Allege-id Air Talent (?).

[Scooter Lesley]

I know I'm gonna catch some heat fer this'un, but like Hellboy...I'M FIRE PROOF!
Who in the Flyin' Fudgecake deemed it nessesary to put some of these people on the Air? Here, I'll make you a star: minimum wage, and free concert tickets! Not all, but some in this market...suck on the air. On my topic: Third Class Ticket...no one seemed to get my truthfully jest of that document (at least) acting as a screen to keep those out of the business that really were not serious about the business. The listener would hear more Professionalism, if that license was still in place. Yes, there are some excellence still on the air: John Boy Crenshaw, Rick Larson, Hawk Harrison, Lisa Rollins, Alice West. However, there are some of the very best...not on the air: Bill Prather, Dyana Daniels, Chris Scott, Gary Jackson, Dann Scott, John Foster.
Corp Radio could have the best, but they would have to search them out. Some of the best are dead: Bill Walker,
Mark Sanders, Steve Chris, Paul Richie, Scott Shannon, Jerry Howard.
So, y'all have at it! Who's the best, and why? Who sucks, and why?

 

[Gatekeeper007]

Oh this oughta be a good one.

 

[carolinaradio]

I disagree with a couple on your list, but good topic...BTW, wasn't Rick Larson off of WSSL at least 2 years ago?

Charlie Munson and Lee Alexander are good as well. Charlie just sounds great on air. Lee does a good job showing interest in the area, listeners, and music, even though some of it is terrible....and has been on the air for 35 years. Both seem to enjoy what they are doing thoroughly.

 

[upstate29651]

WTPT's Paige is horrendous! Most active rockers that use female air talent normally go for someone with a sultry, seductive voice. Paige's voice is crakly. Great to be made fun of on TRG, but as a stand alone talent, it doesn't work.

On that note, pretty much all the "talent" on Planet sucks! The daypart needs to be revamped, the nights need to go "harder", and a new focus, starting with mornings, needs to happen.

G

 

[Scooter Lesley]

This topic did print out, as I had intened:
"Alleged Allege-id" Air Talent.
...and to show my honesty, I'll even grade my own performance:
Depending which year, and which format, I vary!
Some of my fans thought I was much better than I actually was, and that makes anyone feel proud. However, I modestly rank myself a 6.5 or a 7 on a ten scale. There were those that sucked, and there were those that on my best day, I couldn't kiss their shoes; some of which are, sadly, no longer with us...IE...Coyote McCloud!

 

[freqdev]

wow fans? their lives moved on and so should yours

 

[Scooter Lesley]

To: Freqdev:
Let me assure you...I have only begun to Plow this field, and I will pull every weed in my path! Speaking for myself, and several other intelligent posters, that also know this business inside & out, if you were as cool as you assume you are...your keyboard would freeze-up, and none of us would have to read your little weenie one-liners that struggle to make lite of me & my reputation. We also concur that this is a Discussion Board, with the topic here, Air Talent. Now see if you can muster up a few beads of sweat on your forehead, hatch a thought, and give us a list of who's the best & why...who's the worst & why. You want to be the Brave one,...give us some names. You want to be Brave...be Brave.

 

[carolinaradio]

WTPT's Paige is horrendous! Most active rockers that use female air talent normally go for someone with a sultry, seductive voice. Paige's voice is crakly. Great to be made fun of on TRG, but as a stand alone talent, it doesn't work.

On that note, pretty much all the "talent" on Planet sucks! The daypart needs to be revamped, the nights need to go "harder", and a new focus, starting with mornings, needs to happen.

G

WTPT should just start over with a clean slate. Totally change the station....get new talent, update the music, just overhaul it. Drop the "Planet" brand, even. It's an absolute joke of a station and so is the audio quality. Their processing is the worst in the market, by far....awful.

 

[Big Kahuna]

Damn Scooter...pull your diaper from between your cheeks and relax.

