The other day while thinking back about some of the things we did on the radio I remembered the one that we didn’t do which could have turned out to be our biggest.
At Fairbanks Broadcasting we always thought out of the box and were also on high alert watching for anything new so when I saw a research mailer that Mike McVay and George Francis did I immediately took it to Jim Hilliard. Jim liked the mailer part but thought it needed a little sizzle so back to the drawing board I went.
At Fairbanks Broadcasting we always thought out of the box and were also on high alert watching for anything new so when I saw a research mailer that Mike McVay and George Francis did I immediately took it to Jim Hilliard. Jim liked the mailer part but thought it needed a little sizzle so back to the drawing board I went.
Lotteries which were illegal in Indiana were causing a lot of controversy at the time because a lot of Hoosiers thought the State really needed the revenue from one but the government wouldn’t budge. Taking full advantage of that situation was my new plan so I came up with the line … If Indiana won’t give you a lottery WIBC will. Hilliard loved the concept and our premise was that only WIBC was big enough to give you a lottery and was also big enough to buy up all the tickets and send them to you so you better check your mailbox. We all thought that this promotion had a real shot at becoming huge so we booked the presses and I began to write.
A few days later while still in the middle of writing copy for the mailer and the promos I was summoned into Mr. Fairbanks office (pictured in the coat and hat) where he said … George are you aware that lotteries are illegal in Indiana. I told him that not only was I aware of it but I was also very excited about it and felt we were going to blow the doors off the Indianapolis ratings because of it. You’re not listening to me he said, lotteries are illegal in Indiana so WIBC will not be running this one. When I tried explaining to him that our promotion wasn’t a real lottery it was just the name of the contest, he also wasn’t listening.
OTHER ABSTRACT THOUGHTS ABOUT OTHER THINGS…
The trouble with Tiger is, like us he thinks he’s Tiger Woods so even he also expects everything to drop.
With the recent disappearances from the airways of Shotgun Tom, Charlie Tuna and Jerry of Jeff & Jer fame I believe that there is now more talent off the air than on.
It’s not personal it’s just business was something thought up by some wimpy whiney business man hoping we wouldn’t beat the shit out of him for some of his greedy actions.
We will only be remembered for what we did during out leisure hours.
Not only was Bobby Orr the best Hockey Player in the world he was also one of the smartest. Bobby still lives in Boston where he is loved so everything is free.
What with all the people in government agencies and various charities we may actually have more people helping the poor than we have poor people.
It used to be that radio stations used to have their own baseball teams but now they couldn’t field a team.
Spellcheck won’t give up, it still claims I’m spelling my daughters names incorrectly.
Back when I told my son Curtis that he was gonna spend most of his life working he better find something he liked to do he claimed that he had already found it. He liked to hang out.
A big problem with the government today is that a big percentage of them are rich and 99% of us ain’t so who are they really representing.
To be happy one was lead a balanced life but for a family to do well someone better be unbalanced and obsessed about money.
One of the slogans I heard a lot while growing up was “Better Dead Than Red”. I wonder what the new one is.
Ponder me this … Is a Woman ever sexist, a Black ever racist, or a Jew ever prejudice.
I wonder why schools even though the times have changed drastically remain “Old School”
A new menu at Duffy’s usually only means they’ve snuck the prices up on a few things.
Awesome seems to be the only buzz word to stand the test of time.
Is being able to take advantage of who you are necessarily a bad thing.
Walt Disney believed that you take care of the customer first, the employees next, then finally management. Just like radio does it right!
The best radio stations always figure out how to ring their clients cash registers.
Why does the air talent always make a big deal about saying goodbye at the end of their show, do they really think we shut down the transmitter when they leave.
Have you noticed that the road to success seems to be filled with detours and is always under construction
A lotta people have the power to say no because only special people get to say yes.
I’ve always heard that cocaine was better than sex so I know I’m never trying it and am even sorry that I tried sex.
