Greetings again!
So where is it? The studio upgrades at Specs Howard that is.
There was a delay on the part of the folks designing the furniture, but some of it has already been delivered.
Look for stuff to be up and running before the end of the summer. No kiddin’ !
Meantime, one of Specs’ stations, WSHS, has changed to a classic rock format. Wow! This is a return to a format that was originally set up almost a decade ago when the DAD “Enco” computer-based automation system was brand new at the school. Except A LOT of new material has been added. Stay tuned.
-Bob B
An update from Specs Howard School of Broadcast, in Southfield, MI.
For those of you who are or were students or work at the school now or in the past (or thinking of becoming a student) the audio Production studio is on the verge of being blown up and rebuilt THIS MONTH!
Most of the new equipment has already been received. The Newsroom and one of the radio stations is also getting the same treatment. The ultra cool furniture designs have been completely customized to our needs. Rod Graham (formerly of Arrakis Systems now of Graham Studios in Colorado) played a crucial role in transforming the former video suites into additional RADIO studios (studios 16-21). Rod's new assignment was to furnish our Production, News and radio station studio.
Noting how much of his furniture was already in our building, Rod noted he wanted to make our school a "showplace," and upgraded the WJMZ studio to his top-of-line product... at no additional cost. Thanks Rod! Get a look at Rod's other studios at:
www.graham-studios.com/
(make sure you put the dash in the middle)
This month (June 2008) also marks my NINTH (9th) year as the school’s Engineer! I still know where the time has gone and still don’t believe the mind-numbing number changes that have made during that time.
It’s not a perfect world either but an important reason to be a student at Specs is not merely because of shiny equipment. It’s the people involved in teaching at our school. They ARE the best....every one of them.
Only one job in my life have I ever worked at longer than Specs. That would be radio station WCAR in Garden City, Michigan, but I really didn’t make it past my 10th year there. Like Specs however, for me it was an incredible ride! The VERY wide number of things I did for THEM as their Chief Engineer was secondary to what inspired me. The other part is the people who showed up for work everyday who created programming, managed the business end and made our clients happy. They gave me the incentive to stick around. We weren't the biggest, we didn't have the most power, but our clients stuck with us, because we were the best. Some things never change in my life.
So come to Specs Howard School of Broadcast Arts, because we ARE in every sense of the word, in the present tense: We ARE the best at what we do.
-Bob Burnham
“Why am I torturing myself with this?”
Sometimes you have to ask yourself that question. But then there are instances when there’s a bright moment and you realize you are being “rewarded” in a sense for all the trials and tribulations.
You realize how important all that hard work was. For me, it’s often an exercise in patience…with both myself and others.
In a music situation “Why can’t I (or whomever) play that song perfect RIGHT NOW!?”
Additionally, my version of “perfect” may be different from what someone elses version may be.
As a musician who plays music other people have written, like it or not, performing their work is usually a creative form. It is interpreting their song – not duplicating it.
Playing a $100 a-person bar gig, we cannot hope to re-capture that moment in the studio when a producer worked intensely with the talent to put them in the right frame of mind in order to deliver that performance. Given their level of talent, background, technical skills, inspiration, equipment and the fact no two humans are alike – it’s not completely impossible but downright difficult to “clone” their song from their record. And what’s the point anyway?
If the bar owner really wanted a cover band to sound EXACTLY like the record, why not just get the CD and play it!? For that matter, the bar owner merely needs a bunch of plasma TV’s, a DVD player and start building a collection of concert footage of the original artists…. rather that hire a band.
Best Buy has a nice collection of live music DVDs. Shhhhhhhhh. Don’t tell them. We may be outta work for real then.
-Bob
Don Phillips and Nicole Salem
By Bob Burnham
Don and in a different situations, Nicole were at one time regulars on the radio who made me laugh. They are both at least for the moment, “out” of radio. That’s about all they have in common and they are already missed.
Salem did traffic on the Deminski and Doyle show on 97.1 which saw its demise (at least for now) at the end of 2007.
Phillips was a long-time (over 20 years) overnight fixture at WOMC, 104.3. These were both CBS stations, but that really makes no difference.
Don had some health issues he was trying to resolve, but was let go by the station in this month (April 2007). Don graduated from Specs Howard in the 1970s and was lucky enough to be hired by the late Paul Christy at WCAR-FM, who gave him his first big break.
Salem arrived at WKRK as an intern, but soon landed in “the other building” as traffic girl for her paid gig. Obviously, she graduated from Specs much more recently.
I cannot fault anyone in the decision process which ended their respective tenures. As they say, “these things happen.”
Salem recently called in to Gregg Henson’s internet radio show on Blog Talk Radio basically to say “hi.” She had an incredible upbeat attitude. Henson knew her as an intern and made references about how her career had blossomed since then.
“I guess I just grew up!” she said, and spoke fondly of the years she spent working with Deminski and Doyle. “It was the best job I ever had,” she said.
No one who made daily appearances on Jeff and Bill’s show (AKA “D and D”) could ever escape becoming an on-air “regular” that listeners would get to know. Nicole was no exception. Though frequently the target of their jokes, she was an active participant in many of their most memorable on-air antics. Like the rest of the “cast”, on the show Salem developed her own fans as well. D & D made her a part of the show, but her persona was completely her own. She is unique, talented and will go as far as she wants, what ever her next chapter will be. You can be sure she will kick some serious butt!
I have a different feeling toward Don Phillips. He and I go back many years as far back as the disco era as a personal friend.
Growing up in Garden City, Michigan, Don and I were involved in a short-lived broadcast program at the Livonia YMCA as well as other projects.
Don and I would later work together at Southfield’s WSHJ-FM working under Bob Sneddon, who gave Don the Program Director position. I was basically an overnight jock there, who by day, worked at AM radio stations.
Don’s paying gig was spinning disco tunes at “The Connection” in Flatrock. I filled in for him a few times, but he was the best at what he did there, too.
Sneddon (at WSHJ) hooked Don up with a gig at the original WDRQ, and me doing middays at WBRB-AM, but we still worked on projects. Don was always the “talent” and I was always the “engineer.” My job was to make him sound good, but I never had to work very hard.
I always say I’ve been lucky because I have worked with the best in the business, and Don Phillips is certainly among them.
The reason all of us do radio is because it is so much fun! But the part that makes it fun is the people. Good radio cannot exist without good people.
During career burps, the best people ALWAYS land on top. While Salem and Phillips are two completely unrelated people from wildly different walks of life and generations, they are both at the top of their game in what they do.
And to think they both spent time at Specs Howard…. What’s up with that!?
Best wishes Nicole Salem and Don Phillips! You both rock.
And speaking or ROCK, Nicole is currently in the WRIF Rock Girl 2008 competition. If you read this in time, check out her video and give her your vote!
http://www.wrif.com/rockgirl2008/girls/Nicole/
To hear “Gregg and Victor” check out:
http://bannedinternetradio.com/
Or his blog at
www.gregghenson.com
Surviving formats and ownership changes
By Bob Burnham
As Jack Webb of 1950s "Dragnet" would say, "the story you're about to read is true..."
however, the names were NOT changed!
I spent a good chunk of my career at WCAR Radio, a directional AM station in Garden City, Michigan. It was licensed “Livonia-Detroit” presumably because its signal blanketed the Detroit suburb of Livonia both day and night.
Historically, at 1090 AM – it was the sister to WBRB in Mt. Clemens (where I also worked). The original letters were WERB, then WTAK, the first all-talk station in the Detroit area. The next set of call letters were WIID. When Golden West (Gene Autry) purchased the original WCAR (1130 AM) it became WCXI and switched to a country format.
The original WCAR call letters were freed up. WIID switched to WCAR.
In 1979, the station (now WCAR) acquired its 24-hour license (daytime only before then) and added six more towers to the four it already had. The owner, Walter Wolpin, hired former WWJ-AM and WAAM-AM salesman, Jack Bailey to manage the operation. The station was under Bailey’s direction for most of the years I was at the station.
In the late 1990s, Wolpin sold the station to the Children’s Broadcasting Corporation, also known as “Radio Aahs,” a satellite-fed syndicated format originating from Minneapolis. Most of the existing staff supporting the combination talk, brokered and ethnic shows had to be, as they say, “let go.”
“Radio Aahs” was similar in format to today’s Radio Disney, targeting younger listeners. A failed partnership between Disney and Aahs, however, was the start of the downfall of this owner.
WCAR was eventually sold in the late 1990s. At that time, Jack Bailey resigned and long-time employee and current Program Director, Susan McGraw assumed the GM role. McGraw and I were soon the only surviving employees from the original staff.
