A Holiday Wish for the Radio Industry

Before coming to Billings, I had the privilege of working at a few of the best rock radio stations in the country. One of them is KDKB in Phoenix, Arizona. Founded in 1971, KDKB is the 6th oldest continuous rock station in America. It has rocked for 42 years now and it's still going strong.

My program director at KDKB was a guy named Paul Marshall. "Neanderpaul" has been in the radio game for years. His resume is amazing: he's been on the air in Boston, Memphis, New Orleans, Kansas City, Sacramento and Phoenix. He's one of the few guys left in our business who "gets it". That old school connection between a DJ, the music and the audience is what made radio great in the first place. Sadly, it's a lost art in this day and age.

He recently wrote a holiday poem about the radio industry and I wanted to share it with the Hawk rockers. I wish I could say the Hawk is always live and local. It's not. But I am proud that we have a local staff, albeit small, and that our programming decisions (for the most part) are made right here in Billings and not by some corporate suit in New York.

Paul Marshall's version of "Twas the Night Before Christmas"

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the station
Not a creature was stirring, ’twas all automation.
The phone lines they rang, but no one was there,
The dopes that cleaned house, just didn’t care.

The listeners were calling, with songs in their heads,
With pre-rehearsed audio turned up instead.
My mom in her ‘kitchen, her foot she would tap,
How sad she would be, to put up with this crap.

When we were all young, we heard music that mattered,
The DJ announced it, with relevant chatter.
Away to the speaker, I flew like a flash
Cranked up the Zeppelin, The Who & The Clash.

The tunes were the best, we loved all the shows
The DJ in mid-day, their name we’d all know.
When, what to my pondering ears should I hear,
An irrelevant voice, from a guy not from here.

With so little to tell me, ‘bout the town that I live,
I knew there and then, not a care could I give.
More vapid and useless, his statements the same,
And he screwed up announcing, from where we all came

"North KWINsee! BURgundy,” one after the other
And all I can think of is, find me another!
‘Round the dial do I search, how the mighty they fall!
They chase away! Chase away! Chased away all!"

‘Cos DeeJays of yore, were stewards of song,
And they knew that their listeners, were singing along
But now those at the top-the costs they eschew,
With the ouster of people, the revenues grew.

And then, someone thought, shouldn’t radio be live?
The future demands we adapt to survive.
And I knew in my head, and was hoping again,
That the stations would resolve to entertain us as friends.

See radio’s unlike anything else, this I feel in my heart,
And to fix it, demands we go back to the start.
With DeeJays, and music, and stories to share,
And doing it right, by people who care.

These barons on Wall St. don’t know how it’s done!
Connection with people’s how this game is won!
We know that good music, it touches the heart,
Respect for the product is only one part.

To start we could try hearing the voices who say,
That the songs that they want are those we should play.
Because what works in Boston, may not in LA,
Take those national playlists, and throw them away!

We’ve been lazy, and cheap, and forgot why we’re here,
To host every party, and sell them some beer!
It’s not all that hard to get people to care
But, in order to serve them, you’ve gotta be there.

So let’s hope that they get right to this work,
And fill all the stations, with more than a clerk.
Start playing fresh music, and let the reigns go,
And bring back the DJ their audience know!

It’s not yet too late, will take quite some hustle,
And the first social network can re-flex its muscle.
So I say to you now…Do radio right
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"

Categories: Music