12/12/2007

The holiday season is a good time to prove your value to your radio station.  That plus having a track record of proving your value to the station could lead to big things.

I spent a good part of 1979 as Assistant to the Chief Engineer, Randy Custer at that time at WAAM in Ann Arbor. I was also doing weekends on-air.  I was a combination promotions, remote techie, cart machine and miscellaneous repair dude along with the oh-so-important on-air weekends and fill-in jock. Our Operations Manager and morning host was Jack Hood who had actually hired me earlier that year.

This was way before the days of automation that we have today.  Jack had a special “Voices of Christmas Past” package on 7” reel to reel tapes that ran for 24 hours on Christmas Day… at least when we got done with it!  We copied the entire package plus station Ids, spots, liners and promos to 10” reel to reel tapes.  There was a stack of 24 tapes when we got done and the board operator merely had to shuttle back and forth between reel decks once an hour on Christmas.  We made a big deal out of promoting and selling it. It was a great package.

Jack did some of the work himself, but he asked for my help and I ended up doing the bulk of the “grunt” work, literally “living” in the Production studio overnight.  You wouldn’t think this would be the case, but it was actually exciting for me!  I was “building” a whole day of broadcast using equipment in use at the time.   I was not “officially” a full time employee, but was working full time hours with all the people taking vacations and the large number of remotes I set up (at least once a week for “Fat Bob” Taylor alone, who was doing middays).

The staff holiday party was almost missed by me because I was so busy at the station.  I was late, but Jack rolled out the red carpet for me and made sure I was served a full meal. The first week of December, Jack offered me the full time position of Production Director and his 6-10 PM Monday-Friday host.    Naturally, I accepted!


I had some spots on the air that I had produced, so he was already familiar with my work.  But I feel like jumping in with both feet and finishing the work for the holiday programming ahead of time played a part in landing my promotion.  No matter how “good” you are, or THINK you are, that is really only a small part of your success.

“Getting stuff done” has been a pre-occupation that I carry with me today.  Sometimes – not always but SOMETIMES – hard work and dedication DOES pay off.   Even when it doesn’t you have a sense of accomplishment when a project is completed.

Figuring that out for myself, and being lucky to work for people like Jack led to where I am today.  Jack tapped into my youthful enthusiasm and tossed in a few words of encouragement as any good manager will do.  Sometimes you run into bad managers and in that case, just make the best of the situation.  Get the most of you can possibly get out of a situation, personally, and make plans to leave as soon as possible.

People who are struggling, getting discouraged or impatient just need to keep the brain securely in place, keep on working and put in their best effort at all times, no matter how bad the situation is. 

I had already been in radio a few years prior to landing at that station, so it didn’t happen overnight.  

Jack was also a programming genius, although he would deny it in his later years.  We were hoping to meet at Specs Howard for lunch just prior to his untimely passing a few years ago.  He wanted to give radio "another shot."

Besides Ann Arbor, he had radio stints in Flint, Bay City, Louisville KY, and at one point at WJR.  He would also be a pioneer in a wildly successful video tape rental business.

As far as radio, his “reward” to me 29 years ago for MY work and dedication will never be forgotten.  His morning show will always be a “voice” in my Christmas’s Past. 

Hope you’re having a good holiday season!
Bob Burnham

During my long stay as Chief Engineer at WCAR-AM (while it was owned by Mr. Walter Wolpin), we had many interesting moments.  When WBRB last went off the air (staffed largely by Specs graduates as I understand) and the death of its owner at the time, we explored the possibility of purchasing the station and operating it as a sister to WCAR during the 1990s.   The stations covered completely different territory, and WCAR with its successful format would probably work in Macomb County as well as it already was in Wayne and parts of Oakland County.  In fact, WCAR and WBRB were once “sister” stations when WCAR had the call letters WERB (and later WTKA, the first all-talk station in Detroit) way back in the 1960s and ‘70s. The transmitter had been updated at WBRB (a Harris SX-1A) and it was a newer model than the main one we had at WCAR (an MW-1).  

Once it was decided we were NOT going to put WBRB-AM back on the air, the transmitter was moved by yours truly to the WCAR transmitter site in Garden City, and with help from Harris, it was switched from 1430 Khz to 1090 KHz.  The transmitter is still in operation at WCAR to this day.

TWISTING BACK THE HANDS OF TIME…
I was an employee of Radcomm Communications in 1977, who had just purchased WBRB from Malrite shortly before I came on board.  I was pretty involved over at Southfield’s WSHJ, and a tip from WSHJ GM, Bob Sneddon about the job resulted in three of us being hired.  Leigh Feldsteen was WBRB’s General Manager (and uncle of Gilda Radner the famous SNL comedienne) who did the hiring.  Basically, voice-wise, I was emulating a combination of Ted Richards from CKLW, Mike Whorf from WJR and maybe a little Bill Bailey (who was then doing mornings on WDRQ), But I made it my own, and apparently, Mr. Feldsteen liked my style.    

Fred Sharp (Shapiro) and Shelly Sherman were the other two hired from WSHJ.  I was the only one who got “the full time gig” as WBRB’s new Monday through Saturday midday talent slot.  Fred would later follow me to WAAM in Ann Arbor. 

The Program Director was a old-school type woman who I didn’t get along with too well, but the other Air Talent were great guys.  Although I was barely in my 20s, and they were in their 30s-40s, they treated me as an equal.

I was grateful to have worked under Bob Sneddon’s direction and his rigid formatting guidelines at WSHJ (Sneddon himself was a weekend jock at WXYZ-AM back when they played music).  In reality, things were a little looser at WBRB, but the discipline that Sneddon had given me was that it wasn’t merely about playing my favorite songs, but what I did (or didn’t do) between the songs that made the station (and me personally) successful.

The music at WBRB was truly Middle of the Road with a Full Service approach.  It was NOT Adult Contemporary, Hit Radio or even anything remotely like it. 

I was kind of an “up-tempo” guy, and a major fan of what they were doing at CKLW (and the ORIGINAL WDRQ on the FM side), so it was a stretch for me to fit my style in with Wayne Newton, Frank Sinatra and the few current songs that would cross over.  But I did it!   I used the name “Bob Morgan” on WBRB.  That schtick would evolve into the so-called “world famous” Bob “Marshall” which would be used at other stations with more upbeat formats in later years.

PUTTING IN APPEARANCES…
WBRB LOVED to sell remotes and I’d have to drive to banks, hardware stores, metro beach and everywhere imaginable to do my show.  Air talent was required to wear sport coats and ties at the remote (and we always hoped the air conditioning worked in the remote trailer, but often it didn’t). Imagine watching people splashing about in bathing suits around boats, and here I am in a box behind windows in a business suit sweating profusely, but ALWAYS staying upbeat and pretending I was loving it.  I wouldn’t have said so at the time, but I DID LOVE IT.  I loved every minute.    

AM 1430, “the Voice of Macomb County” played an interesting role in my career.  A funeral home sponsored the roll call of people who had died that day, and I read that list every morning, complete with the wrap-around and commercial part of the presentation.  

We hit ABC news at the top of every hour.  There was no digital clocks, just one big analog clock.  We played 45 rpm records and carts and it was up to us to know how to backtime our show into those live network feeds. Again, I had honed my craft under Bob Sneddon doing this sort of stuff at WSHJ, so it was second nature.  If your song ran out too soon, simply OPEN THE MIC and speak! I would front-sell the live news, promo-ing what was coming in the next hour of my show.  The mechanical stuff came easy.  The fun part of radio was BEING ME.

RETURNING TO THE SCENE OF THE CRIME…
So it was kind of sad when some 20 years later, I would return to WBRB’s darkened studios along with WCAR General Manager Jack Bailey.  The building on Gratiot near 16 Mile Road was to be demolished, but we were there to salvage whatever equipment we could put our hands on.  

I remember it being very dingy and dirty.  The “On-Air” board had been “upgraded” to an LPB 10-pot model (which became WCAR’s On-Air board, the first to carry the ill-fated pre-Disney “Radio Aahs” kids format.  I reminder spending a day cleaning a coating of dirt and yellow “goop” from both the inside and outside of that console before putting it on the air at WCAR).

There was a library of thousands of music carts at WBRB.   Many of the carts and racks were donated to Specs Howard School (completely true, I swear!).  

The original RCA Transmitter (in operation during my On-Air time there) was likely still functional, but abandoned.  But not before its power tubes were salvaged for my personal collection! 

We even salvaged light fixtures from that building.  At the time, most of the equipment was stored at a warehouse owned by Great Lakes Beverage (another of Mr. Wolpin’s businesses).  Some of the equipment was driven by Jack Bailey and myself to the WCAR Garden City site in a BEER TRUCK owned by Great Lakes Beverage.

I was at the transmitter site at 14 Mile and Gratiot as the original WBRB AM directional array was taken down.  It is adjacent to the FM tower of 102.7, which originally was WBRB-FM, and sold back in the days before FM signals had much value. 

I suppose if I hadn’t worked there in 1977, it wouldn’t have been any big deal.  But to me, it firmly and completely closed that chapter of my life.  What I have left is tons of experience, fond memories and maybe some really old airchecks, that probably weren’t good enough for demos that would get me work in years that followed.  No one ever took photos.  We were just doing a job, and at least I lived to tell about it!

 

 

Traveling – It’s part of the gig

August 5, 2007

There was a time in my life that I did very little traveling, and had little interest in doing so.  Everything I thought that I ever wanted to do – or experience – was right here in the home base.

With that mentality, I managed to work in broadcasting my whole life without ever leaving the state.  I don’t regret that status, but like many things, as we progress in our careers and life, we learn to experience more.

The task and business of old-time radio show collecting, marketing and restoring has been part of my life since I was able to operate a tape machine. I developed many friendships around the country through correspondence, phone calls and later e-mails.  This is the source of some of my best and longest-lasting friendships.

I had to travel to finally meet them in person and did so through attendance at many conventions where I represented myself as a dealer of various cool stuff.  Needless to say, travel cemented those many lifelong relationships – both at a business level as well personal.

I traveled to both coasts to these various events.  Eventually, I got the idea it might be cool to travel just for fun.  I experienced horseback riding for the first time, the humid tropics of the southern states, New York and parts of the east coast and more.  In California, it really seemed like another world to me that I actually liked quite a lot.  I would’ve moved out there if there was a reason to do so. 

Traveling:  It really is a cool thing to do!  But it took me a while to figure it out.

Eventually, I was called upon to travel to do various on-site technical projects.  I spent almost a month away from home constructing a radio station from scratch in North Carolina, and various projects elsewhere.  I found that even though all my “stuff” back home wasn’t at my fingertips, the rewards professionally, personally and of course, financially made for a fulfilling experience. 

For me, traveling became “part of the gig.”

In broadcasting, especially early in ones’ career, not only traveling, but physically moving the home base is typical and expected.

If one focuses their interest strictly on one facet of the business, it is likely a move (or several) will be necessary.

In my case, I changed from on-air and production to the technical aspects of broadcasting.  My career “travels” never strayed farther from the Detroit area than Jackson, Michigan.    If that is what you desire, you’ll have to get used to the fact you will not always have the prime job role you hoped to make a career of.  If you are pursuing radio, thinking beyond the traditional roles and determining what kind of tasks you can perform that will be valuable to the employer are the keys to getting the gig.

If you don’t want to do that for whatever reason, and think you’re “better” than the next person, no matter how good you “think” you are, you’ll never be as good (or wise) as you will be in five years – or maybe just one or two.

There is no short-cut to getting experience in the industry, from both a personal stand-point, perfecting your skills, as well as providing yourself to the industry.

Today I provide a fair amount of contract and sub-contracted services, which temporarily take me to other parts of the country.  Most of what I do for these people is very specialty-oriented.  Having the skills and knowledge to provide those services only comes from years in the business.

On the other hand, if you are dead-set on being a morning show host and nothing else, be ready to travel from sea to shining sea in pursuit of that goal.  

Be ready to work in very small markets, making very little money while honing your skills.  If an opportunity arises that isn’t QUITE what you had in mind but close, you’re making what could be a real big mistake by not checking it out in detail.  Don’t be fussy about what you can get, especially early in your career.

When the time arises, be ready to hit the road... or the air (as in flying) if you really want to hit the air (as in broadcasting).