Winners and Losers
By Bob Burnham
Life is full of winners and losers. Most of us have encountered both types. In a tough and competitive business like broadcasting, if you are a “Loser” you will never “make it” in anything. Period. End of discussion. You can count on one thing: Failure.
An old friend recently commented (somewhat proudly) that he is a pessimist and a cynic: Everything is always bad, “things” will never get better and he is “doomed” to work a boring job at a big box retailer with horrible managers for “the rest of his days.”
That is a horrible attitude!!!
Merely complaining about how bad the economy is, how much you hate the President or Democrats or the FCC, or the job you work – without developing a strategy or suggesting a remedy for the situation is pointless. It is also a waste of everyone’s time that hears the complaint, but more importantly, it is A Waste of a Life!
Maybe there are even co-workers who share your grief of a bad job. If they do nothing but complain without doing something about it, they are also Losers themselves.
Life is whatever you make it. Don’t make up lame excuses for why one CAN’T make a change to correct a situation -- no matter how difficult or daunting – or seemingly NEARLY impossible. Nothing you are truly dedicated to accomplishing is impossible.
Accept the fact that big changes take work – lots of it – patience AND determination.
Anyone who almost loses their home (or perhaps has lost their home), their job, their lifestyle, their personal relationships CAN ALSO, recover, if they make up their mind to do it!
Pick a field of work that you are going to dedicate every cell of your body to succeeding in. Maybe there will be some distractions that will slow you down, but don’t get too sidetracked! You may hear reasons why maybe what you want is not a good career choice, but if that’s what you really and truly want, don’t listen to them.
Tell you best friends what you want to do. If they are truly your friends, they will be behind you. Sometimes a little nudge is what you need to stay on top of it, as it gives you a feeling of accountability to people you trust.
A large part of it, however, has to come from within.
As you start “making it”, don’t forget those friends – including the new ones who may have taught you a thing or two along the way.
If you start out saying “I don’t have any friends,” an Attitude Adjustment will soon win you some new friends! Don’t be whiner. Don’t be a Loser.
People don’t like being associated with others who are Losers or at least display the signs of being Losers.
The process of growing older actually brings some amazing wisdom with it. One of aspects of wisdom comes from being associated with optimists rather than pessimists. This will also improve your chance of success in whatever you do.
Almost everyone I’ve worked with in radio and at Specs Howard, past and present, falls exclusively in the “Winners” club.
The world (and our business) is not a perfect place. It never will be, but it’s not impossible to prosper, succeed and reach all your lifetime goals in most cases. You can also have fun in the process, with the Right Attitude.
Starting from scratch, be ready for an incredible amount of work, and seemingly insurmountable challenges to at least reach a plateau. You may have to “re-invent” yourself. I have several times. If you think it’s too hard, then try working a fast food job for a while – which actually is a good exercise, and I have done it! Sometimes to pay bills you have to do what you have to do, and there’s no shame in doing that either. Just don’t forget that weekend job, or that internship where you’re doing what you REALLY want to do!
“Membership” in the ‘Winners’ club is always open. We have a nothing but fun and lead long, rewarding and prosperous lives.
‘Losers’ lead unhappy lives, are more prone to disease, and unfortunately (and sadly), may die young.
Which club are you in?
-Bob Burnham
4/26/2010
On Being a Broadcast Engineer
By Bob Burnham
What leads a semi-normal everyday kid into a lifetime of techie work?
Over the years, I have realized there are actually people who would love to do what I do for a living. People have actually said that to me. The reality is there is actually no way to totally define and understand WHAT I do by people outside the industry. Fact is, it has been a very long and twisty path that led to now. I didn’t take the traditional approach, nor do I take the traditional approach to anything. But that’s me. It might not be you.
That combined with the fact that in 2010, there simply IS no easy or overnight path into Broadcast Engineering unless your family owns a radio station!
The “traditional approach”, however, CAN be a good starter path that can work well to getting on the road. It may include getting some sort of technical degree or formal training. There is no substitute, however, for hands-on experience. If someone won’t give you that hands-on experience, then you have to create your own. I did both. The only path to becoming a GOOD Broadcast Engineer is to gain that experience, and accept the fact you will learn something new every day, will find yourself specializing in certain areas, but you will never learn everything.
Also, be advised there are bigger salaries and greater job security in other technical fields. But if one has embraced the industry as a whole, then perhaps Broadcast Engineering is where you want to be. If you’re in it strictly for money, it might NOT be what you want.
In my case, I went totally overboard as far as practical experience.
I realized, for example, when I was about 12 years old, that a $15 Lafayette Radio battery-powered mixer could actually be turned into a serviceable broadcast console if enough extra switches and gadgets were added.
So what did I do? I ripped the guts out of a perfectly good audio mixer, stuck them into a bigger “box,” with extra buzzers, whistles and even a meter. I also realized that if I ripped the guts out of ANOTHER mixer and added some stereo pots, I could have a stereo console. Simple, right? Well, I was just a kid who had to find out for real. And when the thing actually worked, I was excited!
Those mixers were only 1-transister circuits that ran on a single 9-volt battery. Soon enough, I was duplicating the circuit with better quality components. As a teenager, I ended up building my own audio console from scratch that evolved. Soon, as decent quality op amps become available, I would put more advanced home-brew electronics into my consoles.
Next, I bought Lafayette’s tube type phono oscillator which put a few milliwatts on the AM band. Eventually I got bored with that, but not before a friend and I would spend hours making DJ tapes, and ultimately taking over the student radio station during my senior year of high school.
After those years, in my life, everything became bigger, more powerful and in some cases, more dangerous, but these were all things that led to what I do now…natural curiousity was a big part of it.
Those interests were concurrent to my interests in related areas. “Old-time” radio programming was another area that I stumbled into by accident, hearing old shows being rebroadcast on an area station. This happened in a 2-story “shack” built in my parents backyard. “The Shack” (no relation to today’s Radio Shack stores) was built from surplus construction materials. It had actual shingles, a slanted roof, carpeted interior, intercoms and a radio and speakers built into the walls, all by me!
