This thread topic came to mind when I watched/listened as the Walter Cronkite tributes poured in from news reporters/anchors/producers/managers. I was struck by the sea change between 1981, when Cronkite retired, and the present day.
For me the greatest influence was Ron Chapman, in the early '70s when KVIL was in Highland Park Village, in that studio that had cables running all over the floors. And, of course, when they made their move to that sweet studio setup on the 5th Floor of the Capital Bank building at the NE corner of Mockingbird and Central [for you traffic.com folks, that would be just off the northbound service road of 75/Central Expressway]. I was such a fan of that entire setup, I was listening at midnight on that Saturday night when they flash-cut to the new studios....and of course Ron was the man of the hour.
My buddy and I were huge fans of KNUS and KVIL during the heyday of each. (Remember when Cat Simon wanted to "go down to Jackson Street [where KNUS still occupied the Triangle Building] and throw bananas"? We decided to cut high school to go watch/listen to Ken Barnett's show from the hallway. He motioned us in to just outside the on-air studio. Michael Rey was their production guru at the time, and Chapman, who was apparantly trying to cut promos by himself, got on the overhead and shouted "X-Ray to surgery! X-ray to surgery!" Ken said, "might be a good time to leave."
I always marveled over their jingle/bumper catalog. For so many years they could proudly play my favorite of them all: "Never rest in the shade, never say you've got it made...when you're leading the parade. K-V-I-L"
It was instructive to listen to all of these air personalities ply their craft.....immpeccably. The radio day got started in my house at 530am, when Ron was on the FM side, just chatting about overnight news with Andy McCollum, I think, and the AM side (complete with reverb) was off air...and the clock would work its way right up to "straight up six o'clock in the morning now, on KVIL-Highland Park, KVIL-FM-Highland Park, Dallas Forth-Worth, the original cast is here...and away we go with Ben Laurie in the KVIL-O-Copter, and Suzie Humphries in the KVIL-O-Van." The collection of news/air talent/sports people was simply excellent theater of the mind. And that's what radio is supposed to be, right?
Chapman, God love him, ran over into Ken's 9-12 time so often that one day Ken got on the air about 9:10 and whispered "this is the earliest I've been on in weeks"
It took a little while to figure out all the insider stuff, like who was "the man in the carpeted office", how they could get every single air personality to chime in on Sunday Morning Staff Meeting, and how they could run such a tight station 24/7/365. I don't remember hearing dead air in the 70's or 80's...ever.
The thing that we always found amazing was how, no matter the song intro length, Ron could nail the post, or even talk out the 'doughnuts' on any song outro, saying something relevant and tying the music to the morning weather, traffic, the state of the Cowboys, you name it.
I know his temper was legendary, and he had his detractors, but I always found his vision of radio compelling--how he wanted to program KVIL and staff it. Ron-Mike Donahue/Jack Schell-Jim Edwards/Ken Barnett/Michael Selden/Larry Dixon-Johnny Michaels/Cat Simon/Lynne Haley-Willie Mitchell-Steve Eberhart, and that Jody Dean guy, who started out doing over nights and went on to bigger and better things. It was a who's -who around here for many many years.
Just as an aside, I think a good bit of the wind went out of Ron's sails the morning (and I was listening all day) when Sandy Hopkins failed to show up for work. Sandy was an excellent producer, and 'Dusty Attics' was just a superb piece of work, getting celebrities to open up on KVIL on that weekend show.
I don't personally know any of them, and I did my time in Bryan-College Station, Houston, and Denton...long ago. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the legendary crew at KVIL has been flattered too many times to ever count.
So.....How far have we fallen?
This speech is properly titled "Television and the Public Interest"and was given by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Newton N. Minow on May 9, 1961:
"When television is good, nothing — not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers — nothing is better. But when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite you to sit down in front of your television set when your station goes on the air and stay there, for a day, without a book, without a magazine, without a newspaper, without a profit and loss sheet or a rating book to distract you.
Keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that what you will observe is a vast wasteland. You will see a procession of game shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, western bad men, western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence, and cartoons.
And endlessly commercials — many screaming, cajoling, and offending. And most of all, boredom. True, you'll see a few things you will enjoy. But they will be very, very few. And if you think I exaggerate, I only ask you to try it."
Now, substitute "radio" for "television", "listen" for "observe", and "ears" for "eyes", and Newton Minow could be talking, in many respects, about the state of radio today.
I have monitored the Radio-Info Boards for three years. I have read many, many posts lamenting the state of radio. You might find it hard to believe, but one KVIL jingle stands out, and, with an eerie prescience from thirty years ago, that jingle speaks to our common lament: (It was directed at the newly-deflated/former powerhouse KLIF in the mid-seventies when it was created by a guy named Hugh Heller):
"It's a shame what's happened to radio, but they can't afford to do it anymore. It's a shame they can't hire a section of brass...but they can't afford to do it anymore..."
