap decisions on programming. It allows for playlists of music to be constructed daily, and the voices created to interact with the music the same way Weather Channel forecasts are aired.

Voice algorithms have been developed to take the sound, and speech patterns of large market talent, thus allowing someone in a small market to have a voice similar to big market talent. While no names have been divulged, Shawl acknowledges that it is speaking to some of the leading air talent from the 70s, 80s, and 90s who worked at KHJ, KCBQ, KFRC, WLS, WCFL, WABC, and other powerhouses from the past.

According to Horwitz, “suppose you are an owner of a station in a small North Dakota town, population 300. You grew up in Los Angeles where you listened to ‘Boss Radio, KHJ’. The technology is available to synthesize the voices of any talent that you heard back then, and have them as one of your staff. This brings the big market to small market radio. Imagine having a voice that sounds like Charlie VanDyke doing your morning show in your small station!”

Station owner Joseph Besser is excited. His station, KSTG-AM 1230, is in a small market. He has had problems attracting good air talent. Besser has to compete with the local McDonalds for employees, or has worked with the local judicial system to locate non-violent offenders to take minimum wage shifts on his station. The Model 401 offers him the opportunity to sound large market, but not have to replace office supplies and field complaints from listeners due to staff problems.

Feinberg claims the system is fully capable of choosing a song by The Doobie Brothers, (such as “What a Fool Believes”), creating a back-sell for the song with artists name, insert time and temperature, and overlap the song into a break.

Feinberg stated, “(the Model 401) trumps the voicetracking we hear today, because they often don’t bother front or back-selling songs, mentioning the time, or giving the temperature.” Feinberg also said the Model 401 follows the format flawlessly and never argue with the program director.

The system also contains a moisture and light detector so weather forecasts are amended when it rains. “Gone are the days when a recorded forecast played from a competitor’s system might say, ‘partly cloudy with a chance of rain’ when it’s raining outside. With the Model 401, when it rains, the synthesized voice will say ‘it’s presently raining’ at our studios.” The light detector is used to sample cloudy conditions, as well as amend forecasts so something recorded at 8 AM does not say ‘today’ when at 7:30PM it may be dark outside. “People know ‘today’ from ‘tonight’” said Feinberg.

Shawl is presently developing an interface allowing listener requests. Horwitz stated it will either be a web page where a listener can choose a song to play from drop-down boxes, or an automated telephone interface. “This makes us appear to be really live and local”, said Horwitz. The interface will allow for a listener comments, so the synthesized host voice can say on the air, “Jenny sends this one out to her friend Chris. Here’s Mr. Roboto by Styx.”

According to releases by Shawl LLC, the Model 401 will retail for $45,000 for a non-directional AM radio station, as seen in the picture above. Horwitz acknowledges the cost is high, but it will pay for its self over time. Directional AM station costs may be higher as the programming to balance the stated pattern or power change time, weighed against Arbitron audience figures has yet to be written.

“At the present time we have two groups, in Atlanta GA, and San Antonio TX, looking at our product”, said Horwitz. “We feel that the Model 401 will clean up their bottom line by not restricting them to payroll and benefits. The Model 401 will allow ever radio station in their chain to sound 100% alike, bringing more consistency to radio. They see this as beneficial to radio, saving them a ton of money on the bottom line.” According to Horwitz, a programmer at one of the corporations said radio will never, ever sound the same again, except in different markets.

Horwitz also stated that delivery will take place April 13th, just in time for the National Association of Broadcasters Convention in Las Vegas.

Contact: Jerome L. Horwitz, CEO
Shawl Electronics, LLC
Township 13 North
Buford WY 98859

Say The Magic Words

Posted on March 24, 2012 by Ed Richards

I was reminded of the “magic words” recently when I received a thank you from a gentleman who I mentioned in my blog.

The same day I received an e-mail from a station manager asking if he could print and distribute a blog entry. It’s started out; “May I please …..”

The way these gentlemen started their e-mails reminded me of the importance of the the magic words.

Sometimes the stress levels and busy lifestyle in radio can contribute to not so subtle ways of showing a lack of respect. I’m as guilty as others. Just last week I walked into the V.O. booth where another employee was working and asked, “How long till you’re done?” What I should have said was, “When you’re done using the booth, would you PLEASE call me and let me know?”