I had an “air conditioner” that consisted of a discarded phonograph motor with a hand-carved wooden fan blade. A block of ice sat behind the fan. It wasn’t very efficient!
The radio was a junked chassis that someone had thrown out (again tube type). The set was mounted on a home-made panel centrally mounted on the second “floor” of the shack. A carpeted ladder led to a trap door to the second floor.
For the receiver, once I replaced some capacitors, and added fresh tubes I ended up with a high quality receiver that was my connection to the outside world. The programming on the AM band fascinated me back then, and I wanted to be a part of it and would be soon enough. “The Shack” along with countless projects since then would be a key source of my early education.
Thinking back on the programming being aired...
There were no computers for home use at the time, but the Detroit area was rich with some of the best broadcast talent in the prime of their careers. The original WCAR-AM (which is now WDFN the Fan) featured guys like David L. Prince, H.B. Phillips and Warren Pierce. WXYZ-AM by then featured Dick Purtan mornings, then Johnny Randall (and later Tom Bigby), Joe Sasso, Eddie Rogers and Dave Lockhart. WJR was another story altogether.
But the point was I heard them all through trashed equipment that I was able to bring back to life in my own self-created environment.
That was the kind of kid I was, sometimes with a short attention span, but what ever interest grabbed my attention I stuck with it for a very long time.
My first job in radio where I actually got paid was WBRB-AM in Mt. Clemens, Michigan. Leigh Feldsteen (Gilda Radner’s uncle) was the General Manager, and I was his mid-day air talent Monday through Friday. I was the youngest full time staff member, and we played all sorts of Wayne Newton, Frank Sinatra and similar records. I would read the obituaries everyday sponsored by a funeral home, and ladies in their 80s would call me for requests.
I had to do a lot of remotes from a beat up remote trailer where the air conditioning rarely worked and the equipment was barely functional, however, sport coats and ties were required! One day out of frustration, I found myself re-wiring the trailer. Noticing that, the GM offered me the position of Chief Engineer! Bob Seitz was the regular Chief Engineer at the time, a great guy, but he was well past retirement years.
But I didn't stick around...
Instead, I left WBRB eventually for a gig at Ann Arbor’s WAAM. It was early 1979. There, I would be immediately put to work assisting their Chief Engineer installing new audio consoles as wellas doing all the many remote set-ups with "Fat Bob" Taylor. Taylor would become a good friend.
In the studios, we were the only station in town at the time with slide pots! I would be a full time on-air dude there too, as well as their Production Director. I would have been happy to have worked there indefinitely, but I got too expensive and the industry was changing.
By the end of the 1980s, it was my ability to fix stuff, and install anything under sometimes adverse conditions that would allow me to survive at all in the broadcast industry.
I was in the right place at the right time, and eventually knew all the right people.
There are a lot of people who gave me the incentive or motivation to continue. You really need those kind of people and to feel accountable to someone other than yourself.
Ultimately, you have to WANT to be the best you can be.
For someone outside of the industry, that’s why a place like Specs Howard is so important. The school really has a mixture of the best people in all departments that collectively have created success for both the school and its students under adverse conditions.
You don’t have to be flipping burgers or making minimum wage at a retail store if that’s not what you want. But you do have to do whatever you need to do to create your world, and it doesn’t come overnight. It might not be exactly what you expected, either.
I never had aspirations of being a Broadcast Engineer. It was a means to an end. I would have been happy being that 6-10 nighttime guy on the radio on the AM band. This was both a creative outlet that had a set of responsibilities that went with it that I was very comfortable with. But change is part of the game, and whether even I will always “do what I do” now is unknown. It’s not a perfect world either…but I have to admit it’s a pretty cool one.
If you want a part of it, get out there and start tearing apart equipment and re-building it into something different….or taking what is so obviously someone else’s trash and turning it into serviceable gear. That’s what I did.
-Bob Burnham
4/2/2010
Sunday, 28 March 2010
PURTAN ADDED TO LIST OF DETROIT RADIO DEPARTURES…
By Bob Burnham
As most of you know, as Specs Howard’s Engineer for the past eleven years, I’ve worked for and with some of the coolest guys in the business. Some of them are legends – perhaps more so now than ever.
If you were following local Detroit radio in recent years, however, you would’ve seen many other long-time legends actually departing the air, some of their own choosing, some not.
This seems like it should be a George Carlin list of the “seven Detroit talents you’d never want to see LEAVE the air..” except there’s more than seven people on my list:
Ernie Harwell, WRIF’s Arthur Penhallow, WOMC’s Tom Ryan, then Ted “the Bear” Richards (The CKLW legend was back in town for a brief stint on WOMC), Deminski and Doyle (not once but twice) and their WCSX predecessors, Jim Johnson and Lynne Woodison…. to name the more famous of the recent Detroit radio departures.
One guy actually came back to rejoin his WRIF partner and stayed: Drew Lane.
Thank you, Drew, and thank you Greater Media. Drew and Mike ROCK at the ‘RIF!
But another guy just retired after 45 years: Dick Purtan.
Someone wrote: “I don’t get the Purtan love – some old guy telling 30-year-old jokes on the radio…”
It’s all about change. We don’t like it very much. If you grew up with someone for a very long time, it feels like a friend has been lost, though Purtan insists his listeners haven’t “lost” him. His new website is alive and well at dickpurtan.com.
Mr. Purtan and the others are irreplaceable one-of-a-kind talents that offered something to the public that was distinctively different, entertaining yet completely down-to-earth.
The human element is a priceless commodity on the radio.
They are real people with real lives that listeners eventually related to on a very personal level. This equals great radio. Whether you personally like a particular host or not if they hold down an air shift longer than a few months, enough of the public likes what they are doing, and that’s all that really matters.
OK, maybe Dick told a corny joke every so often, but who hasn’t!?? Even if you groaned or cringed, you’d still tune in the next day because this guy on the radio was YOUR pal.
