Another way for radio program directors to succeed:
Inspire Your Troops.
I’ll always remember the legendary Gary Owens reminiscing about his days as the morning host at KFWB/Los Angeles. Early 1960s. KFWB was a Top 40 station that owned the market.
His program director was the equally legendary Chuck Blore.
I asked Gary what it was like to work for Chuck.
Gary replied, “Chuck made us feel like we could do anything. He had so much confidence in us that we couldn’t help but feel confident, too.”
Twenty years later. Same market, different legendary L.A. Top 40 station: KHJ.
My late, greatly missed friend, Terry Moss, was a KHJ jock.
He was assigned to work a shift on New Year’s Day, a Saturday. He lived an hour away from the station, and he planned to celebrate late New Year’s Eve.
To make sure he didn’t miss his shift, Terry booked a motel room near KHJ. He celebrated heartily, came back to the motel, and left a wake-up call for a few hours later.
Either the wake-up call never came, or Terry never heard it. He slept right through his shift.
On Monday morning, Terry fearfully entered the radio station, seriously doubting if he still had a job.
The first person he encountered in the KHJ hallway was his program director, Charlie Cook.
Charlie fixed him with an icy glare and said, “Do you feel worse right now than you ever have in your entire career?”
“Yes,” Terry admitted.
“Good!” said Charlie.
And with that Charlie walked away, and he never spoke of Terry’s blunder again.
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Letting your employees be independent is a great motivator at times. However, I find that also keeping a watchful eye on them provides a good balance as well as a good working environment.
…smaller market ..no shower..and I came in an hour late and PD was there (what’s he doing here on the weekend) was laid back ..and cheering me to do a good job on this Military Day..taking two remotes from the local Base…I had never done this before and neither had the station… thanks Stan The Man!