I really didn’t know what to call this string but I’m certain it will be a good read. As I thought about the latest casualty at WOKV, it’s hard not to reflect on where we are today and if we indeed are better off. Jacksonville’s radio business methodology is not unique to the industry. Standard operating procedure in virtually any business today is to cut expenses and usually the easiest way to do that is to slash payroll.
Maybe it’s characteristic for those who have been around the block a few times to think about the way things used to be and to long for the past. Radio is a victim like so many other things are today caught between a rock and a hard place. I’m not sure when the business climate got to such a point where the need to control costs and grow revenue got to such an extreme.
Ironically, I’m a fiscal conservative and not some anti-corporate guy. I hardly agree with anything coming out of DC to address problems. Companies are in business to make profits. They did this in the past but their standing with the community was so different and so much better.
Look, this string won’t change anything but I feel one of those saga stories coming on to get things out in the open and perhaps to explain a little bit more about the motivations I have as it applies to radio and the medium in our town. To get there, we need to take a little trip.
I grew up in a family that would probably be considered lower-middle class. Mom stayed at home and my dad was self-employed which meant he never got a regular paycheck. One of my earliest memories involved playing records on the old “victrola” on New Year’s Eve. This was in my Grand-parents dingy, cold basement but we just had the time of our lives and the surroundings were just fine. If only I still had all those classic roots of rock ‘n roll artists 45s. I knew all the songs but radio was still not the strong influence. That changed with a trip to the Hudson River separating New York and New Jersey.
Even Jacksonville would know of a place called “Palisades Park” – the place made famous by Freddy “Boom-Boom” Cannon’s huge hit. I guess this would have been the early 60s. We couldn’t afford to take summer, family vacations so instead we went to Palisades Park. For a cheap admission, there was a salt-water pool with waves and a sand beach, rides and rock ‘n roll shows. Anything comparable today would probably cost at least 50 bucks and the entertainment would be extra.
The MC at the shows was the world-famous WABC DJ, Cousin Brucie. I was hooked. My dad saw how the music and I were made for each other. He managed to scrape a few nickels together each week so I could do my thing. What I remember was sitting among music lovers were Black, Orthodox Jew, Yellow – you name it – city slickers and the suburban kids – we all got along and had a ball.
I must have chatted with Frankie Valli, Dion, Ronnie Spector, Lesley Gore and countless others dozens of times. I thought I was rich and you know what – I was. When The Beatles and the British Invasion came along, radio made you feel like you were part of a private club. When I tell my friend’s kids about how I took my transistor radio with me to bed so as to not miss a thing, they just can’t relate. I usually tell them it’s the same kind of fascination you have with texting and then they get it.
Sure, times change. But when one considers the price of a concert today or that the young generation sits in isolation downloading tunes – they will never experience what a generation radio no longer regards as important experienced.
I was lucky. I was taught tolerance. My dad’s only bias seemed to have involved guys with long hair. He was not at first a Beatles fan. As time went on, he took a strong liking to James Taylor. He sounded like one of those fine, outstanding young conservative types. When my dad finally saw him on TV, there was never again one of those lectures about the dangers of long-haired men on our society. The times were changing and perhaps in more ways than one.
Years later in the 80’s, my sister’s wedding reception was held at a restaurant across the street from the old Palisades Park. No longer viable, it was torn down and it’s place was another high rise condo – progress is what it’s called. For me, it will be a place and experience I will never forget.
Through the 80’s and 90’s many radio stations in South Florida hosted concerts as a promotion. One I recall was an oldies show with 4 great acts and a classic car show – all for ten bucks. The station absorbed the real costs but we all had fun. Imagine that, doing all that for listeners?
Last summer when I visited family in the NYC area, my sis surprised me with a night out to see Paul McCartney in concert. Surrounding me were people who seemed more concerned with social networking than in enjoying the moment. Honestly, I enjoyed the simplicity and the magic of Palisades Park a lot more. It just wasn’t the same as hearing the Beatles on the radio. In fact, radio was just absent from the event.
Maybe a far-fetched way to make a point, but radio continues to loose its magic with every pink slip issued. Those in my generation remember radio, and other business operated to make money and they did – but we had so much fun too. They seem to give so much more back to listeners and their customers.
I see I’ve broken yet another resolution to post shorter stories. Life and the times are different and it seems the costs to operate are very high or maybe that profit margin needs to be intact no matter what. Priorities were different in the past. I’m happy to have experienced it and to still be able to recall it. Maybe this explains why I fight for radio and continue to mourn the loss of so many talented people who contributed so greatly to it.
