Geo’s Media Blog. (Fairbanks) Under construction.

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As my brother Reg once told me, “Everybody believes that their part is the biggest part.” Hell, even the switchboard girl at a radio station believes that the place would fall apart without her. 

Case in point, when the John Blair Company purchased WIBC/WNAP in Indianapolis, and KVIL in Dallas they paid the highest amount of money that had ever been paid for radio stations.
Now what you have to understand about the owner, Richard M Fairbanks,(pictured above) is that he can trace his family back to the Mayflower, oh and Fairbanks Alaska was named after his grandfather who was the Vice President of the United States,

Mr. Fairbanks certainly didn’t need the money, what he liked best about the whole thing was, he was making broadcasting history just by being on the upside of that record-making deal.
However, as part of that deal, he had to give up his CEO Jim Hilliard who was responsible for the stations being worth so much. Mr. Fairbanks believed though that he’d already done the hard part when he bought them.

Blair wanted Jim to be the president of their broadcast division which meant that WIBC/WNAP in Indy and KVIL in Dallas would pretty well remain the same.
The only real change would be in Indianapolis where Mr. Fairbanks would be departing.

So with that in mind, Jim asked if he would like him to put together a small farewell dinner for him? It would give some of his longtime employees an opportunity to say their goodbyes.
Mr. Fairbanks, who later in his published his memoirs didn’t remember that it was Hilliard who ran his company, not him, responded as only he could. “Jim, I’ve carried all these people for years, surely you don’t expect me to eat with them too?”

With that statement, Mr. Fairbanks proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was definitely a Dick not a Richard.

(pictured on top is those of us who owned a tiny piece of WIBC/WNAP’s soon-to-be new home in Indianapolis.)

GEO’S LIFE-LINERS.

Speaking of Mr. Fairbanks, his best line may have been when he and Jim went to lunch in Jim’s new Bentley and Jim asked if he’d ever ridden in one before. Mr. Fairbanks responded with, “Never in the front!”

One of the greatest newspaper ads ever showed a newspaper boy staring at a new Cadillac with a caption that read, “Someday, someday!” I wonder who it was that called the meeting that killed that kid’s dream?

Great rewards come from great risks, but then again, you’re not working with a net, so they’re deserved..

Now that we are all members of the “me too” society when are the gentlemen gonna serve up the names of the ladies who offered up their charms for a little boost up the ladder?

How much of, “Were only doing this for your safety” is bullshit, do you suppose?

Whatever happened to gas wars?

If LeBron would have been smart, he’d have stayed in Cleveland and lived free for the rest of his life as King James. However, nobody has ever accused a pro athlete of being smart.

Only when being in the middle of a crisis, does one discover who’s a loyal friend?

Fear and regrets are the evil twins who rob you of your happiness.

Being a Centrist I’m a little liberal about some things and a little Conservative about others, but I’m not much of a Socialist about anything.

For most of my life, political conversations never came up, now they never not come up?

Would you be more likely killed by a cop or a thug? I wonder what the Vegas oddsmakers say?

Why do the celebrities at award shows keep singing to the choir?

I’m very suspicious of all government agencies that use initials instead of their name. CIA, FBI, DEA, DOJ, IRS, DMV, USPS, DOT, EEOC, EPA, FAA, FCC, FDA, FDIC, FEC, FTC, INS, NASA, NIH, NLRB, SEC, and USIA to only mention a few. What do you suppose they’re hiding?

With all the gun controversy and how upset the people are about the school shootings, you would think the NRA would be smart enough to concede a little something?

I believe that more business is done in America at lunch than at any other time.

I don’t want my kids to have Obama care; I want them to have the same health care Obama has right now.

Implementing music at a radio station is not an art form.

Radio’s best and worst friend is the scan button.

The only thing that really counts is what’s on the radio right now?

If you don’t have anything special to say, please don’t say it on the radio.

For #LifeLiner comments about #Radio, #Reality, and #PoliticallyIncorrectStuff, see above. For comments about everything else plus a sneak peek @ upcoming #Geo Media Blogs, go to GeorgeJohns.com. On Twitter@GeoOfTheRadio. Sharing and commenting appreciated. If you would like to subscribe to Geo’s Media Blog, just put your email address in the comment section below.

 

 

 

 

8 thoughts on “Geo’s Media Blog. (Fairbanks) Under construction.

  1. Because I was in Des Moines, the first time, in the first half of 1981, I was not around to see the groundbreaking for 9292 North Meridian. I have always wondered why both Jim Hilliard and Roy Cooper were not there I know later, at least in writing, Mr. Fairbanks took credit for most, if not all of the success of the company after 1968. The Fairbanks profile in the Indiana Broadcasters Association “In The Public Interest” made no reference Jim Hilliard at all, and the authors, being non-broadcasters, were none the wiser, even when asked about it later by other Indiana broadcasters in the book like WTLC’s Amos Brown, WRTV / WFBM’s Howard Caldwell, and, of course, WIBC’s Jack Morrow. If Mr. F. was ever grateful for what Jim and his team did for Fairbanks Broadcasting, I do not recall hearing of it. I am aware now of the many options Jim had in 1968 when he was.leaving WFIL-AM in Philadelphia because Walter Annenberg was selling Triangle Publications. Here is a big “What If” question:.
    What IF, in 1968, Jim Hilliard would have gone to ABC Radio or CBS Radio, or better yet, some organization like Gene Autrey’s Golden West Broadcasters ? This is not to say that WIBC could have later returned to ratings and billing success after 1968, but there would likely not have been WNAP.or KVIL.

    • Jed, there is no way Mr. Fairbanks could have put a team together like Jim Hilliard did at Fairbanks. Even if he did, there was no way he was capable of handling them, his motivational skills were based on fear and a lot of us would not have responded well to that.

  2. Hi George. Would it be possible to identify the people in the photo? You may soon be the only guy who knows and History Awaits!

    One of your past Posts about Mr. Fairbanks incited a bit of research and as I recall, he had quite a life apart from KVIL. As far as I know, he never came to KVIL while I was there so I never saw him.

    • Hi Hollis, thanks for the read. Left to right, Mr. Fairbanks, Norm Wilkens, Gary Todd, Len Betley, Brenda Wilkens, George Johns, Dick Yancey, Dick Smart, and Roger Snowden. Mostly Corporate people out of Indy.

  3. Great stories on Fairbanks! Having been a long time employee in Dallas, Philly, and Boston, I now know why he and I never had dinner together or even met. 🙂 But come to think of it, same for Les Moonves during my ten years at CBS!
    One story you shared one time that I always loved.
    Mr. Fairbanks requested two lists every year back in the 1970’s. The first, every employee whose salary was above $25,000 or more. The second list….why?
    Always loved that one, true or urban legend.

    • True Bill, he didn’t think that anybody who lived in Indy needed more than $25,000 to live. We corporate people were paid a base 25 grand which kept us under the radar. However, we also got two bonus checks a year in salary which before long dwarfed our salaries. Unfortunately, our family had to live on our salaries but when bonus time showed up we bought new homes and cars.
      Oh, and the dinners you never got to have with Mr. F, I envy you.

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