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GeorgeJohns.com |
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e-mail About George Johns
Present - Talent
Coach and Radio Consultant. |
January 17, 2011
I wonder how Top 40 would have worked on radio if there was no TV.
I don't know any 20 year olds who listens to talk radio or care about politics. So why would anybody think the 22 year old psycho in Arizona would listen to talk radio. He'd have to be crazy ... Oops!
Charles Adler claims young people today prefer praise over sex or money. Well that claim if true certainly proves I'm not young anymore.
I think air talent should take a lesson from Eastwood, Stallone and Arnold. In the roles where they didn't talk much most of those movies turned out to be blockbusters and what little they did say was so memorable that people still repeat those lines even to this day.
Warren Cosford claims that You Tube gets 2 Billion views a day. Time to dig out those old unreleased Jury tapes and get after it baby!
While reminiscing with my brother Reg the other day I was telling him that I didn't remember ever getting anything I really wanted by chasing it. Usually I had to wait for it to come to me which in most cases it never did. He responded with ... Maybe you just didn't chase it hard enough Bro. Hmmmmmm if there's any truth to that statement you might want to consider standing back. I'm almost certain your not prepared for the kind of tenacity mixed with intensity that is about to occur.
I've always had a long standing policy about never talking over dead air unless I can get a promo out of it. Now I'm thinkin' it's time to reinstate that policy at a couple of talk stations I currently work with.
I was reading somewhere that the main reason a woman would cheat on her husband would be because their man actually did everything she wanted him to do. Real men don't do that and every once in a while a woman just needs a real man.
I think good Radio becomes great when life is reflected on it with a slightly distorted view.
I'm pretty sure if the only thing we could have watched American Idol on was a black and white 12'' we still would have.
Today I drove by what used to be the most beautiful car in the world ... A Jaguar XKE. But now it sorta just looks funny rolling along on those little skinny tires.
The first rule of show "Show Biz" is to get noticed, but unfortunately if you don't have any talent that's not a good thing.
When I was doing the CLASS/CLASSY format with my brother Reg I always had to bring someone else with me on the road so we could get some work done while doing a market visit. The Manager's job was to inspire and motivate his boss above him plus his staff below him. He had nobody to complain to so he chose me. Seeing as GM's now have no one to get rid of a little steam with may be the reason a lot them are turning into mean spirited people with little or no manners.
No matter how much the "Geeks" so want it to be about technology, it's always going to about the Artists.
I just loved and looked forward each week to reading Claude Hall's column in Billboard even though I never got to be in it. I feel very good now though about finally forgiving Claude for his oversight.
Ermanno Barone claims Shakespeare was just the valet parking guy of his day and was given all the plays. Ermanno is going to shoot a movie about it very soon. He told me that The Bard of Avon was also quite the womanizer, so I'm thinkin' ... Hey maybe "The Play Wasn't The Thing"
Mark Twain said Shakespeare, or someone calling themselves Shakespeare wrote all those wonderful plays.
Anytime JEFF & JER of San Diego do a radio session they claim all they really do is what I taught them to do some twenty years ago. I always write down all the specific examples they use then take them back out on the road with me. Good stuff!
Speaking of JEFF & JER what the radio community fears most is what radio station in San Diego is in trouble. When Jeff and Jer go back on the air soon they will attract a lot of business from clients who they have always had a good relationship with. I figure little of that money is going to be new money so it has to come from somewhere and somewhere ain't going to have a good 2011
One of the things Radio has never worked on and should have was how to make the client so big and classy that the product the client was selling became much bigger and more desired by the mere mention of the clients name in the advertising. Mercedes, Rolex and Tiffany's come quickly to mind.
Speaking of sales I was talking to Brent Farris and Tom Skinner about a KZST project when somehow my involvement with Forever Plaid The Movie came up. I explained that an old buddy of mine from Transcona who owns the movie Ermanno Barone had asked for my help with the :60 he has on the front and back of the early spring showing of his movie on PBS. Brent quickly jumped in with ... When George Johns goes over to the dark side and starts peddling spots we're all doomed.
I recently asked the Multi Talented Rich Stevens what he was best in the World at. He immediately claimed he was the World's Best Self Promoter.
Speaking of Rich he said "My Page" GeorgeJohns.com sucked and he was going to fix it. I can hardly wait.
Ron Chapman recently said I was possibly the only person in the world who could persuade him to go back on the air. BUT DON'T !
Accountants can not tell the difference between good talent and not so good talent, so they of course go with the cheapest talent and that's where we are.
Most air talent are more interesting on the air than off.
Back when Madonna was first becoming very hot I got a Memo from Mr. Fairbanks demanding that she be pulled off all his radio stations because it had come to his attention that she was a "Slut" I called all the PD's and told them we couldn't say Madonna's name anymore. We successfully pulled the "Slut" off the air but continued to play her records.
Dire Straits keyboardist Guy Fletcher after hearing that the group's 25 year old hit Money For Nothing was banned from Canadian Radio because it contained the word "faggot" said well there goes most of the Rap music because it contains the "N" word.
New Media simply means, finally accountable.
I've painfully noticed that Smart Phones aren't smart enough to spell.
The only times field goals make any sense to me is just before the half and at the end of the game for the win.
Most great Radio Stations have a "Cause" but I don't think paying down debt is really a good enough "Cause" to produce anything of any significance.
I've been accused of a lot of things but normalcy is not one of them.
There is nothing more important to a human than his name.
January 10, 2011 Did Reggie Bush, Heisman Trophy loser, turn out to be a disappointment or what. Wouldn't you love to hear about some oil company going bankrupt. Hell even with the millions and millions BP spent on the oil spill they still seem to be doing just fine.
The new jargon that now comes in with nearly every audition aircheck is ... I'm PPM friendly.
I understand in San Francisco they have free WiFi in public housing. Wow!
Everything can be done cheaper except greatness.
It costs $30 more a tank to fill your car up in Canada than it does in the U.S. How's that for free health care.
Somehow someway you have to make your station's image bigger than your music.
I wonder why Arbitron goes out of it's way to diss AM Radio. Kinda like HD did also.
I think cell phone cameras must have scared off all the UFO's
Bill Yde once told me that he wasn't going to marry any more beautiful women because they get you into too many bar fights. This Christmas it was easy to see he got over that. But one can only wonder how well he's doing in the bars.
Radio should simply be a mere reflection of life slightly exaggerated.
I think Lobbyists do society a lot more harm than good but unfortunately the only people who can get rid of them are the only people who derive any benefit from them.
Corporations are just like sharks the only people they are fearful of, are larger sharks.
OK I just checked You Tube again for the hits on WHO DAT? - THE JURY and discovered the total hits for THE JURY now are at 2500. Wow I wonder if Tommy Nast is ready to sign us and record some new product. I know for a fact that Bruce Walker our singer is still writing and my Daughter Candis still has my 58 Strat. We could kick off our World Tour at Tommy's Canyon Club in LA. Hey maybe we could even get my one of my old pal Randy Bachman bands to open for us, what would be better do you think The Guess Who or Bachman Turner. Tommy can you say signing bonus.
The reason I took up the Guitar long ago was because I saw Chet Atkins playing one on TV and he made it look so easy. Kinda like how Ron Chapman and Crew made KVIL sound so easy to do. Good Luck!
Great Radio Stations always did two special things, they got good ratings and they rang the cash register. Both the agencies and the clients were very happy.
PPM now has effectively eliminated the client. Is this going to have a good ending.
It's interesting to me that Mr. Business Man has different rules than the rest of us. Like how does the person who took their company to bankruptcy still get to run the company.
In the PPM world we now live in, you have to be bigger than music if your going to talk. Hows that show prep going ???
When I was a PD in Toronto the station gave me a brand new car and it had FM Stereo in it. One day I turned it on to hear how it sounded, on came Chicago and I went OH OH I hear the future. I was reminded of that moment the other day when my Brother Reg's partner, Hamid Badiozamani turned on his Smart Phone and was listening to a radio station from a couple of thousand miles away. He plugged it into some speakers just like he does in his car and the sound was incredible. OH OH I think I just heard the future again.
