My Most Read Blogs Of The Year. #2 “Some Other Guy” (Aug 14/17)

Download PDF
 

I was trading messages (rants) yesterday with my old friend from Detroit, the legendary Jim Harper whom I’d worked with at WNIC. (I kept the coffee cups full). Jim (pictured above) told me that he felt sorry for the young broadcasters today who don’t know who Johnny Carson is. He went on to say, “Unless you study the masters, you’re relegated to make the same miserable salary you’re paid today, or worse, get fired.”
I agree with Jim because for as long as I’ve been in radio I know of only two concepts that work in the morning and they both were created almost 100 years ago. Unfortunately, all you radio station owners, the much more music morning show ain’t one of them. However, if you’re a radio consultant, it’s the easiest concept in the world to sell to them. I’m not sure what Jim’s favorite is because he’s done both of them successfully. Mine is the one Jack Benny invented which Johnny Carson along with Jerry Seinfeld and several others copied as did Hall Of Famer Ron Chapman in Dallas at KVIL and Scott Shannon, another Hall Of Famer, at Z100 in New York. 
The other concept was conceived by Laurel and Hardy, and used by Abbott and Costello, Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis, Rowen and Martin, the Smothers Brothers, John Madden, and by Jeff & Jer on the radio in San Diego. Although Jeff  ‘n Jer, now that I think about it, kinda combined both of them as did Loren and Wally at WKLB in Boston. Anyway, once you come to understand these concepts, you’ll no longer have to be nice to management; they’ll have to be nice to you. But then again that only leads to tax problems.

SOME MORE RANTS

The only way you make any money working in radio is by making management afraid that you’re gonna leave. Hey don’t look now but from where I’m standing, they don’t look at all nervous.

I’ve always been comfortable being the “other guy.” Being the guy in a relationship is more expensive and you’re always worried about who the “other guy” is?

Sometimes giving reminders instead of instructions may be more productive.
 
How much land did Israel have in 1948 compared to today?
 
Are any of the folks who do hard drugs non-smokers?
 
Occasionally men grow weary of begging and need to be begged.
 
Transgender and Transsexual are not the same.
 
Why do the radio executives today make more money than those who came before them? Is it harder to lose money?
 
Is it better not to know what you’ll never have?
 
You’re always pretty good at what you like doing.
 
Success is located at the end of a long and winding road.
 
The most expensive women in the world are as follows:
(1) Your Wife
(2) Your Mistress
(3) Your Daughter
(4) Your Girlfriend
(5) Your Mom
(6) Your Sister
(7) An Acquaintance
 
I remember a time when some people thought they were hip because they didn’t dig The Beatles.
 
One of the smartest things Ted Rogers ever did in Canada was to buy CHLO in St. Thomas and then give it back to them. Albeit with a different frequency.
 
Young and old alike will listen to a young deejay, but only the old will listen to someone who doesn’t sound young.
 
Is it just me or did Dick Chaney always look evil?
 
I understand why Mr. Businessman wants the government to send millions of dollars to other countries, what I don’t understand is why they think we do?
 
I wonder how much money businesses are losing while saving money not having enough staff to serve their customers?
 
Knowing what you should do and your doing it, is light years apart.
 

Somewhere between the Republicans and the Democrats lies the truth.

The most exhilarating thing that you can do is accomplish a task that previously looked impossible.

Guys are a hell of a lot more fun to hang with than women, just ask the girls.

It’s true that the folks listen to the radio, they don’t watch it, but if you don’t get them to look at it once in a while, find a new trade.

Unless you’ve got skin in the game, your opinion doesn’t count.

The only break that means anything on the radio is the one you’ve got coming up.

Wow, bad boy, Jay Cutler signed with the Dolphins. I hope they told him that they were paying him ten mill for his arm, not his mouth.

I’ve always been a student of radio but it ain’t been teaching me nuthin’ lately

Much More @ GeorgeJohns.com and on Twitter @GeoOfTheRadio #1 tomorrow

 

 

2 thoughts on “My Most Read Blogs Of The Year. #2 “Some Other Guy” (Aug 14/17)

  1. Here’s a new rant for ya, George:
    Why do stations insist on producing and running “station-promos” that feature little clips of hit songs, followed by some kind of image line?
    Listeners are THERE…you don’t need to run a promo that sounds like it’s explaining what you do…people already know that. These promos would be fine if they ran on the web or as a TV spot, but it’s senseless to run these at the front or back of a stop set…it’s clutter.
    I’m I sure I know WHY they do it…I’ve been guilty myself:
    PD’s and Production people get off on it. It’s audio-gratification for them.

    • You nailed it, Jim, “Audio-gratification” which I’m also guilty of. Hey, I’m an old production so I love promos even though I know that nothing happens until a person of influence (a little Plato for ya) endorses whatever it is that you are trying to communicate live.

Leave a Reply to JIM HARPER Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *