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10 Questions with ... Mason Kelter
September 15, 2020
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1. What has it been like to move Party Liveline from a local show to a national platform?
Party Liveline was created and designed as a national show. Though it launched on Cape Cod’s Y101 (WHYA/Hyannis), it is produced in Boston and our listener base was already national with old fans coming from my former internet station and John Garabedian’s former Open House Party, because they follow him on Facebook. John’s spirit and programming philosophy is apparent now in Party Liveline, but highly evolved for the 21st century.
When you listen to our first affiliate Y101, you’d think it IS a local show, but with national reach. You hear local commercials, local production and even me saying "Y101" at the beginning of all my breaks and integrated into the show production. Listeners somehow think the local station is big and has online listeners everywhere, which we do.
2. How has the response been so far in the early days?
We have regular callers almost every night who have become "characters" on the show, and our listeners love them because they’re REAL. You never know what they’re going to say. Two of my personal favorites are "Marilyn from Hyannis, Massachusetts" who calls within the first hour of the show every night and requests the SAME song, "Blinding Lights" by The Weeknd. She tells stories about her friends, always drinks iced tea, makes jokes about how hot I am, (even though we have no idea what each other looks like) listens to our show all night and is 54 years old! The listeners eat it up, and often text me after she’s on with what a character she is! But we love her.
Another is "Savannah from South Alabama" who calls in occasionally with her southern accent, telling the stories of her high school days, what she’s doing with her baby daughter and weighs in on outrageous pop culture news. She’s been listening to me for about 3 years and is just one of the many who have made this show sparkle.
From the industry perspective, feedback from programmers is totally positive. While it is a music-intensive show, the production is tight, features are interactive and fun, music is safe and flows perfectly, and the goal of constant movement throughout the show keeps people hooked. Some of the things we’ve been asked is "are there really people there in the studio partying and yelling?” - yes, people drop by through the night, from personal friends to radio fanatics looking to see how it all works. Having a studio audience adds an ambiance to it all, because it’s really a party on the radio every night and gives the listener a feeling that something is going on. That’s radio’s "theater of the mind" at its finest. "Is the show live?” - yes, everything we do throughout the night happens in real time. We constantly engage with the audience in every possible way - getting comments on gossip, playing requests, doing contests...the live interactive immediacy ensures the listener that what you’re listening to is NOW.
3. You’ve begun to incorporate artist interviews, etc into the show. Is that something that you will be looking to do more of?
Interviewing the biggest stars is fun, but we use artist interviews as a promotable event to build excitement, get listeners in touch and involved with the music, and give the feeling that something BIG is going on. It’s a part of the aura to transform listeners into fans.
4. You get to learn the ropes from the legendary John Garabedian—describe what that has been like for you?
Life changing in every possible way. A lot of people wish for their dream job, someone they want to meet, somewhere they want to live and level of success they wish to reach. I’ve been lucky enough to achieve all of that already. From a young age, I’ve wanted to do THIS kind of radio, meet John Garabedian just to see if he really was as crazy, kind and talented off the air as he was on the air (yes), move to Boston and see a whole new side of life, and as far as I’m concerned, I’m as "successful" as any one person can be. I absolutely love my job, I’m free to be myself, surrounded by incredible and supportive people, and constantly learning new things and ways to improve.
It was an easy fit for both of us because I actually started calling John on the request lines in 2010, and I would always ask him what he thought about new music, how to get a job in radio and if there was any way I could help him with the show, eventually, I was doing production and social media work for Open House Party, and later, meeting him in person after I read of his "retirement" (he hates that word, ha-ha) from OHP, when I flew to Boston with my father and sat in on his second-to-last show, even reading a Geico ad, which I still have memorized! The first time I was ever on the radio was on the show that got me INTO radio… imagine meeting your idol and working for him!
We have frequent discussions on the playlist, how the show flows and just really small things, but we’ve never had an issue go unresolved. We respect each other and are so good at listening to each other. John views me as someone in the new generation with completely different experiences, lifestyle and tastes than him. John has seen every possible outcome, success and failure during his 50+ years in radio. Nobody is more qualified to create a show like this than him. He has more experience programming national Top 40 radio than anyone. I think we really balance each other out and make a great team -- he’s the thinker, I’m the performer!
5. Part of the magic is making the show local no matter where it’s on. What’s it been like to make that happen?
At the end of the day, it’s a local show. Its designed to work nationally, with the feeling that this is happening NOW, wherever the listener may be, across the street. We make the stations we’re on sound like THEY have people listening and calling in from the local markets we are heard in. We digitally interface with each station’s automation to make everything sound tight and locally branded.
6. Will there be a time in the (hopefully not too distant) future that you’d like to do in-market visits and broadcasts?
Yes! In-local-market broadcasts from major events that spark national interest take advantage of the fact that we’re a live show instead of voice tracked or pre-recorded. I was always blown away by John Garabedian’s live remote broadcasts from events like the Ultra Music Party in Miami, Woodstock, Mardi Gras in New Orleans and Summerfest in Milwaukee. The constant live excitement of things going on can’t be beat by any other show local or national.