For some reason, at the moment, the radio industry thinks it should play more music. Radio thinks it should try to compete with all other forms of entertainment where people can get the same thing – music – specifically tailored to their own interest – generally for free and without commercial interruption.
There are consultants mixed with portable electronic devices that monitor peoples listening habits that are supposed to give the definitive word as to what the public is doing or wants.
Unfortunately, they overlook the fact that we now have the ability to plug an Ipod into a car radio and Ipod “docks” can double as morning alarm clock “radios.” One can wake up to a library of thousands of personal favorite tunes rather than morning shows than run 6-10 minute commercial blocks and maybe the same few songs you just heard yesterday from a small, heavily researched list.
There has to be a reason to compel anyone to listen to any radio programming. Playing the same songs every other day is not a compelling reason to listen nor are promos constantly screaming at us how great their format is supposed to be. That actually becomes an annoyance and a tune-out factor.
“Oh… we have to be told why we must ‘LIKE’ this programming?” Whether they’re playing music we grew up with or not, the soundtrack of our lives was actually thousands of songs…and not a few hundred, or a few dozen.
I would like to think lowering the content quality was one of the factors that encouraged Dick Purtan to retire when he did, rather than try to stretch his career to the full 50 years.
Further, the commercials are of course, the lifeblood of commercial radio and television, but the way they are presented – in blocks, rather than being made a part of the program itself – is another tune-out factor.
When ever a talent says “I’ll be back after these words,” they are inviting the listeners to GO AWAY. The air talent isn’t actually going anywhere, but he is essentially apologizing to the listeners for interrupting the flow.
It’s like talent saying: “If you wanna waste your time, listen to this crap our Production Director cut for us the other day – go check on traffic on another station if ya want – as for me, I’m gonna go get a snack and use the restroom.”
I would rather hear any talent rapping about a product, somewhat extemporaneously, rather than a pre-canned, over-produced spot, sandwiched between ten others.
Of course, the people who were programming geniuses when I was on the air and taught me the mindset of what makes great radio are no longer part of the industry for the most part. They got too expensive, then got old and simply didn’t want the hassle.
I’ll be the first to admit the industry changed and simply couldn’t afford people like that.
Younger personnel who came along were answerable only to their Market Manager (most Market Managers came from strictly a sales background), corporate management, consultants, and bean-counters whose mindset was to operate as efficiently as possible.
Those who are in management with programming backgrounds have limited power as to what they can do with their stations. There’s also too much at risk with what stations net values are (and subsequent debts the owners are attempting to service).
Operating efficiently is good business practice, but radio is different. It’s an entertainment business, and not totally a mathematical formula. Taking the big picture into consideration, does it yield maximum listenership, a productive staff, and ultimately preserve a listener base (and revenue) for the long haul? Perhaps not any more.
I don’t claim to know everything there is to know, but pouring a lifetime into preserving the past, present and future of broadcasting I have more than a little common sense. It would be a plus if there were some assurances that there will even be an industry in the decades to come.
Or maybe the future is all-internet-radio all-the-time. That might not be so bad, actually!
Best wishes to Dick Purtan and family, and to Purtan’s People. Thanks for the laughs and memories. I DO “get it.”
-Bob Burnham
03-28-2010
JEFF DEMINSKI
By Bob Burnham
This continues my series on people in the broadcast world I’ve known, listened to, learned something from, or just admired and respected with no connection at all.
Catching up on old background info, Jeff was one half of the Deminski and Doyle drive time show that aired for eight years on CBS’ WKRK 97.1 (later known as WXYT-FM). The show made a brief migration to mornings then the duo walked away from a CBS contract offer that was unacceptable to them.
Abiding by a year-long no-compete clause, the show was off the air a year. With much fanfare, including a New Years blow-out, “D & D” were back on mornings but now at Greater Media’s WCSX 94.7. It soon became apparent, however, that the “new” show was developing into something that in no way resembled the old one, not necessarily by Jeff and Bill’s design.
WCSX is Detroit’s legacy classic rock station. There is also a tendency among broadcast executives to think listeners want to hear the same few low-rotation “power” tunes every day, less talk and by playing more music that their chance increases to catch the listener who happens to be scanning the dial. This is apparently guided by inherently flawed “research,” new ratings technology, and taking common sense into account. I would normally not be critical of a station, as there are an incredible number of positive things (and people) going on at the station. But this actually is true of the broadcast industry in general, in my most humble opinion.
“D & D” are an example of a softer version of “hot talk.” “Hot talk” has not worked in many markets, although D & D’s version scored major success in drive time on 97.1.
In my world of people who know how to do “good radio,” the people behind the microphone (of which I was one long ago) are just “regular folks.” The best of them have little or no ego nor do they think they are better that the guy working the counter at McDonalds.
In D & D’s case, the radio show basically amounts to two guys hanging out at the corner pub and swapping stories with listeners. They’ll do outrageous things from time to time and special appearances, but mostly they go to great lengths to make the listeners comfortable. In fact, the listeners on-air involvement as well as the support people become crucial parts of the show success. After eight years of show and audience development, we do not have an example of merely good radio. What we have is great radio!
Why? Because it’s personal one-on-one radio. The listener feels like they know everyone on the show without having ever met them.
I was on hand for an eight year celebration at their former radio station during which huge numbers of D & D fans were ushered in and out of the studio while Jeff and Bill did their thing, wrapped up with a hilarious in-studio contest featuring listeners. Many of us had to park across the street at a corner drugstore and gingerly cross the street to the radio station in "that building" that resembled a furniture store. When I was there soon after the start of the show, the crowd was enormous.
Much later, Jeff’s on-air slip of the tongue regarding “Super Bonus Points” (which really didn’t exist) resulted in another fan gathering. "Super Bonus Points" compelled Jeff to feel personally responsible to the listeners. This resulted in Southfield’s “Mr. Joes” being packed for Deminski's “free $3 burger and fries” paid for out of his own pocket.
During the afternoon drive run, listeners lived through high and low points of both Jeff and Bill’s personal lives and watched the show and the station itself evolve. As in life, there were tremendously hilarious times, deeply sad and moving moments, as well as segments that made listeners think. It wasn’t all slap-happy, but it wasn’t all serious either.
