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10 Questions with ... Rick Sparks
August 5, 2008
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NAME:Rick SparksLAST WITH:KCLB-KDGL/Palm SpringsPHONE:213.804.0863EMAIL:rick@sparkyworld.com
Please begin by giving us a brief career history ...
After about a year of college radio I began working with the rocker KWHL/Anchorage in 1994 under cranky PD JJ Michaels. I started as the overnight guy, wrote a parody song for the morning show, and was soon upped to AM show "producer" -- although the job was more along the lines of hanging out and making bits sound good rather than duties involving real producer chops. I also found myself a natural at live remotes/appearances and was in demand for many of those. Within two years I had moved on to afternoons at Hot AC sister station KMXS and held the Anchorage Media Group's Production Director stripes for a couple years.
I eventually jumped into programming and became an APD/MD hybrid, but after five years in the Hot AC format I realized I didn't have the desire to entertain soccer moms. In early 2001 I jumped back to KWHL as co-host of the "Rowdy and Rick" morning show. Unfortunately, Rowdy injured himself that Fall and never came back to work, so after holding down the fort with a "More Rock" morning show until PD Larry Snider found a replacement team, I moved to nights and took up imaging responsibilities.
In February 2003 a company move led me to drive from Alaska to California to work with Gary DeMaroney at KCLB/Palm Springs. I held PD, MD and Imaging stripes while pumping out a well-received afternoon show which injected some new blood into the fairly stagnant market, and featured live interviews with the likes of Don Rickles, Billy Gibbons, Heidi Fleiss, and many more. After about two-and-a-half years of some success, Gary had left to run his own stations, and Morris Desert Media management decided it would be more important to cannibalize heritage Rocker KCLB in order to prop up their then-floundering Classic Hits station KDGL. I exited as soon as I realized I was not going to be able to place a paycheck over the importance of job satisfaction and transitioned to freelance voice work. I also held odd jobs (limo driver, alarm security rep) before moving to Los Angeles in 2006. Since then I have dabbled in acting, performed a little stand-up, I take stage improv classes, have slowly developed my Internet portals ricksparks.com and sparkyworld.com, and currently pay the bills dubbing video content and making Selector wrangle a 900+ title multi-genre library for a worldwide television station called "The Soundtrack Channel" (although they know me by my legal name, so don't call asking for Rick ... they'll be confused).
1) What do you do to maintain a positive mental attitude and stay motivated?
I've always had a lot of interests and been unafraid of new experiences, so it comes pretty easy for me to stay moving and to maintain a good mood. In fact, my fascination with all things life used to hurt me when I was younger because I would stretch myself too thin between activities both professional and personal. My health, and sometimes a job or two, would usually suffer as a result. I've learned to pace myself a lot better over the years and now only keep three to five irons in the fire -- as opposed to 10 or so.
2) How are you occupying your time, besides looking for a job?
I love movies, I love working out, I love eating, I love live comedy and improv, I love composing instrumental music (http://sparkyworld.com/composer - plug!), and I love chasing my girlfriend around our apartment.
3) Some people get discouraged or enlightened with the business when they actually step out of it for a while. Tell us your observations from the outside.
A lot of people are doing radio for the wrong reasons. If you don't know what those reasons are, I don't know how to tell you without coming across as a philosopher. Just get out of the way and let those who care get to it. Radio is also the only form of mass-media that can generate immediate, visceral and truly interactive reactions, and while it's important to make sales goals, it's also important to not insult the listener with "Five dollar lunch!" coupons, frickin' car dealership remotes, and poor music scheduling or boring jocks who have nothing to say. Also, stations and jocks alike without a strong web presence (blogs, MySpace, etc) are missing the boat entirely and might as well take Doc Brown's Delorean back to 1985.
4) What's the longest stretch you've had on the beach?
I'm in it right now ... over two-and-a-half years.
5) What has been your best resource for finding out about job openings?
AllAccess.com - no joke, there's no other resource that has a better listing of opportunities. From there I scan corporate pages.
6) What is the next job you'd like to obtain?
Even though my passion has normally been for Rock and Active Rock, I've been very excited by what's going on with entertainment-based Talk radio - in particular with the Adam Carolla and Tom Leykis shows. When I started way back in college radio I wanted to create an interactive talk show, but the station wasn't wired to handle live phone calls, so my on-air co-conspirator would take the calls and *relay them live*. Yeah ... that sucked. Not a lot of potential for debate and discussion there. I'd start by reading articles that pissed me off and then spout off about them. We'd play some music and then, because of the inability to interact with the listeners on-air, we'd end up doing things like reading the entirety of Sunday's "Spider-Man" comic strip with character voices.
I'd like to develop a show that features some killer Rock (old and new) and also allows people to completely be themselves for (gasp!) more than 30 seconds at a time - warts and all. Slews of guests ranging from "Important Political Figure" to "Washed-Up Actor From A Sitcom" to kick-ass band ... and Johnny Depp wouldn't hurt, either. Ideally it would develop into an interview and live performance-driven show that could be described as the bastard stepchild of Larry King and Howard Stern.
7) With consolidation there are definitely fewer jobs. How do you separate yourself from the pack?
I'm not a one-trick pony, but I know how to delegate and let others do their work so I can focus. Also, I'm ornery as hell; I have no time for stupidity, yet I still somehow come across as loveable and easy to work with. Just ask me, I'll tell ya.
8) Are you spending as much time listening to radio as you used to?
More so, but only in the car. Of course, living in Los Angeles with traffic the way it is, that equates to about 63 hours per week. The iPod and the computer dominate the remainder of my listening time.
9) What do you miss most about music/radio? The least?
I miss connecting with a broad audience on a regular basis -- although I must admit that training and performing stage improv has satiated that desire to some degree. I do not miss sales managers and GMs who think programming using a calculator is more important than gut instinct. Sure, broadcasting's a business, but when the sales force outweighs the number of station talent by any margin bigger than 5:1, you're setting your station up to have no ability to generate passion from the audience.
10) What have you learned about yourself, others, or life in general in your downtime?
When you slide down the banister of life, if you can clearly see that someone is a splinter, yet that individual adamantly claims to not be one -- don't listen to him!
Bonus Questions
Oprah or Dr. Phil?
They're both annoying idiots, although Oprah has her moments. My girlfriend records the show and watches it every night while I futz around with e-mail and such. Setting up an all-girls school to help African children? Great! Endorsing such tripe as "The Secret"...!??! Not so much.
Care to contribute a low-cost recipe to our "ON THE BEACH" cookbook?
Sweet and Spicy Red Chicken
Take four boneless chicken breasts and dump them in a frying pan along with one tablespoon of olive oil, sixteen ounces of organic tomatoes, a dash of red pepper, and a smattering of garlic salt. Heat on medium-low. Coat the entire top of the ingredients with a layer of pure honey. Stir occasionally and be sure to turn the chicken for even cooking. Use a lid to keep splashes to a minimum. When the chicken begins to brown ever-so-slightly, it's time to eat. Delish!
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