Yes I know, getting fired in radio is as common as taking a #2 but i just cant see how disk jockeys can put up with it for very long. Doesn't it get old after a while? Doesnt it get old when you go from station to staion because you got FIRED for no reason at all, EVEN After having great numbers!!! And why is it that some jocks can stay at a station for 15-20 years while others stay at a station for 2 years than get fired. I would think being a radio gypsy can really take a toll on a jock and after a while the passion burns out.
THey should make a documentary on the life of a disk jockey. They should take a t disk jockey and follow him/her around for 20 years, i think it would make an interesting movie. It would show the ups and down of getting fired, getting promoted, the backstabbing, the slimeballs in radio. This could actually be a drama!

Disk jockeys?

Actually, thanks to a walk-on part by an actor I don't remember who played the part of an engineer that set up the equipment for a "live" remote broadcast, I recognized about 15 people I've worked with in the past...all thanks to one episode of "WKRP in Cincinnati"!

I was fired once in Portland, and downsized in Oklahoma City. Altogether, I was unemployed for an aggregated 6 months in a career that spanned over 30 years. I've been richly blessed...

I've worked for my share of flaming jerks...but I've also worked with a LOT MORE people I highly regard to this day...and I wouldn't trade that experience for anything!

Every profession has its ups and downs...

Don't forget the movie "FM". Some great bits and "Play Misty For Me".

Used to be ratings driven, now margin driven.

Used to be, as well, experienced people didn't sit long. There was always someplace to go. Now, it seems like you could get in the car, hit every station from Medford to Blaine, and come up empty.

The smaller stations/clusters either have a staff that has been there forever (as a lifestyle choice) or runs free of annoying DJs. The larger stations don't seem to have many "foot in the door" weekend slots, and when they do are more likely to promote an intern than to bring on a veteran on the beacher... Full time slots are too few to actually hold out for.

Today, more than ever it's a who you know more than what you know. Hence the recycled talents in regions rather than bring in out of market people. From a personal stand point I can tell you on 5 occasions out of market was the deal killer...

Just some personal observations. You might disagree. The PNW has always had a LIFESTYLE image. You could be a PNW lifer, but if you leave the region you become an outsider and getting back is about impossible. Visit the WSAB and OAB people available sites and look for those who were from the region and now away. They get the same consideration as Wes from Wisconsin who thinks Seattle or PDX would be a "Cool" place to move to.....

Some of us put up with the situation FAR LONGER than we should have. Passion can blind a person.
People who have a passion for whatever their career choice can't envision themselves doing anything else. If you love bagging groceries, you won't be happy selling cars, though the money might be better. Some people don't work for the money. People that flit from job to job are usually serching for more than money.
They work for Job Satisfaction.

Getting fired is not bad when you can move to the next station based on your abilities and passion.

What is devastating is not being able to find the next station.

I won't give the name of one DJ who has been released in the Portland Market at least six times, but each time the station he was at had falling ratings.

So somebody had to take the fall. So it appears it was a case of kill the messenger.

So why does management not get released more often for bad ratings? Or for that matter the Sales Department?

Years ago I bragged to the legendary Mike Phillips that I had never been fired. He laughed, recounted all the places he'd been fired from, and told me that there were 2 kinds of people in radio.... those who had been fired and those who were going to be fired. Virtually everybody gets fired in radio. Fortunately, unless you are fired for cause, future employers don't look at it as a negative. Just a part of the business.

And in radio, most on-air staff don't move up, they move on. Three years used to be the rule of thumb for any market outside the top 10. Start in a small market for peanuts, develop your skills, and move up in market size every 2-3 years until you made it to the majors. Like baseball. Work your way up through the minors, and then for most, a few years in the majors before working your way right back down until you settle into a career as a beer distributor with a side job as the weekend sports guy at a small market TV station.

Management and sales are often released for bad revenues -- that's what they're responsible for. Jocks are let go after bad ratings because they are (part of) the product being rated. They are also fired because they are constantly ragging the PD about playlist size, jingles, remotes, etc., because they can't follow directions or the format because they think they're stars, because they think the request line is a dating service.