Listeners actually cared when Jeff yelled on the air at another 97.1 host at the time, Michelle McKormick, for being such an insane parking lot driver. Sounding a little tearful, Michelle said something like “You’re being a little mean to me, aren’t you, MISTER?”
It’s life, folks. It’s REAL RADIO.
My career was essentially handed to me by the late great Jack Hood. Jack would have approved of what the Deminski & Doyle Show was all about. Jack was best known for his work in Flint, central Michigan and WJR, but he hired me in Ann Arbor for my first radio gig in that city. He denied being a “programming genius” in a later conversation, but through his mentoring, he in fact taught us all what good radio was all about. The guy knew how to motivate us to be our best. When we were the best, we knew. When we screwed up, we knew, but when we needed a friend, Jack was there as well. We were the “WJR West”, damn proud of it, yet made no big deal about it. We had the on-talent and family atmosphere to show for it, featuring many names you might recognize today.
Detroit was actually lucky to have D & D on the radio for as long as we did. That’s especially true when I think about much of the way radio is today -- the sameness, the boring and repetitive music formats, the over-produced promos fairly shouting how great the station is SUPPOSED TO BE, I have only one reaction: Stop SAYING how great you are and how much your listeners LOVE your “new” format (which is the same old songs over and over ad nauseum), and just DO IT. Just BE IT.
There are no overnight “stars” or ratings giants ESPECIALLY in talk radio. This is especially true in a re-building situation when talent has to sit on the side-lines for a year, and ESPECIALLY in today’s climate where the largest radio group owners are struggling for survival.
Prior to his untimely death, Jack Hood became a pioneer in the video tape rental business, operating a hugely successful chain of stores before Blockbuster got into the business.
He would have liked to have given radio “one more shot.” In a quote from Jack, however, during one of our last conversations, he said “The best thing about radio – even if you can’t BE on it, is you can TALK about it.”
With the last of his “beer money,” this is EXACTLY what Jeff Deminski did, long after the WCSX morning show had expired.
Long-time show sponsor, Snookers of Utica, was the site. It was a very casual setting with a handful of hard-core Deminski & Doyle fans on hand.
Despite being ridiculed by Jeff for hating pizza (which was hilarious!), it was a great time.
A bit of congratulations might've been
in order for the past success. But mostly now, it’s a thanks for changing the lives of so many in the listening area for the better. In person, let me assure you, this guy is the real deal: The same one you heard on the radio.
Like real people in real life, either you like a host or you don’t. But if they’re “believable” on the radio, and you give them just a little time in your life, they will change it for you for the better… like any good friend on the radio, or not.
- Bob Burnham
02/28/2010
ED COLEBy Bob BurnhamOne of my best friends in both broadcast engineering AND “old-time” radio was H. Edgar “Ed” Cole then of Lakeland, Florida. Barely in his 50s, Ed passed away just a week after the 9/11 tragedy, apparently due to alcohol-induced multiple organ failure and other health problems.Ed worked for many years in central Florida as a broadcast engineer and later did many odd jobs as a cab dispatcher and for that matter, cab driver, until he found less dangerous work tapping into his technical and computer skills. Like myself, Ed was an old-time radio dealer and traded extensively and had many complete runs of more “recent” shows such as the CBS Radio Mystery Theater, Sears Radio Theater, etc. I never got a complete “set” from Ed – just a few samples.One year, Ed and I as a team, worked to record the Friends of Old Time Radio convention in Newark NJ… or reel to reel tapes!During the late 1980s and early 1990s, I visited Ed more than once at his Lakeland apartment and we would always talk radio, equipment, and broadcast engineering almost until morning. In terms of a raw technical theory, Ed could run circles around me, but I had practical hands-on experience. Together we could design, build, program and maintain a broadcast station from the first bolt to flipping the PLATE switch on the transmitter. Ed had a collection of Mitch Miller albums (i.e. vinyl!) that he would have loved to air if given the chance.Although he also had "On-Air" experience, he also held an FCC First Class “ticket” which had been updated to a “General” class license -- something that had been discontinued by the time I was ready to take the test myself. He introduced me to some of his engineering friends in Florida – some of the sharpest people in the business – and we all contributed to each others knowledge and experience in the biz.When people ask how I learned what I know about radio – both past and present – and both the technical and programming aspects, I recall only a few select people like Ed that make up the foundation of people I have been lucky enough to work with.Ed Cole had nothing but a deep-rooted passion for fine-quality sound and what it took to achieve it both at home and at a broadcast station. He had a CD player and a “hi-fi” video deck when that type of equipment was still expensive.Ed was also one of the contributing writers to the books I published mostly in the mid 1980s, “A Technical Guide to Old Time Radio.”(Thank you Friends of Old-Time Radio for the Allen Rockford Award in ’84)Ed and I also briefly co-published a techie trade publication “Radio Forum Newsletter” for the broadcast industry, specifically for engineers. Engineers are not used to paying for anything, however, and it never really went anywhere, but we learned and had fun in the process.Ed had stacks of old Radio World newspapers (a trade publication), and in was in Ed’s stacks that I had first heard of and read the early columns of the Barry Mishkind “the Eclectic Engineer.” Barry (who is now former Radio Guide editor), has an ambitious project , The Broadcasters Desktop Resource www.thebdr.net that is drawing growing attention of those of us out in the trenches. You could say in a sense, Ed introduced me to Barry. Barry IMHO remains one the finest broadcast journalists in the industry today. My best written stuff came through Barry’s guidance, encouragement and expert editing. It’s kind of an indirect and vague connection to Ed Cole, but it’s there, nonetheless, at least in my mind.
Thank you Ed Cole (belatedly) for sharing everything you shared with me.
Hello 2010.
The first week of the new year is here and it seems in broadcasting, any new year ushers in change. At least that’s the way it’s been in the last few years.
For the past year, my morning commute has been greeted by the “end” of the Deminski and Doyle show on 94.7, Detroit’s long-established classic rock station. Unfortunately, the last half hour had very little “D and D” content. It consisted of an extended sports report, many commercials, and sometimes a single classic rock song – one, unfortunately, that I may have heard 1,000 times too many.
And with the four-letter word "LOSE" that seems to be a frequent one in news about any Detroit sports team, I would rather not wake up to that kind of information either.
This morning, however, literally was “the end” of the show as it was announced (despite a supposed multi-year contract), that today was D and D's last show per a mutual decision. Within hours of the announcement, all traces of Deminski and Doyle had been removed from the WCSX website, official statements had been made, and life carried on for the rest of us.
All efforts to fit them into the format from cutting the show by an hour, to injecting various forms of content into the show – had apparently failed – or at least did not work as quickly as it was felt was needed -- on a classic rock station.
“We do a talk show and this is a classic rock station…” Deminski said during their final hour during which they were allowed to say goodbye.
Flipping over to sister station, the legendary WRIF (101.1) “Drew and Mike” continued to chat as they routinely do past the top of the hour.
For “D and D” it was a quick and clean ending rather the disappearing act that is so common.
The fact is talk shows of any kind take time to develop an audience. Given the tendency of the station to constantly “tweak” the content., rather than let D and D “do their thing” it is no surprise that the ratings were inconsistent.
Yet their departure is amicable.
A radio duo sits on the sidelines for a year as the result of a no-compete clause in a prior contract. With much fanfare, they return in the midst of a station-sponsored New Years bash, being on the air the minute they were legally allowed. A year later they are saying their goodbyes. And life does go on.
My prediction is we haven’t seen the end of the “changes” either, as other major broadcast companies continue to struggle operating on shoestring budgets, one of which only days ago filed for bankruptcy.
Doom and gloom, however, is not what I write about though – just change, which is constant. It always has been. If you you don’t like it, wait another few weeks or months or year and whatever happened the next year will be the polar opposite of the past.
Best wishes to all concerned. "The best" always land in a better position .
BOB’S BLOG
DECEMBER 2009
Completing the project at Specs and my “band” and life philosophy
It’s hard to imagine two months flew by and we went from the Halloween and the Fall season to the Holiday season in the blink of an eye.
In my life, to say it’s been a busy time is NOT a big of a deal. It’s ALWAYS busy for me, but yes, these last couple months have been particularly crazy.
The anniversary of my arrival on planet Earth passed uneventfully, which is probably a good thing although more people remembered this year than usual. Thanks to all who did!
At the beginning of this range of time, I was playing in FOUR different bands. Two of those bands have since gone into “hiatus” mode, which kind of turned out to be a good thing, but each experience is valued, past or present.
My work life as a tech guy at Specs Howard has been busy, sometimes stressful or at least challenging. The good part is the “peak” of my work has more or less come and gone for the current project.
In January 2010, the Specs Howard School of Media Arts is set to unveil its computer-based audio delivery system in 21 of its practice studios. Part of that involved replacing existing computer technology with newer equipment. Part of the hardware decision was made mostly by me, somewhat late in the game.
Connecting everything to digital consoles twenty-one times – then tying everything together to a central server (as it would be in a traditional broadcast facility) became my “baby.” I feel like I learned a lot in the process as the software interface is also brand new (Enco Systems DAD “Presenter”).
After the holidays, students will get to learn what I learned in bits and pieces. It will be much easier, however, because I’ve already completed the physical wiring and installation for them!
How does one get past such brain-stretching experiences – literally figuring out the method of installation for these studios -- almost on the spot -- and have them actually work?
I have used music – either listening or playing as a stress-reliever. During my commute home, I always have a CD or two or three to listen to closely, but that’s not all. Some nights, I also actually had band rehearsal, which is my creative outlet, and listening to those CDs is sometimes a form of “practice,” for those sessions as well.
During the period I worked on the studios, two guys – band leaders, veteran musicians and good friends – have helped to preserve my sanity whether anyone knew it or not.
About three years ago, I was invited to become the bass player for “Tri-County Blues” – a six-piece classic rock and blues cover band during a period I really was NOT in the market for any kind of “new” band. Yet a long time friend urged me to hook up with these people -- that I would be a “good fit” and all. The band was struggling with keeping members in place. Anyway, I put off making that call for a week or two, but I got a friendly “reminder” and I finally did.
I was introduced to a line-up of tremendously talented people, but mostly a method of management which tuned out to be identical to my philosophy. I feel like musically and philosophically, we hit it off from the first meeting.
SECOND TIME IS THE “CHARM”
In addition, this year, I was also invited to re-join the new version of “IMPACT 50,” a band I was in a few years prior. One of the better local guitarists in the Detroit area was sort of at the helm. Having worked with him in the past and being familiar with his focus and demand for details, I always felt that was part of what made me “good enough” for “Tri-County Blues” and even more high-octane adventures such as sitting in at Memphis Smoke with the “Super Session Band.” It’s not always fun “getting there,” but once you do, it a kind of “high” that beats anything you can do with chemicals.
So now the current version of the Impact 50 features two other guys who are somewhat newer to the circuit, plus this guitar player and myself.
People who know him would saying while they love his playing, he’s a great friend and all, but they “couldn’t be in a band with him.”
Why?
Is it because music is just a leisure activity they’re not that serious about?
The philosophy I have at work is the SAME as my band activities: I want to be the best I am capable of being, and be associated with people who have that same desire. It’s a lot more difficult to accomplish this than it sounds!
I can guarantee you I would NOT have survived in broadcasting and be working at Specs today without that drive. The projects I have attacked with the amount of self-initiative I have would still not be done. This project at the school had some time constraints and we actually considered hiring extra temporary help to do some of the wiring. After some research, a call or two to my friends at Enco Systems who created the software, I decided to press forward myself. I kept working on the project single-handedly – and in fact, completed it entirely myself with one of Enco’s techs on-site for one day.
During this period, evenings after my Specs work, I would almost religiously attend practice with Tri-County Blues and Impact 50. While seeing others who were sometimes late to band practice, I did whatever I needed to do to make it to band practice on time.
When one commits themselves to a project of any kind, it needs to be a firm commitment and this applies at all levels. Write it in blood, or do whatever you have to do to get that mindset.
Honestly, I was NOT sure I could complete the Specs project by a deadline that was set, but I never stopped working at it. In fact, I DID complete it a DAY EARLY!
All the while during this period, in the world of bands, making music with Tri-County was easy and fun, even when others would struggle with getting it “right.”
The band Impact 50 (take 2) was, as expected, filled with challenges because the songs were more difficult and the mixture of talent we had available were not always familiar with the tunes at first. I knew anyone would be given a hard time when (it was felt) they were not practicing enough at home on their own time. Working with people who mostly have “day jobs”, family or other responsibilities outside of the band is yet another factor. It IS a balancing act for everyone.
It’s always a test: Where do you put your priorities? The source of ones income always has to be Number One, even in my case, where “my job” never seemed like “a job” in the traditional sense.
In my life, fighting for that #2 and #3 spot is always a tough battle. Often, but not always, music pushes everything out of the way EXCEPT for Numero Uno. But that’s another part of how I got “good enough” to sit in with some pretty talented people who DO put music the Number One role in their lives.
But this is what I’ve “signed up for” …in life: Being The Best or at least as close as I could get to The Best. I want to be the BEST that I can be, and to only be associated with those kind of people. Of course there are circumstances in life that can and do slow down the process, and as mentioned, it is more difficult than it sounds. The “playing” part is EASY! Wiring studios and fighting with pesty sound card drivers is also EASY. It’s easy for me, because that’s what I do, and I’ve done both most of these things since I was a teenager.
It’s the “unknown” variables that make it tougher and can sometimes get in the way, as well.
Yet those other two bands that are in “pause” mode could spring back to life when least expected. I’ll be ready when they do.
In the meantime, my co-workers and upcoming students at Specs: Enjoy the new technology – and feel free as always, to ask questions. If I don’t know the answers, I know the people who do, who are the best in THEIR specialty.
SECOND, in one of my “other lives” as bass player, guitarist, stage sound assistant and whatever other roles I’ve played: We’ve shared a lot of “working” and playing moments.
Everything is not always perfect, but for what it is, it has kept my interest and made for some incredible times that helped to make life complete, and believe it or not, preserve my sanity!
Thanks to all (they know who they are) and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
A familiar voice of the past is back making some noise on the radio…
If you were tuned into Detroit radio in the 1980s, you remember WHYT, 96.3 when it was first launched with “the hot rockin’ FLAME throwing” format.
You could listen to the station for an hour or so at a stretch, before you were either out of breath, or just tired of the same songs over and over which were repeated more than twice a day.
Holding down afternoon drive was the hot rockin’ flame throwing J.J. Walker!
I thought J.J. was great on the air back then too. It had to be some sort of athletic event to even survive that format.
J.J.’s style was reminiscent of the jocks of the late 1960s and early 70’s that were on the AM band, and he fit like a glove on WHYT. In fact, his voice was the only one I remember from that station.
J.J.’s claim to fame was locking himself in a studio and not coming out until “whatever.” I don’t remember what the outcome was, but one thing we DO remember is his name and who he was in this market.
Guys like Steve “Super” Cooper, “Truckin” Tom “Cookin’” Kent (on WOMC Friday nights), and Ted the Bear Richards were all part of that era from which is style emerged. Those of us who were growing up them loved them all.
WOMC has made an effort to bring some of them back, stopped calling themselves an oldies station all while doing what it had to do to survive in tough times.
WOMC couldn’t give us “Ted the Bear” long term, and since his short tenure at WOMC, landed close to his home town at a station in Myrtle Beach, SC. Nonetheless, his voice will be forever associated with his long rein at the beloved CKLW, “The Big 8” of the past.
J.J. Walker reminds me a little of Ted Richards, but that’s not why I remembered who he is. Ted has a little bit of a southern, folksy down to earth approach all while being high energy and upbeat at the same time. His voice would basically growl the call letters with an urgency, each letter being distinctive. Every vowel was important the way he delivered it. Timing in and around the music was flawless, and those rare times it wasn’t he was human. He was funny on WOMC. He was HIMSELF.
J.J. is kind of an urban version of Ted. That is intended as a compliment, because I think they are both great talents in their own right individually.
It is hoped J.J.’s stay at WOMC will be a long one, because we need some of his kind of excitement and high-end radio in this town.
Welcome back to the hot rockin’ FLAME throwing jock.
- Bob Burnham
Reliving old demo tapes
“970 WKHM” Jackson, Michigan
By Bob Burnham
The 1980s pretty much saw the end of the first phase of my broadcast career.
As I gradually sift through the remnants of those years, a flood of memories always comes back if the tapes are still playable.
This article is not necessarily about the tape itself, but the memories it brought back.
I worked afternoon drive at WKHM-AM in Jackson, Michigan. It was a “full service” station with CBS network news, and the sister station to the rocker on FM, WJXQ or Q-106 (which later moved its license to Lansing).
As much as I can remember, back then, former WDRQ Detroit jock, Jim Ryan was the P.D. for both stations and the AM soon shifted to a satellite-fed news-talk format, but it was “full service” when I was there and I was replaced by a satellite-fed program. Full service back then meant live talent, a little music, a lot of personality, and short features. But people like me were not cheap to have on staff at a struggling AM. Automation technology except for huge mechanical monsters -- that were a nightmare when they malfunctioned – had not arrived or were not desired at this station at that time.
In recent years, I did not think any tapes remained of my WKHM shows, but surprise! This demo produced in mid-1982 consisted entirely of aircheck excerpts from that station alone.
I even did my own sponsored sports segment on this tape (which was part of the aircheck). There were no interactive listener bits on this tape and I don’t remember doing any at this station.
Painting a picture of the studio, I just remember these huge seven foot wire cart carousels in the corner of the studio where all the music and spot libraries were located. The studio and equipment was fairly nice. It was a slide-pot board (NOT rotary).
The AM talent had to take transmitter readings for both the AM and FM, even tho there were always live jocks on the FM. That always seemed to me to be unfair because the AM log was always much busier than the FM, at least for the daytime hours. But the FM was the money-maker and the AM was struggling. So let us higher-priced guys do extra work for the “kids” on the FM rocker.
The AM carried some long form style network programs like CBS Radio Mystery Theater, but for the most part, it was local live talent and music "all night long."
The two stations were independently owned at that time by the Patten Broadcasting Company, and the building was located toward the back end of a residential area. The AM site is still there so far as I know. You had to drive through the city of Jackson to reach the station. The AM transmitter and towers were on the same site as both the AM and FM studios at that time.
The demo tape itself was nothing special hearing it today, except I noticed I had a “pace” or a patter that was identical to what I used in at WAAM in Ann Arbor. The music format (Adult Contemporary) was similar as well.
It is hard to explain what that style was like, how we developed it and after a while, what made it so much fun. People I worked with and in some cases, trained in the Ann Arbor days were names like Jeff DeFran and Ken Kal were part of some of that “fun” and obviously like me, turned some form of radio into lifelong careers.
I didn’t really spend enough time on the air in Jackson (at least up to that point) to develop any friendships at the station. Mike Vaughn was on the FM (formerly of WDRQ), but I didn’t really get to know anyone else. I plugged “Lynn Essex with music all night long” on WKHM, but sorry Lynn, I don’t remember much about you. I was still living in Ann Arbor at the time and listened to your show on the way home and that was about it.
For the most part, with that format, you could be yourself and work in your own bits. That was as long as you wrapped it around everything that was in the log, didn’t forget to take required transmitter reads (required every 3 hours back then), worked in all the live and network news and sports, didn’t miss any sponsor tags, and made sure to plug other features on the station or whomever was on after you. That plus play lots of music and knew it well enough to nail every post (manually back then usually without count-down clocks), and usually talked over both the ending and the intro of each song.
That was what (as I called my show on this tape) the “Bob Marshall Atrocity” was all about. I was also “The World Famous Bob Marshall” which was a joke in itself, because these were regional radio stations which meant they covered the county and not much beyond and up to that point, had not yet tinkered with syndicating myself or others. Yet those stations had a substantial and very loyal local audience many years before the internet.
I had a style that was a compromise between fast-paced like “hit-radio” CKLW-style and WJR style of THAT era. I was not an overly-hyped fake-sounding jock. What was on the tape sounds pretty natural, but upbeat. Like I said it’s hard to explain, but all of us on the station sounded that way – and similar but “different.” It’s a style you can’t really teach. You can only learn it by listening to others and developing your own version, but it is mostly extinct today.
It WAS INDEED personality radio and whatever was on my mind that day whether they were in the news or just observations driving to work – they would go on the radio that day. If you were a “sponge” to everything going on (and I do mean everything), you didn’t have to do as much show prep. Sometimes, I’d just get lazy and just “wing it” but sometimes it’s those shows that are the ones that represent your best work, because it’s you being YOU. Yet there are days when NOTHING would be going on, or your mood was a little down. Show prep in that case, IS a lifesaver and sometimes listener calls responding to that would also turn the show around.
In my case, I had a bit of an alternate radio persona going on, but regular listeners soon figured out I was a regular guy underneath that patter and wouldn’t hesitate to call me up. I never did a remote for WKHM, but I did many for WAAM, both as the Air Talent and as the Engineer on-site. And in Jackson, I took many transmitter readings for those guys on the “FM side.”
Before the Jackson days, my most memorable remote was the 4th of July fireworks at the Ann Arbor Airport, from “Rollin’ Radio,” a fully equipped studio built in the back on a GMC motor home. The back end where the talent sat was all glass with a full sized audio console, the technology of the time, cart machines, etc. The chair was bolted to the floor. I remember that very well because it was a little uncomfortable, but we would spend a week in Rollin’ Radio for events like the Ann Arbor Art Fair.
But having fireworks explode in the sky overhead and people come by and say things like, ‘Wow, that’s Bob Marshall in there!” like it was some kind of big deal. I’d have to step outside and meet some of them as kind of a local mini-celebrity. At least one other person from the station was on hand.
It really wasn’t a big deal to me at the time, but it actually was. It was my life at that moment, like it was in Jackson and elsewhere. The fact I can recall so many details, especially hearing old tapes (after so many years have passed) in itself is significant. Who doesn’t like “fame” even if it didn’t include fortune much beyond an extra $50 Talent Fee when we were on-site (That fee was cut in half by the time I ended up getting laid off).
Today, I have much more work to do and much more to accomplish. I won’t be doing the “Bob Marshall Show” tonight or next week, but you never know.
The tape included sort of a “saying goodbye” which P.D.’s always frown upon and usually take the talent off the air before they can, but I was lucky.
“Thank you Jackson for being good to me. Perhaps again our paths will cross. Stick around for Lynn Essex with music all night long right after the news…”
That’s it!
If management was listening, they didn’t complain. I had learned long ago to always behave as a professional. It wasn’t “just a job.”
Dynamic Range in Radio, Audio and Life
What is It?
(THE BASICS)
A PRIMER FOR NON-TECHNICAL PEOPLE
PART 1
(First glance under development 8/17/07)
By Bob Burnham
Every so often I’ll dig out and share an article that has been in development but hasn’t been published officially anywhere yet. This posting is the start of a very long piece. I have spent a lifetime studying the work of those audio people smarter than me and listening to audio of all types. This piece is my attempt to digest what I have grasped over the years and put it into an easier-to-digest form.
In this article, I have gone to some pains to make what could be to some a boring and deep topic at least a little more understandable and less boring to most people.
When to beginning broadcasters it SEEMS like we’re a little TOO nit-picky running good “levels” in the studio, this discussion will hopefully add some insight and some verification that there is actually some wisdom behind our pre-occupation.
