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10 Questions with ... Dave Hoeffel
November 22, 2016
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BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:
I'm closing in on 40 years in radio and 25 years in the trade press. I've worked for nine different stations in the Atlantic City, Trenton, Miami and Philadelphia markets, and currently track for Sirius XM's 60s on 6 from my home studio. I've been with All Access since 2004.
1) How would you describe your first radio gig?
Brutal ... running half-hour shows recorded by recent broadcasting school graduates, from midnight to 6a Saturday night/Sunday morning, on a 250-watt AM station in Pleasantville, NJ. These were the student's "final projects." They were truly awful. The school kept its promise to get them on the air by buying out the overnight time on small stations, who hired guys like me to run the tapes. I took advantage of the situation by practice-jocking in the audition channel while the tapes were airing. One night, a bunch of tapes were missing. Unable to reach the PD, I simply went on the air and put my practice to use. The PD actually heard me while driving home from a party, and the following weekend, I was scheduled for both the Saturday and Sunday afternoon shifts. Thankfully, it was onward and upward from there.
2) What are your favorite show prep sources?
Prepping for a Satellite Radio show on the '60s channel can be a challenge, as there's no "local" angle. Most jocks say that "real life" is the best prep, and they're correct, but let's face it ... some days real life can be pretty uneventful. I use everything from Drudge (usually good for some funny headlines) and Huffpo to Buzzfeed and Fark, as well as the show prep info on All Access, including Talk Topics in the News/Talk/Sports section. Even if you're doing a music format, there's some great stuff there to work with. And a shout-out to Bob Dearborn and his Olde Disc Jockey's Almanac, which has great info, especially if you're doing a Gold-based format.
3) What is your favorite part of the job?
Talking with radio folks about music, promotions, and the cool stuff that they're doing with their radio stations, and sharing the news on All Access.
4) What is the most challenging part of the job?
I believe it was the editor of the New York Times who once said, "You can either work for the New York Times, or read the New York Times. There aren't enough hours in the day to do both." The same is true of All Access. We have SO much content and there are so many moving parts to this service that it can be overwhelming at times. But the positive feedback from our friends at radio and the labels makes it all worthwhile.
5) What's the coolest promotion you've ever been involved with?
In 1983 at K102/Ft. Lauderdale, we welcomed The Police to the Orange Bowl by giving away over 50,000 K102 Police badges to everybody entering the stadium. We also had hundreds of vendor aprons with our logo on them, and the vendors in the aisles, as well as in the concession stands, were all sporting our logo. It was impossible to look anywhere without seeing our logo. Listeners called for months afterward thanking us for bringing The Police to South Florida ... which, of course, we had nothing to do with. Big ups to Brian Illes for quarterbacking that.
6) What artist would we be surprised to find on your personal playlist?
I love Jazz and Fusion and weird instrumental stuff. I'm currently enthralled with a Flamenco album by Terceto Kali. I'm going to see McCoy Tyner at the Blue Note in NYC in December. I love live music, and being the geeky audiophile type, I appreciate music that's really well recorded, mixed and mastered so that it sounds like live music.
7) What was your favorite station to listen to when you were a kid?
WIBG/Philadelphia. John Records Landecker was the night jock, before he went to WLS. That's the gold standard right there.
8) Who were your mentors? Who would you say has influenced your career the most?
Tom Taylor at WPST. Great, great programmer, manager and friend. He put an amazing product on the air with a bunch of wet-behind-the-ears jocks (none wetter than yours truly) under circumstances that were often less than ideal, and we achieved great things. And Joel Denver, who is a true force of nature, a great leader, the hardest worker you'll ever see, a very creative thinker, and overall, one of the finest humans on the planet. This website is his baby. 'Nuff said.
9) Do you have a favorite hobby outside of radio?
Great hi-fi gear and craft beer. I'm a member of the New Jersey Audiophile Society (yes, it's as geeky as it sounds) and my wife of 35 years, Donna, accompanies me on brewery visits and tolerates my eccentricities. And I'm a big Philly sports fan: Eagles, Phillies, Flyers and Sixers. Please don't hold this against me...
10) What is the one truth that has held constant throughout your career?
What goes around comes around.
Bonus Questions
What's the best sweeper/liner you've heard recently?
"Rhythms, not algorithms." - WXPN/Philadelphia.
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