Category: Bill Gavin

From the MCRFB NEWS archive: 1965

The Bill Gavin Newsletter (February 1965)

 

 

 

---

From the Desk of Bill Gavin  Billboard Contributing Editor

 

D U R I N G   T H E   P A S T   S E V E R A L   weeks I have talked with a number of radio people about their approaches to programming problems. While no two people see their problems precisely the same way, there is enough general agreements among radio program planners to indicate the development of a new trend. There appears to be a growing objective in applying the objective approach of the pop format operators to the field of so-called middle-of-the-road music.

Strictly speaking, there is nothing new about such an idea. It has been applied successfully for a number of years by some of the leading stations in the U.S. and Canada. Among the better known pioneer in the field have been WIP, Philadelphia; WIND, Chicago; WEW, St. Louis; KSFO, San Francisco; CFRB, Toronto and CKNW, Vancouver. While not all of these stations rate No. 1 in their markets, they deliver a sufficiently large number to their advertisers so that their net revenues are highly gratifying to their owners.

There are many other stations, some with big power and preferential dial position, and most with a fine tradition of public service and community leadership, that have watched their audiences slipping away through the years without doing much of anything about it. They have noted with envy the strides that have been made by their competitors, yet until recently have taken a few steps toward modernizing their program content and personnel.

S T A T I O N S   I N   M A J O R   M A R K E T S   in their attempts to streamline their operations, have encountered union related problems. The technical and performer unions had established jurisdiction over various operational tasks, and they were unwilling to relinquish contract provisions that gave employment to their members. Some New York stations at one time were required to have four or five men in the control room for a deejay show or a newscast. In Chicago, the musician union has jurisdiction over the record spinning assignment. In San Francisco, some stations must have staff announcers in the booth to handle station breaks for the deejay shows. However, most of these problems have been worked out so that stations are not placed at a competitive disadvantage by virtue of the old union distinctions between network stations and independents.

One manager, who doesn’t have the problem of union contracts, sees it this way: “The big money in radio doesn’t necessarily go with big ratings. We’re doing just about as well as the leading top 40 station, and we show only about a third of their audience. But we should be doing better. So we’re hiring some new people — a program director, a music director, and DJ’s — and try to sound as modern as we can without programming that greasy-kid stuff.”

NBC radio’s appointment of Mike Joseph to head up its owned radio stations illustrates the growing acceptance of conservative ownership of the fact that modern radio demand certain progressive changes in conventional patterns of of operation. Mike has had extensive experience as a program consultant in setting up top 40 operations. It was under his guidance that WABC-New York broke away from its traditional pattern and entered the pop format field, where it thrived under the program direction of Sam Holman. Mike later set up the new format for WKNR-Dearborn (Detroit market), which proved an immediate success. He has also worked with middle-road stations such as WINZ, Miami and WEW, St. Louis, although this fact is no so generally known. With NBC he has brought Mark Olds, Glen Bell and Bob Hale into WMAQ, Chicago. It was rumored, because of Mike’s former successes with top 40 stations, that he would direct his NBC stations along the same course, but such not proved to be the case in Chicago.

N O R   I S   I T   L I K E L Y   T O   be the case with KNBR, San Francisco, where Joseph is currently at work setting up changes in policy and personnel. He recently told me, “We’re expecting to be an overnight sensation. We’re building carefully for the future. It takes a lot of time and hard work to make changes in a big station.” He also emphasized, “Just because we may hire people with a top 40 background doesn’t mean that we’re going to be a top 40 station. Practically everybody today who is qualified as a modern radio man has gotten a least a part of his experience with top 40 radio.” END

___

(Information and news source: Billboard; February 20, 1965)

---

---

From the MCRFB NEWS archive: 1964

The Bill Gavin Newsletter (December 1964)

 

 

 

---

From the Desk of Bill Gavin  Billboard Contributing Editor

 

I N   P A S T   C O L U M N S   I’ve referred occasionally to the tight playlist. As an observer of the radio scene, I’ve called attention to the prevailing practice among pop music radio stations of curtailing the number of records available for airplay. Every time I mention such a thing there is a certain backlash of disapproval, mainly from people in the record business. it seems to be a painful subject to them, and they’d prefer I didn’t mention it.