Your 'reputation' is well known and we appreciate it. That being a bitter former "air personality" that has been out of the business for more than two decades. That lengthy gap has done nothing to add to your "in and out" knowledge of the business.

It's obvious you have a finely honed writing skill as well as a unique style...but frequently both are overshadowed by your re-occuring rants about ALL the things that are wrong with radio since you left the business. Is it safe to asume the business was perfect until they decided to bring in that syndicated program, and you found the door? Further...have you fixed everything in the "bookstore" business since you moved into that sector?

I work in the advertising end of the the biz. The firm I rep for buys time on the majority of the station in this market and I AGREE the offerings are somewhat stale. I also AGREE that there is a fair number of on-air types that in the past would not get a shift other than weekends or over nights. In fact we have spent time looking for jocks and stations that we can make "buys" that are overlooked by the majority of other firms. Recently we have placed schedules with Entercoms WROQ-FM and their 7pm - midnight guy. We have also done business with the oldies signal in Woodruff. Both have shown very good results. The guy on WROQ has driven much higher than expected numbers....even more so than WSSL-FM. My point is there are some lessser known hot spots in the area and again you are CORRECT that others are burnt out.

While I am a fan of your opinions your bombast is less interesting and makes getting to the kernal of fact vers opion more difficult. Nuff said.

 

[freqdev]

big kahuna said most of what i would say. applaud him/her for finding niches for advertisers he/she works for. i also give you credit for what you accomplished in your day. i also know that you have actively tried to apply for positions at all the broadcast outlets. creating a post that judges talent among radio people is un-cool. your ego preceeds reality. only the public judges and only arbitron knows and have sent many packing. don't need sweat on my brow to post here. you want to be critical of what you hear knowing you could do better i wish you luck turning gsp on its ear with what you can do.

 

[Scooter Lesley]

When I started this Topic on 8/4, I wanted the read what other Posters had to say about Air Talent: Who's the best & why? Who's the worst & why? Two posts back, I even graded myself, and I self-ranked a 6.5 to maybe a 7, on a scale of 1-to-10. Then Freqdev chimed in with one of his little weenie one-liners making lite of me & my rep. After scolding him for his Boobness, I challenged him to get on the Topic...Air Talent, which he has yet to do. Now because I peed on his Cherios, another Hemroidal Poster, The Big Kahuna, deemed it nessessary to weigh-in with his double nintendo: defend Freqdev, and also jab, once again, at me & my rep. For those keeping score at home, this is BK's second offense or attempt at...
informing us all. He has willingly disclosed that he works for an Ad Agency. I'll pause here briefly...so that all the Radio Warhorses reading this can Mull that over. Let's annnnnalizzzze! The Big Kahuna: Southern translation & clarification: Fat Hi-waian Kingpin.
In this day & time, it doesn't matter if you are the Big Kahuna or the midget pineapple picker, credibility is important, but when you're wrong over & over again in your tropical spoutings, your cred goes in the toilet! Correction: I still know the In's & Out's of this business, just ask my peers. I was not replaced by a syndi show. The original idea was Howard Stern. I worked a year off the air at WROQ, before working a two week notice, leaving on my own to open a retail business, and it was not a Book store. You are consistantly Wrong.
Presently, your credibility would fit down in a thimble, along with the collective morals of my two X-wives, three peas, a doorknob screw,
and the heart of a Consultant. Now...while that's all rollin' around like BB's in a boxcar, I'll give you a chance re-shine. The Topic is Air Talent. Who's the best & why? Who's the worst & why?

 

[Silkie]

Glad I am not the only one who recognizes that there are some who should not even be on the air, much less anytime during the daylight hours. It does not seem fitting to give them the attention they so desire so that they can say that any publicity is publicity. Far as I am concerned when they are as bad as a very small handful I have heard over the years, their names should never even get a mention.

