I read with shock and awe RDN Editor Larry Shannon’s harsh decision not to select a Radio Person of the Year. In fact, Larry dismissed the entire year of 2007 for future consideration of radio persons. It led me to wonder: why is this era so different from the one in which I was spawned, one in which it would have been difficult to single out, among many, the best Personality of the Year?

I reviewed my own career to find a common thread between the “golden days of radio” and today. Throughout much of my career I pulled my own music and went into the studio with a log and the commercial book. It was up to me to piece each hour together into a listenable form. More importantly, up to me to create excitement with my audience.

Then, when I joined Specs Howard for seven years in the Midwest, it was even more challenging. What made the difference between us then and many of today’s crop of talent is that we spent time after each show creating and writing for the next day without resorting to cheap tricks and…we had fun.

In fairness, many of today’s otherwise fine talents are insulated from reaching out to their audiences, rendered helpless by a system that disallows the slightest show of originality or intimacy with their listeners.

In the current morning shows, music jocks are often given more freedom. But, after 9 or 10 am? Lights out. Apparently, many in management believe that hiring articulate personalities for mid-day and afternoon drive is too expensive, but my observation is that good talents these days are in a malleable state, and will take a job for less just to get work.

I was honored recently by Mike Glickenhaus, President/CEO of the new Finest City Broadcasting (3 San Diego stations) when he asked me to ”listen” to one of the morning shows and make suggestions.

I spent some time listening to the show then went in and simply suggested to the already excellent talent that he talk more one-on-one to his listeners, that he pick up his energy (Energy, the secret of life) and be happy he was there and to let his audience know it, and to tell his audience that they were “family.”. His listenership leaped into contention in the next book. I have an idea that there are plenty of other fine talents in the country who are close to “breaking out” and qualifying for Radio Daily News’ Personality of the Year with just a few simple adjustments.

As much as I love radio, Radio Daily News alone can be a force for launching a concept. I recently had that experience without the benefit of the big megaphone, radio.

On October 2nd, in the Happy Hare Radio Daily News series, I wrote a piece titled “Happy Hare Krishna” in which I suggested that we start calling the Islamicist bad guys “thugs” instead of “terrorists.” My rationale went like this…..

You may say that “thug” is a purely American name and not appropriate…. not true.

“Thug” is a Muslim term. “Thugs” were Muslim/Hindu gangs who murdered as a religious sacrifice to the Goddess Kali, killing an estimated 2,000,000 victims in India from the 8th to the 19th century. “THUG.”. The very word conjures up evil, violent….thugs. There is no more appropriate name for them Many of you reading this are decisions makers. Consider “THUGS”.

Since that piece went out, I have heard the term “Thug” gradually enter the popular arena. This week, I even read it in a Thomas Friedman New York Times column. Thomas Friedman? Cowabunga!

A few days ago, Laura Ingraham used it in her nationally syndicated morning show. I have recently heard it used on various national talk shows, so it is catching on.

Here’s the deal. If you call them “terrorists”: you empower them.. Terror in a human being reaches down to the cellular level. Terrified, you lose control of your bodily functions. I can understand letting go of your bladder if someone is standing over you with a sword, but otherwise …..When terror enters the room, logic flies out the window.

A major knock against terrestrial radio these days: It isn’t “local.” There are all sorts of ways to be “local.” If you are a whimsical kind of jock, you can have fun with what is hot in town. This week, it is football. If it is on everyone’s mind they are not going to tune you out if you do occasional topical shtick.

Maybe do a bit…like this, or better.

“I got an e-mail this morning about the Charger (Ravens, Colts, Giants,) game this weekend. It reads, ‘Hello Hare, My wife and I were discussing life and death and I don’t know why, but I said to her, “Just so you know. I never want to live like a vegetable, dependent on some machine and fluid from a bottle. If that ever happens, just pull the plug.

She got up, unplugged the TV, and threw out my beer.”

Why are so many radio people afraid of the Ipod? Granted that Radio has lost teenagers, but that is the fault of Management. If, today, there were jocks gifted with the magnetism of Dick Biondi or The Real Don Steele, Don McKinnon, or Wolfman, Ipods would not take hold so dominantly. Example: Take the Wolfman, Imagine any teenager 40 years ago, tuning him out to listen to an Ipod. Radio icons were Gods. From IGods to Ipods in one generation. Ye Gods!

I want to use this opportunity to give credit to all of the competitive, San Diego radio managers who joined together in a common cause a few years ago to make history. What moved them to broaden their usually narrow focus? One morning in 1994. we woke up to a stark headline: “Willie Jones has been shot!”

Willie Jones, a Lincoln High student with a 4 grade point average, the captain of the wrestling team and president of his senior class was killed in a drive-by shooting.

