In 1965 , LA had 3 big Top 40 stations known as KHJ, KRLA, and KFWB. All of them had 3 hour block shifts except overnights. WABC in NYC had a two hour shift from 10-Midnight. Eventually, shifts around the country were changed to a fairly universal 6-10, 10-3, 3-7, 7-12, and 12-6. So why not 6 hour shifts? WPOI in Tampa has six hour shifts now. Dick Ring on WDUV in Tampa does a 6-10 morning gig and reads the weather until about 2PM as they have only one live shift. COX radio in Florida runs most of its stations on primarily auto pilot. They don't even voice track. And they seem to succeed with this. You can always do Delilah and Tesh back to back like Lite 98 in Richmond Va. Once they were live 24 /7------but adding these "personalities" has not changed their market share.
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shrinking air shifts
- Thread starter OldSchoolWoman
- Start date
OldSchoolWoman said:
Actually 3 hours shifts were the norm at a majority of major market stations in the 50's and 60's and in the 70's and 80's it was 4 hour shifts. But the RKO Top 40's retained 3 hour shifts into the late 70's during the day doing 4 hour shifts from 6pm to 6am. KOST did 4 hour shifts until they became a Clear Channel station in 1999. In 2000 Ted Ziegenbusch(hope I spelled that right)was let go and shifts lengthened. By January of 2001 the overnight shift was automated and in September 2001 CC tried to VT afternoons and weekends. AFTRA put an end to that and live jocks returned to weekends by summer of 2002. By this time Bryan Simmons had been at KBIG for about 6 or 7 months and weekender Caroline Gracie has established herself in pm drive, so Simmons wouldn't return until 2004. Now he has survived the latest firings and does noon to 6pm. Yes, if you look at the non-union Cox stations they run with very small airstaffs, but I personally think its rinky dink. Cox, like many other companies is just showing that it's cheap and actually like CC has little regard for the listener. Overhead isn't so high that these companies can't hire a full-time airstaff, they're just too greedy. Imagine how popular ipods would really be if there was a personality inside creating a one-on-one relationship with the ipod owner? You can't, because it's just a machine, and that's exactly what a jockless station is. As for doing 6 hours, it's tough and if you've been on the air daily you know that quality usually drops after hour 4. It may not always be noticeable to the average listener, but the savvy ones and other radio people can hear it. I know I can...
How much prep time does a DJ do, except for maybe morning shows?
The music is largely preprogrammed on the computers so there are no records to pull. Recent events in this and other markets show how much management values personalities. So basically being on the radio could become like any other nine to five type job. Just come in, sit in the chair, push a few buttons, punch out and go home.
Would The Wolfman, Dick Biondi, Shotgun Tom Kelly, The Real Don Steele and others work like this? Probably not but then they wouldn't be wanted anymore by the suits.
In the ancient days of radio when I was on the air, I spent hours auditioning records, researching information and assembling it all before my turn in the booth. After that I had to rip and read the AP news and answer the phones as well as taking the transmitter readings. My big technological boon was the logger tape machine which eliminated the big paper sheets. Nobody, even small markets work like that anymore.
The music is largely preprogrammed on the computers so there are no records to pull. Recent events in this and other markets show how much management values personalities. So basically being on the radio could become like any other nine to five type job. Just come in, sit in the chair, push a few buttons, punch out and go home.
Would The Wolfman, Dick Biondi, Shotgun Tom Kelly, The Real Don Steele and others work like this? Probably not but then they wouldn't be wanted anymore by the suits.
In the ancient days of radio when I was on the air, I spent hours auditioning records, researching information and assembling it all before my turn in the booth. After that I had to rip and read the AP news and answer the phones as well as taking the transmitter readings. My big technological boon was the logger tape machine which eliminated the big paper sheets. Nobody, even small markets work like that anymore.
Where I come from, shifts are 5a-9a, 9a-12n, 12n-4p, 4p-6p, 6p-11p, and 11p-5a.
Morning guy is chief operator for three stations.
Midday guy is production director
Early Afternoons is traffic
Late Afternoons is PD
Evenings has website duties + Saturday Shift
Overnight is automated w/sat.
With today's imaging standards,
"Liner + Song + Jingle + Song + Backsell", a 5 hour shift really is not that challenging. In fact, I'd say it is almost boring when I did fill-in for the evening guy for a few days over a holiday.
BTW, we still take transmitter readings by hand, on paper. And answer phones -- we even take requests during our live hours. Yay small markets.
Morning guy is chief operator for three stations.
Midday guy is production director
Early Afternoons is traffic
Late Afternoons is PD
Evenings has website duties + Saturday Shift
Overnight is automated w/sat.
With today's imaging standards,
"Liner + Song + Jingle + Song + Backsell", a 5 hour shift really is not that challenging. In fact, I'd say it is almost boring when I did fill-in for the evening guy for a few days over a holiday.
BTW, we still take transmitter readings by hand, on paper. And answer phones -- we even take requests during our live hours. Yay small markets.
Hey, my workday doesn't begin or end with my airshift. If I had to pull a six hour shift I'd be at work 10 or 11 hours a day, and whoever thinks a 5 hour shift isn't that demanding isn't doing it right. Plus in today's hard drive world you have to edit the segues of your show if you want it to sound good. It's more time consuming than the old days of carts & records or CD's. Yes, there's the internet for prep, but you still have to go through all of the publications like the old days as well. We could debate it forever, but I still think making your talent pull a 6 hour shift is small market at best and even in the majors the talent have other duties, you can thank companies like CC for that. Now days it's long hours for everyone because staffs are so small. God only knows the toll it takes. I heard a deejay back at the beginning of my career say that radio is bad for your health and that's a theme I keep hearing...