Unfortunately, the impression has been in created in some circles that I am an advocate of the tight playlist. Such is not the case. Facts are one thing, opinions are another. the fact is the tight playlist is being followed by a substantial number of pop format stations, many of which had made comfortable gains ratings and revenues. My opinion is that most of these gains are only an indirect or accidental result of the tight playlist.

A   S H O R T E N E D   P L A Y L I S T   does not by itself automatically produce beneficial results, as not a few managers who have tried can testify. It simply guarantees that a record on the list is played more often.  The tight list stage that we are passing through these days is just one more experimental step in the constant search for more effective programming.

I N   T H E   E A R L Y   D A Y S   of format radio, considerable importance was attached to the No. 1 record on the survey. The theory was that since this was the best selling record in town, it should be played more often. Some stations played it once an hour and even used elaborate production fanfare and jingles to announce that it was about to be played. In retrospect, it is easy to understand why this didn’t work very well. By the time it had reached it’s No. 1 eminence, following six or eight weeks of steady play, the record’s appeal had usually worn thin with a large share of the audience. With some listeners it has already become such an annoyance through countless repetitions that it turned out to be a tuneout factor. The next step was the requirement that at least three or four records out of the top 10 be played every hour. To the extent that this system brought increased exposure to a few of the fast rising newcomers, this was refreshing improvement. To the extent that it belabored the older hits that had past their peak, it compounded evils of boredom inherent in the hourly repetition of the No. 1 chart item.

Various new experiments in balance and frequency were made by individual stations. Some stations increased their surveys from 40 to 50 or 60 sides. Others increased the frequency with which picks might be played. Still others tried an increased emphasis on the top 40, drastically reducing the number of picks that could be played in any given hour or day. Out of all these experimental efforts there emerged no observable pattern of success. Some stations still did well, others failed, no matter what they tried. Looking back now, we can see that a few stations were fortunate in having disk jockeys who seemed to know which records their listeners wanted to hear, and so programmed them more often, regardless of chart position.

U N F O R T U N A T E L Y   D I S C   J O C K E Y S   with this kind of awareness were (and are) extremely rare. Most deejays, when left to their own devices of 80 to 100 records, sought to relive the tedium of their jobs by selecting the greatest possible variety of available music. Such a tendency ignored the axioms of programming: there are a certain few records that most listeners want to hear considerably more often than any others, regardless what numbers they carry on the charts.

There is nothing about a short playlist that a skilled programmer can accomplish just as effectively — with a long one. The short list of some 30 hits plus 10 to 15 picks obviously includes all the top listener favorites, and its very shortness guarantees that each of them will be played every three hours, if not more often. As a result, it doesn’t make too much difference whether a disk jockey has his radar working or not. He doesn’t have to know which records are top listener favorites; he has to play the entire list on his show every day, and sometimes to repeat a good deal of it in a single shift.

The fact that the older hits are also played with approximately equal frequency apparently is less of a listener deterrent that it was in the days of No. 1 or top 10 overemphasis. Listeners who know that they will hear their favorites in any given three-hour period are seemingly willing to endure the old standards in anticipation of assured listener satisfaction. Of course, a shorter survey has the additional advantage of omitting the tiredness of the old hits that might otherwise increase the boredom hazard.

T H E R E   A R E   O B V I O U S   disadvantages to the tight list, not the least of which is its rigidity being unadaptable to the changing audience structure at different times a day. Skilled programmers with a reasonable adequate playlist, are able to balance their shows in relation to the available audience. The tight list practically assures the same records at all times of day, every day of the week.

Such a policy assumes that these few records are the ones that most of the people want to hear at any time of the day, morning, noon or night. It works well in many cities, primarily because there is no better alternative available at the pop level. It will cease to work, in my opinion, against any enlightened competition that can make an effective programming adjustment to the changing characteristics and components of the radio audience throughout the broadcast day.

I   P R E F E R   T O   regard the tight playlist craze as a temporary and short-lived phenomenon, vulnerable to a more intelligent policy that emphasizes greater awareness of audience structure and taste. The recipes for the early morning, midday and evening musical diets will contain most of the same essential hit ingredients. But the seasoning, as well as the service, will be somewhat different. END

___

(Information and news source: Billboard; December 26, 1964)

---

---

From the MCRFB NEWS archives: 1964

The Bill Gavin Newsletter (July 1964)

 

 

 

 

From the Desk of Bill Gavin  Billboard Contributing Editor

 

J O B   S E C U R I T Y   I S   O F  just as much concern in radio these days as it is in any other big business. Union staff contracts covering staff air personnel usually provided for seniority rights and severance pay, designed to discourage employers from making staff replacements. Most stations within AFTRA jurisdiction hire their disk jockeys on a contract basis. This means while the money is above scale, there are few, if any, security guarantees.

Outside of the major cities, comparatively few disk jockeys are covered by union contracts. Their job tenure depends on performance, and sometimes a managerial whim or prejudice will move a jock out of a job that he has been filling competently.

H I S T O R I C A L L Y   T H E    R O U T I N E  worker has sought his job security in a union contract, designed to protect him from capricious or discriminatory firing as long as he performed his required functions in a satisfactory manner. The performing artist, on the other hand, holds his position on the basis of that mysterious rapport that he creates with his audience. His continued value to his employer depends on the demonstrated approval of the audience as well.

The disk jockey, while he may not be a performing artist in a true sense, still comes under the general classification as “talent.” He seldom asks, or receive, any contract guarantees as to his job duration. His own ability is his only job security.

Under such circumstances, it is rather amazing to note how few disk jockeys concern themselves with their own “job security” status. Only a small minority of the DJ’s with whom I have talked have faced up to the fact that theirs is a young man’s calling, with vastly diminishing opportunities for those over the age of 50. They make comparatively good money, and it seldom occurs to them that it may be otherwise in another 10 or 15 years.

A   P E R S O N N E L   E X P E R T   O N C E  observed that the job of the radio announcer (or disk jockey) is the highest paid “blind alley job” in the world. Most jobs in business and industry offer promotion opportunities to capable employees.  In radio, this might also apply to disk jockeys, were it not for the fact that the DJ not infrequently makes as much money as the station manager — what with his hops and concerts. Small wonder, then, that the deejay’s ambitions is usually just to be a bigger and better DJ, rather than to move up toward administrative and managerial levels.

Radio, as everybody knows, is show business. To the average deejay, however it is mostly show and not much business. All too often, the business with which the deejay concerns himself is the record business rather than the radio business. This is not too surprising. Since he deals with records, the deejay learns a great deal about them. He is sought after and flattered by record people connected with the industry. He derives himself a sense of accomplishment from the knowledge of his own importance in the recording world. For making hits he receives applause. For making ratings, he receives only money. Human nature being what it is, the DJ is apt to take the money for granted and to orient his interests in the direction of the applause.

I   H A V E   M A N Y   D E E J A Y   F R I E N D S  who are old men in a young man’s world.  Their track record for their skills speak well for their skills and for themselves. They have all had 20 or more years of radio experience, but they have learned no skills other than the use of their voices on a live microphone. They have never bothered to learn about sales, personnel direction, advertising, research, taxes, accounting and all of the many other things that form an integral part of radio operation.

Radio offers worthwhile opportunities to everyone who works at it. It seems unfortunate that so few deejays recognize and accepts the opportunities for continued growth in and with their chosen field. It may be that the personality type that does well as a deejay does not readily lend itself to the required discipline of training and learning in the less exciting phases of his craft.

I   S U B M I T   T H A T   P A R T  of the failures to utilize DJ skills and experience more widely in a radio operation can be laid at the door of management.  One or two large chain operations actually do follow a policy of encouraging and training their program personnel so that their value to the organization increases with the years. Unfortunately, most stations do not.

In the final analysis, however, it is up to each individual DJ. The opportunities for continued growth and value in his mature years are there. If he wants to build for his future, he can. END

___

(Information and news source: Billboard; July 11, 1964)

---

---

 

From the MCRFB NEWS archive: 1963

Concept Top 40 Music Geared ‘For Only Youngsters’ Generally Program Misread

 

 

---

From the Desk of Bill Gavin  Billboard Contributing Editor

 

SAN FRANCISCO — The acid test of music policy is competition. A station will grow fat on its ratings as long as its competitors are fumbling. Sooner or later another station or two in the market is bound to sharpen up its operation, and the ratings picture begins to change.

F o r   r e a s o n s   n o t   c l e a r l y  understood, top 40 revenues are considerably more vulnerable to rating declines than are the comfortable monthly billings of their more conservative colleagues. Advertisers appear to believe that on a good music station they are buying prestige, whereas on a top 40 station they are buying a predictable number of ears. The attitude apparently prevails that most of the modern sounds of today’s popular records are somehow disreputable, connoting cheapness and inferiority. Irrational as it may seem, this advertiser attitude exists, and because of it, top 40 music must deliver those ratings — or else!

To many thoughtful radio people, this advertiser antipathy towards today’s popular music makes little sense. Popular records are not the exclusive province of the teenager. Agency media buyers know, from impartial research studies, that most top 40 audiences contains a majority of adults. In spite of this, agency people are still prone to evaluate top 40 as “kid’s music.”

I n   m y   o p i n i o n ,  this confused image is mainly the fault of top 40 personnel themselves, aided to be sure by the caustic critics of the press and of the competition. Far too many top 40 stations emphasize teen appeal out of all proportion to their audience potential. “Dedication” shows are a case in point. Bulletins audibly flashed about how seventh grade Lucy isn’t mad at Joe any more, or how all the girls in the eighth grade think that Tom is a “darling” can be pretty nauseating to listeners who are over 18 years of age. It is not necessary for a station to sound juvenile in order to please its younger listeners.

From time to time we hear of a top 40 station that is changing its music policy because its revenues are inadequate. Others change because of ratings inroads by the competition are in place within their own respective market. Such changes, either in a smooth sound or hard rock direction, run the risk of lower ratings without compensating revenue gains.

It is possible that the doctors who have proscribed the change have incorrectly diagnosed the illness. Radio “experts” make music policy their favorite  whipping boy. In many cases a re-orientation of the station’s air presentation, or of its community image, can solve the problem without tinkering with the music.

M u s i c   p o l i c y   d o e s   o c a i s s i o n a l l y   require modifications to meet changed conditions. In the event of a competitive challenge, however, it’s a good idea to take a long, hard look at the many other factors involved in a station’s public acceptance.

When music policy does need revision, it is well to consider the changes most carefully. Amateur tinkering is worse than useless. The wise manager has a specific objective and then makes certain that the people making the changes are moving intelligently in the right direction. Change should be made with a purpose, not out of panic. END

___

(Information and news source: Billboard; September 28, 1963)

---

---

From the MCRFB NEWS archive: 1963

Programming Newsletter

 

HOW TO BREAK INTO BROADCASTING

 

---

From the Desk of Bill Gavin  Billboard Contributing Editor

 

” H O W   T O   B R E A K   I N T O   B R O A D C A S T I N G ” is the title of a recently published pamphlet written by Jim Hawthorne, vice-president and national program manager of the Crowell-Collier Broadcast Corporation. Jim has written his pamphlet partly in self defense. A man in his position is inevitably pestered with applications for employment. Few know how to go about it.  Most applicants do not. The majority of job seekers in the broadcasting field, it would appear, have had little or no contact with, except for hearing the end product on their radios.

Some people shouldn’t even bother to apply. Basic minimums include a high school education — preferably college, willingness to move from one town to another, willingness to start at a small job for very small wages and, above all, (with) intense and enduring desire. The main ingredient, says Jim, is hard work, above and beyond the call of a 40-hour week.

