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I recently received a couple of letters in response to my
recent columns.
First: I wrote that perhaps I had incorrectly read the FCC
mandate to satellite radio. I thought XM and Sirius are to
be national, and not local. However, it appears that they
are now regional in traffic at least --- and that is a cousin to
local. I received the following letter from Bob Morey,
Station Manager, KSRR/KQMB and I am printing it with his
permission.
“Kent, Yes, XM and Sirius are planning regional channels.
They have an interesting twist on the meaning of the words
“local” and “national”. They have about twenty different
channels now that do traffic reports for the Top 20 markets.
They are fed nationally to all satellite radio subscribers
so you can hear the New York traffic reports in LA and vice
versa, etc. So they keep the “national” mandate that they
have from the FCC, yet still do “local” traffic reports. I
am sure that this is what they will do with these “regional”
news reports. What’s missing? “Local” advertising on these
“national” and “regional” channels. As far as I know, no
dollars are there yet. How much in ten years? Maybe a
hundred million dollars or more a year --- I am not kidding! I
don’t think most broadcasters see it coming, although many
suspect something’s up.” Hey, Bob … thanks for writing … that
is an interesting viewpoint!!! Keep those letters coming!!!
Second: A letter from Happy Hare about legendary
broadcaster/producer Chuck Blore.
“Some years ago I summoned the guts to call Chuck Blore and
ask him to consider me as a voice talent. I blurted out
“Chuck you don’t know me. My radio name is Happy Hare and I
want to do some voice work for you”. He laughed and replied,
“Oh yeah, you are that guy in San Diego who could not score
over 40% of the audience. I found out later that Chuck had
rated 70% of the listeners in El Paso in his jock days. He
said, “Come to Hollywood. I have a Volkswagon commercial for
you to do.” Just like that. No audition. He simply knew that
he was a good enough director that he could pull it out of
me. I went there and spent the first hour trying to say
“Volkswagon” the way he wanted. Growing impatient he emerged
from the control room, faced me and simply said,
“Volkswagon. Can’t you just say it?”. An hour later, I had
said that simple word to his satisfaction and we went on
with the commercial. It was the index to how he wanted me to
do the whole commercial and future stuff. Nowadays, you hear
it all the time but not with the style that Chuck would have
imparted had he been in the studio with the talent. Just say
it, don’t read it like an announcer … naturally … that was an
imprint he has left in the art.” Mr. Hare … I know what you
mean…I WAS THERE with Chuck in a production session a few
weeks ago. He pulls the truth out of talent. He is some sort
of producer!!!
e-mail Kent
kent@kentburkhart.com
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