At one time, not even a teenager yet, I wondered why songs coming out of a home stereo never sounded quite the same (or as “good”) as they sounded on the radio. As I would soon discover, radio stations limit their dynamic range before feeding it into their transmitter. It is done for several reasons which will be outlined momentarily, but for whatever reasons, it actually made the music SEEM to sound better. The transients that might otherwise be distorted anyway, were squashed. The bass that might otherwise interfere with clarity were controlled, the characteristics of the drum sounds and air talent voices were modified in such a way that made them seem more powerful. What was that mystique? It was AUDIO compression and sometimes the audible side-effects which maybe we shouldn’t like, but we do.
As humans, we all prefer our day-to-day activities to proceed as smoothly as possible, with as little conflict or obstacles as possible. When we travel, we prefer our flights leave as scheduled, our connecting flights synch up as scheduled and our hotel room to be ready when we arrive. When we go to a restaurant, we don’t want to get into an accident on the way, for a table to be available when we arrive, our server to greet us and bring our food on a timely basis and for it to be of reasonable quality. Hopefully they will accept our payment without incident that seems fair and reasonable for what was received.
We want our lives to progress in a constant flow with no rough edges, sort of like the waveform of a standard FM broadcast. What happens within that restricted range of modulation that is within the realm of “acceptable.”? (For the non-techies the waveform looks like a straight pipe with a bunch of “squiggies” inside). That’s probably what we would truly prefer, but it doesn’t always work that way.
This is because life itself could probably be described as analog. We’re not bits and bytes, and life may be more like the waveform of a standard AM broadcast. We each live in our own little module of existence that constantly changes. We interact, create more of us, or “things” or thoughts or modify the things around us.
As analog creatures, we also create analog sounds, which for various reasons, we deem to be valuable enough to transport, modify, save or distribute. The accurate transmission of those sounds so as to maximize the effectiveness of the listening experience is at the core of what this article is about. It could also be why we can actually be emotionally affected by the way a radio station SOUNDS. That is if that sound is close to or even resembles what our idea of great sound is. Maybe the content is part of that reaction as well.
In terms of sound, dynamic range is the difference between the softest sounds and the loudest sounds.
WHY AUDIO COMPRESSION IS A GOOD THING IN BROADCASTING
In broadcasting, it is necessary to limit the dynamic range to make it easier to listen to in a typical listening environment, to stay legal, have a “presence” on the dial and be competitive. If someone is punching across the dial and yours is significantly lower in volume than the competition, you will not be the station where they stop. In a casual setting, this boils down to audio levels that are consistent.
You would think in a digital world, where dynamic range should be everything and classical and jazz music purists who don’t want the dramatic portions of their music damaged, a simple protective peak limiter should get the job done. In reality, IT WOULD get the “job” done, but the station would NOT be competitive.
Back in the studio, someone who is just learning the fundamentals of broadcasting is told to make sure levels never exceed a certain point on the metering, but always averages ABOVE a certain level. When the song ends, the voice should not “blast” the metering into “the red.” This would be uncomfortable to listen to, aside from the fact it is considered “unprofessional.” Further, if the peaks go beyond the digital threshold, a truly harsh burst of distortion would be the result.
Historically, in the earliest days of broadcasting going back to the 1920s, there was actually an engineer who sat in master control at a radio station whose primarily job was to “ride gain” and make sure the transmitter was not over-modulated. Using his best guess, his job was to ANTICIPATE what was coming next and be ready to compensate for that modulation peak that potentially, could actually damage the transmitter.
Various devices were developed in later decades that automatically took care of that and eliminated the job of just “riding gain” and can even “look ahead.” Such equipment will actually react much faster than a human. Most of these devices, however, do work (and sound) much better if they are fed what’s known as a “good level.” In a sense, digital processing is even more forgiving (as long as one doesn’t get to close to their absolute peak), but the garbage-in garbage-out mentality is still a good one: If it sounds bad going in, it will sound equally bad coming out.
In a practical Production environment, the “On-Air” grade of processing is not used nor is it even desired. For that matter, your basic low cost wide-band processor is usually not use in a Production environment, either.
In other words, one should get the basics down first. Don’t rely on technology to fix carelessness or sloppy board work!
As already noted, in the Production studio, consistency of levels is, in fact, the key. In the music industry, not only consistency, but balance (both tonal and mixture of vocal and instruments) AND overall loudness (at the final mastering stage) becomes a factor.
Again, “limited” dynamic range boils down to the quietest sounds are made louder, and the loudest sounds are made quieter. You can’t understand audio compression without grasping this concept first. Also, don’t confuse DATA compression (such as what is used for mp3 music files) with AUDIO compression.
There are various reasons as to why AUDIO compression could be called a good thing in certain applications. Listening environment is a factor.
When driving a car, natural road noise means when listening, you would have to crank up your radio during quiet passages. Except you may have noticed that you DON’T have to when listening to radio because radio stations limit their dynamic range – at least the popular music stations. A classical, jazz or public radio station will probably be more conservative with their processing. With certain musical applications, limiting dynamic range is considered a very bad thing. There can easily be too much of a so-called good thing. Music loses its impact when over-processed.
HOW LIMITED DYNAMIC RANGE INCREASES STATION COVERAGE
On the plus side, in the analog world of AM broadcasting, a station will have greater effective coverage with a higher average modulation level. This is because as the distance from the transmitter increases, so does the noise. A station with higher (i.e. LOUDER) modulation will be more listenable at greater distances because the listener will not have to turn the volume up on their receiver as high as on a poorly modulated station. When listening to a weaker AM station, when a listener has to turn the volume up, they also turn the volume up on BACKGROUND noise that is inherent to standard analog AM broadcasting.
The general public is not tolerant of a noisy, scratchy listening experience, and you won’t find many people listening to shortwave radio or distant AM stations these days. But maintaining higher average modulation is still a consideration for lower power broadcasters operating on the AM band today.
COMING UP IN PART 2:
COMPACT DISC CHARACTERISTICS & “NORMALIZING”
© 2007 Robert R. Burnham
Bob Burnham is a broadcast engineer in the Detroit area. He is rea
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