Month: May 1995

Get It

5/26/1995

It’s been a strange week in L.A. And trust me, bud, when it’s a strange week in Los Angeles, it’s got to be totally out of whack everywhere else. Because here in never-never land, we thrive on strange, but this week, we could be setting a new curve.

Maybe it’s because I bought a house today, a house located in a restricted zip code (meaning it doesn’t qualify for home insurance because it’s right on the fault line). I did that after reading the headline in the L.A. Times that said housing in Southern California hadn’t rebounded as expected and was now expected to fall to a new, all-time low. But I’ve lived my life betting against the house and it seemed fitting to continue to buck the odds…by betting on one.

I mean, anyone can play it safe, but it takes a true rebel to cut against the grain…every time out. Why take the chalk at this late date?

It started with a  conversation this morning with one of the most important women in our business. She called me to help her construct a quote for a magazine that is doing a story on the success of women in our industry. Why me? It wasn’t sol long ago that this same person was crucifying me for running unflattering pictures of half-naked women on Page 6. She was instrumental in forever banning said pictures, much to the dismay of the swine among our subscription base who foraged for my home number and continue to call me at all hours of the night demanding more skin. Yet she asked for, no, demanded my help in preparing a quote for her article.

When I questioned her about my qualifications, based on her earlier castigations of my editorial acumen, she mumbled some vague yet poignant comment about how she really knew the real me and was positive my true beliefs outshadowed my cheap attempts at gaining new, albeit low-life, subscribers. (It is possible that I am not really who I pretend to be, but live in the eyes of those who can actually see through the shoddy veneer with which I’ve covered my real personality so I can run one day for public office? Nope. I’ve already done that.) So I helped her and discounted the brief ripple in the force as a one-in-a-blue-moon long shot.

Shortly thereafter, I was approached by one of the format editors of Network 40 who asked permission to run a picture in her section featuring a nearly naked man. This editor was one of the most vocal about the aforementioned pictures of semi-nude women on Page 6. When I questioned the dichotomy of her actions, I found myself on the opposite side of the argument she had so vigorously pursued only a few months ago. The difference, she explained so eloquently, between the pictures of naked men and named women, was a matter of class.

So I was faced with a dilemma. If I run a picture of naked men, will my phones be ringing off the hook from the male readers who will tell me that I’m using naked men in a demeaning manner to further the success of the magazine?

It’s a question for the ages…one that I am neither able, nor willing, to answer in this century. Whether or not the picture runs, I feel, will be more a matter of the will of the editor rather than being based on some momentous, philosophical decision on my part. Arguing with a woman who is more intelligent than you is Chinese water torture at best and bamboo shoots under the fingernails at worst, and when it comes down to the short strokes, I know I’ll lose this one…if for all the wrong reasons.

So I excused myself from the argument, put off the inevitable and retired to the dark recesses of a local bar to have a few cocktails with my second-favorite person in the record business. Who’s number one? Everybody else. Okay, it’s a lame joke, but I’ve ridden it this far and the finish line is drawing closer so I’ll just keep beating it.

One of the reasons this guy is really one of my favorite people is that he recognized that he is one of the smarter people in the room, but he doesn’t acknowledge it. We talked about the out-of-control egos that dominate our business and laughed about those who believe in the hype when they are only setting themselves up for the big fall.

Of course, we were quick to assure each other that we were not part of this pack of dogs, that we know who we are and can avoid the pitfalls and traps set for the others. Neither of us noticed the distinct “clank” as the cage shut.

I like this person because he boils everything down into one expression: “You get it.” It’s really that simple, yet totally unexplainable. We can talk for hours and he sums up the entire conversation with this phrase. The words get in the way because both of us “get it.”

It reminds me of the years I spent working with the absolute, positive best general manger in the history of radio: the late Pat Norman, who captained the legendary KFRC San Francisco through the likes of Hal Martin, Les Garland and yours truly. Pat loved to have a cocktail or two and, as all of us do, tended to pontificate about almost anything and everything under the warmth from the golden hue of the nectar of the vine.