Decades ago I worked with a General Manager who had a very unusual request of his sales staff. Whenever they would sign an account up for advertising, the sales person was required to send a hand-written “thank you” to the client. Some did it willingly, some begrudgingly. As in any situation people see things differently.

The G.M. said that by sending the thank you we showed sincerity, and that we really appreciated the client’s business. It was also an opportunity to drop in tickets for venues, or information on various city functions. Our competition never did such a thing, and I always wondered why we were the revenue leaders in the market.

I asked Chuck, our G.M., if he knew the return on advertising.

“First of all, put yourself in the client’s shoes. Think how it is to receive a thank you. If three people ask you for something, and only one thanks you, what are your thoughts toward each person? Besides, thanking someone for their efforts and for their business is the right thing to do.”

Chuck is correct. Civility matters in the workplace, and in society. And it is good for business.

A good article to read on Please and Thank You is Andy Beal’s article called “The 2 Magic Words That’ll Make You A Social Media Superstar”.

If your talent or sales staff uses social media in the workplace It’s worth printing off and giving to them.

In this day of instant Tweets and Facebook posts, it’s important not to forget the occasional, thank you.

What makes you so Special?

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Ed Richards

Recently I wrote a blog entry about a morning show on CKLW. I was blown away by the comments I received from people both in, out, and not a part of the radio business.

One of the comments was from an engineer who works in radio. When he is driving from one transmitter site to another, he listens to CKLW. The odd thing about this is he lives 185 miles away in the United States, on the east side of Ohio!

To him, CKLW is hardly a “local signal”. He said he listens because “The Morning Drive” was truly entertaining. One funny thing he said in his e-mail was since discovering CKLW, he doesn’t listen to his station’s morning show because “it’s dry and negative”. Hopefully his employer doesn’t read this blog. (hint: it’s one of the big boys.)

Ron from Sylvania wrote and mentioned that he’s a regular CKLW listener on his drive to work at Monroe Community College in Monroe MI. He said he listens because, “the people are polite and civil.” This was a common phrase used in many of the e-mails.

A lady from Sarnia wrote to me after seeing a posting on Facebook. She commented that she was originally from Windsor and “re-discovered” CKLW last fall during bad weather. Her comments mirrored a lot of other people when she said the hosts never shouted or were mean spirited about anything, or anyone.

Speaking of Facebook, look us up and LIKE us. Name is RealOldiesRadio - Ed.

This got me to thinking. What makes a station or a host special? As I read the comments from readers I thought back over my forty-two plus years in this crazy radio business. Here are some things I thought made radio great.

In the late sixties and early seventies WCAR-1130 in Detroit was one of the big players. Although they had several formats from pop-rock to easy-listening, one thing stood out and separated them from the other stations. Their PSAs didn’t sound like PSAs. They stuck with you.

We’ve all put together creative commercials. WCAR would do the same thing with PSAs. They wouldn’t read the PSAs dry. All PSAs were all fully produced, with music, and sometimes two or more voices. They stood out, and grabbed your attention. I still remember after all these years a PSA about a soup kitchen in Detroit. The announcer read the PSA over an instrumental of “What the World Needs Now Is Love”, and right at the end he says, “And why should you donate?” Then you hear a little child say, “Because my little sister hasn’t eaten in two days and she’s hungry.” The music stops, and the announcer says, “A child should never go to bed hungry. Give today.” Talk about a PSA that grabs you.

WCFL stood out for me as the jingle king. WABC had more of them, primarily because of their contract with Pams of Dallas, but WCFL was special. Their TM Productions jingles meshed with the format. They stood out, and imaged the station.

“The Men from Ten” jingle, which highlighted where the jocks would be out in the public, flowed great out of spot sets into music. I still remember their top of the hour stager, and weather. In my humble opinion radio stations have lost a good self-promotion tool in not using jingles. I think properly, and professionally produced jingles are the best sales tool a station can use to promote themselves. Ironically, they are the least used, and sometimes when they do use them, they are mis-used.

