• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Guess the rumors were true about the Sportsfan 990

Oh, the stories I could tell. I mean, I DID tell.

You should hear what was left out of the article.

I'll 'fess up. I'm the MORON who left a job as a senior creative on a 150 million dollar account in advertising to get back into broadcasting. I'd won the first David Letterman Scholarship in college, worked in radio--had a successful afternoon drive show in Indy--worked for Hustler Magazine, then took a position in advertising, eventually winding up as the Editorial Director of the Cartoon Network.

I figured I could ALWAYS get back into talk radio. Then the scourge of deregulation.

So I jumped at a chance to move back to Dallas and work in sports talk. It's really what I want to do more than anything. If you read the article, you all know where THAT left me.

Maybe later today, I'll post a list of things not in the article that will really shock some people. A lawsuit about the whole thing is pending, so I'm not sure I can.

But I'd really like some advice. I have a freelance advertising gig that more than pays the bills, but I want back in radio. Do I leave the city I think is the greatest in the world (and I've lived in Chicago, Indy, Atlanta, LA, Toronto, NYC, and St. Louis) to get a gig? Or do I gut it out here where there are DOZENS of people with way more experience, skins on the wall and contacts that I'll have in another five years?

Sorry to make it "all about me" but the people on this board have some smarts. Clearly, I've misplaced mine.
 
1Letterman said:
Oh, the stories I could tell. I mean, I DID tell.

You should hear what was left out of the article.

I'll 'fess up. I'm the MORON who left a job as a senior creative on a 150 million dollar account in advertising to get back into broadcasting. I'd won the first David Letterman Scholarship in college, worked in radio--had a successful afternoon drive show in Indy--worked for Hustler Magazine, then took a position in advertising, eventually winding up as the Editorial Director of the Cartoon Network.

I figured I could ALWAYS get back into talk radio. Then the scourge of deregulation.

So I jumped at a chance to move back to Dallas and work in sports talk. It's really what I want to do more than anything. If you read the article, you all know where THAT left me.

Maybe later today, I'll post a list of things not in the article that will really shock some people. A lawsuit about the whole thing is pending, so I'm not sure I can.

But I'd really like some advice. I have a freelance advertising gig that more than pays the bills, but I want back in radio. Do I leave the city I think is the greatest in the world (and I've lived in Chicago, Indy, Atlanta, LA, Toronto, NYC, and St. Louis) to get a gig? Or do I gut it out here where there are DOZENS of people with way more experience, skins on the wall and contacts that I'll have in another five years?

Sorry to make it "all about me" but the people on this board have some smarts. Clearly, I've misplaced mine.
Click to expand...

The fact you mentioned "legal" means stifle the emotion. Bailey isn't worth you going on a rant and some cheeky attorney crawling up your tail with a pipe cleaner and being told about your gentle musings on Radio Info.

BUT... since we aren't in the pending litigation, allow us to ramble on endlessly about what kind of cancer Bailey is to DFW radio and the industry as a whole. He is one of those, "If he was on fire, I wouldn't find a stiff wind and whizz all over him for an assist."

Enjoy. ;D
 
The fact you mentioned "legal" means stifle the emotion. Bailey isn't worth you going on a rant and some cheeky attorney crawling up your tail with a pipe cleaner and being told about your gentle musings on Radio Info.

BUT... since we aren't in the pending litigation, allow us to ramble on endlessly about what kind of cancer Bailey is to DFW radio and the industry as a whole. He is one of those, "If he was on fire, I wouldn't find a stiff wind and whizz all over him for an assist."

Enjoy. ;D
Click to expand...

Thanks for the kind words, but the lawyers have actually encouraged those of us involved to let the world know about this guy--and his antics. My chief client is...a tobacco company, so I am constantly surrounded by lawyers. So that means I'll check first.

I'm curious about the emotion thing, though. I'm not emotional about this. It's a logical decision I have to make now. Any thoughts?
 