Pat talked in what I like to call “strobe talk.” He seldom completed a thought and never quite ended a sentence. I would sit and act as if I knew exactly what he was saying. He always ended these rambling with the phrase, “Do you get it?”

Not wanting to expose my complete ignorance or embarrass him, I always answered in the positive.

After working with the man for nearly five years, we went out for a night of celebration and since I was feeling more confident than usual, I actually drank more “intelligent” medicine than he did. I was primed and ready when he ended one of his philosophical lectures with his usual hypothetical question: “Do you get it?”

I gathered myself, took a deep breath (and another shot of courage) and said, “I’ve been working with you for five years. Nearly every day, you asked me if I got it and I always answered affirmative. I must tell you that not only tonight, but never have I answered truthfully. I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about, nor have I ever. I do not get it.”

A long, yet not uncomfortable silence followed. I bit my lip and held his gaze, positive that I had made a grave error, totally unaware that I had made a major breakthrough. He stared at me across the table for a few moments, smiled and knocked back the rest of his drink. “Then you get it,” he said quietly.

And I did. The question is: Do you?

Tubing It

5/19/1995

It is that time of year when everyone is fighting to be #1. The good news is that someone will be in the top spot. The bad news? Everyone else won’t be.

I’m not talking about the NBA playoffs where 12 multi-millionaires will try and hide their grief when they lose the playoffs and drive into the sunset in their custom cars. I’ll save any feelings of remorse for programmers when the down book hits their desks with an awful thud.

I programmed more than my share of great radio stations, and those of you familiar with my career know I was lucky to have more than my share of success, but I can say, without reservation, no other emotion can come close to the empty feeling of a down book.

Programming is weird science at best. Let’s face it…none of us really knows what we’re doing. It’s a complex crapshoot with the odds favoring the house. Although we all like to brag and pretend we know it all when the book goes up, the truth is, everyone breathes a sigh of relief when the numbers jump. With the possible exception of Steve Smith (who might actually know what he’s doing), can anyone say they haven’t experienced a down book?

Three Dog Night sang, “One is the loneliest number that you’ll ever do,” and they were right. If you ever pull a “one” in the book, you will be the loneliest person in the station. It won’t last long because you’ll soon be out on the street, but for a brief, frozen moment in time, you’ll find depressing fascination in total isolation.

I speak from experience. I am the genius who tubed WAPP New York down to that magic number and managed to live to tell about it. (Actually, it was a 1.7, but when it starts with a “one,” it doesn’t really matter what comes after the decimal point.) I couldn’t find anyone who would look me in the eye. My secretary went home sick, the jocks came in just minutes before their airshifts, the sales staff holed up in the local bar and the general manager refused to take my calls. I phoned my girlfriend for solace. She left a message on the answering machine that she was moving out…she got a job at Z100 answering Scott Shannon’s request lines.

You’ll only get comfort (for a while) from record company promotion people. The good ones will call immediately to tell you not to believe Arbitron, that everyone they know listens to your station. They close by hitting you up for an add, hoping they’ll get one more shot before you get blown out.

So, what do you do when you tube it? Conventional wisdom tells you to straighten your back and find the silver lining in that otherwise dark cloud. As much as we curse Arbitron, we can be thankful for the tonnage of data the company provides. Look closely and find those demos that show promise. Bolster the air staff. They’re as scared as you and need you to be strong in the face of imminent danger. March into the general manager’s office and provide an instant game plan to turn the ratings around. Accept the responsibility and take it like a champion.

Of course, that’s all conversation. It’s the right thing to do…probably the most professional way to approach it…but it won’t matter.

As a veteran of many down books, I had the time and talent to develop a strategy to face the beast and breathe fire in its face. I call it, “The 10 Tenents of Tubing.”

#1:       Blame it on a bad drop. Arbitron is famous for seeking out the exact households that hate your station. For this book, they managed to find them all. They have a personal vendetta to make sure you fail. Blame it on them.

