Critique of your first show on a new station

[UncleAL]

I listened to some of the new 6 AM David Lee Roth Show on WBCN last week. I also looked at some of the reviews and critiques of the show. Interesting. How many of you that have been on-air would want to be judged on your first few days on the air at a new station?

I noted that the 2nd day, Tuesday, it was a bit rough for me to listen but that changed every day. By Friday, the end of their first week, I found the show to have much more potential and I enjoyed listening. It's a work in progress. New board, new people, new formatics and all that goes with a brand new and live syndicated show.

No matter who is doing the program, I have to wait before I give the show a thumbs up or down. At this 5 minutes I think they have something good going on and it will just get better. I also like the local feel via Diamond Dave's engineer/sidekick Hutch and his participation in the show. Good luck to them.

Now here is where a great Program Director comes in. When the morning shows hit a commercial break, I push the buttons. I'll flip between WZLX, WROR, WBCN, sometimes WMJX and sometimes WXKS-FM. Hopefully there will be something on one of them that I will find entertaining. When all the spots are on each station at the same time I think it must be a plot!

Anyone know why he says, "6AM" so often? Is their studio clock broken ?

Anyway, I suggest we reserve our judgment on Diamond David Lee Roth until they have had some time to get comfortable with the show. Let's talk about it in a few months.

What do you think?

 

[Oldbones]

> I listened to some of the new 6 AM David Lee Roth Show on
> WBCN last week. I also looked at some of the reviews and
> critiques of the show. Interesting. How many of you that
> have been on-air would want to be judged on your first few
> days on the air at a new station?
>

Not only that, but he's replacing a popular host with an extremely loyal fan base. I wouldn't want to be in his shoes.

 

[rockchick]

How long do you think listeners will give it before passing judgement?

 

[BoredModerator]

I'll tell ya one thing, first couple of mornings at a new station, I make good friends with stall 2.

 

[MassMusicMan]

> Anyway, I suggest we reserve our judgment on Diamond David
> Lee Roth until they have had some time to get comfortable
> with the show. Let's talk about it in a few months.
>
> What do you think?

Two things about this:

1) When a man debuts in New York, Boston, etc, in morning drive with NO BROADCASTING EXPERIENCE, he doesn't get the luxury of "a few months." You get "a few months" in small markets, not in front of millions of people. He's gonna be scuritinized for his entire tenure, especially by people who have made pitiful wages for years in this game only to see a top job such as this filled by an outsider. There's going to be plenty of resentment here.

2) I was listening to Stern talk about DLR on his show today (which is another thread altogether.) He was talking about things DLR can do to improve. The most important point, to the surprise of nobody, was that he should "talk about Van Halen." Stern pointed out DLR's variety of life experiences (EMT, skydiving, travel, etc.) DLR could do plenty of shows about his travel experiences. But his bread and butter is Van Halen stories. People love drama.

The bottom line is that it was probably a mistake to debut this show in New York and Boston. I'm saying that without even considering the content of the show. Better to screw up in one of CBS's smaller markets first.

 

[Eli Polonsky]

> The bottom line is that it was probably a mistake to debut
> this show in New York and Boston. I'm saying that without
> even considering the content of the show. Better to screw
> up in one of CBS's smaller markets first.

Obviously they want to create a new major market show from scratch, for better or for worse. They wanted DLR to image as a major market host right off the bat, not a small market host. Whether the show will hold up to it remains to be seen.

 

[TravisWMLN]

> How long do you think listeners will give it before passing
> judgement?
>
not long...most of the people i work with have turned it off, but they all gave it a solid week...no one wants ot wait 3 months for osmeone to be good, either be entertaining now or get yanked off the stage. btw has anyone noticed he has someone on there named robin who sounds a lot like robin quivers? i know it's not her, but really...change her name to jane or something

 

[webcastboy]

> > I listened to some of the new 6 AM David Lee Roth Show on
> > WBCN last week. I also looked at some of the reviews and
> > critiques of the show. Interesting. How many of you that
> > have been on-air would want to be judged on your first few
>
> > days on the air at a new station?
> >
>
> Not only that, but he's replacing a popular host with an
> extremely loyal fan base. I wouldn't want to be in his
> shoes.
>

But if the fan base is as loyal as you say, they're all listening to Stern on satradio...they're not listening to DLR. In theory you could put polka music on to replace Stern and, if polka music was a popular-yet-underserved genre...it should succeed.

I suppose that's why DLR was tapped instead of Bubba the Love Sponge or Mancow or any one of three dozen Stern-ish personalities. DLR is not Stern, for better or worse. So what's happening here is that DLR is trying to carve out a new millions-listener niche for himself in two weeks; something Stern needed a decade to do...although at least DLR has his own fame to capitalize on. Even so, it's a tall order and I don't exactly envy him (although the bed of $100 bills I'm sure he sleeps on helps ease the pain

Speaking of which, anyone know how Adam Corolla is doing? One would think he's having an easier transition since he was on LoveLine radio for several years.

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

Uncle Al asked:

> Anyone know why he says, "6AM" so often? Is their studio
> clock broken ?

I did not listen to the show yesterday (January 9th) or today (January 10th), but if during the 6 A.M. hour, he referred to it being "X minutes past 6", there may be a reason: As far as I know, Roth's new show is only being syndicated (at least for now) in the Eastern time zone.

 

[NotoriousN-I-K]

> > > I listened to some of the new 6 AM David Lee Roth Show
> on
> > > WBCN last week. I also looked at some of the reviews and
>
> > > critiques of the show. Interesting. How many of you that
>
> > > have been on-air would want to be judged on your first
> few
> >
> > > days on the air at a new station?
> > >
> >
> > Not only that, but he's replacing a popular host with an
> > extremely loyal fan base. I wouldn't want to be in his
> > shoes.
> >
>
> But if the fan base is as loyal as you say, they're all
> listening to Stern on satradio...they're not listening to
> DLR. In theory you could put polka music on to replace
> Stern and, if polka music was a popular-yet-underserved
> genre...it should succeed.
>
> I suppose that's why DLR was tapped instead of Bubba the
> Love Sponge or Mancow or any one of three dozen Stern-ish
> personalities. DLR is not Stern, for better or worse. So
> what's happening here is that DLR is trying to carve out a
> new millions-listener niche for himself in two weeks;
> something Stern needed a decade to do...although at least
> DLR has his own fame to capitalize on. Even so, it's a tall
> order and I don't exactly envy him (although the bed of $100
> bills I'm sure he sleeps on helps ease the pain
>
> Speaking of which, anyone know how Adam Corolla is doing?
> One would think he's having an easier transition since he
> was on LoveLine radio for several years.
>


Ive heard different things about Adam;

Most people on these boards say the show sounds great blah blah however my friends who actually work for Westwood One have said it's unlistenable and he and Rachael Perry sound awkward together etc. Im guessing he sounds pretty good though after all like you said he did Loveline for years so he had a running start unlike DLR.

 

[Power91]

It is in one central time zone market: Dallas/Fort Worth

~RM<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by Power91 on 01/10/06 06:34 PM.</FONT></P>

 

[Big_Bunny]

> Ive heard different things about Adam;
>
> Most people on these boards say the show sounds great blah
> blah however my friends who actually work for Westwood One
> have said it's unlistenable and he and Rachael Perry sound
> awkward together etc. Im guessing he sounds pretty good
> though after all like you said he did Loveline for years so
> he had a running start unlike DLR.

I have tried to listen to Corolla, but haven't been able to tolerate it for very long. Maybe it will get better, but there are other better local shows out here in Phoenix. I gave it another shot this morning, and turned to the generally lame Free FM channel, but after the commercial was over, the backbeat intro went on for about 45 seconds, then there was garbled overtalking for another 30. I had to turn it off, it was pretty messy.

 

[wkrpfm]

first couple of shows are rough..i remember having the mic fall apart, hitting the board, hitting a liner, a song, and a spot at the same time...even though you've done it before, a new studio can be somewhat intimidating...at least for me!

 

[Eli Polonsky]

> first couple of shows are rough..i remember having the mic
> fall apart, hitting the board, hitting a liner, a song, and
> a spot at the same time...even though you've done it before,
> a new studio can be somewhat intimidating...at least for me!

The last "new" station I was on threw me on the board live for my first fill-in show cold. They had one of the DJ's tell me "this does this, that does that" while he was on the air the day before, and I understood the basics, but there was no hands-on orientation before I was put on the air.

I knew what everything was supposed to do, but no one told me that if you didn't shut off the faders for the CD players when each track ended (instead of just potting them down), the CD players sometimes thought that they were supposed to automatically start playing as soon as the next CD was inserted. Of course, they didn't always do this, it was one of those <blink>intermittent</blink> features...

So, a couple of times, I glanced at the CD players when I was coming out of an announcing break, only to see on the display that the song I was supposed to go into had already tracked halfway through potted down while I was talking, which caused a couple of dead air moments while I had to recue the CD. After that happened a couple of times, I finally remembered always to shut the CD faders off after each song, not just pot them down, but I hadn't ever had that happen at any other station before.

Otherwise, the show came off pretty well, considering...

 

[funinFH]

> > first couple of shows are rough..i remember having the mic
>
> > fall apart, hitting the board, hitting a liner, a song,
> and
> > a spot at the same time...even though you've done it
> before,
> > a new studio can be somewhat intimidating...at least for
> me!
>
> The last "new" station I was on threw me on the board live
> for my first fill-in show cold. They had one of the DJ's
> tell me "this does this, that does that" while he was on the
> air the day before, and I understood the basics, but there
> was no hands-on orientation before I was put on the air.
>
> I knew what everything was supposed to do, but no one told
> me that if you didn't shut off the faders for the CD players
> when each track ended (instead of just potting them down),
> the CD players sometimes thought that they were supposed to
> automatically start playing as soon as the next CD was
> inserted. Of course, they didn't always do this, it was one
> of those intermittent features...
>
> So, a couple of times, I glanced at the CD players when I
> was coming out of an announcing break, only to see on the
> display that the song I was supposed to go into had already
> tracked halfway through potted down while I was talking,
> which caused a couple of dead air moments while I had to
> recue the CD. After that happened a couple of times, I
> finally remembered always to shut the CD faders off after
> each song, not just pot them down, but I hadn't ever had
> that happen at any other station before.
>
> Otherwise, the show came off pretty well, considering...

Actually i always found it to be the opposite...right on the money with everything the first couple of shows cause focus was 150% seeing as how it was new....as things got more comfortable then a few mistakes here and there set in
>