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Sam and Michele

D

DeLatta

Guest
Now with their daddy Ken out of the way…should they (Michele and Sam) hit up the unemployment line to try and secure a new job selling insurance? Their contracts should be up by next year…assuming someone was smart and signed them to a 2 or 3 year contract. And I’m sure with the ratings their getting Clear Channel isn’t too happy with either of them. I think its funny that Sam is no longer Clear Channels “Big Priority”. I mean they took him off a station that had great ratings (KTRH) and moved him to a station that is struggling (KPRC). Talk about a slap in the face. I wonder who he has to report to now or what market he plans to taint next.
 
Whenever their deal is up, I wouldn't expect them to be on after that. I am sure Sam is plotting behind his co-host's back for his next gig. I bet he's already talking to the Point. Wonder if they will pay him seven figures to get lously ratings?
 
Wow, does someone like Sam really command a million dollars? What about other morning hosts? Is that like a routine thing for a hit show? I thought a few hundred thousand, sure, but a million? Wow...
 
The other "Kenny Boy"

Think we should warn the good people at Clear Channel's stations in Miami-Fort Lauderdale that Ken Charles is coming? If he's going to be in a position of authority at those stations, their lives are about to take a turn for the worse.
 
On Mix, It's not completly Sam and Michelle's fault, after they're off the air it's basically a big playlist with comercials and a jock every once in a while. I think the "Point" has pointed out (no pun intended) that listeners want something more from their radio station...
 
I never listened to Sam on KRBE and only had the pleasure (now is that is that really the right word???) if listening him for the first time on MIX just the other day.

Question: why is HE working when so many other talented and even better known Houston radio icons are not???

I literally struggled to listen to five minutes of his stuff. I didn't hear any talent...no wow factor. I wasn't entertained..in fact, listening to him was downright painful. My neck was strained from shaking my head in disbelief so many times. I actually felt sorry for this guy.

I don't get it. I just don't get it.
 
I've only heard Sam very few times when he was on KRBE. That was a long time ago. In fact, it was during the time when I was producing the Hudson & Harrigan Show. I was most likely on vacation when I heard Sam as H&H was on the same time as Sam on KRBE. He was very good.

Let me point out that today's radio is a highly structured bore. Morning shows are so overly consulted that it hampers the efforts of the creative talent. You still have the canvas and the paint, but they don't let you have the paint brushes. Read the card, flip it for the next break. Do not deviate from the instructions or you will be replaced.
 
Tiller, you're a nice guy and rarely say anything bad about anyone.

He may have been kings with the Clearasil set 10 years ago, but now??????

Liner cards be damned, I just didn't hear any talent with Sam Malone. He wasn't funny and his attempts at it, were as I mentioned, damned painful. His rapport with that woman he's with is about an entertaining as naval lint. And if Chuck, radio is as you say, so consulted all to hell and back, then why pay Malone and others like him, such exorbitant salaries for reading what some promo drone typed on a card???????

This is ridiculous.

Answer that one and then tackle why Sam Malone is working and so many other talented Houston radio types aren't. I respect your opinion and want your input on this.
 
I have no idea how much money Sam is making. Where did that million dollar figure orginate? I don't believe his is making that kind of money. Morning shows are more than just liner cards, as I suggested earlier. However, the content is scrutinized by those in charge. They nit pick everything that one presents on the air. I cannot be objective as to how he sounds today, because I am busy at the time and I don't listen.

As far as why certain people are working while others are not, part of it is the old 'right time, right place' scenario. The other part is the negotiation of salaries. Everybody in this business is working for less these days, including me. That may include Malone. Some talent in this town have left radio for good and will not return. They are fed up and disgusted.

Tumor, you said "Please. A poor craftsman blames his tools." I was stating about the LACK of tools! Our tools HAVE bewen taken away from us.

People used to ask me about Owen Weber, former GM of the local CBS/Infinity Group. My answer to them that I could only offer a subjective response, because I held the man in great disdain. I did not like him. I found the man to be beligerant and obnoxious. I watched this man treat people shabbily. He still needs a 100 gallon drum of Texas whupa$$ poured all over him. (There goes the nice guy part of me, but I appreciate the kind remarks anyway, Wilmington.)

Sometimes, your personal feelings will get in the way of an objective observation. I know mine can and will express it to anyone who asks me. If you know Sam personally and hate him, then perhaps you may have your objectivity tainted. If it is about his performance only and you do not know him personally, then it's your opinion and it is objective.
 
Sam will be doing afternoons on kprc before long. No more Mix for him!
 
i doubt if he will even have a job after his contract is up. but you never know.
 
Carrying your "tool" metaphor, with a hammer like Maria Todd, Sam should have never gone poking around in the Clear Channel toolbox...he should have known you can't drive a nail with a flyswatter. He made the choice to burn his best assets (and people) in favor of a two-station deal where he had to have known he would never be allowed the kind of freedom or creativity that he and Maria enjoyed on KRBE. Heck, for a million bucks, I might be tempted to churn out some cards, do my four and hit the door, too. Who cares if the gig doesn't last? I could find a million ways to console myself after I tanked, and hey...if they're willing to pay a million bucks for crap, they should receive the courtesy of their money's worth.

Okay, Chuck, maybe not a million. Still, it was a grave miscalculation on your friend's part if he thought CC meant Creative Control.

P.S. I have nothing but respect for you, so don't think I'm arguing. I'm just thinking that knowing what CC is about, signing a lucrative contract might not be the right move if you want to be highly prized for your funny, creative morning show. The paychecks must take a lot of the sting out of what he must surely realize by now was a million-dollar muzzle.
 
I find it funny that you guys think that Sam Malone and the Bore Show sucks because of CC's requirement to read liner cards and that he has no freedom or creativity at mix. From someone who knows about this show from the inside, management sat back and let him do whatever he wanted but since he has no creative bone in his body, the show is a trainwreck and no wonder KRBE is beating him in every demo he once controlled a decade ago since there is actually real competition on the FM dial. As for liner cards, Sam does not read any liner cards, he's just that bad.
 
I always thought Sam and Maria were at their best on KRBE years ago. I haven't listened to Sam lately except when I used to catch him on KTRH.
 
radioinsider,

I suspected as much. I know a little about what CC will allow a *good* morning show, and without disrespecting Chuck, I know there is some leeway (sans liners) allowed. Yes, they have to account for their judgment on the air, and yes, there are yellings-at for bad calls. Occasionally, in heavily-lobbied FCC years, a cool guy like Zaharis gets scapegoated and fried for it unfairly and disingenuously, but CC is fairly predictable in what it wants from its mornings, and there's definitely a lot of leeway.

There are liner cards/station business to read during utility breaks, but there are (at least) six other "personality" talkpoints; between the :10 and :35, for instance (most of the hour, actually). CC likes jock, song, drop, song, news/feature, stopset, traffic/spot, song, liner, song, promo/feature, stopset...if this were a clock-shaped board it would make all the sense in the world, and you would see (but you know. Hey, bro).

Um. Those of you who remember clock-shaped hours would, anyway. It's basic, basic stuff. Clock out Rod Ryan or Dean & Rog, it's easy to see where the personality breaks belong.

It's just that Sam has nobody like Maria to fill them for him. Because dang, she was good. No, I'm not a personal friend, just a person in the business who listened with green envy. That freedom...they ate up minutes and minutes of my drive, being funny on KRBE. And I loved it. Back then.

Alas.
 
It's hard to talk about all that Sam Malone is--and isn't--without commenting on the sad state of morning radio in Houston.

Ok, I've made it clear; I was never a fan of KRBE. I listened to Sam and Maria only on rare occasion. In my opinion, he wasn't funny and she was (in my opinion) a forced giggle track along the same lines as Robin Quivers.

That was then. I tuned in to his show on MIX for the first time a few weeks ago...and promptly chose road noise, instead.

I don't spite Malone or anyone for getting paid and for getting as much as he or she can. My point though is that I'd really like to hear some bang for the buck and here in Houston, I'm not.

I don't listen to talk, rap, news, sports, country or whatever that abominable format KLOL now calls itself. I like rock and pop, so I may be a bit limited but I can tell you that those two walking examples of aural paralysis CURRENTLY on KRBE are ridiculous. Dean and Rog are pathetic and the incredibly unfunny duo of Walton and Johnson are, as I once read on this very board, "a poor man's Stevens and Pruett". Rod Ryan? Never heard of him and as for that morning show on KLDE? Personally, I've never found insecurity and battling egos all that entertaining. And as for the Wave, well, I like the music just fine, but I couldn't tell you the name of a single on-air staff member at that station.

