-
10 Questions with ... BJ Shea
February 24, 2009
Have an opinion? Add your comment below. -
NAME:BJ SheaTITLE:Morning show hostSTATION:KISW 99.9 FMMARKET:SeattleCOMPANY:EntercomBORN:BostonRAISED:Tewksbury, MA (suburb of Boston)
1) What led you to a career in radio? Was there a defining moment that made you realize "this is it"?
I wanted to be involved in the arts and thought that cartooning was my calling, but I really couldn't draw. After walking by my college's radio station (Salem State in MA), I found that my humor could be channeled through the microphone. It was then how much I realized I loved radio as a fan (two of my earlier influences were WBCN's Charles Laquidera and "Sports Huddle" host Eddie Andelman) and knew that it was business that I wanted to work in.
2) What makes your station or market unique? How does this compare to other markets or stations you have worked at?
Seattle is unique because of the amount of reading that happens here. It's the top literate city in the country, so we have to take that into account when doing our show. We really have to know what we're talking about or a listener will call us on it.
Seattle is also very courteous, so if I choose to be adversarial, I still have to be wary of not being overly rude.
The station is unique because of the amount of talented people in our building. This is the best crew I have ever had the pleasure to work with. Dave Richards is one of the best PDs in the biz; he brings so much to the table that makes our show better. Dave, Ryan Castle, Brian Thorpe and their crew have made KISW a huge success. On our show, Steve is the best producer I've worked with. Double R is a great networker and provides some of the show's funniest moments. Topshelf & Rev have allowed their lives to be put on display, no matter how painful, and Mono-Nick has a great attitude, and even better work ethic.
KISW also has a great lineup of talent that you just don't find on most stations. Real live personality jocks! Ricker & Jolene are music jocks who are loved by Seattleites because they're damn entertaining when they open the mic. Our afternoon show, "The Men's Room," with Miles, Thrill, Ted & Ben are a ratings juggernaut, and for good reason ... they have a great show. We all have a great relationship with sales, and they treat us with a lot of respect. Plus our market manager, Jerry McKenna, brings a talent friendly, positive atmosphere to the building.
3) How do you feel terrestrial radio competes with the satellite radio and Internet these days?
Musically, I can't really give you an educated response since I'm involved with "spoken word" Talk radio, but, when it comes to "spoken word" content, terrestrial radio is a much better product than either. The fact that "T-Radio" is not the shiny new medium is the reason it gets unfairly marginalized. We beat satellite because in almost every market you can get great spoken word talent on T-Radio, and it's free. Internet "spoken word" radio (that's not a T-Radio stream) ... can't compare with the quality of content that T-Radio brings. From a sales perspective, T-Radio's reach, commercial affordability and ROI is so good that in these tough economic times... it should be the number-one choice over any medium.
4) What can we be doing with our station websites to better our stations as a whole?
That is a HUGE question. I think the easiest answer is to spend more money on them. These days, I know that's a silly answer, but it still doesn't make it wrong. Personally, I reinvest into the show by spending money on our own web page. I also believe in having numerous people on the show (currently we are a six-person crew) so that in addition to the on-air content, we can have a variety of "web-only" audio, video and written content. It's very difficult to accomplish that with a two-person show. My dream is to have 10 or more people on the show; it's what's needed to have a great web presence.
5) What do you view as the most important issue facing radio today?
Getting the message out about radio's advertising success. As I said before, we are an amazing industry and need to let our prospective ad partners know about radio's power of "word-of-mouth" advertising. In Seattle we've formed a nice relationship with Microsoft to help sell their Zune Digital Music Player. By using "word-of-mouth," advertising on our station & providing a customer service bridge between our listeners & Microsoft, we were able to help them get people to switch from their old player to the Zune. Radio's reach & "word-of-mouth" form of advertising is a powerful advantage over almost every other medium... and it's usually cheaper!
6) What is the biggest change that you'd like to see happen in the business?
As a talent, I would like to see more talent coaches. In my experience at conventions and interactions with other talent, it is quite evident that PDs usually aren't good at coaching talent. We are artists. We are not sales people, accountants, golf pros, stock experts, spread sheet analysts, budget forecasters, computer programmers, etc. Yet, we are treated like we are... and it does not work. Having non-artist, non-talent people attempt to coach talent is a disaster, and the reason why most shows fail. Of course, there's probably a program director reading this who will tell you I'm wrong, and he/she has the spread sheet/budget report/tee time to prove it.
7) What was the biggest gaffe you've made on-air? (dead air ... forget a mic was still on ... etc.)
In the early days of my career in the mid-'80s, I worked at a Lite Rock station in Haverhill, MA (WLYT). The station was totally automated by a huge machine in a big room where Big Bands did live radio in the '40s (the damn machine even turned the mic on and off). One Sunday this wonderful contraption froze while I was returning from the bathroom, and it wouldn't fire off the next song. While I was feverishly trying to figure out why it wasn't proceeding to the next song, I decided to use some very colorful language to coax it along. As you might have suspected, the machine didn't freeze, it had skipped the next song and proceeded to the next element ... which was a talk break, so it turned on my mic ... which had been on the whole time! So while the good churchgoers were on their way to service listening to their favorite family-friendly station ... they got a special Sunday sermon that day.
8) What was the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to you at a remote?
This was actually at a station event, a Bobby Vinton show where I was scheduled to open up with some comedy. This was for a Catholic Church, and they had many nuns, Bishops, and religious dignitaries come in for this event. The audience was old and my act had to be squeaky clean... which is why doing 20 minutes of comedy with my fly open, unbeknownst to me, was a disaster! Jet black suit, white BVDs, hands in-and-out of my pockets ... like I said, a disaster. To this day, they still believe I planned it, but it was a huge embarrassment, because no one was laughing, and they were hating me dead ... and I had no idea why.
9) What is the most rewarding promotion or activity your station has ever been involved with to benefit the community or a charity?
We do a lot of charity work like most stations, but I am proud of a random spontaneous thing we did for a girl who was attacked and robbed in the parking of lot a local restaurant she worked at. We saw this story in the paper, and she wasn't a listener to our show. She was moving into a new place after her shift, so everything she owned was stolen out of her car after she was assaulted. Plus, after they robbed and beat her, they set fire to her car. We went on-air with her story, and our advertisers and listeners helped her replace everything she lost. Being able to use our show to help someone as quickly as we were able to was very rewarding.
10) In today's world of multi-tasking and wearing many hats, how do you find time to show prep and what sources do you use?
I learned a lot by watching how Wease lived his life as a successful radio host. He never seemed to get bogged down with geeky aspects of our business. He made sure that he lived a life, and that he was well versed in the news of the day (that pertained to his audience). I tend to be a workaholic with resolution issues, so I really have to step away at a preset time or I will drive myself (and my family and coworkers) crazy. What I've done is recruit good people around me who do amazing prep and aggregate it all in a phone call to me each morning as I'm driving to work. I rise at 4:15, read the news on the Net, shower, then drive to work at about 5:30 ( I have a 10-minute commute).
After the show, I answer e-mails, Facebook, MySpace, etc. Prep for any guests, and then end the work day no later than 3p. I try to get at least seven straight hours of sleep during the week, and I sleep late on the weekends. Meetings and movie screenings do upset that schedule from time-to-time, but I try to stay on track as much as possible.
Bonus Questions
If you could add any one full-time position to your budget with no questions asked, what would it be?
Internet guy for our show only. With Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, videos, etc. he would be a great asset. It's on my wish list, and I have good "wishes granted" track record with my wish list.
What career path would you be following had it not been for this industry?
Retail, preferably customer service.
Who is your favorite air personality not on your staff?
Brother Wease. If you haven't heard Wease do radio, then you haven't heard radio. So much of what I've learned in this business was from working alongside Wease. What amazes me about him is to this day is his passion, he loves this business and loves to do his show.
How do you interact with your sales staff?
Our PD is very protective of his talent, and so he has system in place that facilitates a good relationship between programming and sales. Personally, I get along with all of our sales staff, and try to be as helpful as I can. I figure that the more money I can generate for the company, the more money I can generate for myself.
-
-