My youngest, Cami, (shown above with me) watches a few reality shows on TV that are mostly about finding the love of their life, which I get but she also likes to watch “Shark Tank.” Huh?
The concept of the show is putting people who create new products in front of a panel of rich investors who may or may not invest in their creations. After watching a few episodes, I was totally confused, most of the stuff that I thought would be successfull, the investors didn’t think so. Finally, I picked up the pattern and could predict who was going to get some seed money and who wasn’t.
The secret is, you need a secret. Great radio stations all had their secrets as did the giant promotions they ran. One that comes to mind is Jack McCoy’s “Last Contest” that blew out the city’s phone system. When he syndicated it, you were buying how to run it without going bankrupt or to jail.
Later he came up with another blockbuster called “The Prize Catalog” which of course also had a secret but this time when the secret was unveiled, Jack sold the company. Hey, even my Class FM format had its secrets and when those secrets got out, I got out.
Steve Jobs and Bill gates had secrets, as does Google, and Amazon, and like most inventions, they use patents to protect them. In fact, if your new product doesn’t have a secret, don’t bother taking it to the Shark Tank because they already know that without a secret, someone else will figure out how to do it cheaper. You’d be much better off going to a good school, or better yet, go to a trade school and make some real money.
You tend to remember all that you want to remember.
Why do the words, “For The Greater Good” and “Because Of National Security,” somehow change illegal activities into legal ones?
I wonder what the millennials are gonna do when they discover what we already know, “There is no free lunch.”
In this day and age, it takes so long to undo all the locks on your door that when opportunity knocks, it’s already too late.
Being out of time isn’t a good enough reason to finish a project that’s not done.
He who truly knows may not feel the need to share unless asked to.
You are who you hang with.
California is so beautiful that half of the homeless in America have chosen to live there.
You’re only one fuck-up away from the thing that you will be remembered for.
Real friends shouldn’t have to ask for help.
According to Tim Reever, selling radio without ratings builds character.
He who walks into a room with the best looking lady on their arm owns the room.
Being impartial is almost impossible.
Doug Erickson: That KVIL staff — and I mean the whole staff, news people, traffic reporter, sidekicks — may have been the best air staff ever assembled in one station. There were some WLS staffs that would be up there with you, but daypart by daypart, major and minor roles, there just wasn’t one weak link. (I Got Lucky)
Geo: Most of that incredible staff are all in the Radio Hall Of Fame, Doug, so most of Texas agrees with you.
John McQuaker: Hi George: I enjoy reading your stories. I worked at CKY FM, and then CKY 580 from 1966-1971 and worked with some of the people you name, such as Frank Roberts, Bill Grogan, George Dawes, and Embree McDermid. There are probably many others whose names I don’t remember but I got into the news side in about 1970, when I think that John Pierce was the news director. These days it’s hard to imagine that the big 3 AM stations in Wpg, (CKY, CKRC, and CJOB) each had an 8 person news team. Keep up the good work.
Geo: Thanks for the read, John, I left CKY in 1968 to become a Program Director in Saskatoon. I started in radio as a part-time board-op at CKY-FM and worked with all the legends, Jack Wells, Jimmy Darin, Gary Todd, Chuck Dann, Daryl ‘B’ Mark Parr, Deno Corrie, and J Robert Wood, as well as the names you’ve listed above. Real heady times for a lad like me who was just beginning his broadcasting career (Register)
Jerry K: Correct about the freight trains, when ACL and Seabord were around it wasn’t so bad. Add to that the mess in central Florida where Amtrak doglegs over to Tampa and back, making stops in Winter Haven Lakeland and Plant City, or did all a few years ago. One screwup and it becomes a dog and pony show. Many years ago Amtrak had a train link between New Orleans and Jacksonville but a hurricane took out the track. Still waiting for the service to resume. (Train Wreck)
Geo: When Cami was a little girl, Jerry, we took that link all the way to LA. Not a pretty ride, but very relaxing.