Steve Eberhart said:
This is the best advise you will ever get:


Do radio on the weekends if you must, but keep your day job.
Click to expand...

But... but...... Radio IS my day job! ;)

R
 
Steve Eberhart said:
This is the best advise you will ever get:


Do radio on the weekends if you must, but keep your day job.
Click to expand...

Yeah, yeah. I got that part covered. I have a retainer with the tobacco company. I work around 10 hours a week. Makes me triple what the Sports Fan was SUPPOSED to pay me.

The question I'm looking for some of the board's sage advice on is more based in the "should I stay or should I go?" realm.

Dallas is the greatest town in the US, IMHO. But, does it make more sense to go to the hinterlands (since I can do my "day job" from anywhere I can email) and do radio there, or stay here and try to beat down the walls of a Top 5 market.

I guess I'm just shouting into the wind, and it probably just boils down to "do you remain the world's greatest town, or do you go where you can do a show every day?"
 
This is the best advise you will ever get:

Do radio on the weekends if you must, but keep your day job.[/quote]

Further advice: Radio is the entertainment biz. If you want to be on air, approach it like you would if you wanted to be a movie actor or a rock star. Like the movies and the music industry, talent won't necessarily guarantee you a spot in the industry. There are a lot of people chasing a finite number of gigs. Plan appropriately.

If you want to do sports, you had better become a good headline reader. That's the quickest way in the door.
Click to expand...
 
OK, gang. Thanks for the advice. Obviously, I'm not communicating the question clearly enough.

But much appreciated anyway.
 
1Letterman said:
OK, gang. Thanks for the advice. Obviously, I'm not communicating the question clearly enough.

But much appreciated anyway.
Click to expand...

I understand your question, and I think it is one only you can answer. Listen to your gut feelings, and go from there. At some point, a clue or two might come your way, which will assist with your decision. Whatever you do, good luck!

R
 
Again, all your input is very, very much appreciated.

However, the "do what you love and love what you do" and "go with your gut" pathway is what led me to SportsFan 990. Naturally, I'm a little gunshy of that methodolgy, rightly or wrongly. My gut, strangely for such a large part of my body, is off its game at the moment. So I'm looking for a bit more of a bannister.

I'm simply not familiar with the Dallas market in a practical manner. As a listener? Sure I am. But I, unlike most of you, have not navigated these waters, per se.

In any case, I'm being a whiny little school girl.

Let's get back to recounting stories about Thom Bailey, which is something everyone can enjoy!

Case in point...Thom asks me to go to the RoughRiders game with him. (We aired their broadcasts, and Scott Gardner--you ROCK) On the way, we have to pull over, he tells me. So, we get off 75 at the appropriate exit. Thom pulls next to a constable's vehicle in a parking lot. The officer hands him some papers, and we get back on the road.

Thom pitches the papers to me. A big sheaf of them. Big.

"Read that to me. I wanna hear what it says," Bailey commands in his usual egomaniacal way. So I open it up and start to read...

It was a domestic violence complaint against him from the mother of his daughter. MULTIPLE complaints, actually. Hit her. Pushed her. Threw a glass of wine in her face, then threw the glass.

I can't for the life of me fathom why I'm overly considering my next move...there's a guy who wants me to head the marketing department of an energy concern in Houston. Enrin...Enroc...something like that. Anybody heard of it? ;)
 
I guess I will join in on this thread, and at least reveal that, though I spent the most months at 990, I was there for a few reasons.

1- To prove to some, and maybe to many, that I was able to do the job, and try and be entertaining, and informative, as well as keeping myself "alive", in more than one way (thats a long story in of itself)

2- I tried to facilitate an outside interest to take the station over from Thom Bailey, that was never able to happen between those investors and the owners of KFCD

3- To increase my value in this market, and maybe that didn't happen due to the fact that I WAS Working for Thom Bailey-- oh wait WORK equals PAY! I keep running into that one!

