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In Praise Of The Hidden Heroes Of Talk Radio
As someone who's produced more than his fair share of talk shows, I want to put in a word of praise for the guy or gal you almost never hear from - the producer and/or board op. They operate almost in obscurity, while the host gets all the publicity.
But if they do their jobs right, they can add immeasurably to the on-air talent's success and overall sound, and you probably won't even know they're there. I find CFRB's Nick Maiorano, who works the morning show with John Moore, to be an example of the perfect producer. He's barely there but once in a while, he will chime in with a perfect comment, play a drop (a short sound effect or voice clip) or pick the perfect song to introduce a segment.
Yet most of the time, you're not even aware of his presence.
A good producer is like the old saying about children in reverse - they should be heard but not seen. What they do is subtle and they know who the real star of the show is (as opposed to AM640, where the producers sometimes play too big a role on air) but they're a bit like salt - too much and the meal is ruined. Just enough and it tastes really good.
So here's to the hard-working producers who rarely get their due beyond an end-of-show name mention. If they do their jobs right, chances are you'll never know it.
- Shorty Wave
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Re: In Praise Of The Hidden Heroes Of Talk Radio
RadioActive wrote:
As someone who's produced more than his fair share of talk shows, I want to put in a word of praise for the guy or gal you almost never hear from - the producer and/or board op.
So here's to the hard-working producers who rarely get their due beyond an end-of-show name mention. If they do their jobs right, chances are you'll never know it. [/color]
Nicely put RA, they’re the broadcast backbone but are rarely acknowledged, and there are some really good ones in our market, hats off to them!
- RadioActive
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Re: In Praise Of The Hidden Heroes Of Talk Radio
I've heard talent say a good producer is worth their weight in gold. One even told me he would never consider doing another radio show unless I was behind the glass, because we were so in sync. I'm sure he was exaggerating but it was nice to hear. (And he never did another show as far as I know, going into the news business instead.)
I remember my favourite moment with the guy, who was generally game for anything. I came across this old sound effects LP that had individual numbers read in Sonovox, a robot-like voice that was popular in 60s radio jingles. So we put them together to read out the station's call-in phone number.
We used it normally for several weeks, with the host giving it a robot name, and then decided to have fun with it. (The show wasn't really a serious topic type of talk program, so we loved to fool around on it.) It started simply - the voice read the phone number. Then the next time we played it, it added an extra number, prompting concern from the host.
It went on and on, with the thing slowing down or speeding up and the host joking we had to send it back to NASA, where it supposedly was "built." He also asked me to tighten the screws to try to fix it.
This went on at the end of every break, until the 2-hour show was over, and we played the grand finale I'd concocted in a studio several hours earlier. The thing came on just as the end theme music was playing. "Why is it giving out the number when we're done?" the host asked, as the theme played in the background.
And then, using the SFX of a tape speeding through a Studer reel-to-reel head, I let it loose - a sped up impossible to understand stream of Sonovox verbiage, followed by a huge explosion, with pieces of it falling all over the place, including into a few seconds of the intro to the next show.
The late John Donabie was listening that night and told me he almost drove off the road he was laughing so hard.
We kept the "robot" off the air for a few weeks, telling the audience it was being "fixed," and then brought it back.
It was one of my favourite bits of live radio I ever did, and I only wish I'd kept a copy of it. But alas, it's long lost to everything - except my memory.
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Thread Starter- Easily Amused
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Re: In Praise Of The Hidden Heroes Of Talk Radio
Years ago, the afternoon sports program on WGR AM had a truly funny and creative producer in Greg Bauch. His 'Greg Buck' parody sports announcer calls were hilarious, and he seemed to shepherd the show along an equal mix of information and comedy. If I recall correctly, he left for a sales job at WNY's Talking Phone Book, so you see how well Entercom was paying behind the microphone talent. The show suffered when Bauch left, it has never come close to the entertainment value it once had.
