The first time I ever spoke to a gathering of public radio program directors…
View this public radio video on YouTube.
Yesterday we heard from a radio personality who was frustrated at the lack of courtesy he believes emanates from too many program directors.
PERSONALITY RADIO, VOLUME TWO: The Dangerous Air Personality includes a recounting of an incident that occurred at the beginning of Jay Meyers’ career.
“In 1975 I was novice jock, looking for work. I called up this program director at a small station in Chester, Pennsylvania. He said, ‘Yeah, I have a weekend opening. Meet me at the station at 10:00 on Saturday morning.’
“It was about an hour-and-a-half drive for me. I got there at 10:00 and waited. 10:15…10:30….Finally he arrived at 10:45. One of the jocks there said, ‘This guy is here to see you.’
“The PD looked at me blankly and said, ‘What do you want?’ I said, ‘I’m Jay Meyers, and you told me to come at 10:00 this morning for an interview.’
He said, ‘Oh, I changed my mind. I can’t see you now.’ And he walked away.
“Years passed. I ended up as Program Director at WFIL/Philadelphia in 1983. My second day on the job I got this 12-page resume and letter: ‘I’m this long-time Philadelphia air personality, I hear you may be going oldies, and I want to be involved in it, I’d be great for you, etc.’
“I read through the resume, and when I came to the part where it said, ‘1975: Program Director, WEEX/Chester,’ it suddenly clicked in. It was the very same guy!
“I wrote him a letter that said, ‘In 1975, when you were program director at WEEX and I was just a beginning jock, you had me drive out to your station to meet you, but when I got there you wouldn’t give me the time of day.
“‘Well, guess what!’
“And I put it in an envelope with his résumé and mailed the entire package back to him!
“So sometimes it’s true: What goes around comes around.”
A Loyal Reader Writes:
“I was at one of your radio programming seminars years ago. It made quite an impression on me.
“One of the things you talked about remains with me today, particularly because of its complete absence in modern-day radio: common courtesy.
“You mentioned to program directors how important it was to at least respond to job applicants who have taken the time to apply to your station. I always tried to practice that as a PD/OM.
“Now, even the rejection ‘form letter’ seems to have become a lost art.
“While applying for several jobs recently, I haven’t received the slightest acknowlegment that my materials were even received or considered. On follow-up calls, you’re often treated with the same disdain as a pesky telemarketer: ‘We’ll call you if we’re interested (click).’
“In the age of e-mail, you would think it would be easy to at least send a simple reply: ‘Thank you for submitting your materials. We’ll be in touch if your skills and qualifications match our needs.’ Even a generic response if better than none!
“I understand that in the age of consolidation PDs, OMs and GMs are more busy than they’ve ever been. But common courtesy takes so little time and is so sorely missing from today’s radio business climate.
“As you do your seminars, thank you for continuing to emphasize this. Hopefully, someday the message will fall on fertile ground with broadcasters.”
Actually, this is not a new complaint among radio people. People have voiced it (with justification) since I first entered the business.
If the job opening was advertised — if your application was solicited by the station — a PD should be able to craft a simple e-mail confirming receipt of the materials and thanking the person for applying.
It’s not a matter of “being nice.” It’s a matter of being a professional.
Recently a local public radio station conducted its semi-annual pledge drive.
(For non-U.S. readers: That’s when they go on the air and beg for money.)
Question: Have you ever seen a movie that included music while two characters talked? Perhaps soft violins during a tender conversation?
If so, please continue to…
Question #2: Have you ever seen a movie that included vocal music while two characters talked?
Of course not.
Why not?
Because the human ear cannot attend to two human voices simultaneously.
Yet public radio stations across the U.S. — yes, even here in Los Angeles — routinely and deliberately put vocal music underneath the voices of their beg-a-thon announcers.
Dumb, dumb, dumb.