In Toledo, WOHO had an interesting way to do PSAs. They would have the person requesting the PSA come to the station and read it followed by, “Be a WO-HO Good Guy and come to our ____”. First of all it made extra voices on the radio. But the most important thing was it attracted listeners. How so?

Well, as soon as someone would record the PSA, and left the station, they would be on the phone telling people that they would be on the radio! The station knew that, and within an hour of recording they would have the PSA on the air. I know this because in my freshman year in high school I recorded a PSA for our high school band. I made my mom pull the car over as soon as we left the station, and using a pay-phone and a pocket full of dimes, I called a few friends and passed the word for people to listen to WOHO. Before long, just about everyone in my band class had turned off WTTO, WTOD, and other stations to hear me talk about the high school band’s bake sale. The station would rotate the PSAs twice or three times an hour, and put them between songs so just as you spoke the closing line, the vocal would hit. It was a brilliant way to snatch listeners from the competition.

Another station in Canada that did a good job was the old CHYR AM. Now an FM station, back in the late 60s they were AM, an odd configuration of broadcasting on 710 during the days and 730 at night. They always talked about what was going on in their community, and name-dropped nearly everyone in the area.

For the first month of listening to CHYR I did not know where Leamington was, but I remember how an hour listening to the station and you felt you knew everyone in town. To this day I know Leamington is the tomato capital of Ontario, and the area is known as “the Sun Parlor”. To his credit, Lou Thomasi, CHYR’s GM, was a genius in the way he programmed the station and wove it into the community fabric. I seem to recall when I met him in 1971 he was the first person to emphasize the “talk up your community” aspect of radio.

I learned a lot from people I worked with in radio. One of them was the general manager of the news station I worked for after it changed from country music to the soon to be doomed NBC News & Information Service format. WANR “All News Radio 15″.

Jules Blum was the G.M. The man reeked of integrity and honesty. The one thing he demanded of all his news people; when you read the news, the listener should not be able to tell your political favoritism or personal views. If they did display any hint of bias, they were banned from reading that story on the air. He thought journalism should be reporting news, and not commenting on the stories. Consider how some news sounds today.

Jules also was the guy who drummed into my head “buy thirty, get thirty”. In my early years in radio a thirty second spot could be 25 to 40 seconds long. Rule of thumb at WGLN in 1968 was if they gave you a thirty second spot read, you put it on a forty second cart. As long as it fit, you were OK.

Jules, on the other hand, was a stickler for professionalism. If client purchased thirty seconds of air time, they got thirty. You could do twenty-nine, thirty, or thirty-one. But if you produced anything outside of that, you had to redo it, and you got a lecture from him on why it was necessary.

According to Jules, if you produced a forty second spot for a client, then the client would always want forty seconds or more the next time. You cheated the station out of air time.

If one client got forty seconds, and another got twenty-five seconds, at the same rate, the second advertiser was being cheated. He would compare it to going into a delicatessen and buying a sandwich with a friend. The friend’s sandwich is packed with meat, while yours is half the size, yet you both pay the same price. He would say, “You would feel cheated, wouldn’t you?” It was hard to argue on that logic, so all the spots on our station were exactly ten, thirty, or sixty seconds on the nose.

Despite the bad rap CKLW got for its 20-20 News during the rock-n-roll era, there was one aspect of news that the station’s news director, Byron McGregor, was famous for. He was very strict on good writing. No, let me correct that, great writing. You had to tell a story to give the listener the full impact and vision of the news.

Back in 1977 I knew a fellow in Port Huron radio who would say this about their newscasts. “When they (CKLW) do the news, it’s like they are doing television. You see in your mind the gun shots, the car wreck, the plane crash. You didn’t hear it… you saw it in your mind.”

I’m not sure if the 20-20 News format could be used today, (perhaps in an oldies radio formats), but I applaud any station that takes the time to write a story and really tell it. Maybe not to the point of, “The Motown Murder Meter made two more clicks today”. But I think there is room to write and use sound bites creatively to tell the story. Today’s news sounds more and more like “Headline News”. In fact my local stations devotes typically one minute to news, which is usually three stories, or two with a sound bite. I think there is room in radio today for creative writing and producing. Byron was right. Good writing matters.