A failed first attempt to sell the station gave us an extra year of employment. I can’t imagine what we filled our hours with during that period. I do recall many trips to a nearby restaurant where traditionally we took staff as their “goodbye meal.”
By then, I had installed equipment that allowed the engineer to monitor the stations’ ten towers and transmitter from a home computer. The station was now fully equipped for unattended operation and automatically changed directional patterns and power at sunrise and sunset. A computer handled all programming elements as well.
We had returned partially to the brokered format obviously because it generated revenue to keep us employed. Most of our best clients, however, had already gone to WPON, WNZK or the re-named WLLZ-AM (560 AM which had been WHND).
So what DID we fill those hours with?
No, it WASN'T the Susan and Bob show 24 hours!
We broadcast a satellite-fed format from the original Children’s Broadcast Corporation studio in Minneapolis. It was called “Beat Radio.” I had thought disco was already long dead by then (especially on an AM station!), but these people didn't think so, apparently.
"Beat Radio” was produced by a group of former pirate operators in Minneapolis, presumably because they could finally have an audience legally. At the same time, Children’s Broadcasting had someone who would work for free to keep their remaining stations operating while they looked for buyers. “Beat Radio” obviously ceased to exist once all the stations were sold.
That year – 1998 – is mostly a blur. By then, I had a few other major projects already underway including a syndication facility only a mile from WCAR.
Children’s Broadcasting would continue to fight Disney in the courtroom.
It was clear that Christopher Dahl, Children’s President, was the inspiration for the Radio Disney format, but in running his business, Mr. Dahl had made some poor choices in my opinion, on the stations he chose to affiliate.
The format was a hard sell, so the solution was to BUY stations in cities he chose to affiliate. That was how he acquired WCAR – our station. I call it “our” station because that’s the way it felt for many of those years.
While McGraw literally worked her way up at the station starting originally while still a high school student, I started a little differently. I began hosting a show for WCAR called “Radio Vault” in 1988. Having developed a relationship with the General Manager, about a year and a half later, I became their Chief Engineer.
I replaced Chris Arnaut who stayed only briefly having replaced Mike Numerick. Mike had been with WCAR for several years, replacing Don Oswalt. Mike went to WXYT, and Chris went to WKSG-FM. I stayed with WCAR through December of 1998. At that time, I assumed the Chief Engineer position for the four Cumulus stations in Ann Arbor and one in Monroe, Michigan.
And that’s not all --
During my stay at WCAR, a severe storm took down one of our nighttime towers. Replacing that tower and actually coaxing it into working properly took a full year of work and compilation of data to be submitted to the FCC. This was greatly complicated by cellular structures that were being erected within walking distance WCAR’s tower site. Most of the actual “grunt work” under which WCAR was re-licensed was done either by me personally or a crew under my direction. This eventually involved measuring literally hundreds of locations in the Detroit area to prove the station was operating according to its license…and repeating it all over again when the cellular construction contaminated my work!
In a separate adventure, to further reduce operating costs, I obtained proper FAA approval and re-licensing from the FCC to allow WCAR to extinguish (as in permanently turn off) three of its six nighttime towers lights. Up until then, six towers had been required to be lit since 1979. If you drive by the site today, the same three towers (out of ten) are the same ones designated by me that are lit at night.
From the WCAR years, there are many stories like these and many accomplishments. It was not a perfect place, but it was a great place to call “home” for so many of those years with a staff that felt like a family. The best part was those friendships and the very diverse range of people I worked with whom are the very lifeblood of any great radio station.
WCAR is still in operation today with the same call letters. It is now programmed by Michigan Catholic Radio.
Surviving the Tax Man
George Harrison wrote and sang about the Tax Man, I live it.
The wild and wacky life I lead comes at a price.
Every year at this time I go through a ritual of doing tax prep for my Accountant.
But mine isn’t like "normal" people (whatever that is) because radio and its related things I do to survive make for mountains of paperwork.
Once I get past this week though, I promise I’ll have some fresh tales to tell.
Meantime, if you wanna tap into some OLD radio in the Detroit area or listen on their web stream, WHFR 89.3 from Henry Ford Community College is carrying my stuff Monday nights from 11:00 to midnight. Mystery and horror are featured…everything from Suspense to Inner Sanctum to I Love a Mystery. Check it out. On the web, it’s www.whfr.com. WHFR also does a great job giving an outlet to local Detroit musicians.
Bob
"Bob Radio" gearing toward a launch sometime this year...
Projects help keep your mind from being bogged down with the multiple irritating distractions (of which I also have way more than my share this year). I have an opinion about most things controversial but if I shared them here, this blog would be bogged down with negativity. That’s not my nature and it’s not what these commentaries are all about either.
One of my projects finally begun this year has been building “Bob Radio.” I’m not referring to physical construction, but rather an assembly of resources that I have from both the recent and distant past.
An entire radio station can be produced and hosted on a single computer. For example, those commercials you see for “Doug FM” – they’re nothing more than a computer running broadcast software. The software is cheaper than filling a studio with people… or even having a studio. In these desperate economical times, it helps the bottom line. It does NOT help radio in my opinion, and it certainly does nothing for the creative talent who once occupied a studio where that computer sits. The whole philosophy of letting accountants manage a radio station, in fact, led to what my life is all about today.
The first phase of my “on-air” career ended long ago when I was replaced by an out-of-town talk show host. Then at another station, I was replaced by satellite-fed programming. It’s a common tale, but I was NOT done with radio. Far from it.
I evolved into a techie person, which I always was to a degree anyway.
Starting out originally, I was going to be on the air, no matter what it took. So if someone wasn’t going to hire me, I’d build it myself! Literally that is what I did and that is how I started right after high school. It was the “Bob School of Broadcast Arts,” where I taught myself everything…. And I do mean EVERYTHING.
My “teachers” were simply listening to guys like Dick Purtan then on WXYZ, Bill Bailey and China Jones on the original WDRQ, and Gary Burbank and Ted Richards on CKLW. Even “Foodey” Rome on WGPR was a huge influence.
A friend and I would spent hours making tapes “broadcasting” into a little 2-tube Lafayette Radio “broadcaster” that covered the backyard. The U.S. government, however, frowns on individuals doing such things on traditional FM or AM bands without a license. Today, that doesn’t make much difference because the listeners are actually gradually moving away from traditional radio and hooking up with computers, podcasts and live streaming.
It took a long time before “Internet radio” could be taken seriously. Basically technology and the world had to catch up. At the same time, traditional radio stations slowly degraded their program quality in the interest of the bottom line. Many of the truly talented creative types who were in radio in years past gradually became too expensive. Very few people that I worked for or with when I was still on the air full time are still in radio of any form.
Radio “as we know it” is far from dead today! But it is on life support.
In the meantime, if you can’t beat ‘em, obviously, we can always “join ‘em.”
But how to start? Well, I still have a huge carted library of music that I built myself back in the 1980s and ‘90s, plus hundreds (or maybe thousands) of CD’s. They just need to be loaded to a hard drive.
To a degree, I already put Motor City Casino’s “Radio Bar” on the Internet. I can tell you from personal experience it’s MUCH easier than putting an AM or FM station on the air (I’ve done that for other people too… legally!).
When I first arrived at Specs Howard, my first mission was to load the first library of one of the schools stations’ – WSHS -- into a new Enco Digital Audio Delivery system. 600 songs later, we had a radio station that was fully hard drive-based and I even did 99% of the work myself back then. So I have that behind me as well.
But the reality is anybody can do it: That is put an internet radio station “on the air” from their basement. But it will SOUND like a “basement” station without the type of background only “real” radio can give. Maybe that explains part of the success of “Doug FM” – which is nothing more than a giant Ipod that mixes commercials with songs.
I am an audio fanatic and always have been. Pulling out old carts that I had painstakingly recorded a full 20 years in the past was an experience. Many of the carts I had even loaded the tape myself, replaced pads and parts, etc. How can ANALOG TAPE possibly sound good recorded in an obsolete format and be expected to sound good transferred to a digital system? Well, it sounds great!
Painstakingly cleaning the heads of my equipment every few songs, using the same equipment I still had (that was used for recording), the sound, for the most part, was astonishing. I wouldn’t say I have a “laboratory grade” situation, but many of those songs which may have only existed on a 45 rpm vinyl record are now part of the future
“Bob Radio.” And by the way, it’s NOT going to be called “Bob Radio.”
Remember too, I’m NOT just a techie. I’m a programming guy, too.