In the end there's no consistant correlation between talent and salary, nor between talent and employment. It's one of the most subjective businesses on earth.

(I got fired about a year after my conversation with Mike. Three months later, I was traded to the NY Mets. WHN became the flagship of the Mets, and had enough money to hire a full time research director. So it goes.)

"I am the morning DJ at W-O-L-DDDDD and W-K-R-PPPPPP and W-X-Y-ZZZZZZ and...."

As one who has been doing "it" for some 36 years. "What a long strange trip it's been"

Still doing it. But to be honest, doing it from home I really like.

"Ain't nuthin like the real thing.....baby". Doing it from home (ain't no radio station on this earth with a better view than my place) but I believe strongly in separation of job and home, and, doing it from home, would just not be the same as the give and take of real radio. The brilliantly quirky personalities, the sick hallway humor, that weird "smell", the coffee pot welded to the burner, the rotting food in the reefer,the listeners coming in to pick up prizes, the friendships and petty squabbles. And feeling like I am part of a team. Yeah. And most importantly, the free food from adoring fans. (Yes that still happens in some markets without the fear of being poisoned) Real radio, fellow babies. That what keeps me in the game, and loving it every single day. And aside from that fuck you and your fuzzy bunny slippers

Ah yes wannabe. Nothing like the BS of the office to give you that incentive.

Let's see. No commute. Seeing my kids off to school every morning and when they come home. Taking a nap when I want too. Afternoon Delight...wink wink. I still get free clothes, free tickets and when we do travel to where the station is located they put us up for free and pay our gas. I don't drink coffee and we mail the prizes to the listeners. I get enough of my ego stroked as a mobile DJ and playing music at church and hearing my voice on radio and TV commercials. The wonders of the internet keep me connected to my team down south.

And as far as the listener is concerned I'm live enough for them. The ones I have met over the years and shook their hands know that I am a living and breathing person.

I like my fuzzy bunny slippers and sleeping in while I'm on the air. Oh yeah and having my guitar and keyboard in my "Radio" station can be a nice diversion during my "work-or play" day.

Wannabe: Now, Now! Chris gets Free Tickets! He could see a free movie any time he wants at the "On Broadway Theater" in Coos Bay!

Well there's always the Egyptian Theatre too Craig. Or maybe a walk in Mingus Park with my wife. Better yet Shore Acres State Park is spot of beauty. If I were a duffer, Bandon has one of the premier golf courses in the nation. But sometimes I enjoy a good play at the Little Theatre On The Bay.

When September rolls around the Music on the Bay concert series is well attended, which has brought in some big name acts.

Yeah-living here in Portland, working out my house and playing radio in Coos Bay.

I'm going to make an aroma therapy candle, with the scent of burnt stale coffee, just so I can remember what the stations I visited as a kid smelled like, nothing brings back those memories better!

To really get that "radio station smell" don't forget smoke-soaked acoustic tiles on the walls and the hot oil smell from the teletype machines. Sigh. Am I the only one who remembers teletype machines?

Yep Murd, there was nothing quite like being the first one in on a weekend morning to an endless pile of paper spilled on the floor in front of the teletype machine... with less than 10 minutes to kick on the transmitter AND "Rip & Read". And we loved it!

Oh man...how about the rip and read when the teletype got stuck on one line for a few sentences at the most important part of the story.

Ooh....teletype machines....clack, clack, clack. One of my faves at KGON several (many several) years ago was cooking TV dinners around 6am on top of the stove because there wasn't a microwave. And can you believe people used to make fun of me for that? Who was that Bob Marx guy, anyway?

Introducing a bold, new fragrance: "Eau de Radieau." An exciting blend of essences sure to be a memory maker: Stale coffee; seasoned cigarette tar; musty paper; teletype oil and ribbon ink; black vinyl; spitty microphones. For a hipper version, add a pinch of patchouli and a hint of hemp. Ahhhhhhh.

When Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981, I was doing rip-and-read news twice an hour at a Music of Your Life station in Eugene. We had a UPI machine with bells to signal signal when there was a major story. Two bells meant something mildly interesting; three meant something pretty significant.

That morning, we got five bells.

I spent the next few hours playing enough music to go back and forth from the teletype machine to the microphone, and reading bulletins as fast as I could make sense of them.

I have no idea what our AQH was, but there were likely several hundred seniors who were depending on this 21-year-old punk for updates on the fate of our nation.

(Cringe!) I can BARELY read the news copy! Somebody forgot to change the teletype ribbon last night!!!

So I change the ribbon, and (apologies to all news department members) suffer from dreaded "Newsman's Disease"...purple-inked hands for the next three days!

Thanks Murdock... Yes, as the morning guy at WXEE, I also did 2 minute newscasts twice an hour from 6:25 and 5 minutes at 12:05 right after ABC News.

Machine was right outside studio door. At newstime, we opened the door and read the news with the Teletype clacking away in the background.... Very Murrowesque!

Hey, what about the old transmitter in the next room with the tubes cooking. I was at KKEY for a visit years ago and caught that tube smell in the air. I had forgotten all about it.

I was on the night John Lennon died, man our teletype was dinging like crazy and I had to break the news to the audience and I was crying too hard to talk so called my pd and he ran in made the announcement and then told me to blow out the playlist and play beatles/lennon tunes all night, and then he slapped me around (metaphorically) and told me to start telling people what had happened.
The TELETYPE, where would we have been without it. I will never forget that ringing sound. That was the only time I was present when it went off like that.
These are all great memories you guys are bringing up, and I wish the kids these days could have experienced radio the way it was, there was so much work involved, and I am not even thinking about show prep, I mean the WORK that went on just to stay on.
Friggin computers killed us all.

When John Lennon died I was on the air but during the first teletype messages (which I still have) we were running a Mac High or Wildcats game. I broke in during a spot break, because we were getting so many calls and the listeners thought we didn't know what had happened! After the game I played Lennon and songs Lennon sang with Beatles.

craig, I still have my messages too!
I just thought at the time it would be good to keep them, of course now I should probably put them on Ebay!

Dodger: I thought hard about taking the Lennon wire copy home, thinking I might get in trouble with the News Director the next morning if the original story was gone but figured the story would be re-written by AP and the original copy might be thrown out by the time I returned the next night.

We would rip stories during our shifts and save them for morning news. We had baskets to put national, regional, local & sports stories in. The night guy would also take one of the local stories and record it on a cart for the News Director to play on air, to make it sound like we had local news correspondences.

Hey Murdock....What ever became of the Cafeteria Lady? I hear she's on the beach somewhere, sipping margaritas and living the high life on hush money you pay her for some "incident" (wink, wink) in your studio after hours. What's up with that?

Oh yeah, purple ink fingers after changing the teletype ribbon, burnt coffee in the bottom of the pot and walking in the can, only to find the owner's son sitting there with his pants around his ankles.

My oh my, who doesn't miss those days?!?!

Yup, Radio HAS lost all of its magic today! SO SAD!

My friends (some of you I have known for years) , I will break down WHY radio is the way it is. Over a career of mine that started in the late 60’s, and still continues today, I have observed, shut up, and took notes of the rise, and fall of the biz.

Radio has morphed from a “ program from the gut, let’s be the most popular station in town ” industry, to “ lets analyze every mi-nute detail of every book” ; similar to how a politician looks at his poll numbers, and changes his stance based on them. I know this will upset a lot of PD’s, but it’s time to start NOT just programming to the “ target” 25- 54” year old female. Every country station, AC station, Christian station, light rock station, & “ mix” type station has ONE target: 25- 54 year old females. Why?: because somewhere along the way , it was decided that they have control of money ( their hard working husbands money, might I add) , and therefore every station must sound like the Lifetime network, or the Dr. Phil show. Personally, I think this is Bullsh*** . Listen to The Buzz, K-103, KWJJ, KUPL, and some of the Christian stations. Guess what? ; they are ALL playing at least some, if not ALL of the same artists. There is no distinction. If you are NOT in that 25- 54 female demo, you are stuck with stations like jammin 95.5, KUFO, or even worse- 94.7 ( all of the public and college stations aside).