Tim Moore and I were exchanging e mails about the fact that there needs to be a higher calling than money to have a successful business. I read somewhere that when Steve Jobs wanted to lure a big executive away from Pepsi he said to him ... Do you want to sell sugared water all your life or come over here and change the World.
It's fairly easy to make money you just have to dedicate your life to it.
My old friend from Transcona, Ermanno Barone has asked me to get involved in a movie project he and Academy Award winning Producer Benni Korzen are doing together. It's called Forever Plaid and is based on an Off Broadway show that has been playing successfully for the last 20 years. PBS has already picked it up for a showing in the Spring. I don't know much about the movie business but as my daughter Candis said ... Dad you've already re invented yourself a couple of times, why not again.
I had dinner a year or so ago at the Ritz in Aspen where I noticed the waiter had a slightly different sounding English accent. I asked him where he was from and he replied, Wales. I responded with, I have a Welsh name and he said, what might that be. When I told him Johns he said, Ahh son of King John. My research project was completed at that moment. Tim Reever recently went through a similar exercise and discovered his family name meant, "Keeper Of The Kings Pigs". Tim's research continues.
Other than irritating people what you think has very little to do with what you know.
I think Women are phenomenal but be careful because like most phenomenons they may fit into the ... "Things that appear too good to be true usually are" category.
It seems our new media star Ted Williams was a no show at his first gig in New York. He didn't have proper ID so they wouldn't let him on the plane. When you live in the street I don't think having proper ID is a priority. Oh and speaking of 2nd chances what ever happened to all those urban folk that Oprah set up a few years ago. Oh I'm sorry was that not politically correct to ask that.
Where is it written that the police are above the law and have totally different rights than us.
Rich people only care about expenses, people who want to get rich only care about how to make more money.
Once you work for Jim Hilliard you're ruined. Your only hope after Jim, is to work for yourself.
January 3, 2011 Ahh 2011 a brand new year but the same old quest for Faster Cars, Older Whiskey and Younger Women continues.
Things you will never hear Michael Vick say ... " Hey I don't have a dog in this fight but. " Jerry Del Colliano claims PPM does an excellent job of measuring all non listening. Ever since I was a young lad I have always wanted to be somebody. It wasn't until I moved my family to California and was sitting there watching my Daughter Candis sing her heart out as the lead in her High School's production of South Pacific and I was thinking about all the ceremonies I had attended through out her High School years where she received many awards for her scholastic achievements that I started to realize I had already achieved my life long goal. I was somebody, I was Candis' Dad. Every once in a while some stations have me come to their market and listen around to see if I can find any opportunities for them. Most times I can usually spot a few things that might improve our situation. But what I started to notice at every presentation of my ideas was the PD's always claimed they were already doing all that. Is there really such a thing as Too Fun, Too Beautiful, Too Fast, Too Big, Too Sexy, Too Wise, Too Strong, Too Funny, Too Majestic, Too Exciting, Too Clear, Too Healthy, Too Good, Too Naughty, Too Mysterious, Too Sensuous, Too Nice, Too Peaceful, Too Smart, Too Friendly, Too Reasonable, Too Truthful, Too Perfect, Too Special, Too Rare, Too Happy, Too Pretty, Too Solid, Too Ravishing, Too Grand, Too Faithful, Too Loyal, Too Successful Too Talented, Too Good, Too Wonderful, Too Together, Too Lovely, Too Hip, Too Today, Too Timely, or Too Much Money. As I sit here at Duffys watching Coach K on the giant flat screen I can only wonder what being the best in the world at what you do feels like. If you ever sexually harass someone at work you better be good looking. Now that Tiger is free to chase women I wonder if he still does. I just noticed on You Tube that the total hits for WHO DAT? - THE JURY was around 1500. Should I be putting the group back together for a World tour. Speaking of the World Warren Cosford says the World's population will hit 7 Billion this year. Everybody buys the media obsession with 25 - 54 demo until they reach 55. Lately when I meet an attractive woman and ask them what they do they inevitably they say, Real Estate Brokers. Is there anyone more attractive than a recently divorced woman. I wonder what wonder diets they found. My favorite license plate in Canada was Friendly Manitoba. I don't think we'll see that one in Quebec. I was just reading that TSL for Radio was down again in 2010. But I think if they added back in that hour or so of early morning listening the PPM device misses each day maybe time spent listening would actually be up. Everybody loves Mr.Free he's kinda like Santa we wish he really existed though deep down we know he doesn't, because there just is no such thing as a free lunch.
December 28, 2010 March 15th, 1972, the day my whole world changed forever. Things before that seemed exciting but nothing like what was in store for me. Earlier in "The Birth Of AC Radio" I had written about how I had just become the new Program Director of CFTR in Toronto. The current ratings there were dismal so we needed to come up with something new and we needed to do it real soon. What complicated the creative process was the fact that our radio license stated that we must program to adults and adults only and believe me they were not talking about X- Rated material. What we came up with would be best described today as maybe soft CHR. We launched it on March 15th, 1972. The format consisted of nothing but softer sounding top 10 hits and we prayed the softer sound would appeal to a lot of young women but kids would be our death knoll. The ratings gods smiled upon us and blessed us with many young adults but very few kids. The big surprise for me was Ted Rogers made me the new Station Manager because of his joy for our early success. Wow, now as I look at it today I'm kinda thinking ... Hey not bad for a Transcona kid going from a board op in Winnipeg to a Station Manager in Toronto in less than four years. But even as good as things were going how was I to know it was merely the beginning of what turned out to be the stuff only dreams are made of.
By this juncture Jim who was headquartered in Indianapolis was now the CEO of Fairbanks broadcasting which owned several radio stations around the country. I could hardly wait to hear Jim's comments about my great air staff. I never really thought the music was that special. To me it was just music to keep our license by and in fact I thought it sounded rather vanilla. Jim finally called me to discuss what he heard on the tape. I asked him right off what he thought of my air talent expecting him to say how lucky I was that I got to start a brand new project with such a superb air staff. But instead he surprised me by saying they all sounded a little stiff to him and he quickly brushed the subject aside because he said he wanted to talk about what I was doing with the music. He claimed he had never quite heard a musical sound like before and really liked how it blended together. He thought that each individual record sounded like a small part of one big record. It was the first time I ever thought about our music being anything more than a defensive move. Jim was convinced that because the music sounded so special and different to him it was what was attracting the listeners, not the Jox. He said he thought I was really onto something. Ahh the music! With Jim's special acknowledgement of it I focused on trying to make it sound even better. One of the things we did was colour (a little Canadian for ya) code the records and put them in their own shoe boxes. The format clocks the Jox followed required them to play certain colours at certain times and in a certain order. These colours kinda represented different sounds and emotions and the colours were a way of blending them together. A couple years later in Dallas at KVIL we took this blend to new heights by adding nature sounds to the special sweeps. You know stuff like, thunderstorms, surf, wind chimes, crickets, birds and babbling brooks. We mixed a female voice into the middle of it all whispering the call letters sorta like the wind saying them. But this is getting a way ahead of my little story. To continue forward with this I have to regress a little. While starting my radio career as a board op at CKY in Winnipeg I was inhaling radio knowledge daily at the speed of sound when all of a sudden Jim resigns and heads back to the States and a couple of the American Jox he brought in also leave. What a shock! A very exciting era in Winnipeg came to a close. CKY never sounded as good again but something positive did emerge out of that whole experience, a bunch of the young Turks who were exposed to those incredible radio days soon went on to run Canadian Radio. Not long after Jim had left and I was wondering what the hell do I do now I get a call from him. Jim had just started a new job as Program Director of WFIL where he was launching a brand new format in Philadelphia and wanted me to come and do all the promos. I got on an airplane for the first time in my life and headed to Philly to talk with him about it. Being at WFIL for a couple of days I noticed they had same excitement in the air we used to have at CKY. That was the good news the bad news was I was a Canadian which brought the job interview to a screeching halt when we found out immigration just put your name on a very slow moving list. Back to Winnipeg I go. But now I am determined to get back that goose bump producing feeling I used to have at CKY. One of the neat things Jim had done for me before he left Canada was make me the Production Director. So