While doing some research for a separate project, I stumbled on the website and the internet radio station of a fellow Radio Guide writer, Cornelius Gould.
Through Mr. Gould’s series of Radio Guide articles about audio processing, I learned more about processing for radio and its history than I had accumulated in a lifetime.
www.radio-guide.com
The real key to processing, however, is LISTENING. There are many different approaches one can take to getting a Great Air Sound. Corny had also figured out how to achieve that over his internet operation.
Hear it for yourself: www.legatocafe.net/
In the 1970s, it was Ed Buterbaugh and the CKLW-AM “sound.” It didn’t matter how he did it: Whether it was a couple of finely tweaked Gregg Labs boxes, no one in the Detroit market could touch their sound back then. Tapes that I recorded back then today reveal that their air sound even TODAY would qualify as the best on AM. People just don’t pay as much attention to air sound today. Engineers simply don’t have time because today they’re taking care of eight rather than 1-2 stations. They may actually be happy when one of their stations becomes a stand-alone computer: No more light bulbs to replace on that tired old studio console!
As far as sound, today, there’s a few legendary audio names we could mention. Mr. Orban of “Optimod” fame and Frank Foti as well are two obvious ones, but Cornelius Gould is right up there as well. These guys actually make it easy today to achieve CKLW’s air sound of the past. That is, if only someone in engineering would or could take the time to listen.
For me, I need a model from which I can build. I have all the programming elements already in my mind. I just need to get the proverbial “Technical Ducks” in a row.
Even if people say “Hey, your Radio Bar stream sounds pretty good from the casino.” Well, it’s not good enough for me! Maybe it could never be good enough because there were so many things out of my control at that facility.
Judge for yourself. You’ll hear Specs grads “doing their thing” in somewhat of a club atmosphere surrounded by games of chance. It's a cool thing, nonetheless:
www.motorcitycasino.com/MediaPlayer.aspx
As for “Bob Radio” (again, I’m not going to call it that!), it’s a few months away from launch, but it is one of my current pet projects, one of which will help preserve my sanity during an insane time!
You’ll hear about it here.
-Bob
I’ll keep it short and simple this time:
Just congratulations to Dick Purtan and Purtan’s People in their raising another two million bucks for the Salvation Army Bed and Bread Club.
Flying directly in the face of everything negative that is going on in this area, our legendary morning guy has proven once again that people in this area really do care.
More at: www.womc.com
- Bob Burnham
Did My First Gig with Tri County Band… And the Rise & Fell (Once Again) of CKLW, the Big 8
02-11-2008
I actually viewed the CKLW “Rise and Fall of the Big 8” press screening in the same breath as did a first public performance with the “Tri County” band.
In fact, I skipped a band rehearsal just to catch the screening of the CKLW special! I already owned the DVD. In fact, loaned my copy to a few Specs Howard instructors a few years ago and subsequently, many students asked where they could get a copy.
The answer is here:www.radiorevolutiondvd.com/
Seeing this again on “the big screen” this time provoked me to dig through my CKLW remnants.
During the Christmas of 1981, I was out of work, but not out of reel to reel recording tape! I airchecked a full 24 hours of CKLW and caught many of the legendary CK jocks who were still there: Tom Ryan was filling in for Dick Purtan, Johnny Williams, Charlie O’Brien and Jack London were all part of this broadcast day, along with Ted Richards. The sound quality (especially for AM broadcast of 25 years ago) is astonishing. The tapes for the most part, held up over the years.
The following year, I would do an afternoon drive stint myself at WKHM in Jackson, Michigan, to be followed by my return to WAAM in Ann Arbor (thank you, Jimmy Barrett!). But CKLW was always a “reference point” for me.
By then, CKLW was already on its downward spiral. Their format was more adult oriented (similar to ours at WAAM). Not surprisingly, on an aircheck of me dated May 1982, I sounded frighteningly similar to CK’s Ted Richards.
During my air shift, several times I plugged the jock who followed me, as any of us would normally do. He was relatively new to the station, and broadcasting in general, but a great guy to work with.
Before my aircheck tape ran out, it caught the first words of the jock after me:
“It’s 8 O’clock, this is WAAM, Ann Arbor. Hello! I’m Ken Kal and these are the Beatles…”
I just heard the 1982 tape this past weekend that probably hadn’t even been played until now.
