1 of 1- RadioActive
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The Worst Shift In Radio
The worst shift in radio, at least this week, has to be whoever is unlucky enough to be doing his or her shtick opposite the Blue Jays game. I'm guessing neither CFRB or AM640 will be taking a lot of calls from listeners during their drivetime shows on Thursday and Friday, with the bulk of their normal audience perhaps distracted with the goings on at the stadium-fomerly-known-as-SkyDome.
The question: do you mention the game during the shows? It's not as if anyone will forget it's on, given the massive hype. As of this posting, the Toronto Star has no less than 10 Jays stories on the front page of their website and I'm guessing there are a lot more elsewhere. Perhaps it would be a fun segment if one of the radio talkers did a brief hit on "why aren't you watching the game?" Not that many would hear it!
As some here know, I was friends with the late and still very great Mark Dailey, who one day had to go on the air at 10 PM opposite I think it was a Stanley Cup final game. Or maybe it was a Canadian Olympic hockey gold final. Either way, we both knew almost no one would be watching. I remember phoning him half an hour before air and daring him to open CityPulse Tonight by saying, "Good evening, both of you." He laughed and said he was actually thinking about it, but of course in the end, he was smart enough not to take me up on it!
Last edited by RadioActive (October 8, 2015 5:43 pm)
- geo
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Re: The Worst Shift In Radio
RadioActive wrote:
The worst shift in radio, at least this week, has to be whoever is unlucky enough to be doing his or her shtick opposite the Blue Jays
That would be Thomas Mulcair
- Dale Patterson
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Re: The Worst Shift In Radio
The worst shift in radio, at least this week, has to be whoever is unlucky enough to be doing his or her shtick opposite the Blue Jays game. I'm guessing neither CFRB or AM640 will be taking a lot of calls from listeners during their drivetime shows on Thursday and Friday, with the bulk of their normal audience perhaps distracted with the goings on at the stadium-fomerly-known-as-SkyDome.
The question: do you mention the game during the shows? It's not as if anyone will forget it's on, given the massive hype. As of this posting, the Toronto Star has no less than 10 Jays stories on the front page of their website and I'm guessing there are a lot more elsewhere. Perhaps it would be a fun segment if one of the radio talkers did a brief hit on "why aren't you watching the game?" Not that many would hear it!
As some here know, I was friends with the late and still very great Mark Dailey, who one day had to go on the air at 10 PM opposite I think it was a Stanley Cup final game. Or maybe it was a Canadian Olympic hockey gold final. Either way, we both knew almost no one would be watching. I remember phoning him half an hour before air and daring him to open CityPulse Tonight by saying, "Good evening, both of you." He laughed and said he was actually thinking about it, but of course in the end, he was smart enough not to take me up on it!
Nick at Nite ran nothing when the show about nothing ran its final episode on NBC:
"Life without echo is really no life at all." - Dan Ingram
- ig
- Iain Grant
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Re: The Worst Shift In Radio
I see it a bit differently.
I've never been a huge fan of callers on talk radio. The great callers make it awesome, the bad callers make it awesome, but the vast majority in the middle tend to bring little to nothing to the table. To be blunt, I feel the same way about technical staff on mic. When I was tech. producing shows I was a key participant in them, the audience was completely aware of what I thought, and who I agreed with. Sometimes my position was clearer than the host I was with. And I never turned on the mic. once. Sound effects, music choices, clips, drops.. "technical production". Turning on a mic. seemed like the lazy way out, and it wasn't an option available to me anyway.
Back to the callers though, This is where a great screener/producer comes into play. They know how to weave callers into a show to complement the show, not because it's a phone in show and we need calls. IMHO which is never H, I think we're evolving into more of a 'listen' radio world. Informative and entertaining, but not reliant on Clarice in Innisfil to make or break a show.
In many ways a day like this is awesome if you truly enjoy doing talk radio, because you can talk. Even moreso when you have good guest(s) available. Again back to that producer/screener. If people aren't tuning in to listen to you, and what you think, there's something missing from your show. And if you're sitting watching the lines waiting for them to ring, and worried about the quality of your show because of it, take a few steps back and think about how many times you've called a radio station, as opposed to just sitting doing whatever you're working on, and enjoying listening.
ig.
Madness takes its toll. Please have exact change.
- Mike Cleaver
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Re: The Worst Shift In Radio
Despite all the media hype, not everyone cares about professional sport.
Nothing annoys me more than the Vancouver sell line "We are all Canucks."
No we aren't, not by a long shot.
Sitting in the waiting room at my car repair shop today, the TV in the waiting room, where the remote is readily available to change the channel, CBC was the channel of choice (Power and Politics) over the baseball game and the potential audience of between 6 and 8 people all were male between the ages of 20 and 60.
One of the service guys stuck his head in the door and said, "Not watching the game?"
No one showed any interest in changing the channel.
- Ms. C.
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Re: The Worst Shift In Radio
These New York Rangers seem to be tough competition for the Blue Jays
- Old Codger
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Re: The Worst Shift In Radio
It's obvious ... The WORST shift in radio ... generally ... is when you discover that 'it' was your last. And don't think for one fleeting moment that I don't remember the bastard who provided me with THAT information. [You SOULLESS piece of shyte.]
Glad the Jays weren't goin' for all the marbles WHILE I was 'on'. Different time of day. Still is.
There are some really good program directors, Then there are the PD's...who are PDs because they didn't have the 'jam' or the TALENT to 'make it' on air up to THAT level of proficiency...and these B.S. 'artists' magically and suddenly 'think' they know 'how' it should be 'done'? Please!!! ...
Last edited by Old Codger (October 16, 2015 6:13 am)
- Ms. C.
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Re: The Worst Shift In Radio
It's obvious ... The WORST shift in radio ... generally ... is when you discover that 'it' was your last
Can't remember if I cried
Or if I poured a glass of rye
But something touched me deep inside
The day Old Codge got fried
- Jody Thornton
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Re: The Worst Shift In Radio
It's obvious ... The WORST shift in radio ... generally ... is when you discover that 'it' was your last
Can't remember if I cried
Or if I poured a glass of rye
But something touched me deep inside
The day Old Codge got fried
I cried. Mind you, I was leaving CHNR in Simcoe in July 1993 on my own accord (to go back to school to work towards computer/network admin.) I just finished playing "Turn Your Love Around" by George Benson to time out to Craig Rintoul's noon news. I went from MCR to the newsroom, I saw John Wherstein (then news director), and broke right down like a sissy. Remember, I thought at that point I was abandoning radio forever. Poor John didn't know what to do, so I just left. And that was it.
Cheers,
Jody Thornton
- Old Codger
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Re: The Worst Shift In Radio
Or...The worst? The absolute worst was when Wayne Newton's version of 'MacArthur Park'...which was longer than Richard Harris'...started to SKIP.
Huh? Oh!!! ShiFt. Sorry.
- Kilgore
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Re: The Worst Shift In Radio
The absolute worst was when Wayne Newton's version of 'MacArthur Park'...which was longer than Richard Harris'...started to SKIP.
Donna Summer's "suite" version (included snippets from One of a Kind and Heaven Knows) runs 17:33, longer than some radio careers