next, because I was a musician, I decided to chase the Music Director's title too. I soon turned those two titles into a Program Director's job at CKOM in Saskatoon. I didn't know much about programming but I was a quick study and hoped I would be up to speed very soon. I kinda dedicated myself mostly to improving the work environment at my new station. My philosophy was and still is, " If it's happening in the halls it will soon be happening on the air." Years later Lee Masters (Jarl Mohn) told me he stole my saying and my attitude with which to start his very successful E ! Entertainment on TV. You don't get to Toronto directly from Saskatoon so along the way I had to make a couple of stops in Sudbury and Ottawa. At each station I tried as best I could to install a fun attitude in the building. But in Toronto I for one may have taken that fun part just a little too far. Those Vodka Martini lunches are very dangerous. After a few months Jim calls me again but this time he has two items he wants to discuss. The first being he has just bought a radio station in Dallas Texas and he is very excited about all the possibilities. The second thing was he just found out that my name on the immigration list was near the top of the list after all this time. He then when on to say that with the purchase of the new station the company was getting too big for him to handle by himself and he wanted me to be his new National Program Director. The way Jim ran the company everything came out of corporate so he needed me to move to Indianapolis as soon as possible so we could pick up the tempo. Once again I pack my family in the car and we headed out across the Canadian Border. While going through US customs I swear I heard the thunk of huge Iron door closing behind me. I remember my wife Lana asking me why we are doing this as we headed south to Indiana. Ted Rogers has been very good to us she went on to say and I thought you said things were going very well. I explained to her that I longed for those days when I didn't have to instantly come up with new stuff for the radio everyday and didn't have to fight off lame promotion ideas nor get into fights all the time with the sales department, not to mention the f%*king engineers. I am now going back to what I used to do for Jim. I'm just going to be the implementer all his great ideas. This is going to be just like the old CKY days, I wont have a care in the world and we will live happily ever after. At my much anticipated reunion meeting with Jim he tells me to spend my first week monitoring all our stations. We would have our next meeting a week at the end of the week and discuss all my upcoming duties. On Friday morning as I excitedly sit down with my old/new boss I feel pretty sure I'm ready to have a fairly intelligent conversation with him. Jim begins the conversation with George I'm thinking once we take over Kay - Ville why don't you just put that cute music on you were running in Toronto and we'll fill with it until they combine the Dallas and Fort Worth rating book. We'll discuss what we're really going to do then. Now tell me about your first week here in Indy. Well Jim as you suggested I listened to all our stations and I feel pretty much up to date on everything your doing. Good he says so what do you want to do next. I told him I was standing by to install what ever it was he wanted to do and promised he would be very happy with my implementation of all his usual great ideas. I even went on to say how fun I thought this was all going to be for me and how I was really looking forward to being his Lieutenant again. I thought this was some quality suck up stuff on my part and only hoped it went over well. Jim looked out the window for a moment, turned to me, put his elbow on the desk, leaned in, looked me straight in the eye and said ... George if I knew what to do I wouldn't have hired you! December 14, 2010 Steve Lapa told me that John Eliott pointed out that history shows us the people who end up changing the World - the great political, social, scientific, technological, artistic, and even sports revolutionaries - are always nuts until right, then they are geniuses. Reid Reker said if Bruce Buchanan was still on KVIL he wouldn't need any show prep. Tim Reever told me that in order to truly coach someone they must first give you permission to do so. What you perceive the truth to be in no way ever changes what the truth really is according to my old pal Aristotle. Cheryl Simone Miller claims the reason women say the things they do to men is because they don't have the physical strength to just punch our lights out and be done with it ... So they have to do something ! 23% of the population are born leaders, the rest of us have to act like we are. Just because it's not politically correct doesn't change whether it's true or not. PPM claims 75% of your listening comes from your fans. When your a huge company and you use all your power to try and squash the little guy you better get it done because your f#%ked if you don't. Just ask Jim Hilliard ! Margaret Mayer told me that Edison claimed ... "Many of life's failures are those that did not realize how close to success they were when they gave up". Just because PPM is deaf in the early morning doesn't mean the people are. It has been said that the best time of your life may be to be stuck inside snuggled up to someone you care about in front a roaring fire as a winter blizzard rages outside your window. The way it works in "CPA" radio is, in order to pay the new 60 million dollar deal for Ryan Seacrest the money needs to come from somewhere so I would look for bunches of budget cuts company wide. What's that you say the cuts have already begun. Just got done with a Christmas gathering at my brother Reg's house and have to admit there is just something magical in the air when some very accomplished and fun broadcasters like Roy Laughlin, Reg Johns, Bill Yde, Jack McCoy, Sam James, Ellen K, Jim Smith, Hamid Badiozamani, Ernie Kovaks, Barb Lovenguth and Tracy Johnson all gather together for a festive occasion. Lee Abrams said you are winning the music battle every time you play a cool song. How come they are already referring to Cam Newton as Cash Newton. I think the main job of the station PD is to make the radio station sound as good as it's biggest fans already think it is. In the early days of KVIL we merely eliminated Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll and added the "Celebration of Women" as our secret sauce. William Yde wrote me that 92.3% of all statistics are made up on the spot. Even a bad plan superbly executed has a very good shot at succeeding. Maybe if I didn't have so much fun my whole life I would be much younger now. Too late to stop now! Plato said to become a very successful and well paid morning host you need to be ... "A Principle Of Influence" The responsibility of the Program Director is to make the radio station sound as good as it's biggest fans already think it is. Radio has to figure out how to do product placement as well as Nike did when they got Michael Jordan to wear the shoes. Socrates said it's what's above the bottom line that causes the bottom line.
December 7, 2010 Is it possible to buy anything anymore without them trying to up sell you.
I understand in Alaska that STD's are growing at an alarming rate for some reason. Being originally from Transcona where the snow is already 3 feet high and rising whisky was only one of the 2 things you did to excess while waiting for the snow to melt. The only thing that could slow down their problem I think may be "Global Warming"
I don't know why it is but as soon as a company gets profitable their super friendly service seems to go all to hell.
60 mill for Ryan good for him. Hey those kind of numbers aren't the usual radio chump change. In fact it just may sound good enough to tempt Howard to start thinking about coming back and how far behind could Jeff & Jer and maybe even Ron Chapman be.
Betsy Cameron told me that even Haiti is a nice place to visit if you know some rich folks you can stay with.
The real neat thing about having two strong daughters is if a woman ever does me wrong I will just turn her over to them.
Don't you wonder who it was that informed Women they could say things to us that if said by another man would lead to his barely surviving the ordeal.
Jim Hilliard once told me when he first got into radio he learned every job in the building so someday he would be prepared to run a radio station. Well I guess that just about disqualifies everyone running radio today.
If I wasn't paid to do so I don't think I would listen to much radio anymore.
If you wanted to hear the hit music from "GLEE" what radio station would that be on.
The only way to be happy is to stop managing so many different people. You know, the person you are at work, the one you are with your friends, the other with family, the one with the neighbors, the one with clients etc. I've got it down to two now. The person who is with my daughters and the one who isn't.
I started in radio when I was 20 and my first radio boss Jimmy Darin such a fun work environment that I would rather be at work than home. When I had the opportunity to create a work environment I tried to pay it forward which worked out well for the industry but not so well for marriages.
When I first went consulting I officed at KOGO/KPRI in San Diego. Tom Shadek who was part owner of the company was kind enough to give up his office for me plus also left behind a couple of bottles of Whisky behind to be used for medicinal purposes. Not long after the entire staff would return to my office each afternoon at 5 for "Toddy Time". It became so crowded each day that I had to give Reid Reker his first promotion to that of Maitre d' just to handle all the reservations.
I think each and every project needs a perfect balance between ... What you've always wanted to do, what you like doing, and what should be done.
In 1983 my CPA Roger Snowdon looked up from doing my taxes and said ... Congratulations George your a Millionaire! Wow your kidding, thank you Mother Kay Ville. Uh Roger just one thing are you still holding that Mil for me??