Marshall Quelch: I wonder how many entertainers and actors who give assistance to p.e.t.a. wear leather footwear and clothes. (Music & Sex)
Haynes Johns: (No Relation) George: I learned volumes by reading about KVIL in the trades, and watching the results in the ratings. On rare occasions when I got to hear Ron Chapman, his enthusiasm and energy were very obvious and infectious to those of us who were tuned in. We wanted to just keep listening so that we could stay plugged into his outlet of fun! Thank YOU (and Reg) for spreading the gospel and recipe for great radio. I began to learn when we became a Fairwest station in 1986. (Crazy Man Crazy)
Bill Gardner: I remember hosting a KVIL morning show in the late ’80s and wondering at 6.15 about our scheduled 6.20 newscast since Andy McCollum had yet to arrive. When he walked in about 6.19, I hit the intercom and asked if he wanted me to scrub the 6.20, he said, “No, I’ll be ready.” When I introduced him, Andy proceeded to do a newscast that sounded every bit as good and prepared as all the rest! An amazing guy and fun to work with. Saw Andy last at one of our KVIL reunions, and Bob Morrison who you also mentioned, and even the legendary Ben Laurie, miss them all personally and professionally. (News To Me)
Scott Vowinkle: Never worked for KVIL, George, but admired it from “afar” during the two years I spent in sales at KOAX and KLUV. My introduction to the Fairbanks way, however, started during my years at Butler University in Indianapolis where everyone in the Radio/TV department was enamored with WNAP/WIBC. KVIL was cut from the same cloth. Today when I start missing those great sounds, I punch up the over two hours of WNAP airchecks I have, or the fall 1981 version of Ron Chapman’s “promo majora”…the 25-minute, “Here’s what’s coming up this fall on KVIL.” Competing against them though wasn’t fun. Thanks for the memories. (Kay-Ville’s Obituary)
Geo: We used to promote the hell out of the playing of that 25-minute promo, Scott. Who we really wanted to hear it though was the management and staff of all the other radio stations. In it, we unveiled our promotion plans for the fall, hoping to intimidate them. It worked, everybody got out of the promotion game.
Kurt Johnson: Thanks for the story/obit. It was a sad day here in D when she passed. I am grateful I got to spend a few years in the PD chair with Kay. She was grand, classy, and a real presence in any room. (Kay-Ville’s Obituary)
Tim Moore: Geo, that’s where it all started for me: fall 1977 recruited by the vaunted TM Companies (Regal Row) to come to DFW from northern Michigan! TM’s VP Jerry Atchley flew up to beautiful Charlevoix overlooking the harbor, saying I’d been nominated to him by several people, and, TM couldn’t figure out why our station was using so much Masterplan and Producer Library material. He asked that I fly to Dallas and spend a couple of days; “if I didn’t want the job, it would be okay.” I was 27.
Well, 2 days inside the TM studios and TM Programming hallways convinced me it was an incredible opportunity. But the REAL education came after moving there. I kept hearing hall buzz…”KVIL this,” “KVIL that,” “Ron Chapman…” and so it went. Thus, I asked my top sales guy Mike Baer, “What is so great about KVIL?” He looked at me like I was retarded and in his Texas drawl asked, “Have you LISTENED man?” I pledge to do it.
Over the first 2-3 days, I said to myself, “Okay, it’s upbeat, positive, but…” Then, after a full week, I told Mike Baer that it was the greatest, most complete, totally aligned station I’d ever heard. When after three years I returned to Michigan to launch my own 100,000 watt “106 KHQ” (Coastal NW Michigan) I unabashedly took everything I learned from you, Fairbanks, and Ron, and applied it. I even had Ron on my Morning Show! Oh…when the first-ever Arbitron in that 7 County, 21 station regional market along the beautiful Lake Michigan coast, KHQ scored a 14 share 12-plus and won every female demo that mattered.
That all led to our large consultancy today, where we still refer to principles of “cinematic radio” and KVIL. As well, I was very proud to nominate Ron to the NAB when they asked me about a Hall of Fame suggestion. Thank God they agreed! (Kay-Ville’s Obituary)
Geo’s Media Blog is an inside look at Radio, Music, Movies, and Life. For a sneak peek at some upcoming Blogs or to see some that you may have missed, go to Geo’s Media Blog @ GeorgeJohns.com. On Twitter @GeoOfTheRadio. Sharing and commenting is appreciated.
George, your secrets were all over the radio…nobody had the smarts to understand WHY they were there.
Exactly, Bruce.