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10 Questions with ... Matt Michaels
August 22, 2006
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NAME:Matt MichaelsTITLE:MD/APDSTATIONS:B95.1MARKET:Ventura CountyCOMPANY:CumulusBORN:11/22/68 Los AngelesRAISED:Van Nuys/Oxnard, CA
Please outline your radio career so far:
Y-97 Santa Barbara/1987, KKUR 105.5 Ventura/1990, KMDY KNJO Thousand Oaks 1991, KHAY Ventura/1993
1) What was your first job in radio? Early influences?
Q-105 Ventura. Jed the Fish from KROQ...he's been on forever. I loved his laid back entertaining style.
2) What career path would you be following had it not been for this industry?
I would definitely be a teacher. What I would teach I have no idea? Thus...the DJ thing.
3) What do you view as the most important issue facing radio today?
Making radio the MUST LISTEN TO medium that it used to be and should be now. Everybody talks about all the competition from other media, but nothing else is so instant, so available, and so real. We need to use the phones and emails, and be out in public like a politician running for office, but be anything but a politician. People don't know their neighbors anymore. We need to be their neighbors.
4) What's your take on current music? Is it as good as six months ago, better, or about the same? Elaborate.
I think we're doing great. It feels to me like we're on the edge of something big. We as programmers just have to remember to keep an open mind. A format's success is its diversity.
5) What is your favorite radio station outside of the market and why?
KPIG in Monterey, CA. When I listen to that station I have no idea what's going to happen next?
6) What's the best concert you've been to so far this year and why?
Ben Harper. It rocked. It grooved. It made a statement in a non-preachy way. Plus, he sang some very touching acoustic songs. I think I successfully avoided getting a "contact high."
7) Tell us what music we would find on your car or home CD player (or turntable) right now and what is it you enjoy about that particular selection?
I really listen to a selection you'd almost hear on B95.1; a lot of recent stuff with a huge chunk of 80's and 90's. I like throwing a bunch of new CD's into the disc changer and seeing what comes up. I'm constantly surprised.
8) How do you interact with your sales staff?
I love interacting with them. I love hearing their ideas, and helping them with my ideas. They're dealing with their clients everyday, I'm dealing with my listeners everyday. In the end, the clients are listeners and vice-versa. Positive interactions all around can only help the radio station.
9) Describe the relationship you have with your fellow co-workers? How do you motivate your staff to do better? How do they motivate you?
We're all doing what our individual positions ask for, but we're all having a good time. This is radio after all. But if for some reason someone isn't doing their job, then we need to find out why. If I'm missing something in my role I need to know, too. The biggest unfortunate truth about radio is that we're communicators, and yet sometimes we're the worse communicators. We've got to keep talking whether it be by intercom, cell, or getting your exercise running down the hall. In the end, we all have to work to be the best communicators we can be.
10) What is the one truth that has held constant throughout your career?
Be real, be honest, enjoy working with some of the coolest people on the planet, and definitely always think outside the box.
Bonus Questions
Who would be your dream guest on the show?
I'd like to talk to KT Tunstall. She's very intriguing and I love her CD. Billy Joel would be my second dream guest but he's not much in the format anymore.
What is your favorite TV show?
My favorite TV show was "Northern Exposure." The "Chris in the Morning" DJ played by John Corbett was a big influence on me, and that "real" way of being on the radio.
How often do you air-check your own shows? Is it mandatory that you run tape everyday? Also, can you honestly critique yourself?
I run tape everyday, then after taping a week I'll pop it in the radio and listen off and on for the next week while I'm taping a different cassette. You should give yourself a couple days before you hear a show because then you see it more from the listener's perspective. I keep in my mind the advice my PD J. Love gives me as well.
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