Live from the Traffic Circle

Talk about a one of a kind personality. I grew up listening to this guy in Savannah. It was a peanut whistle in Garden City, Georgia owned and operated (literally) by one man, Chris Watkins.

The station has been long abandoned. A daytimer that served most of the coastal town’s market. His format was hillbilly music served with Chris’ homespun humor, random musings and Paul Harvey news.

Chris preceded me as a DJ at WEAS-AM by at least 15 years and we never crossed paths. It’s a mystery how this guy got into radio much less how he had a successful local Country music show on the 5,000 watt WEAS and eventually his own station known as WNMT an ABC news affiliate. His was a gravely voice instantly recognizable. Imagine pulling your tongue all the way back into your throat affecting a deep southern accent and and odd chirpy staccato delivery while munching on rocks and you’ve got Chris.

He was known to do some odd things on the air seeing that he was not only the owner but sole DJ sunrise to sunset for a period of time. Once I was listening to him ramble off a local announcement then out of the blue he remarks, “Hmm, thought I heard a dog bark.” Then he goes back to his copy without missing a beat. Those long air shifts must have addled his brain temporarily.

Chris was opinionated and apparently a shrewd businessman. He refused to take on any religious brokered programs as he told my preacher father, “I’ll never have any pastors on my station.” I understand a few years later he rescinded his vow and allowed a few preachers on shortly before the station’s demise in the late 1980’s. He must have realized that despite his negative opinion of religion, carrying these brokered shows is almost a given in the peanut whistle world. It pays the bills.

When I moved to the Atlanta area, a top 10 major market radio town in 1986, I thought I had left behind the quaint radio personalities of Savannah. Surely all the radio announcers in the big city were golden throats speaking the king’s English with great precision. Boy was I naive. I was surprised to find Ludlow Porch on 50,000 watt clear channel WSB-AM. This guy did a mid-day talk show and later became syndicated all with Chris’ voice. The man could have been his twin. Sure his banter was more coherent than Watkins but this was a major market for crying out loud. I mean no disrespect to either of these unique men because my whole point boils down to realigning my own perceptions as a listener. Instead of fodder for ridicule I’ve learned to accept these unconventional voices for what they are or just simply listen elsewhere.

I did an audio parody of Chris Watkins years ago and will include it in a future Radio Rewind podcast so…

Stay tuned.

King of all Peanut Whistles

Talk about a peanut whistle. I worked a year at this particular 2,500 watt gem. We had local news, Southern Gospel music, a Swap Shop and daily obituaries. The news wasn't from a teletype or our own reporters. No, we read it directly from the newspaper. Verbatim. A few years before the dot com boom one of my fellow staff members commented on the state of our programming. The idea of a good ole country station was a relic of a bygone era. The world was now more accessible thanks to new technologies. I don't agree with him totally because stations such as this have their own unique charm. My friend Jim did get it right on one point though, we are a more enlightened society thanks to outlets such as CNN and other TV cable networks readily available then. It was 1992 and the World Wide Web and Fox News were a few years off. The context of his remarks was framed by people who he had observed overstating their "country" heritage by feigning ignorance, although being just as enlightened as city folks.

I was a bit of a snob then and saw this station a road block in my career.  The WBKI culture was an adjustment and was a step down from a purely business perspective. I later adopted their style and grew to appreciate their way of doing things. A few of the more countrified elements were weeded out and we became more "sophisticated." The home spun morning DJ resigned shortly after some heated debate with me. I viewed him as a local yokel. He was blissfully ignorant but the people loved him. The station fell into decline and eventually folded. My guess is that we didn't give the listeners what they wanted or maybe poor management was to blame. Who knows? Our GM saw the futility of the situation early on and probably mentally quit long before our demise. To borrow from the famous TV show WKRP in Cincinnati this guy was "town to town, up and down the dial". Success eluded David. We had worked together before. I witnessed his slow decline at my previous radio gig and now doubt my own wisdom in hitching to his star. However, I learned a lot from him and consider him a mentor. He allowed circumstances to limit him. I missed the control I had as a program director at my two previous jobs and felt the air chair was a handicap. For the first time in 6 years I was "just" a dee jay.

Stay tuned!

J900 CHR Christian Aircheck

The Spec Check

 Welcome to Gospel Aircheck! I’ve probably logged more hours in the production room than all my on air studio time and live remote appearances combined. I love the intricacy of audio production and have learned far more in perfecting a 30 second spot by tweaking all the elements that go into these sound vignettes than these other experiences. I was building a music bed and sound effects under a perfectly timed vocal track(s) into the wee hours of the morning following sometimes during my air shift. Most of these projects were aired but a few became what is known as spec spots. Spec is shorthand for speculative, a what if demonstration of what I could do, normally pitched to new clients. Most Radio and TV insiders are familiar with the term.

 Yet, I’ve created another concept that combines spec and aircheck known as the Spec Check. Having the station all to myself in the early days during some marathon session of brokered shows I decided to run some format scenarios. The most famous of these was combining then current Contemporary Christian with the popular CHR (Contemporary Hit Radio) secular format. It was a stretch for my voice talent though I had never heard this hyped sound unified with CCM. My real  J-900 shows from Savannah, GA, came close.

 Unfortunately, Christian music on the radio has had the most bland DJ’s on the planet. I wanted to change all this by making an audio presentation never intended to air kept in my personal archive. I am in the process of scoping (editing down to vocal breaks) these fake shows and will present these an episode of the podcast.

Stay tuned.

Download Spec Check Scoped Digital Dub.mp3 from FileFactory.com

Right Vs. Left

This blog is not political.  I'm not refering to liberal vs. conservative. It is said the the human brain has two hemispheres. The left reported to control the logical, analytical, pratical side of the psyche and the right the creative, artistic mind. Some individuals are more left brained while others are mostly right brained. Scientists say that the left controls the right side of the body while the right does the opposite. That explains, in part, why most left-handed people I've known, including me, are artistic. Of course a few righties break the mold. 

In the world of radio the left vs. right brain people are represented in an epic battle of control of the station. The left brained, practical are usually account exectutives (sales people) and management while the right brained are the DJ's, producers and creative talent. We creative types are somewhat resentful of the sales staff. If sales had their way content would be all commercials. More than a few salespeople have commented to me that music is "just filler between commercials." Yes, I know ads pay our salaries, but come on isn't it all about theatre of the mind, word pictures? Music, man, is the thing. Obviously, we've made creative inroads into commercials but we true DJ's love expressing our musical knowledge to listners without interuption of flow. The true talents in my mind are a meld of the two. The great talents have always been the ones who are equally comfortable in the studio and the field. They are salesmen with talent. I've know only a handfull of these hybrids and would populate a dream station with these all stars. Truth is we all need to be salespeople, otherwise, what are we doing in media?

Welcome to the newly renamed Radio Rewind. Even though I've spent a majority of my career in stations that were programmed for a Christian audience I still believe that radio is radio. I'm going to share my airchecks and speculative demos and ideas in this forum and invite you to subscribe. This is not a religious or political weblog just a chronical of my life experiences in and around the audio world I love.