One of Byron’s mandates was as soon as the phone rang in the newsroom, the caller was recorded. After a few minutes of asking questions the news person would always ask if they could use what was said on the air. Of course the caller would agree, and all the best sound bites were at the lead of the tape where people were most expressive and excited when they called the station. Today it’s uncommon to hear the voices of listeners telling what they saw. TV is doing it, largely due to smartphones and video recorders. Radio is getting out-foxed by TV.

When I was at WEAQ-790, Mike Cook, the senior copywriter, had a great philosophy about recording spots with sale dates. For example, let’s say the I.G.A. Grocery store had milk on sale, and the sale was on Friday only. We had to cut three spots. The first one would run Monday through Thursday with the words, “Sale starts this Friday”. The next one would run Thursday only and say, “Sale starts tomorrow”. And the final one that aired on Friday would say, “Sale is today only”. It makes sense, although production guys hate doing three spots each time. It sure beats running a spot on Friday that says “the sale starts this Friday”. Um, is that today or next Friday?

When in Detroit the production guy, Tom, had two pairs of speakers in his production booth. One was the classic JBL Studio Monitors, but he would also have a small, three inch speaker in a box. After producing the spot he would play it back and check it on the big JBL monitors. Then he would play it again on the small speakers. I asked once, why spend the time to play it back twice. He said the three inch speakers were the best representation of a cheap transistor radio, or the typical car radio in the late 70s. He felt, (rightly so), the advertiser’s message should not be lost in the sea of music and sound effects. It was best to check it for clarity before going to air. I can’t tell you today the number of spots I hear on radio where the message is lost in a multitude of sounds. I bet it sounds good in the studio, but it sounds bad coming out of the dash of my car.

Speaking of spots, Dan McFarland was the sales manager at a station where I was operations manager. He had a thing for “selling” a spot. He said that too many people “read” a spot, they don’t “sell” the spot.

To get the point across he had a photographer take a picture of his face and had it printed on the sheets of copy paper used for our live reads. You would see his face looking at you with the copy below. The memo posted in the studio said, “When reading a customer’s commercial live, look me in the eye. Pretend you are the client, and I’m the listener. Sell me that product with all your might!” Some of the best live reads on air reads came from that station. The jocks didn’t just read the spot, they SOLD it.

I could go on forever dropping names and call letters. There was a lot of good radio back then. The one thing I always tell my clients in the business is, it’s not good to dwell on the past, but you can learn from history.

Listen to the good stations, and try to understand what makes them great. What made some of the giants from the past great?

Think about how your station sounds, especially against competition.

Have your non-radio friends listen and tell you what they like and don’t like. Above all, make a difference in your community.

Radio is a job, but it’s also one of those jobs where you not only get paid, you get the satisfaction of being a part of your community.

The Ever Changing Workplace

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Ed Richards

Three days ago I say a story on NBC’s Today Show about prospective applicants having to give their log-in information to employers, -if- they want the job.

What has happened to privacy? Should not the applicant get the log-in and password of the officer(s) of the company as well. Fair is fair.

Then today I read on Jerry Del Colliano that Cumulus is now posting “Spy Warnings” to their staff. You can read Jerry’s article on his web site at Inside Music Media.

What has happened to our industry?

A Rarity In Radio

Posted on March 21, 2012 by Ed Richards

How do you describe good art, or bad art? Good music or bad music? More important, how do you distinguish between good radio and bad radio? Now that is easy!

When my wife and I travel together in the car she is always mad at me. The reason is my never ending switching the radio from station to station, sampling what is on the air.

In this age of cookie-cutter, angry-voice AM radio, one diamond protrudes from the pile of coal. It’s a station from Canada formally known as the “Big-8”.

Many of us old guys remember the Big-8, CKLW, in the old rock and roll days. In October, 1984, the Big-8 died a miserable death. One friend who worked there described it; “like having cancer, and just waiting for death to come.” The cancer, (better known as the C.R.T.C.), lay waste to the station by prohibiting CKLW to take the pop format to FM. I was working in Detroit radio at the time, and hearing of the blood bath with staff and management being let go was hard even for those of us who looked at CKLW as a competitor and with some reverence as the Godfather of Detroit Rock Radio Stations.

That’s old history now. But it’s not often a station gets a second life.

About a year ago I re-discovered CKLW. AM, for me, has been a wasteland of angry voices and hosts shouting over callers. I can’t listen to angry people shouting and using bad language.

Last year I was driving to southern Illinois and was on US-69 just south of Fort Wayne, Indiana. As I fiddled with the search button the radio locked up on CKLW. There was Mike and Lisa on the morning show, talking about their local ball teams, and what was happening around Windsor. Although this was Canadian talk radio, and had no relevance to a United States citizen, their show was entertaining and easy to listen to.

Mike Kakuk and Lisa Williams host “The Morning Drive” from 6AM to 9AM. Lisa just celebrated her 25^th year on CKLW, which is quite a feat in today’s radio arena. Steve Bell does news, and Arms Bumanlag makes an appearance with traffic. Arms also is the host at noon following Lynn Martin from 9AM to Noon.

What impresses me about Mike and Lisa is they are always pleasant, cordial to callers, positive and upbeat. If you think this is not unique, listen to your radio! I dare you. Listen to “The Morning Drive”, then tune around and listen to other shows, and tell me of another station that sounds as good. Seriously, I would like to know.

Most of the morning shows I listen to are putting people down, or mocking callers. I can honestly say that in over a year of listening to CKLW, I’ve never heard one angry exchange out of their mouths, or a single negative comment. It’s a class act all the way.

When speaking to my clients about their announcer’s delivery, Mike and Lisa’s name’s always comes up. “Listen to them. Listen to their delivery. Listen to how they promote their community. Listen to how they talk and interact with callers. THAT’s how radio should be.”

Some get it, others don’t. After all, radio today is somewhat a pack mentality. If you have bullies behind microphones on station A, then station B needs to get a bigger and better bully. I’m glad to see that CKLW and their morning show takes the high road.

I don’t have any clients in Ontario, and I doubt I have any readers there. But just in case someone from Bell Media read this, you have struck gold with Mike and Lisa. You have something unique in radio, and that’s rare today. It’s radio as it should be!

Who Thinks Up This Stuff?

Posted on February 18, 2012 by Ed Richards

According to Georgia Pabst of the Journal Sentinel, Clear Channel had to apologize for ‘deport’ ad. This got me to thinking about all the apologies they have had to make, or P.R. crisis they have had to deal with.

There was the Minot ND “EAS” episode. The pig killed live on the air at one of their Florida outlets. KFI’s John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou were suspended and forced to apologize for making insensitive and callous remarks about the late iconic songstress Whitney Houston. (I won’t even attempt to repeat what they said). Entercom had the “Hold your Pee for a Wii”.

I can’t remember any locally owned and operated station ever doing something as crass as some of the corporate owned and operated stations.

The apology by Clear Channel came after Luis Garza, the state director of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), contacted the station because of complaints he said he received from some who heard the ad. The ad, which radio station WRNW-FM (97.3) earlier this week that offered: “We’ll deport someone to Mexico every Friday,” as part of a trip giveaway.

The entire ad on the air said: “We’ll deport someone to Mexico every Friday. Kind of. Win a Funjet vacation flyaway, click 97.3 Radio Now Dot Com.”

One has to wonder who thinks up this stuff. You know, years ago a locally owned and operated station knew better.

Makes you wonder if media consolidation was a good idea. After all, consider who is doing all the apologizing and trying to save face. Personally, I put my faith in the local guy.

Talk To The Audience

Posted on January 14, 2012 by Ed Richards

I have several projects going that are sort of related by history. One project is the history of our local TV station, that will celebrate 60 years on the air in April 2013. Add to this writing my own book on radio operations based on 42 years in the biz, reading “KHJ – Inside Boss Radio” by Ron Jacobs which is circa 50 years ago, and lurking in many of the chat rooms and forums of broadcasters.

At the risks of sounding like Robert Tagowski, (a longtime friend, convinced the beautiful music format will make a comeback), I see parallels and reasons for some of radio’s diminishing numbers after living in the past. Often the blame is put on alternative media, such as iPods, the web, XM, and Smartphones. There may be some attraction to these medias because just about everyone I know wants to play with the newest tech toy. But I think many folks are driven to them because of radio’s short-comings. History may help us to learn something.

Take for example what has happened in the formats catering to 35+ demos. This is an area often ignored by ad agencies. However, guys like me would rather listen to music of the 60s, 70s, and 80s, than two opinionated sports Neanderthals yelling at each other on a microphone, angry voices of talk radio, or a jukebox of songs. I don’t know why this demo is ignored so much. It seems to be the one demo that still has money to spend, and is not highly in debt.

In all honesty I’ve found more gratification from a Canadian AM talk station and a classic country FM station. I like the AM station because their delivery is informational; never nasty or condescending to listeners or other personalities. I like the country station because the announcer is professional, the music is appealing, and they are creative with their delivery.

I live in an area where I have a plethora of choices, but it’s like Bruce Springsteen’s “57 Channels (And Nothin’ On)” … there is nothing that appeals to me. It’s shouldn’t be that way. In both cases the announcers on these stations are what sets them apart from others.

In Jacob’s book, (which is mostly memos and notes to the KHJ personalities), there is a lot of wisdom that seems to have been forgotten by today’s broadcasters. In a May 24, 1967 memo he wrote to one staff member, “You’re rattling off the weather like you don’t have the faintest clue what you’re talking about.” Ever since reading that passage, I’ve been keenly aware of how jocks read the weather. They “read”, probably oblivious to the words being spoken. And how many times have you heard forecasts that don’t match the conditions? Although you may not care about the weather, there are listeners that do. If you don’t sound like you care, they pick that up as negativity. If you’re the guy programming the automation, think about where the tracks will end up. It’s real easy in today’s server based radio to want to complete the ingest of tracks rather than looking or listening to the quality.

When it comes to on air speaking, the best advice I ever received was from an old GM from the Storer Broadcasting days. He said, “Talk TO your audience, and not AT them.” As with the Jacobs memo(s) these words made me think. How do jocks of today speak?

I’m Facebook friends with several jocks who had, and still have impressive careers. Some are retired, while some still have their fingers in the business with voiceover and program services work. Looking back at their careers I see now the difference between them and Robert W. Tagowski. “Tag” had a nice set of pipes, but it always sounded like he was reading a liner for the first time from a file card.

Talking to the audience, and clearly articulating the subject matter is key to being a successful radio pro. Any station can play a song, or play a promo that exalts “we’re number one”. The station that captures the listener is the one that plays the music and engages the listener. To engage the listener you have to sound like a professional.

To that end, sounding like a pro is much the same as being able to play guitar and sing. There are those that play, then there is B.B. King. It’s not that you can flick a switch and run your mouth. I get the feeling that many of today’s jocks have a self-admiration for the voice on their headphones and rarely check their work, or at least run an aircheck to listen to how they sound. I also think many GMs and PDs don’t check their air talent. Gosh, in the past I was called on the carpet because I said “yer” instead of “your” just once in a four hour air-shift. But then, that was a time when the PD cared about what was being said on the air.

I really hope that today’s talent listens to airchecks of the big names in radio from the past. There is a lot to learn. Listen to the delivery. Listen to the clarity. Listen to then talk TO the audience. These people made the ranks of pro, and elevated the stations they were on by becoming part of the audience.

My father used to have a saying when noting my frustration as a kid. There are things you can change, and there are things that can’t be changed. We know we can’t change consolidation, nor can we get away from music being programmed by a faceless person from 2,000 miles away. What we can do is hone our speaking skills, and make an effort to talk TO our audiences.

Making the moves, rather than going through them. Here’s Twelve Thoughts on how to improve;

Aircheck yourself often. When you listen to your aircheck do you honestly feel you’re being talked to, or are you being talked at? A good trick in the studio is to focus on something and pretend you’re talking to it. Conversational is the key.
Save airchecks, even if you go to another station. Listen to one from a year ago and see if you have made any improvements. You should be seeing progress.
Do you hear yourself reiterating, consuming air time rather than using it efficiently? More is not better. The best announcer is one who can get their point across and move on to the next thing in the format.
How well are you understood. Despite accents, can the audience understand each word you speak? (A good test is to have a close friend listen to your aircheck and give you an honest opinion). Clarity matters.
Avoid the urge to put down people, venues, or the latest buzz on the Internet. Put downs, (while you think you’re being clever), often alienate the audience in the same way listening to someone constantly swearing is a often thought of as being ignorant.
Be precise with information. People judge your accuracy. Giving the 7AM temperature at 12 noon probably is not appropriate to “get by”. Likewise, refrain from rip n’ read. Make sure you can pronounce Mahmoud Ahmadinejad before you speak his name. Even a pause on the air as you try to figure out how to pronounce the name is perceived by the audience as a negative.
It’s a common practice for jocks to want to speak fast. Don’t speak so fast that your words run together and you’re hard to understand, (especially when posting a song or coming out of one). When in doubt, slow down.
It’s also common to raise the pitch of your voice when excited. Your pitch should be no higher than your conversational voice pitch. Practice keeping your pitch consistent along with slowing down.
Look up and practice words you have trouble with. By the way … “W” is pronounced “Double-You”, not “Double Ya”.
Although radio is suppose to be fun, it’s a job. Your craft at speaking is like the proficiency of an auto mechanic or doctor that diagnoses your ills. You get better and make yourself an asset by being good in your craft.
If you voicetrack, do it with the conviction you would have if you were live. Audiences sense insincerity. Practice being “tight” with your delivery.
Finally, when doing tags or live reads, your purpose has shifted. Instead of being the host of the show, you’re now in the position of selling the product or service. Read with compassion, sell with words and inflection, and never kid around or mock the advertiser in any way.

Posted on December 28, 2011 by Ed Richards

I’ve been writing a book on successful radio station operation for over a year now. I hope to have it published in the fall of 2012.. The Mayans predicted that in December 2012 the Arbitrons would cease to exist and all of radio would power-down into a huge black hole.

Writing this book it has forced me to go back through notebooks, file folders, boxes of papers and memos, some dating back to 1970!

As I look at what we did to attract and keep audiences, versus what is being
I look at how people operate radio today. In the old days there was an effort to separate them from us. Today it seems like cookie cutter radio is the norm, that is, everyone wants to sound like someone else. OK, I’ll cut some folks a break and say that you don’t have the time or personnel to do something unique, so a copy of a copy gets you by. done today in radio, it’s obvious that radio has become “Walmartized” or at the lease evolved into what some call Cookie Cutter Radio. I ask, why DOES it all have to sound the same?

Here’s a little exercise to prove the point. Take a sheet of paper and run a line down the center, and then label the left column “unique” and the right column “same”.

Now, for two weeks, dial around and listen to as many stations as you can. You can use a site liketo assist with your search.

On AM, listen during the day and night so you can capture more stations, and dig into the noise. Make an effort to hear as many stations as you can. On FM, if you travel, punch around the dial a bit and see what you can hear.

When you hear a station using a slogan or brand that is unique, write down that name in the left column along with the call letters. When you hear a station use something that you have heard before, write it in the right column. For example, your right column should have a boat-load of “NewsRadio”, “SportsRadio”, “FoxSports”, “Classic Rock”. In my area alone I counted 39 stations calling themselves NewsRadio.

When I did this during the holiday I found that “same” outranked “unique” by 6 : 1. Especially on AM, just about every station was a NewsRadio or SportsRadio. On FM there was a large number of “animals” consisting of Frogs, Wolves, Classic Rocks, Kisses, etc.

In the 1960s, Top-40 radio was common. And although it varied from town to town, many of the stations sounded the same. It wasn’t until Ken Draper came to WCFL did this Windy City rocker separate its self from the rest of radio’s Top-40 formats.

Ken made WCFL unique, although they played much of the same music that WLS and others played. The creativity paid off and broke the mold for what had been the same ol’ shtick in Chicago. Super CFL was a ratings leader, as well as a top biller. Imagine for a moment if Draper came to Chicago and said, “gee, WLS is doing real well, I’ll make WCFL sound just the same.”

Part of the problem with today’s broadcasters is they have forgotten the past, or they are just too busy to remember history. You fall into a rut of being just like the other guys down the street or the dial, and as long as you squeak by, it’s acceptable. In my shop we call that mediocre.

I think the lost luster, and the polished sound is why radio listenership is down. People get tired of the same ol shtick. And before you tell me you have a 12 share …. share of what?

I’m always arguing with pimple-faced kids that say their overnight show is number 1, 2, or 3 in the market, but what are your actual numbers? When calculating your ratings think of it this way. Do I want to be a #1 with a 10.0 share in the book, (accounting for 10% of 100 listeners), or a 10.0 share of 100,000 people listening to radio at one time. That’s why I don’t think shares and position matter. Total ears listening are what advertisers want.

Just a thought for 2012… instead of trying to be like someone else, maybe it’s time to be your own station. With a little imagination, planning, thought, and effort, you can turn around your station to be a leader in the community.

Whom do you Trust?

Posted on December 8, 2011 by Ed Richards

I’m amazed at how broadcast management can distrust their own employees when attempting to solve a problem in operations.

I worked for a guy who was always openly hostile toward people, and once openly stated, “I don’t trust nobody.” He always over paid for services and solutions, and often found himself in a tight spot because of bad external advice.

For example; he would often buy equipment for the station without consulting people working for him. Not once did he ask if there was a need, if it would help their workflow, or most of all…. if it had a return on investment.

I literally saw tens of thousands of dollars in new equipment, (some of it still in boxes), purchased, then years later sold for used or given away to other properties.

My first rule to management of people is;

Trust the people who work for you, and if you don’t trust them, get rid of them. If you trust them, they will give you the best insight into what it takes to run your business.

Caveat to this; if you’re a manager and find a never ending roll over of staff, then you have a paranoia issue and it’s time for you to leave.

I like to tell this little story when asked to speak to a group. It illistrates how trust can affect your bottom line.

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A toothpaste factory had a problem. They sometimes shipped empty boxes, without the tube inside. This was due to the way the production line was set up. People with experience in designing production lines will tell you how difficult it is to have everything happen with timings so precise that every single unit coming out of it is perfect 100% of the time. Small variations in the environment mean you must have quality assurance checks smartly distributed across the line so that customers all the way down to the supermarket don’t get hacked off and buy another product instead.

Understanding how important that was, the CEO of the toothpaste factory got the top people in the company together and they decided to start a new project, in which they would hire an external engineering company to solve their internal empty boxes problem, because they were convinced their own engineers didn’t know how to address the problem.

The project followed the usual process; budget and project sponsor allocated, RFP, third-parties selected, and six months later they had a fantastic solution, on time, on budget, high quality and everyone in the project had a great time. Cost: $800,000. They solved the problem by using high-tech precision scales that would sound a bell and flash lights whenever a toothpaste box would weigh less than it should. The line would stop, and someone had to walk over and yank the defective box out of it, pressing another button when done to re-start the production line till the next empty was detected.

A while later, the CEO decides to have a look at the ROI of the project. Amazing results! No empty boxes ever shipped out of the factory after the scales were put in place. Very few customer complaints, and they were gaining market share. “That’s some money well spent”, he says, before looking closely at the other statistics in the report.

It turns out, the number of defects picked up by the scales was 0 after three weeks of production use. It should’ve been picking up at least a dozen a day, so maybe there was something wrong with the report. He filed a bug report against it, and after some investigation, (and a fee of $20,0000), the external engineering firm comes back saying the report was actually correct. The scales really weren’t picking up any defects, and all boxes at that point in the conveyor belt were good.

Puzzled, the CEO travels down to the factory, and walks up to the part of the line where the precision scales were installed.

A few feet before the scale, there was a $20 desk fan, blowing the empty boxes out of the belt and into a bin.

“Oh, that!” says one of the workers, “One of our engineers put it there ’cause he was tired of seeing employees wasting time walking over to the machine every time the bell rang”.

One Moment Please

Posted on November 25, 2011 by Ed Richards

To those who have to stopped by, please excuse the blog and other parts of the site from being incomplete.

Besides being extremely busy with projects, I’ve been dealing with busted computers from Dell. If you are thinking of getting a new PC this holiday, my recommendation … DON’T BUY A DELL.

Richards on the Radio

Life is too short for bad sounding radio.