Nigel Tufnel said:
I have to respectfully disagree on that. Not everyone has an ego. Many do.... but not everyone. Confidence can be mistaken for ego.
Everyone has an ego. (according to Freud) It's how you choose to express it. Ego is the outward appearance of personality traits. "Confidence" is merely a euphemism. We, in radio, all wish to be accepted from afar. Somewhere back when, or perhaps now, there exists a social imbalance that drives us to do this. The ego is what allows us the comfort level of being able to stand in a room, with nothing more than a microphone, and engage in the "please love me" business. Which is what radio has always been. We're all politicians, campaigning for the public favor. One must possess a certain level of ego, above that of our peers, in order to not fear the scrutiny of the unseen. We know it's out there. Every time we crack that mic, someone hates what we say. But the ego blocks that out.
It's not really
what you say, or do...It's
how you say, or do it. The ego is a tool, and must be used properly, and managed when necessary.
Keeping the ego in check....there is the real skill in what we do. None of us should ever badmouth the professional abilities of our peers. The line is crossed when constructive criticism becomes destructive nitpicking. We're all guilty from time to time. It's part of that suppressed insecurity that drives all radio clowns. Denial of this facet of our personality disorder leads one to embrace the vitriol, and then leads others to categorize one as having a huge ego. More accurately..being unable to keep your ego in check.
The urban philosopher Chuck D once said:
"Don't believe the hype."
And Mommy always said: "If you don't have anything nice to say..."
Meanwhile...with regard to Pantera;
The band, not unlike Nirvana, seem to have been elevated to a higher status due to the unfortunate death of a member. People forget that Nirvana were on the verge of implosion before Cobain checked himself out. They also had been releasing CDs for a couple of years that failed miserably, and nobody cared about until he died. "In Utero" was not well-received overall, and was a regression. They snagged lightning in a bottle when "Nevermind" caught the public's mind. Had they not copped the Pixies' style for that once-in-a-career album...they'd have been like most of the other also-ran club bands that slogged it out night after night. Pantera's best work was done prior to 1997, and for all intents & purposes, they were in the "also-ran" category prior to Dime's murder. Most of their music doesn't test. And it's really more of an image band than anything. So, it's no suprise that their music doesn't get played more. The legend of Pantera, just like the legend of certain radio stations, far exceed their actual relevance.
That's not to say a properly executed Rock station couldn't re-introduce Pantera to the masses and get them to click.
Again, I still believe in the power of the "radio guy." When I was a kid, if my favorite radio DJ said something was solid, I trusted him/her because they established that they were credible.
It can still be done. And, in fact, is being done at stations all over America.
