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"We Can Actually Change The World"
June 28, 2017
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From now on, whatever Brian Gary is selling, I'm buying in large quantities; I'm all in. Also, let me pass along this bit of advice for any of you whose company holds annual meetings and attempts to dazzle you with rah-rah motivational speakers on the last session of the final day: Forget superstar athletes; reality show stars; and the latest guy who somehow survived subzero temperatures on a glacier in Nepal, sawed of his arm with a portable can opener, and drank his own pee. Forget Navy Admiral William H. McRaven and his advice to "make your bed."
Forget all those people, and book the services of KUAD/Ft. Collins, CO MD/morning co-host Brian Gary, recent entry into the Country Radio Hall Of Fame at last week's induction ceremony in Nashville. Do this today, if possible.
On a night filled with incredible stories, memories, and inspiration, Gary spoke last, for the least amount of time, while providing the most enthusiastic, animated reminder of why most of us got into this business in the first place.
Gary began by sarcastically agreeing with his co-hosts, Susan Moore and Todd Harding – each of whom was gracious, articulate, and concise in accepting their honor – while crediting Gary for inspiring them every day. "I gotta agree with Todd," said Gary. "I'm pretty freakin awesome."
Gary quickly segued into thoughts about music, the radio biz, and putting it all into perspective.
"Every one of you in this room is in the coolest business in the world. Do you realize what we get to do for a living? We get to play music and talk to people, and we get to be the ones to set the mood for the day. We can actually change the world – everyone thinks you can’t, but we sure as hell can. If we pick what we wanna talk about, how we wanna talk about it, and the attitude we wanna project it with, we can infect the people who listen to us to feel the same damn way and have that same positive, upbeat attitude ... I wanna be positive, and I wanna try to change the world, and that’s what our music does."
Gary then heaped praise on the singers, songwriters, and performers. "They’re the ones I wanna thank. It’s because of Country music that we have the gift at the doorstep of our listeners, that they will open up the door and let us into their lives with. If we were showing up with something other than great, kick-ass Country music, we wouldn’t be in that door. So, thank you to Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Craig Wiseman, Jeffrey Steele, Dean Dillon, busbee – thank you to people like that who are writing and making this music."
As a longtime, day-to-day radio pro, and 30-year vet of the same station in the same market, Gary is miraculously devoid of any of the usual, jaded skepticism that can sometimes creep into our souls. He shared his upbeat thoughts on local radio, and a sense of community, while issuing a challenge to all radio operators:
"As [someone] who’s a small market radio guy, there’s no better thing in the world than to be able to live in a community, get to know your listeners, become entrenched in it, and be part of their lives. You will never, ever, ever beat good, live, local radio – it will never be done. You can voice track and beam it all you want; if you are in a community, and you can run your radio station based on what your community needs, you’re a winner. And, since I have the opportunity – you can’t take this shit back, I’m in – I want to be flat-out honest. I want some of you decision-makers and owners out there to please let your Program Directors program; let them do it from their community. They know what’s going on in their community, and they have to face the responsibility for the decisions that are made. Trust them, and let them do the job. There is so much damn good music out there right now, but there are more than 20 to 25 good songs that deserve to be on the playlist every week. I’m in this not because I’m a radio guy – I am in this because I love music, I love what it does, I love what it can do, I love the power of radio, and nobody does it better than Country. So, God bless every one of you – from the record promoters that put it out, to guys like [Reviver Records Mgr./West Coast Promotion] Dave [Collins], who calls me every week to say 'play this;' to you guys, Dan + Shay, out there kicking ass and putting out this great music; to all the great new artists like you, Devin Dawson, sitting right there. It is endless – the talent we’ve got in this town. Let’s celebrate it and be proud of who we are and what we do. God bless you guys, and thank you for this honor."
Brian Gary's words were moving, from the heart, off the cuff – and, spot on. If you want or need a daily kick starter to get your mind right and reset priorities, watch Gary, Harding, and Moore's remarks here. When you see them, you'll realize why their show has won for years – still does – and why they're now members of the Country Radio Hall Of Fame. You'll also see why somebody needs to get Brian Gary on a panel at CRS 2018 – preferably as an opening keynote speaker.
We Get Letters
Shifting gears, I received some mail after last week's recap of the June 16th incident in Sacramento involving Stoney Creek's Lindsay Ell and KNCI's cancellation of her previously-scheduled and promoted appearance there. I was pretty tough on Kurt Bardella of Morning Hangover for his quick (same day) call for somebody (presumably KNCI PD Chad Rufer), "to be held accountable and fired." Bardella also declared KNCI's decision to un-invite Ell, "blatant sexism pure and simple."
I found both of these statements to be reckless. I certainly don't condone sexism, just like I don't accept racism, ageism, and similar atrocities. But making a declarative statement about any of those is dangerous, without a full analysis of the facts. Ditto, calling for someone's head. I called Bardella on this, because his official statement mentioning both was originally issued via his Facebook page at 8:51p on June 16 – the same day and within hours of the incident.
Bardella emailed me with some information, asking me to edit that paragraph of my column. I was not willing to do that, instead offering to run his note in full – providing him with the same space as the original column. Here is his email in its entirety:
"I wanted to touch base regarding your column - a few things that just stood out to me that you may have not been aware of - first and foremost, it's just 100% false to assume and say that I put my statement out based solely on the Washington Post story. I made a point to speak with a number of people who were directly involved in the situation before putting out my own statement.
Second, while I've never worked in radio, I did work in media, for a CBS affiliate in Bakersfield, California in fact before my work in DC.
Third, I take a little offense to you labeling my Morning Hangover platform as a 'side hustle.' as it is something I have spent more than a year now cultivating and growing and have deliberately downsized my DC-based activities to focus on this platform. I spend easily 70% of my time and attention on the Morning Hangover. It is something I have put a lot of time, effort, passion, heart and my own resources into. It's more than a side-hustle."
I also took notice of some comments posted on MY Facebook page, after I shared my column on Monday, July 19:
Townsquare Media/Yakima, WA OM Rik Mikals wrote: "It's a great lesson that only radio wars matter to radio people ... in 2017, maybe it's time to realize that 99% of our listeners want to hear another great record than bickering about the other radio stations. I commend the other stations for stepping up in Lindsay's defense, she should have always been treated with respect as an artist without a doubt. I think we as programmers need to wise up and realize we need to elevate the listener experience as they come into contact with our products rather than tearing folks down in the name of competition...it's short sighted, and a great reminder NOT to take ourselves so serious."
Former KMPS/Seattle and KUBL/Salt Lake City PD Ed Hill: "Whatever programmer made that call is woefully unaware that artist's music is available everywhere. Not enough thought went thru that. The ERA of the 'power move' is over because it just does not matter anymore."
Former longtime regional Promotion Manager Sam Harrell, quoting KNCI's subsequent statement/apology: “‘We only hope that she – and our listeners – will forgive us, and her team will allow us to reschedule the show.’ KNCI had their chance and blew it by being petty and asinine. If KNCI wants to re-schedule [Ell] to come back and perform for listeners, etc. they should foot the bill. KNCI was a much better radio station when Mark Evans was PD.”
Cherry Creek/Wenatchee, WA OM Chuck Geiger: "Betcha people play her music now - Best PR ever."
[Editor's note: Lindsay Ell's "Waiting On You" was up 53 spins from the previous week and moved 77-74 on the Mediabase seven-day Country singles chart for the week ending June 24th.]
As always, I welcome your feedback, positive or otherwise. Add your thoughts in the comments section below, or hit me direct on email here.
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