It is said that it is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all. But how many do you get to lose before you officially become a loser.
I used to hear about Bush's approval ratings everyday but I never seem to hear about Obama's very often. Is there some special reason for this.
Mike Vance the Dean of Walt Disney University taught me a long time ago that the great business leaders realize their main role at work is to support what the staff wanted to do. Of course that puts a lot of pressure on the staff to come up with something to support.
When a team gets together and decides they are not going to lose they seldom do.
Rich Stevens said most people don't act stupid ... It's the real thing.
Bruce Buchanan e mailed me that if he was still on the air at KVIL his show prep would all be done because he would just steal all my lines.
November 29, 2010 Isn't the real answer for radio to bankrupt it just like they did GM. How did that all turn out. Once they finally convince us to convert everything to electric I wonder if we can begin to even imagine how much electricity will cost. Time to check again ... Yep I still hate the word NO ! If every politician we elect is finally totally politically correct that's sure going to make for a wussy bunch on the hill. Nobody "gets" a new radio format until it gets ratings then it gets awesome sounding. Most women go through a "Bad Girl" phase. You can only hope you are near by when it happens. Is the reason we don't carry around presentation tapes of great radio stations anymore is because we don't have tape or because we don't have any great radio stations anymore. Jo Myers said she was able to read, absorb, and enjoy my story on The Birth of A/C Radio even with " Chemobrain." Most women will eventually tire of all your great stories. At that point you have but three choices. (a) Stop telling the stories (b) Create new stories (c) Get a new woman and go with the old stories again. Speaking of telling your old stories, when you hear the line ... You've already told me that story and not only that you have told it to me several times. Now it's become time for you to figure out just what part of all the household stuff do you want to take with you. Be careful of what you dream because it could very well come true. A few years ago I had some surgery scheduled and as the day too quickly approached I was getting very uncomfortable with the whole project so I called the Doc and spoke to his head nurse about wanting to delay the operation and get another opinion or two. I expected her to chastise me for waiting so long. Instead she said, Mr. Johns we all heal ourselves we just to need to find a real good assistant that we are comfortable with. 73% of the listeners want the air talent to be some sort a benevolent dictator. They want to be told what to do, what to like, where to go, when to go etc. They just want to be told to do it nicely. Hey, I think thats what America wants too they're just tired of trying to figure out who the hell to vote for. Women are still a mystery to me but Mr. Business man sure isn't. Have you ever noticed that older people seem a little bitter. I must be getting ancient because I'm pissed most of the time now. I just love all the special things money can buy, not the money. I used to remember when there was "0" tolerance for dead air. Engineers lived in fear of it, Dee Jays were scared to death when it happened on their shows, PD's hated it. But It must of been unimportant all along because I hear it all the time now. One of our favorite tricks that my Brother Reg and I used to do when we were doing "The Class Format" all over America, was to find out who the most popular Morning Person was in that town who was still playing music on AM. We would hire them and then put up a Billboard that said if you like So & So in the morning your going to love hearing them in Stereo on **** Jamie Gold once said to me I should consider changing my name to George "ask me about my daughters" Johns. Have you ever noticed a lot of folks e mail addresses are much too cute to remember. Greg Budell says we spent 7.8 Billion Dollars this year on 67,000 TSA Agents looking for terrorists at the Airport. Number of terrorists apprehended so far - 0 In the recent election I don't think we really elected anybody, mostly we just fired a bunch we didn't like and we'll do it again. Old Money is usually philanthropic and understands wealth has "pay it forward' responsibilities. New Money often feels "entitled" and can never hoard enough. Most of us are kinda prepared for the worst but very few of us are prepared for the best. Sharon Henwood said the only good thing about her eventually working for the Government of Canada was she got to do it in Canada's mildest Climate (Victoria) and it was pensionable. There's never been any rewards or punishment it has always been the consequences of your actions that your going to have to deal with. Education is what determines your standing in society's pecking order. When it's perfectly safe at all times and everything is good for you, then what? As the Gold family always say and I whole heartily and enthusiastically agree ... Your freedom ends at the tip of my nose ! I think the GOAT of the game should get equal billing with the PLAYER of the game.
November 22, 2010 I've written about having the privilege of working for three broadcasting pioneers/legends during my early years in Canada. The first was Lloyd Moffat for whom I toiled for as a rookie board op at CKY-FM in Winnipeg back when FM wasn't cool. My job was to roll a bunch of Ray Conniff records together with a lot of very smooth instrumentals that made up the bulk of our beautiful music format. The thing I liked best about Ray Conniff's music was the pretty girls on the fronts of his albums. As I checked out those front covers each day I started to pick up on something. Ray who did adult versions of Top 40 hits only seemed to cover the ones you could sing along with as you tapped your toe. That somewhat strange sound of his was slowly seeping its way into my head. Still, I had no idea that experience would play a big role in the birth of Adult Contemporary Radio. now I plan on trying to appeal to younger adults instead of people my parents age. Are you going to play any rock was their next question. No, I'm going to play artists that younger adults enjoy. Great acts like Roberta Flack, The Carpenters, Bread, and even some of the prettier stuff by Elvis,The Beatles plus a little of the melodic Motown sound. Are teens involved in your new plan they sternly asked. No, I just want all the young adults that are not being presently served on the Toronto radio dial. There was a momentary pause in the conversation then next thing I heard was almost like I hard it in slow motion. We have no quarrel with your plan but we would be remiss in not telling you that if too many teens show up in your ratings we will suspect that your not complying with your adult requirement and we will revisit this conversation. Be assured at that meeting it wont be as pleasant as this one has been today. Thank you for visiting with us. The meeting was over and I think I just heard my favorite word ... Yes ! I was so excited I almost didn't need a plane to get back to Toronto. Bruce Devine was an already there board op who made the final cut. He now is kinda CFTR's historian and recently reminded me about the time the competition approached him to sell them all my programming memos. He claimed when he nervously came to me about it I just laughed and told him he should of taken the deal because I would have written him some very special ones and we could have split the money. It didn't stop there they even had one of their board ops planted on our staff but we had him spotted, you couldn't miss him with all that red hair. They play mean in the big city. November 15, 2010 There appears to be a viscous mob in Chicago running through the hallways of everything Tribune and eliminating anybody who can spell Randy's name. I wonder if as they rape and pillage they are chanting that phony slogan business guys love to use ... This Isn't Personal, It's Only Business. Russ Morley taught me a long time ago that if sex ever comes up in a conversation on a date, thats going to be the extent of it. According to Beau Weaver, Native Americans believe evil people don't have any songs so as long as who ever is around is singing, you have no fear. Charlie Van Dyke a while back told me that the thing he hated most about doing battle with we FM upstarts at KVIL when he was doing mornings at KLIF was all the Ron Chapman Billboards. He said every where he looked all he saw was Ron Chapman and he felt it was a little like being in the middle of an unfair fight not to mention how intimidating it seemed. I told him I didn't know how to break this to him but back then we only had enough money for one Billboard so we decided to put it outside his studio window. My brother Reg reminded me recently about how when we worked in Canada, by law a radio station could only give away $5000.00 a month. We programmers all spent most of our time figuring out how to make it sound like a lot more. You know stuff like a $5000.00 winner on the last day of the month and again the next day on the 1st day of the month. Today radio just wishes it had $5000.00 to give away. If It's true it ain't braggin' For me music on radio is a conceptual thing. Country music is fairly easy to spot but now that kind of music is even getting blurred. The listeners know what they want to hear on each station and our job is to figure it out. But first we have to agree on just what kind of Restaurant we have here. I have worked with a lot of great talent over the years but I must admit this is the first time an on air personality has left us and made me feel proud about it. Joyce Kaufman has been hired away from 850 WFTL by newly elected Congressman Allen West to be his Chief Of Staff. You go Joyce! Oh and when you get to Washington we sure could use a little help with our night time signal. Wait a minute what are all those TV trucks doing outside ... Whats that you say, Joyce is staying. Great! The hell with the night time signal. Who counts the vitamins and calories in all the food. They're not just