Yes, Ken Kal, the future voice of the Detroit Red Wings was one of my co-workers! Yes, Ken sounded the same back then as he does today.
A few years ago, while I was producing a sports talk show that aired on the local Fox Sports affiliate, Ken actually confessed that he did, indeed work with the so-called “World Famous Bob Marshall” (that would be me!) when his career was just getting started.
This weekend, while driving home from my band gig in Commerce Township about 2AM, I had punched up News Radio, WWJ 950. Anchoring the news was another WAAM colleague of the past.. AND Specs Howard graduate, Jeff DeFran!
Jeff is also not just a great talent but a helluva nice guy.
“Way back”, he also participated in the comedy skits on my WAAM shows called “The MisAdventures of Fred Heller, Boy DJ.” What a good sport! He often got the part of “Fred,” our afternoon drive guy who I enjoyed a friendly on-air feud with.
Although the real “Fred” was only in his early 20’s, he had some stinky cigar smoking attributes, and mannerisms that I took delight in exaggerating in my script. He was actually a great on-air talent, and another good guy.
The plots of my skits were about as thick as strangling ones self on headphone cords, or starting a broadcast school and blowing it up (I think I was poking fun at Specs Howard, since Jeff back then was a recent Specs grad). But these shows were major Production and editing projects that contributed to some of the most creative moments on local radio.
Mostly today, I appreciated the fact I was surrounded by such talents who so willingly jumped in when I threw one of my corny scripts at them!
Radio was (and is) all of our “passions.”
So what about my first gig with the “Tri County Band”?
It was the “Winter Sucks” party put together by two families. It’s something that they had done annually before I arrived in the band.
I have done so many band shows, DJ events, remote broadcasts, etc that even though this was a new band and a different group of people, it was pretty much business as usual for me. I had no concerns.
Playing bass with these people (on anyone) I know from experience, the amount of energy I personally put in will directly impact how the shows goes. I gave it 102% as did everyone else and the crowd response was amazing.
Playing music and practically anything else including radio and multi-media work carries with it the same philosophy to win: Act like you care and give it your full effort. Play it, or Say It like you MEAN IT, without being phony (that part is just as important).
Do that, and you WILL succeed!
A lot of people don’t quite “get it” and when they put in a half-hearted attempt, they get results like you’d expect. The world owes you NOTHING, but if you show the world you KNOW how to party, and are RELENTLESS in that pursuit, you will be rewarded sooner or later. Even if it’s a crowd going nuts, and numerous people shaking your hand saying “You guys ROCKED!” Sometimes that’s all that is necessary.
Besides the people mentioned earlier who are successful in broadcasting, my congratulations for the success of this past weekend goes to my bandmates, who got out there and Kicked Some Serious Butt with me:
So let’s name ‘em! Tom Scola, who is the center of the universe with this group, guitarist virtuoso and singer went above and beyond the call of duty pulling this off,
Kelly Wishart, who was the one belting it out during some of best moments this weekend. Doug Lewis…hey, some of the best bands have keyboard players who can also sing. Doug is one of those. Shawn Whiting, the rock-solid other half of the rhythm section with me. He also shares double duty in the “other” band, Wherez My Limo, who I will also plug at some point in the future. Again. We also have a new harmonica guy whom I met for the first time that night.
My hope also at some point in writing these blogs that I can get some of you actually show up at one of our shows, but MORE importantly, are somehow encouraged to move forward with YOUR OWN pursuits, dreams, fantasies or whatever.
When you actually DO IT, they turn into reality, which is the best part.
If you can’t come to a show for various reasons, naturally, YOUR COMMENTS are always appreciated and could actually trigger another rant of some sort. Love or hate letters are fun for ME to receive.
See you soon.
Bob B
Live Radio Rules: What makes it successful
(Common sense thoughts from past experience)
By Bob Burnham
02-08-2008
“Good luck on your radio career” an old friend wrote on the back of her high school graduation picture, “even though we always teased you… “
We won’t discuss how many years have since passed, but some of us – myself included — haven’t changed much. Hopefully, we’ve gained some knowledge and certainly common-sense smarts, but we still like companionship we get from RADIO.
One of the lifetime activities I’ve pursued is collecting tapes of radio. For example, I had airchecked Warren Pierce’s “return” to Detroit on WJR, sometime BEFORE the occasion of that old friend wishing me well on my career. I still have that tape.
