DAN O’DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO

Happy Birthday, Terry Moss

As far as I know, Terry Moss’ first entrepreneurial venture was a monthly aircheck service called CAL-ROCK. As a young DJ, I was a subscriber.

His next contribution to radio personalities around the world continues to bring smiles to DJs and listeners alike: The first volume of what became a 5-LP series, Cheap Radio Thrills.

(Originally I had planned to mail all of my Preferred Customers a special offer this week: The Cheap Radio Thrills package — which now is 3 CDs — at half-price. I thought it would be nice to do something to get Terry’s audio baby into the hands of even more radio people. But I feared it would seem tacky, that I was using Terry’s birthday as an excuse for a sale.

(Finally I hit upon a compromise: Only the people who read this blog posting will know about the 50% discount offer, and I’ll take it down next week. Because there are thousands of people on my Preferred Customer List but, uh, fewer readers of this blog, that means just a few sales will be made — so few that I’m hoping it will protect me from accusations of greed.)

As any old American DJ will confirm, for many years radio stations were required to broadcast periodic tests of the Emergency Broadcast System. Here’s what the listener would hear:

For the next 60 seconds, this station will conduct a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. The following is only a test.

That would be followed by this test tone:

Then the announcer would return to say:

This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. The broadcasters of your area in voluntary cooperation with the FCC and federal, state, and local authorities have developed this system to keep you informed in the event of an emergency. If this had been an actual emergency, the Attention Signal you just heard would have been followed by official information, news, or instructions. This station serves the [ ] area. This concludes this test of the Emergency Broadcast System.

Invariably the jock would read that copy in a monotone, there’d be silence, then the test tone, then the jock would return to read the close with the same disinterested inflection.

Terry decided to change all that — with these two cuts from Cheap Radio Thrills. Here’s the introduction:

After the intro, the test tone would be broadcast. Then this cut would be played, complete with a donut for the announcer to read the boilerplate copy that begins, “The broadcasters of your area…”

Question: As a listener, which test would you be more likely to pay attention to? The one delivered in the bored monotone, or the musical version?

Clearly far more people would actually listen to the musical rendition — which really upset the FCC. People actually paying attention to the E.B.S. tests??

So in its infinite wisdom, the FCC decreed that the Emergency Broadcast System test could not be sung.

Bored monotone that no one listens to = Good.

Entertaining version that many people listen to = Bad.

Tomorrow: Farewell to Terry Moss — with a little help from another Radio/Production Guy: Bobby Ocean.

Terry Moss was the creative genius behind Cheap Radio Thrills, a terrific DJ, and a friend and inspiration to me. Tomorrow is his birthday.

Terry answers the question, “Where & when do you do your show prep?” His comment on what he listens to while driving in to do his daily air shift is simple …but valuable.

If you’re lucky enough to work for a radio station that still has a News Department, consider this:

Tomorrow: The audio production that caused the Federal Communications Commission to make a new rule.

This week I’m sharing advice, inspiration, and “the radio vibe” from my sorely missed friend, Terry Moss.

I don’t have any photos of Terry. His sister, Mary, was kind enough to scan a few of her personal pictures and send them to me.

I don’t know where or when this taken, but it’s a family picture. When I spoke with Mary, still in the family’s hometown of Rochester, New York, she said, “Although we fought a bit when we were kids, once we were adults we were such good friends. I always imagined that one day we’d both retire and live near each other, keeping each other company.”

Here’s some advice from Terry to DJs everywhere. Note: The “comedy sheet” he scolds is the one I wrote & published.

Tomorrow: Show Prep tips plus how Terry’s news guys helped him prepare for his show.