guessing are they. I have always been overly impressed by people who can do things I can't do. There is only one way to make decent money in Radio is to make management afraid your going to leave. Great humor comes from great pain. The thing I look for the most in air talent is their ability to observe life and then comment on it in a slightly exaggerated emotional manner. One of the few times I have empathy with a radio sales rep is when they introduce them selves to a potential client and the client responds with ... I've never heard of your radio station. I think if we got to vote on whether or not there should be Lobbyists in Washington I'm thinkin' we would vote them out and that would change the World more than any Politician could ever do. November 9, 2010 Jerry Moss (A&M) said talent does best when it does what it wants to do not when they do what you want them to do. Have you noticed that the only people radio are looking for are sales people. They seem to be getting rid of all the rest Cris Conner says everybody hates their job thats why they have to pay you to do it. One of the smartest radio sales person I've ever met is Jerry Bobo. Back in the day at KVIL he would go to Ron Chapman and ask him if there was anything special he wanted to do on the radio that he hadn't already done yet. When Ron would mention something, Jerry would take a few days to figure it out and of course include a sales angle which made it possible for Ron to do be able to do it. I cant ever remember a KVIL promotion not working. If you want to silence a very talkative woman just bring up sex. Success looks totally different when seen through the eyes of the Sales Manager compared to how the Program Director sees it not to mention the rest of the staff including the GM and the Owner. What with having a young Daughter and an even younger Grandson I'm going to have to live forever just to be able to attend all the important functions they have coming up in their life. So far it's going pretty good. Have you ever noticed you know exactly what you should have done immediately after doing what you shouldn't have. When coaching good talent I tend to say the same things over and over again but use different words until the lights come on. Then and only then do we unleash them on a unsuspecting audience. I think Florida is the only State in the union where you have to drive a way up North to get to the deep South. I will never forget the day my singer song writer Daughter Candis sent me a song she had written and recorded for me for Father's day. It was called ... "Here's To The Man Who Will Never Leave" Bob Christy told me the first thing they train you at Mercedes Benz school is how to tell your neighbors at a cocktail party that you sell cars. I guess they have kinda figured out that we are burned out on all political parties because what party the candidate was from was sure missing from all the advertising signs here in Florida. Women don't tolerate nasty women only men do. Mark Hubbard told me a long time ago that to have a successful business you needed to have 3 special people. The Dreamer, The Business Man, and The Son Of A Bitch. Radio for some reason has over loaded on just one of those types. I still agree with the line that we have to support our troops in Iraq and Iran but we don't have to support the people who keep sending them there. During the 60's we used to know the names of a lot of DJ's all over North America. Then in the 70's it was the PD's who became nationally known. In the 80's Programming Consultants became the flavor of the era. The 90's brought us Researchers, and now finally it's the owners who are famous. I'll let you have last line about how well you think it all turned out. The politicians in Canada and the USA have never figured out what all the revolutionaries in 3rd world Countries figured out a long time ago. You take over the radio stations not the TV stations. They're smart enough to know that they just look silly on TV. Tim Moore says yesterday is history tomorrow is a mystery but today is a gift. That's why they call it The Present. Joe Raineri now possesses the secret formula for radio. Guard it with your life Joe the accountants will soon be on your trail trying to track it down so they can destroy it. The client isn't always right but it serves us well not mention it to them. I still remember a great liner I just loved on an old KCBQ air check. "Communication Is The Beginning Of Understanding" signed K-C-B-Q. Dennis Linsin in response to my claim that Government people would starve if they had to live off of tips said the origin of T.I.P. is ... "Too Insure Promptness" Well that definitely wraps up my theory and puts a bow on it don't you think. I don't know why the government hasn't figured out by now that we are very very tired of them spending all their time helping the wealthy and the poor. If they don't start taking care of the rest of us soon we will vote them all out again, and that is a threat. The last time Jerry Brown was Governor Of California he was asked about what his plan for the state was, his reply was ... Plan, what plan, I don't have a plan. So here we are Jerry 25 years later and surely by now you have some sort of a plan because your going to need a good one buddy, your broke! I just got hooked up again with Gary Bachman an old buddy from Winnipeg. Gary runs a very successful real estate company now but the last time I saw him was at a dance my band was playing at in Tuelon Manitoba. The dance was being promoted by J Robert Wood. Gary's brother Randy was playing guitar for us that night and Donny Burns was our singer. Little did we know that night that eventually 4 of us would end up in radio. Gary as I recall was working the ladies real well and was even tripping the light fantastic as he won the Twist contest on that cold and wintry night. Teens I'm told only go to one live concert a year. Who would have thunk. November 2, 2010 Jack McCoy told me a long time ago that the ratings gods always smile best on the folks who paid for the survey.
Speaking of ratings have you noticed that Arbitron has most of us in radio tied now. Back in the day there were always a couple of stations in every market with double digits. Now we all have 4's and 5's. Could it be that ARB got tired of hearing the very loud complaints from all the stations that didn't have double digits and thats how they fixed it.
Now I think they have figured out how to even take it a step further by making sure the PPM device is deaf during the early mornings.
A lot of radio stations of course didn't stand a chance against huge high profile morning shows so a deaf PPM is the ticket to happiness it appears.
As soon as all the big radio stations get rid of their expensive morning shows I think we will all be tied in the 3's. Then Selector and Music Master will be fighting it out for the personality of the year award.
Women figured out when they were in high school exactly what we wanted. They of course pretended like they didn't in hopes they didn't have to give it to us. But like every rule there are exceptions ... My Daughters and my Niece come to mind.
A good sales person to me and one I am impressed by is the one who can sell a station with no ratings. Hell even I can sell a #1 radio station.
Delilah told me that the reason women don't ask each other if they got lucky last night is because they don't have to. They always KNOW who got lucky and even how many times.
Red Robinson a legend in his own right said at a recent gathering of radio folks in Vancouver, Frosty Forst another legend when asked what he thought about radio today he replied with, "I have no comment, radio doesn't exist any more".
When you mix Ego and Fear together it produces a very lethal fuel that when used correctly can propel one down the road towards $uccess at quite an intense and torrid pace.
Woody Cooper claims that if the Mother of invention is necessity then Greed must be it's father.
If government employees had to live off of tips I think they would all starve to death.
Ken Moultry told me he loved Ben Taylor's response to the question about what he had learned from his father James ... "Oh you mean besides how to be on the road for 40 years without ever taking a break".
I keep hearing about all the great talent the Dallas Cowboys have but when I look at them I just see a bunch of very expensive losers.
Speaking of The Cowboys, Ron Chapman who knows Jerry Jones quite well says, Jerry's gotta be thinkin' ... I spent almost 2 billion bucks to showcase Jon Kitna ... ?
I think Lee Abrams forgot one very important rule. No body's for ya!
One of the most surprising things I learned early in my career was that not everyone at a radio station wanted to win. I'm still undecided whether learning that was a good thing or not. One thing I'm sure of though is ... I'm still very angry about it.
When I was a young and very impressionable program director I attended a meeting in Toronto at one of Canada's biggest radio stations CHUM. We were there to form a Canadian Music Network. After the meetings we all went out to the CNE which is a huge fair in Toronto. As we approached the CHUM trailer where they were doing a live remote I noticed this huge line and I thought this must be how it is in the big time. When we got closer though I discovered they were lined up to meet the Board Op not the Dee Jay who was out front. They wanted to meet the person who touched the music. I have never forgotten that.
Texting is a girl thing.
It has been said that I spoil my daughters because I give them everything they want. Luckily for me they don't want much.
Any one trying to raise money to buy a radio station who doesn't have the ability to fix it should of course be turned down and escorted out of the bank by security. It would also be helpful if the police were notified so they could be there waiting to arrest them for fraud as they were being escorted out of the building.
There are only two things important to a radio station, making product or selling time. Seeing as most of the people who run the radio biz at the present time can do neither, I wonder what it is they do all day.
My daughters give me 85% of everything I need from females. But I do have to admit that other 15% is pretty powerful.
