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do part-timers/weekenders really matter?

M

MusicMan11

I saw this topic on another city's board......

Do weekenders matter...do they really have "listeners"? RADIO IS STILL ABOUT THE LISTENERS!!!

can you even name any part-timers in the bay area? Don capone from Q105???
 
Sure, "back in the day" that was the way to get your foot in the door and get into the business. Many started as weekend over-nights or Saturday/Sunday mornings. In fact, a reliable part-timer was great to find. Remember Gary Ballenger? Gary worked part time at almost every station in the market. Reliable, dependable, and available on short notice!
 
Is it just me, or does the industry employ far fewer of the PTers?

That's one reason radio seems so stale and uninteresting.
 
As someone who was the weekend and fill-in guy for 15 years in Pittsburgh, there were stations where I think we were perceived by listeners as "part of the team," especially when we did weekday work. In my case I loved the business and was happy to get a shot on the air, but made my living doing something else. I worked with a lot of guys, however, who were up-and-coming talents or were management in smaller nearby markets as well.

As VT-ing became the practice, a station could have their full-time voices on the air on weekends and save a few bucks, so the positions became less available. Plus, the small market stations that were the full-time employment and feeder system for major market weekenders pretty much faded away in favor of satellite and automation, so even if stations wanted live people they can't really find them anymore.

One place I worked in the Burgh featured a weekend staff that included guys who eventually became a market manager for CBS, a TV news reporter in Orlando, and a PD in Detroit. Another included a station owner from WV and a jock who went on to own several Christian stations. But finding that sort of talent just doesn't happen much anymore.
 
my thoughts exactly part timer. I make my living doing something else and do radio when i can find a gig.....they are hard to come by that's for sure.

who was the tv reporter in orlando?

i grew up there.
 
Here's a thought.... When was the last time you heard a "part timer" filling in for a weekday midday or afternoon "full timer" who was on vacation? Nuff said. ...and the part timers that are still employed are doing practically full time hours for part time pay. The corporations have figured out what they can get away with and do it. I feel horrible for the little guy trying to break into the business these days and don't recommend it for anyone anymore. Just the sad sate of the business I used to love.
 
MusicMan11 said:
my thoughts exactly part timer. I make my living doing something else and do radio when i can find a gig.....they are hard to come by that's for sure.

who was the tv reporter in orlando?

i grew up there.
Click to expand...

Tom Schaad, WESH. I think he might still be there.
 
billalm said:
Here's a thought.... When was the last time you heard a "part timer" filling in for a weekday midday or afternoon "full timer" who was on vacation? Nuff said. ...and the part timers that are still employed are doing practically full time hours for part time pay. The corporations have figured out what they can get away with and do it. I feel horrible for the little guy trying to break into the business these days and don't recommend it for anyone anymore. Just the sad sate of the business I used to love.
Click to expand...
I don't think the corporations care about their workers anymore. They're just liabilities on the balance sheet.

Anyone behind a microphone is a drag on their bottom line, especially Crap Ch. The first sign of management mistakes or weaknesses (less profit in a solitary quarter), and CC guts its staff company wide.

CC said it is in the "advertising" business, not the broadcasting business. That should tell you volumes.
 
Having worked full and mostly part time for nearly 3 decades in the Sarasota / Bradenton market I was told more than once by managers / PD's etc, that finding good part timers was harder and more important than finding full timers... Of course that was over a decade ago also, before VT and other force fed sources...


Wouldn't mind doing it again as the reason I got out was a divorce and a young son who came first. He's pretty grown up now.. but there aren't any positions anymore, unless of course, I want to PAY big ed edwards for my air time on a brokered station.. Funny, that's where I first started in 1970.. 1490 AM.. and THEY paid ME.. what a concept..

I always considered it a hobby that didn't cost me too much...


Enjoy the day...

walt
 
and at the places i have worked, i have been reliable and have filled in on various dayparts sometimes on hours notice. At each place i have worked more than two years i have never been offered a raise and anytime i asked, i never got an answer. not one time.

it's like someone posted here, the companies don't care about the employees anymore, it's sad. you go in with a good attitude wanted to 'execute flawlessly the format,' and make it entertaining for personal pride more than anything and management doesn't seem to care if you do. But if you don't, you hear about it.

i do radio because i like it and i make it fun.

Walt, did you ever work in the sarasota Clear channel cluster? i did some high school sports down at 1320 a few years back, when they did sports.
 
MusicMan11 said:
and at the places i have worked, i have been reliable and have filled in on various dayparts sometimes on hours notice. At each place i have worked more than two years i have never been offered a raise and anytime i asked, i never got an answer. not one time.

it's like someone posted here, the companies don't care about the employees anymore, it's sad. you go in with a good attitude wanted to 'execute flawlessly the format,' and make it entertaining for personal pride more than anything and management doesn't seem to care if you do. But if you don't, you hear about it.

i do radio because i like it and i make it fun.

Walt, did you ever work in the sarasota Clear channel cluster? i did some high school sports down at 1320 a few years back, when they did sports.
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Thanks to CC, I think Sarasota is a radio ghost town. Few people work there. Much less the on-air people.
The programming also is lame and lack of anything interesting.

Of course, there are rimshots and low-power stations, but from what I have seen, CC owns most of that market. Another government and FCC screw-up.
 
MusicMan11 said:
I saw this topic on another city's board......

Do weekenders matter...do they really have "listeners"? RADIO IS STILL ABOUT THE LISTENERS!!!

can you even name any part-timers in the bay area? Don capone from Q105???
Click to expand...

To answer MusicMan11's original question...I can tell you that there are several stations in this market that I listen to SOLELY for the weekenders.

Here in Tampa I enjoy WSUN's new weekenders Geo and Brian Black they make the crappy signal and the constant in and out of my HD receiver worth listening to their station, also for some strange reason it is some what entertaining to listen to the annoying Danielle on late night weekends coming back from a bar, though I think it's because her squeakiness keeps me alert so I don't get pulled over.

I also am totally digging the fact that Orlando got 3rd Leg Greg to do weekends again over at WiLD. I also enjoy Jordan AKA "Black-n-Mild". I could definetely do without La Loca though.

I know several others who do listen on the weekends for their particular jock. Most are like me and stream something clean for the office during the week and hardly listen to their local stations so Morning and afternoon drive and the weekends are the only time they have to get familiar with any talent on their station of choice.
 
I last worked when it was Jacor (Jan 1998) ... Before CC blew it up.. Used to work at the old place on City Island lastly on 106.5..WSRZ.. before the freq swap to 107.9. I used to follow Brian Holmes on Friday overnights... 11 PM - 6 AM...

First worked there when Neil Rogers was PD in 1972...All on WSPB- 1450...

walt
 
flwfg said:
I last worked when it was Jacor (Jan 1998) ... Before CC blew it up.. Used to work at the old place on City Island lastly on 106.5..WSRZ.. before the freq swap to 107.9. I used to follow Brian Holmes on Friday overnights... 11 PM - 6 AM...

First worked there when Neil Rogers was PD in 1972...All on WSPB- 1450...

walt
Click to expand...

Now that was a nice view. The building needed a "good coat of fire" (according to R. Michaels), but the naked Canadian sailing club that showed up once a year made it almost worth it.


As far as the question goes, ANYBODY who's good on the radio, full-time or part-time, matters.
 
MusicMan11 said:
Do weekenders matter...do they really have "listeners"? RADIO IS STILL ABOUT THE LISTENERS!!!
Click to expand...


No, weekenders do not matter. Part-timers do not matter. Full-timers do not matter. Longevity does not matter. Experience, talent, quality, all do not matter. (For proof, just listen or watch local radio and television.)

As an amazing 35-year veteran radio talent (now jobless) in Connecticut just wrote me: "The suits have ruined radio. They are so busy trying to make unreasonable margins that no one is paying attention to what's coming out of the top of the tower!" One of the wittiest & wickedly funniest radio hosts I've ever known, he also wrote: "The job market sucks. I was told by two NYC PD's that 'you have too much personality.' The second time I responded, 'For what?' The guy laughed, but I guess laughing is not allowed on NYC radio."

Yes, radio is about the listeners, but only if you ARE one. For the suits that operate the business, it's only about the profits, not the product. Sadly, this is increasingly true in many industries. It's all about Mammon and the Age of Reagan. QUALITY DOES NOT MATTER, ONLY PROFIT.
 
since this post, i have been listening from some part timers that stand out and couldn't find any in this market. Sarasota has a guy 'Mr rock and roll," tom hudson who is a lawyer.

Q105 had two guys who sounded okay, longtime bay area jock don capone was one, the name of the other guys escapes me so what does that tell you.

i was listening to the 'New" 1015 the point and heard a couple of voices on saturday but didn't catch any names......that reminds me, how long can a station call itself "new" the point has been doing it for about six years now.
 
MisterNews said:
QUALITY DOES NOT MATTER, ONLY PROFIT.
Click to expand...

Now if we could only convince those sales weasles that PROFIT comes from QUALITY!!!!!!
 
BigSmelly420 said:
MisterNews said:
QUALITY DOES NOT MATTER, ONLY PROFIT.
Click to expand...

Now if we could only convince those sales weasles that PROFIT comes from QUALITY!!!!!!
Click to expand...

The problem is a lack of quality doesn't necessarily keep advertisers away. I mean, Allen Brothers would still advertise with Limbaugh and Beck even if both of their shows consisted of them taking a crap with an open mic.
 
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