Mike McVay and George Johns Are Going Old School.

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OK so it’s on ! Even though we live in the New Media World, Mike McVay and I are going “old school” at the NAB in Vegas this year. We’re going to talk some great radio where most of it used to be talked about. In a great bar. Now we need to find some old school record ducks to pick up the bar tab like they did back in the day. Jerry Brenner are you still out there. Tommy Nast come on down. Where’s George Luthin. Now that Charlie Minor’s gone we need somebody to step up and take a leadership position

No matter how carefully I wander down any avenue with an air talent as I gently try to guide Him/Her towards Fame & Fortune it always ends up or breaks down at the same old place. Show Prep!

Speaking of show prep, I remember meeting Rich Stevens years ago at his first PD job. I remember telling him that show prep is everything and the talent’s only job was to convince us he was just winging it. Rich completely agreed with me and said he even had an old David Letterman script that totally proved my point. Rich was kind enough to send it to me. I have used the memory of that script to make my point to countless people. Today while going through some old boxes I recently got out of storage there was the script. How cool is that!

Last week I read Tracy Johnson’s new book Morning Radio Revisited. This week I’m on to Bill Young’s “Dead Air”and by this time next week I should have enough good stuff amassed to get back on the road again feeling very dangerous.

I think the above mentioned books may have just showed up in the nick of time. I just saw the new upgrade to my car … The E 350 Benz. Gotta have it !

Jo Ann Pflug claimed at the Super Bowl party I was attending that she thought I had a pretty good shot at the beautiful Blonde sitting beside me because she actually seemed to be listening to what I was saying.

When Ron Chapman was at the very top of his game at KVIL he would be approached by all kinds of beautiful Dallas Women. He told me the way he kept himself out of trouble then was with a very simple question. Is she worth paying all her Visa bills for. Now he says … Is she worth raising her two year old for.

This morning I had a short meeting with Buzz Barnett who is in the transition of going from a very good Jock to a very good News Character. Have way through the meeting I suddenly realized who ever coined the phrase “Meeting with Buzzy is like meeting with a Humming Bird on crack” … Nailed him!

I love working with gifted air talent mainly because I am in awe of people who can do things I cant do but If I could do what they could do though I already know exactly what I would do to beat them.

Bob Christy who just recently escaped from our industry said that now that he’s no longer in it, Radio seems to even sound worse than he thought it did.

I think Record Companies trying to stay alive today are to me kinda like The Pony Express trying to keep their delivery business afloat while Jet planes are flying overhead.

A lot of radio stations today sound like they must have used the same research company Ford used to create the Edsel.

I just read an interesting article by Jose Lambiet in The Palm Beach Post about former WRMF Super Star traffic reporter Paul Cavenaugh, turning bad into good. During Paul’s 20 year tenure doing traffic from a Helicopter, he crashed two times. It is said if you can walk away from any landing it was a good landing but Paul hobbled away from the 2nd crash and now finally after painful back surgery Paul’s insurance settlement showed up which has put him in his dream yacht and set him up for life. There was no way Paul’s broadcasting career was ever going to lead to this story book ending but Paul deserves it and I continue to remain his biggest fan.

Tom Cochran reminded me that Cris Conner epitomizes what an artist is supposed to do … Observe Life, Then Comment On It.

When I turned 50 I wanted to try and win some races in my division so I hired World Class Runner Thom Hunt to coach me. A funny thing happened I turned out to be much faster at 50 than I was at 40.

Have you ever noticed that when things are going well at work you don’t think about your life much you just live it. If things aren’t going well at work you usually start thinking you need to spend more time with your family or you need to play more golf or go fishing, take some time off etc. So goes your work so goes your life.

The PPM devices always find the hot radio stations. The rest of the also rans have to spend most of their time trying to find the devices so they can just try and stay in the game.

Being originally from Canada I occasionally get notices from the government. Today I got one that said, because Canadians are healthier and living longer some adjustments are going to have to be made to the Canada Pension Plan unless you live in Quebec. I stopped reading at that moment and thought to myself… and they wonder why there is a little animosity between the English and French speaking Canadians.

Bob Lefsetz says the real secret sauce is “Greatness”

4 thoughts on “Mike McVay and George Johns Are Going Old School.

  1. George,

    I just had an opportunity to see your new website/blog and really like it’s layout! And, I see Dennis Linsin does as well. So, Bob Christy’s out of the biz, eh? Sorry to hear that; he may not be, however.

    Just always remember, when you’re considering getting out or staying in (no puns, please): “Never take yourself seriously. Unless you’re serious.” My motto.

    V/R

    Sam Graves

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