 

[freqdev]

agree silkie. i feel like i am a credible critic of talent but there are a number of posters here that would take target practice. it is the nature of a board like this and not healthy.

 

[Scooter Lesley]

Two of The Best & Why:
To me, some of the Best Air Talent goes unnoticed.
To me, Dyana Daniels is the Best...THEE BEST...female announcer ever! Maybe even the Best overall.
Coming in at #2 is another of my picks; Alice West.
The last time I heard tell of her was on WESC. Her delivery was always Clear, and Concise, without the Churppy-Churppy-Cheep-Cheep-Squeak that most women mistakenly blurt into a live mic...or as I once stated, a bad case of the H.A.S...
"Happy Ass Syndrum". Why some station isn't paying her, Alice West, a nice check to work Middays is beyond explaination.
Also, there is Russ Johnson. The last time I heard him was a weekend shift on WROQ. I have a lot of respect for his on-air Talent. A Clear delivery, with just enough "Bite"! If WROQ wanted high numbers for 7p-12mid,...ditch the Voice Tracker, hire Russ Johnson to work Live, and beef-up that playlist to where it should be. He could & would reach the goal that they've always wanted.

 

[TheStoker]

I always liked Gary Jackson from the "QOK days" through Rock 101. Never heard him much on 102.5. He was on "HYZ" before QOK using his real name. Good solid jock with great knowledge of the business. We worked together at Rock 101. Good guy too! Another was the late great (Ross)Bob Morgan, WORD, WBT, WROV, etc..etc. Real talent, his type rarely ever heard anymore. I worked with him at WORD in the late 70s. A true master. There are many others. Just a few offerings. Thanks.

 

[carolinaradio]

Coming in at #2 is another of my picks; Alice West.
The last time I heard tell of her was on WESC. Her delivery was always Clear, and Concise, without the Churppy-Churppy-Cheep-Cheep-Squeak that most women mistakenly blurt into a live mic...or as I once stated, a bad case of the H.A.S...
"Happy Ass Syndrum". Why some station isn't paying her, Alice West, a nice check to work Middays is beyond explaination.

Agree that Alice West is very good. I've heard her on 92.5 before, and in my opinion, she is perhaps the best female talent in the market currently on the air!

 

[Ssummers]

I always liked Gary Jackson from the "QOK days" through Rock 101. Never heard him much on 102.5. He was on "HYZ" before QOK using his real name. Good solid jock with great knowledge of the business. We worked together at Rock 101. Good guy too! Another was the late great (Ross)Bob Morgan, WORD, WBT, WROV, etc..etc. Real talent, his type rarely ever heard anymore. I worked with him at WORD in the late 70s. A true master. There are many others. Just a few offerings. Thanks.

You're right, Gary was super solid. He hired me from WKZQ in 1985 when he was the PD at WCKN(and then left for Eastern North Carolina shortly thereafter). Hell of a nice guy, to boot.

Dyana Daniels was good and a cool chick, too. And what more can one say about Bill Walker that hasn't already been said...RIP.

But as far as the best or one of the best air talents, I've always been rather partial to the afternoon guy for WANS in the 80s, Rod Metts(who would later become Jonathon Rush). Awesome talent, great radio knowledge and a relatibility MONSTER. Got the chance to work with him at WNOK from 1994-2000 and I don't think there was a day that went by that I didn't learn something from him.

 

[Scooter Lesley]

Yep,...Rod Metts, and excellent air talent that I worked with at WANS-FM.
I worked under several different air names then, and the only problem we had was WQOK. We gave the GSP market its first CHR in stereo, but QOK still held a loyal group of Greenville listeners. Their staff was absolutely stacked with talent: Lee Nolan, (the late) Steve Chris, Gary Jackson, and a guy that Gary stole from us, Chris Scott. Also, honorable mention for a guy that first worked at ROQ, and then at The Peak;
(the late) John Rogers-ROQ/John Williams-The Peak.