Geo’s Media Blog. (Non Stop Contests) 10/29/18

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When I worked for Fairbanks Broadcasting, Jim Hilliard gave we corporate guys one rule, if you get dragged into Mr. F’s office, “Blame everything on me, then get the hell out. He loves to make decisions but we don’t want him making any because we end up having to live with them.”
Being the creative type, I was forever dreaming up new things for the upcoming survey periods which of course I had to run by our FCC attorney, MikeBader. Unfortunately, Mike was the kinda guy who liked to play it very safe, so no was his favorite word. Seeing as yes has always been my favorite, upon hearing Mr. Bader’s latest no, I finally lost it and stormed into Mr. Fairbanks office saying, “I didn’t move to Indianapolis, just to hear some lawyer tell me no all the time. I’ve created some good stuff which I believe will get us a ton of new listeners, so I need a yes now and then, and with that, I stormed out.
A few days later I received a call from a guy who told me that his name was John King (pictured above) and he’d he had been assigned the task of figuring out how to say yes to me. Wow, how cool was that, I had my own FCC attorney. I love John, and over the years not only did we put some incredible promotions together we also kept the license and I didn’t do any jail time.
The very first promotion we did together may have been our best. It was called the Magic Ticket, and I still remember describing to him exactly how it worked only to have him interrupt me halfway through my presentation with, “George, George, just tell me this, are you planning on giving away the prize?” When I told him that I was, he said, “Then why are you bothering me with it? “The “Magic Ticket” was so successful that WIBC ended up with a 19.3 share in the book plus the sales twist we put on it, produced an extra hundred grand in revenue. 
The “Ticket” shook the whole market up so badly that a rival GM bragged to his staff that he was going to make sure that we would never be able to run that contest again. The next thing we knew the FCC was demanding that we send them the details about our little promotion which included all produced promos, oneliners, and any paperwork that included the words “Magic Ticket. The FCC investigation resulted in my counterpart in sales, Dick Yancey being able to syndicate it quite successfully all over America. As he said to the potential clients, “I’ve got the only radio promotion in the country that not only gets you ratings and revenue, the FCC has already pre-approved it.” Oh did I forget to mention that the “Magic Ticket” also bought me my first Mercedes rag top?

The last project John and I worked on was the old, “Don’t Say Hello” contest, which used to blow up rating books but the FCC blew it up. Now you have to get a person’s permission before recording them or putting them on the air. After thinking about it for quite a while, I finally came up with the solution, and when I ran by John, he said, “I’m not sure it satisfies the intent of the law, but it certainly satisfies the law as it stands.” I now may be the only person in America who knows how to get “Don’t Say Hello” back on the air in its original form. Does anybody need any ratings?

GEO’S LIFE-LINERS

POLITICAL & POLITICALLY INCORRECT
Trump has accomplished something in his life that few Democrats or Republicans ever will; he was elected President of the United States.

Is the war over on drugs and terror over? Who won?

My Daddy taught me that the way you spot who’s in charge is to notice who picks up the tab. This observation may also explain the lack of females in leadership positions.

Being a so-called privileged white male, I can only imagine how much more successful I would have become had I been offered the same incentives as the so-called underprivileged.

I wonder how much Hillary gets paid for her speaking engagements now that she can no longer do any favors.

The thing of it is, we need to watch the eyes of the politicians. If they’re watching the eyes of big business, it doesn’t matter if they’re Democrat or Republican, they’re evil, don’t vote for them.

LOVE & MARRIAGE
To sleep with him or not sleep with him, That is the question Ladies? If you do, it could be the start of a beautiful life or the beginning of the end.

Men are looking for the one; women are looking for the right one.
 
MEDIA

Local radio cannot compete with the big boys on a national scale, but the “bigs” can’t compete with us locally unless we use their copy.

Isn’t it weird that even though radio is all about advertising, it doesn’t believe in advertising?

The only radio stations that can afford to do decent news now is Public Radio.
 
REALITY
The least liked day of the week has got to be Monday which might explain why most legal holidays in Canada are scheduled then including Thanksgiving.

The last to realize that they’re failures are those who failed.

How quickly morals change depends on the amount of money involved.

The thing you want the most in life will probably be the thing that ends up destroying you.

What businessman anywhere, ever went bankrupt because of war?

Fire insurance rates must be a bitch in California?

The Sox had their way with the Dodgers in Boston, and except for the 2 game, game, pretty well in LA too. Congrats Champs!

Speaking of the Sox and Dodgers, the ratings must be incredible.

Danm! USF gets beat, not much defense.

What an incredible night in South Florida. Sox win and it goes down into the 60’s.

For some sneak peeks at some upcoming Geo’s Media Blogs, go to GeorgeJohns.com, or you can google Writing Radio’s Wrongs to see a brand new Blog that Bob Christy and I are writing together about the state of today’s radio. On Twitter @GeoOfTheRadio. Sharing and commenting is much appreciated.

 

6 thoughts on “Geo’s Media Blog. (Non Stop Contests) 10/29/18

  1. I really do “get it” when you reveal…”Monday has to be is the least liked day of the week which would explain why most legal holidays in Canada are scheduled on them including Thanksgiving.
    However, I have personally held that MONDAY is my FAVORITE day to be around. Why? Because IF I can wake up on Monday, take solid food and all that, it means I have survived Saturday and Sunday (statistically. the most dangerous time period to be out and about). Hooray! Therefore, I get to show up at the studios, follow Ron in the midday, play some great music (especially ELO), run those special contests, report the weather forecast, etc., etc….and pretty much seek to earn a paycheck which might lead to my eventually breaking even. Am I alone in this? Whaddaya think? >> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJEErf9bZWM?

  2. I’ve known John King since we were basically kids. We were in broadcast classes together at the University of Nebraska School of Journalism and worked together at KLIN AM-FM in Lincoln. John was a news guy and I was an MOR jock and sometimes programmer. Good guy and smart lawyer, now spending his time in Jacksonville, FL.

    • Luckily for me Doug, when I left Fairbanks, John was the FCC attorney for a bunch of my client stations too so he knew the drill and was able to calm them.

  3. Here’s how we handled “D.S.H.” contesting at KHJ and WAVZ in 73:

    Rolltape for dialing and ringing. When the call was answered we paused the recording as soon as they said “hello” or anything other than the phrase that pays. We then read a legal disclaimer saying we were recording call for playback on the radio for a 1,000 dollar possible prize. As soon as they gave permission we explained how they could have won.
    Editing it into the call that would be played back.

    So, next time your phone rings, Don’t Say Hello, Say (‘I Like The New Waves”)(“KHJ Plays The Best Music”)

    Doubtful it would work in this era where nobody actually answers their phone, but it would still sound BIG.

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