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10 Questions with ... Tessa Hall
November 28, 2006
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NAME:Tessa HallTITLES:APD/Middays (10a-3p)STATION:KDJE-FMMARKET:Little RockCOMPANY:Clear ChannelBORN:St. Augustine, FLRAISED:Military Brat
Please outline your radio career so far:
KDJE-FM/Little Rock: March 2005-present
WYOY-FM/Jackson, MS: 2004-2005
KIXY-FM/San Angelo, TX: 2003-2004
WILI-FM/Willimantic, CT: 2001-2002
KSII-FM/El Paso: 2000-2001
Westwood One Radio Network /Culver City, CA: 1999-2000
KMCK-FM/Fayetteville, AR: 1998-19991) What led you to a career in radio? Was there a defining moment that made you realize "this is it?"
When I was 5 years old, I remember riding around in my folks' rusty blue station wagon (which they bought really cheap because some old guy had previously croaked in the back), listening to "Magic." I don't remember the calls or the frequency now, but I remember they were doing a summer promotion that involved bumper stickers. If the Magic van saw your car with a bumper sticker on it, they'd pull you over and you'd win fabulous cash and prizes! (Since my parents are death on any sort of sticker on their cars, needless to say, we didn't win squat.) But it's one of my earliest memories, thinking, "Wow, radio's so cool! You can do stuff like pull people over!" (Little did I know....)
2) What career path would you be following had it not been for this industry?
I'd be a mechanical engineer by now. As it is, I'm 40 credits short, but I have a Jeep Wrangler I'll take apart to get my fix.
3) How have the recent FCC regulations impacted the way you program your music and the station's dialogue on the air? What are your feelings about these recent changes?
I'm a firm believer in intelligent radio concerning both music and other content. But radio is supposed to be fun, and, sure, you're gonna get your novelty songs like "Crazy Bitch" that skirt the line. Those pious souls who have conniption fits about certain subjects need to realize there's more to life than the straight and narrow. It's genetically endowed in human nature.
The FCC is being a little overly strident. Since it is the rule of thumb with our government as a whole, there really needs to be more of a checks-and-balances system introduced. Perhaps a "points" system should be implemented, kind of like the DMV. Sometimes accidents happen -- and, for heavens sake, we're human! Maliciously broadcasting indecent material should not be allowed, but there are listeners who will take the smallest thing and take it completely out of context. It's that small minority who has the power with the current changes. They know it. And they're reveling in it. Whatever happened to "the majority rules"?
The bottom line is that the FCC wouldn't have had to come down so hard on the industry if people simply used their common sense. If you truly have a concern about a station, try the normal avenues first with station management. After all, we're not in business to make enemies. We want you to like us! But if you don't like us, don't listen to us! There's an "off" button for a reason.
4) How do you feel terrestrial radio competes with the satellite radio and Internet these days?
I've seen many of my counterparts worry themselves to death about the impact of satellite radio and the Internet. I don't pay it too much mind. One, because if I really thought that, then why the hell am I still in terrestrial radio? And two, because people like choices. The TV industry has already gone through this. Locality has its place, and it's certainly something we have going for us, but if you have the best product, whether the medium is terrestrial, satellite, or Internet, you'll always come out ahead. The masses are fickle, and that is the key -- because nothing is ever static. They're endlessly searching, even when they've found something they like, to find something better. And I'm here to provide it for them.
5) What was the biggest gaffe you've made on air? (Dead air, forgot a mic was still on, etc.)
When I worked at a CHR station in Jackson, MS, Mount St. Helens erupted again. I had a glorious idea that I would do a bit about how weak this eruption was compared to the monster in 1980. I went in search of my boss, who had a secret stash of sound effects I had in mind. I found instead the PD for our AC sister station, to whom I explained what I was looking for. He started making sound effects out of the side of his mouth and -- epiphany! I can use him to make the bit even cheesier!
In the studio, you had to pot up the mics in order to record into Cool Edit. I did so, making sure I hit the buttons to take them out of program. I then commenced my directorial debut of "Mount St. Helens the Weak". Such phrases as "No, I need it bigger!" "Do it like you did for me in the hallway!" and "Wow, that was really juicy!" were uttered, along with an addition from him of "I have juvenile Tourette's! Ca-ca, wee-wee!" thrown in for good measure. After he performed his role to my satisfaction, I turned to pot down the mics.
My PD warned me some of the buttons on the board had a tendency to stick, so that some would stay on even after you turned them off. Would that he had told me the program buttons for mic 1 and mic 2 were among them.
It could have been worse. It could have been more than two and a half minutes of the above going out over regularly scheduled programming.
6) Please describe the best or worst promotion you've ever been part of?
I once did a promotion around Locks of Love, a non-profit organization that makes wigs for kids with medical hair loss or cancer. I'd grown my hair for three years in anticipation of this, though it had been a more recent idea to try to make it into a promotion on the air. On Valentine's Day, I teamed up with a local hairdresser, offering free cuts and styling to anyone who donated their hair to Locks of Love while I was there. I didn't have high hopes of more than one person participating because, well, let's face it -- women and long hair? At the mention of the word "scissors" most will run screaming from the room -- if their husbands or boyfriends don't do it for them. Not only did I have a score of women show up, I had guys too! The men were all rocker types, emblazoned with a number of tattoos and piercings, willing to give up their locks for a good cause. It was a really nice, warm fuzzy.
7) What was the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to you at a remote?
I was doing a broadcast at Walmart. I'd taken shelter from the rain under the overhang in front of the doors that opened to the little lobby that houses the games and vending machines. People were milling about in the lobby, waiting out the rain. I stood flush with the wall, in front of one of the two sets of automatic doors, when it suddenly opened right in the middle of me doing a live break.
Someone had triggered it from the inside, and it plastered me up and down the wall. I had to suck in my gut to make sure I wasn't eviscerated by the door handle, and I was otherwise well and truly pinned. I didn't have enough breath after that to do much of anything besides croak, so the break ended rather abruptly. To make matters worse, everyone inside tried to rush up and help me. I was futilely making shooing gestures at them, because every time someone came up, they set off the motion detector again.
Afterward, my PD laughed so hard he cried. He told me I must have turned sideways, and the door couldn't detect me anymore.
8) What is the most rewarding promotion or activity your station has ever been involved with to benefit the community or a charity?
When Hurricane Katrina hit, we hurriedly cobbled together a drop-off point for donations in the parking lot at the station. We asked for food and water, though we received cash donations as well. We were just going to do it for one day, but people kept coming. A week later, we ended up shipping 77 full-size tractor trailers to our sister stations in Baton Rouge and gave the Red Cross the $200,000 in cash donations. Since we were directly in the line of refuge for evacuees, we had folks fleeing the hurricane come through town, hear what we were doing on the air, and come by, where we were directly able to give them what necessities they needed. It was exhausting, but very rewarding.
9) How do you position the station musically, and why did you choose this direction?
We've really tried to stay true to our moniker: "NEW Rock for Little Rock." We play more new music per hour than any other station in town, regardless of format, and it's paid off. One direct competitor just flipped formats after they goofed around, trying out different approaches to the Rock format. It was a slow growth for us, and there was some bitching in the beginning about staples not being played as often (mostly by the older metal crowd), but no one else was doing it in town, and we felt there was a screaming (no pun intended) hole in the market we could fill.
10) What is the best advice you would give to young programmers/promotion people?
Persistence counts, but be courteous. Learn everything you can about the station, and your point of contact, because, let's face it, when the ego is stroked, everything else falls into line. OK, not quite, but the best kind of flattery is the kind that has an element of truth to it -- and how else would you know what truth to include if you haven't researched it? Avoiding cliches like the above help too.
Bonus Questions
1) Have you listened to Sirius or XM yet? How does it compare to what we're doing on the commercial side?
The only taste I got of satellite radio was the '80s channel on XM. (Boyfriend at the time was a fanatic of '80s music.) The music was good, but the jock was so bad even someone as nuts about '80s music like [my boyfriend] couldn't listen any more. I mean it -- it was bad. I think commercial radio has better talent overall.
2) How do you stay in touch with the latest music trends?
AllAccess, baby! And MySpace -- that really helps us keep in touch with the local scene. We're also one of the few stations that deign to play local music, which adds a nice little breather on a weekend specialty show.
3) What gets you upset at work, and how do you channel your anger?
Unfortunately, I have little patience for idiots. Since I don't want to get into a contest of wills with a listener hell bent on causing dissent, I nod and say yes, and after I hang up, I strap on my roller skates. (Yes, roller skates, not rollerblades. I keep 'em under my desk.) The station is in a converted Sam's Warehouse, so I have plenty of hallway to calm down in.
4) How did you get your present job?
I once worked at Westwood One as a Regional Compliance Manager. I think everyone knows how program directors relish anything related to affidavits. However, I had the highest callback ratio of anyone in my department. Why? Because I'd leave the first part of a dirty joke on the programmer's voicemail. If they wanted the punchline, they had to call me back.
This practice made quite a few people remember me, including the programmer who hired me here.
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