Why I Stay Pissed

[Noj]

Art is about communication, editing, and reasons for decisions. All the compromising happens on the business end.

[Dr. Rat]

Art is about communication, editing, and reasons for decisions.  All the compromising happens on the business end.

←

I'm of a mind that the word "compromise" gets a bad rap. For me compromise is the essence of communication, and even compromise for financial reasons does not necessarily have reason to hide its head. It all depends on how it turns out, not on what mix of motivations led to the final product.

--eric

[JSngry]

From my point of view if they are playing Count Basie and trying to learn, all is well. What harm is really done if they say Bassie anyhow? Someone equally naive may come in for an embarassing moment, but that's life.

No harm whatsoever (although, if a Rock DJ pronounced a band's anme "Metal-EEK-a", don't you think that said DJ would be counselled immediately, if not sooner?), and, yeah, at least partof the reason I listen to KNTU is to hear the DJs mangle the names. It often happens when you least expect it, and the implications are amusing, to put it mildly. I mean, we're in a region where Hispanicity is one of the main cultural flavors, to the point where Onaje Alan Gumbs finds his Afro-Centric chosen name pronounced "o=NA-hey" on KNTU, like it's Spanish! Yet, Arturo Sandoval ends up getting called "sand-Oval", like an egg on the beach. It's freakin' hilarious! And then there's Hank Mobberly"...

So yeah, I don't see the harm in teaching the broadcasters of the future how to read, or how to pronounce people's names correctly, especially names that are somewhat "familiar" to the world at large, but I know, that's a 20th Century notion, and it's a 21st Century world, so I view it all with the amusement of A MAn From Another Time.

I'm less amused, though, by the notion of some fuckwad hiding records that people want to hear and people want to play just because in his little dick-tater head they're records that somehow, in some way, are not welcome at "his" station. Hey - it might be his job, but it sure as hell ain't his station. He's got jazz records that a portion of his jazz audience wants to hear, and he's hiding the shit like it poses some threat to national security or something. Plus, he's no doubt filling the minds of the young, clueless, and gullible in his midst with the notion, that people don't really want to hear this stuff, even though they say they do, so don't even think about it, because it's just a bunch of "fringe" shit anyways, and who cares about that, let's just play some real jazz he says without as much as a trace of irony?!?!?!?!!?

?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

[kenny weir]

Hanging up on listeners who want to discuss music and programming is just way out of bounds in my book. I would not pay someone to behave in such a manner, and I'm not sure I'd let them volunteer, even. Personally, I love having people like Jim out there listening, and I appreciate the criticism offered. Usually when infomed folks know the situation WE (one full time employee, a relatively green group of volunteer programmers, etc. etc.) are in, infomred critics become informed helpers. Our current Jazz Director started as someone who called in often to correct my mispronunciations.

←

Fair enough. But I have no hesitation confessing that in the course of 15 years plus, I have hung up on quite a few "listeners".

There are limits.

There levels of abuse that need not be tolerated.

There are radio trolls.

[rostasi]

Fair enough. But I have no hesitation confessing that in the course of 15 years plus,

I have hung up on quite a few "listeners".

There are limits.

There levels of abuse that need not be tolerated.

There are radio trolls.

Yeah, like the girl who called me one night every 15 fóquine minutes:

"Would you plaaaaaay Fly Robin Fly?!" {KCHU, Dallas}

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Now playing: Heinz Holliger - Dona Nobis Pacem

[JSngry]

KCHU was the greatest radio station in the history of the WORLD!

[rostasi]

KCHU was the greatest radio station in the history of the WORLD!

I loved it! Listed here (with KNTU, and others)

D/FW Radio History

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Now playing: Brian Ferneyhough - Time and Motion Study III

[PHILLYQ]

WBGO has a strict "clock" approach. I don't recall the specifics, but it's basically this: vocal tune, followed by new release, followed by classic tune - but remember classic can't go back before 1945. I think it repeats every thirty minutes. And this does NOT vary on the time of day. They specifically must present a unified homogenized image whether 4 PM or 4 AM.

In the end, I don't listen anymore. And if the local jazz station is losing *me* as a listener (and as a paying member) - I mean really, WTF?!!!?!!

Mike

←

I used to be a member of WBGO, and then they stopped being a full jazz station and then became another arm of the Grouch/Marsalis school of jazz as a museum piece. They also lost me as a member, and now the only time I listen is when they have R'n'B oldies on Saturday morning. At least WKCR(bless their souls) is still around to play the full spectrum of jazz.

[chris olivarez]

Hanging up on listeners should be an option but an option of last resort. Some listeners do cross the line beyond all reason and decency. When I was first starting out in radio I was counseled to hang up on this type of listener rather than retaliate and making matters worse.

When your in this situation and you're dealing with an unhappy listener it is better to exercise patience,civility and understanding but when that listener makes it clear that there will be no civil dialogue(ie continued profanity,threats etc)it is sometimes better to end the conversation.

Do your best to address the listeners concerns and do attempt a civil dialogue but if it doesn't work it's better to terminate the conversation as opposed to getting your buttons pushed and doing something really stupid.

[Dan Gould]

Unless Jim is not being fully forthcoming about the content of the conversation, he did nothing to deserve being hung up on, and any radio "professional" should be able to distinguish between callers who deserve being hung up on and those who don't.

[JSngry]

I was being totally calm and respectful when the cat hung up on me. I can play that card at least as well as I can the raving lunatic one.

I figure the cat either knew that he was being called upon to defend the indefensible and decided to cut his losses and fold the hand immediately, or else that he's one of those types whose go-to when faced with confrontation, even simple and courteous disagreement is to run and hide. I think the common term for that type is "pussy". Works for me!

And no, I'm not even attempting to be calm and respectful in this thread.

[Dr. Rat]

Unless Jim is not being fully forthcoming about the content of the conversation, he did nothing to deserve being hung up on, and any radio "professional" should be able to distinguish between callers who deserve being hung up on and those who don't.

←

Right, I was talking about people calling to discuss music or programming choices, not idiots, lunatics or monomaniacs.

On the hiding the Ornette records: I've done similar things, and I don't think it's a terrible thing. There are a few people out there who like to hear ornette on the radio, but lots more who do not. But the people who DO want to hear him will call and request him far out of proportion to their numbers. Same goes for cover songs, Bad Plus, songs with political content, Alice's Restaurant, So What, What a Wonderful World, etc. etc. Sometimes I as manager have to take steps to make sure that a few interested individuals and/or naive djs don't end up alienating the majority of the listeners. In some cases that means getting stuff out of the studio.

In my view the station has to reflect the preferences of the broad listenership, not those of djs and the relatively few people who call. That's what managers are for. Are we wrong sometimes? sure. That's one of the reasons I don't hang up on people who disagree with me. They just might be right.

--eric

[JSngry]

My gift to you. Becuase I care.

[Dr. Rat]

My gift to you. Becuase I care.

←

Are you taking the fifth or giving it? Or giving it to suggest that I take it. Or should have taken it.

I'm not supposed to take amendments from stangers, but I suppose since we've argued about jazz and God, we've moved beyond that point.

--eric

[rostasi]

I'm not supposed to take amendments from stangers...

Brilliant!

[chris olivarez]

I have no problem with anybody who calls to voice a complaint in a civil and respectful manner and oftimes have no problem with someone who is upset and quite possibly hot under the caller. Some people however do seriously cross the line and continuing a dialogue with them could be counterproductive.

From what I could see JSngry did nothing that warranted his being hung up on.After reading a considerable amount of his posts there can be no doubt about how articulate and intelligent he is and well he handles himself even in situations where he is not very happy and I'd be willing to bet the house that none of that changed on the day he made that call.

[JSngry]

Actually, I wasn't in the least bit angry while talking to Mark, since a position such as his is what I've come to expect from the whole UNT/Jazz Ed. I've had over 30 years of dealing with them and the fallout they create over the whole DFW "jazz scene".

I was disappointed, though, and that's my fault for expecting something other than the same old same old from the "usual suspects". But hope springs eternal, as they say, even if it is the hope of a fool.

You know, the school bought Sam Rivers in as guest lecturer/performer a few years ago, so I thought that maybe, just maybe, things were opening up a little bit. But other than a few cuts from Fuschia Swing Song played the days that he was here, I've not heard any more Sam Rivers on KNTU. At least he got a better deal than Gerry Hemmingway - he came to lecture & perform abd didn't get any airplay, then or since. But you can hear all the Marvin Stamm you want. Or in my case, more than you want...

I'm a long-time advocate of the parallel universe concept, and I should've followed it here. No sense in expecting people to be anything other than what they are, doncha' know...

[Dr. Rat]

Actually, I wasn't in the least bit angry while talking to Mark, since a position such as his is what I've come to expect from the whole UNT/Jazz Ed. I've had over 30 years of dealing with them and the fallout they create over the whole DFW "jazz scene".

I was disappointed, though, and that's my fault for expecting something other than the same old same old from the "usual suspects". But hope springs eternal, as they say, even if it is the hope of a fool.

