“Breaking News!” Mark Ramsey has a dire warning
(Hey! Teasing works for network news, so what the hell!)

I host an internet radio show called – ya ready?- The Happy Hare Show on SignOnRadio.com, a ground breaking internet radio operation launched by The San Diego Union-Tribune. It happens every Wednesday from 1p-3p Pacific Time.

Last week, I had as my guest, the iconic Chuck Blore. Put all of the major radio icons into a room together and ask them to cast their vote for the all-time greatest radio programmer, besides themselves of course, and they would unanimously vote for Blore.

A half hour is not enough time to give this man who commands a big bucks to speak at national radio and television conventions, but he gave us a fortune worth of insights out of generosity.

Suffice to say, he is down on radio as it is practiced these days.

No wonder, he says, that iPods are increasingly popular. There is no reason to listen to someone else’s taste in music when iPodders can program their own music list.

Chuck cannot understand why so many stations have entertaining personalities only in the morning, and then at nine or ten A.M, turn it into a music service with the jox doing little more than station liners.

It was not in him to describe the true magnitude of his accomplishments during the radio programming part of his career which later evolved into big league advertising.

I can help you understand him, because I was in Hollywood in 1950, having arrived at KLAC as a kid, who took over afternoon drive, replacing Al Jarvis who moved to KLAC television.

Then, the atmosphere at KLAC was one of sheer snobbery. The jox, Bill Stewart, Don Otis, and Al Jarvis, were strictly into big band and ballads, courted by the fabled artists, promotion men, and song pluggers, and treated like Gods. Rock and roll was crap, beneath their notice.

Jarvis later went to KFWB. He was not happy when Blore arrived.

Chuck explains, “When I came to KFWB, Al Jarvis was already on the air there and had been for a couple of years. Matter of fact, when I asked him to stay and be a part of the new format, he said, "I won’t do that top forty crap. That's like asking Picasso to paint a house."

Blore continued. “Later, when Jarvis heard the new guys rehearsing and got an inkling of what it was going to be like, he thought better of it. He said to me, "If I agree to do this stuff, what's in it for me? When I said, “I'll make you #1 again, Al,’ he bought in to it completely.”

The newly arrived Blore immediately went into his act, holding up his empty hands. “See my hands? There is absolutely nothing there,” then in a flash, he materialized the biggest radio station in Los Angeles.

He was the equivalent of the Mind Freak. Nobody really knows how he did it.

Blore explains, “It was Al who got the 40 share first and, with the exception of the Mitch Reed-Bill Ballance tandem, with their audience made up mostly of teens, they were also in the 40s. Jarvis maintained the 40-plus day part for the entire time he was there. He was, in more ways than one, the leader of the on-air group. I loved him dearly.”

Here are some keys to Blore’s success described by himself last week.

He deplores how modern programmers define their radio station formats in terms of the music they play “We are a CHR station.” or, “We are a Hip Hop station”

“It isn’t only about the music,“ He insists.” It’s about providing answers to the audience’s unspoken question, “Why should I listen to you? What’s in it for me?”

Blore’s answer is, “You’re gonna like what you hear here better than what you hear elsewhere. But then, you gotta prove it, and you can do that simply by keeping the audience uppermost in your mind, rather than thinking just about the music you play.”

Another mis-play according to his play book: promising listeners that “we will return after this break.” It reminds listeners that the music is being disrupted by those pesky spot breaks. Besides, commercials are our friends.” he reminds us.

On a personal note: I once asked him how much talking a jock can do in a music show. He replied, “You can talk as long as you are fascinating.”

Contrary to concern by those who fear a newspaper take-over of radio or TV, no Union-Tribune editor has invaded my studio to tell me what to do or say about anything.

Any fear that ownership of another medium by a newspaper spells disaster is a misprint, as far as I am concerned.

In fact, Ron James, who runs programming, has gone out of his way to tell me to have fun, that it is my show. He is a congenial fellow who simply wants me to perform my magic. It helps that I “raised” him when he was a kid listening to Happy Hare. Imprints are insidious.

When he is not masterminding the station, James is a nationally syndicated wine columnist. He hosts a mouth watering radio show on the station. Coincidentally, Jack Woods, aka Charlie Brown, is blossoming into a major vintner in the region.

I opted to do just one show a week, Wednesdays 1p-3p Pacific Time, because I am actively involved in a “happening” motion picture company, Picture Palace Films. Watch for a new film titled, “Kings of the Evening,” coming soon.

The internet radio show still gets my neurons firing, though. Talk about the toy they gave us radio guys; Charlie and Harrigan, Ken Copper, Clark Anthony, Dave Mason and me; the newspaper has over 300 talented newspaper writers on staff to fall back on when we need in-depth support, right up there with Google.

Want to see a Sales staff that would make the average radio and TV station sales staff look like nobody’s home? Walk into the vast Sales Department ,dense with San Diego Union-Tribune sales reps who package advertising that wraps around all of the elements of print and sound, alien to most radio and television reps.

As you doubtless know, internet radio stations can reach all corners of the globe. Sooner or later, I could get e-mail or a call-in from…oh say… a guy who runs a mud factory in Afghanistan. I may not be joking.

None of us jox went after this gig, Ron James cherry-picked us from the historically best of the bunch. We had all successfully retired and kissed off regular radio, but this newfangled internet radio was too good to pass up. being in the mainstream of streaming radio, destined to rule the airwaves, and we are catching the next wave. Isn’t this the fantasy of all media folk?

This coming week, another giant, Mark Ramsey, takes a seat in my SignOnRadio.com studio.

He gives us new vision each time we read his pieces in Radio Daily News. Now you can not only hear him, but talk to him. I will give out the inside studio number during the first hour of the show.

Mark has answers to questions that few of us even know to ask. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of the new technology and what lies on and over the horizon.

Again, the show airs from 1p-3p Pacific Time on Wednesdays Pacific Time at the above site. Mark comes on at 2pm. January 16th, today for many of you.

About last week’s piece, the one praising Herb Siegel, the Master of the Game. I described Herb as the first man who over fifty years ago, conceived of music being sold in non-music venues, like super markets. Herb went on to rival such giants as Barry Diller, Sumner Redstone, and Rupert Murdoch for sheer fire power..

He would be impressed. with the deals that are being made by established music artists who have found a way to reach the buying public directly by doing their own rack deals with non-music retail outlets.

Last week, I wrote about Starbuck’s aggressive new music marketing at their locations….well.

They are also teaming with Apple, so that when you enter a store with an iPhone or iTouch, you can tap right into the Starbucks network and buy a song or album through the phone.

It plays right in with the CDs on display and played over the loudspeakers. Customers can look at the CDs as they are attracted to the artist and cover art, then choose either to buy the whole CD or just one song over Itunes.

The giants, like Paul McCartney and The Eagles, are no longer trying to kill radio, the goose that has been laying their golden records all these years. Actually, the radio goose may already be cooked.

I suggest that it is up to you established artists to step up and lend a hand to those worthy new artists who are struggling to gain a foothold in the market.

There is room for new artists for a slot or two in a large CD display. Music buyers are increasingly adventurous. about trying out new artists, especially with the streamlined ways of sampling new product on site.

Have you noticed lately? Many radio and television anchors use stark teasers in the vein of, “Breaking News! Is there a terrorist lurking in your closet? The answer when we return.” Small wonder the internet is beginning to take the media into their own hands.

Mark Ramsey will describe some of the high tech tools that make this takeover possible….and more… when he comes on January 16th at 2 pm Pacific time.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story………”Desiderata” by Max Ehrmann