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10 Questions with ... Jack Douglas
August 23, 2005
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NAME:Jack DouglasPOSITION:MD/Morning Show Co-Host (WCKS) And MD/Middays (WBTR)STATION:WCKS (Kiss 102.7), WBTR - (B92 Country), WLBBMARKET:Carrollton, GA (45 Miles West Of Atlanta)COMPANY:Gradick CommunicationsBORN:May 1971 In Rome, GARAISED:Chattooga County, GA (Rural Northwest Georgia)
Please outline your radio career so far:
1987-89 WGTA SUMMERVILE, GA (A great little 5killowatt AM in my hometown area that's Hispanic now)
1990-91 WGMG (MAGIC 102.1)/ATHENS, GA
1993-98 WTSH/(SOUTH 107)/ROME, GA
1998-2002 WPSK/WBXW/WBRW - BLACKSBURG/RADFORD, VA
2003-Present WCKS/WBTR/WLBB/CARROLLTON, GA1) What was your first job in radio? Early influences?
My first job was one of those "you can't get this kind of experience anymore" jobs. I started out running the board afternoons from 5:30-sign off and just about all weekend at WGTA in Summerville, GA. I started at the age of 16, while in high school. I was hooked from the first day. I was lucky enough to get to do just about everything there, from news coverage to regular jock work to changing the ribbons in the old AP machines. I ran preachers on Sundays, did a "Trading Post" show, cued records, you name it, I did it. It was the best introduction to radio. Nothing beats working for a mom & pop type station when you're new in this business. Sadly, that opportunity doesn't exist anymore.
My early Influence were: RICK DEES, SCOTT SHANNON, ROSS & WILSON (I got to listen to them on Z-93 Atlanta before they went to Z-100), STEVE McCOY, GARRY McKEE, and RICK STACEY.
2) What makes your station or market unique? How does this compare to other markets or stations you have worked at?
We're 45 miles west of Atlanta, the Western-most county in the Metro Atlanta area. Our county population is just over 100,000, even though there's a large rural feel to the area. We're booming population-wise, as Atlanta's sprawl creeps this way. Arbitron throws some diaries in here as a part of the Atlanta TSA, but the in-tab is so low its pitiful.
We compete for listeners with the "big boys" every day for listeners. You can hear almost all the Atlanta market stations here, BUT they don't serve this area. The only reason they'd have to mention this area is when something bad happens. The businesses here can't afford Atlanta ad rates. We're succeeding by being "local, local, local" and super-serving the local audience. If they're driving I-20 to Atlanta for work, they're gonna get traffic from the Atlanta stations. But, if they want to know what's going on where they live, what the county commission is doing on taxes, what's up with the local school board, what's happening in our local communities, then they're only gonna hear it from us.
Being the little guy just outside the larger market, it is a common theme at many of the markets I've been in. In Virginia, even though we were our own rated market we were in the shadow of Roanoke. Here, it's Atlanta.
3) If you are wearing more hats this year than last, what area is suffering and how are you handling that?
There are a couple of things that have begun to "fall through the cracks" since I moved to mornings. One is imaging. I love producing that stuff, but I've never got the time now. Good imaging has to be fresh, and I'm guilty of letting some of ours get burned way out.
The other thing is, unfortunately, music. I love listening to music. Its one reason I got into this business. I find myself relying more on the data coming in from our consultant now than ever before. I've got less time to spend actually listening to what's coming across my desk.
4) Just about every market has a station flipping to "Jack," "Bob," "Max," etc. What are your thoughts on this new format? Will it go the distance? Or is it just a fad?
I think that Jack (which I believe is a GREAT name for a station!) is actually the newest incarnation of "the format of the moment club." Remember Jammin' Oldies?? Ask about the Jack format in 5 years, and I bet you'll get the same response. Sure, there will be some markets where it will have its niche, and stay around purely as a flanker, much like the few remaining Jammin' Oldies stations. The only way that it is going to last long-term is to reinvent itself and become the "new" Oldies format as we continue to see the "traditional" 60's-based oldies stations disappear.
We don't have a "true" Jack formatted station that I can hear in this area. I recently I visited Nashville, and I tuned in to their Jack station. I was under whelmed. The segues from era to era were horrible train wrecks to behold. Even the best imaging in the world between them doesn't help that. Plus, I miss the jocks. There's no one to talk about the music and the artists being played. I just hated it - but maybe that's because I'm a self-confessed radio "geek.".
