POLL: LOCAL PROD. DIRECTORS

[hungryhawk]

Questions For Ya!

How many stations do you oversee?
How many spots do you load weekly into your automation systme
How many people work on your prod. staff?
What is your percentage of locally produced spots vs. agency/third party produced spots?
Do you have other responsibilities at your station?


Ill do mine first:

2 Stations
75-80 Spots Per week
1 on Staff
45 locally produced, 55 out of house
Yes. Many other responsibilities.

 

[JJR]

1 Station
45-55 spots per week
1 on staff
maybe 20 local to 35 outside
More "other" duties than I can think of

 

[hungryhawk]

Thanks JJR... Anyone else? ???

 

[tdc]

I had seen this post a couple of days ago, and decided to look over some of my old log books.
I was a prod director of a cluster of 4 stations for almost 7 years. I kept a log book and wrote
down every spot that I did that was not a trade spot (ABC Radio Networks, Premiere, and so on).

I would write down the specs of a spot. Cart Number, day and time the spot was entered
into the system, run dates, client name, person who voiced it, salesperson, rotations if any,
and station it was to run on. I kept a log book for a couple of reasons:

1. to help back me up if someone changed something on a spot without my knowledge.
2. It also showed when I screwed something up.
3. It also showed when someone else screwed up. I.E. salesperson's prod order incorrect
It was a powerful tool for that.

Anyway I was the only prod staff.

4 stations.

It varied between 65 to 70 spots per week, around 20 were agency spots.
(not including trade spots to dub in)
That's an average for a couple of month's time in summer, not during the Holidays or
political season-which is a whole other topic "those crazy politicals!!"

and I voice tracked mid days on one of the stations.

Other duties? Lion tamer of the salespeople
"Back Simba! (whip crack) No you can't have the spot done in 20 minutes! (whip crack)
you turned it in just 2 minutes ago!! (lots more whip cracks) Yaaaa!


Terry Christensen
Former Production Director

 

[hungryhawk]

Cool, Thanks Terry (and JRR again).

And yes, I think we all know what you mean about Lion Tamer and poorly filled out Production Orders. I really hate when I feel like I have to get into defending my position but things like "log books" and paper trails can be nice allies to the human ego.

Even though there wasn't a big group to comaper from with this post, it seems that for the most part, work load is fairly consistent for most Prod folks. I'd love to see a "Log Book" from the 60s and 70s when this medium had a stronghold on the marketshare. I wonder how those stats would compare with what we have posted here.

Cheers,
Hawk

 

[bobbybooey]

I'd love to see a "Log Book" from the 60s and 70s when this medium had a stronghold on the marketshare. I wonder how those stats would compare with what we have posted here.

Considering a) stations weren't grouped in cluster and each station had its own production director (and probably several assistants), and b) stations weren't whoring themselves out with 12-15 minutes of spots/hour... I'm guessing the average production director had a much thinner "log book" back then. Of course, it probably also took 5x longer to produce a single spot on 2-track reel than it does on a DAW...

 

[Emmett1057]

I wasn't the prod director, but was on the staff (until the last batch of budget cuts).

4 stations

500-1000 spots per week.

3 directors, 2 full-time assisants, one full-time 'barter bitch'. Several part-time people that would do a couple of spots here and there....And usually 2 interns to help with dubs.

I would estimate 20% in-house with another 10% tagged in-house.

My personal busiest day ever was around Christmas 2005, where I had 139 spots to handle alone. 80 were dubs, 59 were in-house. Many, many, many other duties.

Emmett

 

[VODood]

I'd love to see a "Log Book" from the 60s and 70s when this medium had a stronghold on the marketshare. I wonder how those stats would compare with what we have posted here.

Considering a) stations weren't grouped in cluster and each station had its own production director (and probably several assistants), and b) stations weren't whoring themselves out with 12-15 minutes of spots/hour... I'm guessing the average production director had a much thinner "log book" back then. Of course, it probably also took 5x longer to produce a single spot on 2-track reel than it does on a DAW...

I was still using an Otari eight track 1997-2000 at WMJI/Cleveland. We had ONE Orban Audicy and my buddy got it in his studio. He did the imaging (later I would) and I was the Commercial Director. At that time Cleveland was mkt 23, and WMJI was in it's own facility apart from the other stations in the cluster, so our local production was about 20-30 spots per week, not including tags. Rest was agency or barter. We had two part-time prod people who handled barter, AM show stuff, etc. So 4 total prod staff for a standalone station (We were privately owned, then bought by Nationwide, then Jacor, then CC). Cake compared to things these days.

When I left in 2000 we were on Prophet. Before Prophet it was good ol' carts. I could dub 20 spots to cart per hour. Including typing the cart labels. Back then we ran all spots, agency and local, thru a Compellor 320A. If a local tag the VO would go thru a UREI 1176 and a 320A (mic chain was AKG 414 to Symetrix 528. AKGs were in every studio.) I had a stereo pair of 1176's in the studio I used.

I was also on air part-time and ran Cleveland Browns games. Both extra gigs were hourly on top of my salary. The Browns gig was a separate budget so I got compensated well....$20/hr to board op two pregames, the game, and post. About 10 hours every Sunday. Nice coin in 1999!

 

[Duncan Park]

I've been laying back to see what you boys in the "City" are doing.

Four stations here in the sticks (really two separate program feeds). 'Round about 50 new ads a week plus 28 weekly network make goods (30's piggybacked to a 60) and station promos updated regularly.

Being short of available local voices, I also belong to a "Swap" network whereby I dispatch copy to other short-staffed small stations. In return I produce a spot for someone else for each spot they produce for me. The hardest part of this is keeping up with whom I've sent an ad off to and its return.

This in addition to and Air Shift, group IT and Engineering.

I love what I do and enjoy being busy.

 

[AdvertisingGuru]

I over see 6 stations. Four FM, Two AM
Over 800 spots a week easy, most local-like 85%
staff of 8 to 11- when I can get them to work-I do most of the input.
I have a FULL day of stuff to do, but the boss just told me I had to find more to do--if I want to keep the money I am making....which is only 30k, I spent two years in advertising school, and I bust butt everyday to make sure every ad is as great as the one before it.

I have tried to not talkng on the air so much, because I'm in alot of spots. We also take voices from other markets-but not that often.

I wonder what the guy in Atlanta makes doing the same thing I do, or Dallas, or New Orleans???

I look at the Production Dept, as the heart of the radio stations that keeps the money flowing to the rest of the working parts.
I get a great sense of pride out of my job. I really enjoy it, I don't enjoy the stress of christmas, football, or the spring but it's all in a days work. I like to see things pull together and work no matter what.

 

[VODood]

I over see 6 stations. Four FM, Two AM
Over 800 spots a week easy, most local-like 85%
staff of 8 to 11- when I can get them to work-I do most of the input.
I have a FULL day of stuff to do, but the boss just told me I had to find more to do--if I want to keep the money I am making....which is only 30k, I spent two years in advertising school, and I bust butt everyday to make sure every ad is as great as the one before it.

I have tried to not talkng on the air so much, because I'm in alot of spots. We also take voices from other markets-but not that often.

I wonder what the guy in Atlanta makes doing the same thing I do, or Dallas, or New Orleans???

I look at the Production Dept, as the heart of the radio stations that keeps the money flowing to the rest of the working parts.
I get a great sense of pride out of my job. I really enjoy it, I don't enjoy the stress of christmas, football, or the spring but it's all in a days work. I like to see things pull together and work no matter what.

I know guys in ATL making about $65-70k for Prod/Imaging. I know someone in Detroit who makes about $75k...and another in Detroit at $50k. Depends on the company, the revenue, cost of living, etc.

 

[glmichaels]

5 stations here locally
Average about 300-400 per week depending on time of year.
About 30% locally written/produced/voiced
I'm Prod Director and have 2 assistants. Have about
6-8 other voices in-station I can use but I voice for
other stations in our group and their Prod Directors
have me voice for them...so we share resources.

Gary Michaels
Wask, Wkoa, Wkhy, Wxxb, Espn
Lafayette, IN