Yes, this was our studio phone.
I’m on the air in San Francisco, minding my own business, when someone calls on the request line.
“Hey, Dan, this is Dennis Wilson. I don’t have a request, but I really like your show and thought I’d just call to say hi.”
“Uh…Dennis Wilson of…?”
“(Laughing) Yeah.”
Pretty cool; at least one member of The Beach Boys was a fan.
How about you? The first celebrity to call you up in your DJ days?
First, listen to their “evidence” that the product is so effective:
(SPOILER ALERT: Don’t read this before listening to the audio.)
Uh, guys? “Effectiveness” is not a consideration for being included in a celebrity swag bag.
An honest rewrite would say, “Because we paid them to, international film festivals included our product in their VIP gift bags.”
With Betty White’s career hotter than it’s been since her “Sue Ann Nivens” days, a question: Did you know she had her own TV sitcom…
…in 1953?
Another in a series of video interviews with one of the most successful program directors in radio history, Chuck Blore.
July, 1996:
The month started with me in London, England, for the second European PD Grad School. A few days later I was in Cleveland to speak at McVay Media’s Programmers’ School.
It was while preparing to check out of the hotel in Cleveland that I became consciously aware of the tendency of certain people to refuse to answer direct questions — choosing instead to answer questions they weren’t asked.
Case in point: I knew I wanted to arrive at the airport no later than 5:00PM. So I asked the hotel’s concierge, “If I want to arrive at the airport not later than 5:00, what time do I need to leave the hotel?”
“What time does your flight leave?” she replied.
In courtroom terms, that was a non-responsive answer.
By the way, the hotel concierge should be the most knowledgeable, most resourceful person in the building. In certain American hotels, however, the “concierge” is an entry-level position filled by the lowest-paid, least experienced person available.
The hotel in Cleveland was one of those hotels.
“No, listen: All I want to know is when I have to leave this hotel if I want to reach the airport by 5:00.”
A desk clerk overheard this and interrupted, with great assurance: “What time does your flight leave, sir?”
“No, no, no! It doesn’t matter when my flight leaves! All I want to know is when I have to leave this hotel if I want to reach the airport by 5:00.”
The front desk manager appeared. “May I help you, sir?”
“I hope so,” I sighed. “I’ll be taking a taxi from this hotel to the airport later this afternoon, and I’m trying to find out when I should leave the hotel if I want to arrive at the airport by 5:00.”
“Ah, I see,” he purred. “And what time does your flight leave?”
“That’s none of your business! That’s completely irrelevant to my question! Maybe I want to reach the airport 15 minutes before my flight. Maybe I have to take care of some ticketing and want to get there 90 minute early. Maybe I have a meeting scheduled there two hours before my flight. Maybe I just want to hang out at the airport and watch the planes take off! Just tell me how long it takes to get to the airport late this afternoon!”
