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10 Questions with ... Turi Ryder
October 10, 2006
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NAME:Turi RyderTITLE:Program HostMARKET:San Francisco/SeattleCOMPANY:SheBops ProductionsBORN:Baltimore, MDRAISED:Kansas, Chicago
BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:
Top 40 Jock (WLS, KFRC, KIIS FM) who made the move to Talk (KSTP, WLS, KFI) and formed production company (Shebops Productions).
Currently work for several stations, often from my home studio, create and produce political ads and humor commentaries.
1. How did you get your start in radio? And how did you make the transition from music jock to talker?
I had a crush on the chief engineer of my high school radio station. The only way to get his attention was by hosting a show during the time he ran the board. The radio thing lasted, the boyfriend did not.
There was, at that time, an all "girls" station in Chicago, WSDM. One day, a friend from the high school station and I were riding around in the car with WSDM on. "You could do that about as well as they could," he said to me. "No," I said, "I could do it better." So my friends at the station helped me make a tape, and then I faked a resume, and then I called up stations about "the opening I heard about." (I had heard no such thing---there was no "All Access" at the time.) Usually, someone had an opening, and eventually a little suburban station gave me a chance. Of course, in addition to hosting my own show, I ran the brokered programing, and I also had to empty out all the trash cans every night.
After working at some of the most wonderful top rock stations ever- WLS AM and KFRC- where I learned from the masters, I wanted to do my own morning show. There was less and less opportunity for "personality" radio outside of that shift, and more and more liner card reading, and the fun was just about gone for me. Consultant Valerie Geller suggested I try talk. She put me in touch with a new station in Portland, Oregon. The consultant there, Bill McMahon, and the PD, Steve Wexler, offered me a chance to do "a rock format show, only with no records" in morning drive. So, it was the morning drive thing that sold me, and then I fell in love with talk.
2. What are you passionate about?
Radio. People who have creative, original thought. Family and friends. As a friend of mine says, "You can love radio, but radio won't love you back." Still, I have a weak spot for clever and original entertainment, whether it's a play, a great production bit, or a commercial. I'll put up with a lot of rotten behavior to work with creative people or to enjoy their performances.
3. You've heard the industry debates over "talk for women"- what are your thoughts about that concept? Is there such a thing? Or does the idea marginalize women who do talk shows?
Talk for women isn't really a new idea. Long before I was in radio at all, most daytime talk radio was for women- they were home, they had radios. What we're seeing now is a response to a lot of talk radio that hasn't been presented in a way that is exciting or interesting to a certain, large, diverse, group of women. So yes, there is a potential audience for a different style of talk radio- and some men would be glad to hear it, too.
What's interesting to me is how that need is being addressed. There have been several forays into the concept of providing women with talk stations that will serve their needs. Unfortunately, the same things that make it hard to successfully launch ANY new talk station make it hard to launch a successful talk station for women. Very few broadcasters have the luxury of doing the "long launch." Unlike music formats, it takes about three years to get a talk station off the ground, and in that time there will be changes made to the initial staff, and perhaps even the concept. Any new station will have some elements that work, and some that don't, but if it doesn't get the time and good management it needs to progress, it will not succeed. There is a difference, though: when a talk station serving men doesn't generate ratings in its first year, even if the company pulls the plug on it, nobody says, "well, there you are, there's no audience for male oriented talk." But because talk targeted to women is a rarity at this point, it's under a big microscope. Every time one of these stations is struggling to get going, early in the game, people say, "Well, that proves there's just no audience for female oriented talk."
Ultimately, talk radio for women will swim or sink by the same criteria as any other talk format: Is it entertaining? Is there something here that can't be gotten anywhere else? Do I feel amused, inspired, connected to or by what's coming out of my speakers?
Talk radio done BY women is at a bit of a disadvantage in that women have been underrepresented in talk radio for a long time, so there is a shortage of experienced talent available. Lots of smart, funny, interesting women who wanted to entertain for a living have had to find other places to do that. There is real craft to doing a talk show, so simply yanking a talented non-pro into a studio and setting her in front of a microphone with no training is a recipe for trouble, and it isn't really a fair to her.
Does the idea of talk for women marginalize the women who already do talk? Women who currently host their own shows are pretty comfortable talking to men. We tend to like men a lot. Most of us appreciate and value women, too. I think a better question would be whether a man would feel marginalized if he were on a talk station targeted to women.
The women I know who do talk radio are not any different from men in this business. We succeed by getting ratings for our stations. We want to do creative work, and we're thrilled when we connect with our audience. If our work means something to the people who listen, whether they are men or women, that's the thrill we're looking for.
4. If you hadn't gone into radio, what would you be doing today?
I always thought being a file clerk would be very soothing work- plus you get to listen to the radio.
5. Of all the radio jobs you've had so far, what was the most fun? The most rewarding? The worst?
Being on the air is a joy. Yes, it's hard work. Yes, there is no security. But on a day when I have done a great talk show, I am happy.
The part I like most is the stories the listeners tell me. I often say to the listeners "your job is to entertain me."
The biggest reward is when I hear from a listener, off the air, that the show has meant something to him or her personally. One listener told me "I was starting a new business. I didn't think I'd make it. I was sure I was going to lose everything and end up sleeping in my car. But every day on my way to work I would listen to your show, and you'd make me laugh, and I felt like maybe I could do it."
As for the worst... I have worked in my life for people who I am convinced are actual sadists. I have had to go out to the parking lot, sit in my car, pound the steering wheel and cry. I will happily tell you all about the horrible ways they tortured their employees- after they are dead.
6. Who are your influences and/or mentors?
If I start to answer this one, it will end like those Oscar speeches where the orchestra plays louder and louder....
7. Of what are you most proud?
My family and friends. They're also the things for which I am most grateful.
8. What do you do for fun?
Read crappy true crime novels, good literature, and anything else that comes into the station and looks interesting. We cook a lot, and feed people. I'll go to any storefront theater that opens within 50 miles of me.
9. Fill in the blank: I can't make it through the day without _____________.
...coffee and a phone.
10. What's the best advice you've ever gotten? The worst?
Best 2 pieces of advice- related: "It's the same seven people running this business, and you'll work for each of them three times before you're through" and "It costs nothing to be nice."
Worst: "You need to go someplace small, like Columbus."
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