The business has changed radically, but some things, well... This little ditty is fifteen years old, so you may have seen it a few times. But it's still relevant if not downright funny (in a dark sort of way.) These days it's the mp3 of your work that gets sent out, but some things remain constant. Now courtesy of our friend Larry White, a morsel of wisdom from Doctor Nino Grease Manelli.
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- Thread starter JustPastBuffalo
- Start date
Wait, that can't be real. I heard breath sounds.
This week's "Sheenisms" have made for some funny bits...he's kinda turned into this years' version of Jon & Kate Gosselin, that train wreck from which you can't just walk away.
Howard Hoffman's "Nine"...heard it again a few months ago after more than 20 years, but my wife walked in and recognized it immediately...shaking her head as she turned around and walked away.
To the original point: That's why I still, after all these years, call them "Tarleks".
As in Herb Tarlek.
The leisure suit may be long gone but deep inside, most of them would sell your mother if they needed to make budget. In 30 years in this business, I've maybe worked with 15-20 - total - account executives I could actually trust. The rest were various shades of Herb.
One Tarlek made me the voice of a local racetrack. I had to dub off half-a-dozen copies of each week's spot for use around the market.
Talent fee? Herb traded it for a big sign at the racetrack with our call letters on it...without management's, or my, permission.
Somehow he didn't see this as a problem.
Considering I was losing $2000 in a season of talent fees, I saw things differently.
Management stepped in and reimbursed me half of the lost revenue. Half of something beats 100% of nothing.
But with all the changes in the business...Tarleks remain a constant. I come in to do a fill shift, sit down to do some VO for the current Prod Director and the stories are all the same. Last-minute orders, missing deadlines, poorly-written or wrong copy, multiple revisions on specs...you know the story. You either laugh or cry...after all, as they're so quick to remind us, they're the reason the rest of us can get paid.
Did I mention I did production/creative services for over a decade? You probably surmised as much from my glowing description of your average, garden-variety radio account executive.
Howard Hoffman's "Nine"...heard it again a few months ago after more than 20 years, but my wife walked in and recognized it immediately...shaking her head as she turned around and walked away.
To the original point: That's why I still, after all these years, call them "Tarleks".
As in Herb Tarlek.
The leisure suit may be long gone but deep inside, most of them would sell your mother if they needed to make budget. In 30 years in this business, I've maybe worked with 15-20 - total - account executives I could actually trust. The rest were various shades of Herb.
One Tarlek made me the voice of a local racetrack. I had to dub off half-a-dozen copies of each week's spot for use around the market.
Talent fee? Herb traded it for a big sign at the racetrack with our call letters on it...without management's, or my, permission.
Somehow he didn't see this as a problem.
Considering I was losing $2000 in a season of talent fees, I saw things differently.
Management stepped in and reimbursed me half of the lost revenue. Half of something beats 100% of nothing.
But with all the changes in the business...Tarleks remain a constant. I come in to do a fill shift, sit down to do some VO for the current Prod Director and the stories are all the same. Last-minute orders, missing deadlines, poorly-written or wrong copy, multiple revisions on specs...you know the story. You either laugh or cry...after all, as they're so quick to remind us, they're the reason the rest of us can get paid.
Did I mention I did production/creative services for over a decade? You probably surmised as much from my glowing description of your average, garden-variety radio account executive.
Curious..how did we get to Charlie Sheen on this thread?
We'll get back to that.
Fabulous the you have "Greaseman" on you-tube!!! Saver file!! That's what it's about!
Chas108 - too much - I dont have time for that (unless I missed something)
Back too Sheen:
WTF? Is Radio falling into the TV media blitz!! C'mon...the top rated show and you're worried about the star? As long as he produces a product! WTF does a top rated TV show have to do with Radio? HELLO!!
We'll get back to that.
Fabulous the you have "Greaseman" on you-tube!!! Saver file!! That's what it's about!
Chas108 - too much - I dont have time for that (unless I missed something)
Back too Sheen:
WTF? Is Radio falling into the TV media blitz!! C'mon...the top rated show and you're worried about the star? As long as he produces a product! WTF does a top rated TV show have to do with Radio? HELLO!!
heydaybegone said:
Probably because Mr. Tiger Blood called half a dozen radio talk shows to blast CBS. Maybe because 2.5 Men is so highly rated that many radio listeners are also viewers. IMHO the show is vapid. Perhaps because like Tiger Woods, the story was all over the place. Maybe because commercial radio thrives on this kind of freak show. Sheen seems to be what so many morning shows aspire to be and they can't wait to hitch their little local wagons to his mercury surfboard. It's pathetic in a way.
Back to the original point:
Sitting in on PM Drive last week, the desperate production director came into the air studio, needing my voice on a spot that...
1) was turned in late
2) was written partially in the 1st person
3) had "for all your needs" in the copy...not once, twice!
4) showed the client name both in the singular and the plural...which one is it?
5) required immediate client approval.
The current production director knows I used to do her job and had been in those shoes hundreds of times before. And we do have a Vox-Pro and networked computers...
Some things never change...
Sitting in on PM Drive last week, the desperate production director came into the air studio, needing my voice on a spot that...
1) was turned in late
2) was written partially in the 1st person
3) had "for all your needs" in the copy...not once, twice!
4) showed the client name both in the singular and the plural...which one is it?
5) required immediate client approval.
The current production director knows I used to do her job and had been in those shoes hundreds of times before. And we do have a Vox-Pro and networked computers...
Some things never change...
Even in Pittsburgh, eh Chas? You'd think the market was too big and sophisticated. Saving grace, at least the phone number wasn't in the commercial seven times 
or was that replaced by the client's website url?
or was that replaced by the client's website url?Even in Pittsburgh, Jim.
We're not that sophisticated. And back when the place was owned by Entercom, it was worse. At least now when Herb goes too far and either the production director or traffic goddesses say "no", management backs them up.
But Tarleks acting like Tarleks is pretty much S.O.P...so they get to pull the rope a long way before they hang themselves with it.
I think the client's website and phone number were only in there once each. It was a :30...in fact the website and phone numbers may have been the only coherent parts of the copy.
We're not that sophisticated. And back when the place was owned by Entercom, it was worse. At least now when Herb goes too far and either the production director or traffic goddesses say "no", management backs them up.
But Tarleks acting like Tarleks is pretty much S.O.P...so they get to pull the rope a long way before they hang themselves with it.
I think the client's website and phone number were only in there once each. It was a :30...in fact the website and phone numbers may have been the only coherent parts of the copy.
JimPastrick said:...Saving grace, at least the phone number wasn't in the commercial seven times
When I was doing Talk in Portland, OR we had a client who bought :10 spots, and wanted both his name and his URL in it.
The client was Fairly Honest Don's Machine Gun Parlor. The URL was www.fairlyhonestdons.com. Machine gun, indeed. The guy who usually cut his spots had to have had his coffee first.
It used to be a brick-&-mortar storefront, but looks like he's now doing online auctions exclusively.
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