#2:       It’s all of those terrible sales promotions you had to run. If it weren’t for the clutter, you would have been in double-digits.

#3:       Your competition out-spent you 10-to-one. If you had the budget they had, you would have gone up. Absolutely.

#4:       Demand a trip to Beltsville to personally study the diaries. You’ve heard at least three other stations had diaries and those entries tainted the results of the entire sample. All you need is three days and you’ll have the whole book recalled. (If you’re lucky, by the time you return, the bad news will have blown over and you can slink back into your office and avoid the bullet to the brain.)

#5:       It was the consultant’s fault. (My personal favorite.) Say this with a great degree of animosity and self-confidence. Blame everything on the consultant, from the music to the promotions to the format. But make sure you do this quickly. Rest assured the consultant will do the same to you. Strike quickly before you’re hamstrung.

#6:       Tearfully blame it on your evil, twin personality. Explain that there are two people inside of you…the good one and the bad one. Unfortunately, the bad one took control at the start of the book, but promise it will never happen again.

#7:       Don’t mention the book. Do, however, bring up the young thing the manager has been seeing on the sly. Explain that you would never share your knowledge with the GM’s spouse.

#8:       Leave on an extended vacation, the thought being that if they can’t find you, they can’t fire you. If you take this action, clean your personal effects from your office. They might not find you, but they can find your replacement. Six of them are already sitting in the lobby.

#9:       Immediately enter a drug and alcohol rehabilitation clinic. It doesn’t matter whether you need to, but it buys you at least 30 days, the company has to pay the bills and they can’t fire you until the treatment is complete.

#10:     Quit. Be loud and be proud about it. Accept no blame or responsibility. Say the station is screwed up, the business sucks and you’re leaving to spend more time with your family. Then take the first job that is available.

If none of these work, you’re on your own. It is healthy, however, to remember we work in a business of intangibles. Much of our success depends on particulars out of our control. Don’t take too much credit when you’re doing well or you’ll get an equal amount of blame when it all goes to hell. Also, another book and another chance to succeed is only three months away.

It might be in your best interest to remember the old axiom: “There’s never a horse that couldn’t be rode and never a rider that couldn’t be throwed.” You aren’t a genius until you win the Nobel Prize.

Even with it, you’re going to be in trouble after a down book. Ask Jimmy Carter.

Number 2

5/12/1995

Who will the next fool be?

It’s more than just the title of a song, it seems to be the cry of our industry. There was a time when there was an abundance of people in the radio and record industries who were ready for the next step. Wannabe program directors and heads of promotion were waiting in the wings, needing only a vacancy to prove what they could do.

That doesn’t seem to be the case now.

Maybe it’s because the high rate of turnover has used up the talent pool. Maybe there are more jobs than there are qualified people. Maybe the expansion of the industries has created more openings in a shorter period of time than normal. Maybe the radio and record industries as a whole are not attracting young people willing to grow into a career.

Maybe it’s something else.

Because of the increased pressure in both the radio and record industries, those at the top have less time to spend on one of the most important elements of their job: training.

There are several reasons why you should create the opportunity to spend quality time sharing your expertise with those under you. First, it’s part of your job. It may not be spelled out in your contract, but it is certainly expected by those who hired you. Part of leadership is training. You can’t expect talented people to follow your directives blindly unless they know the reasons behind your edicts. The only way they can know and understand is if you take the time to teach them.

Second, it makes your job easier. Sharing your needs and responsibilities with those team members who have the desire to learn will enable you to branch out and accomplish more. Those of us in leadership positions believe that no other person can do things as well as we do. It’s one of the reasons that got us where we are. However, as we take on more and more responsibility, we physically and mentally do not have the time to control every facet of our job. We must delegate. Sooner or later, you have no choice. And you can’t delegate responsibilities to others unless they have been trained. By letting your subordinates know why as well as how, you can delegate and continue to succeed. As your responsibilities increase, so will the responsibilities of those who you have trained and because you have people in place who know what to do, your overall performance won’t suffer.