For some reason the greeting "Happy Halloween" seems strange to me.
Intelligent People Reasonably Informed Seldom Disagree.
October 25, 2010 I think the saddest thing about America right now is how fearful the media is about reporting that very few people are watching Oprah anymore. I guess it's not politically correct to mention that. But it does make me wonder what else they're keeping from us.
If you want a quick jump start for ratings on your morning show simply substitute the word
" You " every time you feel the urge to use the letter " I "
I loved the line in Wall Street II where Gordon says to Jacob. "Is green the new bubble"
I hear some rumors that my old pals David Wolfe and Sammy James are considering bringing Plato's 2000 + year old theory The Principle Of Influence to the Digital World by merging it with David's futuristic concept of Search Engine Optimization and Sammy's creation of the right now Lead Generation. The purpose being to form a Super Company designed to dominate the quickly growing accountable world of radio sales. It all sounds very scary to me.
Al Mair wrote from Beijing where he is vacationing that there are over 60 TV stations and all of them are controlled by the Government. In our World before ratings programming was selected by the Manager's wife. She did what ever she and her friends liked because she was convinced that what she wanted on the radio everyone wanted. Turned out she was wrong.
In politics I don't like how it's going right now nor did I like how it went. Cant we have a new and better way.
Years ago the rest of the Beatles told Ringo he better start writing some of this stuff other wise he will have to tour for the rest of his life. I understand he's coming to the Hard Rock Casino in Ft. Lauderdale again next year.
When I was but a young lad I hung out with a bunch of guys who I thought were exactly alike with a few minor differences. Turned out the minor differences were who we all really were.
You really don't need credentials you are whomever your boss says you are.
The most dangerous person in the world to lie to is yourself.
When I was with CFRA in Ottawa years ago, we had film of the Prime minister of Canada answering a TV reporter's question with ... " All I know about that is what I heard on CFRA this morning." Ask me how many times we ran that in a TV spot baby!
Robert Murphy gave me his Murf's Radio Theorem #101: The Program Manager who hires you based on his respect and admiration for your talent, will exit within six months of your arrival, to be replaced by some small market hack who loathes each word you speak, does not understand why you can't squeeze in eleven songs per hour, and is livid that you missed the 1/4 hour "More Variety" one liner.
Frank Sinatra said there are only two types of shoes, black and brown and you lose the browns at 6.
The thing I like best about Randy Michaels is he makes the rest of us almost appear normal.
Necessity is the mother of invention = There will be no new thing until we run out of oil.
Seeing as you learn very little from your victories you might as well just celebrate them and move on.
Very few things turn out better than you thought they would.
Life is something you will never ever experience again.
As I reluctantly watch my beautiful young daughter Cami grow into a beautiful young women who spends most of her time dreaming about her freedom. I cant help but think about the fact that her birth took away most of the freedom her Mother and I used to have. Luckily for us I guess is we enjoyed most of our prison time.
I remember Woody Cooper once telling me about a neat new radio format called Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow which was played in 3 record sweeps. It was a complete failure, turned out nobody wanted to hear tomorrow.
It cost me Millions to be as free as I am today but right now I'm wondering if a person really needs this much freedom, because I sure could use an extra million or two right about now.
They're shooting a documentary that is going to use two of the records my band The Jury recorded back in the mid sixties. The only difference is it looks like the documentary may pay us more than the records ever did when they were on the charts.
Most successful radio stations that finally get beaten were usually destroyed from the inside.
The more successful you become the more you tend to stop doing the things that made you successful.
The only interview the folks really want to hear on the radio is an interview with a person who doesn't want to be interviewed.
Things are never quite what they appear to be.
Good radio is just a slightly exaggerated reflection of real life.
Paul Cavenaugh told me that in a recent IBM survey of 1500 CEO's that Creativity was the most important trait that top executives needed to have. Why am I thinkin' that Radio CEO's were probably not surveyed.
I don't think women ask each other if they got lucky last night. It must be a man thing!
Well I can hardly wait to see what creative new ideas the "executive council" at Tribune is going to bring to the table.
It has been said that you should never have a relationship with a Woman who loves cats because they have nothing left to give. But maybe the same could be said for Men who have daughters.
When I mentioned to Linda Stein that I never see young men driving Mercedes Convertibles only young women. She claimed that my remark was sexist and went on to say that maybe the young women bought her own cars and that just maybe, young men do not want to drive a Benz. Right Linda!
October 18, 2010 Change is inevitable except from a pay phone or parking meter. Giff & Taz may be the only Sales Gurus left in the radio biz now. The rest have been replaced by sales drivers. This is just a crazy uneducated guess but do you think this may be because the driver types tend to work a whole lot cheaper than Gurus. I think the word that best describes today's most successful talent is "Flamboyant"
If radio was easy to do it wouldn't be worth that much in fact It wouldn't even be worth what you paid for it.
The best inspirational tool a PD could ever bring to the table for an air talent is hope. I have always loved working with people who are a lot smarter than. That way when I use logic to explain how you actually should put a winning show together they understand it a lot better than I do. Tim Moore in a recent column claimed I was sagacious which I hope is a good thing. But I suspect it's not really a good financial thing unless your the Godfather.
I have always believed in letting my kids sample as many activities as possible. My theory being, maybe they will find something outside of school that they really enjoy doing . Hey you never know, maybe they'll find something they really love to do and are passionate enough about it to turn it into a lifetime career.
With that in mind my Daughter Cami so far has been given lessons in Ballet, Tap, Drama, Swimming, Tennis, Violin, Horseback Riding, Choir, Gymnastics, and Guitar. The results of all these numerous efforts are finally in ... She loves to text! Now based on how many times she texts each day I'm betting she's probably getting pretty good at it. But I'm just not sure what kind of a lifetime career it will turn out to be.
Speaking of texting Steve Lapa tells me that people read over 97% of their texts. I believe that makes texting the most powerful communication device of all time.
Even though I have spent most of my career directing I find myself to be almost undirectable.
My Brother Reg says the only word that counts in Radio is RESPONSE!
Disneyland is still going strong and it was created way back in the 50's. I wonder why it hasn't gone out of style yet. No of course I don't.
A radio station's greatest enemy is the off button, not their competitor.
It doesn't take any brains to buy a radio station just money.
With a couple of daughters out there in the real world, I think I'm for a lot more prisons where do I donate.
When you have a thing called a sweat equity deal in radio, eventually when you sell the station at the closing you will hear these dreaded words ... What you don't understand about this deal is! Translated what that means is, you are not going to get anywhere near what you were sure you were getting.
Police in camouflage cars lying in wait for unsuspecting speeders on our freeways is chicken sh*t. Get a real job!
Running has a very weird effect on me it makes me feel optimistic even when I have absolutely no reason to be so.
Programming promotions with a sales twist are a hundred times more successful than a sales promotion with a programming twist.
A strong lifetime bond between two men can only be broken by a woman.
Perhaps the only reward for you being a good parent may be that one day you might get to look back and realize you were and that should be enough.
All men speak at least three different languages. One when they are just hangin' out with men, another when there are women present, and the special language they speak when Mothers, Wives, and/or Daughters are around.
After watching a bunch of College Football this weekend I'm thinkin' maybe they should spend a little more time practicing tackling than on the touchdown dance.
Speaking of football what are we politically allowed to call Reggie Bush now that he has single handily dismantled USC's greatness with his personal greediness.
Does anyone have any suggestions when I should let my 9th grade daughter know that even though she hates football right now in less than 4 years not only will she be going to football games but she is actually going to be excited about it.
There is no such thing as Business Ethics there's just Ethics.
