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Justin "Dubs" Johnson, PD, 102.7 WEBN/Cincinnati: Honoring A Fallen Hero On-Air
January 24, 2019
Have an opinion? Add your comment below. Radio is an odd thing. We are in our listeners' backyards and they can call us, see us at the store, drink with us at the bar and hang with us at a concert. Our morning guy's kids are in the same school as the people he is hanging up on during their commute ... When done correctly, it translates that we are more than something that plays music on their local frequency and this situation -- that I wish we never found ourselves in with Dale -- really shines a light on how much that connection means
Radio Rally Point was created by DMR/Interactive and All Access to shine a spotlight on the power of AM/FM radio. In this edition, DMR/Interactive Pres. Andrew Curran catches up with iHeartMedia Rock WEBN/Cincinnati PD Justin "Dubs" Johnson.
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Here in Cincinnati, on January 7th, 2019, police officer Dale Woods died from injuries he suffered while on duty a few days earlier. Over the course of the next several days, the community paid their respects to Officer Woods. As plans for the final funeral procession were coming into focus, his family and friends had a special request.
Dubs: We had multiple family members and co-workers reach out to us and tell us how big of a fan he was of WEBN. One of his co-workers even called someone he knew who worked at another station, trying to find out how to best get in touch with us.
I was able to talk individually with a couple of the people who reached out. It was obvious how big of a fan of WEBN Dale was ... and his co-workers would tell stories about how WEBN was the only thing he would play in the squad car; sometimes it was even hard to hear the police scanner over how hard he was rocking.
I asked what some of Dale’s favorite bands were and I was told "Metallica, Godsmack and Five Finger Death Punch" ... This is literally the center of our playlist and I knew this was someone who really loved what we do here.
From there came the request of letting WEBN serve as the soundtrack for the funeral procession on Monday, January 14th.
Once the decision was made to honor the request, where did the conversation internally go from there?
Dubs: I ran it by iHeartMedia Market Pres. DJ Hodge and Scott Reinhart, our SVP/Programming. As I suspected, they were all on board with the idea and other than getting a few commercials moved out of the way, we were off to the races.
I crafted a playlist that I felt was rocking hard enough for what I was told about Dale, but also was appropriate to the gravity of what we were honoring.
As a local resident who grew up listening to WEBN, I was listening to the tribute and was both impressed and moved. It quickly became clear that this was more than merely airing some music with tributes from Five Finger Death Punch and produced voiceovers. What prompted you to go the extra mile?
Dubs: When I was told they were one of his favorite bands, I immediately reached out to them. These fans really mean as much to these bands as they do to us at the radio station -- and if we can get them involved, they are always happy to help.
Pandora and SiriusXM can’t pull off a local tribute like this. What does the request itself on behalf of a loyal Lunatic (the phrase, "The Lunatic Fringe of American FM" has been used on-air for decades) say about the power of local radio?
Dubs: Radio is an odd thing. We are in our listeners’ backyards and they can call us, see us at the store, drink with us at the bar and hang with us at a concert. Our morning guy's kids are in the same school as the people he is hanging up on during their commute ... When done correctly, it translates that we are more than something that plays music on their local frequency and this situation -- that I wish we never found ourselves in with Dale -- really shines a light on how much that connection means.
What has the feedback been?
Dubs: All positive. We have had many people who are regulars and people who would never touch the station reach out and every last one of them were positive. On social media, just some of the comments included, "Thank you WEBN! It was amazing! We listened on the bus during the procession." "What an amazing tribute to a real American Hero from a real American Rock Station."
Rock stations don’t typically brand themselves as having a big heart. Immediately before the 90-minute tribute started, your morning show was staying true to the brand and talking about a celebrity sharing a STD. Why did you do it that way?
Dubs: I really wanted to make sure that we were as genuine as we could be during this entire process. I told the guys to do the show we normally do, all the way up till the tribute started at 9:30a. I really felt doing anything else could come off as pandering and that's not what this was about. His favorite station should act like his favorite station -- especially at a time when we were honoring him.
Across markets and formats, local radio steps up in moments of tragedy and celebration. What insights have you gained that another PD might benefit from in the future?
Dubs: We all have a pretty decent compass of what is needed and appropriate in times like these ... When these things pop up (good or bad), be ready to embrace them because this is the reason we are here. When putting this together, I thought to myself , "If I can make a few of these people smile on what is going to be one of the toughest days they ever have to deal with, how great would that be?"
I am so lucky to do this and even luckier when it has a positive effect on the community. Don't get me wrong, we are still a Rock station and if you come at us, we will tell you where to stick it, but we are a proud member of the community and happy to do good when we can.
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Thanks for reading and working each day to drive radio forward.
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