Third, you owe it to the business. Whether we acknowledge it daily or not, this business has given us the opportunity for success. Call it a payback, but teaching others the ropes is part and parcel of what we are. Someone took the time to guide us. You should do the same.

Fourth, and most important, it makes your promotion easier and will probably hasten its arrival. Many times promotions are put off because the other people in the department are not able or ready to move up. Rather than looking at a number-two person as a threat, look at the competent second-in-command as your ticket to a promotion. If you have someone groomed to take over your job, company heads will be less hesitant to promote you to a new position.

It is a fact that many in both radio and records recognize that there is a lack of talent ready to move into top positions. The question is: Whose fault is it? There are certainly many competent people in the ranks. If those in positions of authority feel there are few ready to move up to take more responsibility, perhaps those in charge should share in the blame. It is up to us to groom our successors. If we don’t do it, who will? There are no college courses that teach students how to program a radio station. There are no college courses that teach students how to lead a promotion department. There are many outlets that purport to teach students the ABCs of the radio and record industries. But how to lead others? It’s an inherent trait that some have and some don’t. But even those who have the ability to lead must be taught the particular aspects of leadership. A general can’t just jump out of the foxhole and charge the enemy, expecting his troops to follow. Those expected to follow must have definitive reasons and beliefs…or they will hang back.

So, how do we go about this on-the-job training? First, as the head of a company or department, e must determine who, of those under our direct supervision, are destined for future success. Training incompetent people will only lead to well-trained, incompetent people. Identify those who seem eager for the next challenge. How do we make that determination? Look for the self-starters, those who are constantly seeking new projects, those who ask a lot of questions (sometimes drawing your ire), those who come to work early and leave late. Avoid those who accomplish the tasks only after you assign them.

Second, you must schedule time for training. It’s one thing to say you’re going to begin teaching. It’s another to actually do it. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Because you don’t always have time to conduct a class, assign your people written projects. Ask the m to prepare brief papers detailing their ideas on specific operations. This way, you can read their reports at your leisure, then meet briefly with them and explain where they are right or wrong and give explanations to help them grow.

After staff meetings, ask individuals to meet privately with you. Question them on the details of the meeting and explain what brought you to the final decision.

Delegate specific projects to them. Watch and comment on their progress and delegate more. Don’t fail to praise them for their efforts as well as critique their mistakes. Demand their input, even by allowing them to challenge your moves. We all make mistakes. It’s healthy if you have some on your staff to privately question your decisions.

Training people to move forward under your guidance is the best thing you can do for yourself. And it doesn’t take much effort or a lot of time. If you choose the right people, they will make the effort and the time spent will just be minutes that add up to increased productivity for you and the ones you choose.

The future of our business…and ourselves…is tired directly to those we train. Don’t hesitate because they might be after your job. If someone under you winds up with your job, you shouldn’t have had it in the first place.

A Tale Of Three Stations

5/5/1995

Top 40 radio is dead. Mainstream Top 40 is losing ground. The audience is changing.

The nay-sayers are out in force. Record companies are looking over the horizon for the next format. What will it be? Who will discover it? How will we deal with it? When will it happen?

Top 40 radio has been dad and buried countless times in the past three decades. The format has died and been replaced by…Top 40.

I submit to you (okay, maybe I’ve been watching too much of the O.J. trial) that it isn’t Top 40 that’s in trouble, but Top 40 programmers. To loosely quote Willie Shakespeare, it ain’t the message, it’s the messenger.

You don’t have to look any further than New York City to find the format alive and well. Three different radio stations, all within the definition of Top 40, are all succeeding. Why? Because each is programmed exceptionally and uniquely by people who know what they’re doing.

On a visit to the Big Apple last week, I as able to listen to all three during all dayparts and find something I liked. Evidently, I am not alone. Judging from the ratings, New York is tuning in consistently.

