-
10 Questions with ... Chuck Geiger
April 27, 2009
Have an opinion? Add your comment below. -
NAME:Chuck GeigerTITLE:OMMARKET:Yuma, AZCOMPANY:El Dorado Broadcasters LLCBORN:Chicago, IL (1955)RAISED:San Diego
Please outline your radio career so far:
Clear Channel/Fresno, CA - KHGE (Big Country 102.7) & KHGE HD-2 Mother Trucker - PD 12/05-10/08
Clear Channel/Wichita, KS - KZSN "Kissin' Country 102.1" & "107.3 The Road" - PD - 8/03-2/05
Citadel Communications/Allentown, PA - WCTO Cat Country 96 - 100.7 WLEV - OM 8/97-6/03
I've also held on-air and programming positions in Baton Rouge, Fresno, Salinas-Monterey, San Francisco, St. Louis, Kansas City, Denver, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, San Diego, San Jose, Reno and Charleston, WV
1) What Got You Interested In Radio?
I became interested in radio by listening by to San Diego Padre games as a kid (PCL team, not the NL team) and I had a bedroom radio station with two turntables and a microphone. I had format clocks, music adds, program logs, commercials and I recorded everything.
2) Who were your early influences?
Buzz Bennett, Jack McCoy, Bill Drake, Rich Brother Robin, Mike Harrison, Bob Hattrick, Gerry Cagle, I paid attention in class.
3) What's been your biggest disappointment in Radio today?
HD-2 and radio station Web Sites.
4) What can we be doing with our station web sites to better our stations as a whole?
Forget radio station Web Sites as we know them, Clear Channel was beating us to death with the Web and HD-2 edicts and they were useless to the consumer. Texting and some Social networks are the key. We also need to be programming several formats of Internet-only radio stations with no commercials and sponsored programming. We should have invested in this and not HD. Internet-only radio is about to beat radio as a form of discovering music. In a market like Yuma we could increase the format availability and cover holes that terrestrial radio is not covering.
5) How are you using new music technologies to work with the music you program on your station, in production, and in your personal life?
We just started a FACEBOOK page. With a smaller market, it will take time to develop, I love Pandora. I wish we could develop that with our Web Sites. Radio Web Site are like Applebee's or GMC...they really have nothing for the consumer. Social networks are the key. But the ones they understand (i.e Facebook and My Space). Twitter and Linkdin are too weird for most consumers.
6) What should radio be doing now to secure a role in the future of the ever-changing media landscape?
Continue to listen to the consumer and build the radio station on the real wants and needs of the audience, not through the Sales Department's or the talent's perception of their needs.
7) Describe a typical day in your position?
I do mornings on our AC Star 100.9. Then I voice-track middays on Country KTTI
In the same building. I interface with Jay Walker our Country PD, Jay Wachs our Director Of Sales, Market Manager Jeff Harris and our staff. We have a small and highly productive staff. We are busy from 5a-5p every day with lots of commercial production, community affairs and promotions.
8) How much leeway do you give your jocks to talk between records?
I never transpose rules to talent. Start with the brand and then it's all them.
9) What type of features do you run on the station?
"The Morning Star" weekday mornings, "Star Slammin'" on Saturday mornings from 8a-12 noon with Jay Fox (Old School) and REGGAE on Sunday nights. Click here to check it out:
10) Where do you see the industry and yourself five years from now?
The music industry needs a better mouse trap. The idea of people buying CDs is like the woman who asks for the Soggy Bottom Boys record in "O'Brother Where Art Thou?" Labels need their own Web Sites, where you pay to download music.
Bonus Questions
1) How would you describe your first radio gig?
I had no idea of the politics involved even in 1974.
2) Who do you consider your radio mentor(s)?
Scott Mahalick, Bob Glasco, Jerry Clifton, Guy Zapoleon, and Mike Wheeler.
3) What was your favorite station to listen to when you were a kid?
KGB and KCBQ in San Diego, KHJ in Los Angeles, and KFRC San Francisco. I got to work at two of them, KCBQ and KFRC.
4) What do you plan to do different this year, regarding work, family, or both?
My family still lives in Fresno. My wife and I are empty-nesters, and my daughter and son live there as well. My wife will be moving here later in the year. We are looking at settling here.
-
-