October 7, 2010 I began my radio career at CKY- FM a 360,000 watt radio station owned by Lloyd Moffat. Mr. Moffat was known through out Canada as a Radio Pioneer/Legend and was the first of three I would have the honor to work for before leaving Canada for America. I only saw Mr. Moffat a few times when he would bring by his cronies for a short tour of the studio to show them his new special toy, the World's most powerful FM. I doubt Lloyd Moffat knew or cared that I worked for him, but the next two sure did which is a good thing in our biz because it's not who you know but who knows you. What I eventually came to know is ... All Radio Pioneer/Legends are not created equal. I will endeavor to try and make what I mean a little clearer as my story continues with a bit of background. I was hired part time by CKY-FM to roll Ray Conniff type records on I guess what you would call our beautiful music format. The job required suit and tie type garb along with the wearing white cotton gloves so as to not harm the records. The work was pleasant enough and nicely supplemented my small income that I made playing with my band The Jury. Each day I would sit at the studio consul for a couple of hours just spinning the tunes while kinda checking out all the beautiful women on the front covers of the Conniff albums. I couldn't help though but glance up more than a few times and look through the studio glass at the place where I yearned to be, CKY-AM. CKY was the big Top 40 station in town and they playing all my favorite tunes by The Beach Boys, The 4 Seasons and lots of Motown. But I was stuck in the FM station at a time when FM wasn't cool. I laugh now as I think back about those days because how was I to know that those corny renditions of the tunes The Ray Conniff Singers covered on their Albums were slowly seeping into my system and would soon be hugely responsible for most of my Radio Career and the birth of AC It took a little while but I eventually got to CKY-AM with the help of the AM's leader Jimmy Darin. (Hilliard) Jim made me the assistant to Chuck Dann (Riley) in production which was a real good thing because not only did I fall in love with doing promos, but I learned how to do them right from the best. I also started a friendship with Jim that has lasted a lifetime. We have worked together on one project or another for most of our broadcasting careers. Things were going real good for me and I was having a ball while learning as much as I could from anybody who would teach me. Not only was the radio thing coming together but The Jury started cutting records so I was becoming very busy. The next big thing that happened to me was the birth of my daughter Candis. Her birth made me realize I was at the tipping point and there was no room left in my life. I could no longer do Radio, The Jury, and my Family, so I chose my new love, Radio and left the Jury in order to put my head down and devote more learning time to my new craft. When I next looked up and took a deep breath I was the program Director of CKOM in Saskatoon where I got my first taste of some decent ratings and learned how good that felt which led to my addiction through out my life for ratings parties. The celebration was short lived though because I soon heard those dreaded words no programmer ever wants to hear "Hey congrats on the ratings but we cant sell it, your going to have to change it". That was my signal to move on so I thought why not go east young man. I moved my family to Sudbury Ontario and went to work for CKSO AM&FM. I was hired by a great guy George Lund who after a few weeks finally introduced me to his boss Ralph Conner. That's a whole chapter on its own better left for another time. One of the main reasons I chose to go east was maybe by doing so I could get on the radar of legendary radio station CHUM in Toronto. CHUM was the radio station all we young radio Turks dreamed of working at one day. Sure we all had heard the persistent rumors that they were a cold hearted bunch. But we were young, arrogant and bullet proof. They were the very best in Canada so if you got a shot at working for them it meant you were the very best too. One of my old friends from Winnipeg who used to book my band a few years earlier J Robert Wood ended up at CHUM and had recently been named their Program Director. Being the Program Director of CHUM was one of the most powerful radio positions you could ever hold in Canada and only proved to me that a western boy could make it in the east. The man who owned CHUM along with several other stations in eastern Canada was Allan Waters the next Radio Pioneer/Legend I was destined to work for. Sudbury turned out to be a great experience albeit a short one. CKSO already had a very good air staff which I had shored up with a couple of my guys which included my life long friend Gary Russell. Sudbury was where I discovered the fact that if you bring a couple of your people with you things move forward a lot more quickly. They explain to the other Jox that your not as crazy as you appear to be. One of the things I was most proud of at CKSO was we sounded much bigger than our market size. This was possible because Ralph Conner demanded it. Ralph always wanted to live in New York and seeing as that was not possible he wanted the radio station to at least sound as good as the Big Apple and was willing to pay for it. Ralph was just starting to compliment us on our improved sound when Fred Sherratt the V/P of programming for the CHUM group came to town to recruit me. Fred wanted me for the CHUM station in Ottawa, CFRA. I can only suspect that J Robert had a lot to do with Fred's newly found special interest in me. So after only 4 months in Sudbury I packed up the family and headed to the nation's Capital. Wow things are really rolling for me now, I'm on fire. Hard to believe but only a couple of years ago that I was a board op on a beautiful music station in Winnipeg and now I'm in the Majors as a Program Director and I'm working for the CHUM group, how hot is that. When I arrive in the beautiful city of Ottawa I soon realize that I'm the only one there who is excited about working for the CHUM group. The station was previously owned by a guy called Frank Ryan who they still totally worshiped. I guess they didn't notice the part where Frank took the loot and scooted. Anyway the CHUM folks were all openly referred to as the Sharks from Toronto who wore matching sharkskin suits. Fred Sherratt was lovingly referred to as Fred the Rat. It was a strange time for me but I didn't give it much thought because the Toronto folks all treated me fine and even when I met Mr. Waters he seemed to come off more like a pleasant General Store owner than a guy who headed up a bunch of sharks. Hey the way I figured it this was my shot and I was going for it so I just put my head down once again and focused on how to make CFRA sound better. The local staff of course had no interest in any of that they liked how it sounded now. They ran the place kinda like a big old country club with the long time GM deciding who was a member of the Club's inner circle and who was not. I definitely was not. I didn't worry about any of that because the CHUM brass had promised me all the help I needed. This was great news for me because even though I now was in a Major Market I still felt relatively new to the Radio business. They supplied me with two programming consultants, George Davies from Winnipeg and Ted Randel from LA. George was a nuts and bolts kinda guy and Ted was the concept guy. I had regular weekly calls from Fred Sherratt and J Robert and I'm pretty sure Warren Cosford another Winnipeg lad that had made the CHUM dream team must have checked in with me now and then. Even Mr. Waters called me every once in a while just to see how I was doing. I was covered man! While listening to CFRA I noticed fairly quickly that even though the station was a 50,000 watt blow torch, it technically sounded horrible. The station engineer it turns out used to work for the phone company and that's exactly how it sounded. He was most proud of the fact that he had it cranked up so loud that we managed to reach places that were well beyond our coverage map. I argued with him night and day and finally got him to back it off and the ratings coincidentally started going crazy. The full coverage cume went down a little, but the average 1/4 hour just soared. Hello TSL, and bring on those ratings parties. Despite all the bad attitude in the place things on my end were going pretty well so the local management didn't bother with me much. Ottawa is a beautiful city but I saw none of it, I mostly worked all the time. I was on the mission of trying to get every other station in the city to just give up and sign off. The angrier I got with some of the local staff the more determined I was to make the station sound great. What made the place even a little tolerable for me was as usual I had brought a couple of my radio buds with me. This time it was Roger Klein and Woody Cooper who helped me convert a couple more of the staff members around to our way of thinking so now we almost had a gaggle and thats all we needed to do some serious radio damage. Most of my programming conversations and planning were with the guys at CHUM, CFRA's management mostly wanted to talk about how things used to be. Then one fateful day all the communication from Toronto just stopped. Nothing, just silence from Toronto. The only noise was the usual local noise putting down the Toronto bunch and singing the praises of their old owner Frank Ryan. I think they expected Frank to come riding back into town on a white stallion, buy the station back, and get rid of all the nonsense from Toronto. It hadn't taken me long to figure out that they thought I was just the resident shark sent from Toronto to watch them. So there I was working in the cone of silence wondering what the hell went wrong. I heard years later that Mr. Waters had told everyone ... The kid is doing a great job in Ottawa, lets all back off and let him do his thing. I don't know if it's true but it sounds nice doesn't it. In the middle of all this disarray the next Radio Pioneer/Legend shows up in my life, Ted Rogers. Ted along with his right hand man Keith Dancy successfully recruit me for their floundering radio station in Toronto, CFTR. I later learned that some of the staff at CFRA had a going away party for me couple of weeks after I had arrived in Toronto, where they celebrated my departure. Working for Ted Rogers was a wonderful experience for me. Ted seemed to be a great guy