In the early 1980s, Scott Shannon went to work at a radio station in Secaucus, New Jersey. The station went dark, then turned back on as Z100. Many in the industry thought Scott was crazy. (Okay, many still do, but that’s another story). You see, at that time, Top 40 was dead. That was the second time the format had been listed in the obituary pages. When Scott turned on the “Flame Thrower,” there was no other Top 40 in New York. You remember, Disco was the format of the future…then.

It wasn’t long before Z100 was #1 and Top 40 was alive and well again. Disco disappeared in a micro-second and suddenly, Scott had not one, but three other competitors biting into the Top 40 audience that was supposedly nonexistent only months before.

After a long, successful run, Scott left the East Coast to work his brand of magic elsewhere. After a sojourn near the Pacific Ocean searching for a pirate, Scott returned to New York and took the reins of WPLJ, one of the stations that had jumped into the Top 40 format years before. Scott adjusted the format slightly and skewed the focus toward the available upper demos. WPLJ steadily increased its audience and ratings and today, it consistently ranks in the upper echelon of the sellable 25-54 demos.

Scott rebuilt a radio station to fit the needs of the available audience.

When Scott left Z100, Steve Kingston took over the formidable task: maintain Z100’s position as the dominant Top 40 station in New York.

For a while, it worked. Then, as the audience began changing (and the music with it), Steve was faced with a much bigger problem. What to do with Z100 to cope with the changes? For months, rumors swirled around the station and its people. When the sale to Shamrock was completed, many in the industry said Top 40 was dead, Kingston would leave and Z100 would change formats. Instead, Kingston stayed and redefined Z100 to take advantage of the changes in the audience. Kingston took a big gamble and began mixing an Alternative blend into Z100’s music and suddenly, the audience and the ratings began building again and today, the station is the definition of Top 40 with an Alternative blend.

Steve took advantage of what the market had to give and adjusted his radio station to reflect the wants and needs of the audience…still within the Top 40 format.

And then came Steve Smith. When Steve arrived in New York, many in the industry said that his brand of radio would never succeed because he didn’t know the New York audience and had never programmed in such a large market. The Crossover brand of to 40 wasn’t working and Smith wouldn’t be able to bring enough of the audience into his camp to make his radio station successful in the metropolis of New York City.

Steve refocused Hot 97, defining his core demographics and playing specifically to them. Almost overnight, Hot 97 increased its market share until it out-distanced the Top 40 competitors in the 12+ arena and became the #1 Top 40 station in New York.

As a sidebar (not as much O.J. as a publishing term), Emmis purchased WRKS late last year and put Steve in charge of programming a station that, until he too over, had been targeting basically the same audience as Hot 97. Many in the industry believed Smith couldn’t program both stations successfully without one suffering.

Readjusting both slightly, Smith positioned each toward a specific target within the overall demographic and scored big. In the latest ratings, Hot 97 moved 4.8 to 5.4 and WRKS jumped from a 3.8 to a 7.4.

What does this tell us?

First of all, it tells us that “many in the industry” don’t have a clue. Most of those sitting on the sidelines making judgments about radio have no experience in the medium and are about as accurate in their predictions as those doing weather on your local channel.

In also tells us that good programming always finds a way. WPLJ, Z100, Hot 97 and WRKS can all be defined as Top 40 stations. All four stations are successful because each caters to a specific portion of the available audience. One does not beat the other in the classic sense. Each is successful in its own way.

Scott Shannon, Steve Kingston and “King Of The Hill” Steve Smith were not afraid to commit to their particular beliefs. Each had a different focus and idea. Each stepped forward without looking back. None listened to the conventional wisdom of “many in the industry.” Each came up with a specific plan designed for their radio station. They all win.

What’s their secret? All are different. But belief in one’s own ability makes these programmers winners.

And don’t tell me this phenomenon is specific only to New York. Somebody once said, “If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere.”

Is Top 40 on life support? Or are many Top 40 programmers simply brain dead?

Perhaps you should consult Doctors Shannon, Kingston and Smith for the answer.