Tupelo Radio...

[Snatchtastic]

Hey Kids, I'm new to Northern Mississippi and just started coming on here to get a vibe of what Tupelo radio is all about, BUT....I rarely see anything about Tupelo. Is this a conscious effort or are the Tupelo GM's, PD's and Personalities all just secretly plotting....I come from a varied radio background in Chicago, LA, (but,) mainly Little Rock...so stand up, be counted and just say "Hello, is it me your looking for?" and just let me know what is going on in Tupelo Radio.

Kid Snatchtastic!

(Btw, for all those in Jackson or surrounding markets who are gonna say "ain't nothin goin on"...I give you your complementary swag bag of golf claps and butt clenching guffaws now....while supplies last)

 

[DouglasB]

Hey Kids, I'm new to Northern Mississippi and just started coming on here to get a vibe of what Tupelo radio is all about, BUT....I rarely see anything about Tupelo. Is this a conscious effort or are the Tupelo GM's, PD's and Personalities all just secretly plotting....I come from a varied radio background in Chicago, LA, (but,) mainly Little Rock...so stand up, be counted and just say "Hello, is it me your looking for?" and just let me know what is going on in Tupelo Radio.

Kid Snatchtastic!

(Btw, for all those in Jackson or surrounding markets who are gonna say "ain't nothin goin on"...I give you your complementary swag bag of golf claps and butt clenching guffaws now....while supplies last)

Welcome! Chicago and LA? Where did you work, when were you there? We might have some acquaintances in common.

 

[Snatchtastic]

Probably not gonna know the same people from Chicago and LA cause my toe was in the door radio wise in Chicago and LA (I was an improviser and sketch writer with Second City in Chicago) so, in Chicago I just did some parody work for Mancow's Morning Madhouse. In Los Angeles I worked for a company called Electric Eel Entertainment, basically as a "caller" for other shows around the U.S. (yeah, you know that guy you would hear on Stern or Opie and Anthony talking about how he had been having relations with his comatose wife in the hospital or the dairy farmer who called in to talk about how he was in love with one of his cows....that was Me...what can I say, I was young and needed the money.)

I moved back to Arkansas a couple of years ago and got into the production aspect of radio doing News/Talk....so that is when I put both feet into the soup bowl/cesspool we all know as radio so, if you know anyone in Arkansas...I probably know them right off...otherwise in Chicago and LA I was just a hired gun for fun and profit.


I'm what Willis was talkin 'bout,

Snatchtastic

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

I guess YOU are our "boots on the ground" in Tupelo. Tell us what you have observed about "what radio is all about" in Tupelo. I've been 'through' Tupelo as a short-cut from Huntsville to Memphis, but other than stopping at the McDonalds, didn't even hang around long enough to tour downtown.

There are a lot of Tupelo sized markets that do not get much discussion time on these boards. When did you last read anything about El Dorado, AR or Salina, KS or Joplin, MO or... Douglas B... you have let us down... even Munice and Ft. Wayne (much bigger market) get little or no discussion here. I have never seen Holland, MI discussed here. And Parkersburg, WV or Staunton, VA. What's up with that?

What is the old joke about small town newspapers? We don't read'em to find out what is going on. We already know. We just read'em to find out WHO got caught.

So much of what we type here is under a certain amount of anonymnity. You can't write much about radio in a place like Tupelo without it becoming pretty obvious who is doing the writing.... and without causing a lot of friction and ill-will between the writer and the station operators.

You know what I love about small towns? Everybody can know everybody!
You know what I hate about small towns? Everybody can know everybody... whether they want to or not.

Hope you enjoy life in Tupelo. Are you involved in broadcasting there, or are you a fan and observer?

 

[Snatchtastic]

I haven't listened to a LOT of radio since I have moved here but from a "drive by" view (and this can be said about a LOT of smaller markets) it seems it is very "Safe". Meaning that there is tons of syndicated shows and not so much "live and locals". It always seemed to me that if you are mixed in with the community more and more that the relationship you create with the listeners flourishes more...here...not so much. Where the remotes at people??? I know from a financial aspect people wanna get paid to get out of the safe confines of the studios but, hey...you have to give a little to get a little. Also (and I can't say this about everybody since, like I said, I haven't listened to so much) there doesn't seem to be as much "personality" in the radio personalities...I have heard a couple some here and there who have a good take on things and would work well in other markets but, I have heard either shows that are geared more toward the personalities involved that come off sounding like some sad NPR / Farm Report show...or people who are trying to be funny who come off sounding like Beavis and Butthead on Mescaline...not a lot of shows that you an see an effort in show prep and production value....

....I digress...

...I like to be entertained...just sad that the closest one entertaining me has to be a few states away yet on a local station, and not in my own back yard.