Now don’t get me wrong, the 25-54 year old soccer mom NEEDS their station(s) too, but it seems that stations that once kicked ass, have become wusses , so not to offend their
“ 25 -54 female demo”. Am I wrong here?

Also gone, is the “ take chances” approach. It used to be that you were allowed to take chances. If they went over well- you got a pat on the back and the PD took you out drinking- and if you were wrong, you got a scream session. Listen to the dj’s on the air now… Who really are speaking their mind, or doing anything inventive? No one.

The truth here is that stations DON’T want jocks to be stars. Why? Because then the jock has power, and if the jock is fired, the company will lose revenue. They want to keep Everyone sounding the same, - so that if someone is fired , it’s a seamless transition. YOU- the jock are nothing.

For some of us, getting fired in radio right now IS a death sentence- career speaking. Unless you want to move out to Small town USA, and make a month what you USED to make just off remotes for a couple weekends.

"Every profession has its ups and downs"

Yes, but ESPECIALLY when you're an elavator operator!

eugenebob: man you are dead on.
That was awesome, well put.
Thus, the radio biz sucks.
Life has been sucked out of it like a Hoover.
And radio in Oregon is as boring as any place I have been in America. At least in some markets across the nation there are still the occasional "mavericks" but for the most part it is homogenized, pastureized and 1% or skim.
And please, don't someone give us the old, "it's the owner's money, they can do what they want". I have always wondered how just having money made one smart?
There are some very intelligent radio owners who are drinking someone's kool aid, they aren't dumb, just lost. Sad.

Attitude plays a key role too.

We are enjoying voice tracking for a locally owned station that really tries to relate to the local audience. Certainly not a maverick station, but we don't have "the bottom line" as the only measure of success. Sure we want the station to do well financially, but it's great to be able to create a show that we are personally proud of, plus we have been in the same market for 6 years.

Eugenebob is certainly right on and I don't disagree. But as I have said, we get to play radio everyday and get paid to do it. That's all I have ever really wanted to do in this business.

A satisfied broadcaster.

I just have to mention that since we're in 2007...and not 1960...it should be noticed that a majority of women have jobs now, and earn their own income.

And most of the younger female generation have decided it's a good idea to wait longer until they get married.

So I don't think that the husbands need to worry about their bank accounts being drained anytime soon....and if they do, maybe they should have married a career woman.

That WAS a particularly unusual comment to be making. My mother always worked, even well before 1960.

(My mother always worked -- partly in the home, partly out of the home.)

Eugenebob... may I call you YOU-gene....

Excellent observations shared by many an old head.

I wanted to scream every time the term Soccer Mom, came out of a PDs mouth or when the bigboys came in for a meeting.

From what I have been able to gather, Soccer moms have taken over the world. They all drive mini vans, stop at Mc Donalds and buy their kids Chicken nuggets, bring juice boxes to the games where they don't keep score, and all the kids are winners. When they turn on the radio, they want continious music sweep of at least 12 in a row guaranteed, and only want to hear talk about the music and only the music, which featured artist is coming up in the next hour, and how much more music you play that the other most music station.

Seems like everyone is chasing the same demo, and by creating such a rigid stereotype, they chase away everyone.

Sure there are listeners who only want to hear this is, that was, and if you dare say anything else, they will flip the station. if most stations pander to the basic generic audience with generic programming, then nobody stands out, and the bulk of the potential audience drifts off to other venues. Welcome to the wunerful world of boring bland safe and sane..... YAWN....

Anyone else run the same contest EVERY BOOK....
like this one

Money for nothing! 3 times a day monday through Friday your chance to win 100 bucks. 1000 on thursdays. They read a name, you have 98 minutes to call in. Mind you the names are random from a 6 county listening audience, and since they simulcast they are billed as "ALL LOCAL WINNERS"
So if they pull a 4.6 share combined, how much do you think they give away in a contest period?