7. What sort of social media keeps you the most engaged with your listeners, especially now?
"Party Liveline" can be found on all the social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter & Snapchat, along with the classic "call or text" at 85-LIVELINE! Our biggest following is on Facebook because of the easy ability to share things, embed links to music, videos and other websites, and simply because Facebook is easy to use for every age. Our Twitter, while not heavily used right now, is for "in-the-moment" things like "coming up next" or for fans to talk about what they just heard and give their feedback on different topics like our "Question Of The Night", to new music, to opinions on Justin Bieber’s new hair. The Instagram is used as our "behind the scenes" of the show, with stuff going on in-studio, polls, and stuff that gets fan clubs talking about their favorite artists.
We don’t pound listeners to "go follow us" every ten minutes, which is an annoying irritant to the listener. But when we have something worth sharing or need the listener to weigh in with responses, we simply give the phone/text number "85-LIVELINE" because of its immediate usability. So as dated as it sounds, the phone number is the quickest and easiest way to interact with fans, because it goes straight to the studio and we always reply.
8. What was it about radio that made you want to make it your life’s work?
Listening to old airchecks from back when radio was live, upbeat, interactive and tuned into the people. I’m not meaning to sound old and say "music radio used to be so good, now it sucks!" I believe there’s so much potential and power to what can be done with radio, especially now, more than ever! Streaming music is radio’s biggest competitor, but only radio has the superpower of personal human companionship. Much of radio has disintegrated into generic voicetracks and mindless hype. It doesn’t have to be that way. I ‘m young and strongly believe that radio has a strong future, but only if it uses its full entertainment potential and its done right.
I’ve always wanted to be an entertainer, bring people together, and play the most popular music. When I was really young, I became obsessed with John’s Open House Party, it’s history, charisma, fanbase and formatics. I always wondered why this "show" that had a massive following, and obviously huge success, wasn’t being done any other night of the week. Was Saturday night the only night that could be fun, appealing and about the listener? Why not do something like this Monday through Friday night, when people are out driving, getting done with work, going out, hanging with friends and on the car with a radio! They’re not going to listen to disc jockeys with no soul who get in the way of the music and talk about things that don’t affect them, too many commercials, self-serving hype, and no connection to the audience.
This show is completely about the listener. If you give them a reason to stay tuned longer, they won’t complain about hearing the "same songs over and over." The show is music intensive, but there’s so much more to it…it’s exciting how it all flows but I can’t really describe how it works. The radio is like someone’s friend. They go to their friend when they’re sad, when they’re alone, when they’re with another friend and want to party, and John and I have done our absolute best to incorporate every aspect of what listeners would want to hear to connect and bond to a station.
9. What was your favorite station growing up? Jock(s)?
Nothing impressed me. There were two Top 40 stations I grew up listening to, and though I always had them turned on, it wasn’t until I listened to Open House Party when I realized how bad everything else was. I had become friends with a lot of the jocks on the local stations after calling them up on the air, following their social media and asking them questions about the industry.
95.5 WIFC/Wausau, WI is where I discovered Open House Party in 2010, and the show stood out from everything on the station. WIFC has a big local presence, good ratings and a great crew of heritage jocks all day. But the music, the energy, the interaction and human-ness that lit up every Saturday night was nowhere to be found on the station (or anywhere in the market) the rest of the week. Every jock who knows or aired John Garabedian said they loved him, the show and the style of radio he did, but they could never come close to creating the same environment.
10. Who would you say that your mentors have been?
While I’ve had so many influential people in my life like my family, friends and people I used to work with, John Garabedian has inspired me the most professionally and personally. I know it sounds crazy that most of this article is about him, but I can’t think of a single person in my life who has believed me in me, bragged about me and provided me with every possible resource to become successful and happy.
On the other hand, I was inspired by a lot of people in radio who I couldn’t stand listening to or working with. Those experiences taught me what I didn’t want to sound like, and where I didn’t want to end up. I always wanted to be better than what I heard because I knew the potential that radio had.
Bonus Questions
What would be your pick be for the “Song Of Summer?”
Without a doubt, "Blinding Lights" by The Weeknd. Though it came out in December 2019, it’s performed incredibly well ever since. It’s STILL Top 5 Most Streamed around the world and Top 5 on radio airplay.
The song truly appeals to all ages -- the younger audience, because they like The Weeknd already, and the older audience because it sounds a lot like an 80s song. You could say "Watermelon Sugar" by Harry Styles, which sounds like a summer anthem the first time you hear it, but it lacks to power and longevity of “Blinding Lights.” Every year, there are one or two songs that become staples of Top 40 for years to follow, like "Yeah" by Usher or "Low" by Flo Rida. I believe "Circles" by Post Malone and "Blinding Lights" will be two of the biggest songs of the decade…yes, I said it.
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