10 Questions with ... Rick Emerson

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

At age 14, I began bothering the evening DJ at a station near my home; eventually, he let me sweep the studio floor and refill his coffee, and with that, my foot was in the door. I spent several years doing a variety of music formats (CHR, Oldies, Country, AOR), until consultant Brian Jennings gave me my first shot at Talk Radio in 1994 at KJRB/Spokane. A few other talk gigs followed, and in 1998, Bruce Agler brought me to Portland, OR to do middays at 1080 KOTK, where he was PD/OM.

The Portland audience and I clicked instantly -- like nothing I've ever experienced as a host. They've followed me through five stations and three firings -- all here in Portland. The most recent firing was from KUFO-FM in October, 2009, eight months after taking over for Adam Carolla.

1. After leaving KUFO, you've launched an online venture that includes a sbscription element. How did that come about, and why did you decide to use a subscription model?

When the firings happened in late 2009, nearly everyone who was terminated started a podcast-type show. I resisted for quite a while, partially because I was busy with a few non-radio projects, and partially because I couldn't quite "visualize" what an online version of my show would sound like, or how it would function. I eventually hit on an idea that seemed to offer the best chance for both stability and a faithful replication of my terrestrial show -- the free/subscription model.

We do a free show (Legion of News, which is similar to The Rick Emerson Show, but not quite the same), from 12pm-1pm. It's offered completely without cost, live and archived. Then at 1pm, we sign off, and The Rick Emerson Show begins at RickEmerson.com. The RES costs a flat $6.99 a month, and that allows for several things: 1) It puts the audience in charge, once and for all. As of now, the only one who can cancel the show is the listener. We are beyond the reach of format changes and corporate domino tumbles. 2) It allows us to pay the appropriate royalties and licensing for music use. Music is a huge part of the show, even though we're talk. To lose that element would have been like serving day-old soda. We've kept the music -and the sound of the show- intact. 3) It gives the show a stable home. I'm not scanning the classifieds for a radio job in another market; I'm not cramming in a podcast between side gigs. The listeners know the show will be here, sounding the way they want it to sound, tomorrow, next week, and as long as they'll have me.

2. What, if any, differences are there in your approach to doing an online show as opposed to a broadcast show? Are there any differences in content or in your philosophy?

My philosophy is the same, in that I am an entertainer, first and foremost. The greatest compliment I can receive is when someone says that my show makes a bad day go by faster. That's what I aim to do, every time we start the show. Content-wise, we're striving to make it a relatively seamless transition from terrestrial broadcast to the internet. With the exception of the KUFO gig, which was not ideal in many ways, the show has had a pretty consistent tone and style for most of the 12 years it's been in Portland, and we want to continue doing the show we love, and the show that Portland has embraced. The audience has supported us in every way imaginable; because of them, we've weathered things that would have killed any other program. The best way I can repay that loyalty is by giving the show a stable home.

3. Online, you're your own boss, no PDs, no consultants. At this stage in your career, is there anything a PD or consultant can really do for you? What is it like to be your own boss (keeping in mind that you were a PD yourself at KCMD and in Utah)?

I'm very fortunate in that Bruce Agler, who semi-retired in 2005, and who has been the unofficial consultant for the show since that time, has come on board to make this a truly functional, viable operation. I can turn on a mic and tell Star Wars anecdotes with the best of them, but it would be folly to think that I could do it all -- or that I could continue doing a quality show without some kind of objective input. As Steven Tyler said, when you're in the painting, you can't see the painting. So while it's true that Bruce and I are now business partners, he's also invaluable in that he knows what makes the show work, and he's able to offer perspective.

4. Your online show's spending the (considerable) money to license music for your regular segments. Why did you do that? For podcasters and streaming hosts out there desiring to do the same, how difficult was it to do that, and how expensive?

For me, it was never a choice. The idea of going on the air and not even having the option of playing a piece of licensed, popular music -- talk about having one hand tied behind your back. Our show deals with pop culture, and Portland culture, and entertainment, and music is a huge part of that. It's a staggeringly large part of my life, and my history, and it's a major force in most people's lives. To lose that element, or to have to rely on some combination of Fair Use and crossing your fingers that you don't get caught -- there was just no way. And, let's be honest: if I'm asking people to pay 32 cents a day to hear the show, how can I willfully choose to not pay the artists I play? Industry corruption or not, art is important, and musicians deserve to get paid.