Willie was headed for Stanford with a full medical scholarship, when his life was snuffed out. He was standing in a front yard in the Skyline district of San Diego celebrating his graduation with fellow grads when shots rang out from a passing car and he went down, dying within minutes.

This happened. in 1994. My last air shot had been in 1972. In 1980, Gannett did research that showed me still top of the mind both in San Diego and Tijuana. It was nice to know but, in my mind my usefulness on the air was over and my brain was no longer wired to think of myself as a personality until,….Willie was killed..

I didn’t even know him, but the sadness wouldn’t go away. His death had made headlines which were fast fading, and it bothered me. Long buried feelings began to stir. Skills that I had put away, came back literally with a vengeance. I was like an old carpenter who had long ago stowed his tools. Now, things needed repair, and it was up to him.

I was downtown, just walking around, when I ran into a major PR person, Bonny Kutch. She routinely asked me how I was and I let go with my sadness about the needless loss of a superior young man like Willie Jones. `

She said, “Harry, there is a new kind of school that is just beginning to take hold. They call them Charter Schools.

She went on to explain that Charter Schools are just store fronts, but school counselors in regular schools watch for kids who are about to drop out and tell them, ”Stay in school. I can get you a diploma if you will go along with me.” The kid usually is not interested, because he doesn’t like the regular curriculum, and is bored or he has to quit school and go to work, or countless variations. But, they keep at him, removing all objections until the kid gives up and surrenders to this new system, Most get their diplomas and are put on a job path. Drop-outs are a significant percentage of our social problems.

I soon found myself in front of the San Diego Radio Broadcasters Association with my hand out, begging for air-time for Willie. They knew I wasn’t looking for a gig, so they listened with their hearts and one-upped me. They decided to give me all of the stations on a special day devoted to giving the Charter School of San Diego a boost into solvency.

They did better than that. The President of the Radio Managers Association approached the San Diego Auto Dealers Association and persuaded them to underwrite the campaign.

Soon, I was at the massive San Diego Convention Center with a phone bank of some fifty volunteers taking calls for this school.

I named the event, “The Day of Hope” coinciding with the opening of the SD Auto Show, a major event here as it is in every city. My remote live pitches went simultaneously on every station in the county, pitching for money for the Charter School and telling my listeners that it was in memory of Willie Jones. I took the time to explain the novel concept of a school that was a safety net designed to scoop up drop-outs.

By the end of that day, we had collected almost $100,000. More than that, the Charter School concept caught fire. Governor Pete Wilson extolled the merits of the Charter School concept in his State of the State Address that year, insulating it from the powerful Teachers’ Union while it took its first baby steps.

I have learned that if you launch a powerful idea, it will take wing and fly to places where you never imagined. Over time, Charter Schools have developed into far more complex institutions than any I envisioned. Major corporations are underwriting them and placing themselves on school campuses, channeling students onto a career path.

More examples of power of radio.

In 1972, I bemoaned the fact that this country didn’t have pandas. Instead of simply limiting my rants to the air, I actually called the Chinese government, and they thought it was a great idea and that was when they sent this country its first pandas.

Another time, I vented on the air because travelers (mostly elderly) had to land in Ensenada instead of San Diego because of an archaic law that limited the number of ports that a cruise liner can land in succession. This roused decision makers who began to reconfigure their trips so that tens of thousands of cruise travelers no longer had to suffer the indignity of the exhausting three hour gauntlet from Ensenada.. In October of 2004, the Port of San Diego declared Happy Hare Harbor Day. Cruise liner stop-overs tripled in just a couple of years.

My secret about how to launch an idea? Typical of my campaigns was to tease, tease, billboard, billboard, mostly ten second jobs, and then by the time I did the actual pitch, I didn’t take up a lot of air time getting it done, avoiding PMS , Program Manager’s Syndrome.

These “successes” happened with a lot of behind-the-scene phone calls, and face to face meetings with people I hoped to influence. I gave many people credit for whatever I was trying to get done. Big things can be accomplished if you are willing to share credit. “Three Dimensional Radio.”

There are many ways a jock can be “local.” Take the simple matter of commercial tags, generally considered throwaways.. There is nothing more effective over the long run than to read a live tag., and use it as a way to show you know and love the city and that you are thinking about your audience. Paint a little word picture of the location, maybe some color about the area. A few extra seconds is all it takes.

I also like to give hints to listeners about how to get more out of life.

If you have a cough, take a large dose of laxative. Then, you’ll be afraid to cough.

A mouse trap placed on top of your alarm clock will prevent you rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snooze button.

You only need two tools in life; W-D 40, and Duct Tape. If it doesn’t move and should, use the W-D 40. If it moves and shouldn’t, use the Duct Tape.

Clumsy? Avoid cutting yourself. Get someone else to hold your vegetables while you chop away.

Well, what did you expect? I was gonna write a whole column without throwing in a little shtick?

Next week: No kidding this time, the last days of Detroit.