Geo’s Media Blog (Be First, Be Best, or Be Different.) New 3/22/21

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Long ago I learned that if you wanted to become successful you had to have at least one of the following in play,”Be First, Be Best, or Be Different.”

Recently, I’d written a piece about the jingles that we used at Fairbanks which were not only the best, they were also very different.
In fact everything we did at Fairbanks Broadcasting was pretty different.
Hell, we even invented a new format just so we’d sound different when we launched our our recently purchased radio station in Dallas.

When Jim Hilliard hired me to be the National Program Director of Fairbanks Broadcasting in the early ’70s, they were in the midst of acquiring KVIL in Dallas.
While waiting for FCC approval, my job was to put a plan together and have the station ready to launch when they combined the Dallas and Fort Worth rating books.

FM was very young at that time, so in order to attract more people to the FM band, we’d have to do something very extraordinary.
What we came up with was a brand new format that later became known around the world as Adult Contemporary and not only was it the first AC in America, everything KVIL did was not only the best, it was also very different.

One of the first things I did while putting the pieces together was scour the nation for some friendly-sounding top 40 jocks who would not only love Dallas, but could also create some clever things to say about it. (Most of these folks are now in the Texas Radio Hall of Fame.)

Luckily, Ron Chapman was already at KVIL so all I had to do was get him on board. (Ron and me pictured above just after I inducted him into his third hall of fame)

The way I decided to explain the new format to him was by creating a presentation tape that would not only show off every element, but also knock his socks off.

Seeing as we already had the new Heller jingles in house, all I had to do now was gather up the rest of the ingredients and blend them together.
How tough could that be?

First, I gave the award winning news guys at WIBC, Fred Heckman and Lou Palmer a copy of the Dallas Morning News which they used to create a couple of newscasts.Next, I had our sports guy, Jerry Baker, record a sportscast filled with lots of Dallas Cowboy stuff, and when I got Paul Page using a Dallas street map to do a few traffic reports from WIBC’s chopper, I got very excited.

To round it all out I gathered up a few national commercials mixed in with some great sounding ones from the Dallas agencies along with couple of contest promos from Chuck Riley. Now I was all set.

My plan was to pop into the WIBC studios on a Sunday and spend a couple of fun hours putting my tape together.
Oh, and previously, I had KVIL’s GM to send me some raw tapes of Ron which I planned on dropping in over the fronts of the special music I’d selected.
“This is gonna sound great,” I said to myself as I headed into the studio that Sunday morning.

Unfortunately, come Monday morning, there I still was when WIBC’s production director, TJ Byers, walked in to begin his workday.
There were bits of tape hanging everywhere (see photo on top) and the whole production studio was a mess.

Yes, I did finally get the tape done and after editing it down to twelve minutes, I headed for Dallas.

I’d made arrangements to meet Ron at the station on Sunday morning and after stringing up the tape and hitting the start button, I stepped out of the room.
As I was leaving, I couldn’t help but smile when I heard one of Heller’s magnificent creations burst out of the speakers, ’cause I was pretty sure that I now had Ron’s attention.

Twelve minutes later when Ron came out of the studio, he said to me, “Well, I guess there’s no sense saying I can’t do it because I just heard myself doing it. When does it start?” 

GEO’S LIFE-LINERS

With each and every mistake you make, you become smarter.

So IU, how’s March Madness going for you now that you’ve left the Bobby Kight era and have gone with politically correct coaching?

Culture creates change.

I’ve changed a lot over the years, I’ve gotten a lot better at being bad.

Have you ever noticed how excited everybody is in the local car spots on TV but when you go into their stores it’s boring?

Hey Joe, it makes no sense to raise the taxes on rich people if you don’t close the tax loopholes. What’s that you say, you can’t ’cause you use ’em too?

I once dated a woman whose job was to recruit and train bartenders. She claimed that because all bartenders steal, she only hired the ones she guessed would steal the least. Hey, maybe that’s how we should deal with the politicians.

Are black people obligated to just like black music?

COMMENTS

Dave Charles: Gypsy JOHNS eh! Well, that could be a song, George, you never know. Glad to see you rave on about radio greats like Bill Gardner. What a team you put together at KVIL. Impressive.
We’re in lockdown until at least the end of February. Damn Covid.
Safe travels, and I’ll keep the radio on for ya! (Damn Gypsys)
Geo: Thanks for the kind words and the read, Dave. Please keep the Motherland safe for me.

 

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 appreciated.

3 thoughts on “Geo’s Media Blog (Be First, Be Best, or Be Different.) New 3/22/21

  1. Be First, Be Best, or Be Different? You did ALL THREE when you invented Adult Contemporary Radio at KVIL Dallas. And it was a privilege to be a part of the original team.

  2. The tape mess reminds me of the night you and I went into CKY and the disc jockey had almost every record and album spread out on the studio floor. I remember us looking at each other and for the first time you couldn’t actually say anything for a couple of seconds.

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