You know, the school bought Sam Rivers in as guest lecturer/performer a few years ago, so I thought that maybe, just maybe, things were opening up a little bit. But other than a few cuts from Fuschia Swing Song played the days that he was here, I've not heard any more Sam Rivers on KNTU. At least he got a better deal than Gerry Hemmingway - he came to lecture & perform abd didn't get any airplay, then or since. But you can hear all the Marvin Stamm you want. Or in my case, more than you want...

I'm a long-time advocate of the parallel universe concept, and I should've followed it here. No sense in expecting people to be anything other than what they are, doncha' know...

←

I can see your point in regard to UNT: considering their role in jazz education, I'd say they'd have a greater obligation on the "representing the form" side of things than your typical public radio station.

A lot of the fact that the station doesn't represent jazz more fully may have to do with funding: if the University is getting stingy with money, the station has to start looking at some of the "tried and true" methods for generating more revenue, and making the programming more consistently middle-of-the-road is one of those.

The professionalizing of the dj corps is another. And strict playlisting.

In short, playing to a fit audience though even fewer that public radio would draw in any case requires a considerable subsidy.

But for me the fun of the business is trying to do something that will get a fairly big audience and still be good.

--eric

[Dr. Rat]

kchu:

The Troubles we had at the Hippie Radio Station

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What is so rare as a Hippie Radio Station...in Dallas, Texas of all places. This had to be the biggest demographics blunder of all times, or at least since Chet Helms opened the Denver Dog. If it's got something to do with Hippies, why put it in a fascist police state? The last thing the citizens of Dallas wanted was a Hippie radio station to listen to, but thanks to Lorenzo Milam and Dennis Gross, they got one anyway, complete with Hippie sound engineer (me), Hippie business manager, several Hippie program directors (they tended to burn out in record time) and many Hippie disk jockeys (and a few square ones thrown in just to make things more interesting). While many might object to it being called a Hippie radio station, I'm sure the volunteers at the station who were part of the counterculture outnumbered those who were not. Actually, the station was more like a miniature United Nations because everyone was included.

Although Lorenzo was a bohemian in every sense of the word, he wasn't exactly a Hippie because he was more like Beat Generation age. Anyway, he didn't seem to get along with us younger Hippies very well, but we all had the same goal, run a radio station that the community had full access to. The first thing we had to do is learn the physics of running a radio station, because few of us had done that before. We all had to get an FCC license and learn how to take the logs, run the equipment and do pledge drives (something every bohemian hates to do and probably the worst part of the whole gig).

It cost $200 a day just to keep the station on the air and naturally, none of us got paid because we're all like starving artists, remember. Eventually, they got me and several others CETA grants, but most of the time, we never got paid. Sometimes, someone would actually send in a pledge so we could pay some of the bills around the place, but that didn't happen very often. Money was a constant hassle at the station.

After we got to the point where we could run the station, we had to train others (the volunteers) to run it. The station had about 100 volunteers plus about 10 of us on the staff. The worst job at the station was being Program Director because keeping track of 100 volunteers and what they're doing on the air is a real mind blower. Another problem we had were people not showing up for their air shift and one of us having to drop what we were doing and go on the air unprepared, and try to wing it until the next person shows up to do their shift. The Program Director usually quit after having to do an all night stand (air shift) after three or four back to back no-shows.

About five of us at the station were known as the KCHU Pranksters because we were the ones that seemed to upset the squares the worst. Actually, we weren't trying to upset anyone. We were just trying to keep the station on the air and have a good time while we were doing it, but somehow our kind of art clashed with Lorenzo's and the citizens of Dallas didn't seem to dig our pranks...like the time we had a booth at the State Fair and ran a remote broadcast from there. Somehow a booth of Day-glo Hippies looked so out of place in with all the cowboy stuff, and the fair management thought we were giving the product a bad name.

Then there was the Acid Test we did in an attempt to raise funds for the station, which we called Radioactive Island. That one we held in the right place, but unfortunately, at the wrong time. Although we had been plugging the event for weeks, at the very last minute, some other bohemian happening was scheduled on the same night as ours, and only 50 Hippies show up when we were expecting over 200, but even so, they managed to track Day-glo paint all over the place and Lee Park started to glow in the dark... and the citizens of Dallas didn't like that. I think we barely broke even on that one.

I don't know why but I don't think KCHU ever had a successful fund raiser, although some of our emergency pledge drives were a success. Every event we tried to hold somehow turned out to be a flop. Anyway, we managed to stay on the air for a year and a half before the bad shit started to happen. The biggest bummers we had before then was the time we ran out of recording tape, which meant that no one could produce their shows. The station was broke as usual, of course. We ended up having to buy government surplus army issue recording tape for 37 cents a reel. The only thing worse than that was the Saturday the mixing console in the control room shorted out because the power supply suddenly went high, and it took Larry and me six weeks to get it running again.

The building the station was in was a three-story Victorian that looked like it belonged in San Francisco and was even old enough to have knob and tube wiring. It seemed to defy all attempts to heat or cool it. The last year the station was on the air, we had a real bad-ass winter and the furnace broke down. When that happened, all the equipment went haywire. The turntables wouldn't come up to speed and the studio-transmitter link kept drifting off frequency, which kept knocking us off the air.

One night, I got woken up so many times from calls from the station about equipment problems, I decided that if I didn't get down there the next morning and get everything running again, we wouldn't be able to be on the air that day, so I headed down to the station and when I walked in, I noticed all this gushing water in the back, and I had to round up every available Hippie I could find (including the one on the air) and get them to bail water while I tried to figure out how to shut it off. After I got that problem under control, I had to deal with the next headache, the fact that none of the studio recorders would come up to speed. When I got to the control room, I noticed that someone had put up a sign by the door that said, Ice Station Zebra. I told everyone to set all the tape machines on their highest speed and hope that would warm them up. Finally, I called the station's business manager and told him that the trouble with the furnace had become an emergency situation that was threatening to knock us off the air. Everyone finally pitched in and got it going again.

After that happened, we decided to have a meeting and all the volunteers came, and we decided to have an election so that we wouldn't have so many screwups in the future. Well, we had the election and several of the Pranksters were elected, including me. I thought all our problems were over because I was pleased with everyone who got elected. We decided to have Saturday work days, where we did repairs and improvements on the building, and tried to fix problems before they got out of hand.

I don't think anyone knows why the station suddenly fell apart, but what happened was there was a real nasty power struggle that caused two of the Pranksters and me to leave the station. It also caused Lorenzo to leave the station, by the way, and when we left...how many times has this freakin' story been told before...

What happened to KCHU when we split was about the same as happened to the Pranksters when Kesey split to Mexico (see The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe) and what happened to the League when Leo split (see The Journey to the East by Herman Hesse). For those of you who have never been caught up in this particular kind of synch (as Tom Wolfe puts it), here it is again for the millionth time. And I quote...

"Hardley had Leo left us when faith and concord amongst us was at an end; it was as if the life-blood of our group flowed out from an invisible wound."

I really felt sad about the whole thing. When you think of the things you should have done or tried or said that might have saved the station, it gets really depressing. If I had been older, I might have been able to prevent the atrocity from happening, but the thing about it was, we were all college age at the time. We were more into the art of the thing rather than the politics, and that's probably what did us in.

Well, the station went to hell in a hand basket and was off the air in six months, Lorenzo turned the station license over to a group called ACORN, who started another station called KNON, but I have no idea what has become of that station. It had neither the equipment or elbow room that KCHU had and I never could get into it. Besides, I was 10 years older when that station went on the air and just didn't have the energy to hassle it.

While all this might sound depressing, don't let it discourage you. Many community access radio stations have been much more successful than KCHU was. Besides, we did manage to produce some pretty good shows at KCHU and had a lot of fun doing it. Although the multitudes failed to materialize for our Acid Test, artistically speaking it was a great success, and we really enjoyed doing it (I think we had three people running the light show, about 12 musicians on the stage, me running the mixing console, another cat helping me run the tape machines, two prop people backstage and another cat backstage who's job was to reset the circuit breakers whenever they kicked). Sure, it was a bummer when the Day-glo paint spilled and got into everyone's Hippie Hair and beards when we were trying to get it cleaned up, but you should have seen how it upset the squares when it got tracked all over the sidewalks and it started to rain, which left vivid rainbow colors on the sidewalks under the mercury vapor lights. They claimed that we had created the worst goddamn hallucination in the history of the State of Texas, and they weren't even tripping on acid. Imagine how it must have looked to those of us who were! Who cares if the squares don't dig our art!

To find out more about community access radio, read Lorenzo's book, Sex and Broadcasting and explore the radio station pages on the World Wide Web to see if there's a community radio station in your area.

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Copyright © 1995,

Colin Pringle (colinp@halcyon.com)

radio.htm

6-27-95

[JSngry]

kchu:

Lorenzo turned the station license over to a group called ACORN, who started another station called KNON, but I have no idea what has become of that station. It had neither the equipment or elbow room that KCHU had and I never could get into it. Besides, I was 10 years older when that station went on the air and just didn't have the energy to hassle it. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Copyright © 1995,

Colin Pringle (colinp@halcyon.com)

radio.htm

6-27-95

←

KNON lives, and lives reasonably well, all things considered. Home to Gospel, Redneck, Blues, Indian, and all other types of music, all presented from within the community for the community. And, as noted above, they do have some jazz action.