Maybe it’s characteristic for those who have been around the block a few times to think about the way things used to be and to long for the past. Radio is a victim like so many other things are today caught between a rock and a hard place. I’m not sure when the business climate got to such a point where the need to control costs and grow revenue got to such an extreme.
Ironically, I’m a fiscal conservative and not some anti-corporate guy. I hardly agree with anything coming out of DC to address problems. Companies are in business to make profits. They did this in the past but their standing with the community was so different and so much better.
Look, this string won’t change anything but I feel one of those saga stories coming on to get things out in the open and perhaps to explain a little bit more about the motivations I have as it applies to radio and the medium in our town. To get there, we need to take a little trip.
I grew up in a family that would probably be considered lower-middle class. Mom stayed at home and my dad was self-employed which meant he never got a regular paycheck. One of my earliest memories involved playing records on the old “victrola” on New Year’s Eve. This was in my Grand-parents dingy, cold basement but we just had the time of our lives and the surroundings were just fine. If only I still had all those classic roots of rock ‘n roll artists 45s. I knew all the songs but radio was still not the strong influence. That changed with a trip to the Hudson River separating New York and New Jersey.
Even Jacksonville would know of a place called “Palisades Park” – the place made famous by Freddy “Boom-Boom” Cannon’s huge hit. I guess this would have been the early 60s. We couldn’t afford to take summer, family vacations so instead we went to Palisades Park. For a cheap admission, there was a salt-water pool with waves and a sand beach, rides and rock ‘n roll shows. Anything comparable today would probably cost at least 50 bucks and the entertainment would be extra.
The MC at the shows was the world-famous WABC DJ, Cousin Brucie. I was hooked. My dad saw how the music and I were made for each other. He managed to scrape a few nickels together each week so I could do my thing. What I remember was sitting among music lovers were Black, Orthodox Jew, Yellow – you name it – city slickers and the suburban kids – we all got along and had a ball.
I must have chatted with Frankie Valli, Dion, Ronnie Spector, Lesley Gore and countless others dozens of times. I thought I was rich and you know what – I was. When The Beatles and the British Invasion came along, radio made you feel like you were part of a private club. When I tell my friend’s kids about how I took my transistor radio with me to bed so as to not miss a thing, they just can’t relate. I usually tell them it’s the same kind of fascination you have with texting and then they get it.
Sure, times change. But when one considers the price of a concert today or that the young generation sits in isolation downloading tunes – they will never experience what a generation radio no longer regards as important experienced.
I was lucky. I was taught tolerance. My dad’s only bias seemed to have involved guys with long hair. He was not at first a Beatles fan. As time went on, he took a strong liking to James Taylor. He sounded like one of those fine, outstanding young conservative types. When my dad finally saw him on TV, there was never again one of those lectures about the dangers of long-haired men on our society. The times were changing and perhaps in more ways than one.
Years later in the 80’s, my sister’s wedding reception was held at a restaurant across the street from the old Palisades Park. No longer viable, it was torn down and it’s place was another high rise condo – progress is what it’s called. For me, it will be a place and experience I will never forget.
Through the 80’s and 90’s many radio stations in South Florida hosted concerts as a promotion. One I recall was an oldies show with 4 great acts and a classic car show – all for ten bucks. The station absorbed the real costs but we all had fun. Imagine that, doing all that for listeners?
Last summer when I visited family in the NYC area, my sis surprised me with a night out to see Paul McCartney in concert. Surrounding me were people who seemed more concerned with social networking than in enjoying the moment. Honestly, I enjoyed the simplicity and the magic of Palisades Park a lot more. It just wasn’t the same as hearing the Beatles on the radio. In fact, radio was just absent from the event.
Maybe a far-fetched way to make a point, but radio continues to loose its magic with every pink slip issued. Those in my generation remember radio, and other business operated to make money and they did – but we had so much fun too. They seem to give so much more back to listeners and their customers.
I see I’ve broken yet another resolution to post shorter stories. Life and the times are different and it seems the costs to operate are very high or maybe that profit margin needs to be intact no matter what. Priorities were different in the past. I’m happy to have experienced it and to still be able to recall it. Maybe this explains why I fight for radio and continue to mourn the loss of so many talented people who contributed so greatly to it.