Love you, love your show,

Snatchtastic

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

...I like to be entertained...just sad that the closest one entertaining me has to be a few states away yet on a local station, and not in my own back yard.

But remember that YOU present a real challenge, a real problem to the people who operate the stations where you live. They are in the habit of entertaining "The Delta Boys...." people who grew up trying to discern the difference between Bubba and The Good Ol' Boys. You see them around town. They're the ones with a socket wrench with a spark plug socket sticking out of their back pocket.

You on the other hand have been exposed to the humor and entertainment expectations of Chicago and L.A. and other locations. From an entertainment point of view, you may be a stranger in a foreign land.

Before my Mississippi friends get upset with my caricature called "The Delta Boys".... keep in mind that my tastes and values were shaped in the hills and valleys of the Arkansas Ozarks and I put in some time broadcasting to the rice fields and ducks on the Arkansas side of the Delta. Then I went through the re-invention process by living north of I-40 for a number of years.

They have a phrase down here (I'm in Georgia) for people like me and you. Stripped of any four letter words it comes out "Yankee Go Home!" Over here the more sophisticated version uses a phrase from an old airline advertising theme: "Delta is Ready When You Are."

I hope Tupelo becomes a hospitable and friendly home for you.

 

[robgrayson]

No offense, and I know what you are saying, but for the record; if there is elevated land involved which isn't a levee or Indian mound, it ain't the Mississippi Delta. Tupelo is indeed in the foothills of the Appalachians. But Point well taken!

I was born and raised in the real Delta, and due to my "articulate-ness", I was called the "Y" word all through elementary school.

 

[Snatchtastic]

Thanks for the voice of "welcome"...I don't even know if I am gonna try to jump back into the "radio pool", I am doing other things like writing and some film production work to get the creative juices out since I have been here...but, I have been an improviser for so long I always have a craving to just jump in "verbally dance" with those who CAN do that...maybe that isn't this environment but, it is an entertained thought.

Thinking the downfall of Hall and Oats was John Oats Mustache,

Snatchtastic

 

[robgrayson]

I do bid you welcome! The Magnolia state (magnolias are not native to the delta, btw) is an enchanting place, and you have landed in one of the loveliest locales in it's borders. Despite any aspersions some may cast on these pages, Mississippi is a land of charming people. It is a state of giving people; its residents are #1 in the nation when it comes to charitable contributions (based on average income versus the value of itemized donations... your mileage may vary).
I would gush on and on, but I would slip into plagiarizing my brother, Walt...

 

[DouglasB]

magnolias are not native to the delta, btw)

Now hold on a minute. I had a magnolia in my front yard in Indianola! Until that ice storm in 1970!

I would gush on and on, but I would slip into plagiarizing my brother, Walt...

Your brother Walt is a state treasure. I've enjoyed reading his stuff on the TV station's website for years. He should publish a book........I'll buy the first copy.

 

[robgrayson]

magnolias are not native to the delta, btw)

Now hold on a minute. I had a magnolia in my front yard in Indianola! Until that ice storm in 1970!

I would gush on and on, but I would slip into plagiarizing my brother, Walt...

Your brother Walt is a state treasure. I've enjoyed reading his stuff on the TV station's website for years. He should publish a book........I'll buy the first copy.

Per the Magnolia, someone had to plant it there, it wasn't native... neither are pine trees.
Per Walt, he actually has two or three books. Once they invented spell check, he became an author (he would tell you that himself).

 

[roadkillbill]

Personally I have lived in Jackson (MS), Memphis, and now in the Tupelo area. I really love it here. When I got laid off 2 years ago I was offered 2 different jobs in Arkansas, but elected to stay here.

I agree that there is too much syndication in Tupelo. There are still a few stations that are all local, tracked a good part of the day, but ALL local. Keep hitting the seek button and you may find something you like. And I know just about everystation in town could use a good part itmer if you need a few extra bucks.

 

[DouglasB]

magnolias are not native to the delta, btw)

Now hold on a minute. I had a magnolia in my front yard in Indianola! Until that ice storm in 1970!

I would gush on and on, but I would slip into plagiarizing my brother, Walt...

Your brother Walt is a state treasure. I've enjoyed reading his stuff on the TV station's website for years. He should publish a book........I'll buy the first copy.

Per the Magnolia, someone had to plant it there, it wasn't native... neither are pine trees.
Per Walt, he actually has two or three books. Once they invented spell check, he became an author (he would tell you that himself).

Thanks for the info on the Magnolia and Walt's books. I would ask you to say "hello", but Walt won't remember me either. Been gone too long. Thank goodness for J Boyd, he's all I got...

 

[tzbarber]

[/quote]
Thanks for the info on the Magnolia and Walt's books. I would ask you to say "hello", but Walt won't remember me either. Been gone too long. Thank goodness for J Boyd, he's all I got...
[/quote]
J. Boyd's Mississippi radio's form of being five steps removed from Kevin Bacon. In any story,somewhere we all are connected to Mr. JBI. And probably Uncle Walt is too, for that matter.