To answer your second question: it was (and is) unbelievably difficult and complicated. Bruce used the phrase, "this is so complex it makes my hair hurt." The paperwork and calculations and formulas (for multiple organizations and for various use rights) is far trickier than in terrestrial radio. It's also far more expensive in a relative sense, because online broadcasters have to pay performance royalties on top of songwriter royalties.

Worth it? Yeah. Herculean in its difficulty? Absolutely.

5. It's fairly obvious that streaming audio is rapidly growing and will ultimately be available everywhere "regular" radio is, but even though it's been around for a while, it's still in its infancy. How long do you think it'll take for online radio to reach the kind of critical mass that can support projects like your own to an extent similar to traditional radio's audience and revenues? How far out are you projecting before you're making the kind of money and amasssing the size of audience you want to have? Or are you taking it one step at a time?

Hard to say. We were (and are) very fortunate in that the audience has always supported us, and has made things happen that might have seemed impossible. Within a week of our official launch, we hit 500 paid subscribers. Now, given our expenses, licensing costs, technical upgrades, etc -- when you divide that number up, starting with Dawn Taylor, my co-host... we're not quite in the rarified tax bracket that one might dream of. That said, it is (and has always been) about content... and always will be. If any entertainer can provide something people like, and do so at a fair price, the audience will support that entertainer. The medium is different from one era to the next, but content is king, as Mr. Leykis would say. Right now, the average teenager still grew up with radio as their primary means of receiving audio entertainment, so it will take several years before online broadcasting starts to get those cultural roots, and the success that comes with being a legacy form of entertainment. But it will happen.

6. What, and/or who, makes you laugh?

Peter Sellers' Pink Panther movies, Warner Brothers' Roadrunner cartoons, and my wife, Lara, who is one of the sharpest, funniest people I have ever met.

7. What would surprise people most about you?

As geek-centric as our show is, and as much as geek/tech/sci-fi culture is part of my life, I never saw the original Star Wars trilogy in theaters. My mom was going through a bit of an Evangelical phase, and informed me that "the only Force in the universe is Jesus." Fortunately, my neighbor across the street had a dad who traveled to Asia a lot, and came home with Betamax bootlegs of current theatrical releases, so I saw all the Star Wars movies in this weird, shaky, hand-held form for years and years.

8. Of all the people you've met in your radio (and television) career, whether they were interview subjects, co-workers, or rivals, who stands as the most impressive person you've met and why?

Henry Rollins definitely stands out, because he has a work ethic -- not just in productivity, but in quality and serving his audience -- that shames everyone else on the planet. I've interviewed him a few times, and it's clear he is a man who is not wasting one single moment -- he has a timer inside his head that started ticking down the day he was born, and he's going to work as hard as he can every second he's alive. My wife once sent him an email at about 10pm on a Saturday (and Henry Rollins doesn't know my wife or me from Adam, I assure you). She asked him some advice on traveling to Panama -- and he answered back within 20 minutes. I think of that whenever I get behind on my work or my email.

9. Is there, ultimately, room on terrestrial radio for the kind of talk you do, encompassing pop culture, geek stuff, and whatever happens to be interesting to you rather than a steady diet of politics? In another ten years, say, with demographic changes, do you think terrestrial radio will come around to talk radio not geared towards an older-male-political demographic, or will streaming and podcasting continue to grow as the venue for non-traditional talk radio?

Terrestrial broadcasting will do whatever makes them money, and right now it's hard-right and hard-left ideological screeds. There will come a time when that doesn't work, because everything goes in cycles. AM radio was written off as dead before Rush brought it back -- we're still living through the unfortunate aftermath of a million tired Rush clones, none of whom have a thimbleful of his talent or panache. That will fade over time, and something else will take its place...probably something more pop-culture oriented. Radio is magic -- it shifts and morphs and always operates as a sort of warping reflection of our world and habits.

10. What's the most valuable lesson you've learned in your radio career?

When you're in the studio, and the mic is on... you do the best job you possibly can to entertain the people who listen. When you walk out the studio door, you're in a business... and you do everything you can to help, to assist, and to make sure that both sides of the equation succeed.