DAN O’DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO

Get all 99 goofy tracks here.

Problems with this video? Click HERE to view on another player.

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.

At first I was skeptical, but then I went into the store.

I made them a reasonable offer, and by golly they did refuse it.

Ethics. Try To Have Some.

Ethics.

Try to have some.

Some years ago I heard about this guy who was working his first radio program director job at a well-known, medium market “heritage” talk station.

His previous job: Editor for a radio trade publication.

He ran ads in “the trades,” inviting talk show hosts to apply for work with his station.

And he responded to the job applicants with a form letter that said something like, “You’re not quite ready to work at Radio X. But for $250, I can coach you to improve your talent.”

At best, that’s a conflict of interest.

At worst, it’s fraud: Using his employer’s name and resources to troll for side business.

By the way, under his “leadership” the station’s ratings plummeted. I’ve lost track of the number of stations he worked at, bouncing from market to market.

I just now checked to see where he’s working today.

He’s a “consultant.”

Well, that what he says. Oddly, his website doesn’t mention any current or former clients.