Warren Pierce is one of the guys who worked on the “original” WCAR (which is now WDFN, the Clear Channel sports station), 1130 on the AM dial. Back then, people like Dave Prince, H.B. “Huggy Bear” Philips and Dan O’Shea did daily programs. The sports format and Gregg Henson wouldn’t arrive there for several more years.
One of the original WCAR jingles went something like this:
“It’s knowing you… Are going to… get some pretty songs all over you.
And knowing when you are…. on C-A-R… They care about the folks they’re talking to…”
That last line should still be a philosophy of ALL radio stations today. But the difficult economy has been a favorite excuse for stations to routinely take people off the air and replace them with someone at half the salary or worse, a bland satellite-fed program.
In the WCAR 1130-AM days, Warren did the nighttime shift and while he played music, he intermixed interesting interviews -- similar to what he still does -- in with the time and temp. On Sunday nights, he played “old time” radio comedy and drama. I listened to the Sunday night shows religiously and started collecting those shows myself on a large scale. Warren’s closing theme was Gene Autry’s western prehistoric oldie, “Back in the Saddle Again,” which Pierce merrily sang along with on the radio (I would love to hear him do that on WJR).
I was quite upset when the station changed format and Warren left, much like we all feel about Deminski and Doyle today. Warren arrived at a station in Canada: CKSL in London, Ontario, but he also worked at the “later” version of WCAR, 1090 on the AM dial, where I worked throughout the 1990s.
He was, however, long gone from WCAR by the time I arrived at “The Mighty 1090.” He was already a WJR regular by then.
But even during my time there, we had many interview and talk type programs on WCAR. Some originated from remote locations and I was the site engineer as well as the Chief Engineer of the station. On the occasion of one of those shows, Warren Pierce was the guest and we met briefly.
The show, “You and Your Business,” was originated from a small restaurant located in the famous Fox Theater in Detroit. The host, Marty DeWelt, was an enthusiastic, upbeat and incredibly bright woman who owned the program herself. She was convinced that Detroit was undergoing a massive growth spurt, and she had people on the air like Warren Pierce and Ernie Harwell who certainly lent a level of support to her enthusiasm. Ernie hadn’t retired yet and the Tigers were still playing in Tiger Stadium. All was well.
Well, that program, format and those days, of course, are LOOOOOOONG GONE (sorry, I couldn’t resist!), but fragments of memorabilia from those years still exist. Some of those fragments include airchecks.
Warren Pierce would also briefly host a daily show with his wife on Bob Hynes’ ill-fated WYUR-AM, but would retain his association with WJR.
Playing some of these old tapes can really take you on a mind trip to the past and make you feel like you are there again, especially if you WERE originally there in the first place.
What every single one of these tapes prove -- and I don’t care how far back the tapes go – is CONTENT and CONTENT ONLY is the key to its success and we are talking about content on a very personal level.
It will never be safe watching TV while driving a car. But the companionship that RADIO provides, or SHOULD provide is priceless.
Whether it’s Jack Benny, Warren Pierce, or Jeff Deminski, such talents provide us with a vital link to OUR sanity. These people lived their lives on the radio and we got to know them as People just by their providing that companionship.
That’s why we get upset when they get taken off the air. It’s no different than having a friend leave town… or… die.
I thought guys like Joe Sasso; the wisecracking New York-accented drive time guy on the old WXYZ "Music Radio" (before they became a talk station) was hilarious. Ted The Bear, whose return we recently celebrated, as I have stated, was The Cool One. Perhaps there is hope for the industry now that at least he’s back.
Before Technology and Accountants ruled the air, there were Real Live People speaking over microphones rather than a hard drive obediently retrieving a previously recorded voice-tracked show. Today, computers rather than people also select songs from a microscopic play list backed by millions of megabytes of research.
I have nothing against voice-tracking and using technology to make radio more cost effective to deliver. But I’d like to see a little more pride taken in what is handed out to the public, rather than just proverbial hash shoveled out such as at dinnertime in a prison.
“You’ll eat it and like it.” No we won’t!
Life is not a prison. We’ll ABANDON The Hash Meal, or listen to our old friends on PODCASTS, which apparently is the newest form of RADIO (The form of delivery doesn't matter as much anymore).
Give us something TASTY and we just might leave the Ipods and the CD collection at home where in my case, the old tapes of the way radio “used to be” are also stored.
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