This lame promotion has been running twice a year for at least 7 years... You think it generates excitement with the soccer moms? More of the same blandness...... The powers that be see no reason to freshen any aspect of what they do.....

If the old ways were so bad, the new ways are really a giant step off the cliff----
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<splat>

At least you're not bitter...

I fail to see the bitterness. You don't find running the same promotion twice a year for 7 years a bit stale? IS every woman in that demo a Soccer Mom, or for that matter fit the profile of a soccer mom? There seems to be a follow the pack mentality rather than lead the pack. The term "more than one way to skin a cat" is valid.
But if everyone does it the same way, then the person who has another way must wrong. Here's to another 12 in a row.....

Are radio companies pursuing the "Hockey Mom" demo north of the border?

"the 25-54 year old soccer mom NEEDS their station(s) too,...Am I wrong here?"

Hoefully, Yes. And I fit the target age and the sex (none!).

"From what I have been able to gather, Soccer moms have taken over the world. They all drive mini vans, stop at Mc Donalds and buy their kids Chicken nuggets, bring juice boxes to the games where they don't keep score, and all the kids are winners. When they turn on the radio, they want continious music sweep of at least 12 in a row...Seems like everyone is chasing the same demo, and by creating such a rigid stereotype, they chase away everyone."

"IS every woman in that demo a Soccer Mom, or for that matter fit the profile of a soccer mom?"

Thankfully, no. We're out here, and my "mom" friends and I will probably never drive mini-vans. We feed our kids organic food, and shop locally. If we listen to the "radio", it's NPR, KBOO, KNRK, KOIN, and (horrors!) KINK. Mostly it's Satellite radio and CD's for me. Because there's just nothing good on Portland radio.

Somebody needs to figure out that not all of us are "Soccer moms" and while our kids may play soccer, we don't listen to 12 in a row crap over and over. We don't want to hear J-Lo, Britney and American Idol crap.

(See the related thread regarding Movin's TV ads. What crap! Is that actually workin' for them?)

Merkin....
Iris is the best! She and Shannon are fun to listen to and they play the music (not all mind you) I really like. It's a 1, 2,3 for me. 92.3 when on my own, 104.1 with the family, and Zune if nothing on keeps my attention.....usually on the weekends which are heavily voice-tracked.

Ooops, I did leave out KGON, which is on in Baby Merkin's room. If we don't have a CD in, it's Iris in the AM daily till we leave the house.

The kid spent her first 10 months nursing and falling asleep to both Iris and KGON in our "rockin' chair".

Hockey moms, eh?

Kink Merkin??? Cmon. I guess if you love your daily does of Matchbox 20 and the Goo Goo Dolls every 10 minutes than kink is your station.

Oooooh, you haven't known me long enough or you'd know my dial hasn't stopped on KINK in years. I'm KINK free. It makes me kind of all sick inside. I'd listen to Imus before KINK. I'd drive a minivan before I had that as a pre-set.

Some of us came here after ol' Dennis was "forced" to shut down the KINK board. He got fed up with people making "suggestions" about some of his choices. Like firing my long-time favorite on-air person. And kindly asking him to stop playing Tree Top Flyer, Sting, Tracy Chapman, and his payola songs 12 times a day.

Matchbox 20? Ick. John Mayer et. al? Ick.

Aren't Matchbox 20 and Goo Goo Dolls more AC than AAA artists?

KOIN? I still have no idea what song "Tree Top Flyer" is!

theres two versions i know stephen stills & jimmy buffett

Who knows the_dude2, both types of stations play them WAAAAAAAAy to much! Someone please let me know whats so great about them, Im still trying to figure them out.

As far as Im concerned The Goo Goo Dolls and Matchbox 20 are making hits for lite Rock, soft AC stations like k103. I have to agree with Beano, they are both painfully bad artists that bring absolutely nothing to the table. The Goo Goo Dolls started off making real rock records than for some reason there Record company turned them into a lite AC artists.

