LEAP OF FAITH RADIO PRODUCTION with Bobby Ocean
When I joined the popular music radio circus, the music that motivated me – Top Forty – was the most fun imaginable.
It was all about the music. Who was in the recording studio, when would this or that superstar release their next work, “have you heard the ama-a-azing new song by…” We looked forward to each and every day, delighted in being right in the middle of it all, as the music unfolded.
It was SO all about the music: we wore it, played it, lived its lifestyles, as the music entertained, evolved and experimented. We figured it would always be like this, the creativity never-ending, the music constantly fresh and exhilarating.
Not so today. Since all this is no longer a generation’s own first, and age-specific music has become big business, there is not nearly the same degree of anticipation, fan support or shared interest. Too bad.
Especially ironic with the Top 20 populated by such a multitude of Beatles songs.
But one of the big lessons we learn is just beyond the Timeline, from yesterday ever forward. It’s what was INSIDE the stuff we enjoyed when we were so pumped in our younger years. It was all about the music BECAUSE the music was fun. I mean REALLY fun. First time experience, once-in-a-lifetime, peak fun.
Of course you cannot recreate the era or those “good old days,” but you clearly remember the standards for fun you were given. Your reactions to the fashion, the experimentation, the flair, the outrageousness of what you have been through – are your vast emo-bank, Vault of Feelings, labyrinth of fun feelings, from which to draw. Develop it. Whatever your project, it can be more effective figuring fun into the mix.
That does NOT mean every promo, commercial and documentary should contain comedy; EACH contains its own individual blueprint within. But fun is something you allow into the process. Fun is something everyone likes, and sorely misses whenever not present. Fun is naturally here in plenty, instantly available when we get whatever-is-blocking-our-direct-experience-of-it out of the way. And, perhaps 95 percent of that is thinking.
Thinking? Uh huh, because either we haven’t been practicing or we haven’t been trained in focusing on that which we want, rather than “everything else in the world,” usually at the head of the line – our fears.
Fears are not real because they are not HERE. They deal exclusively in confabulations. [Great word, confabulations; thanks, Dave Foxx, N.Y.] The ONLY life they enjoy is when being paid attention to by you.
Don’t fight ’em. Just pick your way through them like negotiating a crowded boulevard on the way to get a pie. Acknowledge ’em quickly, but be moving quietly forward, no autographs, thanks, and on you go. Fun, just ahead…
If you’re in music radio today, it’s up to you to make the connections that engender excitement, interest and loyalty in the artists and songs you’re playing, employing your wonderful feelings of fun inventory. Same applies to religious, talk, sports and kid radio, just substitute theme/event/activity/topic/ for performers and hits.
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Again, Bobby, you are so very perceptive. When radio had live personalities that were ‘tight, bright, and clever’ there was an atmosphere of ‘fun’ just to be listening to things unfold. It was ‘mass-appeal’ in that nearly everyone could relate to it. It was contageous. May sound corny but listening to the radio would relieve stress!
No, the jock didn’t have to utter something ‘knee-slapping funny’ every time he spoke, but he was always ‘up’ and made you feel good.
Thanks for the reminder of what was good in the business.