Wow Dolphins win but so did everybody else in our division.
Homer Simpson was overheard saying that if Jesus had a gun he’d be alive today.
Speaking of Jesus he once said … It’s not about me it’s about my Father!
We are what we remember.
Most actors can sing.
Guys always got into bands so they could get women and free beer and have always wondered why do girls do it?
We all know that Mayweather doesn’t handle wining very well so I for one would like to see how he handles losing.
I would think that a lot of Americans are just like me, a little left on some issues and a little right on others, unlike politicians.
“This just in” Jed Duvall informs me that almost 10 years later WIBC did do the lottery I wrote about at the top and scorched the book.
Much much more @ GeorgeJohns.com and on Twitter @GeoOfTheRadio
“AND NOW, THE REST OF THE STORY”: As the M.B.A. “kids” employed by Saul Steinberg dismembered the pieces of the John Blair Company in 1987, I was “transferred” from “NewsRadio 97″/WFLA-AM and “Paradise 93.1″/WPDS-FM (Tampa-St. Pete-Clearwater) back home to 1070/WIBC-AM, Indianapolis in late February, 1987, to help Roy Cooper return WIBC back to # 1. While Mr. Fairbanks still had his Indianapolis office in the 9292 North Meridian Street Fairbanks Building,
(The 1982 “Three-Story Brick”, the ground-breaking of which is in the photograph above), he had sold WIBC/WNAP and KVIL to Blair at the end of 1983. Roy, the promotion manager of the time, Ms. Terri Morton, and I put together a quick “Cars and Cash” bumper sticker promotion for the summer book, then went to work for a more comprehensive direct mail piece for the 1987 fall book. Roy must have remembered your conversations with Dick Fairbanks, because he said right from the start, “Let’s call it “The Lottery” and go from there.” He knew that the window for an Indiana radio station to use the name was closing because the big election issue for the 1988 election was whether or not Indiana would legalize gaming and a lottery to raise money for education and infrastructure. Although the new owners, Sconnix, did not fully understand the nature of WIBC and the chemistry of its essential elements, Ted Nixon, Randy Odeneal and a very-reluctant Scott McQueen agreed to go ahead with a smaller version of the “Prize Catalog”, called “The Lottery” so long as the sales department delivered the goods. Roy’s enthusiasm was crucial, because, as I learned later, the Sconnix “brothers” did not trust me because of my openly-displayed photograph of James C. Hilliard on my desk at WFLA. As you noted, use of the name “Lottery” was magical, because it was self-explanatory. Promotion of the arrival of the direct-mail piece was almost too-simple, on-air and on-TV for non-listeners to WIBC, it was: “Look for THE LOTTERY from WIBC !” The promotion used the same tried-and-true basics established from “The Magic Ticket” days and resulted in the turnaround of WIBC’s ratings fortunes, back to # 2,
25-54 and 12+ and # 1, 35-64 when the book arrived in January, 1988. As always, George, you and Jim were ahead of your time. – Jed Duvall
Wow I never realized Jed that they actually did the contest years later. Can you imagine what the ratings would have been had we done it then with the first team.
Are you the same Jed Duvall who worked at WBAL in the mud 60’s? I was on air there 64 – 65. Paul Palmer. Ppalmer11@gmail.com.
Paul, Jed was probably a baby in ’64 so it couldn’t be the same guy.
Never realized Sconnix owned WIBC / WNAP! I bought our first station from them, KFKF-AM in Kansas City, Ks. Randy Odeneal was an interesting character.
I was never involved with them Bill so I don’t know much about them.
Ah the mbas from Dartmouth..finance guys who owned whdh and wbos fm plus wqsr I’m Baltimore. First station they owned wlnh in laconia nh
Jocks say goodbye–even now? That’s not focusing in the listener. A long time ago, I thought everyone moved to the “feed forward” concept. Coming up in the chair next implies that you are leaving =D
I loved the hand off from one jock to another!