OldSchoolWoman said:
...hmmm...weren't KDAY and KBLA Top 40s at the time, too?...
in 1965, KDAY was a daytimer with an R&B format. It had to compete with KGFJ which was full time at 1000/250 watts. KDAY had more power, but less hours. KBLA was at 1510 and licensed to Burbank. It went Top 40 later than the other three and had signal problems even into Hollywood. If my memory was right, it was never a real player. Eventually KHJ buried them all until FM. By then I left LA for the more exciting Morganton NC.
R
Radioboy989
Guest
I've always thought it reasonable to have airshifts that matched Arbitron. If they rate morning drive as 6-10 then why not conform? We live and die by those numbers...
"Overlapping" dayparts (5:30 - 9, 9-1, 1-4, 4-7, 7-mid) further adds to "recycling" throughout the day and is designed, in theory, to "build" on successive dayparts with a "lead-in" benefit. The better the show going in, the better the next, in theory. TV does it this way all the time. Radio's been doing it for decades.
nmoore6676 said:
yeah...that's all there is to it...
haven't pulled a shift in a while, huh?
One big change from back in the day. When Top 40 radio was at it's peak on AM, often the "name" DJ was the evening guy. ( there were few to none women DJ's yet). They were as big or bigger than the station . Names like Dick Biondi on KB, Cousin Brucie on WABC, BMR on WMCA, and Art Roberts on WLS to name a few. LA radio seemed to buck this trend by keeping 6-9 and 9-12 air shifts. Today it seems the morning team is all that really counts and you can voice track, go jockless, or syndicate the rest of the day and into the night. Why?
When you have to conform to very tightly controlled play lists and mike time personal creativity has to stop. When that happens the bottom line people then eliminate the creative to save their salaries. All that is left is cookie-cutter radio....everywhere. I've saddened that LA is experiencing this trend.
Creativity can only be stifled for the short term before it bursts forth like flowers on a Spring day. It may seem dark now but remember that it is darkest just before the dawn. Hope lives in the creative and hope spring eternal. It is the Christmas Season, the season of hope, joy and love.
Creativity can only be stifled for the short term before it bursts forth like flowers on a Spring day. It may seem dark now but remember that it is darkest just before the dawn. Hope lives in the creative and hope spring eternal. It is the Christmas Season, the season of hope, joy and love.
B
Bob_Hudson
Guest
oaktree said:
And that's part of the reason radio is failing: programming formulas (mostly to trick 'em into listening for parts of two quarter hours) and focus group music (to find the tunes that appeal to the lowest common denominator).
Couple of questions for discussion:
1. Would you rather do a longer weekday airshift and only work five days a week or have shorter shifts and work six days a week?
2. I would think, in theory, that formats that are higher energy, CHR, urban, younger leaning rock, would benefit from four-hour airshifts, while an AC station would be fine with five-hour airshifts across the board, except maybe for mornings. Agree, disagree?
When I worked at a small market music station, the morning jock (6-10) was music director, the midday jock (10-2) was production director, the afternoon jock (2-6) was program director, the evening jock (6-midnight) was our female voice and did production work before her airshift, and the overnighter worked six days a week to make his full-time hours. Most weekend shifts were done by part-timers. This was back in the late 80s, and the station had no automation equipment, so that wasn't an option. But, it's also true that the station BARELY made a profit this way.
1. Would you rather do a longer weekday airshift and only work five days a week or have shorter shifts and work six days a week?
2. I would think, in theory, that formats that are higher energy, CHR, urban, younger leaning rock, would benefit from four-hour airshifts, while an AC station would be fine with five-hour airshifts across the board, except maybe for mornings. Agree, disagree?
When I worked at a small market music station, the morning jock (6-10) was music director, the midday jock (10-2) was production director, the afternoon jock (2-6) was program director, the evening jock (6-midnight) was our female voice and did production work before her airshift, and the overnighter worked six days a week to make his full-time hours. Most weekend shifts were done by part-timers. This was back in the late 80s, and the station had no automation equipment, so that wasn't an option. But, it's also true that the station BARELY made a profit this way.
R
Radioboy989
Guest
Longer shift, shorter week, works for me.
Weekends with the kids.
A Sunday afternoon nap.
Oh yeah.
Weekends with the kids.
A Sunday afternoon nap.
Oh yeah.
Ya got me on KBLA-------I know the name Bob Hudson, even from my brief stay in LA. I think you were on KRLA in the summer of '65 along with Casey Kasem. I can't remember who else was on KRLA off hand. KHJ was
6------Robert W. Morgan
9------?
12-----Roger Christian
3------The Real Don Steele
6-------Dave Diamond
9-------Sam Riddle
12------?
Can't think of a single name from KBLA. Guess I'm getting old. Not in that cherished 25-54 group.
6------Robert W. Morgan
9------?
12-----Roger Christian
3------The Real Don Steele
6-------Dave Diamond
9-------Sam Riddle
12------?
Can't think of a single name from KBLA. Guess I'm getting old. Not in that cherished 25-54 group.
OldSchoolWoman said:
93 KHJ's original lineup in 1965
6 to 9-----Robert W. Morgan
9 to 12----Roger Christian
12 to 3----Gary Mack
3 to 6-----The Real Don Steele
6 to 9-----Dave Diamond
9 to 12----Sam Riddle
12 to 6----Johhny Williams
As for KBLA, Humble Harve and Tom Clay come to mind and I think Dave Diamond and Don Elliott worked there as well.
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