5) What is the biggest change that you'd like to see happen in the business?
If it were possible I'd like to get Wall Street OUT of the radio business. When they "commodified" radio for Wall Street they did everyone in the country a disservice. Radio is NOT a commodity. You can't just go out and make more. It's a finite amount of spectrum. For stations and groups to be focused only on "what's the stock at today?" is sad. The focus went from actually serving listeners and communities to serving Wall Street.
And speaking of which, as for the FCC, what ever happened to actually serving your city of license?? That's become a joke these days. There are stations out there that NEVER set foot in their city of license, never do even "token" PSA's for events in that city. It's just a word on the legal ID, and then its usually sped up and crammed into ½ a second so they can throw on another spot. There's a rule I'd like to see the FCC enforce.
6) Besides your own, what is your favorite radio format?
Country. I've worked the majority of my career in it. You're much closer to the artists in that format. I grew up flipping back and forth from the country stations to the Top 40 ones. And, even though now I'm more of a Hot AC listener, I still have to get my Country fix. You can't beat Country for songs that grab at the heart and touch listeners like they do.
7) What are your three favorite artists or songs of this year?
I love the new Josh Kelley "Only You." It sounds so good on the air. Gwen Stefani's "Cool" definitely IS cool. Much better than any of her solo work up to now, and a much better Hot A/C fit than her last single. And, even though I catch a lot of crap on the air from Sari (my co-host) about this, I'm so happy to have Mariah Carey back making music you can play on the air. I love her early stuff, and this sounds so much like that. It's so much better than what she's done over about the last decade.
8) How often do you do remotes and which work best for the station?
We do a TON of remotes! This year it seems like we've done at least two remotes a week. I enjoy going out and meeting listeners. Remotes are one of those few times where we as jocks get to go face-to-face with the listeners. It's a huge opportunity to leave a listener with a very positive experience with you and the station. This is the only place I've ever been where the owner goes out and does the set-up for a remote. As the talent, all I have to do is show up 30 minutes before air-time, go over copy points with the Account Executive, meet the client, pick up the mic and go. It makes for MUCH easier remotes. And, this is one of the few places I've been where the remote presence means a lot. They spend money on our remote gear, tents, table toppers, signs, helium balloons, food, etc. A big difference from a card table and a cell phone that you get from some stations, and the clients do notice!
9) How do you market your radio station?
Even though we're Hot AC, we try and market ourselves as a mass-appeal station (25-45 with a female lean). Of course we super-serve those "Soccer Moms," but we've also got "NASCAR Dads," and a big college audience (University of West GA). Again, it's all about being "local, local, local!" While our audience can get the same tunes from the Atlanta stations, we're the ones that they'll listen to for local news, weather, and contests they can actually win.
10) What's the best piece of advice anyone's ever given you?
The single best advice I ever got was from my grandfather. He told me that if I could find a job where I actually enjoyed what I was doing, and they'd pay me for it, then take it. I would be much better off than those poor souls that get up every morning, dread going to their jobs, hate it while they're at work, and complain about work all night. Then they have to do it all again the next day. It is SO true!! I'm so lucky that radio is something I love doing, and really don't mind the awful hours and weekends because it could be worse. I could be out there shoveling crap, or laying asphalt in 110-degree weather, or digging wells in the winter, or punching a time clock. Radio sure beats that!!
Bonus Questions
How did you get your on-air name?
When I got of out of college, the first PD I was working for was making a copy of my driver's license and Social Security card. He looked at my real name and said that he didn't like it. So, as we stood over the copier, we started throwing around names. Douglas IS my real middle name, so he decided that would be a good last name. Then we went round and round about a first name. Finally, I mentioned that my grandfather's name was Jack. He liked it. Then we spent about an hour with me as "Jack Daniels" before we decided not to use it. Although I like their product, we figured we'd get sued for copyright infringement. So Jack Douglas was born.
What do you do in your spare time?
What spare time?? As I joke to my owner when he asks me to do something else, "When in my copious amounts of free time do you want me to do that?"
Seriously, I spend time surfing the Internet. I can't live without my digital cable 500 channel universe. I'll watch movies just about anytime, and if it's a Star Trek or James Bond movie, I'm watching the whole thing. I also go through spells where I'll read everything I can get my hands on, then not read much outside of work for a while. The thing I am most proud of doing in my spare time is being Alumni volunteer with my fraternity, Sigma Pi. I serve as a regional coordinator overseeing all our groups in Georgia and South Carolina.
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