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WKSE at its best

Hi There. I was a jock doing overnights, the same time as DJ Anthony, I was there for his first airshift on the station, in fact I trained him.He's become a a popular attraction since then, although I did overnights and weekends before him. But really, it's not a matter of talent to get on the air,look how a certain someone put Jill Monroe on the air,from being an intern in promotions. No on- air experience, hell, could have hired the cleaner,stranger things have happened, all for the sake of trying to fill bodies doing overnights on weekends when no one else wants to work.Before I get slammed at from people, I want to let them know how much I had to put up with them and a lot of ego but I also learned. Learning thatwhat I became was a radio slave. working for low wages, getting stuck with shifts, noone else wanted to do and other outside promotions that I did for Free. You know, Kiss was not my first radio job, you guys have heard me , but you don't know who I am, I've been traveling down the dial for over 20 years ,from WBLK to 1077 the Lake.I worked very hard in radio, and slaved my way around with lots of donated time,because my first time PD at WBLK said "you have to pay your dues".Well, I've paid my dues, and for what, only to be let go because the station could save money with automation. I am a good jock, and all I ever wanted to do in my life,is be on the air. I have to accept those good ol days of radio are gone, the times are different now, Now it's like anything else in America,you lie yourself in.
 
To radio bored op, no, I was never in power, I was just like you, a hard worker , I sat behind the board at KB looking at Kiss saying, that's really me, got hired by someone who gave me the chance and at a time when Brian Burns was PD.who was surprised that my tape was me. He could'nt believe it, and ok'd my shot .Ironically the same person who gave me my shot also took it away. Another learning experience.Which is stay out of mischeif and don't get caught up in worthless gossip.You know you're good, and be proud to show it, but not cocky.Yeah there's rejection, which I know very well and it's part of this business.But I am not giving up on my quest, and so should everyone else who wants to make it, never give up.
 
i am not so sure i believe in the "never give up" rhetoric any longer, but most of the other things you said i agree with. the business sucks. i lament not "achieving" more in it all the time, but i wonder if i had "made it" and was still in it - would i consider myself a sell-out? i mean, this business is being crushed, the heart ripped right of out, it's future being mortgaged by the very people who work in the business today, at least the big names who are most often the ones taking someone else's job and/or chance.

KISS back in the day is just one example of how great radio was. There are many. Most are gone.

I typically I am not a fan of how old people say that everything was better "back then," like hockey or pizza or whatever, but when it comes to radio i really think it is the case. i love the internet, but give me good radio over it any day of the week.

right now... i can think of a handful of stations worth caring about or listening to...

Indie 103.1 in LA
KTCK in Dallas
Phil Hendrie
Stern
probably a few others i cannot think of, like an indie type station in seattle, etc...

and then getting to tune in to some of the jocks i grew up with in places like buffalo...

take that tiny amount of content away and you are left with the sorry state of radio today.
 
Rocco, while I may not agree totally with your politics - I think that you're selling yourself short when it comes to your talent.

It was evident in the early stage of your career when you worked at 'GR and underlined by the list on large or major markets that you ended up working in. While it might be less true today-by in large you don't get to those levels unless you have the talent.

It's unfortunate that, for whatever reason, you are no longer in the business.
 
Radio_bored-Op said:
...(mark richards, smokin willie b, mike mcgowan, jj Wright)...... were my fave. four!!!!

...and attempted to locate jj-Wright, without success...partially, the name JJ Wright, is just a little too common...
Click to expand...

Wow. Thanks for remembering me!

JJ here. I just was googling around and found this old thread. So I thought that I would post and let you know what happened to me!

I went on to work in Lansing, MI at 95FM WVIC while attending Michigan State University to complete a degree in Computer Engineering. Started working part-time, immediately was doing afternoon drive 'part-time' until they finally ponied up and made me full time afternoons and MD. Did that until they sold WVIC out from under us and changed format to *cringe* country. I stayed for about two weeks until I let the "F" bomb loose live on air. D'OH! From there I went to work for the local classic rock station (voice tracking at the time), then switched over to TV as a MCE at the local NBC affiliate (sort of DJ for videos) and picked up doing mornings at the new CHR for a bit, all while taking classes at MSU fulltime and, oh yeah, being PA Announcer for the local minor league baseball team. At that point in my life I was doing mornings 7-10 am on the radio, sleeping for about 1 hour, taking classes from around 11am-5pm, sleeping for an hour, announcing at the ballpark from 6p-11p, working the overnight shift in MCR from 11p-7a, and repeating. Eek!

I got out of radio entirely by 1999. Stayed with the PA Announcing until around 2006. But I got married and had a daughter and life was just too hectic with the full time Software Engineer thing going on to continue dabbling in voicework. I am out of radio permanently now.

BTW, my biggest accomplishment (just for the record) was holding onto a 45 (vinyl, anyone remember pre-digital media?) of "Synch - Where Are You Now" from back when Kidd and I worked in Richmond, VA together and when "Benny Mardones - Into The Night" made a resurgence, I gave it to our PD (Paul 'Boom Boom' Cannon) to possibly give it a listen and maybe we could play it on Kiss? It sat on his desk for like a month and then one day it was gone. And suddenly stations around the country were playing it again. Apparently Paul had played it for our "consultant" who consulted numerous other stations and he had liked it. A lot. And pushed it to his other stations (but not ours initially... weird) and it just took off from there. Jimmy Harnon, wherever you are, you owe me. That song wouldn't have charted if I hadn't held onto it and whipped it out at just the right moment (when old sappy ballads were enjoying a recurrance). Werid that of all of the things I contributed (Kiss bedcheck, numerous things at WVIC) that this sticks out in my head as the biggest contribution in radio for me. Sort of like the feeling you get when you drop a snowball at the top of the mountain and watch as it picks up steam and grows and wipes out the village at the bottem of the... OK, bad analogy, but you get the idea. :)

Currently, as mentioned above, I am a software engineer during the days, a father of a beautiful 4 year old girl in the evenings, and then I become a dwarf paladin tanking World of Warcraft addict at night after she is in bed! Rawr.

Ain't life a hoot.
 
Great to here from the blasts from the past

JJ I actually have the last sat night Majic Mix you hosted on Majic 102.5..It was funny cuase they were still doing the sat mix show a few weeks past the flip from Top 40 to watered down hot ac...Im almost sure it was from the club celebraties!! Either way great to hear from you..And Mike McGowan, You were the Bomb at Kiss. I grew up listening to you from day 1..I remember RXT when it first hit the air, they used that echo sound ( I dont know what its called but it sounded like they were in a warehouse) with Boom Boom Cannon, Dave Gillen, and you of course and some girl i cant remember...I remember when you did a sat afternoon stint at Kiss Like 9 or 10 years ago with Donny Walker it was so awesome to hear you back on 98.5, all be it a one time deal...I loved those late 80s and early 90s days of top 40 fm radio in the B-lo..Does anyone remember when Kid Kelly did a one time gig to promote his backtrax show when it was on Kiss?
PS..Id love to hear any old airchecks from 98 1/2 RXT I only have one from Boom Boom Cannon..
 
WKSE is NOT at it's best right now. Cume or no cume, it was best circa '91-'99. It was at it's most entertaining IMO when I was interning around '94 before being hired in '95, great times indeed. I have some fun tapes from back then, Gully's, Pleasure Dome, The Pier, Kixx...wow, those were the days. Even the clubs in WNY now are shit compared to the "glory years" of WKSE.

And, I know who Shiftless is :)

-BW
 
Yes, KISS is at it best. I do not think the success of some gin mills on Chipewaa should be the barometer of KISS success. Laws, life, social networking were alot different in the early 90's. If you use your barameter, than every station was probably better 15 years ago. KISS has a huge impact on it's huge cume, and thus the community.
 
No, not by a long shot infact. The "gin mills" wasn't part of my reasoning for the statement either. The clubs I mentioned were brought up to reflect on that particular era of Kiss' history. Cume is your answer/proof of this imaginary "peak" in Kiss' history LOL?! Sure it is. Cume or not, they're still what, 6th place overall in the ratings?

How's the TSL doing? Not well my friend, not well. It takes a hell of alot more than cume to raise the ratings, and ultimately, the bottom line. What gets the job done ratings wise, is unique, talented personalities with a passion for the content, not "Twitter" Tweets will only get you so far, MySpace is losing heat, FB is losing heat and Twitter won't be too far behind. Kiss circa '91-'99 had the most diverse and engaging talents EVER. Every show was something different, something fresh. Kiss today has some great talent, but nothing like it used to. There are about 4 solid talents there today, and half of them are part time jocks. The only talent between 6:00am and Midnight Monday to Friday, is Anthony. Anthony could leave Kiss tomorrow and attack a major market in a heartbeat and win. Name one other FULLTIME talent that could do that who's on between 6am-12am. Take your time, you'll need it.

Kiss will always have an impact on the community, but that's due to it's heritage, not it's current content. Kiss is a staple of the WNY community, but yet still isn't number one and is far from it.

-BW
 
kiss, at its best?
for me, i was young and impressionable when i would tune into
kiss (1988-1991)esp...so, i declare that most likely the best wkse-era.

depends who you ask....
my posts usually give everyone a headache, and cause confusion, but i think i got this one:

simply for the reason, today's 19-23 yr old..
is having the same memories...."we" (the 28-32)year old did,
back in the 'hey/day'!
it was exciting when kiss played fun factory/real mccoy,etc then,
just as they play...the occassional dance song today...

its the whole, then/now, why it was better then, why it sucks today.
we remember it as great, so our minds are already made up.

talent pool, (locals, advantage then), but today's WKSE has ryan seacrest...
who is bigger than him? yea, he is not "here",but an tone-def general audience
member of this market can hear him...so he is here, one form or another.

bottom line: ask a 13, 23, 33 yr old...girl about wkse...
13: thats like our station at all the dances..
23 yr.old - repeat the same#%$it! but, its the top 10, of today.
33, will say, ah, back then, that was the station : )

one can also say, kiss was better thanks to the other stations..
i liked it better then* too, but being 17-24, carefree, endless $$$$
of disposable income, and * when kiss played a song, _____(ugh)
energy 108, sizzled...til the commercials, back to kiss, and it was
a fresh set of 15/songs again...which *appeared* longer/better listening hours...
 
one final thing: touched on at the end, of my post:
just as the older generation clings to 'kb, (?70s or so),
. . . think of what you were doing; where you were, etc....
-minus ten years, what ever it was wkse was the soundtrack
for that time in your life.... fast forward, 10 years from today,
and you may be in politics...and talk radio, will seem like it
is in the golden era, or have a family, you will swear by radio disney..
(*no family husbands, besides the occassional air check are you
in tune to radio disney ? )
invest time and effort and some thing *appears* to be better;
when that 'era' is taken away from you, or you mature and no
longer live like you did 15 years ago , your memories serve
as the only means to (briefly) relive the 'best ' era of your life,
you just happened to be here in buffalo, tuned to 98.5
 
I'm way out of the Kiss demo, but observing this discussion makes me wonder when a few of the people opining here will start yelling at neighborhood urchins "Hey, you kids get offa my lawn"...
 
I had the pleasure of interning with Doc in 1998. Great talent, amazing ad-lib skills, I learned the most from him versus anyone else in the biz.
 
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