It often does not occur to the job applicant that his talent and experience do not automatically speak for themselves. The must be effectively presented. The careful preparation of a presentation is important. It indicates to the prospective employer the type of care and thoroughness that he can expect from the applicant in performing his assigned tasks.

Jim Hawthorne will not accept telephone applications, even if they come from highly qualified people. It is his feeling that a serious application deserves to be put in writing.

A U D I T I O N  T A P E S  A R E  E S S E N T I A L  accompaniments to all applications for air work. Some DJ’s send air checks of their actual performance. Jim advises against it. The whole idea of a tape is to show how original and creative a deejay can be of the restrictions of a particular station policy. The careful preparation of such an audition tape is critical. A perfunctory approach indicates a lack of interest on the part of the applicant and results in a lack of interest on the part of the employer.

A  S P E C I A L  O P P O R T U N I T Y   W H I C H  sometimes is not accepted as such, come when the tape is returned with the request to try it again and do it better. Too many applicants regard such a response as a form of polite rejection and are never heard from again. Actually, it means that the applicant has passed many of the tests already and is being considered as a good possibility, provided that he can come up with something more distinctive.

Jim touches a point of show business psychology here which, in my own observation, has stood in the way of talent development. The “ham” in all of us wants applause — approval. Too often the man with talent  prefers not to expose himself to continued objections or corrections. It wounds his own self esteem to find that others may not share his high opinion of his ability. Such a hollow ego finds it difficult, if not impossible, to confess his need for further improvement. A realistic and humble of one’s own talent as a growth potential rather than a summit achievement is something Jim does not mention, but I am sure he would agree.

Our author hammers repeatedly on his basic themes: intense desire and hard work. To which any successful radio man would have to say, “Amen.”

___

(Information and news source: Billboard; August 24, 1963)

---

---

From the MCRFB NEWS archives: 1963

PROGRAMMING NEWSLETTER

 

 

 

---

From the Desk of Bill Gavin  Billboard Contributing Editor

 

I D E A S   A B O U T   R A D I O   P R O D U C T I O N  have changed considerably during the past decade. The traditional concept about the producer, with his script and stopwatch, has given way to new techniques in the production of record shows in the field about.

A few deejays, in competition with big budget live programs, were forerunners of modern day production (Buffalo Bob) Smith at WNBC, Martin Block at WNEW, and Bill Randle at WERE were among the small band of pioneers in the field about adding new dimensions of sound, color, illusion and suspense to the pedestrian routine of broadcasting phonograph records.

Today, when music and news stations are competing primarily against each other, rather than against star-studded network shows, it is through production ideas and techniques that stations attain the degree of individuality that differentiates then from their competitors. Formula radio pretty generally combines hourly five-minute news, periodic temperature reports and weather forecasts, frequent (and seemingly incessant) references to the station call letters, and upward of a dozen records each hour. From 10 to 15 minutes per hour are devoted to commercials.

B Y   F A R   T H E   L A R G E S T  amount of today’s radio production is devoted to the presentation of these ingredients. Station identifications is made musically by jingles. News is introduced by fanfares or jingles, and is occasionally interspersed with code or ticker sound effects, to create the illusion of world-wide and instantaneous coverage. Such features as the “discovery,” and even time and weather, also have their own special themes and sound effects.

Production Outfits

M AN Y   O F   T H E S E  P R O D U C T I O N  aids are prepackaged by large production outfits that specialize in such things. New York and Hollywood, with their huge reservoirs of talents, provide the main sources of production packages, but non-unionized areas such as Texas offer lower costs plus frequently good results. In a few cases, the program director deserves much credit for creative ideas that go into the jingle package, but generally the production company originates the ideas and syndicates them in noncompeting areas.

Packaged production aids have been standard for quite some time. More recently, the emphasis has been on local station production. A number of important stations now assign a full-time individual to direct production. In addition, more emphasis is being placed on making individual disks jockeys responsible for production gimmicks on their shows.

The station’s production director is mostly occupied with recording station promotions and special features. He submits original ideas to his program director for handling contests, phone interviews, on-the-spot tapes, and so on. More and more, the production director is being made responsible for what is loosely called, for want of a better name, the station’s “public image.”

Challenge In Future

T H E   D I S K   J O C K E Y ,  as his own production man, faces the biggest challenge in the years immediately ahead.  It is impossible to speak of deejay production skills without mentioning the legendary Frank Ward, now station manager of WVON, Chicago. Stories are still told of Frank’s console of four or five turntables, his chest mike, his flawless cuing and timing, and how he scorned a chair — always working on his feet. Several deejays of more recent vintage learned their trade by watching and listening to him.

One program director recently told me: “I don’t want my jocks to ad lib a good new idea. If they think of it during today’s show, I tell them to hold it off and work on it for tomorrow’s show. That way, they always know how to handle it and whether it will really fit it.”

This statement illustrates today’s growing emphasis on the disk jockey ‘s advance preparation for each show. The trend in today’s radio, regardless of station music policy, is toward a greater accent on showmanship.  The success of tomorrow’s disk jockey is likely to be determined not by his voice or his selection of music, but how he plans and presents each show. This medium, with tape cartridges, wild tracks, transcribed bridges and sound effects, offers him a wider range of flexibility and choice. How he selects and uses his materials will have much to do with his ability to attract a sizable audience.

Music and news are still, and will continue to be, radio’s main ingredient. Production offers the plus values that can make the difference. END

___

(Information and news source: Billboard; December 7, 1963)

---

---

From the MCRFB NEWS archive: 1963

GAVIN PROGRAMMING NEWSLETTER

 

 

 

---

From the Desk of Bill Gavin  Billboard Contributing Editor

 

D U R I N G   T H E   D A Y S   T H A T  followed President Kennedy’s death, I was privileged to have talked with many people in radio, from many different cities. Without exception, they expressed shock, grief and even shame that such a thing could happen in the United States of America. Many spoke with pride of the manner in which their respective stations responded to the tragic events and of the loyal, unselfish co-operation of their program staff.

All stations, of course, abandoned their regular formats of popular records, substituting different kinds of serious music. All advertising was canceled until the morning of Tuesday, November 26. Even after that date, many stations were cautiously slow in returning to their full compliment of current hit records. In a few cases, it was reported that even though the regular playlist was once more in effect, disk jockeys simply would not program the more raucous sounds.

The entire response of American radio during those difficult days was a mark of innate good taste and respect for listeners’ feelings on the part of radio people.

T H E   Q U E S T I O N   has been asked by many — and answered by none: will the sobering reflections of our national tragedy bring about a new trend in programming?

Some things are fairly certain: shock wears off; memories of sorrow grow dim; time erodes the sharp edges of a newly aroused national conscience.  It is a part of living there should be music and laughter and entertainment. No one would want it otherwise.

Radio Influences Youth

Network television and radio do an excellent job of presenting and explaining the world’s problems and our concerns with them. Unfortunately, very little of the networks’ news and commentaries ever reach the school-age population. The majority of the teens and pre-teens prefer listening to pop radio. Pop records are its entertainment and disk jockeys are its heroes.

T H E R E   A R E   D I S K   J O C K E Y S   who claim to “identify” with teenagers. What some of them mean is that they accept and condone teen attitudes and behavior. What is implied is often the deejay’s approval of the lowest common denominator of juvenile morality. The deejay is the acknowledged  leader in the field of records for youth; he too often neglects his opportunities to lead in the direction of more enduring values.

Many radio stations, with their well-publicized “personalities,” are held in far higher esteem by their young listeners than are their schools, their churches, and even their homes. It is time, I think, for such prestige to be used to reinforce, rather than to ignore, the basic values of human living.

Isn’t it time radio stood for something beside competition and profit? END

___

(Information and news source: Billboard, December 21, 1963)

---

---