{"id":9831,"date":"2011-05-19T00:01:18","date_gmt":"2011-05-19T07:01:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/?p=9831"},"modified":"2011-05-18T23:28:27","modified_gmt":"2011-05-19T06:28:27","slug":"radio-program-director","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2011\/05\/radio-program-director\/","title":{"rendered":"THE SHORT RADIO PROGRAM DIRECTOR WHO THOUGHT HE WAS A BIG GENIUS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recently when a newly anointed radio station program director asked me for advice on how to become a good PD, the last of my tips was:<\/p>\n

“Try not to turn into a jerk.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Because you’ve probably never had to work with a jerk, here are two true stories about one Jerk Program Director.<\/p>\n

Once upon a time, the charismatic architect of a wildly successful, very big radio station left the station he’d helped build.<\/p>\n\"radio<\/a>\n

He was replaced by someone who had worked under him at that station. Kind of a short guy.<\/p>\n

What he lacked in stature he attempted to make up for by acting Very, Very Important.<\/p>\n

“The Short PD And The Morning Host”<\/h3>\n

The Short PD inherited a famous, talented, successful, and thoroughly professional morning jock.<\/p>\n

The morning jock was required to report to the Short PD’s office after each show, to “meet” about the day’s program.<\/p>\n

More often than not, the Short PD would open his mail and talk on the phone while the morning jock \u2014 who had just finished a 4-hour show in an extremely competitive market \u2014 sat. And sat. And sat.<\/p>\n

The Short PD was showing the morning jock exactly who the big shot was in that station.<\/p>\n

“The Short PD And The Production Director”<\/h3>\n

Because he had inherited a very successful radio station, The Short PD assumed that meant he was a genius.<\/p>\n

In frequent flashes of inspiration, he would jot down liner copy to be recorded by the station’s outside voice guy.<\/p>\n

Then he would email the copy to the voice guy, not bothering to include any instructions as to what kind of feeling he wanted the message to convey.<\/p>\n

After all, when your words are brilliant, they need no explanation.<\/p>\n

The voice guy (who was both well-known and talented) would record the liners without the benefit of any background or direction and then email an mp3 to the station’s production director.<\/p>\n

The production director would find the mp3 in the morning’s in-box. Now it was his job to create a promo around the dry voice.<\/p>\n

Because The Short PD was Far Too Important to explain his ideas to the production director, the production director (who was both well-known and talented) would apply his own experience, wisdom and instinct to the final realization of the recorded promo.<\/p>\n

All too often, when The Short PD would hear the finished promo, he’d then storm into the production room: “What the hell is this supposed to be??”<\/em> he’d demand.<\/p>\n

After enduring this for several years, the production director decided he’d had enough.<\/p>\n

He couldn’t take the The Short PD’s tantrums, his ego (i.e., his massive insecurity masquerading as supreme confidence), his abusive behavior to people who worked for him.<\/p>\n

But before the production director could quit, a funny thing happened:<\/p>\n

The Short PD left the radio station.<\/p>\n

I don’t know if he quit or was fired. But I do know that under his “leadership” the station steadily (and severely) declined in market position.<\/p>\n

A new PD was brought in.<\/p>\n

The production director decided to stick around just a little while longer, to see what the New PD was like.<\/p>\n

And the production director couldn’t believe it:<\/p>\n

The New PD actually discussed upcoming promotions with the production director before starting work on the promo copy.<\/p>\n

The New PD gave as much information as possible to the voice guy before the voice guy recorded the liners.<\/p>\n

The New PD, the production director, and the voice guy actually worked as a team.<\/p>\n

The production director is still there. So is The New PD (not so new any more).<\/p>\n

It took some time to undo the damage inflicted by The Short PD, but the station’s ratings are very healthy now.<\/p>\n

You can’t fake Leadership. Not even with lifts in your shoes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently when a newly anointed radio station program director asked me for advice on how to become a good PD, the last of my tips was: “Try not to turn into a jerk.” Because you’ve probably never had to work with a jerk, here are two true stories about one Jerk Program Director. Once upon […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9831","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized"},"yoast_head":"\nTHE SHORT RADIO PROGRAM DIRECTOR WHO THOUGHT HE WAS A BIG GENIUS - DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2011\/05\/radio-program-director\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"THE SHORT RADIO PROGRAM DIRECTOR WHO THOUGHT HE WAS A BIG GENIUS - DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Recently when a newly anointed radio station program director asked me for advice on how to become a good PD, the last of my tips was: “Try not to turn into a jerk.” Because you’ve probably never had to work with a jerk, here are two true stories about one Jerk Program Director. 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