I had a great run as far as meeting the people I did get to work with, including Tom Gulley, and Leon Simon, Jacque Taylor, and Andre Gurode. I also was able to meet some great people like Alex Hernandez who has been able to keep the Andre Gurode Show on through the internet.

One of Thom Bailey's downfalls, other than everything that has been stated.. he wanted to be Steven A. Smith,and there was no way he could pull that off, one thing I have learned over the years in this biz is that YOU are YOURSELF, and let others wish they could be YOU, don't be them!

I want to publicly say thank you to those who have been supportive, and complimentary to what we were able to do in spite of the person we worked for. WE tried our best to provide local sports information, with guest and opinion. One day I would like to think that we can get back on the air, and bring that same type of shows again!

Just a thought

Dave Michaels
Davradio Productions
North Texas Sports Network
 
First off,
Tom is a nut... But secondly the station never had a chance because the talent was terrible. There was a reason none of those guys could get gigs any where else.
And as for you Letterman. Go back to your good job, Dallas is a big market town, and you have small market chops... Not your fault just the way it is. In a market this big you have to have two things, Talent, and connections. You don't have the first, and sounds like you don't have the second...
R.I.P
990, and Tom's Rep!
Maybe look into adult diapers.
 
ISaidSo said:
But secondly the station never had a chance because the talent was terrible. There was a reason none of those guys could get gigs any where else.
Click to expand...
C'mon, Nicki Granville had a gig as a traffic reporter on the Ticket. What better training for HOSTING a sports talk show than doing traffic on a sports station?

And Blue in the Grove had a regular gig. He'd regularly CALL Norm or Galloway or whoever and spout off. Again, isn't it a simple step from being a caller to hosting a show?
 
ISaidSo said:
First off,
Tom is a nut... But secondly the station never had a chance because the talent was terrible. There was a reason none of those guys could get gigs any where else.
And as for you Letterman. Go back to your good job, Dallas is a big market town, and you have small market chops... Not your fault just the way it is. In a market this big you have to have two things, Talent, and connections. You don't have the first, and sounds like you don't have the second...
R.I.P
990, and Tom's Rep!
Maybe look into adult diapers.
Click to expand...

Ya know what amazes me about this comment, the most.. really-- its the fact that the last comment on here was dated on the 16th of November and it took you almost an entire week to respond to it, and in doing so, really showed that at 2 something in the morning, you're either working the over night shift at some station, OR you have nothing better to do... as for someone working traffic and getting to host a radio show..I do take some offense to that comment, because I also went from traffic reporting to working sports-- I just did it in a much faster and more efficiant way!

Further more, as far as talent is concern, If ANY of us had a chance to develop our shows, with a time slot that wasn't bounced around because someone didn't know how to run a station nor listen to those of us who had some sort of knowledge about operating a station from a programming point, could have made some sort of impact on listeners.

AND YES it is a short trip from being a caller to being a talk show host-- just as Leon Simon! KNOWLEDGE, ENTERTAINING, ENGAGING, AND RESPECT, its amazing what those skills will lead too!

As for me, I am alright I still have my webcasting, and doing quite well at it, and I am also doing some work for Time Warner for their Metro Sports Section, as well as some other projects, so as talentless as you believe some of us are, there are those of us, who make their own paths and not worry about the cliques of the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, and if you would be a source of help instead of hindrence you might be able to enjoy this industry better.. the one thing about Dallas/Ft. Worth radio that has always been henky to me, is the fact that it is CORPORATE RUN-- when it was able to have those who cared about the community-- the radio was better.. thats what made the TICKET so great in the beginning and continues to this day-- it started out being owned by ONE and it created the sense of COMMUNITY!

Once that occures, the rest falls into place... remember- YOU CANNOT HAVE ONE WITHOUT THE OTHER.. RADIO IS COMMUNITY and COMMUNITY IS RADIO!

Just a thought

Dave Michaels
Davradio Productions
North Texas Sports Network
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom