Yes and smart dj’s in that era were aware of the what they could say and could not say. The point here is as times change the tolerance also tends to change.
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Question about obscene content or cursing on the air.
- Thread starter radioislife2020
- Start date
You are aware of the fact that most managers would say that "smart DJ" is an oxymoron, like "military intelligence".*
Being married to a DJ (also a talk host, group PD and TV anchor), I'd have to disagree as she constantly out thinks me... but we have to be aware of the fact that there are and were quite a few people on the air who didn't always have their brain in gear before they engaged their mouth.
* ... and we respond with comments about the Herb Tarlek-like people in their sales departments.
I appreciate your humor on this. But not sure of your point here.
Most good dj’s knew where the border was. Yes, some pushed the envelope and more power to them because they would get more attention but also more likely to be given warnings or being fired.
When I programmed an eastern Washington station in the 90’s I had one jock who said
“The chick had thighs slick and ready”. I had to answer to a few people on that one, but the guy saved his job after I explained to him what was acceptable and what was not.
Most good dj’s knew where the border was. Yes, some pushed the envelope and more power to them because they would get more attention but also more likely to be given warnings or being fired.
When I programmed an eastern Washington station in the 90’s I had one jock who said
“The chick had thighs slick and ready”. I had to answer to a few people on that one, but the guy saved his job after I explained to him what was acceptable and what was not.
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Amen. And there's a huge difference between three breaks an hour thoroughly planned out and talking up the intros of 15 records an hour, four hours a day, six days a week, which just amps up the pressure to be fresh and clever.
I'm not dumb (trust me on that), but I'm the guy who read the tagline for Budweiser and then ad-libbed:
"Anheuser-Busch, Saint Louis. And as we all look up the verb "to anheize"...
Then there's the guy I personally fired for making slapping and screaming sound effects while live-reading a PSA for the Committee to Aid Abused Women in Reno. He went on to be one of the founders of Premiere Networks.
Best edit on Firefall's "Cinderella"---> "I said, damn girl cant'cha see!" Done cleanly, you would never know that God had been there!
In a small town of 30,000 the night guy was always pushing the envelope. Filling in one weekday afternoon, we had the hospital sponsor birth announcements. Normally there were only 4 or 5 because quite a few were 'out of wedlock' and weren't announced. On the day this fellow was on, the list was about 20 names. He finished and says whew! That's lots of names. Must be something in the air. Her legs.
I
I think a lot of this is knowing your market and knowing what you can say and what you can't. Smaller markets are generally more conservative with this type of comment, but LA or NY less so, but not saying they would also accept that comment.
It is radio management that must step in when the oversteps occur. Of course, a management can't listen 24 hours a day. So they may get an email (or letter back in the day). Programmers need to be acutely aware of this issue to sustain their audience. However, any FCC infractions are few and far between these days. Infractions are rare.
First, the PD should have intervened. But that doesn't always happen.
I think a lot of this is knowing your market and knowing what you can say and what you can't. Smaller markets are generally more conservative with this type of comment, but LA or NY less so, but not saying they would also accept that comment.
It is radio management that must step in when the oversteps occur. Of course, a management can't listen 24 hours a day. So they may get an email (or letter back in the day). Programmers need to be acutely aware of this issue to sustain their audience. However, any FCC infractions are few and far between these days. Infractions are rare.
The infractions are rare only because the complaints (properly filed with audio proof) are rare.
The FCC is incentivized to fine stations when applicable.
And I'm the young teen who did the legal ID around 1960 between an ABC network show and the top of the hour news as "WCUY, ninety-poo point pee, Cleveland Heights."
"Back in the day" as Michael says, with 10 or more live moments per hour, we tried to amuse ourselves by changing the words and content. It sometimes did not come out as intended.
And I think a majority of such things were accidental... they did not come out as intended. When you did Top 40 on a 5 hour shift and was playing the same song for the third time, it invited bad improv incidents.
That one is certainly vulgar if not obscene. But to a young-20's top 40 or rock jock in that era, it was normal guy talk. Chalk it up to a maturity issue.
Yes and he was not fired for this, just a warning. But here is the deal…any further questionable comments makes his status very untenable.
Jay Lawrence, fresh from KLAC, on his first day at WNEW, New York, replacing Gene Klavan in 1978:
“At WNEW, we’ve upped our sense of humor. Now, up yours.”
Or Geoff Edwards on his first day at KMPC in Los Angeles in 1968. He stumbles over a live PSA for the Florence Crittenden home for unwed mothers and says:
“Oh, I see what happened. Someone missed a period.”
“At WNEW, we’ve upped our sense of humor. Now, up yours.”
Or Geoff Edwards on his first day at KMPC in Los Angeles in 1968. He stumbles over a live PSA for the Florence Crittenden home for unwed mothers and says:
“Oh, I see what happened. Someone missed a period.”
Bad taste, of course. But certainly clever in the Benny Hill mode.
My brain was hearing Joe Biden say that sentence..
Over the years what's acceptable, or not, has changed depending on who's listening or willing to complain. Unless you have a show that is known for rough-around-the-edges comments and humor, like AM drive; the midday male talking about slick thighs or legs in the air might warrant a warning back in the day, but these days it will get you fired.
Just look at how many radio personalities have been catapulted to the beach for saying politically-charged, racist, or sexist things on their social media pages. If the show is generally known as saying controversial or borderline raunchy, most parents taking their kids to school will avoid it. If something blatantly sexist, or inappropriate is said during other times, expect to be in big trouble.
Like some of us keep saying here: This isn't the 70's or 80's anymore. When talent goes rogue, it suddenly becomes VERY expensive. Not because of FCC fines anymore; but having to engage PR firms to clean up the mess, lawyers to defend against citizen groups filing class action suits, and potential loss of advertisers because they don't want to get spattered from controversy where their ads run. Expenses that most radio stations and groups simply can't afford to throw away because some $80K a year 'personality' isn't capable of being self-aware.
Exactly. And with social media, one tasteless five second punch line on-air can go global.
There's one other thing that we haven't addressed, either. Youth.
These weren't 40-year-olds making reasoned calculations based on experience and the need to make the mortgage payment. Most weren't even 30.
I was a jock for ten years. I moved on to news two months before my 25th birthday. Charlie Van Dyke was doing mornings at KFRC at 22. Machine Gun Kelly went to KHJ at 21. I believe Willie Bee arrived at B-100 at 19.
We were kids, and we were liable to go for the quick line on the air that just popped into our head without really thinking it through.
And not to put too fine a point on it, but it's not just kids and it's not just not being smart. There's an aircheck of Dr. Don Rose at KFRC, a very smart, very successful jock by any standard, in his 40s at the time, who went with this one:
"Back when I was single, I once made love to an Italian girl in her car. Well, actually, I think it was a rental. She kept yelling "It's-a-Hertz!"
Today, that's probably a career-ender (implied lack of consent, impression of stereotypical ethnic dialect).
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…..aaaand…boom:
In-N-Out Burger planning to open first Idaho restaurant
One of the region’s favorite burger stops is coming to Idaho.
www.idahostatejournal.com
The proposed location in Boise is within their distribution rules.
Frankly I don’t think in-an-out is that great. Their burgers have become stale compared to the 80’s and 90’s, though my tastes may have changed. I really enjoyed them in the 90’s but a guy in his 20’s may have a different taste as they get older. Perhaps they target 18-34 specifically. No interest post 50 for me.
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