Just my .02
For me the greatest influence was Ron Chapman, in the early '70s when KVIL was in Highland Park Village, in that studio that had cables running all over the floors. And, of course, when they made their move to that sweet studio setup on the 5th Floor of the Capital Bank building at the NE corner of Mockingbird and Central [for you traffic.com folks, that would be just off the northbound service road of 75/Central Expressway]. I was such a fan of that entire setup, I was listening at midnight on that Saturday night when they flash-cut to the new studios....and of course Ron was the man of the hour.
My buddy and I were huge fans of KNUS and KVIL during the heyday of each. (Remember when Cat Simon wanted to "go down to Jackson Street [where KNUS still occupied the Triangle Building] and throw bananas"? We decided to cut high school to go watch/listen to Ken Barnett's show from the hallway. He motioned us in to just outside the on-air studio. Michael Rey was their production guru at the time, and Chapman, who was apparantly trying to cut promos by himself, got on the overhead and shouted "X-Ray to surgery! X-ray to surgery!" Ken said, "might be a good time to leave."
I always marveled over their jingle/bumper catalog. For so many years they could proudly play my favorite of them all: "Never rest in the shade, never say you've got it made...when you're leading the parade. K-V-I-L"
It was instructive to listen to all of these air personalities ply their craft.....immpeccably. The radio day got started in my house at 530am, when Ron was on the FM side, just chatting about overnight news with Andy McCollum, I think, and the AM side (complete with reverb) was off air...and the clock would work its way right up to "straight up six o'clock in the morning now, on KVIL-Highland Park, KVIL-FM-Highland Park, Dallas Forth-Worth, the original cast is here...and away we go with Ben Laurie in the KVIL-O-Copter, and Suzie Humphries in the KVIL-O-Van." The collection of news/air talent/sports people was simply excellent theater of the mind. And that's what radio is supposed to be, right?
Chapman, God love him, ran over into Ken's 9-12 time so often that one day Ken got on the air about 9:10 and whispered "this is the earliest I've been on in weeks"
It took a little while to figure out all the insider stuff, like who was "the man in the carpeted office", how they could get every single air personality to chime in on Sunday Morning Staff Meeting, and how they could run such a tight station 24/7/365. I don't remember hearing dead air in the 70's or 80's...ever.
The thing that we always found amazing was how, no matter the song intro length, Ron could nail the post, or even talk out the 'doughnuts' on any song outro, saying something relevant and tying the music to the morning weather, traffic, the state of the Cowboys, you name it.
I know his temper was legendary, and he had his detractors, but I always found his vision of radio compelling--how he wanted to program KVIL and staff it. Ron-Mike Donahue/Jack Schell-Jim Edwards/Ken Barnett/Michael Selden/Larry Dixon-Johnny Michaels/Cat Simon/Lynne Haley-Willie Mitchell-Steve Eberhart, and that Jody Dean guy, who started out doing over nights and went on to bigger and better things. It was a who's -who around here for many many years.
Just as an aside, I think a good bit of the wind went out of Ron's sails the morning (and I was listening all day) when Sandy Hopkins failed to show up for work. Sandy was an excellent producer, and 'Dusty Attics' was just a superb piece of work, getting celebrities to open up on KVIL on that weekend show.
I don't personally know any of them, and I did my time in Bryan-College Station, Houston, and Denton...long ago. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the legendary crew at KVIL has been flattered too many times to ever count.
So.....How far have we fallen?
This speech is properly titled "Television and the Public Interest"and was given by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Newton N. Minow on May 9, 1961:
"When television is good, nothing — not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers — nothing is better. But when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite you to sit down in front of your television set when your station goes on the air and stay there, for a day, without a book, without a magazine, without a newspaper, without a profit and loss sheet or a rating book to distract you.
Keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that what you will observe is a vast wasteland. You will see a procession of game shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, western bad men, western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence, and cartoons.
And endlessly commercials — many screaming, cajoling, and offending. And most of all, boredom. True, you'll see a few things you will enjoy. But they will be very, very few. And if you think I exaggerate, I only ask you to try it."
Now, substitute "radio" for "television", "listen" for "observe", and "ears" for "eyes", and Newton Minow could be talking, in many respects, about the state of radio today.
I have monitored the Radio-Info Boards for three years. I have read many, many posts lamenting the state of radio. You might find it hard to believe, but one KVIL jingle stands out, and, with an eerie prescience from thirty years ago, that jingle speaks to our common lament: (It was directed at the newly-deflated/former powerhouse KLIF in the mid-seventies when it was created by a guy named Hugh Heller):
"It's a shame what's happened to radio, but they can't afford to do it anymore. It's a shame they can't hire a section of brass...but they can't afford to do it anymore..."
Just my .02
