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A sad farewell to Brandon "Baby Boy" Hendley

haze1268

haze1268

I didn't want to be the first to post a message about this because I don't feel I will do it justice. On the other hand, I can't let it go unmentioned.
Friday morning we all woke to the horrifying news that Baby Boy from Kiss 95.1 had died at the young age of 24. Of course because I work in the same building as BBoy the news hit me hard...more like a surreal moment. I was sure I would walk in to the station and see his tall build, dark hair, big white smile and baseball cap on backwards walking down the hall...then I could have said that I wish I had known him better. I wish I didn't only say hi to him because we were passing down the hall at the same time. I wish I had brought him (and Eric Tyler) some meals to keep them going while they were on the air. I could go on and on. On Legacy.com there are currently 42 pages of postings commenting on what a magnetic person he was....at work, with friends, family, DJing. I am sure many of you have read that Brandon was supposed to FINALLY start his own FT gig at Kiss...doing overnights. He had waited for this for years and was more than ready. I don't think any of us can grasp this right now. I have never heard the radio station so quiet...and I have been there since 1999. Like I said, I was only a co-worker, but I will miss that infectious smile in our building.
Holly Haze K104.7
 
Holl,
Thanks you for this posting. I wasn't sure how to breach the subject either.
I had seen the posting early yesterday and was shocked. Brandon seemed
to have so much infront of him and he was lost at far too young an age.
Crazy, fun, out there...all Brandon. Hungry too, hungry for radio. He loved
being in it around it and a part of it. I hope we all never lose the hunger he
had.
He will be missed.
 
And word is John Reynolds forbade anybody from mentioning the tragedy on air, saying Monday, "It's time to move on". Cold dude.
 
Although it's never easy to tell listeners that a jock has passed, I simply can't fathom John being that frigid about the loss. You may want to check your sources. Sounds like someone wanting to start some sh** for no other reason than to start it.
The Spindoctor
 
My heart sank when I read the news. Truly tragic. I never got to hear him, but have only heard good things. My heart goes out to all those who were close to him.

I will say this with regard to what Reynolds SUPPOSEDLY said...if you check out www.kiss951.com, at the top of the front page is a brief blurb about Baby Boy, a picture, and a link to a tribute page they've set up. So it can't be approached on the air, but it gets top billing on the website? That makes no sense, and makes me seriously doubt the legitimacy of manwhore's statement.
 
manwhore said:
And word is John Reynolds forbade anybody from mentioning the tragedy on air, saying Monday, "It's time to move on". Cold dude.
Click to expand...

I don't think it's cold. It would be very difficult to talk about on the air just as it was difficult to bring up the subject here.
 
I guess so, if you don't trust your talent to be able to handle reality or you can't coach them to the point of doing so. A perfect opportunity to allow the talent to be real people on air instead of card reading cartoons. The depth of your humanity is what can truly endear you to listeners. We all lose people in our lives. How we react to those losses is what makes us who we are. And who we are is what we should be on air.
By your reasoning they shouldn't be mentioning the anniversary of 9/11, or anything not fitting into a "happy talk" mentality. This shows a lack of respect for both the talent and the listener. If we don't do things because they are "difficult", we will never grow as talents or people.
 
manwhore said:
I guess so, if you don't trust your talent to be able to handle reality or you can't coach them to the point of doing so. A perfect opportunity to allow the talent to be real people on air instead of card reading cartoons. The depth of your humanity is what can truly endear you to listeners. We all lose people in our lives. How we react to those losses is what makes us who we are. And who we are is what we should be on air.
By your reasoning they shouldn't be mentioning the anniversary of 9/11, or anything not fitting into a "happy talk" mentality. This shows a lack of respect for both the talent and the listener. If we don't do things because they are "difficult", we will never grow as talents or people.
Click to expand...


I wonder how many listeners can tell you who is on the air at any given time? Listeners used to care, now many don't have a clue. Radio seems to be programmed with the casual listener in mind with a short attention span rather than the true fan.

Having said that I think a simple short on air tibute with all the other jocks at the start of what would have been his show would have been nice. I don't think it would be appropriate for 6 different jocks to bring it up on each of their shows. That would be too much.