and he and Keith always treated me very well. Working for Ted who acted like a regular guy was full of surprises like the first time I went for dinner at his home. When me and my family ring the door bell it was answered by a Butler which was the first time that had ever happened to me. I used to think that kind of thing only went on in the movies. In spite of all his trappings Ted made you feel like he never even noticed any of them or really cared about them that much. Ted seemed only interested in what you were dreaming about and had really great questions about how you were going to make those dreams come true. I will never forget him shortly after that first dinner at his home, excitedly showing me this very strange looking device. This peculiar device that he handed to me had several rows of buttons on it and was connected to his TV by a very long cord. He said go ahead play with it as our children played together elsewhere in Ted's huge mansion. As I played with his new toy he informed me that if I could fix his radio station his new focus was going to move to a new thing called Cable TV. Go ahead push all the buttons he said as I studied this strange looking object I held in my hand, because that's how many channels the folks will soon have to choose from. Wow I said this is great but why is the same program on every 5th button I asked him. That's your problem was his reply your the programmer, I'm just an engineer. Ted always treated me like I was special and was even kind enough to even invite my kids over to his home to take private swimming lessons with his kids all summer long. When I first arrived in Toronto I did what I usually do and that was to bring a few of my radio buddies with me. This time it was Keith Elshaw, Doc Harris, Roger Klein and Super Promotion lady Sharon Henwood. We all went to work hoping to do something special enough to put a dent in the Toronto Radio skyline. One day while I was sitting at my desk plotting our next move, suddenly Ted Rogers appears at my doorway. He looks at me kind of strangely and says, George I just received a disturbing phone call from Allan Waters about you. Oh Oh I thought to myself this cant be good because when two Radio Pioneers/Legends are chatting and your the main topic of conversation what are the odds that ever turns out in your favor. Ted continued on with ... Allan asked me why I would ever hire a untrustworthy despicable character such as you let alone turn your great radio station CFTR over to him and allow him ruin it like he has. I feel he has forever disgraced the much honored Rogers Radio name handed down to you by your brilliant father. Before I could say anything in my defense Ted lit up like a Christmas tree and said ... "George I think we have them on the run lets turn the heat up" With that he turned on his heel and hurried off. The War was on! September 30, 2010 Before I got into radio I had a band back in Winnipeg called The Jury and we just happened to play a lotta gigs with a friend of mine, Randy Bachman (The Guess Who and BTO) This morning I got a call from Tommy Nast inviting me to LA on Oct. 14 to see Randy and Fred who have reunited on a new Album called Bachman and Turner. Tommy told me they are planning to debut their brand new single from the album called Slave To The Rhythm at the Canyon Club in Agoura Hills. He told me that Randy had said that I need to be there so I could see and hear that Neil Young who is also from our hometown, isn't the only one who is still Rockin'. I'm bettin' that Fred and him will throw in a little Taking Care Of Business, You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet, Let it Ride and maybe even No Sugar Tonight like I saw him do with Ringo Star in Ft. Lauderdale a few years ago.
Neil Young says he only likes to do a couple of takes of each song when he is recording a new Album because even though it's true that the extra takes may move you closer to technical excellence. He feels each take moves you further away from the spirituality of the song.
Why do you suppose pro athletes always seem to need to lay back a little when they are leading in a game. Amateurs in the same situation seem to turn up the heat so they can pour it on.
I keep hearing that the recession is over but I don't see it and I sure cant cant feel it or even get a taste of it coming, in fact it still smells real bad out there and the word "over" makes absolutely no sense to me let alone stand up to the five sensing I just gave it as Mike Vance the Dean of Walt Disney University taught me to do those many years ago..
Jim Morrison said, "None of us are getting out of here alive" So I'm thinkin' ... Hey we might as well sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride eh.
Like a lot of people I have learned a lot more from my mistakes than any of the wins I may have had. It was never scary for me try new stuff on the radio because I knew only one of two things were going to happen. Either we were going to kick some major ass or I had another chance at becoming a whole lot smarter.
All I ever hear about is attitude is everything. But I'm thinking if you don't have a little ability mixed in with all that attitude ya still got nuthin'
My Father Sandy Johns was born when the Great War began in 1914. My Dad was already a young man before he saw his first airplane. But by the time he was middle aged he watched a man and on the Moon on his TV. After World War II things really started to pick up speed. There has been more advancement in the World in the last 100 years than the thousands that came before them. The reason being ... Education!
A hundred years ago only the well to do got much schooling. When that was all changed and everybody had a chance to finish school if they wanted the World as we knew it exploded. Turns out there were some pretty smart Peasants out there.
Speaking of education I see no reason to let a person go to college who who wouldn't otherwise qualify just because they are a good athlete. Let the NFL figure out another way to train them.
I still remember the magical nights when both my beautiful daughters were created
I believe the new money for radio is going to come from figuring out how to do product placement and how radio becomes accountable to advertisers like the digital world is.
Some Radio marriages have really worked out well. The reason may have been because when put together they produced great ratings and oodles of cash at the same time. For example Jack McCoy's Last Contest + George Johns' Magic Ticket = The Prize Catalog. The Prize Catalog + American Airlines Advantage Program = Reg Johns' Radio Rewards Program on the Internet.
I suspect somewhere somebody is burning the midnight oil and getting ready to propose. Then before you know it ... The next big thing will be upon us.
I think the most wonderful word you will ever hear in your life time is Da Da. There is no more special moment then your daughter says that to you for the first time. But as special as that is an even better word is on the way and that word is Daddy. It is said that anybody can be a Father but it takes a special person to be a Daddy. You try to hang on to this special part of your relationship with your daughter as long as you can but before you know it she is calling you Dad, which is OK I guess but it's just not Daddy. Then you graduate to where I am now, Dude. Now I'm not quite sure what to think about Dude, but I do know it's a long long way from Daddy.
I have noticed though if I'm in the right place at the right time I get to hear the Daddy word again like when she is wondering about if I'm going to buy her a new car when she turns 16 like I did her sister. Sometimes it shows up when she needs me to take her shopping for the latest hip new shoes or when her Mother has grounded her and could I come and get her. The Daddy word shows up most often when she needs a ride for her and her girl friends to go to the mall and hang out for a few hours. She'll call me when she needs me to come and get them ... But Daddy please don't talk to my friends just drive us OK.
Sometimes I'll hear it when she needs her hair done, or her phone isn't working and for sure I hear it a lot around her Birthday and Christmas. Now that I think about it what am I bitching about, I really cant afford to hear Daddy any more often than I already do.
After being through this twice I have painfully finally figured out that little girls turn into women somewhere between Daddy and Dad with out any warning.
I think the President should call up Bill Clinton and see if he's still got that old sign still lying round somewhere cause it sure worked out well for us. You know the one ... "It's the economy stupid"
Is it true that in all the world there are only 12 humans who look like they do, and they all model for Victoria's Secret.
What the research says people want and PPM says people are listening to is starting to drift far apart from each other. Kinda back like when the people told Ford to build the Edsel
I wonder how many good athletes are good human beings.
It used to be that if you had a good education you could make good money. Now it takes higher education just to make the wages high school drop outs used to make.
If you don't have greed or sex on your Web Page don't expect a lot of visits.
I think whats wrong with America is too many choices. You have to keep clicking your way through the hundred Cable channels all night to make sure you don't miss what you would have really liked to have seen. Way too many radio choices of practically the same thing. Satellite is even worse. How do you settle on one perfect car and which one would that be. It even seems to take forever to order a meal anymore, I wish they would just bring me what they think I should eat.
It didn't take me long when I was just a pup to out earn my father. Alas there is no chance for my kids to do the same and it has nothing to do with how much money I may have made.
Even though the music on computers balanced all the music out and stopped the Jox from playing their favorites it like everything has a side effect. It now takes at least three days instead of 45 minutes to hear your musical changes on air.
Doug Erickson said ... Greatness, true greatness, is always linked to originality.
To be even close to becoming a successful morning show there are two things you must do. Talk about what the people are talking about and then get the people to talk about you.
Until that happens there is no need to talk about yourself.
© 2008-2010 George Johns
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