 

[Snatchtastic]

I agree that there is too much syndication in Tupelo. There are still a few stations that are all local, tracked a good part of the day, but ALL local.

I really hate that voice tracking is taking over. I just hate "Lazy Radio". I used to sit in with a friend back in Arkansas right after I had moved back who did overnights at a rock/alternative station. There was a guy who worked at a bus factory who called in and said he was at work and bored and wanted us to play "Been Caught Stealing" by Jane's Addiction. He said he was thinking about taking one of the buses "out for a spin" since it was his co workers last nights working. We said we would play the song but that we were not gonna be responsible for "Anarchy in the Streets because of his Bus escapades". We played his call over the air a few moments later, then he called back. This time the sounds of police sirens were in the background and he was asking us if he should pull over or if they should just drive back to the factory and then deal with things. We told him to pull over and that if he ever planned on doing something stupid again not to ask for a song called "Been CAUGHT stealing". We got tons of calls after that for about an hour and people were saying some of them had to pull over cause they were laughing so hard at the guy. That was the first time I ever felt the immediacy of radio.

 

[jo-nathan]

Hey Snatch, welcome to the dirty south. I did radio for about seven years all told... spent most of that in Meridian, MS but I also did a two year stint in Fort Wayne, Indiana. At any rate, what you hear in Tupelo is pretty much what you'll hear anywhere in Mississippi. With a few exceptions here and there (and by that I mean the public radio stations, college stations and a couple of commercial sticks), every station plays it safe to keep down the risk of offending Billy Joe at the car lot that pays the station staff's salary every year. In the Meridian area (I live just south of Meridian in a town called Stonewall), I have no fewer than five country coming in on any given day. The rest of the spectrum is filled with any kind of variation of AC, gospel and classic rock (read: non-stop Skynard and similar "artists"). Not that any of it is done badly (although there are a couple in particular that are), it's rather boring as far as variety. The jocks mostly sound like they're reading from scripts.

I'm still glad that I subscribed to XM but I do hope that someday local radio will be worth listening to again. Honestly the only use I have for local radio right now is for weather. Otherwise I can get any kind of music, news or other specialty programming that I'd like from my XM box.

Sorry for the semi-threadjack... just wanted to let you know that you weren't really missing anything outside of Tupelo.

Jonathan

 

[jboyd]

TZ...Uncle Walt and I worked at WWUN, Jackson circa 1965. Tnx JBI

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

We all have expectations from radio and from community. This thread has reminded us of that. We fear not only that radio is losing/has lost something very precious, but we also fear that the heritage that made us proud of our hometowns is also vanishing. Both three years ago and four years ago my wife and I made pilgrimages to our home town in Arkansas. Unlike all those years of rushing down the super-slab hurrying to get grandchilden connected with grandparents for a maximum amount of time, we had the luxury of some time. So we got off the big road and went down the old highways that we traveled when we went to Memphis or Little Rock to do special shopping. We went through places named Wheatley and Lonoke. We drove through the utter chaos of downtown Little Rock and downtown Memphis. We cried.

And yet, I suspect there is a generation of bright-eyed junior high and high school students making their way through Tupelo and Jackson and Stuttgart and Conway and Dardanelle who someday will look back and see today as their good old days.

My fear is that they will look at radio much like I look at the monuments in the cemetary where my Mom and Dad are. Their monument has meaning to me. But all those other stones for people I never knew.... they stand there like lifeless radio stations.

In spite of my derogatory crack about "Delta Boys"... I have a long standing admiration and respect for Mississippi. During grade school our superintendent was from Mississippi. He mentored me, and I was in every way "the teacher's pet" and he convinced me that somehow Mississippi was The Promised Land.

So. Long live Tupelo. And may our friend who kicked off this thread find some way to make it an even better town.... whether he does it by broadcasting or by some other contribution.

 

[Snatchtastic]

Again, thanks for the welcoming flavor everyone has poured out, and It's so nice to have such a positive outlook on what could have very likely have become a bitch/moan fest on radio lacking compared to the past. Is up to the people behind it to push it forward and make it the "communication of immediacy" that I have seen it be.

You all have touched Me (And I may just file charges),

Snatchamo
(I'm feeling jazzy....ok!?!?!)

 

[tbarber]

Man I miss Tupelo radio... I hope to get back there one day. We had a blast in the 90s.... brought this guy in from Cincinatti for this new country station we had just put on the air to try to knock of the big dog. Made him go to this black bar called the 747 Club and eat catfish. We told him that we were going to give him the name Tom Bigbee. He said he didn't care- just pay him. It was a blast.