KOIN 87.7 FM. It's on one of my car pre-sets. I tune in mostly for the 5 O'Clock news if I'm not at home.

Timberfake is right. The GGD used to rock before they became Journey for a new generation. "Name" was the beginning of the end for them.

I still don't understand why a AAA station would want to play anything as worn out and overplayed as GGD and MB20. Maybe I have a different idea of what that format is supposed to be.

Here's a KRUD cartoon that fits the topic of this thread.

http://www.krud.com/toon151.html

Beano, try out ChickenJuggler's online station, click on his profile for it, it's simply amazing! I constantly think: I gotta know more about this artist, and hot-damn, I wish I had that song/CD! I have a huge list of stuff I've heard on there and want to check out. And even better, he can't get fired and be gone tomorrow.

(I apologize for leaving you off the list, CJ, please forgive me!)

Kisses!

ahem, mrs m., CJ can't get fired, but we can be "royaled" off the air. internet-only radio broadcasters are facing dark days.

Formats and Labels

Country Soccer Mom
MOVIN Soccer Mom
Light AC Soccer Mom
Oldies Soccer Mom
Rock Soccer Babe
Show Tunes Soccer Person with a same sex partner

Talk Soccer Coulter

ACK!!! They're all horrible!

(Runs from room screaming, knashing teeth and pulling hair!)

he he he ....

Country Little Man Big Truck
Country Strapless Top Bra that's Not
MOVIN School for the Deaf
Oldies Slow Driver in the Fast Lane
Classic Rock Middle Aged Slightly Balding Spare Tire
Alternative Rock Spikey Haired Doner Cycle Driver

Dark temper, you forgot the gray pony tail and the mullet formats.

Go 4 it!

Soccer moms, remember, it was baseball that made this country great, The French play soccer, need I say more.

Chickenjuggler has an online station?

CJ, what's the link? I'd love to listen to it...

Nwokie-The rest of the planet plays soccer. The worlds number 1 sport.

Your right, thats why we're #1, and the rest of the world isn't!

Even WITH getting fired... it's still worth it. why? Because this is the BEST damn living in the country. Everyday I get to go have fun? Ok... sign me up, then fire me. I don't care... I get to see the country this way.... if I ever leave the NW.

PhillyKid:

It's on his profile:

http://loudcity.com/station/1180.aspx

Enjoy.

P.S. Hey CJ, are you coming up for Black Rebel MC?

Nwokie I have no doubt you view the U.S. as number ONE. I see US as ONE of many.

Thanks Mrs. M! I'm listening now.... and enjoying....are the songs listed?

..."The rest of the planet plays soccer."

So, conform or perish! Maybe if we wanted soccer our grand parents* would have stayed in their respective countries!

*(great grand parents for you younger folks)

You hear about Soccer moms, why not clarinet moms, or cheerleader moms. There's a demo no one goes after!

Don't take offense Chris, just funnin'

Must have been wearin' my serious hat that day.

I wasnt fired. I was just 'not given' another voice tracking assignment on any of the stations in the group. A host of excuses and everyone still likes me and I still have a mail box in the front office, but no JOB??? What?? I was a partimer in this place for 12 years on two stations. I turned in my key after 3 months of not doing anything. I never quit they never terminated me. I dont know what they are afraid of, a wrongful term suit, for a partimer i doubt it..? I am 56...who knows...Good thing I have another full time job out of radio.

Al Cook, the Kennewickman, in the Tri-Cities,WA.

You want me to call 'em and straighten out this oversight?

I didn't have to turn in my key. My former company just changed the locks everytime someone left. I kept the three froggy shirts too!

Anyone want a Froggy Tee shirt?

What I am still wondering about is the comment the current OM made to me on his first day in the station last February. I went in and met him and chatted him up some. I told him I wasnt and had not been given a station assignment since Christmas. He said " Whats the difference, your being paid anyway" . I informed him to the contrary, hourly and talent fee paid personel around this part of the country dont get paid if they dont work. He just stared at me with a funny grin on his face.

It makes me wonder. Why would he say that in the first place ? Am I missing something here?