Okay, a few days before Christmas and a local radio host decides to run his mouth for a couple of days about the college football coach leaving. He ramps up listeners and response (mostly complaints), then they yank him off the air. He's suspended...
It gets reported by the newspaper. The Program Manager yanks him off the air, but essentially leaves the door open for him to return at some later point --say, like after he gets back from Christmas vacation, perhaps?
Meanwhile, the radio station can exploit it, use it as talking points for their on-air people, use it as a demonstration of their listeners for their would be clients. That the paper picked it up is free publicity. Hell, they could even try an Andy Kauffman play and turn it into a call-in to see about bringing Kidd back.
Oh, but wait... but didn't Coach Kidd do something bad? Didn't he offend the listeners? What about this thing they said about insubordination? Maybe, but probably not. There are only a few guys like Howard Stern who get to run off at the mouth and say whatever the hell they want. Mostly, DJs know what they can and can't do. They are often told pretty clearly what's okay and what isn't.
If it really bothered someone in management, he'd have gotten a call early on telling him to shut the fuck up and read another story about Britney Spears. And he would have. He would have rolled over and apologized. He isn't stupid. Jocks who piss off the boss get fired and they don't get new jobs in the glamour gig of a radio morning show.
That's the magic of radio and one of the things I love about it. It's mostly bullshit.
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7 comments:
Good call! I didn't see that and I should've. Thanks.
There was a brief and ugly time when I did radio news in Florida. Oh, what a hellish nightmare it was. I never even bothered to make a tape because I have plenty of bad memories on my own and I sure as shit wasn't going to try for that can of position again. Ever.
The morning drive DJ was this guy who'd gotten fired in Baltimore for doing a schtick about winning a talking Jesus doll (and, if you pulled the string he would sing The Doors's "Light My Fire). It was the shittiest shithole station run by a hunchback dwarf with one leg where it looked like the joint worked backwards (no lie. didn't even know that was possible). The station had to buy their own music because they somehow didn't qualify to be on the proper stations list.
I can't image that doll joke was worth landing in that ring of hell.
Now, I have witnessed firings for saying stupid things on the air. In Bluefield, an afternoon DJ had a meltdown and rolled into Meredith Brooke's "Bitch" after making a comment about menstrating women during a talkback segment for the "Secretary's fair" remote broadcast. He also talked shit about the sale department, which may have cost him more points than the unfunny joke. He was the jock in the studio and the guy on the line was actually his direct supervisor, the program director. The station manager drove out to the remote, collected the program director, brought him back and had him fire the jock on the spot.
It happens... but I met the jocks for that show once. Neither of them seemed that edgy or out there -just nice, slightly quirky folks with a sizeable helping of charisma.
I remember when The Greaseman, who took over for Stern at DC 101, said, during the debate over MLK,Jr's birthday being a national holiday, "I say kill four more and let's take the whole week off". He only got a 2 week suspension out of that.
I remember The Greaseman. I had a friend from DC. His brother used to tape the show for him and send him cassettes. Funny stuff and profane.
But yeah... that's it exactly. The level of offense is so minor as to be less than trivial. So, likely a stunt or Bristol has gone completely pansy.
Right after Flight 90 crashed, he called Air Florida on the air and asked how much a ticket cost from Washington National to the 14th Street Bridge. I didn't live there then but it was legendary.
I remember. I loved his sign off... "A.M.F" which depending on who he was talking to meant audios my friend or audios motherfuckers.
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