ACORN is one of theose "public advocacy" groups that'll drive you nuts with their whining and finger-pointing, but for every red herring they throw up, they're just as likely to hit on a legitimate issue. Better to have'em around than not, I say.

What KNON is that KCHU never was is structured. Sometimes on KCHU, it would be totally free-form - you'd have no idea what you'd hear next, it could literally be anything followed by anything else, all day/night long. I know that's a recipie for limited appeal, but dammit, I dug it.

I think that everybody should experience exposure to free-form radio at least once in their life. You got until your dying days to live in the regimented world, and you probably will. Might as well do so with a twinkle in your eye from knowing that somewhere, at some time, if only for a moment, it didn't have to be that way.

People who don't have that twinkle are dangerous.

[Dr. Rat]

I've done free form, and was fairly good at it if I do say so myself.

But I found that there was something . . . kind of empty in it after a while. And when I've listened other people doing it I've often had the sense that it was very little different from iPod shuffle with an eclectic colletion of mp3s.

If you listened to the station I'm at now, you wouldn'tthink we're terribly structured. A lot of people listen and can't tell what the format is! And I'm completely comfortable about that. But I also am a firm believer that a degree of format structure makes for better radio.

"Structured" oughtn't be thought of only as "restricting," it is also that which opens up the possibility for conveying all kinds of new shades of feeling and meaning. Language, for instance, is highly structured, but our range of expression is hugely increased by imposing that structure.

Structure is a business of excluding and including, so some stuff gets left out, but some stuff gets left out no matter what.

I find that having obligations--to have a financially viable radio station, to please the audience, to fulfill format duties, etc.--is inspiring to me: it makes me do a better job of presenting the music and makes the experience better for everybody.

--eric

[Michael Fitzgerald]

Golly - I would hope that a live thinking person doing free-form radio would be a billion times better than a randomly-generated shuffle feature. To my way of thinking, the whole point is to make connections and program a "set" that has continuity and growth - shuffle can't do this. The ability to draw from a wide range of genres shouldn't result in just a hodge podge, but should show similarities, contrasts, whatever.

In some ways I'm a fan of the free-form idea, but in other ways, when I want to hear jazz, I turn to the jazz station and expect to get jazz, and when I want to hear rock, I turn to the rock station, etc.

Mike

[JSngry]

Free-form radio, when it works, is a very personal experience for the DJ and the listener alike, and very much an "in the moment" kind of thing. You can't make a go of it in the larger marketplace (at least not in America...) over the long haul for precisely that reason, but it's still a nice experience to have had.

[ghost of miles]

In some ways I'm a fan of the free-form idea, but in other ways, when I want to hear jazz, I turn to the jazz station and expect to get jazz, and when I want to hear rock, I turn to the rock station, etc.

Mike

←

Mike,

I think you're actually like most radio listeners in that regard. Freeform IMO is best-suited for community and college radio stations. Even there, in the hands of someone who doesn't know what they're doing, it can get real annoying.

[rostasi]

Aaaaaaaaaah, the good old days!

Colin didn't mention the big arguments that many

of us had with an engineer and morning host Walter

that damn near shut us down (yet again).

Also, there was the problem of people not showing up for their shifts

and not even calling beforehand. I got some of those calls too to come out.

I remember them well...especially driving the 20 mile distance in a freak

snowstorm around Xmas day '76 to show up while my family was having Xmas dinner.

Free form was my lifeblood from '74 until I couldn't do it anymore after Aug. '87.

Before '74 it was Chicago's Triad Radio

...and if I wanted jazz, I'd listen to Earl McGhee in Chicago too.

So there's a delight in free form, but you don't have to stick with it.

I agree with Mike - a good free forum DJ is much more interesting than

a Shuffle. Even (especially?) if the "theme" is experimental.

There's nothing like having multiple turntables and tape machines going at once

while the DJ carefully textures the sound with electronic music by Henri Pousseur,

and sounds of North American frogs whilst having a

Caedmon recording of Dylan Thomas reading his own poetry.

Pure utter delight if done right!

Miss the most? Sunday's were nearly always "earthy" music days -

some of the best soul, gospel, and old country on the planet.

but we were all young (I was in high school) and pretty new to this thing called radio.

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Now playing: Anthony Braxton & Lauren Newton - Composition 192 (for two musicians & constructed environment)