As for showing a lack of respect for both the talent and the listener.....don't get me started. The key is to talk about what your listeners are talking about, stay topical. If you want to blame anyone blame those who punch the button as soon as the music ends and the jock starts talking. I know you've seen that happen.

I appreciate you humanity, I just wish enough other people felt the same way.
 
I agree with you Mike. If all I want to hear is tunes, I'll pop in a CD. When I turn on the radio I want to hear someone talking to me every 2 to 3 songs, cracking a joke, spewing nonsense, being a little silly. You know, the way CHR radio stations were around here back in the 80s.

Even if your music format is old songs that need no introduction, there's still something to be said about the station having some personality. Magic 96 was the best argument for this. They were playing 60s and 70s tunes, but still they had live (and talented) announcers. They were fun to listen to and gave the station that something extra. I really miss that.

I'm not a radio professional like everyone else on this board is. I salute all of you for making the best of your talents within the constrained environments you now work in! I'm glad you're there; keep up the good work.
 
nerleman said:
I agree with you Mike. If all I want to hear is tunes, I'll pop in a CD. When I turn on the radio I want to hear someone talking to me every 2 to 3 songs, cracking a joke, spewing nonsense, being a little silly. You know, the way CHR radio stations were around here back in the 80s.

Even if your music format is old songs that need no introduction, there's still something to be said about the station having some personality. Magic 96 was the best argument for this. They were playing 60s and 70s tunes, but still they had live (and talented) announcers. They were fun to listen to and gave the station that something extra. I really miss that.

I'm not a radio professional like everyone else on this board is. I salute all of you for making the best of your talents within the constrained environments you now work in! I'm glad you're there; keep up the good work.
Click to expand...

Thanks for what you wrote. I wish everyone felt that way. Many of us have to work in the confines of the format. I liked your comment about spewing nonsense and being a little silly...two things I'm really good at! I hope you make it to a radio station focus group one day so you might repeat what you said here.

As for Brandon, I might have passed him in the hall a time or two but I'm sorry that I'll never get the chance to really know him.
 
From the little bit I know many stations will take people who have won a contest on their station or participated in some over the phone music research. If you are over 50 you probably won't be selected. 18-49 is the age group they are after.
 
Figured I should note that apparently, the Tuesday after Baby Boy's death (last Tuesday), Chad Rock devoted a significant portion of his show to Baby Boy, playing bits that involved him, callers, etc., with Eric Tyler, the former KISS night DJ who left for KBKS/Seattle and presumably was in Charlotte for the funeral. The clips are posted on KISS' website under the Baby Boy tribute section. Some good on-air stuff he was involved in, and some really emotional, sad moments as well. Like I said, I never knew him, but I can tell that not only was he talented, he had a tremendous effect on every he met. You can tell just from listening to those clips.

I think that we can safely disregard the posts about Reynolds' supposedly forbidding discussion of the loss on the air the day before the on-air tribute... hope everything is okay up there.
 
Thanks, I'm on the other side of the hall but only work part-time. They are a great bunch of people from what I have seen while I'm there.
 
Reynolds may have changed his mind, but he absolutely forbade it at first. Nobody inside the building will deny it.
 
nobleman said:
I agree with you Mike. If all I want to hear is tunes, I'll pop in a CD. When I turn on the radio I want to hear someone talking to me every 2 to 3 songs, cracking a joke, spewing nonsense, being a little silly. You know, the way CHR radio stations were around here back in the 80s.
Click to expand...

There you go, that is the exact reason that I no longer listen to music radio on terrestrial stations. I am sick of jukebox radio. If all they are going to give me is music and commercials, I will just use my CD player and pick my own music, with no commercials.

Maybe one day those in power will realize that many people want this. People can argue all they want that statistics show something different, but how can they really be accurate when there is nothing else on the dial in most markets? People have little or no choice when it comes to music stations today.
 
Talking to someone a couple of days ago about radio and he complained that the jocks talk too much. I made sure he wasn't talking about the commercial breaks. I didn't question him further but I assume he had to be talking about morning shows. Still it didn't make me feel very good to hear the same old compalaint.
 
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