I'll admit I don't know that much about being on the air, so I can't argue with you pros, but as a listener to product, I know what I like and don't like. And even with the mandatory inclusion of liner cards and limited tools and corporate leeway or the lack thereof, shouldn't there still brief glimpses of opportunity to be funny and clever and at times, even thought provoking??? I'm not hearing ANY of those things on the few stations I've checked out. I'm not hearing any orginality or creativity or genuine comedy. Anywhere.

And what's so damn tragic is that wasn't always the case here in Houston.

Yeah, yeah, I know; my opnions are like !&#holes and if doing a morning show were all that easy, we'd all have our own...yeah, I know the standard retort.
BUT, I've been around and listened to a lot of radio in many other cities and sadly, when it comes to good morning shows on rock or pop formats, I truly think Houston is sorely lacking. Tired mediocrity doesn't even begin to appropriately describe the current state.

And in a market this size, I find that very, very sad.
 
It is well known we can never agree on one morning show that we all like as a consecutive group. Obvious, everyone has a different view, taste, and genre that they like. But I think we can all agree that The Sam Malone show, is failing, and failing fast. I'm sure he will try to blame it on his co-workers. It wouldn't surprise me to see him even want some of them fired from the show, blaming his misfortunes in ratings on them. I'm not sure how to tell the little fellow that he's a has-been and needs to move on...any ideas…should we let him down easy or get it out in the open?
 
I'll never understand the hate on Sam Malone here, or of Roula & Ryan. They're perfectly representative of modern mainstream culture. (much more so than some of the characters you're pining for) They're completely talented, and perfectly relatable to their audience. Maybe you and I are not the target. So what? They have talent or they wouldnt be there.

As a non-morning dayparter, I can sit around and whine about how much more money they make than I do, or I can get to work, aircheck, demo, and start networking. This is America, and I got this far.

Personally I have little desire to have to watch & discuss American Idol, and talk to soccer moms, and not offend anyone, and have to listen to consultants, and rub elbows with all the suits & wannabes, and sit in strategy sessions, and get up at 3am, and have a co-host who may be a b****, and deal w/ all the scrutiny. Morning show hosts have talents you havent even imagined. I dont know if I would ever be up to it.

Im GLAD they pay these guys. This is the last piece of evidence that corporate owners understand the value of US. This helps them to understand the basic premise that PEOPLE relate to PEOPLE. Thank God they get in bidding wars over guys like Sam. (who happens to be pretty darn nice off the air) This is good for all jocks.

The realization that people will listen to a station for someone they relate to & believe, and that by promoting a jock, putting his/her face on that billboard or tv spot will raise their profile value, and thus raise their value to your station, (i.e. --- people actually show up to your remotes/promotions) which in turn makes them more profitable---- this concept is good for ALL OF US. This will keep us working. This will feed our kids.

Those of you who are not working in the biz, this concept will ensure that your favorite station doesnt become a pointless jukebox.
 
Remember when people used to have a reason to drop by a remote? Like, that there was a nighttime or midday jock they liked? Yes, they dropped by morning show remotes galore, but they dropped by for other, equally lucrative dayparters. Some of the best remotes I've ever attended involved something some evening or night jock was doing. No need for that, now. Sales people don't know how to sell anything but morning drive, and stations only sink their investments into mornings, anyway.

It's hard to get excited about a vanload of teenagers in station logo shirts handing out keychains. By reducing promotions to this type of thing (plus the usual round of snoozer-Saturdays at a certain Chevrolet dealership), by only promoting one daypart, by automating and reducing non-morning-drive personnel so there's nobody else with any qualifications TO send out, the corporations have stolen what used to be a very vital partnership between the listeners and Houston radio.

It, and the quality of entertainment, such as it is, are reflective of the complacency that comes from not having to hustle. Consolidation made morning drive the ONLY daypart that counts, and not by much (it all goes into the same three or four parent-company pockets, after all). That could be why you'll find such hostility on the boards from people who made it their life's work to care and hustle, and saw those efforts rewarded by watching them kill the goose and drop the golden egg.
 
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