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Night At The Gin Mill

J

Jay_Surly

Guest
The original post was bloated. Had to take it down.

Best regards,

Janos Surlikevich
<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by Jay_Surly on 08/15/05 01:01 PM.</FONT></P>
 
> The original post was bloated. Had to take it down.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Janos Surlikevich
>
See, that title was a TEASE! I thought you were proposing to buy a round at the local watering hole.

Very disappointing!

;)<P ID="signature">______________
PETER
www.audioconnell.com
World Wide Audio Marketing Agency</P>
 
Sorry 'Bout That

> > The original post was bloated. Had to take it down.
> >
> > Best regards,
> >
> > Janos Surlikevich
> >
> See, that title was a TEASE! I thought you were proposing to
> buy a round at the local watering hole.
>
> Very disappointing!
>
> ;)
>
Sorry about that. I have a tendancy to re-read my posts and nit-pick every phrase and sentence. Why I majored in English is beyond me. I'm not a great writer and have the attention span of a gnat. I thought the original post sucked.

Here's the condensed version. I'll probably delete this one too...
---
A bunch of friends in the radio business got together on a hot Friday night. Wives and dates also attended. For a radio geek like me who spends his time peddling textbooks, it was a real treat. There was lots of dirt, dish and gossip from people who work in Rochester, Buffalo and Cincinnati.

Most of us have known each other since college. These days we’re fatter, grayer and our hairlines are thinner than we were when we were playing the hits on our college stations and dreaming of stardom. We have kids, some have grandkids and we’re doing what we can to make it through the day.

The talk ranges from discussions about the morning drive female co-host who’s gone through two Buffalo stations with a few morning show hosts to the pretentious GM’s and PD’s.

Entercom’s payola troubles with the attorney general, FCC and IRS receive a lot of educated speculation and opinion and a lot of derisive hoots. There’s speculation about how much Citadel paid to extend the broadcast rights to the Buffalo Bills, how well the Bills will do this season and whether it was worth Citadel’s investment. Speculation is Citadel is paying nearly $3 million per season to broadcast the Bills games and cheerlead for the team.

The Fybush website get compliments and a guy's girlfriend tells us we’re all weirdly obsessed. One guy wonders about Fybush’s noted “obsession with towers,” a Freudian analysis ensues and we laugh a lot. Scott would have enjoyed the banter because it’s funny and not at all mean-spirited.

Talk centers on the Buffalo Broadcast Hall of Fame inductees and the selection process. I’m one of the few who thinks the hall should induct sales people. This gets a big, derisive laugh, even from the sales guys, and I’m forced to pay for the next round of drinks to absolve myself.

Talk turns to ‘pod-casting and iPods in general. Everybody wants to be a pod caster and get his or her 15 minutes of fame.

More than half the group has satellite radio. Sirius gets the nod over XM. The consensus is that the two will have to merge to survive. A lot of us listen to NPR. Our friend from Clear Channel Cincinnati thinks commercial talk radio will eventually embrace the NPR model. We talk about Randy Michaels’ involvement with Ed Schultz, the progressive talker. Big Ed is getting good reviews and good ratings in some markets. The thinking is Schultz will be the next Rush as the pendulum swings from the right to progressive talk. Somebody says NPR is “too highbrow for the toothless morons who listen to commercial talk radio.”


Debate ensues about how jocks and sales people view their listeners. It’s not very complimentary. “It’s all numbers, from the top down,” says one sales rep, “programming and sales don’t care if listeners are red, black or white, as long as their money’s green and they write down our call letters in the damn diaries.”

The conversation moves to Clear Channel’s quarterly statement. Sales revenue was down and the speculation is “less is more” isn’t going to cut it with the Wall Street mob and shareholders.

Somebody starts talking about who really listens to the radio and why he or she listens. We all agree that people under 25 aren’t listening to radio much these days. They prefer their iPods and CDs. Somebody suggests that most jocks don’t even listen to their own stations anymore. There are a lot of theories about this. The consensus is a person can only listen to 600 songs so often before tiring of it.

Nobody seems to think Jack is a long term format.

As the sound system played “Only The Lonely,” we thought it was time to call it a night.
 
> The original post was bloated. Had to take it down.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Janos Surlikevich
>

I thought the original post was great--interesting, easy to follow, entertaining. Overall, it was very well written. The re-post is more concise, but I still preferred the original.
 
Eloquence

I have to agree with some of the posters above. The original post, although longer, was worth the read. There was a flow and eloquence - and some darn funny stuff that hit close to home for people of "a certain age" that have been stripped from the "Reader's Digest" version.

I also notice that you covered a few tracks regarding a couple of observations...

Posts are like commercials... Some are entertaining, some are informative, some are both, some make you reach for the "next" button, and some make you yell back at the back at the radio - which is possible on a discussion board!
 
Re: Sorry 'Bout That

> Talk turns to ‘pod-casting and iPods in general. Everybody
> wants to be a pod caster and get his or her 15 minutes of
> fame.

This, much like blogging, is a trend that has gotten way overblown and will soon go the way of Internet stocks in the late 90s. If you podcast in a forest and nobody hears it, does it make a sound? The majority of these things are relevant to the people who make them, and few others. The novelty factor has to wear out for another year or so, the copyright people have to file some lawsuits, and then "podcasts" (a term I loathe as much as "blog") will become an audio wire service feed for major broadcasters who want to push content to listeners. This will be especially big among international broadcasters and individual radio/TV shows. Some are trying to charge subscription fees. They need to learn from Real Networks - that model has limited success.

Ultimately, the old adage "who the hell cares what you think" is going to ring true among a lot of blogs and podcasts. The media cares about the blogs right now because the concept -is- a story, but that will wear thin too.

> More than half the group has satellite radio. Sirius gets
> the nod over XM. The consensus is that the two will have to
> merge to survive.

I don't see this happening. Two different technologies, two different programming philosophies. I see XM becoming the cable-TV of satellite radio. Corporate pre-programmed and nobody really home channels playing automated stuff. I see Sirius becoming more and more of an independent programming bouquet, as they head more into rebroadcasting proven model radio stations like the BBC's Radio 1 (can 2, 3, and 4 be far behind - the World Radio Network concept is already on Sirius, but there's also ABC Australia, China Radio International, and a bunch of other stations offering some compelling programming, and imagine nichecasting to foreign language audiences as well on a pay station basis). XM is HBO, Sirius is Showtime. Both will co-exist, but Sirius will be the more willing to experiment and find other programming and revenue streams to stay in the game. Both will cover all the required bases.
 
Re: Sorry 'Bout That

> Talk centers on the Buffalo Broadcast Hall of Fame inductees
> and the selection process. I’m one of the few who thinks the
> hall should induct sales people. This gets a big, derisive
> laugh, even from the sales guys, and I’m forced to pay for
> the next round of drinks to absolve myself.
>

Jay:

As a longtime board member of The Buffalo Broadcasters, I will not deride you for your thoughts regarding inducting sales weasels(!)into the HOF.
As a matter of fact, we have a catagory for the business side of things to be honored. However, for the most part -so far- those included have been sales types who have gone on to upper mgt.(i.e.-Al Anscombe; this year Bill Mckibben)
This cannot be helped, really.

I can see in future years including a Tommy Feno(KB) or a Norm Schrutt(KB). The problem will start when these larger than life sales guys are covered and we don't have anywhere to go.
In that the HOF, by nature, excludes a jock whose only success was as Tommy Thomas for a year at WNIA; it also excludes a salesman or woman who spent a year or 2 selling time at WUWU.

So, I agree completely, but the field is limited. After all, the last letter in HOF stands for "Fame".
 
Sales Weasels

> I can see in future years including a Tommy Feno(KB) or a
> Norm Schrutt(KB). The problem will start when these larger
> than life sales guys are covered and we don't have anywhere
> to go.

If I remember a thread some time back correctly, when it came to sales the name Don Tomasulo seemed to be the consensus Sales Manager with a Heart. He might be worthy, based on his sales & management career, coupled with his role in the local music scene (like the Talas Reunion).

And, of course, there's always Al Green...
 
Re: ABRIDGED Night At The Gin Mill

> > The original post was bloated. Had to take it down.

You should have left it up. Although lengthy, it was a good post and it was good to see your return to the board after a long absence. As noted, the "Readers Digest" version is fine, but it's lacking the color of the original post. Give yourself more credit.
>
 
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