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FOREIGNER PD's - Beginning Of A Bad Trend?

D

DFDubya

Guest
Just what we need - foreign PD's being hired to program stations that any number of very qualified, out of work AMERICAN PD's could fill.

Dave Pugh, WHAT ARE YOU THINKING? How will this guy program to Americans (and in particular THIS city) more sucessfully than an AMERICAN? And you leave him with no right-hand to assist him in learning our culture? You fire the APD? ARE YOU CRAZY?

Nothing personal against Mr. Jeffries, but: This is an experiment that needs to fail.

-from All Access (full story in Net News 4/24 at www.allaccess.com):

CLEAR CHANNEL Hot AC KIOI (STAR 101.3)/SAN FRANCISCO President and Market Mgr. DAVE PUGH has named U.K. and NEW ZEALAND programming veteran ANDREW JEFFRIES for PD duties.
 
DFDubya said:
Dave Pugh, WHAT ARE YOU THINKING? How will this guy program to Americans (and in particular THIS city) more sucessfully than an AMERICAN? And you leave him with no right-hand to assist him in learning our culture? You fire the APD? ARE YOU CRAZY?
Click to expand...

Well, San Francisco has been called by many a more European city than an American city. Also, typical American tastes don't wear well here. We watch less TV than the rest of the country, for instance. We're not as taken by celebrity as people in other cities are. (Have you ever heard of any mobbing Robin Williams at the Marina Safeway?) We spend more time outdoors, we spend more money on leisure, we work hard and we play hard. We're very different from the rest of America. This is why the national radio formats have to be tweaked here and sometimes don't work at all.
 
DFDubya said:
Just what we need - foreign PD's being hired to program stations that any number of very qualified, out of work AMERICAN PD's could fill.

Dave Pugh, WHAT ARE YOU THINKING? How will this guy program to Americans (and in particular THIS city) more sucessfully than an AMERICAN? And you leave him with no right-hand to assist him in learning our culture? You fire the APD? ARE YOU CRAZY?

Nothing personal against Mr. Jeffries, but: This is an experiment that needs to fail.

-from All Access (full story in Net News 4/24 at www.allaccess.com):

CLEAR CHANNEL Hot AC KIOI (STAR 101.3)/SAN FRANCISCO President and Market Mgr. DAVE PUGH has named U.K. and NEW ZEALAND programming veteran ANDREW JEFFRIES for PD duties.
Click to expand...

Good grief DFDubya...This is San Francisco. I don't you'll get much good 'ol Texas boy support on this one.
 
DFDubya said:
Just what we need - foreign PD's being hired to program stations that any number of very qualified, out of work AMERICAN PD's could fill.

Dave Pugh, WHAT ARE YOU THINKING? How will this guy program to Americans (and in particular THIS city) more sucessfully than an AMERICAN?
Click to expand...

Gee, Dubya, not enough things happenin' deep in the heart of Texas to keep you busy? Thanks for stopping by to weigh in with your thoughts.

But I'll agree with you in one respect. This city doesn't particularly appreciate carpetbaggers. Especially those from places like San Antonio...

At least Andrew Jeffries is actually here doing his job, and isn't phoning it in by long-distance from some other town as is his employer's standard operating procedure.
 
DFDubya said:
Just what we need - foreign PD's being hired to program stations that any number of very qualified, out of work AMERICAN PD's could fill.

Dave Pugh, WHAT ARE YOU THINKING? How will this guy program to Americans (and in particular THIS city) more sucessfully than an AMERICAN? And you leave him with no right-hand to assist him in learning our culture? You fire the APD? ARE YOU CRAZY?
Click to expand...

So the possibility that an outside perspective and a radio view not tied to "the way we ahve always done it" is not appealing? I think it is a great idea.

On some of the other boards, there are occasional comments on the great flavor of European radio stations... and in Europe it is very common to find programmers from one nation at work in another.

My feeling is that a person who has been successful in both England and New Zealand should be able to do fine in San Francisco... a little research to show him the differences in taste and there is no reason why this will not work.
 
What do you bet someone is doing music scheduling out of a boiler room in India? Brush up on your accent.
 
XTalker said:
What do you bet someone is doing music scheduling out of a boiler room in India? Brush up on your accent.
Click to expand...

Good grief...I hope the above never transpires, but ya never know
in the age of "the bottom line," which ignores all "forms of art"...

And wait until computerized-voicers are perfected :mad: :
http://www.research.att.com/~ttsweb/tts/demo.php

On a smaller scale regards the start of this thread, I had the
pleasure of working with P.D. Gareth Nicholas, a native of Wales
but a U.S. citizen for at least 20 years now, at KVYN in the 1990s.
He added a certain appeal to adult-contemp that made it acceptable
to mainstream listeners (read "crossovers" from the Top-40, Dance,
Christian and AAA charts), and the listeners in Napa Valley liked it...

I agree with D.J. - at least Jeffries "is actually here doing his job,
and isn't phoning it in by long-distance from some other town as
is his employer's standard operating procedure"...

I still miss K-101, though...OH, STOP IT, ARNOLD!!

BTW, the British Pop Charts can be a fascinating look-see...songs from
the 1960s were unlikely "BT-40" hits (again) in the 1990s, like Andy
Stewart's "Donald, Where's Your Troosers" and Patsy Cline's "Crazy"...
--jay
 
Have to point out from the post above, the NZ PD actually replaced a CANADIAN APD! So much for the All-American stuff! People and radio have gone back and forth across the water for decades. Had a former co-worker that was deported for working on Radio Caroline, the pirate top 40 ship (actually ships) off the coast of England back in the 60's. Radio Luxemburg also hired an American programmer back then to boom US style top 40 music across Europe and England.
 
This thread in general, and SFStatic's post in particular, reminded me of an English jock Bill Drake hired for 93 KHJ in 1965: Tommy Vance. He replaced Roger Christian as I remember, and hightailed it back to England via Canada when he got a little notice from Uncle Sam that said "I Want YOU!"
 
Really, this trend is dangerous. Before you know it, they'll stop voice-tracking half the radio shows in San Francisco from other states, and start voice-tracking them from India. Those call center people have too much down-time. They'll probably make them do afternoon drive on Star 101.3 between calls. They'll have American names and use American slang, but their accents will be suspicious.

In fact, I think John Tesh might be foreign...from some northern European country where people are really white and bland.

From there, it's a slippery-slope. So-long John Mayer, Sara Bareilles, and Colby Caillat...the play lists will be infiltrated by Indian pop music and Middle Eastern Rap.

Then it'll get worse...you'll tune in your favorite stations, but everybody will be speaking Spanish.

Oh...right...that already happened...
 
Lkeller says:
>> In fact, I think John Tesh might be foreign...from some northern European country
>> where people are really white and bland.

ROFL!!

BTW, as Rick brought up earlier with KHJ's Tommy Vance, whatever happened to
Rhett Hamilton Walker III, the New Zealand DJ in his very-short-lived stint on KRLA,
Pasadena, in 1968-ish? I think he also DJ'ed in Seattle...

Or Tim Rose, the Brit DJ on KUIC (Vacaville) afternoons, and KJOY (Stockton) AM-drive,
in the early-1980s?
--jay
 
"Rick brought up earlier with KHJ's Tommy Vance, whatever happened to Rhett Hamilton Walker III, the New Zealand DJ in his very-short-lived stint on KRLA, Pasadena, in 1968-ish? I think he also DJ'ed in Seattle.."

A lot of major market stations in the mid 60s reacted to Beatlemania and the British Invasion by bringing an English sounding DJ on staff. In the Bay Area, it was Michael Jackson (KEWB and KYA) who filled that role. He also went by the name Michael Scotland. He's spent the last 40+ years as one of the top Talk hosts in LA, primarily on KABC. A few years ago, he was dropped by KABC when the station decided to simulcast Ronn Owens program with KGO. Bad decision. Ronn was not accepted by LA listeners, who missed Jackson, who I believe is actually a native of South Africa,.
Michael Jackson then:
http://www.sfradiomuseum.com/surveys/kewb/kewb_survey_sep-16-1961.shtml

Michael Jackson now:
http://billearl.blogspot.com/2007/10/kgils-michael-jackson_29.html
 
SFStatic said:
Have to point out from the post above, the NZ PD actually replaced a CANADIAN APD! So much for the All-American stuff! People and radio have gone back and forth across the water for decades.
Click to expand...

If anybody can remember about 10 year ago, KGO-TV, the American Broadcasting Company, had a billboard promoting its news team. On the billboard were photos of anchors Terilyn Joe and Richard Brown, and ABC national anchor Peter Jennings. All three of these employess of the American Broadcasting Company were Canadians.
 
"If anybody can remember about 10 year ago, KGO-TV, the American Broadcasting Company, had a billboard promoting its news team. On the billboard were photos of anchors Terilyn Joe and Richard Brown, and ABC national anchor Peter Jennings. All three of these employess of the American Broadcasting Company were Canadians."

Yes, and I.m sure they were promoting their Canadian socialist agenda through subliminal messages planted in Pete Gidding's weather-cast. You'll notice that most San Franciscans support national health care. There's proof!
 
Lkeller said:
"If anybody can remember about 10 year ago, KGO-TV, the American Broadcasting Company, had a billboard promoting its news team. On the billboard were photos of anchors Terilyn Joe and Richard Brown, and ABC national anchor Peter Jennings. All three of these employess of the American Broadcasting Company were Canadians."

Yes, and I.m sure they were promoting their Canadian socialist agenda through subliminal messages planted in Pete Gidding's weather-cast. You'll notice that most San Franciscans support national health care. There's proof!
Click to expand...

Oh how I miss my City! :'(
 
Lkeller said:
A lot of major market stations in the mid 60s reacted to Beatlemania and the British Invasion by bringing an English sounding DJ on staff. In the Bay Area, it was Michael Jackson (KEWB and KYA) who filled that role. He also went by the name Michael Scotland.
Click to expand...

...But Michael Jackson actually pre-dated the Beatles at KYA and KEWB. Does that make them ahead of their time? ;)
 
"...But Michael Jackson actually pre-dated the Beatles at KYA and KEWB. Does that make them ahead of their time?"


Are you sure the British Invasion didn't begin in 1960? Er..um...ahem...good point.

Well...David Kaye has pointed out all of the reasons that the Bay Area is a superior place full of superior people. This was no exception...we decided to be ready for the British Invasion 4 years ahead of time. And we were so confident of our superiority that we decided to let Michael go to LA to do talk radio in 1965.
 
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