- Binson Echorec
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Re: In Praise Of The Hidden Heroes Of Talk Radio
And yet, somewhere along the way, the industry decided that running a board was an entry-level position. It never made sense to me that the person responsible for the sound of the station was among the lowest paid. Early in my career I'm running the board for one of the largest morning shows in Toronto earning $10/hour. The host sitting across from me was probably earning $10/minute.
I spent the bulk of my career as a Board Operator for both FM and AM - when I was a part timer, I was the go-to fill-in guy. Every host liked working with me; one morning a co-host even commented, "How come the show runs better when you're here?"; the subtext being that the full-time Op wasn't as sharp in this person's opinion.
Operators also know everything (and maybe more) about the station and its programming and are privy to a tonne of station chatter. This happened more on the FM side but it was always fascinating when another jock came into the studio. The host and I would be doing our thing; picking tunes, laughing, chatting, and generally getting along and getting it done. As soon as that second jock came in the room, I became invisible - the two jocks would gas on with each other like I wasn't even there. It was an interesting lesson in ego and I learned more about them then they ever imagined.
Not one Technical Producer working today is paid appropriately. Without them, there is no show. Hosts and Content Producers could assemble a lights-out killer show but if there is nobody to put it to air, then what good is it?
Last edited by Binson Echorec (April 22, 2025 12:22 pm)
- RadioActive
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Re: In Praise Of The Hidden Heroes Of Talk Radio
And yet, somewhere along the way, the industry decided that running a board was an entry-level position. It never made sense to me that the person responsible for the sound of the station was among the lowest paid. Early in my career I'm running the board for one of the largest morning shows in Toronto earning $10/hour. The host sitting across from me was probably earning $10/minute.
I spent the bulk of my career as a Board Operator for both FM and AM - when I was a part timer, I was the go-to fill-in guy. Every host liked working with me; one morning a co-host even commented, "How come the show runs better when you're here?"; the subtext being that the full-time Op wasn't as sharp in this person's opinion.
Operators also know everything (and maybe more) about the station and its programming and are privy to a tonne of station chatter. This happened more on the FM side but it was always fascinating when another jock came into the studio. The host and I would be doing our thing; picking tunes, laughing, chatting, and generally getting along and getting it done. As soon as that second jock came in the room, I became invisible - the two jocks would gas on with each other like I wasn't even there. It was an interesting lesson in ego and I learned more about them then they ever imagined.
Not one Technical Producer working today is paid appropriately. Without them, there is no show. Hosts and Content Producers could assemble a lights-out killer show but if there is nobody to put it to air, then what good is it?
A lot of great points. The problem is the "board ops" (and most are far more than that) are unknown and thus underpaid. They're considered by some in management to be easily replaceable and all the same - anyone can do it. But the good ones are talented and can make a show sound like gold. Unfortunately they're often doomed to "special thanks to" credits and not much more.
There were some exceptions I can recall, with probably the most famous being Karl Rampershad, who Jim "Brady In The Morning" made famous as "Crazy Karl" during the time when CFTR was riding high as a Top 40 station. He wasn't on air, but he could anticipate where Brady was going and kept that show tight and enhanced the humour with a perfect sense of timing. I was there in those days, and he was a great guy.
Karl Dockstader has a great on-air relationship with his producer, Ryan Williams, on CKTB's terrific live weekend morning show. Williams is a virtual co-host and is quite funny, and also has one of my favourite audio drops of all time. He went out his way to isolate a Milhouse quote from the Simpsons, so every time Dockstader starts getting superior on air, he'll let it loose.
"Quiet everybody!" it goes. "An old man's talking!"
Shuts him up every time and it never fails to make me laugh.
And then there's the once and no longer Robert Turner, who functioned behind the board for years on CFRB's John Moore morning show. He was able to issue rare but highly effective on air digs and hilarious one liners during the show, and was one of the highlights. Nice that he's been promoted to P.D., but he's really missed on air.
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